Depression in children and teens

Depression is a mood disorder that can take the joy from a child’s life. It is normal for a child to be moody or sad from time to time. These feelings are expected after the death of pet or a move to a new city. But if these feelings last for weeks or months, they may be a sign of depression which requires professional help.

A common belief was that only adults could get depression. There is evidence that show even a young child can have depression that needs treatment to improve. According to the latest information on WebMD, as many as 2 out of 100 young children and 8 out of 100 teens have serious depression.

Nevertheless, children don’t get the treatment they need.  This is partly because it can be difficult to tell the difference between depression and normal moodiness. Also, depression may not look the same in a child as in an adult.  

You can learn more about the symptoms in children if you talk to your child. Ask how he or she is feeling. If you think your child is depressed, talk to your doctor or counselor. The sooner a child gets help, the sooner he or she will feel better.

A sign of depression in a child includes;

- feeling irritable, sad, withdrawn, or bored most of the time

-Does not take pleasure in things he or she used to enjoy

A child who is depressed may also ;

-Lose or gain weight

-Sleep too much or too little

-Feel hopeless, worthless, or guilty

-Have trouble concentrating, thinking, or making decisions

-Think about death or suicide a lot.

The symptoms are often overlooked at first because the problems and the symptoms are all part of the same problem. Also, the symptoms may be different depending on the age of the child.

Both pre-school and grade school children may lack energy and become withdrawn. They may show little emotion, seem to feel hopeless, and have trouble sleeping. Often they will lose interest in friends and activities they liked before. They may comp-lain of headaches or stomach aches. A child may also be more anxious or clingy with caregivers.

Teens may sleep a lot or speak more slowly than usual. Some teens and children with severe depression may see or hear things that aren't there or have false beliefs.

Depression can range from mild to severe. A child who feels a little “down”  most of the time for a year or more may have a milder ongoing form of depression called dysthymia. In its most severe form depression can cause a child to lose hope and want to die.

What parents need to know about pediatric depression

Depression is a real illness that affects both adults and children. It can affect kids as young as 3 years old. It can even affect babies who tend to exhibit symptoms such as unresponsiveness, lethargy, inconsolable crying and feeding problems (Deborah Serani, PsyD).

Developmental mile stones 1 – 3 months

Every child is different, and so is every parent’s experience, but experts have a clear idea about the range of development from birth to age 5 – and signs that a child might have a developmental delay.

Milestones at one month

-         *Makes jerky, quivering arm thrusts

-         *Brings hands within  range of eyes and mouth

-         *Moves head from side to side while lying on stomach

-         *Head flops backward if unsupported

-         *Keeps hands in tight fists

-         *Strong reflex movements

Visual and Hearing Milestones

-         *Focuses 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.4 cm) away

-         *Eyes wonder and occasionally cross

-        * Prefers black and white or high-contrast patterns

-         *Prefers the human face to all other patterns

-        * Hearing is fully mature

-         *Recognize some sounds

-        * May turn toward familiar sounds and voices

Smell and Touch Milestones

-         *Prefers sweet smells

-         *Avoid bitter or acidic smells

-         *Recognizes the smell of his own mother’s breast milk

-        * Prefers soft to coarse sensations

-         *Dislike rough or abrupt handling

Developmental Health Watch

If during the second, third or fourth weeks of your baby’s life there are are signs of developmental delays, notify your pediatrician.

