Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII. FEMININE EMBLEMS. The independent yoni, the feminine symbol of creation, was naturally more difficult to exactly represent in the form of an image than was the phallus, or lingam; and from the very beginning, therefore, this symbol was portrayed in more or less conventional forms, and was not infrequently extended to other more easily represented portions of the female anatomy, as the breasts, the mons Veneris, etc. The principal design in representation of the yoni was one that was known under the name of Asherah, which is translated and referred to in the Bible as the grove, or groves. This image, which was a symbol of Ashtoreth, or of the union of Baal and Ashtoreth--the male and female 1 130 procreative deities of the Assyrians, --was generally made of wood, and had in its center an opening or fissure, which was regarded as preeminently sacred, as the Door of Life. Above this fissure was an emblematical representation of the clitoris, divided into seven parts, and around the Door of Life were carved tufts of hair, thirteen in number, indicating the annual fertile periods of a woman. Designs of this image occur very frequently in the sculptures of Nineveh and Babylon. It is almost always shown receiving the adoration of the king and his attendants, who hold in their hands pine cones and other symbolical sex offerings. Above the grove is a winged figure--the celestial bowman, with his bow and a quiver full of arrows, for the use of all who desire divine vigor in the concluding rites of the worship, which required that the devotees should unite in sexual congress, as a fitting tribute to the deity; a performance that took place in a small bower situated near the idol. In the figure and office of the Assyrian bowman we see..
