PAGAN SPANKING
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Use of this Website is not permitted where prohibited by law.
If you are not of legal age in your providence you do so on your own accord and choice and therefore hold RevenStar Enchantments harmless of any legal ramifications of your actions.
If you manipulate this rule and feel you have suffered a Magical, spiritual or psychic attack by law of attraction, I encourage you to contact me as soon as realization.
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Dr Raven Dolick MsD RavenStar Enchantments
Published by Raven Dolick · July 10, 2014 ·
Published by Raven Dolick · July 10, 2014 ·
How Knowledgeable is the witch in you? Would you shut down knowledge if it didn't agree with a predisposition you have that may be wrong and not pass the test of ancient knowledge?
I would hope not for any on this page!
I would hope not for any on this page!
With that in mind
Here Is Tonights Pagan After Dark topic
Pagan Spanking ~ The Old Way
False Doctrine of Spanking A proper understanding of the shebet (translated “rod”) and its role in the Ancient Jewish world, along with an understanding that muwcar (translated “chastise” or “correct”) carries the connotation in Hebrew of “come let us reason together”, further combined with the absence of the modern idea of spanking in Torah, it is important that as believers we approach the idea of spanking with skepticism. When something is required by God it is clearly explained and while we find directions for how often a slave may be beat with a rod and the penalty for the master whose blows lead to death we find no similar instructions on how to beat a child. Study into rabbinical teaching and understanding of what many Christians have come to refer to as “the rod verses” further reveals debate on whether these verses even refer to corporal punishment at all and, if they do, the exercise being limited to striking a young man across the face with a shoestring. Ironically, the modern idea of spanking first appears as domestic discipline between sexual partners and such popular catchphrases within the Church as, “Spare the rod, spoil the child”, “a spanking should be done in love, never in anger”, and even reference to “the right way to spank” are actually references to the practice of Domestic Discipline. Even today the neophite to the internet learns very quickly not to Google “spanking”. Yet in many churches today the practice of spanking has not only become the primary method of parenting but it has been coupled to the Gospel in such a way that it is pure heresy. Christians who choose to not spank have their salvation questioned, even by pastors, and are told that their children will not be able to enter into salvation. This is incredibly troubling when one of the fastest growing religious movements in America, practicing pagans/witches, is so offended at the thought of spanking children that doing so is blatantly called abuse. When churches partner the false doctrine of spanking to the Gospel, the spread of the Gospel to pagans is hindered. Scripture makes plain what we must do to be saved. We must accept the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, who is God and man, on the cross. We must turn from our wicked ways and turn to the Lord. The Lord’s ways are given to us in Torah and as the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever we can trust that His standard remains. As James said, when the Council at Jerusalem issued a proclamation in Acts 15 that Gentile converts from paganism must do four things (the four elements of the pagan communion must be abandoned), the rest of Torah had been taught in Synagogues since the time of Moses. When it is understood that the early believers were attending Synagogue weekly it can clearly be seen that the assumption was not that they would abandon Torah, but that Torah was not to be required as a prerequisite to faith, but as a way of living that would be learned as the believer grew in understanding and knowledge. We continue to have handed to us the complete Old and New Testament—all of which is our guide. Yet nothing in the Gospels or Torah speaks of spanking. The Great Command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. “On this hangs all Torah and the Prophets.” The idea of neighbor is expounded upon in the parable of the Good Samaritan and the point, according to Jesus, is that each individual is the neighbor. Everyone is the neighbor. This includes children. The Great Commission is to go and make disciples of all nations—first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. Neither the Great Command nor the Great Commission is accompanied by an instruction to spank children. Many who are drawn to paganism have shared that they came from a Christian upbringing in homes where the rod was not spared. They were beat in the name of Christ and therefore want nothing to do with him. Others, from more neutral backgrounds, are attracted to the teachings of Jesus himself but are offended by the way that believers treat children. Anyone who can preach love of neighbor while striking their children is considered a hypocrite and while the teachings of Jesus, who never struck a child, but embraced and blessed them, can be accepted the teachings of a church that insists on striking children is rejected. Many are confused at the linguistic olympics that go on within the church in an effort to redefine spankings as “not hitting, but discipline.”
