In a note apparently by the editor, Dr. Rost, a full account is given in Sanscrit of the Sakti Sodhana, as they are prescribed in the Devi Rahasya, a section of the Rudra Yâmala, so as to prove to his readers that the Sri Chakra is performed under a religious prescription.
We learn that the woman should be an actress, dancing girl, a courtesan, washerwoman, barber's wife, flower-girl, milk-maid, or a female devotee. The ceremony is to take place at midnight with eight, nine, or eleven couples. At first there are sundry mantras said, then the female is disrobed, but richly ornamented, and is placed on the left of a circle (Chakra) described for the purpose, and after sundry gesticulations, mantras, and formulas she is purified by being sprinkled over with wine. If a novice, the girl has the radical mantra whispered thrice in her ear. Feasting then follows, lest Venus should languish in the absence of Ceres and Bacchus, and now, when the veins are full of rich blood, the actors are urged to do what desire dictates, but never to be so carried away by their zeal as to neglect the holy mantras appropriate to every act and to every stage thereof.*
* The above quotations from Wilson's work are selections
from his and his Editor's account. In the original the
observations extend over eighteen pages, and are too long to
be given in their entirety: the parts omitted are of no
consequence.
It is natural that such a religion should be popular, especially amongst the young of both sexes.
Figures 139 to 158 are copied from Moor's Hindu Pantheon; they are sectarial marks in India, and are usually traced on the forehead. Many resemble what are known as "mason's marks," i. e., designs found on tooled stones, in various ancient edifices, like our own, "trade marks." They are introduced here to illustrate the various designs employed to indicate the union of the "trinity" with the "unity," and the numerous forms representative of "la nature" A priori, it appears absurd to suppose that the eye could ever have been symbolical of anything but sight; but the mythos of Indra, given in Ancient Faiths, second edition, Vol. n., p. 649, and p. 7 supra, proves that it has another and a hidden meaning. These figures are alike emblematic of the "trinity," "the virgin," and the "four." Figure 154 is from Pugin, plate v., figure 3. It is the outline of a pectoral ornament worn by some Roman ecclesiastic in Italy, a. d. 1400; it represents the Egyptian crux ansata under another form, the T signifying the triad.
Figures 155, 156, are different forms of the sistrum, one of the emblems of Isis. In the latter, the triple bars have one signification, which will readily suggest itself to those who know the meaning of the triad. In the former, the emblem of the trinity, which we have been obliged to conventionalise, is shown in a distinct manner. The cross bars indicate that Isis is a virgin. The cat at the top of the instrument indicates "desire," Cupid, or Eros. Fig. 155 is copied from plate ix., R. P. Knight's Worship of Priapus.