He fell asleep as Osiris and woke up as Serapis – that’s bound to take some getting used to. (King Ptolemaios I of Makedon was a high priest of the artists of Dionysos and a powerful magician, spinning enchantments like a spider that hunts in the night, all for the good of his people. He [...]
Posts Tagged ‘alexander the great’
The reverie of Arlecchino
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, christianity, dionysos, egypt, greco-egyptian, greece, harlequin, heroes, holy fool, italy, magic, marcus antonius, mythology, osiris, ptolemies, serapis, spider on 05/25/2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Eleventh Dithyramb of Oenomaus of Syracuse
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, apollon, dionysos, greece, italy, mythology, nymphai on 04/27/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Rain falls like fingers tapping a staccato rhythm on tympanoms and the fox seeks his burrow beneath the earth amid the roots and rocks and mushrooms where the web-weaving spiders dwell. Above dance the madwomen, tossing their wet heads in the frenzy of the winegod, laughing as lightning splits the sky and illuminates their orgies [...]
My spirit-song
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, christianity, dionysos, egypt, gods, heroes, holy fool, italy, julius caesar, local focus polytheism, magic, marcus antonius, persephone, ptolemies, religious practice, rome, spider on 04/05/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Ever since the onset of puberty our protagonist has lived with unfamiliar voices in his head, voices impossible for him to shut out. It has made him … a little strange. For instance, when the other children were out playing catch or tag or whatever it is children play these days (their iPods, mostly) he [...]
What a fascinating anecdote
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, dionysos, heroes on 04/05/2012 | 8 Comments »
“Shortly before this a man that many said was a daimon — though he himself claimed to be the famous Alexander of Macedon and resembled him in looks and general attire — set out from the regions along the Ister, after somehow or other making his appearance there. He made his way through Moesia and [...]
A song from the land of the midday sun
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, ariadne, christianity, dionysos, egypt, greece, hermes, heroes, holy fool, italy, magic, marcus antonius, mythology, nymphai, oracles, philosophy, pinocchio, ptolemies, religious practice, rome, serapis on 03/01/2012 | Leave a Comment »
Be warned – there is an equal mixture of lies and mysteries here. Act I: Ruminations of the illustrious actor Marco Antonio, innovator of the commedia dell’arte While waiting to go on stage in the piazza of the church of Saint Mark in Venice, Italy where are revered the relics of Alexander the Great, whom [...]
A queer question answered
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, ares, christianity, dionysos, greece, hellenismos, hera, italy, philosophy, politics, religious practice, rome on 08/26/2011 | 1 Comment »
My good friend P. Sufenas Virius Lupus posed an interesting question last night: In a book that I read recently, which I rather detested in many ways, I found the suggestion that a lot of ancient homophobia stems from Pythagoreanism. I’m not entirely convinced of that, in any case; but what I wanted to ask [...]
Hello you lovely freaks
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, dionysos, spider on 08/17/2011 | 12 Comments »
Over the last 30 days these are some of the search terms people have used to find me: my penis is vines pretty spider wicca nudity aztec serpent picture beyonce and bacchae women with no interests outside the home greek traders of bitumen wail marred grape hose roberto benigni make love to you all eugene [...]
The New Wine we were promised: II
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, anthesteria, dionysos, heroes, holy fool, jim morrison, music on 07/20/2011 | 1 Comment »
For Castus. Act Two: I am the Lizard King. I can do anything! There are two main reasons, distinct and yet related, why I regard Jim Morrison as a modern-day hero worthy of cultus: who he was and what he represented. It is difficult bordering on the impossible for us today to grasp how truly [...]
The New Wine we were promised: I
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, apollon, creative writing pledge drive, dionysos, egypt, festivals, gods, greece, hellenismos, herakles, heroes, jim morrison, kleopatra, marcus antonius, music, philosophy, ptolemies, religious practice, rome on 07/20/2011 | 8 Comments »
For Castus. Act One: Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin. I was recently asked to say a few words on a topic that is near and dear to my heart – hero cultus within contemporary polytheism. My literary patron (whose generosity is exceeded only by his wisdom) had some specific criteria in mind [...]
It’s all connected
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, dionysos, festivals, hermes, holy fool, italy, oracles, religious practice, spider on 07/07/2011 | 4 Comments »
Though I don’t think I realized just how connected the threads of my spiritual life were until a couple of days ago. You see, there are basically two major reasons why I’ve begun this whole shift to Italy thing. There are a lot of minor ones, too, but they’re mostly extensions of either the Holy [...]