Valentine's Day: from Pagan spanking to romantic ornithology
The Valentine's Day holiday of love so is much more than petrol station flowers and silent meals for two
FOR some, Valentine’s Day means an inconvenient rush for flowers and last-minute dinner reservations - for others, it’s the most romantic time of the year.
Love it or hate it, 14 February is here. So brush up on the history and customs of Valentine's Day, and see if inspiration strikes.
History of Valentine’s Day
Like Halloween, the origins of Valentine's Day are rooted in Paganism, specifically in a Pagan fertility festival known as Lupercalia, says National Geographic. The festival - which was "wildly popular" until the fifth century AD - was celebrated annually on 15 February. It was customary for men to use whips fashioned from the skins of a goat or dog to spank young maidens in order to increase fertility - "an early form IVF if you will," remarks Tom Chivers in the Daily Telegraph.
The festival was so popular that the young Christian Church was unable to stop Pagans taking part, and so it eventually began to label it a Christian celebration, linking it to the legend of St Valentine.
St Valentine was executed by the Roman Emperor Claudius II after he was caught performing secret marriage ceremonies, which were at the time prohibited by the emperor in an attempt to strengthen his army.
The story goes that Valentine sent a final love note to his jailer’s daughter signed, "From your Valentine", and thus Valentine’s Day was born.
Around the world
Japan: Japanese chocolate companies make half their annual sales in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, although it’s not men shelling out their hard-earned cash. In Japan it’s traditional for women to do the spoiling. It’s not all rosy for the boys though – they are expected to return the favour on White Day, which falls on 14 March.
South Korea: In Korea they take it a step further. As well as celebrating Valentine’s Day and White Day, they also mark Black Day (14 April), on which people not in relationships meet in restaurants to eat black noodles and mourn/celebrate being single.
Finland and Estonia: Here Valentine’s Day is as much a celebration of friendship as it is romantic love and in both languages the name given to 14 February translates as Friend’s Day.
Wales: In Wales most people celebrate Dydd Santes Dwynwen on 25 January, a day which commemorates St Dwynwen, the patron saint of Welsh lovers.
Cash:
Valentine's Day is an expensive occasion according to Barclay’s Bank, particularly for men. It’s predicted that this year Brits will be shelling out a whopping £370m on loved ones (pets included) via debit card transactions - a £70m increase from 2013. Meanwhile, evidence suggests that ever more penny-wise Brits will go out for dinner either before or after 14 February in an attempt to avoid overpriced cuisine.
Naughty
Condom company Durex reports that sales of condoms are always between 20 and 30 per cent higher than usual around Valentine’s Day. Co-incidentally, sales of home pregnancy test kits’ are also substantially higher in March than at any other point during the year.
Love birds
According to the Ancient Greek and Roman practice of ornithomancy (and the Daily Telegraph), it is said that the first bird an unmarried woman spots on Valentine’s Day will tell her all she needs to know about the occupation and financial position of her true love.
Here’s the list of birds to look for and those to avoid:
Blackbird: he'll be involved in charitable or spiritual work – an aid worker of vicar
Dove: your marriage to him will be happy and loving
Robin: he earns his living through water – a naval officer or fisherman
Sparrow: he works with the land – a farmer or tree surgeon
Blue bird: he likes to make others smile – a comedian
Woodpecker: no marriage will take place
Duck: your relationship with him will be homely and stable
Gull: he travels a great deal for work
Birds of prey: he is a businessman, politician or leader
Goldfinch: he is a person of means
Kingfisher: he has already done well or inherited money
Pigeon: he will eventually return to the place where he grew up
Did you know?
Different meanings are ascribed to roses according to their colour. Here are our favorites:
Valentine's Day roses
Love: red roses signify romantic love and are by far the most popular colour of flower given to loved ones on February 14.
Lust: If you can’t keep your hands off each other, then an orange rose says it all - a flower synonymous with passion and enthusiasm.
The one: If you are madly in love and looking for a less predictable token of your affection then give purple roses, they symbolise love at first sight.
Friends: Perhaps you’re just friends - a yellow rose is symbolic of both friendship and joy.
Thanks: Give a pink rose and you are showing a loved one appreciation and gratitude.
