Tree of Death and Rebirth in Carthage

Ancient Carthage is wreathed in mystery to some extent as it was the Romans who were victorious ultimately. When one visits the sites of Carthage, guides often speak of Carthage I, Carthage II, Carthage III and Carthage IV... The civilisations are layered one upon another, only superficially visible at this point in time for the most part.

Here on the site of the old Punic ruins in Carthage I was delighted to find the Tree of Attis. The Tree and Attis were one in the ancient mysteries. Those rituals cannot be reconstructed fully with the small amount of literature that is available, but his 'resurrection' involved a real Tree, a cave and many lamps that were lit to represent the new dawn.

The proponents of mystery religions always have been wanderers. Even the god Dionysius wandered from land to land. The rites of Attis were widespread and ancient, but the evergreen is a potent symbol that features in the rites of many gods, including Christ and Odhinn.

It is not Attis who is connected with the legends of Carthage but Dido. As a child, I loved Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas' but I realised even then that is was the stuff of romantic tragedy rather than history. In fact, I liked the music better than the plot, quite honestly. It always distressed me when women immolated themselves at the altar of unrequited love. Aeneas had no thoughts for the Queen, considered her as nothing more than a means to an end.

It pleased me when I later discovered that the supposed relationship between Aeneas and Dido was a Roman bastardisation of ancient history. Dido was a far stronger woman than the putative lover of Aeneas. In fact, it is virtually impossible to decipher the truth in this matter, but there are some threads that are constant in all the woven tales.

By all accounts, Dido or Elissa is considered the founder of Carthage. She and her brother Pygmalion were the children of a king of Tyre. He made them co-heirs to his kingdom. Dido meanwhile married a priest of Melqart who may have been her uncle. When her father died, Pygmalion became the sole ruler, murdering Dido's husband, Acerbas in the process. Dido fled from Tyre with a number of 'senators'. It is evident that this was a political move, and that the Queen had support of a significant nature.

They finally arrived in North Africa where Dido made an agreement with a local ruler to take as much land for herself and her followers as would be encompassed by one oxhide. By cutting the hide into small strips, she was able to encompass the area of an entire hill. The city then was given the name of 'Byrsa' or 'hide'. Whatever the truth of the event, it has been immortalised in contemporary mathematics as the 'Dido problem'.

Having founded the city, it then was threatened with war by a neighbouring chieftain or ruler who, as the price of peace, demanded Elissa or Dido as his wife. Her people did not convey the terms to her properly, only suggesting that the demand was for some one to live with him to teach him Phoenician ways. Living with a 'savage' would be abhorrent to any true Carthaginian, her courtiers remarked. Dido declared that any one who would not be willing to make such a sacrifice for the good of his/her people would be an individual without honour. She, of course, would be willing to sacrifice her life for the good of her people.

When told the true nature of the terms, that it required her to become the ruler's wife, Dido created a ritual funeral pyre for her first (dead) husband, stating that it was required for the propitiation of his spirit before she could marry again.

In fact, she ascended the pyre herself and slew herself with her sword. She then was deified.

Whether this represents an ancient religious ritual of the sacrifice of a Queen for the welfare of the land as described in 'The Sacred Bough' or has its roots in historical events is not clear. Elissa or Dido is a fundamental symbol of ancient Carthage. It has been said that Tanit and Dido are one and the same.

Yet, for all that Carthage lives in the halls of myth and legend, it is not Carthage as such but Rome that one sees when one visits the old sites in Tunisia. It is the Roman Empire that imprinted itself upon the land, and it is Roman amphitheatres, aqueducts and baths that have endured. Below ancient Rome lie the ruins of Punic Carthage. Perhaps in time, there will be sufficient excavations to bring more of the Punic history to light again.

The Harrowing of Hell

(Crucifixion of Christ by Jan van Eyck)

At the end of March, we now approach one of the most joyous and uplifting religious rituals known to Christians and non-Christians alike: the celebration of Easter, which is the celebration of resurrection from death and rebirth of life.

