About The Book

In 1919, the famed British author and occultist Aleister Crowley wrote,

“When you have proved that God is merely a name for the sex instinct,
it appears to me not far to the perception that the sex instinct is God.”

He was referring at the time to the work of the late nineteenth-century sex reformer and mystic, Ida Craddock. Among the fruits of Craddock’s life-long study of esoteric sexuality were two manuscripts, Lunar and Sex Worship and Sex Worship—Continued, which for over a century have remained obscure and unpublished—until now.

Lunar and Sex Worship and Sex Worship—Continued trace the development of mankind’s earliest form of religious worship—that of the generative powers of nature, as expressed through human sexuality in the microcosm, and embodied in the macrocosm by the lunar mysteries. These were eventually supplanted by solar worship, which later survived by proxy in the doctrines of Christianity.

The breadth and depth of Craddock’s research into the sexual practices, symbolism, and mythology of a variety of societies and cultures are impressively represented in this book. Some of the subjects she discusses include:

  • Phallicism
  • Serpent Worship
  • The Blood Covenant
  • The True Meaning of the Cross
  • Yoni Worship in the Old Testament
  • And much more…

This rare and unique treatise provides fascinating insight into the sexual foundations of human religion, along with a wealth of esoteric symbolism underlying such magical systems as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis, written from the perspective of a female occultist of the era.

Lunar and Sex Worship

Contains the full text of both Lunar and Sex Worship and Sex Worship—Continued by Ida Craddock
Edited and Introduced by Vere Chappell
Published by The Teitan Press, 2010
Hardcover, Limited Edition, 318 Pages, Illustrated, with References and Index
Out of Print