Sex and Religion

Organized religious sects of western cultures have their roots firmly entwined with sexual allusions. This is, of course, fervently denied by those who passionately seek association with the higher power that they imagine to be a humanlike being that is at once highly prejudicial yet blissfully indifferent.

But the sacred path has always tended to meander around in a labyrinth of camouflaged passageways. The alarming thing is that most of the time even the most devout of the "spiritual leaders" are oblivious as to the real message hidden under sacred words.

For a start, consider the word "sacred." The words sacred, sacrament, and sacrifice are all derived from the Hebrew word sacre, and the meaning is "phallus" or "penis." This should not be surprising, for the erect penis was regarded throughout all ancient cultures as symbolic of self-manifestation as activated through the creative source. This is one of the reasons why the three major religions of the west have a long history of denying women entrance into the ranks of priesthood.

And the holy testaments that are held out to us as divine pronouncements continue that sex association. We hold in high regard such words as testament, testify, testimony, testification, testator, testimonial, attest, etc. Guess what: the honored words are derived from testis, the testicles, the male reproductive organs situated in the external scrotum behind the penis. The respectful meaning accorded to these words today come from the ancient custom in which the most solemn oaths were sworn by grasping their own testicles-or sometimes the testicles of the man sworn to-that what was declared was truth. It was thought to be courting disaster to swear lies upon the sac of life.

Of course it then becomes clear where the word seminary originated, although everyone today regards it as meaning a theological school for training priests, ministers or rabbis. But the word seminary is derived from the Latin seminarius, and referred to the seed carried in seminal fluids. Again, it was avowed that women could have no awareness of this holy power and therefore they were barred from holy study.

And just to get to the bottom of this, consider the honored words rector and rectory: these are derived from the Latin root rectus meaning "straight." It is from this root that we also get the word rectum.

Information is condensed from my book The Celestial Scriptures: Keys to the Suppressed Wisdom of the Ancients.