To the Christian, it is the resurrection of the Son of Man from the dead, leading to his ultimate restoration to a throne in Heaven. To non-Christians, it is a celebration of Spring, of the rebirth of the Earth after its Winter slumber.

Before Easter can occur, however, the gates of Death must be entered and the 'harrowing of Hell' must take place. Christ cannot experience resurrection until he endures the Passion. The god cannot be reborn unless he is crucified upon the Tree of Life.

It is not only the Christian ritual that embodies this ancient Mystery. Dionysus must be torn to pieces by the Titans in order to be reborn, sewn into the thigh of Zeus to become the 'twice-born god'. Persephone, daughter of Demeter, cannot be restored to the Earth unless she goes down into Hades to serve as the consort of the god of the Dead.

I have been pondering the ancient mystery religion of Demeter or Ceres, and how the 'rape of Proserpine' is central to it. Like the Passion of Christ, the 'initiation' of Proserpine' is not a gentle one. It is a rape by the most terrifying entity among the gods, the Lord of Death himself.

Proserpine is the personification of childhood innocence. Plucking flowers with her maiden companions, the Earth itself suddenly opens to swallow her alive. She is deflowered by Death in a cataclysmic act that is as dramatic and awful as that of the Crucifixion.

The role of Mary, mother of God in the Christian mystery is a subordinate one. The role of Demeter, mother Goddess, in the Eleusinian mystery religion is primary. When her child is taken from her, Earth itself suffers. Plants wither, animals and humans become barren... life itself is in a state of suspension. Nothing can prosper until her child is restored to her.

This is a very natural maternal response. Mary suffered silently through her son's Passion according to the Christian scriptures, but Demeter did not 'suffer' the rape of her daughter passively. She went to the Highest authority, Zeus himself, to complain and threaten death to the Earth and all its creatures should her daughter not be restored to her.

Classical mythology in many respects mirrors human realities. Zeus must be a politician and he must plot a course that will satisfy both conflicting sides in this situation. His brother is the Lord of Death and Zeus really cannot command that power. Demeter is Mistress of Earth, and Zeus has no power to control Nature. His role is that of arbitrator in this conflict.

In some Christian traditions, especially those of the Gnostics, the female role in the essential mysteries is a central one. Christ is able to endure the Passion only because his Mother bear witness for him and strengthens him by her presence and her support. Mel Gibson showed this quite clearly in his film about the Passion, and indeed much of his interpretation of the events is based on Gnostic traditions.

As far as the raison d'etre for the Crucifixion is concerned, the classical mystery religions make far more sense than the Christian tale explaining the necessity for the sacrifice. Christians attempt to explain Christ's 'sacrifice' as expiation for the 'original' sins of humanity when in fact, it should have been declared simply to be a natural and necessary act in the cycle of existence. Without Death, there can be no rebirth.

The Christian idea that humanity was cursed with 'original sin' is a Judaic one, and I would submit that Judaism is as far removed from true Christianity as chalk is from cheese. The god of Judaism is a demon-driven master of vengeance, bigotry and incredible, unjustifiable rage and jealousy. The God of Christianity is one who is willing to act as Sacrifice in order to maintain the balance of the universe and to keep the Wheel of Life turning.

In all fairness, however, there are other ancient religions that incorporated a belief in an 'ancient' or 'original' sin. Those who followed the Orphic tradition believed that humanity bore the guilt of the ancient sin of the Titans who murdered and cannibalised Dionysus in the form of Zagreus. The basis for this was the premise that humanity had been created from the ashes of the Titans, blasted in punishment by a bolt of lightning by Zeus for their crime in killing the young god.
Human beings therefore contained both the essence of sin in their Titanic nature and the very essence of the god consumed by the Titans in their Dionysian souls. To purgee the Titanic dross from the gold of their divine heritage was the goal of every Orphic initiate.

