VIRILIS

ALCHEMY OF ORION

The sexual acts of the gods in antiquity appear to personify the myths linked to the forging of
metals. Numerous myths that envisage castrated deities seem to mirror the addition of arsenic
or tin to copper and thus castrating the original metal to create a new alloy. To this day we still
speak of 'cutting' one substance with another in contemporary discourse. Chemical castration of
humans also forms part of modern medicine. The new alloy was stronger than the original
metal and could be said to have castrated the original metal/deity. The sexual acts of the gods in
these myths can therefore be seen to reflect the metallurgy of antiquity. These concepts can be
divined in the texts and images of alchemy which preserved elements of the earliest human
theologies.
"As we have discovered by research, the Romans are devoted to this goddess for the following
reason - a reason which it seems worth while to relate here, since it is unknown to some of the
Greeks. They say that this statue of the goddess (Cybele) fell from the sky; the exact material of
the statue is not known, nor the identity of the artists who made it; in fact, it is not certain that
the statue was the work of human hands. Long ago it fell from the sky in Phrygia (the name of
the region where it fell is Pessinus, which received its name from the fall of the heavenly
statue); the statue was discovered there."1

adnuerant omnes, omnes ad terga iuvenci

constiterant - pudor est ulteriora loqui.
tum superiniecta texere madentia terra:
iamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.
hunc Hyrieus, quia sic genitus, vocat Uriona:
perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum.2

The myth that is here related by Ovid in the 'Fasti' is about the birth of the constellation of Orion. Ovid
alludes to more ancient myths that underlie the legends and indicates that the name of Orion had
changed over the course of the ages.

In this myth Hyrieus chances upon the gods Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury (Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes).
By providing hospitality to the gods while in their human form Hyrieus wins their favour and is granted a
wish. Hyrieus requests that he be made a father without breaking a vow of faithfulness to his deceased
wife.

This device allows the universe to be created outside conventional procreative means either by a single
deity or in this case by three male deities.

vocat Uriona: perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum

According to Ovid the pronunciation of the first letter of Uriona had changed over time and the name of
this deity had become Orion. This suggests that Orion is a corruption of the original Uriona which itself
could be a simplification of Uranus or Urania. All these derive ultimately from the original god Ouranos.

The archaic Greek deity stood at the apex of the most ancient Greek pantheon. This was the god of the
vault of the heavens that formed a duality with Gaia (the earth) below. Ovid indicates here that there
was an awareness in his time that the name of Orion was a simplified logo or word that had changed
over the course of time from its primordial source.

Evidence of the association of Ouranos with Orion is the sexual synthesis of the legends that are
attached to the deities. Orion was born from the semen splattered hide of an ox (or bull in some
versions) that is buried in the earth. Ouranos was castrated with a gigantic flint scythe wielded by
Chronos (Saturn) leaving his disembodied phallus shining in the night sky.

According to Cicero "... an ancient belief prevailed throughout Greece that Caelus (Uranus/Ouranos) was
mutilated (castrated) by his son Saturn, and Saturn himself thrown into bondage by his son Jove: now
these immoral fables enshrined a decidedly clever scientific theory. Their meaning was that the highest
element of celestial aether or fire, which by itself generates all things, is devoid of that bodily part which
requires union with another for the work of procreation." 3

Therefore in these myths procreation is achieved by the deities without recourse to conventional human
intercourse. This act avoids the chicken and egg syndrome by postulating the original act of creation
within the self-contained autoerotic mind of the creator.

Macrobius defines the difficulty in explaining the original act of creation through an act of conventional
procreation. "To say that the egg was produced before the chicken is like saying a womb came to be
before a woman: asking how a chicken could exist without an egg is like asking how humans were
produced before the genitals instrumental in their procreation." 4

tum superiniecta texere madentia terra:

iamque decem menses, et puer ortus erat.

superiniectum - splatter, throw or scatter over a surface

madentia - be made wet with tears, perspiration (or other bodily fluids)
texere - weave, plait together

Ovid states that modesty prevents him from fully describing the act that took place but from the words
used the inference is obvious. In order to give birth to the entity that was subsequently named Orion the
three deities stand over the hide from a freshly slaughtered ox. They then splatter the hide with their
semen covering the surface with a network of conjoined semen.

The semen splatters are then woven or plaited together to form the constellation of Orion. The
intertwining network of multiple strands of the semen splatter the night sky with a lattice of heavenly
forms.
The hide is then buried in the earth for ten months until it gives birth to Uriona. From ancient times the
pronunciation of the first letter changed so that the constellation came to be known as Orion. The
constellation was sometimes referred to as 'Oriona' in Latin texts and even appears in this form in Virgil's
'Aeneid.' In this case changing the first letter, as suggested by Ovid, would render the complete change
of meaning. In the 'Aeneid' Oriona (Orion) is described as being armed with gold: "armatumque auro
circumspicit Oriona."5

'Uriona' was euphemistically expressed in the (probably corrupted) texts of Hyginus as urine. It appears
that the original myth was too controversial for Roman sensitivities and Ovid acknowledges this by
refraining from fully describing the act of the three gods. The myth of Orion's birth remains too
controversial for contemporary tastes and this results in translators automatically transcribing Uriona as
signifying urine despite the Latin urina (urine) clearly having a different construction.

To translate Uriona as a reference to urine and so suggesting that the gods urinated on the hide makes
no sense within the overall context of the myth. Although hides may be soaked in urine during the
tanning process this does not allow the human mind to imagine that this could result in a birth. The use
of the word superiniecta is not consistent with soaking the hide in urine. In addition it is unlikely that the
use of urine would be sufficiently scandalous for Ovid to state that modesty prevented him from further
describing the act.