-        * Sucks poorly and feeds slowly

-         *Doesn't blink when shown a bright light

-        * Doesn't focus and follow a nearby object moving side to side

-        * Rarely moves arms and legs, seems stiff

-         *Seems excessively loose in the limbs, or floppy

-        * Lower jaw trembles constantly, even when not crying or excited

-         *Doesn't respond to loud sounds

Milestones at 3 months

Movement Milestones

-         Raises head and chest when lying on stomach

-         Supports upper body with arms when lying on stomach

-         Stretches legs out and kicks when lying on stomach or back

-         Opens and shuts hands

-         Pushes down on legs when feet are placed on a firm surface

-         Brings hand to mouth

-         Takes swipes at dangling objects with hands

-         Grasps and shakes hand toys

Visual and Hearing Milestones

-         Watches faces intently

-         Follows moving objects

-         Recognizes familiar objects and people at a distance

-         Starts using hands and eyes in coordination

-         Smiles at the sound of your voice

-         Begins to babble

-         Begins to initiate some sounds

-         Turns head toward direction of sound

Social and Emotional Milestones

-         Begins to develop a social smile

-         Enjoys playing with other people and may cry when playing stops

-         Becomes more communicative and expressive with face and body

-         Initiates some movements and facial expressions

Developmental Health Watch

Although each baby develops in his/her own individual rate, failure to reach certain milestones may signal medical or developmental problems requiring special attention. If you notice any of the following warning signs in your infant at this age, discuss them with your pediatrician.

-         *Doesn't seem to respond to loud sounds

-         *Doesn't notice his/her hands by 2 months

-         *Doesn't smile at the sound of your voice by two months

-         *Doesn't follow moving objects with his/her eyes after two or three months

-         *Doesn't grasp and hold objects by three months

-         *Doesn't smile at people by three months

-         Cannot support his/her head well at three months

-         *Doesn't reach for and grasp toys by three or four months

-         *Doesn't babble by three or four months

-         *Doesn't bring objects to his/her mouth by four months

-         *Begins babbling, but doesn't try to imitate any of your sounds by four months

-         *Has trouble moving one or both eyes in all directions

-        * Crosses his/her eyes most of the time (occasional crossing of the eyes is normal in these first months)

-         *Doesn't pay attention to new faces, or seemed very frightened by new faces or surroundings

 

The difference between sadness and depression

Feeling sad on occasion is a normal human emotion. But if emptiness and despair won’t go away, you may have depression. Depression makes it difficult to function and enjoy life.  Just getting through the day can be overwhelming. Understanding the signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment of depression is the first step to overcoming the problem.

Sadness in mood, setbacks, and disappointments are all normal reactions to life’s struggles, but depression is much more than sadness.

Some people describe depression as “living in a black hole” or having a feeling of impending doom. On the other hand, some depressed people don’t feel sad at all. Instead, they may feel lifeless, empty and apathetic; men in particular may feel angry, aggressive and restless.

Depression is different from normal sadness in that it engulfs your day-to-day life, interfering with your ability to work, study, eat, sleep, and have fun. The feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness are intense and unrelenting, with little or no relief.

You may be suffering from clinical depression if you experience several of these symptoms that will not go away.

-You can’t sleep or you sleep too much

-You can’t concentrate or find that previously easy tasks are now too difficult

-You feel hopeless and helpless

-You can’t control your negative thoughts, no matter how much you try

-You have lost your appetite or you can’t stop eating

-You are much more irritable, short tempered, or aggressive than usual

-You are consuming more alcohol than normal, or engaging in other reckless behavior

-You have thoughts that life is not worth living (seek help immediately if this is the case).

Depression varies from person to person, but there are some common signs and symptoms. It’s important to remember that these symptoms can be part of life’s normal lows. But the more symptoms you have, the stronger they are, and the longer they last – the more likely you are dealing with depression. When these symptoms are overwhelming and disabling, that’s when it’s time to seek help.

Signs and symptoms of Depression

  Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A feeling that nothing will ever get better and there is nothing you can do to improve your situation.

· Loss of interest in daily activities. No interest in former hobbies, pastimes, social activities, or sex. You lost your ability to feel enjoy and pleasure.

·Appetite or weight changes. Significant weight loss or weight gain. In most cases, a change of more than 5% body weight in a month.

· Sleep changes. Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping.

· Angry or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless or violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.

· Loss of Energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.

  Self-loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes.

· Reckless behavior. You engage in escapist behavior such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or sometimes dangerous sports.

·Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.

 Unexplained aches and pains. An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.

Depression and suicide

Depression is a major risk factor for suicide. The deep despair and hopelessness that goes along with depression can make suicide feel like the only way to escape the pain. Thoughts of death or suicide are a serious symptom of depression. Take any suicidal talk or behavior seriously. It’s not just a warning sign that the person is thinking about suicide, it’s a cry for help.

Warning signs of suicide

·        * Talking about killing or harming one’s self

·         *Expressing strong feelings of hopelessness or feeling trapped

·        * An unusual preoccupation with death or dying

·         *Acting recklessly, as if they have a death wish ( i.e. speeding through red lights).

·         *Calling or visiting people to say goodbye

·         *Getting affairs in order (giving away prized positions, tying up loose ends)

·         *Saying things like “Everyone would be better off without me” or “I want out”

·         *A sudden switch from being extremely depressed to acting calm and happy.

If you think a friend or family member is considering suicide, express your concern and seek professional help immediately. Talking openly about suicidal thoughts and feelings can save a life. In Vancouver call 604-872-3311 or outside Vancouver 1-800-SUICIDE  

Depression in men

Depressed men are less likely than women to acknowledge feelings of self-loathing and helplessness. Instead they tend to complain about fatigue, irritability, sleep problems, and loss of interest in work and hobbies. Other signs and symptoms of depression include anger, aggression, violence, reckless behavior, and substance abuse. Even though depression rates for women are twice as high as those in men, men are a higher suicide risk, especially older men.

Depression in women

Rates of depression in women are twice as high as they are in men. This is due in part to hormonal factors particularly when it comes to premenstrual syndrome (PMS), premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), postpartum depression, and perimenopausal depression. Women are more likely than men to experience pronounced feelings of guilt, sleep excessively, overeat and gain weight. Women are also more likely to suffer from seasonal affective disorder

Depression in teens

Some depressed teens appear sad, while others do not. Irritability rather than depression is frequently the predominant in depressed adolescents and teens. A depressed teenager may be hostile, grumpy, or easily loose his or her temper. Unexplained aches and pains are also common symptoms of depression in young people.

Left untreated, teen depression can lead to problems at home and school, drug abuse, self-loathing, and in certain cases, homicidal violence and suicide. With help, teenage depression is highly treatable.

Depression in older adults

The difficult changes that older adults face include bereavement, loss of independence, and health problems – can lead to depression. However, depression is not a normal part of aging. Older adults tend to complain more about the physical rather than the emotional signs and symptoms of depression which may cause the symptoms to be unrecognized. Depression in older adults is associated with poor health, a high mortality rate, and increased risk of suicide. Diagnosis and treatment are very important.

Inner-city poor

Poverty or marginalized groups may be identified as people who are unable to care for themselves or their families, as well as, the few who are prone to antisocial behaviour. Another suitable concept for marginalized people was put forward by Karl Marx. He indicated that the underclass was shaped and dominated by a society’s economic and political force but have no productive role.

The marginalized class is characterized as a fragment of wealthy societies that interconnects among diverse social problems. It is this paradox of poverty in an otherwise affluent society that efforts are made strenuously to eradicate. 

 The poverty paradox is seen in elements that work towards reducing poverty. This includes strong economic growth, government transfers to persons of billions of dollars per year, improved universal and public education systems, increased minimum wage, and increased housing subsidies. However, the marginalized groups remain at a disadvantage. B.C. has the highest child poverty rate in Canada at 18.6 % and single parent families (mostly female parents) with children, is on the increase at 49.8 per cent. Without living wage standards parents and other caregivers who work for low wages face impossible choices such as buying food, heat the house, feed the children, or pay rent. The result is spiralling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems.

