Fertility Cult (Part 2)

The modern use of the English word cult refers to a group's unusual beliefs or shared interests. Older usage refers to religious devotion to certain people or particular places. But the literal and original meaning of the word simply meant a central element of conscious behaviour/belief, and it certainly never implied any sense of undue social emphasis on an unnatural process.

Likewise, the term fertility simply refers to the ongoing ability to reproduce following the onset of sexual maturity. The term relates to all of life on earth, ranging from the nutritional content to the microbial activity of soil, to the broader environmental conditions necessary for plant growth, to the reproductive rates of organisms.

The first chapters of the Hebrew Torah (Bereishit/Genesis) is best understood as a story that pulls into focus the most salient elements of observed daily life to ancient herders, namely: 1 - the biological relationship of all things to one another, and 2 - the ability of life itself to sustain itself in the world through self-propagation.

This is the daily pageant celebrated in the creation story, and is found in the first chapters of how ancient Hebrews celebrated and gave thanks for their lives in the world.

And as such it is an extremely tangible, and real, and sensual saga.