Christianity has fewer Judaic roots than the published and accepted 'Bible' would demonstrate. In point of fact, the entire life of Christ displays connections with all the mystery religions in existence at that period, and elements from these traditions can be found throughout the stories that were written about his life, death and resurrection. The theory that Christ may have traveled to India or Tibet and studied Buddhist philosophy certainly is not to be disregarded categorically. Travel even in paleolithic times was widespread and the life of Christ occurred actually in a modern period when Roman rule made international travel fairly easy.

'God is Love' is the premise on which Jesus acted. 'I do this for all humanity', Jesus declared. He was very explicit about that. He did not endorse the concept of a 'special, chosen people' who alone deserved a special gift of salvation. The god of Judaism, on the other hand, committed and endorsed crimes of genocide in order to elevate the position of his precious 'chosen people' over all others. This is not a god that any one can respect or 'follow', in my opinion. Certainly it is not a god who can be respected by any one outside the little circle he purports to favour over others.

There are elements of Judaism, in particular in its mystical traditions such as the Qabbalah that are extremely interesting and powerful and which contain both great wisdom and beauty. Much that is incorporated and enshrined in the 'Bible' and the Talmudic teachings, however, is not for the most part deserving of much respect and it has been responsible for many crimes committed through the centuries.

There are elements of Christianity that are incredibly beautiful as well, but the religion is marred by aspects of the so-called 'Old Testament' that endorses cruelty, bigotry, injustice and even genocide. A true reformation of this religion is long overdue. The life and example of Christ should be the only 'sacred' example for Christians to follow. As far as the 'Old Testament' is concerned, those tales stolen or borrowed by the Hebrews from the ancient people of Sumer, Babylon and Canaan should be restored to their universal form and all else relegated to 'Hebrew history'.

Lest any one think that I am being unnecessarily negative about the practices of Judaism, one need look only at the festival of 'Passover' to see how Jewish celebrations for the most part are based on the triumph of the Jews over others, usually at the point of a sword. In fact, when the 'Angel of Death' 'passed over' the ancient Hebrews, he/she slaughtered all the first born children of Egypt. I cannot imagine how the massacre of innocent children ever could be a cause for celebration. If my own child died in such circumstances when thousands of others perished, I definitely would not create a national or religious holiday based on this. It is the old primitive view that considers only one's own to be 'human' and all others to be less than human. There is no empathy in the Hebrew religion for 'others'. It is extremely unfortunate that Christianity has elevated so much from Hebrew tradition and attributed a sacred character to it.

Contemporary Jews need to take a long, hard look at their traditions and be willing to acknowledge that there can be no justification for any spiritual tradition that gives 'natural superiority' to one ethnic group over another. It is not only Judaism that incorporates racist ideology, of course, but it is one of the few ancient religions incorporating such ideology that has not only survived, but continued to be extremely influential internationally. (I will deal with the 'caste system' in Hinduism in another post in the interest of fairness.)

Although great pains were taken by some of the 'disciples' to trace the lineage of Jesus back to the house of David, his heritage is quite irrelevant. Efforts always have been made to incorporate divine or royal elements in rituals centred on sacrifice, but as the Aztecs demonstrated, it is the treatment given to the sacrificial 'victim' that is important, not the quality of blood that runs through his veins. As a matter of fact, in many cases, the individual who became a hero or god through sacrifice was one whose lineage was suspect. It is the bastard whose father is unknown who can claim to have been fathered by a God.

In most respects, in fact, the life of Christ follows a universal model of the Sacrificed King or God. The entire ritual, from the 40 days of Lent, through Palm Sunday and Holy Week to Easter can be traced back to every ancient mystery religion. Inanna's descent to the Underworld and Dumuzi's fate, the festivals of Osiris and Isis, that of Adonis, Attis and Dionysus, all follow the same basic 'stations'.

As far as the descent into Hell is concerned, although most Christians do not dwell upon this aspect of the Mysteries, the Apostle's Creed specifically incorporates this as an element:

'Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day he rose again from the dead.'