The process of burying an object in the earth which engenders some form of birth or rebirth is an
indication that the mysteries are being referenced. Porphyry describes the doctrines of Pythagoras
whereby humans are born from an alchemical process involving the fermentation of beans that are
buried in the ground.

"Beans were interdicted, it is said, because the particular plants grow and individualize only after (the
earth) which is the principle and origin of all things, is mixed together, so that many things underground
are confused, and coalesce; after which everything rots together. Then living creatures were produced
together with plants, so that both men and beans arose out of putrefaction whereof he alleged many
manifest arguments."6

Putrefaction is one of the stages in alchemy and the statement "that both men and beans arose out of
putrefaction" seems to have an alchemical genesis. The synthesis of vegetative fertility and human
reproduction is a known feature of the Eleusinian Mysteries. We can recognize these mysteries in the
description of the ritual process of burying the beans in an earthen container which then gives birth to
human infants or human sexual organs.

"For if anyone should chew a bean, and having ground it to a pulp with his teeth, and should expose that
pulp to the warm sun, for a short while, and then return to it, he will perceive the scent of human blood.
Moreover, if at the time when beans bloom, one should take a little of the flower, which then is black,
and should put it into an earthen vessel, and cover it closely, and bury it in the ground for ninety days,
and at the end thereof take it up, instead of the bean he will find either the head of an infant, or the
pudenda of a woman."7

Porphyry states here that a person chewing the pulp of a bean "will perceive the scent of human blood."
Haematite (hematite) was used as a flux in the smelting of copper and was also a primary ore in the
smelting of iron. Haematite is defined as a reddish-black iron oxide. The name is derived from the Greek
haimatites lithos - 'blood-like stone.' Haemoglobin and haematology both derive from the same Greek
root word haima - 'blood.' Therefore metallurgy and the human body are inextricably linked by these
words. This could explain why Porphyry referred to beans tasting of blood. Metals were traded as bean-
shaped ingots in antiquity as is seen by excavations of Bronze Age wrecks.

A process of alchemical fermentation is inferred here which compares to the text of Augustine on the
Eleusinian Mysteries where the dry seed of plants and the liquid seed of animals (semen) are placed in
the same context as the fermentation of wine. "Now as to the rites of Liber, whom they have set over
liquid seeds, and therefore not only over the liquors of fruits, among which wine holds, so to speak, the
primacy, but also over the seeds of animals… Varro says that in Italy, at the places where roads crossed
each other, the rites of Liber were celebrated with such unrestrained turpitude, that the private parts of
a man were worshipped in his honour." 8

In Egypt simulations of the severed phallus of Osiris were set up by Isis in the temples to be worshipped.
The persistent theme of castration and genital mutilation is ubiquitous in antiquity. The body of Osiris
had been slashed into pieces with his genital parts hacked off and thrown into the Nile. The other parts
of the body of Osiris were located and reassembled by Isis but the genital parts remained lost in the
river. The Nile thus embodied the genital parts of Osiris and contained the divine semen. "As they regard
the Nile as the effusion of Osiris, so they hold and believe the earth to be the body of Isis, not all of it,
but so much of it as the Nile covers, fertilizing and uniting with it." 9

Isis ordained that a simulation of the phallus of Osiris be set up in the temples and given the status of a
god. "... the privates (of Osiris), according to them, were thrown by Typhon into the Nile… Yet Isis
thought them as worthy of divine honours as the other parts, for, fashioning a likeness of them, she set it
up in the temples, commanded that it be honoured, and made it the object of the highest regard and
reverence in the rites and sacrifices accorded to the god. Consequently the Greeks too, inasmuch as they
received from Egypt the celebrations of the orgies and the festivals connected with Dionysus, honour
this member in both the mysteries and the initiatory rites and sacrifices of this god, giving it the name
'phallus.'"10

The foaming froth of the flooding Nile thus has a direct correlation with the warm foamy substance of
semen. From the hot aether in semen the process of creation began. There is here the direct linkage of
religion symbolized by Osiris, lord of the underworld and the deity representing resurrection, and the
life-giving secretion of moisture and semen by the Nile. "But the wiser of the priests call not only the Nile
Osiris and the sea Typhon, but they simply give the name of Osiris to the whole source and faculty
creative of moisture, believing this to be the cause of generation and the substance of life-producing
seed…"11

This was a divine water that contained the code for all generation. The vital water was celebrated as
containing the divine essence involved in creation. The moisture of semen and the moisture of water
were the source for all creation. "Not only the Nile, but every form of moisture they call simply the
effusion of Osiris; and in their holy rites the water jar in honour of the gods heads the procession." 12

Jupiter (Zeus) is especially attributed with lightning and this deified phallus was associated with fertilizing
the earth. Varro states that the great gods which he describes as powerful and potent represent the
duality of heaven and earth. The sky or sun is male and fertilizes the earth which is female and moist.
"Therefore the conditions of procreation are two: fire and water. Thus these are used at the threshold in
weddings, because there is union here, and fire is male, which the semen is in the other case, and the
water is the female, because the embryo develops from her moisture, and the force that brings their
vinctio 'binding' is Venus 'love.'"13

The act of creation by the deities of Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes could therefore be seen as the
personification of lightning striking the goddess (the earth). These alchemical processes of fire and
moisture bear the imprint of primordial creation.

Emphasis is placed by Ovid on there being three deities that create the constellation of Orion.
Consequently there is a clear association with the three stars that we euphemistically term Orion's Belt.
This is phallic by association and is further enhanced by representing the triple phallus of the three
deities. Plutarch combines the concepts of religious trinity with the archaic nature of phallic worship. The
ancient Egyptian festival of the Pamylia involved a triple phallus which was believed to be especially
potent due to its three-fold nature.

