Priapus

(Revision as of 17:47, 17 Jan 2005)

Categories: The Gnostic Saints | Greek Godforms | Roman Godforms | Love & Lust Godforms

Priapus (also Lutinus, Fecundus and Mutunus) was a Roman and Greek phallic god of fertility and protector of gardens. He is generally considered to be the child of Aphrodite and Dionysus (or Adonis, or Hermes, Pan, or Zeus, depending on the source). The ass was his sacred animal.

Statuettes of the god Priapus with a oversized phallus was quite common in Roman gardens, with a warning for the those thinking about stealing the fruits of the garden:

"... If I do seize you ... you shall be so stretched that you will think your anus never had any wrinkles." (Epigram collected by Smithers & Burton)

He tried to rape Lotis, and she was changed into a lotus plant to protect her. In Ovid's Fasti, an imbibed Lotis is attempted by the aroused Priapus, at which time one of Silenus' donkeys (he was hosting the feast) with "raucous braying" revealed Priapus' intentions and the entire party had a good laugh at his expense. To repay the donkey for the embarrassment, the annual feast (sometime during May) of Priapus is begun by the sacrifice of a donkey to the diminutive and ironic garden-god.

Priapus & Crowley

In Crowley's Paris Working (Liber 415), one of the "Holy Hymns to the Great Gods of Heaven" is to Priapus:

Semina nunc molli dat mentula saeva cinaedo.
Aspectu gaudens ipse Priapus adest.
Gaudens exaudi; nobis sit mentula semper
Et Rigida et roseo semen ab ore jacens.

Aprox: Now the grim penis gives semen to the soft catamite.
Rejoicing at the sight Priapus himself is present.
Rejoicing, listen: may we always have a penis
Both stiff and shooting semen from its rosy mouth.

References

Crowley, Aleister. The Paris Working: The Book of High Magick Art.
Sabazius. (1995). Priapus (http://www.hermetic.com/sabazius/priapus.htm). Retrieved on January 17, 2005.
Wikipedia. (2005). Priapus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priapus). Retrieved on January 17, 2005.

Retrieved from "http://thelemapedia.org/index.php/Priapus"