PLEASE READ BEFORE JUDGING WHETHER OR NOT
IT MAY BE READ BY YOUR CHILDREN

by Abraham Van Luik, 72163,3070.

A book I recently finished was called "The Mystical Marriage," by Gerhard
Wehr, (Crucible, 1990). Wehr reconstructs the union of the male and the female in
marriage as the creative reflection on Earth of the Hieros gamos archetype. He
runs through the Old and New Testaments, Gnostic and Kabbalistic mysteries,
Alchemy, Rosicrucians, modern examples and psychoanalysis (Jungian in
particular).

In one place he disappointed me: the story of Sara, later called Sarah, wife
of Abram, later called Abraham, in the Old Testament. Sarah, and later her
daughter, were classic textbook examples of the Naditu Priestesses described in
the Law of Hammurapi. Savina J. Teubal ("Sarah The Priestess, The First
Matriarch of Genesis." Swallow Press, 1984) makes the case very well for Sara
and Rebecca being priestesses who were childless because they were dedicated to
the goddess. Sarah followed the law of her homeland and gave her husband
someone with whom he could raise up seed unto her (yes! Unto HER, not him!
{But don't think this was a matriarchal society, the rest of the Code of Hammurapi
makes it plain that women were expected to very scrupulously obey their menfolk,
except in the case of this one exceptional class of holy women who served kings in
this holy ritual of renewal.}

She, Sara, functioned in her priestly offices with Pharaoh, and with
Abimelech, with the results noted (end of the famine, fertility restored through the
land), and in addition was herself restored to fertility by the latter encounter, and
thus herself begat Isaac thereby ending her priestly career. The Genesis account is,
if these things are true, a doctored one with fantastic changes to supplant the
matriarchal deity with Abraham's patriarchal one.

Sarah is involved in ritual that clearly belongs to the cult of the goddess,
and must have had recognized credentials as a priestess of that goddess. The
almost comical dwelling of the storytellers on her legendary beauty and the lusts of
the kings as being the only reasons for these enigmatic dramas, are possibly the
author's decoys to keep the real priestly position of Sarah under wraps and reserve
all of the glory for the patriarch and his God. Sarah seems to be a qualified person
to stand in for the Queen of Heaven as she prepares to receive the earth-god's
representative on the lion-couch/marriage bed.

I do believe this version of the story makes historical sense and evidences
the transition in religion and the replacement of the Goddess and her consort Gods
with the one (male) God. It documents a transition that took a large part of the
world away from a view of the Divine that included the female. The poem of
Inanna's mating with the shepherd King Dumuzi, and her blessing him and his land
afterward, that is likely the ritual that Sarah and Rebeccah were taking part in: 3
times it happened to them! Their beauty and the desires of kings explain this?
When there was a famine in the land? Give me a break: the disease was named
(famine) and the prescribed cure was applied (the Hieros Gamos) in keeping with
the customs and religious practices of the time and place. It is the simpler, more
credible explanation!

Did I make all this up? No. Graves and Patai {Graves, Robert, and Raphael
Patai, "Hebrew Myths, The Book of Genesis," (Greenwich House, New York,
1983) p. 144.} connect section l46 of the Code of Hammurabi with Sarah, and
note that the "naditum", or hierodule, is a priestess or temple servant that is
forbidden to have children. Hence the provision for a second wife to bear children.
The "naditum" apparently played a central part in an annual rite in which she
represented the Goddess of fertility. By having intercourse with her, successfully,
and pleasing her, a king would renew his kingly authority, renew his health and
vigor, renew the fertility of his land and people, and guarantee the prosperity of his
nation. In turn, the king would bestow lavish gifts upon the Goddess.

This yearly rite, which begins with sacrifices and culminates in this sacred
marriage or "hieros gamos", is delicately and sketchily described by Geoffrey
Parrinder {"World Religions from Ancient History to the Present," (Facts on File
Publications, New York, 1983), pp. 125-128} who observes that the king acted as
the successor to Dumuzi, lover and husband of Inanna. In re-enacting the
love-feast of these two deities that assured fertility: "The part of the goddess was
given to a selected priestess." Parrinder notes that entry to the higher classes of
priesthood was by patronage, so that society's physically and intellectually favored
were selected.

A highly readable account of the sacred marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi, giving
full and glowing details of their lovemaking and subsequent exchange of gifts has
recently been published. This work describes the results of the sacred union in
terms of establishing the authority and throne of the king, granting him a favorable
and glorious reign and an enduring crown, fertile fields, sheep, vegetation, grain,
birds, and produce in abundance {Wolkstein, Diane, and Samuel N. Kramer,
"Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth, Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer"
(Harper & Row, N.Y., 1983), pp. 146-147}.

Some citations from Wolkstein and Kramer are a perfect way to develop an
appreciation for this ancient religious tradition. Much of the book is poetry from
the Divine Marriage between the Goddess Inanna (Venus) and her Shepherd lover,
Dumuzi ( king of Uruk in ancient Sumer, about 4,000 years ago). Spring, renewal,
and a bright Venus in the sky will help you recall this poetry in the future. It is not
easily forgotten.

Inanna sang:
Last night as I, the queen, was shining bright,
Last night as I, the Queen of Heaven, was shining bright,
As I was shining bright and dancing,
Singing praises at the coming of the night ----

He met me ---- he met me!
My lord Dumuzi met me.
He put his hand into my hand.
He pressed his neck close against mine.

My high priest is ready for the holy loins.
My lord Dumuzi is ready for the holy loins.
The plants and herbs in his field are ripe.
O Dumuzi! Your fulness is my delight!

