The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

THE MYSTERIES OF BACCHUS. 105
terious strictures on the abstruse points of human generation,
of which the visible symbols were Phalli, described
as emblems of the mystical regeneration and new birth
attained by the aspirant from the divine qualities of the
process of initiation.-53 He was then crowned and enthroned;
clad in a purple vest with golden zones; and
pronounced in a state of pure and ineffable light, and safe
from henceforth under the protection of the celestial
deities. Amulets were then delivered to him as preservatives
against personal danger, 54 and he was instructed
Noah in the ark, as was also the descent of Orpheus in search of his
wife; and in like manner, as the animals spontaneously followed Noah
into the ark, so Orpheus is said to have drawn after him the brute
creation by the force of Harmony. (Apol. Argon., I. i.) The fable
of the rape of Europa affords another view of the same transaction ;
for a bull was the symbol of Noah, or the god of the ark, (Fab. Mys.
Cab., vol. i., p. 177,) as a cow was an emblem of the ark itself; the
legend of Hercules sailing over the world in a golden cup bears a de-
cided reference to the Deluge, for Hercules was the arkite god, and the
cup was the ark ; and the submersion of the island of Atlantis is a
plain description of the same event. The account of the deluge of
Deucalion, however, is less impregnated with mystery than any of the
preceding. During the reign of this prince over the kingdom of
Thessaly, a general 'deluge inundated the earth, and destroyed the
whole race of men except himself and Pyrrha his wife, who were preserved
in a ship which finally rested on the summit of Parnassus.
When the waters had subsided, this insulated pair were commanded
by an oracle to restore the human race by casting behind them the
bones of their mother, which referred to the loose stones which lay
scattered on the surface of the earth. Losing no time to provide the
renovated globe with inhabitants, they cast behind them a multitude
of stones, and were astonished to behold the crowds of men and women
by whom they were speedily surrounded. (Ovid, Metam., 1. i.) It
requires little ingenuity to interpret this fable ; and accordingly it
was delivered without disguise to the Epopt, or perfectly initiated
candidate.
53 This emblem was one of the abominations which defiled the
mysteries, and, as we have already seen, (ut supra, p. 100.) was exhib-
ited, with shameless impudence, even in public processions. Its origin
has been variously explained but it ; certainly sprang, either from the
sin of Ham, or the mysterious doctrine that the ark was the common
mother of the human race; and Noah, by what name soever he might
be distinguished, the father.
64 With this superstitious people, a relic, ritually consecrated, was
believed to insure the special favour and protection of the deity,
with whom the priests were reputed to hold an intercourse. Thus if
sickness were inflicted by a hostile god, an amulet consecrated to a
superior deity, and suspended from the afflicted person's neck, would
speedily remove the disease. Young persons wore enchanted girdles
to excite love towards them in the other sex. The garments which