A couple powerful pieces were posted to the Boukoleon recently that I’d like to draw your attention to. Jack Faust added the second installment in his series on the golden chain of Orpheus:
Very few, if any, of such texts were actually written by the figures they are attributed to. And in point of fact we might well call into question how often treatments of figures such as Hermes Trismegistus or even Orpheus were done so in a tongue-and-cheek fashion, or if they were treated as such as a means of venerating the “spirit” of the wonder-workers, and “magicians” of the past. Given that even Cicero refers to the “image of Orpheus” being with his spirit frequently, we might question whether academic approaches that assume literal views of these figures were routine are correct, or if the assumption has been made from place of ignorance.
And Markos introduced us to some mad artists:
Also he is not so much an outsider artist by today standards… but by putting myself in his time, he is pretty radical. Hunt was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which was established after his frustration of being booted out of art school for not complying with the criteria. The Pre-Raphelites then became one of the first art movements that encompassed visual arts, writing, fashion, architecture and home décor. It radically altered how westerns lived. In Victorian times these guys were like hippies, they rejected Victorian ‘greyness’ and opted for more casual clothing (one of the reasons why we don’t expect women to wear corsets and puffy behind dresses, nowadays.) With Western Celtic idealism they reasserted the Renaissance limited rational and looked towards nature, while rejecting eighteen hundreds enlightenment — Romanticism.
And Emily shared a very powerful prayer and a story I suspect a lot of us can relate to:
This food nourishes me so my actions can nourish the Starry Bull.
This food nourishes me. This food–whatever it is, whether it’s the “right” food or not, whether it’s healthy or an indulgence–is giving me the energy to continue living. This energy enables me to honor the Gods of the Thiasos. With that energy, my actions can nourish the Starry Bull. I get an opportunity to worship Dionysos every time I speak, or act, or write. Why should I surrender those opportunities to fear?
Speaking of prayers, we can still use contributions to the communal pieces for Apollo Soranos and Melinoë. Please consider adding something.
Tagged: thiasos of the starry bull