There are many poor people who are not members of the marginalized class. This includes the elderly poor, widows, youth without family support, mental illness, physical disability, and those who suddenly found themselves plunged into poverty without warning. Similarly, there are people who engage in activities that is said to be characteristic of marginalized people who are not poor. For example, among the rich and famous you can find laziness, unreliability, drug and alcohol addiction, and episodic romantic attachments.  Some analysts believe the poverty paradox is only one manifestation of a much more general deterioration of society. The major problem is the way in which spreading marginalized groups are undermining the province capacity, family life, social integration, and political stability.   

 According to Christopher Jencks & Paul E. Peterson in The Urban Underclass, 1992, “one can differentiate four separate explanations of the poverty paradox.” This includes the inadequate programs of social services, the culture of poverty, the perverse incentives provided by welfare assistance, and the disproportionate effects of changes in the international economy.  Each explanation addresses the way in which the urban poor have contributed to a poverty paradox. Clearly there is a need to offer policy recommendations designed to resolve this paradox.

Inadequate programs of social services in Canada as well as in the United States, is in my opinion, a society in which the myth of equal opportunity has obscured a reality of submerged class conflict, racial discrimination, and tolerance of economic inequality . Similar to Americans, Canadians have relied on natural resources, provincial government systems instead of federal, a large private market, and a private dynamic economic growth to resolve social tensions.  As a result, extremes of wealth and poverty have emerged side by side. Although some efforts to improve these conditions were made in the wake of the Canadian depression between 1929 -1939, the country is too committed to individual freedom and too suspicious of government to redistribute wealth in such a way as to meet the needs of the poor.

The culture of poverty is a cultural explanation of the relationship between the poor and the poverty paradox. It holds that the lifestyle to which the urban poor have become attached is self-perpetuating. Street life can be exhilarating – in the short run. In a country where jobs are dismal, arduous, or difficult to obtain and hold, it is more fun to hang out, plan parties and use drugs. Gangs provide young people thrills, perceived protection, prestige, and money. When men cannot earn enough to support their families, they avoid enduring relationships with their female companions, and some women cannot earn enough to support their families or themselves, turn to prostitution.    

Most people who are marginalized I interviewed, experienced personal disappointments, insults or affronts, and rejections, as a product of broad social forces – class dominance, racial prejudice and discrimination, cultural exclusiveness – over which they, as individuals, had little control. This explanation however often becomes self-fulfilling, both for the individual and the group as a whole. The more one rejects the system, the less one is willing to study or work and the more one is rejected by the societal mainstream.

A glimmer of hope is to become politically active citizens as a means to helping poor neighborhoods. In this way these communities will be less depoliticized by the many economic and social ills that affect them. Whatever general issues they are subjected to, the neighborhoods can remain integrally involved in citywide politics.

Research shows that poor people living in poor neighborhoods differ little in their attitudes from poor people living in middle-class communities.

In conclusion it may safely be stated that two lifestyles tug at young people living in poor neighborhoods; the stable family with its belief in upward mobility and options for the future. The street culture which revolves around violence, drugs, sex, having babies, and other problem behaviours is the second lifestyle. The neighborhood can be predominantly street-oriented or a liveable community. Accordingly, lifestyles depend on the individual and on the neighborhood itself. Equally important is the class background of the young person. All teenagers are at risk and vulnerable to the alluring street culture, and most will flirt with the experience, many will successfully resist.  Those who are not well parented and raised with optimism toward the future may linger in the street culture and may eventually succumb to its standards.

The street culture can proliferate. As economic conditions deteriorate, the street culture grows, and more residents adopt its standards of behaviour. When things improve, those who are better off leave the street and the most desperate people are left behind increasingly isolated from the responsible families and the successful role models they provide.

This is a simplistic thesis that views culture from a mainstream ideal. The differences between the inner-city poor and wealthy countries are far more complex and require greater research.

The Medieval Church and Masterpieces

On the site of a new cathedral, the master mason would draw up the plans and direct the laborers. Soon after, everyone set to work with the sculptor directing the whole operation; the mason arranged the small hand-cut stones between the ribbing to support the vaulted roof one hundred feet above the floor; a craftsman set colored glass between lead strips for the windows.  

