You may say that I’m a dreamer

Imagine a world in which conservative television pundit Bill O’Reilly rails against the “War on the 8-day Festival of our Spider-god” and the secular loony left that’s trying to remove the happy plenitude of divinities from the public sphere and government which will certainly lead to drought, famine, crime, barbarian invasion and the dissolution of our immortal [...]

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I recant

As some of you may remember, a while back as part of my piece Contra Moses I argued that unless you worship the gods of marriage the institution has no inherent sanctity and anything having to do with it is best left up to the individuals who are directly involved in it. Well, the other [...]

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This is indeed what happens

when you chew these things. I’ve tried it – how could I not, it being “wine candies” and all – but never again.

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Pagan value: The Rejection of Christian sexual mores … for the most part

In the course of my studies tonight I came across yet another reminder of why I’m not a Christian. I’m not sure this qualifies as a full Pagan values post, especially since I don’t feel like covering territory I’ve already trod – but being pro-sex is definitely a value that I, as a Pagan, endorse. [...]

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Who says that knowledge of the Classics isn’t useful?

Aristophanes’ Acharnians 585-586: τῆς κεφαλῆς νύν μου λαβοῦ, ἵν᾽ ἐξεμέσω “Now take hold of my head, so I can puke.” Aristophanes’ Acharnians 1199: τῶν τιτθίων, ὡς σκληρὰ καὶ κυδώνια. “What bubbies, how firm and quince-like!” From Laudator Temporis Acti

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Sannion is a dick and a fool

My name is Sannion. I came by it through an accident back in 1999, but I no longer believe that there was anything at all accidental in my naming. The latest confirmation came just a couple days ago while flipping through a book on the decipherment of Linear B. The reason why I picked up [...]

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Inquiring minds want to know

Considering how much outcry there was about Idris Elba playing Heimdall are Asatruar going to be equally miffed by The Asylum casting a Latina actress as a Valkyrie in their Almighty Thor movie? Or are they going to be too busy recovering from the thought of former wrestler Kevin Nash playing Odin and Richard “Poor [...]

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Another roundup of interesting things I’ve read recently

* Hosni Mubarak is suffering damnatio memoriae in Egypt, with his name and image being removed from all public squares, streets, libraries and other public institutions around the country. This puts him in the company of some of the more interesting Pharaohs and Emperors of history such as Akhenaten, Hatshepsut, Caligula, Maximian, etc. The article [...]

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Won’t someone please think about the goats?!?

So last night while I was leaving a grocery store I happened to glance at their community post board and found a flyer for an urban goat group. In bold letters it asked, and I’m paraphrasing, “Why are people allowed to keep goats in Portland, Seattle, etc. but here in Eugene it’s forbidden unless you [...]

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Has the president of Persia returned to his people’s ancestral traditions?

Yes, yes. I know that it’s politic to call them “Iranians” these days, but they will always be Persians to me. Apparently Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has surrounded himself with sorcerers or moghu as his ancestors would have called them, a word that entered English as magician by way of the Greek mágoi: Close allies of Iran’s [...]

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More weird crap from Sannion’s bookmarks

In what is becoming a somewhat regular feature here at The House of Vines, I present some of the interesting, inspiring and just plain weird news items and blog posts that I’ve read of late: * The Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats. Wonderful story, but they’re a bit confused on who Helena’s son [...]

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So, I was reading through the Council of Trullo when I came across this

Those who seek the advice of fortune tellers, the so-called hekatontarches, or other similar individuals in order to learn from them that which they want revealed about themselves, let them, according to the recent decisions of the fathers, be placed under the canon of six years. Further, let those who keep bears and other animals [...]

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This is why you don’t invite Neoplatonists to an orgy

“To answer your question, the erection of phallic images is a symbol of generative power and we consider that this is directed towards the fecundating of the world; this is the reason, indeed, why most of these images are consecrated in the spring, since this is just when the world as a whole receives from [...]

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Some things of possible interest

Playing pranks on April 1st is just too obvious when you’re a fool all the rest of the year. (As I am, and proudly so!) So instead I’ll post some links that I find amusing for various reasons. * Is the soul of a woman to be found in her vagina? I’m not sure, but [...]

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No way out but through

So, there’s this devotional practice I’m going to be doing every day during the month of April that’s supposed to help me connect with Dionysos, Apis and the Ptolemies and also get my mojo risin’ and holy fuck I failed my first time out. Honestly, I didn’t realize that it was even possible for a [...]

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I know it’s a little silly, but …

I have to share this awesome news anyway. I just discovered that “Britain’s best-known classicist” Mary Beard linked to something I wrote a while back. It was in a piece she did discussing the comparison of Gordon Brown and Marcus Antonius and if you scroll down to where she discusses the Amimetobioi you’ll see that [...]

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My intense debate comments taken out of context.

4 hours ago @ The Wild Hunt – Did Missionaries Trigg… · 0 replies · +3 points I think it’s very telling to compare the treatment of Jews under Pagans and Christians. Even though the Jews were opposed to traditional polytheistic worship they suffered no ill-treatment at the hands of the Ptolemies. (Minus Soter’s exploiting [...]

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This is why it’s important to check citations, folks!

So, the other day I was reading this book about the varying Homeric and Orphic conceptions of the afterlife. Most of it was fairly standard stuff and not that interesting. But then out of the blue the author says that according to Numenius there flows in the underworld a river of semen from which our [...]

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A timely passage

Here’s something I found today from the 6th century grammarian Oinomaos of Alexandria’s Philopseudes 5.23 ff: On the day when we Romans keep the most ancient Liberalia many others are busy celebrating the festival of the Holy Patrick. In truth all are doing the same thing and honoring the same god, and not even through [...]

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Marcus Antonius walks the earth today with the face of Charlie Sheen

I know a lot of Pagans have their panties in a wad over some of the things that Charlie Sheen has been saying recently. (Though, really, the only time Pagan panties aren’t in a wad is when they go skyclad.) And others are convinced that he’s hopped up on goofballs or gone insane. He isn’t. [...]

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