The next selection (if you want more, buy the book!) is a very sweet
understatement describing these two lovers entering "the bed that rejoices the
heart:"

He put his hand in her hand.
He put his hand to her heart.
Sweet is the sleep of hand-to-hand.
Sweeter still the sleep of heart-to-heart.

Of course that which follows next suggests there was little sleeping involved in all
this hand to hand and heart to heart stuff. It is beautiful poetry:

Inanna sang:
I bathed for the wild bull,
I bathed for the shepherd Dumuzi,
I perfumed my sides with ointment,
I coated my mouth with sweet smelling amber,
I painted my eyes with Kohl.

He shaped my loins with his fair hands,
The shepherd Dumuzi filled my lap with cream and milk,
He stroked my pubic hair,
He watered my womb.
He laid his hands on my holy vulva,
He smoothed my black boat with cream,
He quickened my narrow boat with milk,
He caressed me on the bed.

Now I will caress my high priest on the bed,
I will caress the faithful shepherd Dumuzi,
I will caress his loins, the shepherdship of the land,
I will decree a sweet fate for him.

So now, the Queen of heaven, Inanna, Venus, First Daughter of the Moon, decrees
Dumuzi's fate ( he was a good guy, after all, finishing last)  [See an alternative interpretation below, however]:

In battle I am your leader,
In combat I am your armor bearer,
In the assembly I am your advocate,
On the campaign I am your inspiration.
You, the chosen shepherd of the holy shrine,
You, the king, the faithful provider of Uruk,
You, the light of An's great shrine,
In all ways you are fit:

She then says lots of stuff about his being fit for kingship, and blesses likewise his
warrior qualifications, but the gist of it is that this was a very beautifully written
description of the Mystical Marriage, the Hieros Gamos, of ancient times, the
annual spring ritual between the king and a Priestess representing the Goddess
who looked on brightly, beaming her approval from the night sky. And if she was
well pleased? Well, crops, babies, and the spoils of war would be plentiful.

Do you feel the calling to take upon yourself this priesthood and become
priestesses and priests, queens and kings? If so, be mindful, next opportunity, to
take upon ourselves the weighty task of properly pleasing our mates and blessing
them so that crops and babies may be plentiful and healthy! To your duties, oh
Goddesses and Shepherd Kings, the world needs continual renewal!

OK, that was fun.  But then I received this email that suggests that I did not read the ritual in its entirety and should have, because something very interesting is occurring with Dumuzi.  Here is what that email said,

. . . you state that at the close of the Sumerian version of the "Hieros Gamos" annual sex ritual the king (in the role of Dumuzi) "... is a good guy, after all, finishing last."  By "finishing last" I can only assume you mean orgasming last.  However, this is not what appears to have happened.  According to the poem "The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi," Dumuzi experienced climax (orgasm) "fifty times" before the ceremony was considered concluded:

"He opened wide his arms to the holy priestess of heaven.

We rejoiced together.

He took his pleasure of me.

He laid me down on the fragrant honey-bed

My sweet love, lying by my heart,

Tongue-playing, one by one,

My fair Dumuzi did so fifty times.

Now, my sweet love is sated.

 

At the climax of the ceremony (or should I say, climaxes, fifty times, wow!) the populous would cheer and shout their approval and appreciation."  (emphasis added)  Thus, apparently as part of this ancient ritual (this Sumerian version being the most ancient of all), the king or the king-apparent was required to sexually fulfill the Dumuzi role just as given in the poem used as the ritual's script.  Thus, he was expected to orgasm "fifty times" before the ritual was considered successfully concluded.

I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on this.

 Sincerely,    Brent Myers
Co-Author "Male Multiple Ejaculatory Orgasms: A Case Study"
Journal of Sex Education and Therapy (Vol. 23, No. 2)

Brent Myers cites several Sumerologists who conclude as he does that the literal meaning of this passage is that Dumizi made love to her 50 times before he (not her) was sated.  My own less-informed opinion is that it is not really necessary to take every nuance in the text literally.  I would think that perhaps the number 50 is symbolic and that the multiple climaxing ability may have been a way of showing the man was of the lineage that had this ability and was therefore fit to be king.  I think it was the symbolic claiming of super-powers as a way to claim that this particular shepherd-king was a man closer to the Godly lineage than a mere mortal. Brent strongly disagrees with my also toying with the interpretations that the last line's "my sweet love" did not mean Dumuzi at all, but meant the internal satifaction of Inanna, which then led her to bless Dumuzi in the extravagant way that she did.  He suggests this is not the only place this myth is related, and in the other instance of it it is even more unmistkably Dumuzi who makes love to Inanna 50 times, "exhaustedly waiting for her, as she trembled underneath him," and her speechless (click here for the quote he provided to make this point):

Of course my untrained eye again sees an opportunity for a perverse reading here, with Dumuzi getting exhausted keeping Inanna in a specchless trembling state until she finally has her fill of pleasure, but whatever the meaning of Inanna being exhausted and speechless under Dumuzi, it is clear that Dumuzi did make love to her 50 times!  Totally amazing!

This is a link Brent Myers suggested where the ritual is given and discussed in greater detail (there is material here unsuitable for children and unstable persons of any age): http://www.goddess.org/religious_sex.html  

and this is where Brent Myers discusses the possibility of multiple orgasms in males (with references to magazines that may be available online or at your local library): http://www.multiorgasmic.com

As with everything else in life, you make your own decision.  

As for me, I am once again proven to be naught but a peasant, through and through.