Erotic

images

in

churches,
and
cathedrals.

Ronny Julius C Verlet

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Some of the pictures that have been selected from the Cultural Heritage from Scriptures, Churches, and Cathedrals
can be considered to be pornographic. We recommend that this publication should not be shown to children under
the age of 16 years.

Special attention has been given not to infringe Property Rights. The images come from publications older than 100 years and
which can be consulted in many libraries or via the internet. In case somebody wants to address an issue can be done by email
to ronnyverlet@hotmail.com. , who will deal the matter.

. Non-commercial -The licensor permits others to copy, distribute and transmit the work. In return,
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Ronny Julius C Verlet September 2017

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INTRODUCTION.

The Cultures and the morals of the people throughout history have been translated in the Arts and
the Monuments created by the societies. This creativity has been all the time a mix of elements
borrowed from other cultures, religions, the philosophies, and the ethnology of the folks that have
populated the earth.

When we look at Western Europe, we find that since A.D. Erotica has been banned or suppressed
in the societies which have been controlled by Christianity. Christian religious leaders wanted to
control the people in all aspects of life. Search pleasure in the love of God and not in the flesh.
The most famous invention of Christianity is the mortal sin to frighten the people and the obligation
to confess all deeds and thoughts to a priest, who himself stood above all sins and who was a
judge and punisher.

The Unconscious of the people and the societies is the source from where artistic creativity is born.
Throughout the ages, the Arts have compensated for the suppression of the natural feelings of the
people which is also the case for the ban of Erotica by the religions. During the many centuries of
domination by Christianity in Europe has the collective Unconscious compensated the suppression
of Erotica by the creation of numerous erotic images in the churches and cathedrals, the very
symbols of the Christian Religion. The architects and craftsmen and women who were entrusted to

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build the monuments by the Religious hierarchy have dispersed the images all over for the
enjoyment of the believers.

The purpose of this booklet is not to give a scientific account on this subject with all references for
further investigation. I just like to create an entertaining survey of how unconsciousness has
compensated the suppression of Erotic in the Middle Ages. I add an overview of the sources, and
the readers who like to follow up with further investigation on this subject are welcome to request
for the detail links and references.

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 In Religion we find elements of Mythology with all its Symbols, the
Psychology of the people and God as the creator of Life, what
leads unavoidably to the magic of the creation of new life and
the sexuality which is inherent to human propagation.

One element of the magic is

Erotica which triggers us to
seek for satisfaction in having
sex.

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The ingenious snake in Paradise whispered in Eve’s ear: when you
dare to bite this apple you will not live forever in happiness and well-
being and more, you will suffer in pain and labor hard to survive.

Luckily was Eve so smart to discover the real reason why the snake
claimed this saying. The apple was not a real fruit but a symbol for the
fruit of pleasure which sex can procure. The symbol is based on the
similarity of the shapes of the female body and the juices of ripe fruit
when consumed. Not eating from this apple would mean that Eve
should restrain of having sex with Adam and then no offspring would
ever be born, what is the real reason why the snake told Eve this
story. Adam and Eve would have been the first and last creatures of
mankind, and the snake would populate the Earth and dominate all
life.

Eve bites the apple, and she is reproached by Adam for all the
mishaps of life, the suffering, and of death. This blame was called the
Mortal Sin. Since Christianity, Eve and all women are blamed for the
Mortal Sin.

The time comes for the women to claim the real story and give back
Erotica a place in Religion as well.

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 The story of the apple as a symbol of feminine shapes is not a phantasm. An
ancient image shows Eve holding an apple near her breasts. No difference.

That Eve was the dominant person in the couple with Adam we derive from
the work of the Renaissance artist Boccio Bandinellie (1493-1560).

In Paradise, no sense of Shame did exit as all was

perfect and normal. Being naked was a
demonstration that God is complete in the
creation of the Human species which He gave a
perfect body.

… until Adam discovers that his penis sometimes unwillingly erects.

Is this a symbol of uprising towards God?

The only solution that Adam can think of is to cover the private
.
parts of him and Eve, what is the first ordinance which Adam
gives once the couple is outside the Paradise. From now on
Adam takes the lead to hide any rebellion against God.