Goth architecture is a triumph of light, owing much to the glass industry that developed in the twelfth century. Glass works were built near forests (which supplied wood for the furnaces), monasteries and cities. By 1373 glass making had become a prestigious craft and there was a glassworkers’ guild.

Glass manufacturing led to the art of making stained-glass windows. These windows developed along the lines recommended by a German monk, Theophillus, author of a technical book called De diversis artibus (Concerning various arts). His detailed instructions include descriptions of how to use a hot iron to cut out colored glass segments, how to insert them into their lead casings, and, finally, how to achieve the magnificent rose windows and stained-glass pictures that were the pride of patrons of the bishop. Abbot Suger, who built the Abbey of St. Denis near Paris and wanted its church to be the most resplendent in the west, declared that he had sought  “with much care…the most subtle and exquisite masters to make painted windows…which cost much by the excellence and rarity of the materials of which they were composed.”

http://saint-denis.monuments-nationaux.fr/

But all this richness and luxury and profusion of color were not to everyone’s taste. In the thirteenth century the Cistercians (a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns) forbade the use of stained glass in their simple churches.

For most artists of the Middle Ages, nothing was too beautiful for the glory of the Lord. Every part of the Cathedral was symbolic – the building itself was the Cross; the domed or vaulted roof, the crown of thorns; the choir, the head of Christ; the glow of the windows, the light of heaven; and the towers represented arms uplifted in prayer.  

Many cathedrals were decorated with rose windows, circular window with patterns of interlacing lines. These windows are contained in the stone ribbing and the lead strips that join the pieces of stained glass. The masterpieces of nameless craftsmen who worked in the service of the Christian faith, these windows have a worldly, almost unreal, quality. (La Sainte-Chapelle, 1246 – 1248, Paris).

Music and Art

Cathedrals, churches, and monasteries were also the places where music was played and enjoyed. Toward the end of the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great had given the human voice a central role in the religious service, and for a very long time “Gregorian chant” one of the most moving expressions of Western spirituality. Five centuries later, in the music schools attached to cathedrals, works with two or more harmonized melodies were composed. Instrumental music was no longer solely an accompaniment to the voice. Drums, tambourines, and flutes remained the most common instruments played in popular music, but in the circles of lords and monarchs the lyre, the harp, the lute, and the viol (early stringed instrument played with a curved bow) emerged.

Music was taught at universities in the quadrivium, part of the curriculum of the seven liberal arts. It was regarded as a superior branch of education and knowledge. It was said that he “who does wrong proves that he does not understand music.” The organ, which had existed since antiquity, became the chief source of music for religious services in cathedrals. Harmony was studied and developed and musical notation perfected. In 1320 Philippe de Vitry published a treatise, Ars nova (New Art). It described a new way of writing down music, more precise and at the same time more flexible. Ars nova was characterized by the poetical quality of its text and the lyricism of its musical themes, with their intricate top line, more flowing rhythms, and freer counterpoint. The name “Ars nova” was also applied to the style of music then in fashion.

In 1360 Guillaume de Machaut composed the first full polyphonic mass for four voices in this style, with the instrumental parts alternating with a variety of melodic and rhythmical themes. This Messe Notre-Dame (Mass of Our Lady) was one of the works that most influenced the late medieval composers. Ars nova swiftly spread to Flanders, Florence, and England. Later, it spread to Germany and Spain.

In the fifteenth century, royal courts began employing chapel masters. The days of the troubadours and trouvères, of France, the English minstrels and the German minnesaengers, with their songs of love and the glorious past, were over.

The evolution of art during the Middle Ages provided painters with techniques and subjects for centuries to come. Roman churches were already decorated with frescoes, and Byzantine paintings had given the West a taste for icons. But with the Florentine painter Giotto, the history of modern painting and the age of great masterpieces truly began. Giotto (1267 – 1337) used light, delicate colors, and composed simple, beautifully balanced arrangements of figures and masses, using real men and women as models. In his frescoes he moved on from the symbols customarily used in painting by introducing a humanistic realism that already heralded the Renaissance.