This places the life of Christ squarely into the ancient mould of the god who descends into the Underworld and then emerges triumphant. As in the rites of Dumuzi and Osiris, the mystery is re-enacted annually during Holy Week and Easter. Like the Dionysians and followers of Orpheus, Christians re-enact the sacrificial 'Last Supper' every time Mass is said or Holy Communion celebrated. Like all mystery religions, therefore, the sacrifice of the God is one that occurs again and again. This is another reason that I feel the 'gloss' of 'expiation of original sin' as a basis for the Sacrifice is a spurious one. The fact of the matter is that by participating in the ritual of ancient Sacrifice, each individual is able to see the light beyond the gate of Death a little more clearly and through familiarisation with the ritual of death and resurrection, that ultimate inescapable journey should become less terrifying.

If the universal principle upon which all mystery religions operate were to be acknowledged now, religion would become less of a politicised 'private club'. People from every culture and background could share in these universal rituals.

Am I ready for the Dance with Death?

(Dumuzi returns from the Underworld Reborn)


There is a very high price for true 'rebirth' and I wonder how many people really are willing to pay it. It is at the heart of most religious mysteries, but in reality, few ever voluntarily embrace loss enthusiastically in order to begin anew.

As a player of video games who writes guides for them and therefore spends quite a lot of energy and time on role-playing simulation games, people may think that I am not 'in touch' with this reality but in fact, the experience of a role-playing simulation game recently made me aware once again of the ephemeral nature of THIS life.

A defective technology was responsible for two catastrophic experiences I had recently, both of which forced me to realise once again how fragile life actually is. It is not as though I have no personal experience of facing death in reality as I almost died shortly after I 'reached my majority'. Our psyches are conditioned to recover from those shocks, however, and we become involved with daily routines and petty ambitions, despite our best intentions to make every day 'count'.

Those 'near death' experiences that all of us have had are quite different. Usually they occur so rapidly that we have gone through the experience almost before we have been able to respond to it. When I was a passenger in a car that narrowly avoided collision with a juggernaut, or when I was walking down the street in Manhattan only to find myself face to face with a guy with a gun in his hand and his finger on the trigger, those experiences occurred so quickly that my emotions did not respond until after the threat.

In any case, the first of my two recent 'catastrophes' was in my life as a male farmer in Forget-Me-Not Valley. I had done everything properly, worked diligently and formed the highest degree of friendship with every one in the Valley. All the girls were in love with me and any of them would have accepted my Blue Feather, thereby accepting a proposal of marriage.

I had a full set of Mythic Tools, the most powerful tools on Earth as well as every magical Accessory. I had upgraded my crops and animals steadily, never shirking my responsibilities. I attended and participated in every Festival. I was a Billionaire. I had a private Island with a little cottage on that Island as well as the largest farmhouse that could be built. I had completed my Cookbook and my Shipping List. In short, I had fulfilled most of my ambitions and was about to choose a spouse.

It was at this point, when I had prepared fully to embark upon the next stage of my life that the game froze at the point of loading in BOTH files, thereby wiping out my entire existence.

Six months of intensive labour in this 'real' world as well as a couple of years of intensive labour in
Forget-Me-Not Valley were wiped out in an instant.

Even if it is 'only a game', one does invest a certain amount of energy and concentration into it, as well as having an emotional attachment to the character. It is one thing to decide not to play any longer, but quite another to have one's game destroyed arbitrarily by some outside force.

Natsume, the creators of Harvest Moon games, do make an effort to incorporate the vicissitudes of Nature and life into their games. As I thought about this, I realised that, although the 'freeze file' glitch was not intentional, it really was not that different from our reality, where Death can intervene at any moment.

Yes, I had done everything correctly, and had worked earnestly and diligently to fulfil all goals, but what is the significance of this in ANY reality?

In this life, beggars and millionaires are equally impotent when Death knocks at the door. One can do everything right in life as well and still be forced to face the fact that we are not in charge here. We cannot make a 'deal' with Life by fulfilling requirements on some arcane cosmic list in return for longevity or immortality.

I suppose all of this is obvious stuff, but philosophy and experience are two different things entirely and one often forgets that we are not conducting our own symphonies. There is no promise that we will be allowed to complete the 'game'.