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This ordinance does not bother Eve at all. The
need to cover her body Eve considers as a
gift which she never will relinquish ... this is
FASHION. The snake who had attempted to
seduce Eve now becomes her pet animal
which can provide her lust, frivolity, and so
many more things that will make the life of a
woman outside Paradise attractive and
compensate for the nuisance of the Mortal
Sin.

Seldom has Eve been pictured without the

snake who acts as the symbol of Seduction
and ingeniousness. Eve can play the same
games and dance the same rhythm of the
snake. Adam will consider the snake to
become a threat, and he will point to his wife
of the consequences of the Mortal Sin.
The hairstyles in the images remind of the Paradise.

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It is a fact that Death and the suffering is a consequence of the Mortal Sin. It is
talked to all women that they are to blame for that sin as they represent Eve. It
becomes a policy of Christianity that you cannot entrust any role to the
women in the Church and that a system of punishment on women should be
installed. The seduction and Erotica are pictured as Eve, the apple and the
snake.
Erotica is associated with seduction
becomes evil and should be banned in
life. This evil opens the path to sadistic
punishment of women as what
happened in the cloisters and the families
via the duty of Confession,

In all cultures and religions, we find the symbolism

of seduction and Fertility. One recurrent symbol is
the palm tree with its fruit full of seeds. The snake
is a symbol of the female psychology referring to
the story of seduction in paradise.

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 There are plenty of myths which cover the
creation of the human species. Recurrent
symbols are the egg and the sea. The
French word for mother is ‘ mere’ which is
nearly the same as the German word for
the sea ‘das Mer’.

From here we can introduce mermaids and fishes into the myths of the generation of the
species. To populate the globe the creatures must move quickly like the fishes, and the birds
do. Here enter the angles who developed wings as the birds have. The flexibility of fishes and
birds is symbolic for the female mind.

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The sea is a source of nutrition. The breast nursing
will become the symbol for energy and growth in
all cultures.
The waters on Earth have a mirror image in the
vast galaxy as the Milky Way. Milk products are in
Dutch ‘zuivel’ which has the same root as ‘zuiver’
meaning clean and pure. Breasts and feeding
become the symbol for purity.

The Milky Way also becomes the symbol for the

male semen.

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After the seduction, follows the nurturing, the education, and the fight for control.
Naked breasts become a tool of seduction.

The seduction.

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Adam who wanted to exercise his dominance started with the universal deployment of the potent
symbol of the PHALLUS.

Although from time to time Adam needs a little

help from Eve.

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The Hero’s and Mythical Figures are idolized … and being satisfied.

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People in all cultures have erected monuments in praise of the Gods and the Hero’s of their believers, and so they created
a place for gathering and worshiping. The hero leaders act like being the representatives of Adam who have the task to
propagate the policies towards the women.
The kingdom of God is mirrored like a secular organization which rules the masses called Churches, from which the Roman
Catholic Church is the dominant representative in Western Europe.
A central policy of the Churches is to consolidate the power of Adam over Eve and to remind the women on the Mortal Sin
which is the root cause of the suffering of humanity. Nevertheless, Adam represented by the Pope wants to dominate, the
symbols of the Church show many female symbols.
The Papal Symbol of the Roman Catholic Churches holds two keys which are interpreted as the key to the spiritual and to
the worldly power. Another interpretation is the male and the female powers.

The front view of the miter is the

Another typical Catholic symbol is
pentagon which is the symbol of
the miter, which is the design of an
male power.
open fish mouth as a female
symbol.

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To depict a man or woman naked in a temple or a church signifies the respect for the Gods.
Nakedness smouthly can flow over into Erotica.

This is the emblem from a particular bishop. Notice

the animal which symbolizes the playful seduction.

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The stories and the symbols from the Bible have been borrowed from other earlier pagan religions, and
much more believes and rituals from so many different cultures. The Christian rituals and symbols were
copied mainly from the Religion of Mythra which worships the Libido and the merriment.

