Hieros gamos

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Hieros Gamos or Hierogamy (Greek ιερός γάμος, ιερογαμία "holy wedding") refers to sexual intercourse or marriage between a god and a goddess, especially when enacted in a symbolic ritual where human participants represent the deities. Such rituals from a secular viewpoint are also known as religious prostitution or temple prostitution.

The notion of hieros gamos does not presuppose actual performance in ritual, but is also used in purely symbolic or mythological context, notably in alchemy and hence in Jungian psychology.

Contents 1 Historical polytheism 2 Alchemy and Jungian psychology 3 Neopaganism 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Historical polytheism

In some cases, such as the "Sacred Marriage" of the king of a Sumerian city-state and the High Priestess of Inanna, it served a more practical purpose: since commoners frequently took this opportunity to have sex with their own spouses, it coordinated the births of children so that they would be born in the winter, when there was more time to take care of them. ^[1]

[edit] Alchemy and Jungian psychology

The hieros gamos is one of the themes that Carl Jung dealt with, in his book Symbols of Transformation.

[edit] Neopaganism

In Wicca, the Great Rite is a ritual where a dagger is placed by a man point first into a chalice held by a woman, symbolizing the divine union of the Hieros gamos. It is mostly performed on Beltane night (1 May).

[edit] See also

• Sex magic
• Tantra
• Religious prostitution

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Archetype of the Holy Wedding in Alchemy and in the Unconscious of Modern Man, Remo F. Roth, Ph.D.
• The Hierosgamos Theme in the Images of the Rosarium Philosophorum, Karen-Claire Voss
• Ivory statuette of hieros gamos (found at Delphi)
• Sculptural relief of hieros gamos from a temple to Hera in Sicily
• Sculptural relief of hieros gamos from Parthenon (temple of Athene) at Athens
• Wall-painting of hieros gamos from Roman period Pompeii