"Moreover, when they celebrate the festival of the Pamylia which, as has been said, is of a phallic
member, they expose and carry about a statue of which the male member is triple; for the god is the
Source, and every source, by its fecundity, multiplies what proceeds from it; and for 'many times' we
have a habit of saying 'thrice,' as, for example, 'thrice happy,' and unless, indeed, the word 'triple' is used
by the early writers in its strict meaning; for the nature of moisture, being the source and origin of all
things, created out of itself three primal material substances, Earth, Air and Fire." 14

Thus, according to Plutarch, the nature of moisture is the source and origin of the other primary
elements. The moist nature of semen forms the primary substance involved in creation and is evident in
the clusters of stars in the night sky. Even within the confines of contemporary science it is evident that
stars are created from cosmic gaseous clouds as seen in the 'Pillars of Creation' of the Eagle Nebula. In
essence the concepts of original creation in antiquity and those of the present differ essentially in the
descriptive terms that are invoked.
The Egyptian creator deity Atum constructs the constellations from his own semen. According to the
Shabaka Stone this was the original act of creation. "This Ennead of Atum came into being through his
semen and through his fingers."

The Memphis Theology that is inscribed on the Shabaka Stone is associated with the temple of Ptah that
Herodotus identifies with the Greek deity Hephaestus. The role of this entity as a divine forger of metals
binds him to the alchemical pantheon.

In the creation myth of Hephaestus and Athena the semen from the gods in the heavens impregnates
the earth (Gaia) below. Hephaestus ejaculates his fiery semen over Athena who casts it down upon
earth, so impregnating it. Human life is therefore formed by the Demiurge, Hephaestus or Vulcan,
moulding his creations from the fiery heat. "She (Athena) founded your city a thousand years before
ours, receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus the seed of your race..." 15

Therefore the universe is formed from an act of male-only procreation that is comparable to the Greek
myth of the birth of Orion. In the Egyptian myth the creator is a single deity that procreates two further
entities through an act of self-contained autoeroticism.

The rivers of semen that stream from this act of deified autoeroticism define the creation myth of
ancient Egypt. Atum is self-created through this act which gives birth to the sacred primordial mound
that rises out of the undefined waters of the pre-existing state. Thus the rising of the phallus of Atum is
the first act of creation.

The theology of the Shabaka Stone is supported by the Pyramid Texts of Sakkara which confirm this
theory of creation. The Pyramid Texts document the original Egyptian creation myth and are in
themselves among the most ancient evidence of recorded human thought.

The autoerotic act of Atum is elaborated in these ancient texts. The rivers of semen that flow from this
act fill the night sky with shining celestial foam. The Nile is replicated above by these celestial rivers. The
celestial aetherial river of the Milky Way is reflected in the Nile below.

To say: Atum created by his masturbation in Heliopolis.

To put his phallus in his fist
to excite desire thereby.
The twins were born, Shu and Tefnut. 16

The single entity (the autoerotic mind of Atum) gives birth to two entities (Shu and Tefnut) without
recourse to procreative intercourse. The act avoids the chicken and egg syndrome by postulating the
original act of creation within the self-contained autoerotic mind of the creator.

Therefore the act of primordial creation is explicitly linked to the autoerotic mind of Atum and visual
evidence of this was seen in the shining celestial trails of star clusters in the night sky. The foaming
celestial star clusters, formed from the primordial semen, were envisaged as the ejaculatory splatter of
the deity in the night sky.

Another ancient source, the Derveni Papyrus, supports this theory of creation. This appears to have been
inspired by Orphic doctrines and the charred remains of the document were recovered from a
Macedonian tomb. In this vision the clusters of stars are similarly seen as the foaming secretion of the
deified phallus. The celestial phallus was consequently the originator of the firmament of stars.
According to the Derveni Papyrus "He (the deity) ingested/swallowed the phallus that first procreated
the aether."17

The concept contained in the papyrus is also envisioned by Hesiod in the 'Theogony.' This work is
relatively ancient by Greek standards but draws on myths that are much older and certainly parallel
Babylonian theology. Hesiod therefore expresses a vision that predates classical Greek civilization. These
ancient myths define the origin of human creative thought.

In this vision the stars become the semen of the gods filling the night sky with shining heavenly foam.
Aphrodite Urania (Ourania) emerged from the foam surrounding the severed genitals of Uranus
(Ouranos). According to Hesiod this seminal foam formed the heavenly body of the goddess.

"And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea,
they were swept away over the main a long time; and a white foam spread around them from the
immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden… Her gods and men call Aphrodite and the foam-born
goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam…" 18

Therefore the foaming clusters of stars are the source of all creation. These streams of semen were
envisaged as rivers of stars formed from the ejaculatory acts of the gods in the night sky. The semen
spatter was woven into an infinite network of stars that formed the shining constellations.

Varro states that the great goddess was born from fiery seed that fell from the sky. "The poets, in that
they say the fiery seed fell from the Sky into the sea and Venus (Aphrodite) was born 'from the foam-
masses,' through the conjunction of fire and moisture, are indicating that the vis 'force' which they have
is that of Venus (Aphrodite). Those born of this vis have what is called vita 'life'..."19

The vision draws direct comparison with the myth in the text that is termed the ‘Kingship in Heaven,' and
describes the castration of the archetypal Mesopotamian deity Anu. This deity is seen as equivalent to
the archaic Greek deity Ouranos in that both are original creator gods that symbolize the generalized
concept of the vault of the sky. Kumarbi castrates/genitally mutilates Anu in a remarkable parallel to the
later text of Hesiod in which Chronons castrates Ouranos.