'Life in the here and now' is the advice of many philosophers, but I do not agree with that. What I do believe is that one needs to be aware of one's heart's ultimate desire and to strive to fulfil that at least without putting it off. The future may or may not exist for any of us. If we wish to have any share in that future, we need to perform our deeds of glory or create our masterpieces NOW. If we do not have any aspirations of that nature, then by all means, we can live according to an Epicurean or existentialist philosophy or any other code that takes our fancy.

This brings me to the second catastrophe. This was caused by defective technology as well, but had far more ramifications in this reality. My internet provider sent a prompt to the effect that my computer needed to be restarted. When I restarted the computer, I no longer appeared to exist on my own computer. My desktop screensaver had disappeared. More distressing than this, however, was the fact that all my files had vanished as well. All the research for my 'serious' writing, all my notes and journals, as well as the game guides I had written and was in the process of writing were gone. It was as though I never had existed at all, had never typed a single word on the keyboard.

An alien force of some kind had entered my little space and had removed any evidence of my presence completely.

I was devastated. Those who may be experts with computers may not have reacted as emotionally as I. There was a little part of me that hoped it was something that could be reversed, that the information was 'hiding' somewhere rather than having been wiped from the computer. Even so, I did not know if I ever would see those files again.

I spent a sleepless night over it. I could not access the internet at all, and therefore could not access online 'help'. I did not realise that telephone help is available at any hour but even if I had, my physical condition would not have allowed me to become involved with technological problems in the middle of the night. It had to wait until the morning.

While waiting for the dawn, I began to think about both 'catastrophes' and how there are far worse fates...
One could lose everything in a fire. One could lose a limb in an accident. One could be forced to endure terrible tortures or imprisonment. One could lose every loved one...

People are forced to face these catastrophes every day. Even if I had lost all my work, I still am alive to write again. Even if my life in Forget-Me-Not Valley is gone, I can begin a new life there, provided I can maintain any enthusiasm for it. The key here to everything is determination. One must be willing to begin anew. If one cannot do that, one is lost.

It is this that is at the heart of every mystery religion. One must be willing to die in order to be reborn. We read about it and some of us even experience religious rituals that re-enact the death and rebirth of a god. Yet few of us really ever allow ourselves to 'wipe the slate clean' and to begin again with a 'tabula rasa'.

Life is an investment in time, emotion and energy. We do not like to lose our investments. When we 'die', we must let go of every investment we have made.

In the ancient mystery religions, any one who wished to be initiated had to undergo a period of strict preparation in terms of fasting and spiritual questioning. Those who wished to experience the sacred mysteries had to undergo the mystery of death before they could experience a new birth.

We tend to hold fast to our little securities, whether it is our computer files or our homes, jobs and relationships. Society certainly does not want us to do otherwise. 'Vagrants' are a danger to society.
Those who are not concerned with material security cannot be compelled to do things they do not want to do. It is the 'vagrant' who is truly free, but the price that the homeless pay is very high. That sort of freedom is synonymous with deprivation.

Like madmen, vagrants operate according to their own rules, and are not persuaded by the ordinary considerations that regulate our lives. Whether it is a matter of deportment, attire or behaviour, the 'mentally ill' and the 'homeless' are immune to the pressures that control ordinary lives. I shan't say 'ordinary people' because I do not believe that there is such a creature as an 'ordinary person'. I believe that 'facilis est descensus Averni' and that any of us could find ourselves quite suddenly 'on the outside looking in'.

Should we pity those individuals or envy them? When I thought that all my work had vanished, I was distraught but if it had, would it have forced me to embark upon a completely different path? I cannot imagine reliving ANY life again. Only words that are really worth writing are worth writing a second time! How many words have I written are really worth THAT effort?

I hope there are a few, of course, but not having been forced to endure that 'death' and 'rebirth', I must try to use my imagination alone to persuade me to a higher level of creativity. I always have longed to penetrate the sacred mysteries of life, death and rebirth, but when it comes to the 'sticking point', I discover that I am as attached to this reality as any one. I was thrilled to see my desktop and files restored but perhaps if I were truly 'enlightened', I would have embraced the possibility of total destruction with enthusiasm, seeing within it the seed of rebirth.

