1. Drawings of coffer lids which nineteenth-century antiquarians supposed to be evidence of the sexual heresies of the Templars (see chapter 9)
2. The last degeneration of Priapus as the ithyphallic god of the witches (from a seventeenth-century broadsheet, The Merry Pranks of Robin Good-fellow).
“So there’s the finish of my tour up the Nile to the third Cataract, to Nubia, Abu Sinnel (sic), etcetera. It is very wrong I know, I deplore it! but you also know that what’s bred in the bone, &c., so adieu, and believe me
“Yours very truly
“E. SELLON.”
A month later Sellon shot himself in his room at Webb’s Hotel in Piccadilly. Before doing so he wrote an excessively sentimental and gloomy poem entitled No More,9 which concludes:
For I am in the cold earth laid,
In the tomb of blood I’ve made.
Mine eyes are glassy, cold and dim,
Adieu my love, and think of him
No More.
Vivat Lingam
Non Resurgam 10
So ended the life of Edward Sellon, pornographer, soldier, coachdriver, and, as will be seen from the extracts from his writings which follow, the man responsible for introducing a Tantric strain into the occultism of the West.
Sellon’s interpretation of Tantricism was crudely materialistic, for while he seems to have had a fair knowledge of the practical techniques of the cult it does not appear that he had any real understanding of its underlying philosophy. Here he was very much a man of his own time, interpreting the subtleties of Hinduism in accordance with the vulgarly anthropomorphic conceptions of deity that were familiar to him from the writings of theologians of the evangelical school. He wrote:
“As the Saivas are all worshippers of Siva and Bowanee (Pavati) conjointly, so the Vaishnavas also offer up their prayers to Laksmi-Nayarana. The exclusive adorers of this Goddess are the Sactas.
“The cast mark of the Saivas and Sactas consists of three horizontal lines on the forehead, with ashes obtained, if possible, from the hearth, on which a consecrated fire is perpetually maintained. The adoration of the Sacti11 is quite in accordance with the spirit of the mythological system of the Hindus in Bengal, at least three-fourths are Sactas, of the remaining fourth, three parts are Vaishnavas, and one Saivas.
“Independently of the homage paid to the principal Deities, there are a great variety of inferior beings, Dewtas, and demi-gods of a malevolent character and formidable aspect, who receive the worship of the multitude. The bride of Siva, however, in one or other of her many and varied forms,12 is by far the most popular goddess in Bengal and along the Ganges.
“The worship of the female generative principle, as distinct from the Divinity, appears to have originated in the literal interpretation of the metaphorical language of the Vedhas, in which Will, or purpose to Create the Universe, is represented as originating from the Creator and co-existent with him as his bride, and part of himself. We read in the Rig-Veda the following—
“ ‘That divine spirit breathed without afflation, single, with (Swadha) her who is sustained within him, other than her nothing existed.’ Again, ‘First, desire was formed in his mind, and desire became the original productive seed.’13 The Sama-Veda also, speaking of the divine cause of creation, says, ‘He felt not joy, being alone. He wished for another, and instantly the desire was gratified. He caused his body to part in twain, and thus became male and female. They united, and human beings were produced.14
“Prakriti,15 the mother of gods and men, one with matter, the source of error, is identified with Maya or delusion,16 and co-existent with the Omnipotent, and his Sacti, his personified energy, his bride. According to Wilson, ‘these mythological fancies have principally been disseminated by the Puranas, and were unknown anterior to those writings’. The whole subject is given in extenso in the Brahma-Vaivaartta Puran (a Purana which is not considered orthodox), under the head of Prakrita Khanda, in which the legends having reference to the modifications of the female principle are narrated. It is further stated in this Puran, that Brahma, having determined to create the universe, became androgynous, male and female; the right half having the sex and form of a man; the left, that of a woman. In his images he is sometimes thus represented, and is then termed Ardnari. ‘This is Prakriti of one nature with Brahm; illusion, eternal, as the soul so is its active energy, as the faculty of burning is in fire.’17
“In another passage of the Sama Vedha it is said that Krishna, being alone invested with the divine nature, began to create all things by his own will, which became manifest in Mula-Prakriti…
“Although the adoration of the Sacti is authorised by some of the Puranas, the rites and formulae are more clearly set forth in a voluminous collection of books called Tantras. These writings convey their meaning in the similitude of dialogue between Uma (or Siva) and Pavati.
“The followers of the Tantras profess to consider them as a fifth Vedh, and attribute to them equal antiquity and superior authority.18 The observances they prescribe have in Bengal almost superseded the original Ritual, but the question of their date is involved in considerable obscurity. From the practices described in some of the Puranas, particularly that of the Diksha, or rite of initiation, from the Agni Puran, from the specification of formulae, comprising the mystical monosyllables of the Tantras, in that and other similar compilations; and from the citation of some of them by name in different puranas, we must conclude that some of the Tantras are prior to those authorities.
“The Tantras are too numerous to specify them further, but the curious reader will find them under the heads of Syama Rahasya, Anandra, Rudra, Yamala, Mandra, Mahodahi, Sareda, Tilika, and Kalika-Tantras.19
“Although any of the goddesses may be objects of the Sacta worship, and the term Sacti comprehends them all, yet the homage of the Sactas is almost