He (Kumarbi) bit his (Anu’s) loins

(so that) his manhood united with Kumarbi’s interior like bronze.
 When it united,
when Kumarbi swallowed Anu’s manhood,
he rejoiced and laughed.
Anu turned back
and to Kumarbi he began to speak:
‘Thou rejoicest about thine interior
because thou hast swallowed my manhood!
Do not rejoice about thine interior!
Into thine interior I have put a (heavy) load:
First I have made thee pregnant with the weighty Storm-god;
second I have made thee pregnant with the river Aranzakh (Tigris), the irresistible;
third I have made thee pregnant with the weighty god Tas-mishu,
and two (other) terrible gods have I put as load into thine interior. 20

This then is very similar to the Derveni Papyrus where the deity "ingested/swallowed the phallus that
first procreated the aether." The phallus that created the aether would in this sense be that of Anu who
is seen as equivalent to Ouranos.

The semen of Anu fertilizes the interior of his male successor Kumarbi who is now laden with five gods.
This pregnancy therefore results from male to male insemination and is consistent with both the Greek
and Egyptian creation myths.

Arsenic was used as an agent in copper metallurgy to create a form of bronze. By breaking down the
original metal to create a new more powerful alloy it metaphorically castrated the smelted copper. This
conception is supported by the description of the progeny as weighty gods and heavy loads thus
indicating metals. The "weighty Storm-god" has an association with the air that was blown into the
furnace and the water that tempered the metal.

There is a direct association between Anu and the constellation of Orion. He is termed the 'Shepherd of
Orion' but this appears to be a later accretion where stars are joined with the asterism of Orion's Belt to
form a mythical figure that is still identified with Anu but conceals the original meaning pertaining to the
three central stars.

Anu was originally a phallic deity and this can clearly be seen from the form of the Stele of Hammurabi
that encodes the laws of his domain. The stele is dedicated to Anu and the deity is addressed in the
opening inscription. The sculpted phallus was therefore incorporated on earth in order to reflect the
disembodied phallus in the sky.

These concepts can be traced even further back to the earliest evidence of human civilization. The
eastern central pillar of Enclosure D at Gobekli Tepe exhibits a phallus that is incorporated into the
structure of the side of the pillar rising to the full height of the pillar.
On either side of the pillar incised representations of human arms stretch down towards the lower part
of the phallus. In a sophisticated use of the structure the hands bend at the knuckles on the sides of the
pillar in order to hold the phallus. Around the base of the phallus a prominent belt traverses the pillar.

This phallic structure correlates with biblical texts that describe what is termed the 'phallic oath.' Legal
weight was given to an oath that incorporated the phallus in the same way that the bible is used in court
today. Ironically the original concept of giving an oath is lost but is still preserved within the text of the
bible itself.

The pillar at Gobekli Tepe is also consistent with the phallic Stele of Hammurabi on which the legal Code
of Hammurabi is inscribed. The association of a code of laws with the phallus is explained in the bible. In
one instance Abraham commands his servant to '"Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by
the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth'… So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his
master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter…" 21

Ovid's myth about the birth of Orion is paralleled by the biblical feast that is prepared by Abraham for
three male angelic visitors. They foretell the birth of a son despite his wife being past the age of
childbearing. The Abrahamic myth is similar to the Orion myth indicating that the myths have deeper
roots than has been acknowledged.

Abraham greets the three guests with an implicit awareness that they have a divine origin. He offers
them his hospitality and prepares a feast by slaughtering a calf. The initial encounter between Abraham
and the three male 'angels' mirrors that between Hyrieus and the three deities that create the
constellation of Orion.

"The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to
his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw
them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, 'If I
have found favour in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.'" 22

This Abrahamic version of the myth is in itself significant since it presages early Christian controversies
over the nature of the Trinity that culminated in the Nicene Creed. The fact that Abraham addresses the
three men as one entity led Augustine to postulate that their appearance was the embodiment of the
Holy Trinity. There is a significant emphasis in the biblical story on the three beings representing one
overriding deity. This allows Augustine to present their manifestation as proof of the Trinity.

"But since three men appeared, and no one of them is said to be greater than the rest either in form, or
age, or power, why should we not here understand, as visibly intimated by the visible creature, the
equality of the Trinity, and one and the same substance in three persons?" 23
Controversy over the nature of the Trinity centred around the meaning of the ancient Greek word
'ousia.' In Latin this is translated as essentia and thus signifies 'essence.' The divine essence could be
transferred through all three separate entities while simultaneously incorporating them into one deity.
"In fact, the Greeks call emission apousia and coition synousia, and the son (hyios) from water (hydor)
and rain (hysai)..."24

'Essence' captures the nature of semen in that semen contains a transmissible genetic code and
therefore can be said to contain the essence of the human host. By contrast urine, as a waste product,
can not be said to encompass the essence of that human. Semen as a substance that contains this
essence (ousia) consequently contains cosmic codes that ultimately derive from the birth of the stars.

In alchemical terms this essence could be seen as a code for mercurial water - a vital liquid that is
innately associated with Mercury (Hermes). The divine water activated the innate qualities of metals and
so functioned as a catalyst. Mercury was one of the three deities that committed the act of primordial
creation in Ovid’s myth. This deity is given the title Hermes Trismegistus - the 'Thrice Greatest' in
alchemical texts. Jupiter (Zeus) was associated with lightning and thus with the element of fire. Neptune
(Poseidon), the third deity in Ovid’s creation myth, clearly represents the element of water. These all
have an association with the forging of metals.