In the fourteenth century the art of painting was highly valued in Italy, which abounded with artists’ studios. It was in Italy that in 1390 the first technical treatise appeared, covering all aspects of painting. The author advised on the use of particular colors in tempers painting: “If blue is to be used and is dark in hue, add a little glue or the yoke of an egg; but if the blue is pale; choose the yolk of a dark brown country egg. Mix it well with the pigment. Apply three or four layers to the material with a silk brush.”

Elsewhere in Europe, mainly in Flanders, France and Germany, other painters were experimenting with new techniques and styles. The Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (1422-1441) was one of the first to use oil. On a wood base primed with white lime, mixing the pigments with oil made the paint more fluid, enabling artists to correct, retouch, and make additions. This kind of perfectionism was impossible with frescoes, which required the colors to be applied very quickly to the wall before the plaster dried. Painting in oils gave pictures a new luminosity, transparence, and depth that revolutionized the history of Europe.

At the end of the fourteenth century, Provence in Southern France was an important artistic centre. Numbers of painters came from the north, Burgundy, and Spain to Aix and Avignon, where King René had his court. Around 1460 one of them, Enguerrand  Charonton, painted this Pietà on wood. A double curve is formed by the body of Christ and the grief stricken faces of St. John, the Virgin, and Mary Magdalen the intensity of their sorrow makes this work one of the high points of medieval painting. (Pietà of Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Louvre Museum, Paris) 

  

Baal of the Bible angered God (Numbers 25.3)

In the spring of 1928 an Arab peasant working in his field on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean struck his plow against a slab of solid rock. He discovered that the loosened rock concealed a decrepit stairway leading deep into the earth. Fifty feet in a vaulted tomb lie hidden were a number of artifacts and metal vessels. Beyond these ancient artifacts lay a wavering city of the dead. The articles dated back nearly 4000 years. It also resurrected for a brief thought-provoking moment an ancient deity Baal who, some thirty centuries before the time of Christ, was worshiped throughout the entire Middle Eastern world.

The excavation site became an open field displaying bodies of the ancient dead. The clank of shovels, the careful shifting of the earth, the silent, patient brushing of the artifacts was like a litany dedicated to the memory of Baal, the god to the Babylonians, Mercury or Hermes to the Greeks, Jupiter to the Romans, and Adonis to the Phoenicians. But to the Canaanites, he was Baal, god of the sun and sex.

In Canaan his influence was so great that many minor deities were known as Baalim  to prove the god was everywhere at once.  His symbol was in the shape of a phallus displayed in the places of worship. It was spoken of as “Baal” as though the god himself was there. The Semitic word, baal, meant husband, possessor, or lord and prince. His symbol was found in every home, public place and temple. Mothers named their children after him; names like Hannibal (the grace of Baal), Baal-Sham (the power of Baal), and Asdrubal (Baal is my helper). Cities dedicated to him were given the names of Baal-Gad, Baal-Parazin, and Baal-Hana).

The priests of Baal declared that the god first appeared when a primal universal force called EI, the elemental god, and Athirate, the goddess of the earth, who holds the ocean in her womb, became the parents of the gods. Baal was their firstborn and was given the sun for his throne. Soon the priests decreed that Baal and EI were one and the same, and that Baal’s consort was Astarte or Ashtoreth. She was known as Aphrodite to the Greeks, Ishtar to the Babylonians, Nana to the Sumerians, and Venus to her devotees in Rome. Regardless of her name or place, she was the wife of Baal, the virgin queen of heaven who bore fruit although she never conceived.

