The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic & Religion. Study Course 01.10. The Burden of Royalty
Lectures by: A. W. Finnegan
with my own additional discussion and commentary to add a new perspective, with emphasis on statism, religion, and Natural Law
The chapter is full of interesting facts on the life of royalty, the sacred kings and the life they lived, the strict observances, taboos, and unusual behavior that could be comparable to nothing short of abuse, in various ancient kingdoms, the customs and traditions around the world, the similarities between them, the differences between them, the symbolism, and the historical outline and theoretical framework of the burdensome life of many of the royal lines will be discussed
Notes:
*blue text is my added commentary, not part of the book material
Life of divine kings and priests regulated by minute rules.
At early society the king and priest thought to have magical powers or to be an incarnation of a deity, and that the course of nature under his control, but he is held responsible for bad weather, failure of the crops, and similar calamities.
To some extent it appears to be assumed that the king's power over nature, like that over his subjects and slaves, is exerted through definite acts of will; and therefore if drought, famine, pestilence, or storms arise, the people attribute the misfortunes to the king, they punish him accordingly, with stripes and bonds, and deposition and death.
The king becomes the center of their universe, so everything he does is taken into account given any situation, so he has also to take the utmost care and caution in everything he does, lest he become the object of his people's wrath, claiming his actions to have disturbed the order of nature in a way to bring misfortune.
When the king is treated with the same reverence as the Sun in the sky, the influence he wields through belief becomes considerably stronger and belief is a defining factor for influence to work.
The Mikado or Dairi of japan.
A class of monarchs in Japan, the Mikado, or the Dairi, the spiritual emperor of Japan, used to be a typical example. he is said to be an incarnation of the Sun goddess, the deity who rules the universe, gods and men included. Once a year all the gods wait upon him and spend a month at his court. During that month, the name of which means 'without gods' no one frequents the temples, for they are believed to be deserted. The Mikado receives from his people and assumes in his official proclamations and decrees the title of 'manifest or incarnate deity' (Akitsu Kami) and claims general authority over the gods of Japan. In an official decree from the year 646 the emperor is described as 'incarnate god who governs the universe'
It is speculation on my behalf that it might be understandable to view the reversal of roles that otherwise were accepted, such as the Sun being male as an active masculine principle, reversed and flipped upside down where all is backwards, as the story in Orwell's doublespeak would have it. It may have been done in the past which may have put the consciousness of individuals in a state of conflict, through their conscious and subconscious minds.
The subconscious mind knowing the Sun is an active masculine force, but being constantly told the Sun is a passive female energy, and the individual may feel a sense of disorientation or confusion being out of balance with the subconscious mind and thus easier to control a society that is in a state of imbalance or inner conflict, even if it seems under-the-radar.
Rules of life formerly observed by the Mikado.
Following description of the Mikado's life written three hundred years ago.
The Mikado and those princes descended from his family are seen as very holy and popes by birth.
'in order to preserve these advantageous notions in the minds of their subjects, they are obliged to take an uncommon care of their sacred persons, and to do such things, which, examined according to the customs of other nations, would be thought ridiculous and impertinent. It will not be improper to give a few instances of it. he thinks that it would be very prejudicial to his dignity and holiness to touch the ground with his feet; for this reason, when he intends to go anywhere, he must be carried tither on a men's shoulders. much less will they suffer that he should expose his sacred person to open air, and the Sun is not thought worthy to shine on his head. There is such a holiness ascribed to all parts of his body that he dares to cut off neither his hair, nor his beard, nor his nails. However, lest he should grow too dirty, they may clean him in the night when he is asleep; because, they say, that which is taken from his body at that time, hath been stolen from him, and that such a theft hath been stolen from him, and that such a theft doth not prejudice his holiness or dignity. In ancient times, he was obliged to sit on the throne for some hours every morning, with the imperial crown on his head, but to sit like a statue, without stirring either hands or feet, head or eyes, nor any part of his body, because by this means, it was thought that he could preserve peace and tranquility in his empire; for if, unfortunately, he turned himself on one side or the other, or if he looked a wood while towards any part of his dominions, it was apprehended that war, famine, fire, or some other great misfortune was near at hand to desolate the country. But it having been afterwards discovered, that the imperial crown was the palladium, which by its immobility could preserve peace in the empire, it was thought expedient to deliver his imperial person, consecrated only to idleness and pleasures, from this burthensome duty, and therefore the crown is at present placed on the throne for some hours every morning. His victuals must be dressed every time in new pots, and served at table in new dishes: both are very clean and neat, but made only of common clay; that without any considerable expense they may be laid aside, or broke, after they have served once. They are generally broke, for fear they should come into the hands of laymen, for they believe religiously, that if any layman should presume to eat his food out of these sacred dishes, it would swell and inflame his mouth and throat. The like ill effect is dreaded from the Dairi's sacred habits; for they believe that if a layman should wear them, without the Emperor's express leave or command, they would occasion swellings and pains in all parts of his body." To the same effect an earlier account of the Mikado says: "It was considered as a shameful degradation for him even to touch the ground with his foot. The sun and moon were not even permitted to shine upon his head. None of the superfluities of the body were ever taken from him, neither his hair, his beard, nor his nails were cut. Whatever he eat was dressed in new vessels."