The 'Kingship in Heaven' refers to the semen of Anu as uniting with Kumarbi like bronze: "...his (Anu’s)
manhood united with Kumarbi’s interior like bronze." This metal having been formed of copper and tin
thus creates a trinity of metals. The concept in the 'Kingship in Heaven' predates by millennia the
controversies in the Christian church over the nature of the Trinity. The two metals through this ancient
alchemy form a new metal which contains the essence of all three in one manifestation. Arsenic could
also be inferred as a castrating agent in the forging of bronze. The addition of arsenic to the copper not
only created a new synthesis of three elements in the new alloy but also can be said to have castrated
the original metal.

Archaeological evidence links these myths to magnetized iron rings that have been found on Samothrace
which are undeniably connected to the Samothracian Mysteries. Iron rings appear to have been a central
feature of the cult and probably became souvenirs upon initiation. In addition the advanced metallurgy
of the island is shown by the reported invention of a new type of gilding that was applied to iron rings.
They were known as 'Samothracian rings' and are attested by Pliny.

"At the present day, too, the very slaves even, encase their iron rings with gold (while other articles
belonging to them, they decorate with pure gold), a licence which first originated in the Isle of
Samothrace, as the name given to the invention clearly shows." 25

The magnetic power of the lodestone is extensively documented in antiquity. Numerous references to
the phenomenon, when combined with the archaeological evidence of the magnetized iron rings, enable
an understanding of the concepts behind the Samothracian Mysteries. It appears that the rings were
strung in a chain with only magnetic power as the binding force. This magical chain can be imagined as a
prototype of the initiation.

According to Plato in 'Ion' this magnetic attraction was "... a divine power, which moves you like that in
the stone which Euripides named a magnet, but most people call ‘Heraclea stone.’ For this stone not only
attracts iron rings, but also imparts to them a power whereby they in turn are able to do the very same
thing as the stone, and attract other rings; so that sometimes there is formed quite a long chain of bits of
iron and rings, suspended one from another; and they all depend for this power on that one stone. In
the same manner also the Muse inspires men herself, and then by means of these inspired persons the
inspiration spreads to others, and holds them in a connected chain." 26

This awareness of magnetic attraction was interpreted as a force exerted by the gods which Varro
describes as powerful and potent: "... these are those whom the Books of the Augurs mention in writing
as potent deities, for what the Samothracians call powerful gods."27

This force is described by Pliny as animating the iron rings and propelling them to leap towards the
magnetic stone as if they possessed hands and feet. "What is there more stubborn than hard iron?
Nature has, in this instance, bestowed upon it both feet and intelligence. It allows itself, in fact, to be
attracted by the magnet, and, itself a metal which subdues all other elements, it precipitates itself
towards the source of an influence at once mysterious and unseen. The moment the metal comes near
it, it springs towards the magnet, and, as it clasps it, is held fast in the magnet’s embraces." 28

This is equivalent to the force that is exerted by the gods on humans driving the participants in the
mysteries into various ecstatic states. There is a similar equivalence to the forces that drive the lyric
poets to create works that are inspired by the pull of the gods. Plato compares this momentum to the
forces that lie within the magnetic stone. These unseen forces drive the souls of both the bacchants and
the poets.

"... just as the Corybantian worshippers do not dance when in their senses, so the lyric poets do not
indite those fine songs in their senses, but when they have started on the melody and rhythm they begin
to be frantic, and it is under possession - as the bacchants are possessed, and not in their senses, when
they draw honey and milk from the rivers - that the soul of the lyric poets does the same thing, by their
own report."29

Lucretius makes explicitly clear that these texts are referring to the Samothracian Mysteries. He
describes brazen bowls that hold iron filings which are excited by the action of the lodestone beneath
the bowl. The brazen bowls function as a reflection of the domed vault of the heavens.

Those Samothracian iron rings leap up,

And iron filings in the brazen bowls
Seethe furiously, when underneath was set
The magnet stone.30
Lucretius compares the force being exerted on the iron filings to a 'tide.' This demonstrates an
awareness that magnetic forces can exert a powerful attracting force equivalent to the gravitational pull
of the moon on the tides.

In these affairs
Marvel thou not that from this stone the tide
Prevails…
That there the tide streams through without a break… 31

There is also a developing awareness of the atomic structures that are affected by these forces. The
mysterious and unseen forces are seen to exert an attraction on the interior atoms of the seemingly inert
objects.

Therefore, when iron (which lies between the two)

Hath taken in some atoms of the brass,
Then do the streams of that Magnesian rock
Move iron by their smitings.32

Magnetic attraction is likened to a sexual force that propels semen from the body. This can be seen as
equivalent to lightning that is preceded by pent-up forces from which it is suddenly released. This force is
unseen but drives the current so that it "spews forth from itself."

With its own current against the iron’s fabric

To dash and beat; by means whereof it spews
Forth from itself…33

In the text from Arnobius that relates the myth about the birth of Agdistis he states that Jupiter (Zeus)
"spent his lust on the stone." The stone became pregnant from this act and after ten months gave birth
to Agdistis. This allegorical and alchemical myth appears to refer to lightning striking the rock. This was
the mechanism by which the deities interacted with the physical plane.

"Her (the goddess), given over to rest and sleep on the very summit of the rock, Jupiter (Zeus) assailed
with (the) lewdest desires. But when, after long strife, he could not accomplish what he had proposed to
himself, he, baffled, spent his lust on the stone. This the rock received, and… Acdestis (Agdistis) is born in
the tenth month, being named from his mother rock." 34

Pliny states that stones that had been struck by lightning acquired magical powers. They are compared
to meteorites which were believed to contain the spirits of the gods.

