Misplaced Pages

Temple of Priapus

Priapus, a divine personification of the penis
Founder
D.F. Cassidy
Regions with significant populations
Religions
Paganism
Scriptures
Scripture of the Holy Seed
Languages
English, French

The Temple of Priapus, also known as the St. Priapus Church (French: Église S. Priape), is a North American pagan religion founded in 1979 that centers on the worship of the phallus.

Formation and tenets

The Temple of Priapus was founded in Montreal, Quebec, by D. F. Cassidy and has found a following mainly among homosexual men in Canada and the United States. The group, which is named after the Greek god Priapus, believes that the phallus is the source of life, beauty, joy, and pleasure.

Cassidy took inspiration for the Montreal temple from a shortly defunct group of the same name he encountered in San Francisco in 1979, which was itself founded in 1973 after another one in Calgary, Alberta in 1972. Cassidy said in 2014 of the San Francisco temple, "They were doing important community outreach, like helping homeless gay youth".

Ceremonial practices

The phallus is to be worshipped, which can be accomplished by a variety of sexual acts, including group masturbation. Semen is also treated with reverence and its consumption is an act of worship. Similarly, fellatio is strongly encouraged; the Temple of Priapus sees it as a commandment, a good deed which has positive effects not just for the recipient but for society in general, a practice facilitating world peace. (Well-fellated men, the group teaches, are less likely to make war.)

Membership

There are nine centres of the group in Canada and eight in the United States. The largest membership resides in San Francisco, California, and it has its headquarters in Montreal.

See also

• Modern pagan views on LGBT people
• New religious movements
• Phallic saint

Notes

1. "Montreal's Penis Temple Dedicated To Every Member", Huffington Post, 30 March 2015.
2. ^ Hays, Matthew (2018-03-07). "Inside the Montreal Temple That Worships the Dick". Vice. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
3. ^ J. Gordon Melton. (1996). Encyclopedia of American Religions, 5th ed, p. 952. Detroit, MI: Gale, ISBN 0-8103-7714-4.
4. Boisvert, Donald L. (2020), Palmer, Susan J.; Geoffroy, Martin; Gareau, Paul L. (eds.), "The Temple of Priapus: Contemporary Phallus Worshippers in Montreal", The Mystical Geography of Quebec: Catholic Schisms and New Religious Movements, Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 151–166, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33062-0_7, ISBN 978-3-030-33062-0, S2CID 216444489, retrieved 2023-08-22
5. Wayne Dynes . (1990). Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, p. 779. New York: Garland.
6. Daniel Eisenberg. (1997). Pasado, presente y perspectivas del teléfono erótico. El cortejo de Afrodita. Ensayos sobre literatura hispánica y erotismo, anejo 11, pp. 105–114. , Analecta Malacitana. ISBN 8492217235.

References

• Andy Nyberg. (1983-09). St. Priapus Church: The Organized Religion. The Advocate, pp. 35–37.

Further reading

• Boisvert, Donald L. (2020). "The Temple of Priapus: Contemporary Phallus Worshippers in Montreal". In Palmer, Susan J.; Geoffroy, Martin; Gareau, Paul L. (eds.). The Mystical Geography of Quebec: Catholic Schisms and New Religious Movements. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 151–166. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33062-0_7. ISBN 978-3-030-33061-3. S2CID 216444489.

v t e Modern paganism
Approaches	Eclectic Nature religion New Age Neoshamanism Reconstructionism Secular Western esotericism Western philosophy
Arts and institutions	Festivals and events Music Temples
By country or region	Australia German-speaking Europe Hungary Ireland Italy Scandinavia South Africa United Kingdom United States Minnesota
Movements (list)	Ethnic African Ausar Auset Godianism Heathenry Armenian Baltic Dievturi Romuva Burkhanism Canarian (Berber) Caucasic Abkhaz Ossetian-Scythian Celtic Druidry Wicca Daco-Thracian (Romanian) Egyptian Kemetic Orthodoxy Germanic Hellenic Roman Semitic Slavic Rodnovery (list) RUNVira Peterburgian Vedism Ynglism Turko-Mongolic list Uralic Estonian Erzyan Finnish Hungarian Mari Udmurt Zuism Interfaith: European Congress of Ethnic Religions · Foundation for Traditional Religions Syncretic Adonism Christo-Paganism Church of All Worlds Church of Aphrodite Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans Goddess movement Ivanovism Pagan Federation Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism Secular paganism Temple of Priapus Neopagan witchcraft: Wicca Cochranianism Feri Reclaiming Stregheria
In society	Criticism Crypto-paganism Discrimination LGBTQ+ and paganism Pagan studies Technopaganism Writers on modern paganism
Related articles	Ariosophy Witch-cult hypothesis Hermeticism Neotribalism Platonism in the Renaissance Thelema Theosophy Traditionalist School

• Gay culture in Canada
• Gay culture in the United States
• Gay men's organizations
• International LGBTQ organizations
• LGBTQ culture in Montreal
• LGBTQ religious organizations
• Male masturbation
• Masculism
• New religious movements
• Organizations based in Montreal
• Modern pagan organizations established in 1979
• Human penis
• Religious syncretism
• Modern paganism in Canada
• Religion in Montreal