These are examples of superstitions taken to extremes and used to control not only the society but the royalty itself. And the state of affairs in a society that has such unreasonable customs to be placed on their own king speaks volumes of the kind of mayhem organized religions and state governments can wield when based on falsehoods.
Rules of life observed by kings and priests in Africa and America.
Similar priestly or divine kings are found on West Coast of Africa, at Shark Point near Cape Padron in Lower Guinea, and the priestly king Kukulu lives alone in the woods. may not touch a woman or leave his house, even his chair, and is expected to sleep sitting, for if he lay down no wind would arise, navigation would be stopped. he is said to regulate storms and maintains the atmosphere.
On Mount Agu in Togo, A German possession in West Africa, lives a spirit called Bagba, who is of great importance to the whole country, controls rain and winds. priest keeps spirit bottled in jars.
In West African kingdom of the Congo, there was a supreme pontiff called Chitomé or Chitombé, who they regarded as god on earth and all-powerful on heaven. similar strict rules for living and any incontinence meant death. If he died a natural death the people thought all the world would come to an end.
In Humbe, a kingdom of Angola, incontinence [lack of self-restraint, or perhaps urinary function] of young people under the age of puberty was a capital crime, because it was thought to entail the death of the king within a year.
In the Spanish conquest, semi-barbarous nations of the New World were said to hold similar illogical customs like Japan and Africa.
The Zapotecs of Mexico were said to have similar customs to the Mikado of Japan. Held as a god and everything about the earth not worthy to be exposed to him so he was held up in some strange way, not allowed for the sun to shine on him, not allowed for his feet to touch the ground, and so on.
It put an element of imbalance not only on the human king, but through its doing would then be a force of control on the people.
The rules of life imposed on kings in early society are intended to preserve their lives for the good of their people.
The entire nature of the world being thought to depend on these so-called gods incarnate, and it was thought they were responsible for the rain and sunshine, and all the earth and nature itself, so that they had the most reverence yet held to the strictest customs and if they were to die a natural death the people thought all the world would end, so they probably murdered the sacred person, held as a god. If he died a natural death they thought all the world would end. his life was only valuable so long as he dispenses the goods, the supernatural powers to make the rains, sun, crops flourish, and so on. Once he fails, the care, devotion, homage, and religious homage they had to that point turns to hatred and contempt, and he is dismissed immediately, probably very lucky if he escapes with his life. Worshipped as a god one day, killed as a criminal the next.
These kings and priests are held to such strict observances and customs that one can only imagine their life to be anything but pleasant, because everything he does is judged to disturb nature in some way and he is treated accordingly if he is not following the customs. And if he is and the weather goes south, he is also treated accordingly.
Treated as a god one day, a criminal the next, speaks to their sole function as a disposable hero for the government to justify and dispose of at will. Breaking their moral code and thus remaining in a state of lowness that enforces immoral constructs that even its own king had to live by, and even more than anyone else this one individual likely suffered unspeakable hardships having their entire life regulated as though they are responsible for the entire universe and killing him every time something goes wrong. It appears to be merely a convenient scapegoat to use while keeping their system in place.
Taboos observed by African kings.
of the Supernaturally endowed kings of Loango, the more powerful a king is held to be, the more taboos he is bound by. They regulate all his actions, his walking, his standing, his eating, his drinking, his sleeping and walking.
In fields of Riabba, capital of the native king Fernando Po, this mysterious being lived in the lowest depths of an extinct volcanic crater, with old silver coins. Said that the conservative spirit of the Boobies, the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, is incarante in he. Never seen a white man, and if he were to see the face of a white man it would cause his instant death. He cannot bear to look upon the sea, and said that he never even see it in the distance, he is shackled to his hut, and he is to never set foot on the beach. With exception of musket and knife he is to use nothing from the white man.