"Sotacus mentions also two other varieties of ceraunia, one black and the other red; and he says that
they resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and round, he says, are looked upon as sacred, and
by their assistance cities and fleets are attacked and taken: the name given to them is baetyli
(meteorites), those of an elongated form being known as cerauniae. They make out also that there is a
another kind, rarely to be met with, and much in request for the practises of magic, it never being found
in any place but one that has been struck by lightning." 35

The idea that a stone that had been struck by lightning could accrue magical powers seemed until
recently an ancient superstition. But this magical quality now lies at the forefront of scientific research.
Magnetite naturally exhibits a low level of magnetism but the high level of magnetic polarity in rare
examples was unexplained. New scientific research has revealed that a lighting strike on magnetite
creates a powerful magnetic field that magnetizes the stone giving it a potent magnetic polarity.

Given the strong magnetic polarity that is attested by ancient texts documenting the Samothracian
Mysteries it appears that this was the type of stone that was used. The magnetic stone or lodestone of
Samothrace was therefore a magnetite rock that had been struck by lightning. Varro refers to the
'potent' deities that determined the mysteries: “...these are those whom the Books of the Augurs
mention in writing as potent deities, for what the Samothracians call powerful gods."36

Lightning, the phallus of the gods, strikes the earth and through this deified sexual act fertilizes the
goddess. In the myth related by Arnobius the stones are described as being "animated by the Deity."
They thus bear a direct comparison to the alchemical magnetic stone that animated the Samothracian
Mysteries.

"Within the confines of Phrygia, he (Timotheus) says, there is a rock of unheard-of wildness in every
respect, the name of which is Agdus, so named by the natives of that district. Stones taken from it, as
Themis by her oracle had enjoined, Deucalion and Pyrrha threw upon the earth, at that time emptied of
men; from which this Great Mother, too, as she is called, was fashioned along with the others, and
animated by the Deity."37

Meteorites that were found on earth were believed to be mediums between the gods and humans and
contained the living gods. The stones were thus animated by the spirits of the gods and functioned as a
type of extraterrestrial relic that contained magical powers. They were termed baetyls, a Semitic word,
that expressed the concept that the stone was the house of the god.

A coin from Emesa clearly shows the conical Baetyl of El-Gabal. Herodian says that the shrine containing
the sacred conical stone was dedicated to the sun god and was worshipped under the Phoenician name
of El-Gabal. A great temple was erected to this god and lavishly decorated in gold and silver.

"No statue made by man in the likeness of the god stands in this temple, as in Greek and Roman
temples, the temple does, however, contain a huge black stone with a pointed end and round base in the
shape of a cone. The Phoenicians solemnly maintain that this stone came from Zeus; pointing out certain
small figures in relief, they assert that it is an unwraught image of the sun, for naturally this is what they
wish to see."38
In reference to the shrine of Astarte at Byblos, and her cult there, Philo of Byblos states that "Astarte set
the head of a bull upon her head as a mark of royalty; and in travelling round the world she found a star
that had fallen from the sky, which she took up and consecrated in the holy island of Tyre. And the
Phoenicians say that Astarte is Aphrodite."

Aphrodite was represented by a black conical stone that was believed to be animated by the spirit of the
goddess. The black baetyl was believed to be a meteorite that had come from the stars and to be a gift
from the gods. Thus the baetyl was the body of the star that enclosed the spirit of the deity.

Uranus (Ouranos), the god of the vault of the heavens, sent the meteorites or baetyls to seed the earth.
Urania, the daughter of Uranus, also symbolized the heavens and by extension these sacred stones. She
was combined with Aphrodite to form a deity that encapsulated the qualities of the fallen stars.

Aphrodite Urania was worshipped across Asia Minor and the sanctuary on Cyprus was one of the most
celebrated in antiquity. The Phoenicians identified her with their own Baalath or Astarte. "If two deities
were thus fused in one, we may suppose that they were both varieties of that great goddess of
motherhood and fertility whose worship appears to have been spread all over Western Asia from a very
early time. The supposition is confirmed as well by the archaic shape of her image as by the licentious
character of her rites; for both that shape and those rites were shared by her with other Asiatic
deities."39

Strabo directly links the cult of Cybele and the ritual ecstatic dance of the Corybantian worshippers to
Samothrace. The rituals celebrated "the orgies in honour of the mother of the gods which are celebrated
in Phrygia and in the region of the Trojan Ida… and, in the guise of ministers, as inspiring terror at the
celebration of the sacred rites by means of war-dances, accompanied by uproar and noise and cymbals
and drums and arms, and also by flute and outcry; and consequently these rites are in a way regarded as
having a common relationship, I mean these and those of the Samothracians and those in Lemnos and in
several other places, because the divine ministers are called the same." 40

Outside the gate of the temple complex in Samothrace stood two male statues in bronze. An original
source for this contention is the rare surviving text of Varro. Despite the text stating that the two statues
are male ("virilis") they are then described as a male and a female.

"For Earth and Sky, as the mysteries of the Samothracians teach, are Great Gods, and these whom I have
mentioned under many names, are not those Great Gods whom Samothrace represents by two male
statues of bronze which are set up before the city-gates (ante portas statuit duas virilis species aeneas
dei magni), nor are they, as the populace thinks, the Samothracian gods, who are really Castor and
Pollux; but these are a male and a female, these are those whom the Books of the Augurs mention in
writing as potent deities for what the Samothracians call powerful gods."41
Varro describes the two statues outside the temple as "those whom the Books of the Augurs mention in
writing as potent deities for what the Samothracians call powerful gods." Arsenic derives from the
Persian zarnikh (yellow orpiment) which is the origin of the Greek word arsenikon (Latin arsenicum). This
is related to arsenikos which means 'masculine' or 'potent.' The use of the word 'potent' in Varro's text
therefore functions as a code word for metallurgy or alchemy.

