Daughters of the Inquisition

by Christina Crawford

  Nevertheless, these are still times of transition, not times of complete suppression, and, therefore, different cultures, different religions are concurrently living side-by-side.

  As Goddess of the Mysteries, She initiated men of the ancient world in Greece and Rome, into Her birth, death and spiritual regeneration miracles, whereby a human being finds himself reborn in this lifetime, through the rituals of the Goddess, guided by Her Priestesses and Priests. Most of the prominent Greek philosophers such as Plato and Socrates were initiated into Goddess mysteries.

  The ceremonies of Cybele and those of Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture, the Corn Mother, were also part of the mystery cycle. “De” is “delta,” the triangle in Greek, known as the letter of the vulva and is part of the sacred alphabet. “Matel” is Mother. It could also mean Doorway of Mysteries, or Door of Death and sexual paradise.

  In Mycenae, Greece, 1300 BCE, Tholos tombs with triangular doorways represented the pathway to the womb of the Goddess from which rebirth could come. In Sumeria, doorways were painted red, the color of blood of life; in Egypt doorways were anointed with real blood and ancient Jewish Passover rites did the same.

  Demeter’s rites and ceremonies continued into the next millennium and, therefore, into Christian times. The Hierophant, which means “image of the holy one,” was the title of the Eleusian high priest who played the role of male god in sexual union with the priestess who embodied the Goddess.

  Hieros gamos (sacred marriage in Greek) means the union of a king or sacred king (surrogate) with his Goddess, usually in the form of a priestess-queen as the Goddess. As detailed in the legends of many Goddesses, this was originally considered a fundamental and essential element to be performed, usually in the Temple before witnesses, before the man had any privilege to claim a right to rulership.

  Of Demeter’s Temples at Eleusis (meaning advent) center of a vast mystery religion, Sophocles wrote, “Thrice happy they of men who looked upon these rites ere they go Hades houses, for they alone there have true life.” Aristides said, “The benefit of the festival is not mearly the cheerfulness of the moment and the freedom and the respite for all previous troubles, but also the possession of happier hopes concerning the end, hopes that our life hereafter will be better, and that we shall not lie in darkness and filth … the fate that is believed to await the uninitiated.” Socrates also wrote, “Demeter, being graciously minded towards our forefathers because of their services to Her, services of which none but the initiated may hear, gave us the greatest of all gifts, first those fruits of earth which saved us from living the life of beasts, and secondly, that rite which makes happier the hopes of those that participate, therein concerning both the end of life and their whole existence.”59

  Never once in all millennium since, under pain of death and worse torture, did any male initiate divulge the full extent of the rites of the Mysteries, and so these brief illustrations and illusions to the rituals are the most information passed along to us. Neither did Priestesses nor female followers of any of the Mysteries ever disclose the components of the rites and rituals. These are undoubtedly the best kept secrets of the ancient world. Sadly enough, there is no way to recapture them now, because when the priestesses departed this world under pressure to renounce, so did the Mysteries themselves. But, this is also a wondrous example of faith and personal discipline on a very wide scale.

  We do know that sacred sexual union of the man with the Goddess was often included in the initiation rites and that most of the multi-day ceremony was conducted in the darkness of caves.

  In rites conducted after the experience in the dark cave, a corn child was brought forth and laid in a basket or small manger. The body was eaten in the form of corn cakes, blood drunk as wine. Communicants/initiates partook in his own immortality through these ceremonies. After death, they were known as Demetreioi, blessed ones of Demeter.

  The real purpose of all these rites was preparation for regeneration after death and blessings for safe passage to the afterlife of rebirth.

  Goddess of Eunuchs – the Galli

  It has been suggested that male castration was a ritual substitute for the actual sacrificial death of the son/lover/king of the Goddess in the dying vegetation king ceremony of ancient times. Castration versus physical death of the entire body are often associated with both Hittite and Greek Indo European stories as an alternative to ritual regicide. Castration is the removal of each of the two male testicles from their sacks by a small incision. Rarely are the entire testicles removed, although after castration (gelding in animals) is complete; the sacks shrivel to almost nothing and nearly disappear from sight. The desired effect of castration is two-fold: first, to prevent procreation and second, to eliminate desire for sexual intercourse with females. The male penis is not affected by the process, except that it will no longer remain erect after castration is completed. Because the removal of the testicles affects levels of testosterone, the male hormone, the men who are castrated often lose facial and body hair, have softer voices and effeminate mannerisms. However, some barbarian punishments carried out by men on other males, not related to the Goddess culture, did sever both testicles and penis, and therein lies the confusion over just what parts were actually removed in Goddess service.

  Further, castration need not be confused with transvestite behavior, which is dressing in female clothing and using makeup to simulate the female and perhaps attract men, nor to be confused with homosexuality which had nothing to do with castration, even if some overt mannerisms appear similar.

  The word “eunuch” comes from the Greek, meaning “keeper of the bed chamber,” possibly indicating an aspect of protection of the inner sanctum of the Temple where sacred sexual union actually took place. The male is transformed through castration from sexual lover of the Goddess to mystical initiate/protector priest for the Goddess.