To present the naked to the Gods with full breasts refers to the holy nutrition. The mythical figure of Venus
will spread the legs for Erotica in most temples, cathedrals, and churches. The mermaids that appear
from the sea become now angels descending from the sky where the Milky Way an abundant source of
energy. The full breasts become the source of virility and because the milk is white, the breasts become
also the symbol for the clean and pure in which way the naked breasts act as the symbol of purity.

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With the images of the naked breast, enters the intimacy of the naked, the shame and the erotica.

Mythical elements are combined.

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But in the doctrines of Christianity will the Spirit be split from the Body as separate entities. The Spirit is
superior to the body and holds the holy nature from Paradise, while the body is from outside the
Paradise and cumulates the wickedness of mankind what is most pronounced in the women. This
Christian doctrine is a human-made idea which opposes the Natural Mind of the people. The Natural
Mind of the humans refers to the Psychology of the individual people and the mood of the collective
society. In this psychology, the Unconscious plays a primary role. The Unconscious is the source from
where escape the ideas. These ideas are communicated as signs. These signs link the people and
create new ideas which are absorbed by the individual and collective Unconscious. A significant outlet
or expression from the Unconscious is Art and Culture. What has been suppressed by worldly rules or
doctrines will be corrected and compensated in Culture and Art. The suppression of the Libido and
sexuality by Christian faith is offset in the monuments which have created to praise the Lord. This
process of compensation hides mostly in the rituals and the statues, but sometimes very explicit images
are incorporated in the whole of artistic expressions.

The main topic in religious art comes down to the adoration of the creation of new life which, what is
borrowed from the religion of Mithra. Nature has provided pleasure to the sexual act which can lead to
new life. The Christian Church has reduced this happening to an evil event. The Church wants to
control the pleasures which come with the sexual deed and wants to ban eventually all joy. Not so
long ago the prescribed way of human copulation is the so-called missionary-stand. The woman lays
on her back in touch with the mother earth, and the husband has to kneel between his wife’s legs and
perform the paring in a quick way without seeking pleasure. Kneeling on the floor is the posture for
praying. The sexual desire became an essential topic in the confession. Sexual fun has to be reported
as it is considered to be evil. The taking of a confession became a wicked tool for the priests. As a priest

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 cannot marry and have a wife, the confession became a channel to satisfy the curiosity in sexual
matters for the priests. Many women were trapped in a vicious circle of humiliation and subjection by
the priests.

In the architecture of the churches and the cathedrals is the erotic message hidden in the layout of the
places and the artistic construction of the entrance.

The cathedrals and churches in the West are built with the central axis in the direction of the
East where the sun rises. The sum provides the energy for life. Many layouts have the shape
of the human body sometimes called the ‘nave’ and two side parts representing the legs.
The navel is the central body part which indicates the spot where the new life will emerge.
This point becomes the place where the altar is positioned.

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When you look at the entrance of the churches, they all depict the vulva as the door to the
vagina. In the holy week, there is the ritual where the priest who leads a procession of
believers waving with palm leaves, knocks on the door of the church, what symbolizes the
defloration. The crowd will enter the holy place to become one with the Spirit. The palm
becomes a symbol of masculinity because its fruits contain so many seeds.

The rituals inside the church continue to depict the creation of new life.

At the altar will the priest fold a cloth in the shape of the vulva. The vessel will hold the wine as a symbol
of blood and the bread to nourish the new life. The whole is encapsulated in a cubic construction
which shields the new life from the outside as the symbol of the womb. The priest will sprinkle the
believers with holy water what symbolizes the spread of plentiful of semen.

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The whole architecture and Christian rituals are merely a symbolic adoration of the Motherhood which
is opposed to the humiliating policies of the Roman Catholic Church towards the women.
Some readers might think that these are ghosts of a sick mind or a sensation seeking, I can counter this by referring to
studies and publications of philosophers of Arts. An example is from Jean Luc Nancy who comments on a Medieval
painting of Jacopo Pontormo titled ‘The Visitation’ and a painting from Piero della Francesca, Madonna del Parto,[2].