Marble temples and alters honoring Baal and Astarte glistened on sacred hills throughout the land of Canaan. At the beginning of spring, when the winds were still, the evening fires burned on hills. With impassioned ceremonies, the people involved their lives intimately with the life of the god. The reproductive force was the most powerful and mysterious of all manifestations. The power of generation was the object of the gods’ devotion,  and Baal was its personification.

Sacred Prostitution

All the land was Baal’s, and the location of smaller temples and shrines was determined by the phallic character or the proved fertility of natural plants and objects in the midst which suggested it was here that Baal dwelled.  Here the god’s shrines were built and fruit trees were planted. Walls were constructed to sanctify them. The worshippers were restricted  in how far they may enter, only the priests advanced into the inner sanctum where the young and muscular figure of Baal, hewn out of Granite, set upon a throne bathed in the light that filtered through an opening to the sky. Adjoining the temple were courts and chambers for the temple prostitutes, women chosen for special duties to gain the favor of a god who was best worshiped in the union of the sexes (When Sex Was Religion).

When a man approached a woman in the court, he tossed a coin to her and said, “I beseech the goddess Astarte to favor thee, and Baal to favor me.” The money became a part of the temple treasury, and the art of prostitution a sacred obligation to be fulfilled.

Throughout the land, the presence of Baal was marked by pillars or tree stems stuck upright into the ground. Because Baal impregnated the land by copulation, the ceremonies in his honor were often imitative sexual acts. The people believed that there was a secret power waiting to be unleashed through the rite.

Records indicate that the Semitic Canaanites were industrious, freedom-loving people. Their houses were large with spacious open yards between. They were great admirers of horses and loved games in which horses played a major part. They had great knowledge of agriculture and expert trades people who worked with clay and metal, creating impressive sculptured pieces in bronze, copper, gold, and silver, always reserving their ablest talent for creating statues of Baal. Images of Astarte depicted her in the nude, holding two white doves in her hands, while at her feet a lion and a coiled serpent lay stretched out submissively.

A thousand years of struggle were to take place between Baal, god of the sun, and Jehovah, God of destiny, between a god of the flesh and a God of the spirit. During these years, the Canaanites and the Israelites intermingled, each often worshiping the other’s god. For a thousand years the god of sex consistently triumphed and his followers increased. For a thousand years the cult Baal worked its magic, rewarding its followers with the joy of life in a productive land. The temples of Omri, Jezebel, and Athaliah flourished. It was as though the god of fertility lavished his abundant harvests upon the people to convince  them that he was mightier than Jehovah, that worship to him was honorable, and that a spiritual power was inherent in the orgasmic rites. So successful was he that there were Israelites who said, “if the worship of the sun god is an offense to Jehovah, why does not Jehovah rise up and defeat the great god Baal? There were also those who, condemning the idolatry turned from the immoral spectacles to the rituals of their holy faith. They watched and waited to see what the God of Israel would do.

The faithful now build new alters to honor the God Jehovah, but in a little while a hymn to Baal echoes again somewhere deep within the throbbing earth and steals once more into the minds and acts of people. A voice is heard saying “the great god Baal is dead.”  Or did he ever die?

Sex Worship

Wherever people live, people worship. The search for a satisfying religion is the greatest adventure and the boldest quest. As far back as we can go in history, before there were alters, churches, prophets and priests, humans were trying to come to terms with the mystery and magic of the universe.

Primitive races asked themselves the same questions that we ask ourselves today. “How can I understand the hidden forces that play upon my life? How can I deal with the mysterious power which is sometimes so near I can control it with a prayer, and at other times, so far away it defies my prayers and my faith?”

As humanity set about to solve the enigma of personal relationships with the unseen, methods were used that seem curious and strange.  It was the beginning of a quest for truth, and seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe.

In the simple mind of the ancients, it was logical that every stick, stone, plant, and tree appeared to be impregnated with life. Sticks were the source of both fire and fuel; stones provided both weapons and places for protection. Certain branches when stuck into the earth began to grow, certain plants contained magical powers to heal. Certain trees seemed never to die; certain herbs when eaten gave exotic visions of a life to come. Humans learned all this as they moved upon the bosom of the earth, having been placed here by whom or what, was unknown. They only knew that peace must be made with a strange, unmeasured, and at times, a lonely and a frightening land.  

