often transformed the names of the gods —so as not to be embarrassed, no doubt. Apollo, for instance, became St. Apollinaris; Cupid became St. Valentine. The pagan gods were also allowed to retain their favorite haunts — shrines, trees, wells, burial grounds, now newly decorated with a cross.
But in northern Europe the old gods did not fare as well. The peoples of northern Europe were temperamentally and culturally quite different from the Latin Christians, and their religions centered around animal totemism and fertility rites. The “heathens” adhered to a primitive animism. They worshiped nature (archenemy of the Church), which was manifest in spirits who inhabited stones, rivers, and trees. In the paleolithic hunting stage, they were concerned with magical control of animals. In the later neolithic agricultural stage, fertility practices to ensure the food supply predominated.
Gynocide: The Witches
Anthropologists now believe that man’s first representation of any anthropomorphic deity is that of a horned figure who wears a stag’s head and is apparently dancing. That figure is to be found in a cavern in Ar-riege. Early religions actively worshiped animals, and in particular animals which symbolized male fertility—the bull, goat, or stag. Ecstatic dancing, feasts, sacrifice of the god or his representative (human or animal) were parts of the rites. The magician-priest-shaman became the earthly incarnation of the god-animal and apparently dressed in the skins of the sacred animal (even the Pharaoh of Egypt had an animal tail attached to his girdle). There he stood, replete with horns and hooves—the primitive deity, attributes of him echoing in the later deities Osiris, Isis, Hathor, Pan, and Janus. His worship was assimilated into the phallic worship of the northern sky-thunder-warrior gods (the influence of which can be seen in Druidic practices). These pagan rites and deities maintained their divinity in the mass psyche despite all of the Church’s attempts to blacklist them. Some kings of England were converted by the missionaries, only to revert to the old faith when the missionaries left. Others maintained two altars, one devoted to Christ, one to the horned god. The peasants never played politics—they clung to the fertility-magic beliefs. Until the 10th century, the Church protested this willful “devil worship” but could do nothing but issue proclamations, impose penances and fasts, and, of course, carry on the unending struggle against nature and the flesh.
This was a serious business, for the end of the world was believed to be imminent. For good Christians, preparations to depart this earthly abode included renunciation of all hedonistic activities (eating, dancing, fucking, etc. ). St. Simon Stylites, in his attempt to avoid the crime of being human, fled to the desert where he erected a pillar on which he mortified his flesh for most of his 72 years. He was tempted throughout by visions of lascivious women. Indeed, it required starvation, incessant prayer, and flagellation to be visited by lascivious women in those days and still lead the perfect Christian life.
The extremeness of the Church's ascetic imperatives invited a reciprocal debauchery. The nobility, when not out butchering, enforced that most curious of customs, thejus primae noctis,which legitimated the rape of newly wed peasant women. The Crusaders brought back spices and syphilis from the East —that summing up their knowledge of Arab culture. The clergy was so openly corrupt and sensual that successive popes were forced to acknowledge it. “By 1102 a church council had to state specifically that priests should be degraded for sodomy and anathematized for 'obstinate sodomy. ' ” 2 Bishops and cardinals were also known to fuck around: “A typical example is that Bishop of Toul ... whose favorite concubine was his own daughter by a nun of Epinal." 3 The monasteries and cloisters were rampant with homosexuality, but nuns and
But in northern Europe the old gods did not fare as well. The peoples of northern Europe were temperamentally and culturally quite different from the Latin Christians, and their religions centered around animal totemism and fertility rites. The “heathens” adhered to a primitive animism. They worshiped nature (archenemy of the Church), which was manifest in spirits who inhabited stones, rivers, and trees. In the paleolithic hunting stage, they were concerned with magical control of animals. In the later neolithic agricultural stage, fertility practices to ensure the food supply predominated.
Gynocide: The Witches
Anthropologists now believe that man’s first representation of any anthropomorphic deity is that of a horned figure who wears a stag’s head and is apparently dancing. That figure is to be found in a cavern in Ar-riege. Early religions actively worshiped animals, and in particular animals which symbolized male fertility—the bull, goat, or stag. Ecstatic dancing, feasts, sacrifice of the god or his representative (human or animal) were parts of the rites. The magician-priest-shaman became the earthly incarnation of the god-animal and apparently dressed in the skins of the sacred animal (even the Pharaoh of Egypt had an animal tail attached to his girdle). There he stood, replete with horns and hooves—the primitive deity, attributes of him echoing in the later deities Osiris, Isis, Hathor, Pan, and Janus. His worship was assimilated into the phallic worship of the northern sky-thunder-warrior gods (the influence of which can be seen in Druidic practices). These pagan rites and deities maintained their divinity in the mass psyche despite all of the Church’s attempts to blacklist them. Some kings of England were converted by the missionaries, only to revert to the old faith when the missionaries left. Others maintained two altars, one devoted to Christ, one to the horned god. The peasants never played politics—they clung to the fertility-magic beliefs. Until the 10th century, the Church protested this willful “devil worship” but could do nothing but issue proclamations, impose penances and fasts, and, of course, carry on the unending struggle against nature and the flesh.
This was a serious business, for the end of the world was believed to be imminent. For good Christians, preparations to depart this earthly abode included renunciation of all hedonistic activities (eating, dancing, fucking, etc. ). St. Simon Stylites, in his attempt to avoid the crime of being human, fled to the desert where he erected a pillar on which he mortified his flesh for most of his 72 years. He was tempted throughout by visions of lascivious women. Indeed, it required starvation, incessant prayer, and flagellation to be visited by lascivious women in those days and still lead the perfect Christian life.
The extremeness of the Church's ascetic imperatives invited a reciprocal debauchery. The nobility, when not out butchering, enforced that most curious of customs, thejus primae noctis,which legitimated the rape of newly wed peasant women. The Crusaders brought back spices and syphilis from the East —that summing up their knowledge of Arab culture. The clergy was so openly corrupt and sensual that successive popes were forced to acknowledge it. “By 1102 a church council had to state specifically that priests should be degraded for sodomy and anathematized for 'obstinate sodomy. ' ” 2 Bishops and cardinals were also known to fuck around: “A typical example is that Bishop of Toul ... whose favorite concubine was his own daughter by a nun of Epinal." 3 The monasteries and cloisters were rampant with homosexuality, but nuns and
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