[2]
In the Visitation we see Elisabeth visiting her niece (the Holy) Mary. Both women are pregnant. Elisabeth who is an older
woman over the age of being fertile, and Mary who is still a virgin, carry a baby, which is unconventional. The real
message is the secret of new life and the joy expressed by both women that they can bring this new life. It makes them
free as a woman. Typically Elisabeth and Mary are pictured with a solemn look and strictly covered head. Here they
enjoy and seem cheerful with the hair loose and even a bit libidinous. They feel and act like women, not saints.
“Visitation” can be read as a politico-religious allegory about the reform movements of the Church (Jean Luc Nancy) In
the Visitation we see Elisabeth visiting her niece (the Holy) Mary. Both women are pregnant. Elisabeth who is an older

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woman over the age of being fertile, and Mary who is still a virgin, carry a baby, which is unconventional. The real
message is the secret of new life and the joy expressed by both women that they can bring this new life. It makes them
free as a woman. Typically Elisabeth and Mary are pictured with a solemn look and strictly covered head. Here they
enjoy and seem cheerful with the hair loose and even a bit libidinous. They feel and act like women, not saints.
“Visitation” can be read as a politico-religious allegory about the reform movements of the Church (Jean Luc Nancy) [2]
Here is the message the same: new life and the bodily entrance where it all happens. See the split in the robe and the
angels who spread the opening of the tent. A tent has no door, but a cleft to enter and is a house of intimacy. This
entrance resembles the entrance of the churches and the cathedrals. It is the same allegory as the Visitation.

More symbols remind the pagan nature of the rituals and the erotic connotations.

The curled staff or cane which a bishop carries when he enters the church is a symbolic penis with scrotum. In his own
diocese holds the bishop the curl towards the believers away from him. When the bishop visits another diocese, he will
keep the staff with the spiral towards himself, what reminds the animal behavior when they defend their territory. This
interpretation is derived from a drawing picturing Diana the Goddess of the hunters. This picture is similar to the witch
on her broom flying high in the air in the fairy tales. The brush stands for the erect male genitals. Many items in the fairy

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tales have an erotic connotation. The monuments have been in history a major part of what today is the Media. These
monuments were the visual channel by which the authorities could reach the illiterate masses. This channel made it
easy for to Church to deploy its policies regarding religion and the social conduct, including the sexual guidelines. The
commissioners of the monuments are not the makers. The makers are the artists and the architects. Their ideas are an
accumulation of past cultural aspects and religious ideographs. The erotic elements of life never been erased in
Christian art and architecture. In some cases have the erotic pictures been used to mock the policies of the
authorities.
We have explained the role of the naked in the holy places. Another recurrent theme is that of the sin which is
depictured in the figure of the Devil. The devil is the excellent Seducer who reminds us of Adam and Eve and logically
will the devil lead us to the erotic. In the process of seduction there appear many times a middle-man who can be a
kind of jester or an animal like a goat, a fox, a dog or any combination, In case, the intention is sexual, the devil will
be pictured explicitly. The background stage mostly reminds us the story of the Paradise, where the snake will appear
and exotic plants and dresses will are shown.

A caress which triggers the process of seduction. A male goat as the moderator to Erotica.

The Devil’s disguise is mostly in the body of a horned goat which is a horny animal.

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 *

Another reason why the goat is a popular animal in the Erotica is that the goat is capricious, and as a
playmate, the goat has the size of a human being. ‘goat f*** -er’ is an expression in foul language.

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The smart fox, the sheep, and the werewolf are taking part in the game of erotica.

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The occasion for the seduction is always pictured as the fire that burns Eve’s desire.

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The fire of Eve now is associated with the sins for which the woman should be punished. These sins are
pictures explicitly.

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The women deserve to be punishment for their sins. After his role in the seduction does the Devil gets
another role in the punishment of mainly female sinners.

Underway to hell
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This is wat happens in hell.

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Also, men end up in hell. The punishment is focused on the body part which participated in the sin
which is very clear in the case of sodomy.

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You can question why so many scenes of torture and sadism have been created and displayed. Is it all to
frighten the believers, or is it an expression of a cruelty that lived with the commissioners or with the artists,
or was it just a way to help the believers to overcome the feeling of shame by showing the erotic pictures
which belong to the sexual play.

