Hieros gamos, (fromAncient Greek:ἱερός,romanized: hieros,lit. 'holy, sacred' andγάμοςgamos 'marriage') orhierogamy (Ancient Greek:ἱερὸς γάμος,ἱερογαμία 'holy marriage') is a sacred marriage that takes place between gods, especially when enacted in a symbolicritual where human participants represent the deities.
The notion ofhieros gamos does not always presuppose literal sexual intercourse in ritual, but is also used in purely symbolic ormythological contexts, notably inalchemy and hence inJungian psychology.Hieros gamos is described as the prototype offertility rituals.[1]
Sacred sexual intercourse is thought to have been common in theAncient Near East[2] as a form of "Sacred Marriage" or hieros gamos between the kings of aSumerian city-state and theHigh Priestesses ofInanna, theSumerian goddess of love, fertility and warfare. Along theTigris andEuphrates rivers there were many shrines and temples dedicated to Inanna. The temple ofEanna, meaning "house of heaven"[3] inUruk[4] was the greatest of these. The temple housedNadītu, priestesses of the goddess. The high priestess would choose for her bed a young man who represented the shepherdDumuzid, consort of Inanna, in a hieros gamos celebrated during the annual Duku ceremony, just beforeInvisible Moon, with theautumn Equinox[5] (Autumnal Zag-mu Festival).
InGreek mythology, the classic instance is the wedding ofZeus andHera celebrated at theHeraion of Samos,[6] along with its architectural and cultural predecessors. Some scholars[7] would restrict the term to reenactments, but most accept its extension to real or simulated union in the promotion of fertility: such an ancient union ofDemeter withIasion, enacted in a thrice-ploughed furrow, a primitive aspect of a sexually-active Demeter reported byHesiod,[8] occurred inCrete, origin of much early Greek myth. In actualcultus,Walter Burkert found the Greek evidence "scanty and unclear": "To what extent such a sacred marriage was not just a way of viewing nature, but an act expressed or hinted at in ritual is difficult to say".[9] The best-knownritual example surviving in classical Greece is thehieros gamos enacted at theAnthesteria by the wife of theArchon basileus, the "Archon King" in Athens, originally therefore the queen of Athens, withDionysus, presumably represented by his priest or thebasileus himself, in the Boukoleion in theAgora.[10]
The brief fertilizing mystical union engendersDionysus, and doubled unions, of a god and of a mortal man on one night, result, throughtelegony, in the semi-divine nature ofGreek heroes such asTheseus andHeracles.[clarification needed]
InTantric Buddhism ofNepal,Bhutan,India andTibet,yab-yum is a ritual of the maledeity in union with a femaledeity as his consort. The symbolism is associated withAnuttarayoga tantra where the male figure is usually linked to compassion (karuṇā) and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), and the female partner to 'insight' or 'wisdom' (prajñā).[11][12] Yab-yum is generally understood to represent the primordial (or mystical) union of wisdom and compassion.[13]
Maithuna is aSanskrit term used inTantra most often translated assexual union in a ritual context. It is the most important of the fivePanchamakara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known asPanchamakara,Panchatattva, andTattvaChakra.[citation needed]
The symbolism of union and polarity is a central teaching inTantric Buddhism, especially in Tibet. The union is realized by the practitioner as a mystical experience within one's own body.[citation needed]
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The hieros gamos is one of the themes thatCarl Jung dealt with in his bookSymbols of Transformation.
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InWicca, theGreat Rite is a ritual based on the Hieros Gamos. It is generally enacted symbolically by a dagger (known as anathame) being placed point first into achalice, the action symbolizing the union of the male and female divine. In British Traditional Wicca, the Great Rite is sometimes carried out in actuality by the High Priest and High Priestess.
