Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

238 Old Irish Religions.
depicted on coffins with human arms.
The Lotus, essentially
phallic, self-produced, was an emblem of self-created deity,
being worshipped as such at least 3000 B.C. Homa was
the Life-tree of Zoroaster. The bean was thrown on
tombs as a sign of immortality. The banyan and the
onion denote a new incarnation.
The Indian and Cingalese Bo or Asvattha, i^/V^/i- relzgiosa,
sheltered Gautama when he gained what is known as
Entire Sanctification, or Perfection. The sacred Peepid is
the male fig, the female being Fiats Indica. The fig
entwines itself round the palm. The Toolsi, Ocynmin
Sanctinn, and the Avin'ta are also worshipped in India;
so are the Lien-wha, or Nelumbium, in China ; the cypress
in
Mexico, and the aspen in Kirghizland.
Trees and plants were devoted to gods :
as the oak, palm,
and ash to Jupiter ;
the rose, myrtle, and poppy to Venus ;
the pomegranate to Proserpine ;
the pine-apple to Cybele ;
the orange to Diana
;
the white violet to Vesta ;
the daisy
to Alcestis ;
the wild thyme to the Muses ;
the laurel to
Apollo; the poplar to Hercules; the alder to Pan; the
olive to Minerva ; the fig and vine to Bacchus ;
the lotus to
Hermes. The leek of Wales, like the shamrock of Ireland,
was an object of worship in the East, and was associated
with Virgo. The Hortiis Kcwensis states that it first came
to Britain in 1562. The mandrake or Love-apple was also
sacred. Brinton gives a list of seven such sacred plants
among the Creek Indians. The Vervain, sacred to Druids,
was gathered in Egypt at the rise of Sirius the Dogstar.
WELL-WORSHIP.
That so wet a country as Ireland should have so great
a reverence for wells, is an evidence how early the primitive