Gamos Download

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Thenotion of hieros gamos does not always presuppose literal sexual intercourse in ritual, but is also used in purely symbolic or mythological context, notably in alchemy and hence in Jungian psychology. Hieros gamos is described as the prototype of fertility rituals.[1]

Sacred sexual intercourse is thought to have been common in the Ancient Near East[2] as a form of "Sacred Marriage" or hieros gamos between the kings of a Sumerian city-state and the High Priestesses of Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility and warfare. Along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers there were many shrines and temples dedicated to Inanna. The temple of Eanna, meaning "house of heaven"[3] in Uruk[4] was the greatest of these. The temple housed Nadītu, priestesses of the goddess. The high priestess would choose for her bed a young man who represented the shepherd Dumuzid, consort of Inanna, in a hieros gamos celebrated during the annual Duku ceremony, just before Invisible Moon, with the autumn Equinox[5] (Autumnal Zag-mu Festival).

In Greek mythology, the classic instance is the wedding of Zeus and Hera celebrated at the Heraion of Samos,[6] along with its architectural and cultural predecessors. Some scholars[7] would restrict the term to reenactments, but most accept its extension to real or simulated union in the promotion of fertility: such an ancient union of Demeter with Iasion, enacted in a thrice-ploughed furrow, a primitive aspect of a sexually-active Demeter reported by Hesiod,[8] occurred in Crete, origin of much early Greek myth. In actual cultus, Walter Burkert found the Greek evidence "scanty and unclear": "To what extent such a sacred marriage was not just a way of viewing nature, but an act expressed or hinted at in ritual is difficult to say".[9] The best-known ritual example surviving in classical Greece is the hieros gamos enacted at the Anthesteria by the wife of the Archon basileus, the "Archon King" in Athens, originally therefore the queen of Athens, with Dionysus, presumably represented by his priest or the basileus himself, in the Boukoleion in the Agora.[10]

The brief fertilizing mystical union engenders Dionysus, and doubled unions, of a god and of a mortal man on one night, result, through telegony, in the semi-divine nature of Greek heroes such as Theseus and Heracles.[clarification needed]

In Tantric Buddhism of Nepal, Bhutan, India and Tibet, yab-yum is a ritual of the male deity in union with a female deity as his consort. The symbolism is associated with Anuttarayoga tantra where the male figure is usually linked to compassion (karuṇā) and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), and the female partner to 'insight' or 'wisdom' (prajā).[11][12] Yab-yum is generally understood to represent the primordial (or mystical) union of wisdom and compassion.[13]

Maithuna is a Sanskrit term used in Tantra most often translated as sexual union in a ritual context. It is the most important of the five Panchamakara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra.

In Wicca, the Great Rite is a ritual based on the Hieros Gamos. It is generally enacted symbolically by a dagger (known as an athame) being placed point first into a chalice, the action symbolizing the union of the male and female divine. In British Traditional Wicca, the Great Rite is sometimes carried out in actuality by the High Priest and High Priestess.

Hieros Gamos (Greek ιερός γάμος, "sacred wedding"), or Hierogamy, refers to the coupling of a god and goddess or their earthly representatives, often having a symbolic meaning related to fertility and generally conducted in the spring. It can also refer to the primordial union of the masculine and feminine principles within the godhead.

The concept of the hieros gamos derives from ancient mythologies relating to the union of the first deity and his or her consort(s). In terms of the ritual expression of this idea, the heavenly marriage historically took three forms:

The tradition of heiros gamos was usually performed in agricultural societies where these unions were understood to bring rain and fertility to the land, especially in the Middle East. The priestess or priest could also stand for the deity in relationship to citizens or travelers in the practice of "sacred harlotry."

The formal ritual sometimes, but not always, involved actual sexual intercourse. Documented examples normally involved a public procession, an exchange of gifts, the purification of the couple enacted in the ceremony, a wedding feast, the preparation of the marriage chamber, and an act of intercourse, either actual or symbolic. A festival on the following morning often celebrated the blessings brought to the community as a result: The union of heaven and earth resulting in the continuity of life's cycle of rain, fertility, procreation, and abundance.

