The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship [Paperback]

Sha Rocco (Author), Tess Roberts (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2005

"A tremendous and controversial undertaking for its time, this book unearths some of the most fascinating connections between the world of Christianity and sexual imagery, adventure and exotica. Without missing a beat, Rocco has seen to it that her readers are not only kept fascinated, but that her own theories and precepts remain strong in the reader's mind. It doesn't matter that her words reach out from a past century. Their ring is clear and their message loud, even by today's standards. Rocco moves from an intrinsic philosophy of the cross and its shape and form in theoretical gendering, while leaving no stone unturned in her discussions of the Triad and Vocabulary of the ancients. This woman finds sex in every nook and cranny of history, letting nothing stand in her way to complete sexual discovery. Her writing style remains clear and easy to read, while packed with the most interesting of facts, theories and suggestions. Not to be left in the cold, the Yoni is also examined (figuratively) in detail, including details regarding its origins and assorted monikers. Following the discussions of symbols, figures, art and hidden meanings, Rocco turns the focus to Religious Prostitution. This topic, although with many different perspectives from contemporary scholars, could well have ushered Ms. Rocco to the stocks had they still been in use at the time of its publication. While detailing some of the more well known roles of women in religion, Rocco weaves the threads of fresh thought around such topics as "veiling" and the use of the word "sanctuary". Interesting, thought-provoking and incredibly advanced for a female scholar of her time. In its entirety, this book is a must-have. For any who hold a love of history and most especially sexual history, the information and theories that Rocco puts out, are worth their weight in gold, when taken as a philosophical volume of renown. Women of today find it less surprising - the images, innuendoes and hints of sexuality in the ancient religious world. Today's female has history at her fingertips to use as a visual link in common denominators. We can see, from the threads of our history, that the pagans of old relied as much on sexuality in their nature worship as did the Christians who adopted but hid them. Fascinating and worthy of the best coffee accompaniment." --Quote by Scrollmistress of www.sexscrolls.com

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is the first in a series of books from Gracie Passette Productions devoted to the history of sexuality, looking at it's place in society, religion, mythology, and peoples' minds.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Gracie Passette Productions (August 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977100324
• ISBN-13: 978-0977100323
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,335,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dense and a good start, with its drawbacks, December 15, 2005

By 

Guido A. Sanchez "independent reviewer" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship (Paperback)

A reprint from an 1874 manuscript, The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship is an only semi-useful essay that offers equal parts insight and dated convolution. The essay by Sha Rocco, the author of Sex Mythology, and a nom de plume believed to be Alisha Hudson, is a useful document for sex-interested historians, but mildly inaccessible by a mass audience. Its most notable strength is the intrigue any reader will begin to develop after going through the densely packed work reprinted here.

The text is essentially useful as a straightforward historical document, lacking in well founded research and applicable analysis. The book proves to be charged with sex positive ideologies and challenges to the late Victorian era push towards "sex as taboo" and hyper religious conservatism. The author's intention is to provide a clear shock to the system, and while Tess Roberts' introduction puts forth that the shock may still reverberate today, the text had little substance applicable to modern perspectives.

Rocco begins, at her strongest, with a breakdown of the cross symbolism inherent across most religions. While some examples of phallic imagery are scattered about with little coherence, the eventual shift into discussing the cross as a crude symbol begins to concretize the thrust of the text. The constant, allegedly academic, references Rocco makes throughout are part of the damage to her main points. Rocco continually quotes and references one main "scientist," Dr. Inman, an esoteric and hardly reputable source to base an entire case study on. These obscure references weaken Rocco's argument to the point of disrepute at moments.

Nonetheless, there is content to be gleaned from the text and accepted at face value as a premise for further study and interesting examinations. Rocco presents an analysis of biblical names as a case study in phallic worship. Rocco analyzes dozens of names as being either phallic or yonic worship, primarily phallic, with references to El the hard one (Elkoshi) and the erect On (Camon). This attempt to present the sexuality inherent in most religion is very successful here, when her information is straightforward and supportive of that main point, albeit questionably researched.

As Rocco begins to analyze the trinity, fish symbols, Fridays / holy days, mortars / pestles, arks and artifacts as gendered and sexualized, Rocco notes how "words and figures are adopted which are ingeniously vailed [sic] so as not to be understood by the multitude, yet significant enough to be initiated." This summarizes her entire essay's main point and explicitly presents the reader with the usefulness of her analysis. Rocco's text is the most appealing when it is concretely examining symbols such as these and showing how questionable mistruths can be taken like communion by the masses when it comes to religion.

"These metaphoric figures are so infinitely varied," Rocco describes of the crosses and intricate symbols of religions, "that only the learned in them will be apt to recognize their hidden meaning." This elitism in which Rocco posits that those "in the know" hold the truth to these grand mysteries and cover-ups is deflated by Rocco's own text. This work straddles the fence between colloquial analysis and academic research, and never quite ends up on either side, making each piece of evidence of the "learned" that much more questionable.

Historically, the author's challenges to religious ideologies are interesting, but would require far more in depth analysis to prove useful for a modern examination. Rocco's motivations and true knowledge base are both questionable, but her attempt to bring together many different religions and spiritual beliefs adds weight to the "sex worship" analysis, and is something that is hard to find in texts today.

Her ability to combine many minor elements of religious mythology makes this book an interesting springboard for further research. The most interesting and useful element to the text is the structure of her arguments, one that should be pursued and applied by more thorough and well researched modern day historians looking to break the religious mythos hegemony.

For those interested in breaking down religious mythology and examining ancient sexuality, this text can provide a starting point which, while not the strongest, is an easy and dense work that the reader will find provides them with even more questions and insights to begin to examine.

0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, September 5, 2006

By 

Kassady (Ma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship (Paperback)

Very boring book. All she talks about is a handful of clients that are as boring as she is. Save your money.