Among the Ewe-speaking peoples of the slave coast in West Africa, the king is at the same time high priest. He was unapproachable by his subjects. Only by night was he allowed to quit his dwelling to bathe and so forth. None but his representative, the "visible king" with 3 chosen elders might converse with him.
This Sacred king was likely tortured whether physically or emotionally into a blank slate in which they could use him as an instrument to trick the rest that it was this one man who controlled everything, and the horror would have been a sight to behold, the manner in which these kings were forced to live.
Prohibition to see the sea.
The King of Dahomey was subject to the prohibition of being able to see the ocean or sea. The same goes for the kings of Loango, and Great Ardra in Guinea. The kings of the Eyeos are threatened with death by the priests if he ever set his eyes on the sea.
Said that the King of cayor in Senegal would die within a year if he ever crossed a river or the arm of the sea.
In Mashonaland the chiefs would not cross certain rivers.
The Mahafalys and Sakalavas in south of Madagascar kings are forbidden to sail on the sea or cross certain rivers.
Perhaps if the king saw the seas or the water of a river it might cause his subconscious mind to awaken to the beauty inherent in nature which he does not actually control, and it might trigger the king into realizing just an inkling of the sheer abuse he has been subject to.
Horror of the sea.
The Bastuos are said to share the horror of the sea, as the kings do, and it is said they share it instinctively, though it is said they have never seen saltwater
The Egyptian priests loathed the sea, called it the foam of Typhon, forbidden to set salt on their table and would not speak to pilots because they got their living by the sea. They would not eat fish, and the hieroglyphic symbol for hatred was the fish.
When the natives of the Peruvian Andes were sent by the Spaniards to work in the hot valleys of the coast, the vast ocean was dreaded by them as a cause of disease, and prayed to it that they might not fall ill, yet they all did without exception, even the little children.
The inland people of Lampong in Sumatra are said to pay adoration to the sea and make offerings of cakes and sweetmeats.
I have often wondered the role the sea may play in disease.
Taboos observed by chiefs among the Sakalavas and the hill tribes of Assam.
Among the Sakalavas of southern Madagascar the chief is regarded as sacred but is held in a leash by a crowd of restrictions, which regulate his behavior like that of the Emperor of China. h can only act if the sorcerers see good omens. He may not eat warm food.
Among some of the hilltribes of Assam, both the headman and his wife observe many taboos in respect to food - cannot eat buffalo, pork, dog, fowl, or tomatoes. Headman must be chaste. Many other strange taboos abound others in these areas. If the taboos are broken it is said to bring about misfortune to the whole village.
Perhaps the misfortune of breaking the taboo is that the lie is exposed that the taboo only serves enough to keep law and order, unjust laws to order man into a life of suppression of their true purpose and potential.
Taboos observed by Irish kings.
Ancient kings of Ireland, along with four provinces of Leinster, munster, Connaught, and Ulster, were subject to old world taboos which the prosperity was said to depend. The saun said not to rise if he slept on his bed at Tara, the old capital of Erin, he was forbidden to alight on Wednesday at Magh Breagh, to traverse the Magh Cuillinn after sunset, to incite his horse at Fan-Chomair, to go in ship upon the water on the Monday after Belataine (May-Day), to leave the track of his army upon Ath Maigaine the Tuesday after All-Hallows. A long list of additional illogical-sounding taboos follow.
It was said that if the kings of Ireland strictly observed these rules, which had been used since time immemorial, it is believed that they would never meet with mischance or misfortune and would live for ninety years without experiencing the decay of old age, that no epidemic or mortality would occur during their reigns, every season would be favorable and the earth would yield its fruits in abundance, whereas if they had not observed these rules they would be met with plague, famine, and bad weather.
Perhaps this is the allegory behind the temptation of Adam and Eve, that the taboos taken blindly will always eventually be broken, but if explained and understood correctly, given that they were true, it would not stir the mind to wonder, since it is part of our inhrent nature to question, is that not the purpose of contemplating the Great Mystery?
Taboos observed by Egyptian kings.
The kings of Egypt were worshipped as gods, and also held by strict observances, did not live a life like other monarchs who did what they chose and were extremely irresponsible, everything was fixed for them by law, not only their official duties, but also their daily life. Everything was prescribed and fixed for him, according to Diodorus. This was down to his walking, bathing, and sleeping with his wife. Every act of life was settled accordingly.
His custom held him to a simple diet, only allowed to eat veil and goose for meat, he may only drink a prescribed quantity of wine.
Frazer says there is reason to think these customs were observed not by the ancient Pharoahs but the priestly kings who reigned at Thebes and Ethiopia at the close of the twentieth dynasty.