In ancient Sumerian cosmology, heaven (An) and earth (Ki) were originally a single entity, the sacred mountain Anki. The lower valley-like part of Anki, earth, was female; while its upper summit, heaven, was male.

The Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish begins with a description of the generation of the cosmos through the co-mingling of the "waters" of heaven and earth in the persons of the male deity Apsu, and the sea-goddess Tiamat. The union of Apsu's fresh water with Tiamat's salt water spawned both the gods and civilization.

The world's oldest epic poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, evidences a culture in which the enactment of the hieros gamos by humans was a well established practice, and sexual union with the priestesses of the goddess Ishtar was seen as a civilizing function in the city of Uruk. When Gilgamesh discovers his nemesis, the wild man Enkidu, Gilgamesh's strategy for civilizing him is to send Shamhat, the priestess of Ishtar, to teach Enkidu how to live as a cultured human being. She first uses her feminine charms to seduce him into a week-long sexual initiation and then teaches him the other ways of civilized men.

The hieros gamos in ancient Canaan seems to have been generally inherited from its older Mesopotamian counterparts. The original heavenly marriage is between the sky god El and his consort, Lady Ashera of the Sea.

Modern scholars such as Joseph Campbell hold that the creation story of the Book of Genesis represents a retelling of the Enuma Elish creation myth. Here, the vision of Aspu and Tiamat's coupling is condensed into the formula:

In this view, the Mesopotamian vision of the marriage between heaven (God) and earth (the salt-water ocean) was inherited by the early Hebrews, who participated in hieros gamos rituals until at least the time of the Babylonian exile. The story of Eve and the Serpent, according to this theory, is an inverted version of earlier mythologies in which the serpent diety was originally the natural consort of the Mother Goddess. In the biblical version, however, both Eve and the serpent are cursed by the sovereign male deity, Yahweh. This reversal of roles is thought to be the result of the patriarchal system of Israel imposing itself on the older mythology of Canaan and Egypt. Campbell points out that the serpent plays a positive role in the old legends of Moses, who carries a powerful rod which has the power to turn itself into a serpent (Ex. 4) and is commanded by God to create and uplift a brozne serpent icon which heals the Israelites (Num. 21).

A biblical instance of a sacred harlot probably associated with the tradition of hieros gamos concerns the patriarch Judah in the Book of Genesis. Judah, whose lineage is about to expire, goes to the town of Timnah for a spring sheep-shearing festival, where he has sexual relations with a veiled sacred harlot near the town gate. The woman is actually his daughter-in-law Tamar, who bears him twin sons that become the forefathers of the Tribe of Judah.

Later, such practices were strongly condemned by the prophets and writers of biblical histories. Deuteronomy 23:17 forbids the practice which Tamar imitated, saying: "No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute." The prophet Jeremiah complained: "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there" (Jeremiah 3:6).

The Books of Kings refer to male shrine prostitutes as common in the Kingdom of Judah as early as the days of King Rehoboam (tenth century B.C.E.) and as late as King Josiah (late seventh century B.C.E.): "He (Josiah) also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the Lord and where women did weaving for Asherah" (2 Kings 23:7).

On the other hand, the ancient tradition of the deity's conjugal relations with the people of the land found its way into the Jewish tradition when the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah both referred to God as the "husband" of Israel. Speaking of the city of Jerusalem, Isaiah wrote: "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you" (Isaiah 62:4). In later tradition, the Sabbath would be welcomed by the faithful congregation in the role of a Bride, and the Shekhinah would be seen as a feminine aspect of God that, among other things, plays a wifely role to a tzaddik, or holy man.

The story of the Virgin Mary conceiving through the power of the Holy Spirit, then giving birth to Jesus as God the Son, and cooperating with him after her own assumption as the Queen of the Angels, has been seen as an example of the above-mentioned tradition of goddesses and their divine dying-and-resurrecting sons (Campbell 1991).

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.

The concept of the hieros gamos is also seen in the gnostic literature. Here, the concept and ceremony of the "bridal chamber" represented the union of Christ, in the position of bridegroom, and the believer, in the position of bride. Some gnostic sects were accused by orthodox Christians of not only affirming the church's role as the Bride of Christ, but also of engaging in licentious hieros gamos rites.

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