Phallicism

(Phallism). The worship of the fertility and generative function, often symbolized by the male organ (phallus). In India the worship is paid to divine mothers where the phallus is called the lingam or li‰ga and female counterpart is called the yoni. The li‰ga symbolizes the generative power of Shiva and is a charm against sterility.

It had been suggested by Helena P. Blavatsky that the aspect of Nature worship known as phallicism has pervaded religious practices in various symbolic forms, including that of Christianity. She maintains that, “All of these steeples, turrets, domes and Christian temples are the reproductions of the lithos, the upright phallus. ‘The western tower of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London,’ says the author of The Rosicrucians, ‘is one of the double lithoi placed always in front of every temple, Christian as well as heathen’” (IU II:5).

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