Careful: A white rose could be a bit of a gamble as white is generally considered a symbol of both purity and remembrance. It’s a popular decoration for funerals.
Nuptial Spanking Customs
Two that I find the most charming are these:
The first is a reference to ‘chasing the maiden’. Apparently a bride-to-be was chased by her jealous unmarried friends and when caught was stripped and thrown to the ground and whipped with ‘apple switches’ on her bare bottom to make her fruitful. ‘Nor was this done in jest and a maiden could expect more than cats scratches upon her posteriors afterward. Also it must be said, she was scarce likely to behold a pew come Sunday.’
Another was an alleged New England custom dating to the 17th century. Before her nuptials it was said that a maiden would be taken into the orchard (another pagan fertility connection perhaps) and made to bare her bottom and bend over a fence rail. Then she was whipped across the bare bottom with a rod or a switch.
This was done slowly and with force. The more strokes she could accept before ‘begging off’ was supposed to indicate how many years of happiness she would have when married.
A variant on this was the more strokes the more healthy children.
Easter Spanking?
While chocolate and Easter eggs feature prominently in Eastern European celebrations, another tradition might raise eyebrows – the Easter spanking.
In countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary, it’s a custom for men to “spank” women with specially made decorative willow whips on Easter Monday.
The symbolic spanking – it shouldn’t hurt – is supposed to bring the women good health in the following year, and men are supposed to get an Easter treat (such as an egg or chocolate) for the favor.
There is an interesting history of spanking. From its earliest practice, in Ancient Greece, spankings were administered to adults. It was a pagan practice for increasing fertility in barren women who were spanked by the pagan priests and later was introduced into the Catholic Church as a means of adult women having their sins removed through the spankings of the priest after confession. In Britain during pre-WW2 times it was expanded to wayward teenage girls in the tradition of the removal of sins.
The best I can find in my studies is that *spanking* as we know it started in Victorian Europe where appearances were everything, children were seen and not heard, etc. No doubt this was in line with the idea of spanking for the removal of sins that began in the Catholic Church.
About Pagan Fertility Rites
Sao Goncalo Pastries, erotic pastry from Portugal claimed to have originated with Celtic fertility rites.
Fertility rites are religious rituals that reenact, either actually or symbolically, sexual acts and/or reproductive processes: 'sexual intoxication is a typical component of the rites of the various functional gods who control reproduction, whether of man, beast, cattle, or grains of seed'.
They may alternatively involve the sacrifice of 'a primal animal, which must be sacrificed in the cause of fertility or even creation' while there is evidence that 'prehistoric mother worship in the form of fertility rites is tied to human sacrifice'.
Characteristics
"Fertility rites may occur in calendric cycles, as rites of passage within the life cycle, or as ad hoc rituals....Commonly fertility rituals are embedded within larger-order religions or other social institutions."
As with cave pictures"[which] show animals at the point of mating...[and] served magic fertility rites", such rites are "...a form of sympathetic magic" in which the forces of nature are to be influenced by the example acted out in the ritual. At times, "ceremonies intended to assure the fecundity of the earth or of a group of women...involve some form of phallic worship".
Geographical Varieties
Ancient Greece
Central to fertility rites in classical Greece was 'Demeter, goddess of fertility...Her rites celebrated the procession of the seasons, the mystery of the plants and the fruits in their annual cycle of coming to be and passing away'. But most 'women's festivals...related in some way to woman's proper function as a fertile being (which allowed her to promote the fertility of crops too, by sympathy)'.
Because of his link to the grape harvest, however, 'it is not surprising to see Dionysus associated with Demeter and Kore in the Eleusinian Mysteries. For he, too, represented one of the great life-bringing forces of the world'. But only after a reed thrashing can the womens creative powers be fully brought forth in ritual and sympathetic magic.
Phoenicia
Ancient Phoenicia saw 'a special sacrifice at the season of the harvest, to reawaken the spirit of the vine'; while the winter fertility rite to restore 'the spirit of the withering vine' included as sacrifice 'cooking a kid in the milk of its mother, a Canaanite custom which Mosaic law condemned and formally forbade'. But ritual spanking of the goddess invoking was very commonly practiced even within the Tribe of Moses during the Exodus.