Contra Moses
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, anubis, aphrodite, apollon, christianity, dionysos, egypt, gods, hera, herakles, hermes, isis, judaism, pagan values blogging month, paganism, philosophy, ptolemies, zeus on 06/02/2011 | 18 Comments »
Christians and their ilk are fond of arguing for the superiority of their religion because it enshrines a legal code which they allege was handed down from the creator of all to Moses, the prophet of the Hebrews, while they wandered in the desert during their flight from Egypt. We Pagans find nothing extraordinary in [...]
Putting on a new mask
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, apis, dionysos, festivals, hermes, holy fool, italy, oracles, philosophy, ptolemies, religious practice, serapis, spider, willamette on 05/23/2011 | 17 Comments »
There is a reason why I recently set down the elaborate history and meaning behind the name Sannion and it wasn’t jut because of its antiquarian interest. I believe that when Dionysos bequeathed this name to me he was providing me with a spiritual blueprint to follow. Along the way important pieces of the puzzle [...]
My religion
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, aphrodite, dionysos, eugene, festivals, gods, greco-egyptian, hermes, local focus polytheism, philosophy, ptolemies, religious practice, spider, writing on 05/14/2011 | 26 Comments »
I have been thinking about this religion of mine lately and how it differs in some important respects from that of others. Perhaps I should say “seems to differ” because the truth is I don’t know whether there are others out there who feel and practice as I do, or even if I’ll be able [...]
Some interesting discoveries
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, egypt, gods, greco-egyptian, hellenismos, kleopatra, philosophy, rome on 04/20/2011 | 15 Comments »
I have become completely obsessed with my eklogai project. I put up a bunch of new quotes over the last couple days, including extensive selections from Porphyry, Eunapius, and Marinus of Samaria’s Life of Proclus. This last is a work that I think more people should read, regardless of their interest and familiarity with Proclus’ [...]
Isn’t that interesting
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, christianity, egypt, greece, italy, news, politics, rome on 04/10/2011 | 22 Comments »
Turns out that the Roman Empire fell because they caught the gay from the Carthaginians. That’s what Roberto De Mattei (the deputy head of Italy’s National Research Council) is asserting at least. Before Rome conquered Carthage (“a paradise for homosexuals”) they were totally butch, and afterwards they became infected with an effeminacy that made them [...]
Birds of a feather
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, arsinoe, creative writing pledge drive, dionysos, egypt, gods, greco-egyptian, hathor, horus, isis, mythology, osiris, philosophy, ptolemies, seth on 03/25/2011 | 2 Comments »
For Amanda. A lot of people when starting off on a Kemetic or Greco-Egyptian path have a difficult time making sense of the proliferation of Horus gods. Even if one ignores the abundance of regional manifestations and just focuses on the two most important and commonly encountered versions – Horus the Elder and Horus the [...]
It isn’t often that I learn something new about Dionysos
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, dionysos, greece, ptolemies, rome on 02/16/2011 | 3 Comments »
I just finished reading a collection of official royal correspondences from the Hellenistic monarchs. I picked it up because it had a bunch of letters and decrees from the Ptolemies, but as I’d feared I was already familiar with all of them. Likewise I’d already read all of the material on the Attalids, especially as [...]
The mystery has finally been solved
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, christianity, egypt, kleopatra, news, ptolemies, rome on 01/07/2011 | 9 Comments »
On June 10th (or 11th) 323 BCE Alexander the Great died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon. There are different theories about the cause of his demise. The most probable are: 1) Alcohol poisoning after a series of extended Dionysian revels. 2) Suicide over the loss of Hephaistion. 3) His generals, who were tired [...]
Marcus Antonius: The Musical
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, dionysos, egypt, greece, julius caesar, kleopatra, marcus antonius, music, ptolemies, rome, spider on 12/28/2010 | Leave a Comment »
I am a total fiend when it comes to devotional playlists. I’ve got them for all of my gods and spirits, as well as for different moods and forms of ecstatic worship. Dionysos actually has four separate playlists, five if you count the one I’ve got for Marcus Antonius. This last is probably my favorite [...]
An interview with scholar Maria Nilsson
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alexander the great, alexandria, arsinoe, egypt, greco-egyptian, interviews, kleopatra, maria nilsson, news, ptolemies, rome, writing on 12/16/2010 | 4 Comments »
A while back I posted about how the exciting new thesis of Maria Nilsson (which reevaluates the role Arsinoë II played in Egyptian politics and religion) has caused quite a stir, both in the Classical blogosphere and the popular press. (Previous posts on this can be found here and here.) As someone who actually honors [...]