Also the clergy and authorities took part in the sexual excesses. They also had to undergo the punishment
in hell despite the claim that the priests were exempt of sins of the flesh. This was a message from the
artists to the folks that the priest had no privileges in sexual matters.

To make the drama complete, the saints are also subjected to the sadistic rituals in hell.

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Many female saints were subjected to breast torture.

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 This picture is a wall painting from early 16 th century in the Begin Church in
Sint. Truiden in Belgium. It is the torture of Saint Agatha, a Sicilian Christian
who refused to convert to another religion. Her breasts were cut off and the
saint was burned on the stake remaining a Christian.

Saint Agatha is the patroness of the women with nurselings and the women
with breast sickness.

The cathedrals and the churches have been erected for the glory of God, as there are so many pieces
of religious art. Bottom line we see over and over that it comes to the glorification of the commissioners
who wanted to be recognized by history for their contribution to the expansion of Christianity in the name
of God. This would not be possible without a political system which was intended to provide the financial
resources. Top down was this arranged by a Church hierarchy who claimed worldly and moral might
beside its superiority on religious matters. The Roman Catholic Church had declared that the reigning
pope is infallible and that the bishops and priests de facto received immunity for sinning with the flesh.
The Church controlled the social life of her believers by different means. A good thing was the school
system to educate the children., which was a way to install and control the social rules of the families
such as for marriage and ethical matters besides the religious obligations. The evilest policy was the
obligation to the Confession as a sacred matter which allowed to pronounce a punishment. This power
was delegated to the level of the priests which allowed the hierarchy to reach all levels of society from
the Kings to the poor laborers.

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The duty for Confession turned out to be one first blackmail institution intended to enrich the Church. The
wealthy were penalized with penances that stripped them from their properties and the poor from their
money. The women from all social classes were especially vulnerable to the sexual and sadistic needs of
some of the clergy. The daughters of the rich were lured to enter a convent while their sons got
penances to fight the infidels or other riskier undertakings with the chance of being killed so that their
properties easily could be snatched up by the Church. The wealth of the Roman Catholic Church and
the monasteries and religious organizations of today have been gathered in the Middle Ages. No end
came to the greed of the religious authorities. Also the poor were targeted. Upon the sexual exploitation
of the people by some priests, followed the hunt for the witches, the incubi, and the unbelievers. The
witches were mostly women who rebelled to the practices of the clergy. An incubus is a human who has
slept with the devil. Also, witches were suspect that their wit was infused by the devil.

When a woman was suspected of possessing witchcraft she had to appear before a tribunal of clergy
and the civil authorities. The interrogation under torture ended with the investigation whether the devil
had left any trace on her body what could prove that she had copulated with the devil. This
interrogation was, of course, a very sadistic entertainment for the interrogators. After the torture, it was
not difficult to point to a suspicious spot on the body which proved that the woman was a witch. The
punishment depended on the influence that the woman had in the society. The lowest sentence was a
confiscation of her goods and properties, and the highest ordeal was to be burnt at the woodpile. The
authorities had to participate in the sadistic rituals to legalize the punishing acts and the confiscations.

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 From the Ten Commandments is the 9th the trickiest.

To confess that you have a feeling for your neighbor’s wife can easily be
interpreted that you want to cheat on your own wife; or that at least, you
phantasies about that woman. Ordinary people who had imagination and who
were able to interpret these fancy thoughts was considered by the religious
authorities as most dangerous. People would start questioning the Bible and the
authorities at that time were not able to explain what the Bible is really about.
Many female intellectuals ended up being burnt at the woodpile as a witch
because they were a threat to the monopoly of knowledge of the religious
authorities

The invention by the Church of the Capital Sins has

enslaved all the believers. Especially have the women be
victimised. Women long for unity and the great desire for
the Longing. The figure of the Christ in a human body of
Jesus can act as the Idol which will satisfy the hunger. The
unity which gives warmth and security will be provided by
the religious communities in cloisters who will create the
Saints as the examples of unification with Jesus Christ.

The holy institution of the Confession is the fyke to trap the

women.