The death of Adonis - 'a vegetation spirit who was manifest in the seed of corn' - was marked by 'the most beautiful of Phoenician festivals...celebrated immediately after the harvest'. And to bring Him into the realms a sex ritual of copulation and ritual spanking to otrgasm was neccisary for full empowerment and performed by the High Priests even into old Babylon ways and customs.
Australia
Durkheim explored Australian ceremonies 'to assure the prosperity of the animal or vegetable species serving the clan as totem'. Such ceremonies took the form both of 'oblations, whether bloody or otherwise', and of 'rites which...consist in movements and cries whose object is to imitate the different aspects and attitudes of the animal whose reproduction is desired'. So sexual rituals were again nessisary to create the shift from human to animal spirit and today evn practiced by the Chillicothie lycan Society on Full Moons and special high magick ceremonies including the paddling of the Goddess to the woman who is invoking the consort.
Durkheim concluded that 'as the rites, and especially those which are periodical, demand nothing more of nature than that it follow its ordinary course, it is not surprising that it should generally have the air of obeying them'.
Arabia
Concerning The Black Stone of Mecca and its silver frame.
According to Ibn Ishaq, an early biographer of Muhammad, the Kaaba was itself previously addressed as a female deity. Circumambulation was often performed naked by male and female pilgrims, and worship associated with fertility goddesses. Some have noted the apparent similarity of the Black Stone and its silver frame to the external female genitalia. Which was also whipped as part of the fertility rite with the bare buttocks.
John Lewis Burckhardt wrote a sympathetic account of the Hajj and of his sojourn in Mecca in 1813 or 1814 under Ottoman hegemony, 'During all my journies in the East, I never enjoyed such perfect ease as at Mekka'. He also wrote, 'But the holy Kaaba is rendered the scene of such indecencies and criminal acts, as cannot with propriety be more particularly noticed. They are not only practised here with impunity, but, it may be said, almost publicly; and my indignation has often been excited, on witnessing abominations which called forth from other passing spectators nothing more than a laugh or a slight reprimand.' In the square of the mosque, he reports, 'I have seen some of the public women take this mode of exhibiting themselves, and of bargaining with the pilgrims, under pretence of selling them corn for the sacred pigeons.' because of the old tradition. He concludes that in the Mecca of his day, 'The open protection afforded by the government to persons both male and female of the most profligate character, is a further encouragement to daily transgressions against the rigid principles of the Mohammedan law. Cheating and false swearing have ceased to be crimes among them. They are fully conscious of the scandal of these vices: every delyl exclaims against the corruption of manners, but none set an example of reformation; and while acting constantly on principles quite opposite to those which they profess, they unanimously declare that times are such, as to justify the saying, "In el Haram fi belad el Harameyn," "that the cities forbidden to infidels abound with forbidden things."
Egypt
Edward Lane describes a curious interblending of worship directed to the Kaaba and the marriage rites in the Egypt of his day: The bridegroom takes off every every article of the bride's clothing except her shirt; seats her upon a mattress or bed, the head of which is turned towards the direction of Mekkeh, placing her so that her back is also turned in that direction; and draws forward, and spreads upon the bed, the lower part of the shirt: having done this, he stands at the distance of rather less than three feet before her, and performs the prayers of two rek'ahs; laying his head and hands, in prostration, upon the part of her shirt that is extended before her lap. He remains with her but a few minutes longer: having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in anxious suspense,) to raise their cries of joy, or zaghreet; and the shrill sounds make known to the persons below and in the neighbourhood, and often responded to by other women, spread still further the news, that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride after sexual intercourse while spanking her to orgasm.
Contemporary analogues
It has been suggested that 'at the heart of the myth of science lie fertility rites which ensure the continued fruitfulness of technological innovation'.
Eric Berne points out that 'the Adult "helpnik" vocabularies (PTA, psychology, psychoanalysis, social science) may be used in an intellectual Rite of Spring, where the victim's dismembered psyche is left scattered over the floor on the theory that he will eventually join himself together and be more fertile afterwards'. But only after a sexual rite.
