I was asked if I’d host some Dionysian stuff at Many Gods West in August. I’m having divination performed to confirm that I have the “all clear” from Lusios, and then I’ll determine what I want to do and what kind of resources I’ll need to make it happen. Obviously one of those things is going to be money, so even though this was sprung on me last night – damn it, if I had known I would have bought a Powerball ticket! – I’ve already gone into scheming mode.
Aside from the normal services I offer – cough cough link cough cough – I’m going to be rolling out some cool shit here at the House of Vines over the next couple months.
I assume that y’all enjoyed watching THERE IS NO EXIT: Strange Spirits Volume II unfold before your eyes, or you wouldn’t still be here, so I’m going to set up a Patreon account and for a pledge of X dollars (I haven’t settled on a price) you’ll get access to a private blog where I’ll be writing my next book.
Next book, you say?!?
Yeah.
I’m going to pick one of the Old or Middle Comedy poets – I’m thinking Kratinos or Kinesias, but might go with Philexenos or Sannyrion; another possibility is to pick a Magna Graecian playwright, but alas they are not as well known these days – and put, in the words of Luke the Evangelist, “οἶνον νέον εἰς ἀσκοὺς παλαιούς.” That is to say, I am going to take the meager fragments, synopses, scholia, and play titles that have come down to us, and weave them into weird hybrid productions, plays that, while incorporating all of this ancient source material, will tell entirely new Starry Bull myths. A Bacchic Orphic bricolage collaboration across the centuries, if you will.
And you’ll get to watch it happen LIVE.
For a slightly higher pledge you’ll get access to the site and a personally signed copy of the book when it’s done. Plus I’ll throw in other perks from time to time, like links to private videos of me reciting choice excerpts from the plays. Maybe, if I’m stoned enough, I’ll even do it in costume.
I’m also going to offer a 10-week course on divination for $100. (No, you’re maths are right! That breaks down to the low, low price of only $10 a week for 10 weeks!) It’ll actually be two classes – the first going into the theory, ethics and practice of divination, then I’ll teach folks how to use the Leaves of Dionysos system I wrote about in Ecstatic. While you can get the basics in the book, you can’t get personal instruction from a mantis with over 25 years’ worth of experience. Unless you take the class. You want to take the class. Taking the class seems like the best thing in the world to you. What? Ha! As if I’d try to hypnotize such an attractive and astute reader as you! Why, that kind of cleverness and discernment is exactly why you should take the class.
After that I’ll do something on how to use and create bibliomantic systems. Haven’t decided on the duration or cost of that yet.
And finally, I’m going to see if I can get some folks who are attending Many Gods West to act out one of the plays at Many Gods West for a private Skype audience. You’d pay to see some kickass polytheists doing a one-time performance of sacred drama, right? Hell yeah, I know I would if I wasn’t orchestrating the whole crazy thing!
I might decide to do some of this even if I end up not going, cause that shit just sounds like a lot of fun.
So what say you? You willing to pitch in and help Bakcheion put on another grand spectacle? People are still feeling the effects of the last one, and I have a hunch his catharsis and healing will definitely be needed. But we won’t be able to do this without you. So if you care about community and want people to have an unforgettable experience of Dionysos let us know. If the divination proves auspicious, together we will work to make this happen.