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 The priest who took the confession followed a detailed script of psychological
subjection of the women. Sins related to intimacy were subject to clarification. As
the priest is a man and not married, he pretends to be puzzled with the issues, which
creates confidence for the woman. The woman can clarify the problems in the next
confession after repeating the act which she suspects is sinful. A spiral of sexual
experiments enrolls and the woman is trapped in the net of shame. The priest now
will help to overcome this guilt by entering himself the stage. The acts which the
priest commits cannot be sinful because they are performed in the name of God to
save the women from the devil. At this point, the woman may take her file ( a
capital sin), she can enter a religious community, or give donations to the priest and
the Church, or become the sex slave of the priest. The immunity for sinning by the
priests in the Catholic Church has lasted till the 18-th century, what reverberates
today in the cover-up of scandals of sexual abuse of children by priests and
bishops.

There was a lot of folk fantasy who made the religious authorities crazy and which strengthen their
conviction to eradicate all evil sexual thought. One folk belief was that of the existence of the incubi. An
incubus is a kind of vampire who infects other people not with their blood, but with their evil semen when
they copulate. It is said that via the sperm the devil took possession of the woman, who would transmit
the evil when she had sex with another person. Women infected with the devilish semen became
extremely horny at any occasion when she had sex. In this act, she then satisfied herself while bumping
exhaustingly on top of the man. Remember the Church’s decree for copulation between man and
woman is that the man kneels before the woman to enter her body, and he should finish as quick as
possible in the soberest way.

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 The folk beliefs created many phantasies such as the devil
who disguised as a bock seduced the women to give them
extreme sexual satisfaction. Satar in the Arabic language
means a goat bock. The demon’s name Satan is derived
from Satar.

There was the story that in ancient times, the young boy
and girl shepherds guarding the flocks of goats and sheep,
to distract the lone and solitary times had sex with their
animals. The insulting term of goat 'f***-er' refers to this folk
belief.

" There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals

were like those of donkeys and whose emission like
that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your
youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and
your young breasts fondled "

(Ezekiel 23: 20, 21).

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 These folk stories and the reality of the Inquisition have resulted in parody and satirical images
intended to inform the people against the sexual excesses of some of the clergy.

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 1 Doing a favor to the clergy man
under his mantel dress.

2 A fox disguised as a monk.

3 When a young lady entered a

convent, she had to undergo a test.
A priest fondled her nipples, and
when after some time the nipples
erected, what generally happens, it
1 2 3 was proof that the candidate still
carried some sinful thoughts, which
was followed by a unique program
to eradicate all evil.

4 Preparing for the night.

5 Entering the night.

4 5

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Translated from a French text which illustrates
the mentality of the religious people in the
Middle Ages.

God the Almighty, in all his Perfection, has

sent his son to the earth so that the humans
would praise the Lord via the Son, what is
done by the creation of a Perfect Virgin
Mother Marie which the humans have to
adore and worship in love for the imperfect
women.

The Spirit separated from the Body is perfect.

The Body is not perfect. The Spirit from the
priests is perfect, what allows them to be
immune to the sins of the flesh.

46
 To the Human B eings.

Let me tell you that the Holy Mother will

give her milk to the beloved Son, Who came
down to the earth to compensate for our
sins.
All women like to be loved and adored. The Holy Marie
also nurtures with her milk the clergy, being the
representatives of God, which helps the priests to claim
the rights on the breasts of the believers, who were put in
the role of Mary to present their breast.

Servitude
by Anne Reeve Aldrich

The church was dim at vespers,

My eyes were on the Rood.
But yet I felt thee near me,
In every drop of blood.

In helpless, trembling bondage

My souls’s weight lies on thee,
O call me not at dead of night,
Lest I should come at thee !

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The Milky Way contained during history special mythical meaning. The Milky Way nurtures the Constellations. Braham was
born from the Galaxy. In the Scripture promised God to Abraham that his people would be blessed and drink from a river
of milk. In the early ages of Christianity, was the baptism done with a mixture of milk and honey.

