Thursday, May 14, 2026

The wickerman film 1973 uses the phrase "generative force" from the 1970 book Taoist Yoga: alchemy and immortality

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdFxyBBCaZs

 https://www.theotherfolk.blog/dissections/wicker-man

  • Wickerman/Body Structure: In these practices, the body is seen as a "cauldron" or "stove," where the lower Dantian acts as a furnace to refine the generative force, and the "Wickerman" reference may relate to the internal cultivation and transformation of this essence through intense focus and breathwork.
  • The Goal: The aim is to turn the generative force (Jing) into Qi (vitality), which then rises to the brain (Ni Wan) to nurture the spirit, cultivating health and potentially immortality. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The "Wickerman" may be a reference to a particular, intense, or symbolic visualization of this internal alchemical process of transforming the body’s innate energy.

  the start for the folks of Summerisle, who get into public orgies at night, dance naked around fires, and teach kids to venerate “the penis … as symbolizing the generative force in nature.”

 https://yeoldewitchcraftshoppe.co.uk/2020/03/21/how-the-golden-bough-inspired-the-wicker-man/

 Frazer then goes on to give examples of the primitive fire rituals performed by those all over the world. Customs such as leading a bride to or around a hearth in hopes of making her fruitful through the generative virtue ascribed to the fire. The story of Tullius “expresses in daily life the same idea…[that] virgin mothers conceived through contact with a spark or tongue of fire.”

Frazer’s explanation for the procreative virtues attributed to fire is that the very ritual of creating fire, that is rubbing sticks together, is the sexual union that creates the child, flame. “This of itself suffices to impress on the mind of a savage the idea that a capacity for reproduction is innate in the fire, and consequently that a woman may conceive by contact with it.”

 ............

Further on in this chapter Frazer decides to change his view on the motives behind the may pole tradition “However in these and similar European customs it seems that the influence of the tree, bush or bough is really protective rather than generative; it does not so much fill the udders of the cows as prevent them from being drained dry by witches, who ride on broomsticks or pitchforks through the air on the Eve of May Day (the famous Walpurgis Night) and make great efforts to steal the milk from the cattle.”

It is clear that in the case of the Wicker Man, the power of the May Pole is indeed a generative one,..........

  The teacher says “Thats right, the pole represents the phallus, or penis which is the generative force in nature.”

 

While the most famous description of the Wicker Man comes from Julius Caesar, it is widely believed by scholars that Caesar—and later the geographer Strabo—based their accounts on the earlier, now-lost, writings of the Greek philosopher and historian Posidonius of Rhodes (c. 135–51 BC), who traveled through Gaul. [1, 2]
Posidonius's original works do not survive, so a direct, word-for-word quote is unavailable. However, his account is believed to be the source for the following descriptions of Celtic sacrificial practices: [1, 2]
  • The Colossus of Straw/Wood: Strabo, in his Geographica, notes that the Gauls "devised a colossus of straw and wood" to burn as a sacrifice.
  • The Method: Posidonius is likely the source for reports that Celtic tribes would fill large, woven effigies with livestock, wild animals, and human beings, and then consume them in a large sacrificial fire.
  • Context: These sacrifices were typically made to the gods (especially Taranis) for a "bountiful crop," sometimes using criminals or innocent victims. [1, 2]

Key Takeaways on the "Wicker Man" Source
  • Caesar's Account: Julius Caesar wrote in his Commentary on the Gallic War (Book VI, Chapter 16) that Gauls built "figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames".
  • Posidonius's Influence: Caesar was a contemporary of Posidonius and drew heavily on his accounts of Gaulish customs.

 

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