Attis and Frey

The cult of Attis may appear bizarre and slightly frightening to us now, but in fact it had parallels throughout the world. It may surprise some people to discover that one of the most powerful gods of old Europe was an emasculated god.

Frey or Freyr was the twin brother of Freya, and both were of the family of gods known as the Vanir. Worship of Frey was as widespread as worship of Odin and Thor.

The emasculated nature of this god is concealed somewhat by the allegorical nature of the most famous tale told of him, which is the Skirnismal, a poem about his courtship of the etin's daughter Gerd.

Frey disobeyed the law by seating himself on Odin's High Throne, Hlidhskjalf. This privilege belonged to Odin alone and as is often the case in old myths and fairytales, Frey was punished for his transgression.

As he sat upon the High Seat, he beheld a woman far in the North. Her white arms gleamed with light and his heart was overwhelmed by her beauty. He became obsessed with her, and neither would eat nor drink. He neglected his duties. When a fertility god languishes, the entire earth suffers. Plants wither on the vine. There is blight and famine...

At the request of Skadi and Njord, Frey's servitor Skirnir went to his master to try to discover the cause of his malaise. Frey told him about the vision of the woman he had seen: 'her arms gave forth light wherewith shone all air and water.'

This is no ordinary woman. This is the Earth Goddess herself in the guise of Gymir's daughter Gerd.

For those who are unfamiliar with ancient Northern tales, 'giant' or 'etin' may be misinterpreted. Giants in nursery tales, like that of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' are portrayed as monstrous rather stupid bloodthirsty creatures who are easy to deceive. In fact, he Etin or Giants may have been the original lords of Earth. Aesir and Vanir both encountered the Etin kind when first they walked on the Earth, and the Etin possessed primal elemental powers that neither the Aesir nor Vanir ever had.

For the most part, Aesir and Vanir are at war forever with the etin kind, in the same way that humanity is at 'war' with Nature, attempting to kerb her greater excesses and to diminish the force of her destructive acts. In some situations, however, gods wed Etins and the offspring of these marriages tend to be beings of enormous potency.

Loki wed an etin named Angrboda. From that mating came the Ouroboros serpent that encircles the earth, the Fenris wolf who will swallow the Sun at Ragnarok and the goddess Hel, half-living, half-rotted, who rules over the realm of the dead.

There is a sense of great foreboding in the Skirnismal, and in fact, the price that Frey pays for marriage to Gerd is high.

Skirnir volunteers to ride to Gymir's hall to court Gerd on behalf of his master. He only asks that Frey lend him 'your steed, which can bear you through the dusk, the flickering walls of flame and your sword which brandishes itself unaided against the Etin race.'

Skirnir rides to Gymir's hall. Before the gates he finds a mound with a shepherd sitting upon it. This is a traditional Northern motif, actually, and symbolises entry into the other realm. Grave mounds were considered to be the entrance to the other realm. Those who sat upon them either were seers or in this case, guides to the otherworld.

Skirnir asks the cowherd how he should approach Gymir's daughter, despite the presence of the Etin's hounds. The cowherd responds: 'Either you are death-doomed or a departed one', giving further evidence of the fact that Gymir's hall is in the 'other realm' and that Skirnir's 'journey' is that of a shaman.

Skirnir retorts that there are far better choices than whining about his fate for one who is prepared to die, then states: 'the day of my Death is fixed, by Fate is my time determined.'

Now Gerd is introduced into the poem. She asks what the cause might be of the terrible sound and the shaking of the Earth, an earthquake so powerful that the wide fields and halls of Gymir tremble'.

The shepherd replies that it is no more than a man who has dismounted and who allows his horse to graze unbridled. This is a clue to Frey's own power. The fact that a huge earthquake is the result of Skirnir's act of dismounting the steed demonstrates the power of the messenger of the Lord of the Earth.