The ancients seeing animals around them got the first clue of their own inherent instincts. In beasts and reptiles humans dimly perceived and believed they were ancestors which led to a better understanding of self. Each creature had the ability to reproduce its kind and, through its sexual functions, overcame the awesome power of death, gaining, it seemed, a small step toward some sort of immortality.

The first religious symbol was the totem, a pole in the shape of a phallus on which was crudely carved an image of an ancestral animal god. The first ceremonies were mimicking the animal which the clan or tribe had chosen. The dances, chants, and earliest prayers mimicked the movements, utterances, and habits of their deity. The most intimate ritual was patterned after the copulative act as observed in the creation which was the totem guardian and the god of the clan.

As humanity began to recognize the reproductive urge in all living things, the relationship between humans and the world deepened. Birds were reverenced because they flew upward toward the source of light. Fish became symbols of life (Marcus Bach in his book Strange Sects And Curious Cults suggests that the ancients somehow knew the modern truth that  fish resembled spermatozoon, whereas in my book When Sex Was Religion, I point out that the ancients believed fish were virgin born, and possess aphrodisiacal properties by the worshippers of Venus, it was also pointed out by George Ryley Scott Phallic Worship 1941 in regards to fish worship,  that it was because fish was considered to bear some resemblance to that of the female vulva). The virile animals, particularly the bull, ram, lion were honored for their creative power and the hint of conquest over fear. These were the gods and demigods etched upon the totem, and reverenced in ritual and song, unfolding the qualities hoped to be found within humans themselves.

The worship of the totem turned to the adoration of nature itself. Nature as the creator was more powerful than its creatures. At times it was cruel and formidable, but it was also loving and kind. It was also an unpredictable force. The wind was a spirit, the rain a messenger, the night a specter, the moon an eye, and the sun, a god. There was no god greater than the sun. It blessed and cursed brought joy and grief, filled humans with fear when it dropped from sight and aroused in the mind a hymn of praise at its reappearing.  Most of all, the sun stimulated and energized human creative powers. Light and life were its attributes and there was nothing in the vast world more worthy of worship and awe.  The sun was a king and the earth a queen; a queen endowed with never-ending life by her royal consort. The ancients reasoned that the rising and setting of the sun was a sexual act which fertilized the earth. As a mother begets her children, so mother earth begot her fruit. Out of this thought came the first hint of the cosmic father-mother relationship – the sexual union of the universe – of which man and woman were a part. This was the answer to the mystery of creation; it was light upon the puzzle of birth and death.  

It was reasoned that the earth had its springtime of impregnation, its summer of fruitful productivity, its autumn waning and its wintery death, and we were all part of this cosmic drama and death. As the earth received impulse from the sun to create and bear fruit, Humanity also reasoned that we too, were dependent upon the sun god for creative powers.

In a very real sense, it was believed we were considered a solar being, an offspring of the solar deity, the sun.

Prehistoric humanity developed the rudimentary concepts of religion.  The origin of religion as phallic worship was profound. They have left their influence upon worship all through the ages.  The meaning behind the sacrifices, chants, the rituals and rites, the ceremonies and ceremonials, together with the sexual symbolism, have persisted until our present day even though, with malice of forethought, we have sought to destroy their ancient meaning.   

The earliest elements of divine services had to do with the sun and sex. These have persisted all the way from the lingam and yoni in the temples of Hinduism to the towering minarets of Islam; from the star of David in Judaism to the phallic crus ansata in the Christian Faith.

If we reject the evidence pointing to some form of union for creation and the evolution of thought it inspired, the entire history of world religions become unintelligible and grotesque. If, however, this key to religion is grasped, it will unlock the past and show us that all that has happened is meaningful and profound.