Among the Karen-nis of Upper Burma a chif attains his positionnot by hereditary right but by abstaining from rice and liquor. The mother too was supposed to have not involved herself in these foods and lived on yams and potatos so long as she was with child, or eat meat or drink water from a common well. The king-to-be was also to live by this.
The table can turn both ways, in that taboo with superstition makes man wonder and question, while supreme rulership without discipline can allow man to corrupt himself with power if he does not undergo the understanding of his own mind and spritual initiation.
Taboos observed by the Flamen Dialis at Rome.
The Flamen Dialis may not ride or even touch a horse, see an army under arms, wear a ring which was not broken, have any knot on any part of his garments, no fire except for a sacred fire may be taken outside of his house, he could not touch wheat or leavened bread, he must not touch or even speak of a goat, a dog,raw meat, beans, and ivy, must not walk under a vine, the feet of his bed had to be daubed with mud, his hair could only be cut by a free man with a bronze knife, and his hair and nails cut had to be buried under a lucky tree, he must not touch a dead body nor walk in a room where one was burned. Similar odd customs followed him and his wife at length.
The priest acted as the intermediary between man's subconscious mind and the temporal government, to coerce man's inner nature to be associated with and sacrificed to the laws of empire.
Taboos observed by the Bodia of Sierra Leone.
Among the Grebo people of Sierra Leone there is a pontiff/bishop who bears the title of Bodia and compared on slender grounds to the high priest of the Jews. He is appointed with the help of an oracle. Strict taboos also follow here, and there is considerable accent on things that have to do with the dead.
Thus he may not sleep in any house but his own official residence, which is called the "anointed house" with reference to the ceremony of anointing him at inauguration. He may not drink water on the highway. He may not eat while a corpse is in the town, and he may not mourn for the dead. If he dies while in office, he must be buried at dead of night; few may hear of his burial, and none may mourn for him when his death is made public. Should he have fallen a victim to the poison ordeal by drinking a decoction of sassywood, as it is called, he must be buried under a running stream of water.
Interesting to observe that the taboos here often had to do with water, and it was a common theme throughout the world in the old world systems that water, like trees, was also an abode of spirits and so-called demons. There is, of course, the association between water and the subconscious mind as well, and perhaps the spirit world and the underworld or spirit world are one and the same, and co-exist of a kind of ocean or sea of dead spirits or dead, perhaps it is what those in Palo Mayombe referred to as Kalunga, the ambient vast and proliferating sea of the dead, or el muerto.
Taboos observed by sacred milkmen among the Todas of South India.
Among the Todas of Southern India the holy milkman, priest of the sacred dairy is subject to very burdensome restrictions during the entire time of his service, which may last many years.
Thus he must live at the sacred dairy and may never visit his home or any ordinary village. He must be celibate; if he is married he must leave his wife. On no account may any ordinary person touch the holy milkman or the holy dairy; such a touch would so defile his holiness that he would forfeit his office. It is only on two days a week, namely Mondays and Thursdays, that a mere layman may even approach the milkman; on other days if he has any business with him, he must stand at a distance (some say a quarter of a mile) and shout his message across the intervening space. Further, the holy milkman never cuts his hair or pares his nails so long as he holds office; he never crosses a river by a bridge, but wades through a ford and only certain fords; if a death occurs in his clan, he may not attend any of the funeral ceremonies, unless he first resigns his office and descends from the exalted rank of milkman to that of a mere common mortal. Indeed it appears that in old days he had to resign the seals, or rather the pails, of office whenever any member of his clan departed this life. However, these heavy restraints are laid in their entirety only on milkmen of the very highest class.
Not a happy life and very many of them said to come and go, and it is said that the demands are so heavy that at some future time it is likely that the customs will cease altogether.
These taboos seem more like a mix of distorted superstitions and mechanisms of control for more primitive societies, which probably became more enhanced or specialized for each given culture or system which the blueprints remained through the ages and reaches obscure places of the globe.
The effect of these burdensome rules was to divorce the temporal from the spiritual authority.
The burden of royal or priestly office produced issues that eventually led to their consequences, either men refused the office or if they did, they sank into unhappiness like spiritless creatures, and the government office passed to people who did not have to bear its burden and they were free to do more without its name and burden. In some countries the rift in supreme powers led to a total seperation between the temporal and spiritual powers. The royal houses were said to take the religious offices while the civil government was passed to younger, more vigorous folks.
The refusal to take these positions was justified, it was their inherent nature telling them it was wrong, it was the Divine sending them the messages they can always find within, because the Divine is encoded in their inherent nature.
Reluctance to accept sovereignty with its vexatious restrictions.
