Priapus – Lilith’s Male Counterpart

Did you know that Lilith has a male counterpart, Priapus? Your Priapus sign, house, and aspects could prove quite revealing but the joke is that you probably won’t want to reveal any of it – not online at least.

They’re similar in that they’re both deemed sexual renegades and are associated with sex outside of the archetypal pair bond or even love, as such. Lilith cops the craziest projections – that she could cause miscarriages or tried to wreck men’s marriages via ‘erotic nightmares’ and so on. Yet despite this fearsome reputation she was often dismissed as “a minor Babylonian wind deity” or similar.

Priapus is likewise called a “minor rustic God” or even “an oversexed gardening God.” I’ve wanted to do this post for ages but believe it or not, I had problems illustrating it. Be careful if you google this guy, the depictions of him are probably the most NSFW of the historic frescos and statues. His hymns and the poems written to honor him are too obscene to post here as well.

An Oversexed Gardening God?

Suffice to say that they pay homage to Priapus for his most significant asset as well as his apparent propensity to blow money, live as a glutton but maintain muscle mass, attract everyone, and well, again his, you know, thing. With a quick style update, Priapus would fit right into the aspirational bro end of the media.

A condition that can be a medical emergency is named after him but more flatteringly, Priapus is now also a kind of therapy. Dr. Charles Runels*, the triple Aries creator of The Priapus Shot, a treatment to fortify male erections using ‘platelet-rich plasma,’ refers to Priapus as the “Greek God of male regenerative power.”

The son of Aphrodite and Dionysus,  Priapus was a god of vegetation, fertility, and, well, the phallus. He is supremely well-endowed and nearly always depicted as such.

Priapus Was Acclaimed For His Physical Endowment.

Priapus statues were the original scarecrow, said to help with a bountiful harvest (there are screeds of ancient ribald innuendo about bees, pollination, seeds, etc) and frighten away marauding insects or birds via the gigantic phallus. Presumably, they’d keep a wide berth to avoid the scarecrow trying to mate with them?

He was also the prototypal garden gnome – yes, it’s an ancient Greco-Roman custom and the word “gnome” comes from “genomos” or “earth-being” and “gnomi” are elemental Earth beings. The ancient garden gnomes protected your buried treasure and valuable plants, again with the phallus.

What Is Your Priapus Sign?

Like Lilith and the Lunar Nodes, Priapus is a calculated factor: Lilith is the lunar apogee, the most distant point that the Moon will reach in that cycle and Priapus, AKA the lunar perigee, is when it is the closest. From a practical point of view, they both fly in nine-month cycles and tie into the Eclipses.

This means that they’re always loosely opposite one another but it can vary by several degrees. For example, Lilith is currently at 27° Gemini, and Priapus is 21° Sagittarius but my natal Lilith is 17° Capricorn, and Priapus is 11° Leo.

Now while there are no substantial or formal delineations for Priapus, it could certainly explain some otherwise inexplicable attractions. I’m thinking of my “early August Leo men” era – which is when the Sun is at 11 degrees – and is it feasible to assume that a Priapus link to Lilith means that the people would relish one another’s less conventional sexuality or nature?

It would also be interesting – albeit quite skeevy – to explore Lilith-Priapus connections in synastry. I didn’t compile a list of people who have prominent Priapus placements because it’s fiddly to get the data and it feels kind of indecent, like peeking into someone’s undies drawer.

Mick Jagger and Colin Farrell Have Priapus Conjunct Their Midheaven

However, here are a few interesting examples: The musician Michael Hutchence had his Mars conjunct Priapus, actor Ewan McGregor has Sun conjunct Priapus and Emmanuel Macron, 25th president of France, is also a Sun-Priapus guy. It’s also conjunct his Mercury Retrograde, in Sagg – that must be fun: phallic Freudian errors?

Colin Farrell and Mick Jagger have Priapus conjunct their Midheaven and Sylvester Stallone has Priapus conjunct his North Node – he made his debut in a softcore Seventies smut-flick called The Party At Kitty & Studs.

So to look yours up, use the Extended Chart Selection at Astrodienst, then the “list of other horoscope factors and hypothetical planets” and tick the box next to “h22 Priapus”. FYI, Lilith is h21. How to interpret it?

Well, perhaps if your Venus or Mars were conjunct Priapus, you’d prioritize sexual pleasure and freedom more than other aspects of relationships?

The Calvin Klein Of Medicine

Another possibility: see how you react to people whose Sun, Moon, Venus, or Mars connects with your Priapus? The new Cosmic Compatibility report features Lilith Moon, Venus, Mars, Ascendant, and asteroid Magdalene interactions – should I add Priapus to the mix? Or would it lower the tone?

And who now has a distinctly new take on scarecrows and indeed, garden decor?

*If that name sounds familiar, Kim Kardashian successfully sued Dr. Runels for using her image to promote his Vampire Facial. He calls himself the ‘Calvin Klein of medicine” and also offers an “Orgasm Shot.” His cyro-yoga venture appears to have been thankfully shelved.

Image: Duncan Raban – George Michael