red homa juice have arisen various religious practices and rites,
such for instance as offering oblations to the gods, anointing holy
stones, and pouring wine on sacred hills, also the custom of pledging
oaths over glasses of wine.

The May pole, a decidedly phallic emblem, whose festivals until a very
recent time were celebrated in England by the old as well as the young,
was usually if not always sprinkled with wine. From the accounts which
we have of this sacred emblem and its festival, it seems that no royal
edict nor priestly denunciation was sufficient to expel it from the
country.

According to Dr. Stevenson, the festival of Holi or the worship of
Holika Devata, in the island of Ceylon, "has a close resemblance to
the English festival of the May-pole, which originated in a religious
ceremony or festival of the Cushites (called Phoenicians) who anciently
occupied Western Europe."(11)

11) Quoted by Baldwin, Prehistoric Nations, p. 223.

The ash is the Scandinavian Tree of Life, and, like the sacred trees of
all nations, is emblematical of the continuation of existence. This tree
has a triple root, which peculiarity doubtless accounts for its sacred
character. It is both female and male, and is said to be regarded as a
"sort of Logos or Wisdom." It is the first emanation from the Deity, and
yet a Trinity in Unity. To insult or injure this tree was sacrilege, to
cut it down was an offense punishable with death.

In the old Egyptian and Zoroastrian story, appear the descriptions of
two Trees of Life, also a Tree of Knowledge. In the accounts given of
these trees, the Ficus, the female Tree of Life, represents the life
of the soul, while the palm, the male Tree of Life, is that which gives
physical life, which also is the true significance of the word "lord."
When, however, either of these trees stood alone, or unaccompanied by
its counterpart, by it both of the creative principles were understood.
By these ideas is suggested the thought which among a certain school of
psychologists of the present century seems to be gaining ground, namely:
that man is a dual entity, or, in other words, that he has a subjective
mind and an objective self, which so long as this life endures must
co-operate or work together.

In the following descriptions of Egyptian emblems, will be perceived
some of the changes which finally took place relative to the idea of sex
in the god-idea.

In the museum of Egyptian antiquities