Said that the role of the King of Fire and Water observed in Cambodia is said to be forced upon him and he is reluctantly forced to take the throne.
Similar reluctance seen in other areas, In West Africa, when a king dies and the family council meets to decide who will be next king, it is also forced on him, and the chosen king is seized, bound up and thrown into a shack and kept in there until he accepts the throne. Sometimes they will find ways to escape and try to run or evade the crown. Sometimes a chief who is chosen will resist and threaten to not be taken alive.
The Timmes of Sierra Leone, who elect their king, beat him on the eve of his coronation, and they love this priveledge so much that sometimes the chosen king does not survive the beating. Said that sometimes when the chiefs have a spite of a man they will elect him king so that they can beat him to death. beforehand, it was customary to chain and thrash a would-be king. Said that few kings are natives of the countries they govern. Sometimes a group will run and hide in the woods and a hunt will ensue by the chiefs who are all sorcerers and it is said that they find the next king with a big bird the size of an eagle they called liber, and they find him surrounded by lions, tigers, and other beasts which are ferocious like the one elected and he might kill some of the beasts surrounding him to prevent being captured and placed on the throne.
Here we see that the inherent nature of the selected kings tells them no, they do not want that position, they know better, it is a life of suffering and misery, torture, and in fact they obviously had to be tortured and broken to the point of mental or physical exhaustion in taking the throne. These are rules imposed by men, not the true Divine.
Sovereign powers divided between a temporal and a spiritual head.
The Mikados of Japan were fast to transfer the honors and burdens of their power to their children, and the rise of the Tycoons [an independent ruler who did not have an imperial lineage] would follow, who were temporal sovereigns of the country. They took over the governing qualities while the royals took on the burdensome tasks and acting as mere puppets. They tell the next generation of royal princes or kings that he is a descendend from gods or the most important of kings of all the land, the sacred rulers, and they make him feel more important than he is to keep these royals to letting them run the government while they take to their sacred duties. And these tycoons keep all the desirable roles of being in high seats of power without the duties of burdening taboos and strict observances.
The Taihitian kings also had the regular custom of abdicating their roles upon the birth of a son who would immediately be declared a saint, and perhaps became the way to transfer the burden of such roles to the next in line so they did not have to take the responsibility for themselves any longer than necessary.
In Mangaia, another Polynesian island, religious and civil authority was lodged in separate hands, spiritual functions being done by hereditary kings while the temporal government was from time to time entrusted to victorious war-chiefs appointed by the king. Took the best lands and received the best food.
The Mikado and Tycoons of Japan had their counterparts in the Roko Tui and Vunivalu in Fiji. Roko Tui was the Sacred King and the Vunivalu was the Root of War or War King.
Many similar customs to those seen in the strict observances and the customs also seen in the Cambodian lands where the Water and Fire Kings reigned.
It is clear that many were quick to abdicate this role to the societies because these 'royals' were nothing like that we imagine in association with that word, when their life was one of strict taboos and superstition taken to extremes, which caused the chosen ones great suffering and not a pleasant life. They were but objects to display to the people to feed a concocted system of superstition based on fear.
Fetish kings and civil kings in West Africa.
Some areas have two kings reigning side by side like that seen in West Africa, a fetish or religious king and a civil king. The fetish king is said to be more supreme. he controls the weather and more and is said to be able to put a stop to everything. When he lays his red staff on the ground no one may pass that way.
The split had to occur just to keep the system together, because the kings or sacred person under these strict observances probably all too often fell apart mentally, for how could one not?
The King of the Night.
At Porto Novo, there used to be in addition to the ordinary monarchy a King of the Night who reigned during the hours of sunset to sunrise, he could not be out during the time the sun was out, and his duty was to patrol the streets with his enterouge at the nighttime arresting anyone seen out and about after a certain time. It was similar to a Hawaiian king that was not to be seen in the day even by accident under the penalty of death.
These departmental kings of day and night are similar to the Kings of Water and Fire.
Civil rajahs and taboo rajahs in the East Indies.
In some parts of the East Indian island of Timor we meet with a partition of power like that which is represented by the civil king and the fetish king of Western Africa. Some of the Timorese tribes recognise two rajahs, the ordinary or civil rajah, who governs the people, and the fetish or taboo rajah, who is charged with the control of everything that concerns the earth and its products. This latter ruler has the right of declaring anything taboo.
More splitting up of these powers would be necessary, especially under such strict observances because they probably were subject to vulnerable times if they put all the power in one and they fell apart or things did not go well. Evenly distributing the powers helped strengthen the system as a whole.