A difficult nut to crack for the religious, theological scholars was the status of the Holy Virgin Marie. One question which was
posted by the believers was if Marie got her monthly periods like all young women. The role of Marie as the Nurturer of the
Christian believers was without doubt linked to the act of breastfeeding, So arose the question if the milk of the Holy Marie
could become sour. When the taboo of the mother milk of Marie was overcome, it was followed by other logic questions
like what was the status of the other fluids of Marie’s body. Could the vaginal fluids have mixed with the Holy Spirit at the
conception of God’s son Jesus? Just like a lot of phantasm in the mind of the artists got an expression in their works, so also
was a lot of misrepresentation presented by the theologians of that time. The naked and full breasts of a lady or saint
become the symbol of purity in nurture. There was the ritual that the women cleaned their breasts in the holy water at the
entrance of the church. The image of a feeding breast links to the actions of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is of the female
gender. The expression ‘to milk somebody’ comes from the meaning of the Holy Spirit who provides insight. A person who
holds pigeons for a racing competition is called in the Dutch language a 'duivenmelker' which literary translated means –
pigeon milker. The Holy Spirit is usually pictured as a pigeon.

You can see from the next images that the Holy Spirit is a female, and the most common representation is as a pigeon and
the sun.

48
Not all the representations that we find in the churches have a symbolic meaning. Many pieces of art
can be considered to be artistic graffiti.

49
You can recognize: to shit in the church, go to the bottom, to bent to the circumstances, and the last picture is an allegory on
the charlatans ( the clergy? } of that time.

50
Although the woman is considered to be the weak gender, it is she who restrains the evil.

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In some churches, there are corners where you can enter a peep show.

The Sick Rose

by William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick.

The invisible worm
That flies in the night
In the howling storm

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

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Enthrilled

by Alfred Bryan

Teach me to sin-
In love’s forbidden ways,
For you can make all passions pure,
The magic lure of your sweet eyes
Each shape of sin makes virtue praise.

Teach me to sin-
Enslave me to your wanton charms,
Crush me in your velvet arms
Nd make me, make me love you.
Make me fire your blood with new desire,
And make me kiss your – lip and limb,
Till sense reel and [pulses swim,
Aye even if you hate me,
Teach me to sin.

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 To a Dark Moses
by Lucille Clifton

You are the one

I am lit for.
Come with your rod
That twists
And is a serpent.
I am the bush,
I am burning
I am not consumed.

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 Come slowly Eden,
by Emily Dickinson

Come slowly – Eden

Lips unused to thee –
Bashful – sip thy jasmines –
As the fainting bee –

Reaching late his flower,

Round her chamber hums, -
Count his nectars – alights –
And is lost in balms !

Even when the love games might turn out hefty and wild, when you give the romantic the time to flourish,
all will feel alright.

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Sweet Rose of Virtue
by William Dunbar (translation by
Michael R. Burch.)

Sweet rose of virtue and gentleness,

delightful lily of youthful wantonness,
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that is held most
dear –
except only that you are merciless;

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 May I feel said he by E.E. Cummings

May I feel said he I’ll squeal said she

Just once said he it’s fun said she
May I touch said he how much said she
A lot said he why not said she

Let’s go said he not too far said she

What’s too far said he where you are said she
May I stay said he which way said she
Like this said he if you kiss said she

May move said he is it love said she

If you are willing said he but you are killing said she
But it’s life said he but your wife said she
Now said he ow said she

Tiptop said he don’t stop said she

Oh no said he go slow said she
Ccccome said he ummmm said she
You are divine said he you are Mine said she.

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Arts and architecture had been a significant way of the cultural display until the mass printing of books
was introduced in Europe. Even illiterate people had from now on access to a new visual expression
which was easily accessible. Initially were most books edited and created by the monks who had the
tradition to give an artistic touch to the handwritten books. A period was born of new artistic
expressions via new techniques such as wood print.

The erotic images had found a new mass channel, just like the internet does today for the
pornography.

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59
The stories out of the myths, the Bible and the different Religions and Cultures from the past, are
being mixed in many illustrations of the books and served as an outlet for the suppressed folk
sexuality, and were a parody of the clergy and secular authorities.