Literature: T. S. Eliot
In The Waste Land, 'Eliot waxes nostalgically for a classical society founded upon ritual praxis...fertility rites in which the participants mime the fall and return of natural cycles' 'Keeping time, Keeping their rhythm in their dancing As in their living in the living seasons', as he would subsequently put it. As she takes the thrashing from the god for he is the hurricane as she is the breeze. Upon at times severe spanking is induced it encorporates the violent nature of creativity in its acting out as its invoke.
Here Is Tonights Pagan After Dark topic
Pagan Spanking ~ The Old Way
False Doctrine of Spanking A proper understanding of the shebet (translated “rod”) and its role in the Ancient Jewish world, along with an understanding that muwcar (translated “chastise” or “correct”) carries the connotation in Hebrew of “come let us reason together”, further combined with the absence of the modern idea of spanking in Torah, it is important that as believers we approach the idea of spanking with skepticism. When something is required by God it is clearly explained and while we find directions for how often a slave may be beat with a rod and the penalty for the master whose blows lead to death we find no similar instructions on how to beat a child. Study into rabbinical teaching and understanding of what many Christians have come to refer to as “the rod verses” further reveals debate on whether these verses even refer to corporal punishment at all and, if they do, the exercise being limited to striking a young man across the face with a shoestring. Ironically, the modern idea of spanking first appears as domestic discipline between sexual partners and such popular catchphrases within the Church as, “Spare the rod, spoil the child”, “a spanking should be done in love, never in anger”, and even reference to “the right way to spank” are actually references to the practice of Domestic Discipline. Even today the neophite to the internet learns very quickly not to Google “spanking”. Yet in many churches today the practice of spanking has not only become the primary method of parenting but it has been coupled to the Gospel in such a way that it is pure heresy. Christians who choose to not spank have their salvation questioned, even by pastors, and are told that their children will not be able to enter into salvation. This is incredibly troubling when one of the fastest growing religious movements in America, practicing pagans/witches, is so offended at the thought of spanking children that doing so is blatantly called abuse. When churches partner the false doctrine of spanking to the Gospel, the spread of the Gospel to pagans is hindered. Scripture makes plain what we must do to be saved. We must accept the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, who is God and man, on the cross. We must turn from our wicked ways and turn to the Lord. The Lord’s ways are given to us in Torah and as the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever we can trust that His standard remains. As James said, when the Council at Jerusalem issued a proclamation in Acts 15 that Gentile converts from paganism must do four things (the four elements of the pagan communion must be abandoned), the rest of Torah had been taught in Synagogues since the time of Moses. When it is understood that the early believers were attending Synagogue weekly it can clearly be seen that the assumption was not that they would abandon Torah, but that Torah was not to be required as a prerequisite to faith, but as a way of living that would be learned as the believer grew in understanding and knowledge. We continue to have handed to us the complete Old and New Testament—all of which is our guide. Yet nothing in the Gospels or Torah speaks of spanking. The Great Command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. “On this hangs all Torah and the Prophets.” The idea of neighbor is expounded upon in the parable of the Good Samaritan and the point, according to Jesus, is that each individual is the neighbor. Everyone is the neighbor. This includes children. The Great Commission is to go and make disciples of all nations—first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. Neither the Great Command nor the Great Commission is accompanied by an instruction to spank children. Many who are drawn to paganism have shared that they came from a Christian upbringing in homes where the rod was not spared. They were beat in the name of Christ and therefore want nothing to do with him. Others, from more neutral backgrounds, are attracted to the teachings of Jesus himself but are offended by the way that believers treat children. Anyone who can preach love of neighbor while striking their children is considered a hypocrite and while the teachings of Jesus, who never struck a child, but embraced and blessed them, can be accepted the teachings of a church that insists on striking children is rejected. Many are confused at the linguistic olympics that go on within the church in an effort to redefine spankings as “not hitting, but discipline.”
Valentine's Day: from Pagan spanking to romantic ornithology
The Valentine's Day holiday of love so is much more than petrol station flowers and silent meals for two
FOR some, Valentine’s Day means an inconvenient rush for flowers and last-minute dinner reservations - for others, it’s the most romantic time of the year.
Love it or hate it, 14 February is here. So brush up on the history and customs of Valentine's Day, and see if inspiration strikes.
