Forlong - Rivers of Life

Fire Worship.
beyond the grave, and easing the pains of purgatory. There are other shoes and feet
of different sizes, the creation of which has often proved a very successful stroke of
priestcraft, especially if brought to light in Mary’s sacred month of May, when the
Phallic Pole is erected This Neapolitan foot-print would command veneration, nay,
worship in Boodhist and Hindoo lands, the hieroglyphs being sufficiently like AUM the
Creator, Water, and Mystery.
Mahomedanism boasts of many holy foot-prints, one of which—the Altar-enabba—said
to belong to the Prophet himself—may be seen by the Nile traveller; but
those at Meka are most revered, being supposed to have been made. by Abraham when
he was driven from the threshold of Ishmael’s door by his termagant wife, though held
by others to be the impress of Ishmael’s foot when he left the house of his father-inlaw,
King of the Dhorhamides. 1 The stone is thought to have formed the threshold—
always sacred, as leading to the Delta. Thus, then, “foot” is a euphemism for Lingam,
and commonly occupies its place in the figures of the gods, as is specially visible in
the case of Ganesha, the Horus of India..
My readers should know there are various words which in Europe denote an
origin from this widely diversified Sanskrit word Lingam. It is strictly a sacred term
for the Phallic God, but means “the Root,” “Sign,” “Mark,” or “Token” (of sex), and
is therefore the same as the Persian Nishān, a word in common use in India as a
“Mark,” “Banner,” Flag, or “Standard.” It is, in fact the Nissi or Nish-i of Exod. xvii
15. Lingam is not a word which any Eastern may lightly use. 2 It is only applied in
an abstract sense to the god in his symbol of creative energy, which is ever held to be
the most divine power in God and man. As the Tree was the first Lingam idea and
sign, so the Latins seemed to see it in “Ligneus penis” and Lignum-wood, by some
considered to be short for Il-ignum Oak-wood, the wood of Jove, and therefore of
Fire. Indeed the words seem to be composed of Il, God, and Ignis Fire. Lingula or
Ligula is “a little tongue,” promontory of land, musical instrument, or “the Speaker,”
which is one of Maha-Deva’a names as “the oracle of the gods.” He is also the Tier
or Binder, from Ligo. The Phallus (like Lingam a sacred term) was “Lgneus Penis,”
which last word Valpy derives from Pšoj, as plenus from Plšoj, and connects it with
the root pen in pen-deo (and pen-etro) bringing us back to Pen-ates, Pendulum, and
the “tassels” of our Northumbrian youth; see note, page 193, ante.
One of the causes, it is thought, why Maha-Deva is the god of Plenty and Riches,
is that his Ling, Nish, or Nishan, was used as Termini and landmarks, and hence he
presided over wealth in lands, in trade on roads, as well as over contracts and arrangements.
When Laban said to Jacob, “Behold this Heap (Hermes), and behold this
Pillar (Lingam), which I have cast betwixt me and thee; this heap be witness (Testis),
and this Pillar (Lingam) be witness that I will not pass over this Heap to thee, and
1 Weil’s Legends of Mahomed, 36, 23, A. Origin of Man, p. 186.
2 [Whereas Forlong uses it loosely and indiscriminately. — T.S.]
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