THE PHALLUS OF THE SUN

THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive ejection of magnetized plasma from the sun. The plasma erupts through space at more than a million miles per hour and potentially stretches millions of miles from the sun. Taking up to three days to reach earth it causes geomagnetic distortions resulting in bright aurora and disrupting satellites and power grids. The ejection of magnetised plasma is equivalent to a cosmic phallus in that it has a material form that extends far beyond the surface of the sun.

Contemporary knowledge of CMEs aligns with ancient concepts of a cosmic phallus that coexists with the Pythagorean notion of a central fire at the heart of the universe. This concept is replicated on earth in the myths related to the founding of Rome and the perpetual fire that was tended by the Vestals.

According to legend the birth of Romulus and consequently the founding of Rome was caused by a flaming phallus. The phantom phallus of fire appeared in the hearth of Tarchetius and was understood to herald the presence of a deity. An oracle was consulted and by its instruction the phallus impregnated a virgin who gave birth to Romulus.

“… they say that Tarchetius, king of the Albans, who was most lawless and cruel, was visited with a strange phantom in his house, namely, a phallus rising out of the hearth and remaining there many days. Now there was an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany, from which there was brought to Tarchetius a response that a virgin must have intercourse with this phantom, and she should bear a son most illustrious for his valour, and of surpassing good fortune and strength.”¹

The concept of a fiery phallus that confers “good fortune and strength” is contained in the oil lamps that have been excavated from Pompeii. These display a phallic form with the flame arising from the head of the phallus. An artefact that celebrated the phallus was related to the Fascinus deity with the object being termed a ‘fascinum.’

The word ‘fascinate’ derives from the Latin ‘fascinum’ and ‘fascinus.’ The related Latin verb ‘fascinare’ means ‘to use the power of the fascinus’ and the meaning is therefore ‘to practise magic’ or ‘to enchant or bewitch’ and contains the concept of warding off the evil eye.

“Fascinus… a divinity whose worship is entrusted to the Vestal virgins, and forms part of the Roman rites. It is the image of this divinity (the phallus) that is attached beneath the triumphant chariot of the victorious general, protecting him, like some attendant physician, against the effects of envy, while at the same time, equally salutary is the advice of the tongue, which warns him to be wise in time, so that Fortune may be prevailed upon by his prayers, not to follow, as the destroyer of his glory, close upon his back.”²

The Fascinus Populi Romani was the sacred image of the phallus which protected the Roman state. Worship of this divinity was entrusted to the Vestals. There is a direct association between the sacred phallus and the eternal fire that they tended in order to secure the survival and good fortune of Rome.

Plutarch states that everywhere the Egyptians worshipped the phallus of Osiris and that this veneration was linked to the power of the sun. “Everywhere they point out statues of Osiris in human form of the ithyphallic type, on account of his creative and fostering power; and they clothe his statues in a flame-coloured garment, since they regard the body of the sun as a visible manifestation of the perceptible substance of the power for good. In the sacred hymns of Osiris they call upon him who is hidden in the arms of the sun.”³

Fire from the sun was therefore contained in the body of the phallus which fused it to the deity. The path of the sun starts with its resurrection at the beginning of every day and its decline into a state of repose at the end. The shape-shifting chimerical nature of the phallus held a magical fascination for humans since archaic times and was venerated in shamanic rites. This worship was related to the procreative power of the sun.

“On the waning of the month Phaophi they conduct the birthday of the Staff of the Sun following upon the autumnal equinox, and by this they declare, as it were, that he is in need of support and strength, since he becomes lacking in warmth and light, and undergoes decline, and is carried away from us to one side.”⁴

The unveiling of the phallus is the central depiction at the end of the series of images in the Villa of the Mysteries. The generating and purifying power of the sun is contained in the body of the phallus. Its erect form is the pure expression of the element of fire.

Plutarch describes another version of the myth of Romulus, Remus and the founding of Rome. In this version a Vestal gives birth to the twins. The myth therefore incorporates the fire that was famously tended by the Vestals. An eternal fire that was tended by the Vestals had originated from the sun. Plutarch describes the elaborate ritualistic process that was followed in order to capture this pure fire.

“… the altar was demolished and the fire extinguished, then they say it must not be kindled again from another fire, but made fresh and new, by lighting a pure and unpolluted flame from the rays of the sun. And this they usually effect by means of metallic mirrors… the sun’s rays now acquiring the substance and force of fire.”⁵

The temple of the Vestals was constructed in a circular format to reflect the circular quality of the universe. At the centre of the universe existed a central fire. This concept was derived from the Pythagoreans, specifically Philolaus, who stated that neither the earth nor the sun was not at the centre of the universe.

A cosmic fire burned at the centre of the universe described as the hearth of the cosmos. There was a correlation of concepts relating to the hearth of the home where the fiery phallus appeared, the hearth of Rome symbolized by the perpetual fire tended by the vestals, and the Pythagorean central fire as the hearth of the universe.

“Furthermore, it is said that Numa built the temple of Vesta, where the perpetual fire was kept, of a circular form, not in imitation of the shape of the earth, believing Vesta to be the earth, but of the entire universe, at the centre of which the Pythagoreans place the element of fire, and called it Vesta and Unit.”⁶

A direct relationship can be seen between the perpetual fire tended by the Vestals in their temple and the sacred image of the phallus that they also propitiated. A flaming phallus of fire appeared in the fiery hearth of Tarchetius ultimately causing the birth of Romulus and the founding of Rome.

According to Plutarch the temple of the Vestals in Rome was constructed in a circular form to reflect the shape of the universe. A cosmic fire burned at its centre. To maintain the symmetry of the myths the central universal fire must have coexisted with a central phallus of fire.

“Therefore we remark that the planting of ‘phallic images’ is a special representing of the procreative power by conventional symbols, and that we regard this practise as an invocation to the generative energy of the universe. On this account many of these images are consecrated in the spring, when all the world is receiving from the gods the prolific force of the whole creation.”⁷

1. Plutarch – Life of Romulus 2
2. Pliny – Natural History 28.7
3. Plutarch – Isis and Osiris 51
4. Ibid. 52
5. Plutarch – Life of Numa
6. Ibid.
7. Iamblichus – Theurgia 1.4