History of Valentine’s Day
Like Halloween, the origins of Valentine's Day are rooted in Paganism, specifically in a Pagan fertility festival known as Lupercalia, says National Geographic. The festival - which was "wildly popular" until the fifth century AD - was celebrated annually on 15 February. It was customary for men to use whips fashioned from the skins of a goat or dog to spank young maidens in order to increase fertility - "an early form IVF if you will," remarks Tom Chivers in the Daily Telegraph.
The festival was so popular that the young Christian Church was unable to stop Pagans taking part, and so it eventually began to label it a Christian celebration, linking it to the legend of St Valentine.
St Valentine was executed by the Roman Emperor Claudius II after he was caught performing secret marriage ceremonies, which were at the time prohibited by the emperor in an attempt to strengthen his army.
The story goes that Valentine sent a final love note to his jailer’s daughter signed, "From your Valentine", and thus Valentine’s Day was born.
Around the world
Japan: Japanese chocolate companies make half their annual sales in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, although it’s not men shelling out their hard-earned cash. In Japan it’s traditional for women to do the spoiling. It’s not all rosy for the boys though – they are expected to return the favour on White Day, which falls on 14 March.
South Korea: In Korea they take it a step further. As well as celebrating Valentine’s Day and White Day, they also mark Black Day (14 April), on which people not in relationships meet in restaurants to eat black noodles and mourn/celebrate being single.
Finland and Estonia: Here Valentine’s Day is as much a celebration of friendship as it is romantic love and in both languages the name given to 14 February translates as Friend’s Day.
Wales: In Wales most people celebrate Dydd Santes Dwynwen on 25 January, a day which commemorates St Dwynwen, the patron saint of Welsh lovers.
Cash:
Valentine's Day is an expensive occasion according to Barclay’s Bank, particularly for men. It’s predicted that this year Brits will be shelling out a whopping £370m on loved ones (pets included) via debit card transactions - a £70m increase from 2013. Meanwhile, evidence suggests that ever more penny-wise Brits will go out for dinner either before or after 14 February in an attempt to avoid overpriced cuisine.
Naughty
Condom company Durex reports that sales of condoms are always between 20 and 30 per cent higher than usual around Valentine’s Day. Co-incidentally, sales of home pregnancy test kits’ are also substantially higher in March than at any other point during the year.
Love birds
According to the Ancient Greek and Roman practice of ornithomancy (and the Daily Telegraph), it is said that the first bird an unmarried woman spots on Valentine’s Day will tell her all she needs to know about the occupation and financial position of her true love.
Here’s the list of birds to look for and those to avoid:
Blackbird: he'll be involved in charitable or spiritual work – an aid worker of vicar
Dove: your marriage to him will be happy and loving
Robin: he earns his living through water – a naval officer or fisherman
Sparrow: he works with the land – a farmer or tree surgeon
Blue bird: he likes to make others smile – a comedian
Woodpecker: no marriage will take place
Duck: your relationship with him will be homely and stable
Gull: he travels a great deal for work
Birds of prey: he is a businessman, politician or leader
Goldfinch: he is a person of means
Kingfisher: he has already done well or inherited money
Pigeon: he will eventually return to the place where he grew up
Did you know?
Different meanings are ascribed to roses according to their colour. Here are our favorites:
Valentine's Day roses
Love: red roses signify romantic love and are by far the most popular colour of flower given to loved ones on February 14.
Lust: If you can’t keep your hands off each other, then an orange rose says it all - a flower synonymous with passion and enthusiasm.
The one: If you are madly in love and looking for a less predictable token of your affection then give purple roses, they symbolise love at first sight.
Friends: Perhaps you’re just friends - a yellow rose is symbolic of both friendship and joy.
Thanks: Give a pink rose and you are showing a loved one appreciation and gratitude.
Careful: A white rose could be a bit of a gamble as white is generally considered a symbol of both purity and remembrance. It’s a popular decoration for funerals.
Nuptial Spanking Customs
Two that I find the most charming are these:
The first is a reference to ‘chasing the maiden’. Apparently a bride-to-be was chased by her jealous unmarried friends and when caught was stripped and thrown to the ground and whipped with ‘apple switches’ on her bare bottom to make her fruitful. ‘Nor was this done in jest and a maiden could expect more than cats scratches upon her posteriors afterward. Also it must be said, she was scarce likely to behold a pew come Sunday.’