Gerd then bids the stranger enter and offers him a draught of mead, 'although my heart forebodes that my brother's killer darkens the door with his shadow.'

She then asks Skirnir: 'Are you one of the elves, are you one of the gods, or one of the wise Vanir? Why have you ridden here through the wild ring of flame?'

Skirnir replies that he is not elf, god nor Van, but that he has braved the ring of fire to offer her eleven golden apples if she will accept Frey's courtship.

Gerd dismisses his offer. There is an implication here that the golden apples are the apples of immortality in Idun's care, so her instant rejection of the offer only serves to emphasise her own power.

Skirnir then offers her the ring Draupnir, set upon Baldr's funeral pyre. From this ring every ninth night, eight rings of equal weight will drop.

Gerd declares she has no need for gold, that she shares her father's incredible wealth.

Skirnir then threatens to behead her with the sword he holds. Gerd tells him: 'I never will suffer compulsion to please any man.'

Finally, Skirnir threatens her with a runewand empowered with a terrible curse: 'I score three Thurs runes, then I score three more runes: filth, frenzy and lust (' ergi, oendi and othola'). He tells her that she will be doomed to be sent where no son of man nor god will see her again, with earth behind her, on an eagle's mound, forever facing Hel. She will be wed to the three-headed troll at the gates of the land of the dead. 'Every day to the Halls of Frost you shall creep, crawl without choice, without any hope of choice.... Hear me, Etins, hear me Frost-trolls, sons of Suttung, hear me! What I predict, what I forbid: No joy of man to this maid, no love of man to this maid.'

Gerd capitulates at the threat of this horrible fate, and calls for the mead cup to pledge her love to Frey. She tells Skirnir that she will meet Freyr at Barri after nine nights to give herself to him.

Skirnir in return is forced to leave Frey's sword in her keeping. At the last battle of Ragnarok, Frey will lament the loss of his sword...

When Skirnir returns with the good news, Frey declares: 'Long is one night, longer are two. Endless is the thought of three. Many a month has moved more swiftly than this half of a bridal eve.'

Although the Skirnismal itself makes no reference to the fact that Frey's sword is the price that he pays to wed the etin's daughter, this fact is related elsewhere in the Eddas. The equation of the sword with Frey's manhood can be made based on a number of elements involved in his cult.

The priests of Frey, like those of Attis, dressed in women's gowns and wore their hair long and unbound. Frey's worship was connected to that of the old Earth goddess Nerthus. There is a description of an annual ritual wherein the statue of the goddess was pulled in a waggon to a sacred lake and there bathed. This is identical to the rite performed on the last day of the Festival of Attis, wherein the statue of Cybele was taken in a waggon to the river and ritually purified.

Freyr or Frey was a priapic god, although not a god connected with any sexual exploits. Those were reserved for his twin sister Freya who is the subject of countless tales of unrestrained sexual performances. Statues of Frey often were ithyphallic. Interestingly enough, ithyphallic gods are not sexually active gods but in many cases are deities who undergo castration periodically. Dionysus was depicted as an ithyphallic god at one season and as a god denuded of his manhood at another. Ouronos was castrated by Chronos. Osiris was castrated and the goddess Isis was forced to fashion an artificial member for him in order to obtain his seed. The castration rites connected with Attis have been preserved in literature and history in dramatic form.

In many ancient religions, therefore, the cult of a priapic god was linked to the cult of the same god when castrated. This castration event was the ultimate hierogamos or sacred marriage between the god and the Earth.

Dionysus declared that unless the vine was cut, it could not live, and in fact, grapevines must be pruned severely in order to flourish. Christ declared: 'I am the true Vine and my Father is the husbandman.' He further declares that even the branches that bear fruit must be cut in order to produce more.

The act of castration is the ultimate act of pruning. Those who experienced this sacrifice joined a class of being that dwelled both in this realm and the 'other'. Neither men nor women, they devoted themselves solely to the Divine. The power inherent in the ritual of castration made it the ultimate sacrifice. In the ancient mystery religions, this great sacrifice produced life for the entire world.