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61
62
E ve n , wh e n my s ty le is
so me w ha t l ib id i no us , a nd
my ch oic e of p oe m s i s
fr ol i c so me ,

M y he a rt i s p ure a nd
en li gh te ne d wi th vi r t ue .

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64
The End

Ronny Julius C Verlet.

65
Reference about the works consulted.

1 Das Erotische Element in der Karikatur. Eduard Fuchs 1904.

2 L'Art Propfane á l'Église. Docteur G.-J. WITKOWSKI 1908.

3 Les Seins á l’Eglise. Docteur G.-J. WITKOWSKI 1907.

4 Zinne Beeelden des Liefdes. Willem van den Elger 1732.

5 (old picture book without a title) Guillaume Borluit, burger der stede van Ghendt 1557.

6 Lettering in Ornament. Lewis F.Day. 1902.

7 Of the decorative illustration of books old and new. Walter Crane. 1896.

8 The Book, Illustrators, and Binders. Henry Bouchot. 1890.

9 The Ground of the Image, Jean Luc Nancy. 2005.

The selected poems come from Old erotic texts :

http://www.thehypertexts.com/The%20Best%20Erotic%20Poems.html

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 You can support this kind of non-fiction publications and research

by ordering a printed version via:

http://www.peecho.com/checkout/ronnyverlet-hotmail/334459/erotic-images-in-churches-and-
cathedrals-sept-

Ronny Julius C Verlet September 2017

Ronny.verlet@gmail.com

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 Other publications of Ronny Verlet.

The Alchemist of Language

.Did God created Language or is it Language that creates God?
Only Language can tell.

This book is a non-fiction intrigue and gossip from Etymology about

Language, Erotic, Religion, Science, Philosophy, and Semiotics.

The romances of words and numbers.

The Logic of the Holy Trinity.
Why Religion cannot love women.
The Science of Religion and the Religion of Science.
Looking at the world through a mirrim.

https://issuu.com/ronnyverlet/docs/alchemist_of_language__creator_of_g

https://www.scribd.com/document/371713594/Alchemist-of-Language-Creator-of-God

https://archive.org/details/AlchemistOfLanguageCreatorOfGod.

https://www.peecho.com/dashboard/applications/publication/edit?publicationId=381691

68
 Life is a play of Signs.
Signs have an own Life.

T oda y, l if e i s n o lo ng e r a str u ggl e f or f o od or s helt er ; it is a

fight to escape from the tyranny of Signs.

This book is about Applied Semiotics which helps to

understand modern Society better.

This book illustrates how

Signs control moern life.

TO FIGHT THE TYRANNY

OF THE SIGNS.
https://issuu.com/ronnyverlet/docs/signs-of-life-and-life-of-signs.__2

https://www.scribd.com/document/371713594/Alchemist-of-Language-Creator-of-God

https://archive.org/details/AlchemistOfLanguageCreatorOfGod.

https://www.peecho.com/dashboard/applications/publication/edit?publicationId=342699

69
 On the brink of a burn-out? Take a selfie with this book.

One in five people are on antidepressants or have professional mental supervision. Not
even half feel any improvement.

Take your life back.

Understand the Mind.

This book compiles the experience of the famous psychiatrists Freud,

Jung, Lemaire, Laplanche, and Lacan of how the knowledge of the Mind
can help us to control our Life better.

‘To understand something will not heal you from evil, but it can help so far
you can handle an understandable darkness, or at least when you can
accept this darkness. C.G.Jung

https://archive.org/details/TakeASelfieOfYourSelf.

https://issuu.com/ronnyverlet/docs/selfie_3_english_aug2016

https://www.scribd.com/document/361117665/Take-a-selfie-of-your-Self-to-boost-your-mental-health

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71
The sensual and the erotic are the driving power
to the reproduction of the human race, which
the art created by the people from all times and
cultures certifies.
Christianity has put restrictions on her believers
on how sexuality should be lived.
In the Christian doctrine is satisfaction and
enjoyment a mental state addressed to the Lord
God and not to the pleasure of the flesh.

Despite the strict rules imposed by the church on

the believers, the cathedrals and churches
display many erotic and even pornographic
pictures.
16+

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