THE VIRILITY SOLUTION: A LOOK BACK FOR A CURE

Mar
24
2009

Posted by: admin in Categories: Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction.

ED has always been with us; treatments have been employed to combat it for thousands of years. Not surprisingly, the view of the problem, as well as the remedies for it, grows out of the culture and belief system of a particular time.

To fully understand how far back erectile problems go, we need only look to the Bible. In Genesis, ED is regarded as a punishment for committing adultery. Abimelech was stricken with it after just thinking about having sex with Abraham’s wife. Two thousand years ago, the Egyptians, a sophisticated and innovative people, recorded their recipes cure ED. In their culture, it was attributed to the wrath of a particular god, and a typical corrective included pacifying the appropriate idol with offerings. At other times, herbal enhancers were used to restore diminished or lost virility.

The ancient Greeks were also no strangers to ED. At that time, it was commonly believed that a vast array of erectile problems would be experienced by any man who, as a child, had sat on a tomb. The cure was to drink a potion made with the scrapings of a knife used to geld rams.

Interestingly, the very first references to the psychological roots of ED can be traced all the way back to the Greek legend of Iphiclus. As a youh, Iphiclus, the son of King Phylacus, saw his father coming toward him clutching the handle of a bloody knife that had been used to castrate a ram. Terrified by the thought that his father would turn on him with the weapon, Iphiclus soon developed chronic erectile failure. A physician named Melampus figured out a way to help him with a technique later commonly employed in psychiatry. He showed the prince the gelding knife. When he observed that the blood was long dried and the knife itself rusted, Iphiclus was able to overcome his fear and his ED disappeared.

As time went on, most men weren’t as fortunate as the young Greek. By the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church attributed ED to witchcraft, as well as to the effects of demonic possession. A sexual hex known as a “ligature” was commonly used to invoke ED in an unsuspecting foe through the power of suggestion. All the instigator had to do was tie a series of knots in a cord or a strip of leather and hide it in a secret place. He would then let his victim know what he’d done. Depending on both the number and specific configuration of knots, it was believed the victim would then develop partial or total erectile failure. In some cases, total sterility could, it was thought, be achieved. Of course, hexes relied heavily on the belief in magic. If a man accepted their power, he could be influenced by them. Conversely, if he felt that an incantation could actually break the spell, he might achieve some positive results.