The male and female powers of nature were denoted respectively by an upright and an oval emblem, and the conjunction of the two furnished at once the altar and the _Ashera_, or grove, against which the Hebrew prophets lifted up their voices in earnest protest. In the kingdoms, both of Judah and Israel, the rites connected with these emblems assumed their most corrupting form. Even in the temple itself, stood the _Ashera_, or the upright emblem, on the circular altar of Baal-Peor, the Priapos of the Jews, thus reproducing the _Linga_, and _Yoni_ of the Hindu.[47:5] For this symbol, the women wove hangings, as the Athenian maidens embroidered the sacred peplos for the ship presented to Athênê, at the great Dionysiac festival. This _Ashera_, which, in the authorized English version of the Old Testament is translated "_grove_," was, in fact, a pole, or stem of a tree. It is reproduced in our modern "Maypole," around which maidens dance, as maidens did of yore.[47:6] FOOTNOTES: [42:1] See Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration." [42:2] Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration." Prichard's Mythology, p. 213, and Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 59. [42:3] Ibid. Ernest de Bunsen says: "The first traces of the doctrine of Transmigration of souls is to be found among the Brahmins and Buddhists." (The Angel Messiah, pp. 63, 64.) [42:4] Prichard's Mythology, pp. 213, 214. [43:1] Gross: The Heathen Religion. Also Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Transmigration." [43:2] Ibid. Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 13; and Myths of the British Druids, p. 15. [43:3] Chambers's Encyclo. [43:4] Ibid. [43:5] Ibid. See also Bunsen: The Angel-Messiah, pp. 63, 64. Dupuis, p. 357. Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, book xviii. ch. 13. Dunlap: Son of the Man, p. 94; and Beal: Hist. Buddha. [43:6] Chambers, art. "Transmigration." [44:1] See The Religion of Israel, p. 18. [44:2] Malachi iv. 5. [44:3] Matthew xvii. 12, 13. [44:4] See Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 78. [44:5] Faber: Orig. Pagan Idol, vol. iii. p. 612; in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 210. [45:1] Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 202. [45:2] Contra Celsus, lib. vi. c. xxii. [45:3] Tylor: Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 324. [45:4] Ibid. [45:5] Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 262. [45:6] Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 344. [45:7] Volney's Ruins, p. 147, _note_. [45:8] See Child's Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. pp. 160, 162. [46:1] Genesis xxviii. 12, 13. [46:2] Genesis xxviii. 18, 19. [46:3] "Phallic," from "Phallus," a representation of the male generative organs. For further information on this subject, see the works of R. Payne Knight, and Dr. Thomas Inman. [46:4] Bible for Learners, vol. i. pp. 175, 276. See, also, Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology; and Inman: Ancient Faiths, vol. i. and ii. [46:5] See Myths of the British Druids, p. 300; and Higgins: Celtic Druids. [46:6] Quoted by R. Payne Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 114, _note_.