Another was an alleged New England custom dating to the 17th century. Before her nuptials it was said that a maiden would be taken into the orchard (another pagan fertility connection perhaps) and made to bare her bottom and bend over a fence rail. Then she was whipped across the bare bottom with a rod or a switch.
This was done slowly and with force. The more strokes she could accept before ‘begging off’ was supposed to indicate how many years of happiness she would have when married.
A variant on this was the more strokes the more healthy children.
Easter Spanking?
While chocolate and Easter eggs feature prominently in Eastern European celebrations, another tradition might raise eyebrows – the Easter spanking.
In countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary, it’s a custom for men to “spank” women with specially made decorative willow whips on Easter Monday.
The symbolic spanking – it shouldn’t hurt – is supposed to bring the women good health in the following year, and men are supposed to get an Easter treat (such as an egg or chocolate) for the favor.
There is an interesting history of spanking. From its earliest practice, in Ancient Greece, spankings were administered to adults. It was a pagan practice for increasing fertility in barren women who were spanked by the pagan priests and later was introduced into the Catholic Church as a means of adult women having their sins removed through the spankings of the priest after confession. In Britain during pre-WW2 times it was expanded to wayward teenage girls in the tradition of the removal of sins.
The best I can find in my studies is that *spanking* as we know it started in Victorian Europe where appearances were everything, children were seen and not heard, etc. No doubt this was in line with the idea of spanking for the removal of sins that began in the Catholic Church.
About Pagan Fertility Rites
Sao Goncalo Pastries, erotic pastry from Portugal claimed to have originated with Celtic fertility rites.
Fertility rites are religious rituals that reenact, either actually or symbolically, sexual acts and/or reproductive processes: 'sexual intoxication is a typical component of the rites of the various functional gods who control reproduction, whether of man, beast, cattle, or grains of seed'.
They may alternatively involve the sacrifice of 'a primal animal, which must be sacrificed in the cause of fertility or even creation' while there is evidence that 'prehistoric mother worship in the form of fertility rites is tied to human sacrifice'.
Characteristics
"Fertility rites may occur in calendric cycles, as rites of passage within the life cycle, or as ad hoc rituals....Commonly fertility rituals are embedded within larger-order religions or other social institutions."
As with cave pictures"[which] show animals at the point of mating...[and] served magic fertility rites", such rites are "...a form of sympathetic magic" in which the forces of nature are to be influenced by the example acted out in the ritual. At times, "ceremonies intended to assure the fecundity of the earth or of a group of women...involve some form of phallic worship".
Geographical Varieties
Ancient Greece
Central to fertility rites in classical Greece was 'Demeter, goddess of fertility...Her rites celebrated the procession of the seasons, the mystery of the plants and the fruits in their annual cycle of coming to be and passing away'. But most 'women's festivals...related in some way to woman's proper function as a fertile being (which allowed her to promote the fertility of crops too, by sympathy)'.
Because of his link to the grape harvest, however, 'it is not surprising to see Dionysus associated with Demeter and Kore in the Eleusinian Mysteries. For he, too, represented one of the great life-bringing forces of the world'. But only after a reed thrashing can the womens creative powers be fully brought forth in ritual and sympathetic magic.
Phoenicia
Ancient Phoenicia saw 'a special sacrifice at the season of the harvest, to reawaken the spirit of the vine'; while the winter fertility rite to restore 'the spirit of the withering vine' included as sacrifice 'cooking a kid in the milk of its mother, a Canaanite custom which Mosaic law condemned and formally forbade'. But ritual spanking of the goddess invoking was very commonly practiced even within the Tribe of Moses during the Exodus.
The death of Adonis - 'a vegetation spirit who was manifest in the seed of corn' - was marked by 'the most beautiful of Phoenician festivals...celebrated immediately after the harvest'. And to bring Him into the realms a sex ritual of copulation and ritual spanking to otrgasm was neccisary for full empowerment and performed by the High Priests even into old Babylon ways and customs.
