Gnostradamus

I own a dildo, and it also has a flat base. You are correct in that this flat base does enable one to place said dildo on a flat surface without it falling over. So is it therefore correct to assume that the dildo's shape is entirely due to the need for stability when the piece is on display?

And yet again, there are all those sexual connotations associated with Asherah.

To be completely frank, I believe that the pillar figurines were kept on display, in private altars. And that, to the uninitiated, they were seen as simply ornamental figurines. But to those ladies in the know, they were oh, so much more.


Gnostradamus

Gnostradamus

Absolutely. I could not agree with you more. And if this thread holds out long enough, I hope to tarnish the Great Mother's reputation just a bit.


Gnostradamus

Mageth

I'll never eat a banana out of a fruit bowl when visiting friends again...

But then, the Clinton episode put me off accepting cigars in similar circumstances.

Seriously, these figurines defininitely have a phallic shape, but then, sometimes a phallic shape is just a phallic shape.

And the rather rough and knobby heads, with that cornrowed hair and pointy noses, on these little clay statues would make what you describe seem a little uncomfortable, to say the least.

[edited to correct a little typo, pedantic fool that I am]

Gnostradamus

She's a regular ribbed terracotta french tickler.

I am hoping to get some reproductions fired. The construction is simple enough. The head is connected to the body with a short wooden dowel. The face mold is proving to be a bit of a challenge. I'll let you know. Kind of concerned about chipping, to be honest.


Gnostradamus

Gnostradamus

Simon Peter says to them: "Let Mary go out from our midst, for women are not worthy of life!"
Jesus says: "See, I will guide her so as to make her male so that she also may become a living spirit like you males. For every woman who has become male will enter the Kingdom of heaven."
Gospel of Thomas 114

I have noticed that this saying is almost always approached as a metaphor. To even think of it in a literal sense is absurd. So let us examine the absurdity. Let us suppose that the saying is to be understood that Jesus is going to guide Mary and make her male, in the physical sense of the word.

Are there any legends of women becoming male around the proper era?

Well, there is the Fable of Iphis and Ianthe

It is a long fable, the gist of which is: as a wife is about to give birth, her husband demands a boy, threatening to kill the child if it is a girl. The wife gives birth to a girl which she disguises as a boy. The child is named Iphis. She is dressed and raised as a boy.

When Iphis turns thirteen, she becomes engaged to Ianthe, the most beautiful girl in Phaestus. Ianthe and Iphis are in love, but Iphis knows that she can't fulfill that love. A woman is not to love another woman, so she appeals to her mother for help. The wedding is put off for as long as possible, but they soon run out of excuses. On the night before the wedding, the distraught mother prays to Isis that the goddess finds some way to end her daughter's misery. When she arises from the altar Iphis has been transformed into a man.

Isis, the Great Mother, performs a gender change from female to male.

The Fable of Iphis and Ianthe

But having done whate'er she could devise,
And empty'd all her magazine of lies,
The time approach'd; the next ensuing day
The fatal secret must to light betray.
Then Telethusa had recourse to pray'r,
She, and her daughter with dishevel'd hair;
Trembling with fear, great Isis they ador'd,
Embrac'd her altar, and her aid implor'd.

Fair queen, who dost on fruitful Egypt smile,
Who sway'st the sceptre of the Pharian isle,
And sev'n-fold falls of disemboguing Nile,
Relieve, in this our last distress, she said,
A suppliant mother, and a mournful maid.
Thou, Goddess, thou wert present to my sight;
Reveal'd I saw thee by thy own fair light:
I saw thee in my dream, as now I see,
With all thy marks of awful majesty:
The glorious train that compass'd thee around;
And heard the hollow timbrels holy sound.
Thy words I noted, which I still retain;
Let not thy sacred oracles be vain.
That Iphis lives, that I myself am free
From shame, and punishment, I owe to thee.
On thy protection all our hopes depend.
Thy counsel sav'd us, let thy pow'r defend.

Her tears pursu'd her words; and while she spoke,
The Goddess nodded, and her altar shook:
The temple doors, as with a blast of wind,
Were heard to clap; the lunar horns that bind
The brows of Isis cast a blaze around;
The trembling timbrel made a murm'ring sound.

Some hopes these happy omens did impart;
Forth went the mother with a beating heart:
Not much in fear, nor fully satisfy'd;
But Iphis follow'd with a larger stride:
The whiteness of her skin forsook her face;
Her looks embolden'd with an awful grace;
Her features, and her strength together grew,
And her long hair to curling locks withdrew.
Her sparkling eyes with manly vigour shone,
Big was her voice, audacious was her tone.
The latent parts, at length reveal'd, began
To shoot, and spread, and burnish into man.
The maid becomes a youth; no more delay
Your vows, but look, and confidently pay.
Their gifts the parents to the temple bear:
The votive tables this inscription wear;
Iphis the man, has to the Goddess paid
The vows, that Iphis offer'd when a maid.

Now when the star of day had shewn his face,
Venus and Juno with their presence grace
The nuptial rites, and Hymen from above
Descending to compleat their happy love;
The Gods of marriage lend their mutual aid;
And the warm youth enjoys the lovely maid.

http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.9.ninth.html

So we have a legendary account of a woman being turned miraculousy into a man by the Great Mother. So sex change was conceived of during that distant age.

Now I'd like to turn back to the saying.

Simon Peter says to them: "Let Mary go out from our midst, for women are not worthy of life!"

Calm down Peter. Why is he so upset? Because Jesus is revealing the inner secrets of his teachings and Mary is there, listening with the other disciples. Mary shouldn't have access to this knowledge because she is a woman. With that in mind let us examine a piece of text from the Library of Photius, an account from Diodorus Siculus:

There was an Epidaurian child, named Callo, orphaned of both her parents, who was supposed to be a girl. Now the orifice with which women are naturally provided had in her case no opening, but beside the so-called pecten [pubis] she had from birth a perforation through which she excreted the liquid residues.

On reaching maturity she became the wife of a fellow-citizen. For two years she lived with him, and since she was incapable of intercourse as a woman, she was obliged to submit to unnatural embraces. Later a tumour appeared on her genitals and because it gave rise to great pain a number of physicians were called in. None of the others would take the responsibility for treating her, but a certain apothecary, who offered to cure her, cut into the swollen area, whereupon a man's privates were protruded, namely testicles and an imperforate penis. While all the others stood amazed at the extraordinary event, the apothecary took steps to remedy the remaining deficiencies. First of all, cutting into the glans, he made a passage into the urethra, and inserting a silver catheter drew off the liquid residues. Then, by scarifying the perforated area, he brought the parts together. After achieving a cure in this manner he demanded double fees, saying that he had received a female invalid and made her into a healthy young man.

Callo laid aside her loom-shuttles and all other instruments of woman's work, and taking in their stead the garb andstatus of a man, changed her name (by adding a single letter, N, at the end) to Callon. It is stated by some that before changing to man's form she had been a priestess of Demeter, and that because she had witnessed things not to be seen by a man, she was brought for trial for impiety. (Diodorus Siculus, XXXII 11 [ = Photius, Library, codex 244, 378b])
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Observe the fact that Callo as a woman had been a priestess in the cult of Demeter. When she became a man she was brought to trial, because the secrets she knew were not lawful for a man to know. Compare to Peter's attitude to Mary.

Another point of interest, Demeter is a Greek version of the Great Mother.


Gnostradamus