Crown of Thorns, Page One

Barbara Walker, 1983, page 962 - "Svayamvara was the ceremony of bridegroom-choosing by the queens of pre-Vedic (2700 -1500 BC) India where the queen embodied the Virgin Kali who chose Shiva, the Condemned One, as her consort, casting over his head a wreath of flowers representing her yoni enveloping his lingam. [The wreath was her own genital symbol; the god's "head" was his. (pg.311)] In the role of sacred king he would die in his mating, like a penis, and his bridal wreath would become the funeral wreath laid on his grave." Barbara Walker, "Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets", Harper Collins, 1983