  However, it defies imagination to believe that, as has been written by others, without the use of narcotics or painkillers, any man could sever his own testicles, or slit them and remove the testes, and not faint from the pain. To believe this is to push credulity over the edge.

  We do know that use of poppy juice (opium) was widespread and ancient. We do know that there were competent women healers, doctors, and that both the Greeks and Romans had male doctors. Therefore, the castrati were most probably assisted in the process of castration and given narcotics as painkillers either during or after an ecstatic rites of passage ceremonies, which had the effect of producing an altered state of consciousness wherein pain thresholds are lowered and the act of castration takes place.

  In Mesopotamia, Innana and Ishtar had loyal helpers and attendants described as eunuchs, many years before classical Greece or the Roman Empire existed.

  Eunuch priests served the Goddess in Sumer, Babylon, Canaan and Anatolia (Cybele). Classical texts report that the number of such men serving the religion of the Goddess at that time was a high as 5,000 in certain cities. The Eunuch priests in Anatolia of classical times actually called themselves “Attis” as the son/lover of Cybele, and when She was brought to Rome, Her eunuch priests accompanied Her. Romans never served as priests of Cybele. Her priests were all imported from the homeland.

  Eunuch priests throughout the Near East wore female clothing; priests and musicians wearing long feminine robes fall into a special category or class. There were also companies of eunuch priests serving the Goddess in Cretan/Minoan palaces.

  The Lady of the Lions, Goddess Cybele and Her Attis grew in popular devotion by the Roman world and eventually became the major religion of the people.

  What began as the cult of Attis later evolved into permanent eunuch priesthood called Galli. However, Roman law forbade even voluntary castration, so they initially had to rely on priestess and the Galli who were imported to Rome from eastern areas and from Anatolia. These Galli wore female clothing and anointed their long hair with fragrant oils.

  By the 1st Century CE, the movement had become so overwhelmingly pop
ular that “Emperor Claudius I decided to elevate it to official state status and also to permit self-castration, so Roman men could become full fledged initiates. Swept up by the popular cult, many availed themselves of this new privilege, especially on March 24, the annual Day of Blood, which commemorated Attis’s sacrifice.”60

  “On that day the newly dedicated followers (i.e. those now castrated), those who had eaten no bread in deference to the memory of the broken body of Attis, those who had smeared their blood as sacrifice upon the altars and the trees, then carried the silver statue of Cybele/Kybele in joyous parade around the city.”61

  We need to stretch our collective imaginations in order to understand this ancient devotion to the Goddess, which has absolutely no counterpart in our lives today. It may find us a bit squeamish, somewhat incredulous, even skeptical. But there is more than enough information to assure us that these ceremonies, with this priesthood, were a reality and existed over a long period.

  “Eunuchs gathered around the Goddess by the thousands, anxious to shed their maleness, to wear the robes of Cybeles/Kybeles clergy, Galli trying to gain the image of Kybele’s son/lover, thus imitating the castrated body of Attis to declare their dedication to the Mother.”62

  There was a prevailing belief that females possessed greater ability for spirituality and communication with deities. Therefore, if one wished to become closer to the deity, one needed to become less male and more female.

  One way, short of castration to accomplish this was by cross-dressing, transvestitism. “Both eunuchs and transvestites proclaimed their gender switch by whitening their faces, wearing women’s clothes and jewelry, and adopting feminine mannerisms, even sometimes marrying other men.”63

  Some distinction is always made: Eunuchs are portrayed both as smooth-cheeked, soft bodied and/or virile looking males with muscles, yet still wearing only female attire and with the flowing long hair usually associated with women.

  Transvestites, on the other hand, are portrayed with women’s robes, jewelry and long hair but sporting large, intact phalluses, often erect, indicating they cannot be eunuchs.

  In secular life, eunuchs served Persian kings and nobles as both personal bodyguards and as harem keepers. They guarded the women’s quarters, standing at the doors, restricting entrance to all but the women, their servants and the king who owned all of them. There are hints throughout the research that the eunuchs also pleasured the women, in secret of course, and without fear of conception. The joys of oral sex did not require either partner to have an erect penis. Chances are that the master knew about these interludes, but if they kept peace among the women and, therefore, created happier wives for him, so much the better.

  Augustus Caesar in Rome, c. 27 BCE had eunuch chamberlains, holding a variety of influential positions in government. Eunuch ministers were commonplace in the courts of Byzantine Emperors in Constantinople from 395 CE to 1453 CE.

  The eunuchs started out as priests of privilege in the Goddess religions, particularly Cybele/Attis, where they learned accounting and the principles of government from the Priestesses in the Temples, who were the primary administrators for the entire region. Because cities then grew up around the central Temple, and the population increased, there was always more work to be accomplished.