Australia
Durkheim explored Australian ceremonies 'to assure the prosperity of the animal or vegetable species serving the clan as totem'. Such ceremonies took the form both of 'oblations, whether bloody or otherwise', and of 'rites which...consist in movements and cries whose object is to imitate the different aspects and attitudes of the animal whose reproduction is desired'. So sexual rituals were again nessisary to create the shift from human to animal spirit and today evn practiced by the Chillicothie lycan Society on Full Moons and special high magick ceremonies including the paddling of the Goddess to the woman who is invoking the consort.
Durkheim concluded that 'as the rites, and especially those which are periodical, demand nothing more of nature than that it follow its ordinary course, it is not surprising that it should generally have the air of obeying them'.
Arabia
Concerning The Black Stone of Mecca and its silver frame.
According to Ibn Ishaq, an early biographer of Muhammad, the Kaaba was itself previously addressed as a female deity. Circumambulation was often performed naked by male and female pilgrims, and worship associated with fertility goddesses. Some have noted the apparent similarity of the Black Stone and its silver frame to the external female genitalia. Which was also whipped as part of the fertility rite with the bare buttocks.
John Lewis Burckhardt wrote a sympathetic account of the Hajj and of his sojourn in Mecca in 1813 or 1814 under Ottoman hegemony, 'During all my journies in the East, I never enjoyed such perfect ease as at Mekka'. He also wrote, 'But the holy Kaaba is rendered the scene of such indecencies and criminal acts, as cannot with propriety be more particularly noticed. They are not only practised here with impunity, but, it may be said, almost publicly; and my indignation has often been excited, on witnessing abominations which called forth from other passing spectators nothing more than a laugh or a slight reprimand.' In the square of the mosque, he reports, 'I have seen some of the public women take this mode of exhibiting themselves, and of bargaining with the pilgrims, under pretence of selling them corn for the sacred pigeons.' because of the old tradition. He concludes that in the Mecca of his day, 'The open protection afforded by the government to persons both male and female of the most profligate character, is a further encouragement to daily transgressions against the rigid principles of the Mohammedan law. Cheating and false swearing have ceased to be crimes among them. They are fully conscious of the scandal of these vices: every delyl exclaims against the corruption of manners, but none set an example of reformation; and while acting constantly on principles quite opposite to those which they profess, they unanimously declare that times are such, as to justify the saying, "In el Haram fi belad el Harameyn," "that the cities forbidden to infidels abound with forbidden things."
Egypt
Edward Lane describes a curious interblending of worship directed to the Kaaba and the marriage rites in the Egypt of his day: The bridegroom takes off every every article of the bride's clothing except her shirt; seats her upon a mattress or bed, the head of which is turned towards the direction of Mekkeh, placing her so that her back is also turned in that direction; and draws forward, and spreads upon the bed, the lower part of the shirt: having done this, he stands at the distance of rather less than three feet before her, and performs the prayers of two rek'ahs; laying his head and hands, in prostration, upon the part of her shirt that is extended before her lap. He remains with her but a few minutes longer: having satisfied his curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to the women (who generally collect at the door, where they wait in anxious suspense,) to raise their cries of joy, or zaghreet; and the shrill sounds make known to the persons below and in the neighbourhood, and often responded to by other women, spread still further the news, that he has acknowledged himself satisfied with his bride after sexual intercourse while spanking her to orgasm.
Contemporary analogues
It has been suggested that 'at the heart of the myth of science lie fertility rites which ensure the continued fruitfulness of technological innovation'.
Eric Berne points out that 'the Adult "helpnik" vocabularies (PTA, psychology, psychoanalysis, social science) may be used in an intellectual Rite of Spring, where the victim's dismembered psyche is left scattered over the floor on the theory that he will eventually join himself together and be more fertile afterwards'. But only after a sexual rite.
Literature: T. S. Eliot
In The Waste Land, 'Eliot waxes nostalgically for a classical society founded upon ritual praxis...fertility rites in which the participants mime the fall and return of natural cycles' 'Keeping time, Keeping their rhythm in their dancing As in their living in the living seasons', as he would subsequently put it. As she takes the thrashing from the god for he is the hurricane as she is the breeze. Upon at times severe spanking is induced it encorporates the violent nature of creativity in its acting out as its invoke.