Arsenic was used in copper smelting as a chemical agent to create bronze. By binding with copper and
thus creating a new stronger alloy it could be said to have castrated the original metal. The agent acted
as a catalyst equivalent to semen in this alchemical process.

Pliny applies the terms of male and female in his discussion on magnetism and so indicates that
magnetic polarity was described in these terms. "The leading distinction in magnets is the sex, male and
female…"42

Pausanias also describes the myth of Agdistis and describes the deity as having "two sexual organs, male
and female." There is therefore a clear correlation between Varro's text which describes the male statues
as "a male and a female" and the text of Pausanias that describes Agdistis as having male and female
attributes. Pausanias refers to Agdistis as male throughout dispelling the notion that the deity was a
goddess.

"Zeus, it is said, let fall in his sleep seed upon the ground, which in course of time sent up a demon, with
two sexual organs, male and female. They call the demon Agdistis. But the gods fearing Agdistis, cut off
the male organ."43

An almond tree grew up from the severed genitals and the fruit of the tree (in some versions this is a
pomegranate) was eaten by the mother of Attis so making her pregnant. The myth related by Pausanias
terminates with Attis severing his genitals to placate Agdistis.

"The marriage-song was being sung, when Agdistis appeared, and Attis went mad and cut off his genitals,
as also did he who was giving him his daughter in marriage. But Agdistis repented of what he had done
to Attis, and persuaded Zeus to grant that the body of Attis should neither rot at all nor decay." 44

This then explains how two male statues can be described as male and female. The ambiguous sexuality
of Attis and Agdistis could also be symbolic of positive and negative polarity especially as Agdistis was
born from a rock that had been fertilized by Zeus. The exploration of the phenomenon of magnetized
rocks and their positive and negative polarity would then have been personified by the deities that the
statues represent.

Hippolytus states that the statues were phallic in nature. They were also, in his description, linked to the
meanings that informed the Samothracian Mysteries.
"This is, he says, the great and ineffable mystery of the Samothracians, which is allowable, he says, for us
only who are initiated to know. For the Samothracians expressly hand down, in the mysteries that are
celebrated among them, that (same) Adam as the primal man. And habitually there stand in the temple
of the Samothracians two images of naked men, having both hands stretched aloft towards heaven, and
their pudenda erecta, as with the statue of Mercury (Hermes) on Mount Cyllene. And the aforesaid
images are figures of the primal man, and of the spiritual one that is born again, in every respect of the
same substance with that man."45

According to Pausanias the image of Hermes that was worshipped on Mount Cyllene and is referenced
by Hippolytus above was the pure form of a phallus. "In Cyllene is a sanctuary of Asclepius, and one of
Aphrodite. But the image of Hermes, most devoutly worshipped by the inhabitants, is merely the male
member upright on the pedestal."46

It was Hermes that guided Persephone out of Hades and thus reunited her with the goddess in the
temple at Eleusis. In the 'Hymn to Demeter' the role of Hermes in the resurrection of Persephone is
linked to his golden wand.

"Now when all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer heard this, he sent the Slayer of Argus whose wand is of
gold to Erebus, so that having won over Hades with soft words, he might lead forth chaste Persephone to
the light from the misty gloom to join the gods… And Hermes obeyed, and leaving the house of Olympus,
straightway sprang down with speed to the hidden places of the earth."

The golden wand is central to the role of Hermes as the psychopompos that guides the souls of the
departed. The god crosses the threshold between the dark inner recesses towards the sacred aetherial
light of the gods. Homer in the 'Odyssey' refers to Cyllenian Hermes which in the context of the temple
at Cyllene implies a phallic aspect to the golden wand.

"Meanwhile Cyllenian Hermes called forth the spirits of the wooers. He held in his hands his wand, a fair
wand of gold, wherewith he lulls to sleep the eyes of whom he will, while others again he wakens even
out of slumber; with this he roused and led the spirits, and they followed gibbering. And as in the
innermost recess of a wondrous cave bats flit about gibbering, when one has fallen from off the rock
from the chain in which they cling to one another, so these went with him gibbering, and Hermes, the
Helper, led them down the dank ways."47

There is a direct relationship here between the bats in the cave in "the chain in which they cling
together" to the chain of magnetised iron that is described by Plato in 'Ion.' Homer thus provides the
context for the magnetic chain of souls that are linked to the Samothracian Mysteries.

"For this stone not only attracts iron rings, but also imparts to them a power whereby they in turn are
able to do the very same thing as the stone, and attract other rings; so that sometimes there is formed
quite a long chain of bits of iron and rings, suspended one from another; and they all depend for this
power on that one stone. In the same manner also the Muse inspires men herself, and then by means of
these inspired persons the inspiration spreads to others, and holds them in a connected chain." 48

The asterism of the three stars of Orion's Belt hang in a chain in the heavens exerting an unseen
attraction on each other. Invisible forces appear to hold them in their extraordinary linear trinity. The
asterism is an illusion but the appearance of the three stars hanging in a chain could easily be seen as a
potent manifestation of the forces exerted by the deities.

This then is the meaning of Ovid's insistence that the name of Uriona had changed over the immense
passage of time to obscure the original derivation of the name. The asterism of Orion’s Belt and the
meanings that were projected onto it reflect the earliest human theologies and the search for the
originator of the universe. The three stars that form the most conspicuous asterism of the heavens
illuminated this quest through the darkness.