  If, indeed, the eunuchs eventually numbered in the thousands, they were a prime work force to be employed. Their loyalty would have been particularly meaningful during these transition times, when the entire culture and belief system of the Goddess was undergoing extreme stress. The eunuchs had the physical strength of men and the psychological sensitivity of women which, combined with spiritual compatibility, must have seemed like an ideal combination. Priestesses and eunuchs could also have been best friends in the sense we understand that today because they lived and worked together for long periods in relatively close quarters, without having to concern themselves with sexuality. But, they had shared religious beliefs and a common goal: to serve the Great Goddess.

  It could very well be true that after some period of apprenticeship in the Temples, learning administrative skills, some of the eunuchs left sacred service for secular work in either the governments of the central state or the households of the overlords. Here too, they would have been valuable, having already been trained and acquired skills, but without the ever-present male fear of other men stealing away their women. Their new bosses could be assured that would not occur, and, therefore, be able to trust the eunuch with perhaps more authority than would be given to other males who were not eunuchs.

  One way or the other, eunuchs did attain a great deal of secular power during these transition times, and then mention of them fades. They were clever and cunning, charming and often very attractive. There are some hints that Christian clerics in monasteries were castrated, because paintings show a “baby-faced” monk or brother traveling with other men in the order who look quite differently.

  Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote of the Enarees. These were Sythian followers of the Near Eastern Goddess Aphrodite Urania. According to legend, after the warriors destroyed Aphrodite’s Temple in Phoenia, the Goddess cursed them by putting on them what Herodotus calls “female sickness.” Herodotus continues, the Enarees who are Epicine, say that Aphrodite gave them the art of divination which they carried out through the use of willow wands. (These are still used today to search for underground sources of water.)

  The Greek historian did not specify the meaning of “female sickness” or of Epicine, so we are unsure if he intended us to understand the terms as synonymous with castrated, or transvestite, or hermaphrodite, or just effeminate. But others of the time note that “Enarees are eunuchs who belonged to the most powerful nobility, wore women’s dresses, performed women’s jobs, spoke like women and enjoyed special respect because of the fear they inspired.”64

  Of course it is understandable that if these Enarees had the power of divination and the Goddess rule on their side, coupled with nobility, masculine physical power and stamina, they would be subject to awesome respect, even fear because of the combination of spiritual and temporal capabilities.

  The law of the Hebrews (which will be discussed at length in Part III) specifically stated that a man without a penis was not welcome at Temple. “No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose organ has been severed shall become a member of the assembly of the Lord” (Deut. 23:1).

  In contrast, circumcision (removal of the foreskin of the penis) of Jewish male babies shortly after birth was mandatory. Perhaps in context in which this law developed in historical chronology (i.e. during these transition times in conflict with the Goddess), it is a ritual to protect against full castration later on in life; having already given a sacrifice to the male god, he will protect against a future in which more is demanded from a man from a female Goddess. A mini-castration, therefore, takes place as a symbolic sacrificial gesture only, but containing within it the ancient blood sacrifice. Perhaps even more important for the Hebrews, it was intended to prevent association with or reverence for the Goddess cultures, Her priestesses, eunuchs or ceremonial rites.

  But castration persisted well into Judeo-Christian times and was written about in the New Testament, Matthew 19: 11–12 where Jesus teaches on eunuchs:

  11: “But He said to them, ‘all cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given,’”

  12: “For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

  This implies that some men are born transsexual, non-sexual, or homosexual. It also implies that some men were involuntarily castrated by other men, most likely when they were taken as slaves or trained to be harem keepers. Lastly, there are those men who voluntarily submit to castration for the purposes of worship. There is no mention of the Goddess, of course, but the “kingdom of heaven”
has been that of the Goddess of Heaven and Earth from the beginning of time. All in all, this teaching is inclusive and accepts great differences. Much later in our journey along this road the Christian church of Rome asks for voluntary celibacy and sexual abstention from their clergy and nuns, but never requests castration of priests. However, it is possible that some individuals may have followed Jesus’ teaching and voluntarily been castrated in service to and belief in his kingdom of heaven. Until very recently there was an accepted practice of castrating church choirboys to retain their soprano voices, which persisted until the late 1800’s when it was banned by Pope Leo XIII.

  CONTRA GODDESS

  Goddess societies, living for a much longer time in these regions, gave full rights of inheritance from mother to daughter; full right of a mother to her children was never questioned; full rights to sexual independence for all women were assumed as universal, and full rights to freedom of movement and over one’s body were never questioned. There was no involuntary indentured servitude, and no slavery.

  Goddess people were not conquerors; they were assimilators, and as such they were inclusive. They settled and stayed in that same area, having already learned eons ago how to care for the agricultural land so that it provided abundance, decade after decade, century after century. (Something we cannot replicate today.) They believed in abundance, fulfillment, beauty, life, creativity. Creativity cannot exist without freedom, and, therefore, freedom is a paramount value. But it is freedom with structure. The structure is the Goddess.

  The tribes who invaded the settled agricultural lands of the Great Mother Goddess Creatrix, whether they came as horse riding nomads from the Caucasus and steppelands first into Old Europe and then into Mesopotamia, or whether they were pastoral herdsmen from Persia, all brought with them variations on the idea of a solitary male god who single handedly created the world without women and who abided in the sky.