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Penis Amulets

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.tarot,alt.magick,alt.divination,alt.lucky.w
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Penis Amulets (was Re: Guide to Waite's Pictorial Key
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 07:19:27 GMT

"Jane." wrote:
> 
> Cute.  But I just have to know...
> 
> Just what is a Thai penis amulet, and what is it used for?
> 
> ...at least, I think I want to know.  *G*
> 
> Jane.

The Thai people had their own indigenous religion, millennia ago,
but within historical times many of them converted to the worship
of Siva (also spelled Shiva), a Dravidian Indian god whose name
means "The Auspicious One" and who is symbolized by his "Mark" or
"Sign" -- the sanskrit ford for which is Linga. His mark or linga
being his erect penis, the word linga came to mean penis. 

Back in India, where Siva worship originated, the linga or mark
was styled, like the stylized crosses that represent Jesus. It is
usually rounded and featureless, longer than an egg, and not
pointy like an egg, but fairly egg-shaped when compared to a
human penis. See a picture of an Indian Siva linga at 

Siva Linga: http://www.luckymojo.com/siva.html

When Shaivism spread to Thailand, people there began making fully
representational linga figures. One of the functions of Siva,
especially in his guardian phase, when he is called Bhairava, is
to protect his worshippers, especially from the evil eye. For an
explanation of the evil eye, see

Evil Eye: http://www.luckymojo.com/evileye.html

The wearing of a protective palad khik (which means honorable
surrogate penis in the Pali language) became common in Thailand,
and many old palad khik amulets are inscribed in Pali, "Lord Siva
protect my penis." They are worn on the body to deflect the evil
eye. In time, many people in Thailand converted to Buddhism, and
thus we also find palad khik amulets inscribed "Lord Buddha
protect my penis." Furthermore, in addition to protection, palad
khik amulets began to be worn for a multitude of propitious
reasons -- to bring in business luck, gambling luck, strength,
fertility, invulnerability during combat -- in short, for almost
every reason an amulet might be worn. To distinguish them,
symbolic animals are shown grasping or striding on the penis -- a
panther for stealth, a tiger for courage, a monkey for intellect
and fidelity, a double-tailed lizard for conceiving children,
etc. (0% of palad khik amulets are worn by men, but there is one
pattern, which depicts a naked yogini on the penis in the asana
known as "the bridge," which is carried by women to ward off
muggers, purse snatchers, and rapists. There are many Thai penis
amulets illustrated and described at my palad khik web page. The
pictures are small enough that it is fast loading. Check it out at

Penis Amulets: http://www.luckymojo.com/penisamulets.html

By the way, penis amulets are also found in ancient Roman
archaeological digs. Among their other uses, they were employed
to protect babies from the evil eye and in that capacity they
were often hung over cribs as danglers. You can see a scan of a
bronze floriated penis amulet from a 1st century AD British Roman
site at my web site as well

Roman Penis Amulets: http://www.luckymojo.com/penisroman.html

If you follow the links given above you will enter the Lucky W
Amulet Archive, a free repository of or about 500 web pages
showing amulets and charms from around the world and all
cultures. 

Cordially,

cat yronwode 
news:alt.lucky.w --- discussions on folk magic, luck, amulets, charms

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