By definition an asterism is an illusion and the asterism of Orion's Belt is the most potent illusion that
over the aeons humans have conjured with. Virgil identifies the constellation of Orion as a golden
illusion.

"armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona."49

The golden wand of Hermes led the initiated past the hermetic "gates of the sun and the land of dreams,
and quickly came to the mead of asphodel, where the spirits dwell, phantoms of men who have done
with toils."50

Varro describes the two statues outside the temple in Samothrace as "those whom the Books of the
Augurs mention in writing as potent deities for what the Samothracians call powerful gods."51

Arsenic derives from the Persian zarnikh (yellow orpiment) which is the origin of the Greek word
arsenikon (Latin arsenicum). This is related to arsenikos which means 'masculine' or 'potent.' The use of
the word 'potent' in Varro's text therefore functions as a code word for metallurgy or alchemy.

Arsenic was used in copper smelting as a chemical agent to create bronze. By binding with copper and
thus creating a new alloy it could be said to have castrated the original metal. The agent acted as a
catalyst equivalent to semen in this alchemical process.
Two ores were instrumental in the forging of iron. Haematite (hematite) was used as a flux in the
smelting of copper and was also a primary source ore in the smelting of iron. Haematite is defined as a
reddish-black iron oxide. The name is derived from the Greek haimatites lithos - 'blood-like stone.'
Haemoglobin and haematology both derive from the same Greek root word haima - blood. Therefore
metallurgy and the human body were inextricably linked by these words. This could explain why
Porphyry referred to beans tasting of blood. Metals were traded as bean-shaped ingots in antiquity as is
seen by excavations of Bronze Age wrecks.

The other instrumental ore is magnetite which appears to have played a central role in the Samothracian
Mysteries and is the subject of current scientific research into the effect of lightning strikes on such
rocks. The statement by Pliny that rocks struck by lightning were much in demand for magical practises
suggests a knowledge in antiquity that stones struck by lightning acquired strong magnetc polarity. In
some versions of his myth Agdistis was born from a rock on which Jupiter (Zeus) spent his lust. There are
several ancient texts that attest to potent magnetic stones that were associated with Samothrace.

The numerous myths that envisage castrated deities seem to mirror the addition of arsenic or tin to
copper and thus castrating the original metal to create a new alloy. We still speak of 'cutting' one
substance with another in contemporary discourse. The new alloy was stronger than the original metal
and could be said to have castrated the original metal/deity.

Meteoric iron, as the product of baetyls (meteorites), represented the seed or semen of the gods either
in the hard form of heavenly vegetative seeds or the liquid form of deified semen that flows from the
forge. It is speculated that the first discovery of terrestrial iron came as a by-product of copper smelting
where an iron ore such as haematite was used as a flux.

The concept that iron was the fiery semen of the gods is evident in the mysteries of Egypt. One of the
most revered items in the tomb of Tutankhamun, as defined by its placement in relation to the body, was
an iron dagger. The blade of this dagger was crafted from iron that had come from a meteorite.

The discovery of a shining silvery liquid metal that was separate to the smelted copper was equivalent to
extracting the essence from the ore. The ultimate realization that this was the same metal contained in
meteorites meant that theology and metallurgy were bound together much like a new religious alloy.

Orion. Latona nitentibus astris52

And Latona set Orion among the shining stars.

"But when Orion and Sirius are come into midheaven, and rosy-fingered Dawn sees Arcturus,
then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring them home. Show them to the sun ten days
and ten nights: then cover them over for fire, and on the sixth day draw off into vessels the gifts
of joyful Dionysus. But when the Pleiades and Hyades and strong Orion begin to set, then
remember to plough in season: and so the completed year will fitly pass beneath the earth. But
if desire for uncomfortable sea-faring seize you when the Pleiades plunge into the misty sea to
escape Orion's rude strength, then truly gales of all kinds rage."

(Hesiod - Works and Days 609-621)

1. Herodian - History of the Roman Empire 1.11.1

2. Ovid - Fasti 5.531-6
3. Cicero - De Natura Deorum
4. Macrobius - Satunalia 7.16.10
5. Virgil - Aeneid 3.517
6. Porphyry - Life of Pythagoras 44
7. Ibid.
8. Augustine - The City of God 7.21
9. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 38
10. Diodorus Siculus - Library of History 1.22
11. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 33
12. Ibid. 36
13. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.61
14. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 36
15. Plato - Timaeus 23
16. Pyramid Text - Utterance 527
17. Derveni Papyrus 13
18. Hesiod - Theogony 176-180
19. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.63
20. Kingship in Heaven
21. Genesis 24:2-9
22. Genesis 18:1-3
23. Augustine - On the Trinity 2.20
24. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 34
25. Pliny - Natural History 33.6
26. Plato - Ion 533
27. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.58
28. Pliny - Natural History 36.25
29. Plato - Ion 534
30. Lucretius - De Rerum Natura 6
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Arnobius - Adversus Gentes 5.5
35. Pliny - Natural History 37.51
36. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.58
37. Arnobius - Adversus Gentes 5.5
38. Herodian - History of the Roman Empire 5.3.4-5
39. James Frazer - The Golden Bough
40. Strabo - Geography 10.3.8-9
41. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.58
42. Pliny - Natural History 36.25
43. Pausanias - Description of Greece 7.17.10-12
44. Ibid.
45. Hippolytus - Refutation of All Heresies 5
46. Pausanias - Description of Greece 6.26.5
47. Homer - Odyssey 24.1-14
48. Plato - Ion 533
49. Virgil - Aeneid 3.517
50. Homer - Odyssey 24.1-14
51. Varro - On the Latin Language
52. Ovid - Fasti 5