A word from the archiboukolos of the thiasos of the Starry Bull

I feel that I should more clearly define what I mean by Bacchic Orphic tradition. This is a highly individualized and localized expression of Dionysian religion that is rooted in the historical and geographic region of Magna Graecia or Southern Italy from initial colonization on up to its distorted reflection in Tarantism and as such is a fusion of Greek, Cretan, Thracian, Egyptian and indigenous Italian and Sicilian elements. It therefore differs from expressions of Dionysian and Orphic religion found in other places and time periods, contrasting perhaps most sharply with the forms these took in Classical Athens which tends to be the unconscious default within the contemporary Hellenic polytheist community.

It is predominantly a cult of ecstasy that seeks to bring about release, purification and revitalization through music, dance, ritual drama, feasting, sacrifice and direct communion with gods and spirits. By means of these cures it helps the individual dissolve social pressures, psychological imbalances, ancestral wounds and physical infirmities which are often tangled up together.

When the lifeforce becomes sublimated and sluggish and burdened by excessive cares it tends to create illness (spiritual and physical) within the individual which can go on to infect whole communities. Through the above mentioned actions the lifeforce is stirred and strengthened, often by inducing a crisis state that results in a frenzied climax enabling it to cleanse and recalibrate itself. This recalibration can produce the formation of a new identity, particularly if it is brought about by rites of initiation.

Described another way we are inducing altered states of consciousness or mild forms of madness to inoculate ourselves against more severe expressions of madness. Beyond healing there are many fruits of this madness including creative inspiration, access to other planes of knowledge, communion with gods and spirits, increased strength and potency and temporary imperviousness to pain and other physical limitations.

Aside from the this-world benefits of these practices our tradition also has a strong chthonic and eschatological focus with a pronounced concern for proper tendance of the dead. Instead of the impotent and witless shades of the Homeric tradition it is believed within Bacchic Orphism that the dead have power to influence events in our world and are often responsible for illness and calamity when neglected by their descendants. As such we strive to honor and placate these spirits so that they will assist us in our endeavors – especially the Dionysian dead which differ significantly from the ordinary dead since Dionysos has interceded on their behalf with the underworld powers and imbued them with some of his own abundant vitality. Even beyond this grace they are different because the experience of Dionysian ecstasy radically transforms the individual – the more we encounter it the more we are changed. In short mystai of this tradition may look forward to becoming feasting heroes and furious hunters in the afterlife because of the rites they have gone through here.

And the thiasos of the Starry Bull is a manifestation of this tradition in the modern era. It is a tradition that I am reviving and systematizing – hopefully with the assistance of others. I have been engaged in this process for a number of years now and finally feel that it is at a stage where others can be brought in. I am eager to see what this tradition will become in their hands and whether other people will reap the same positive results that I have through it. So a lot of the writing I’ll be doing over the coming months will be concerned with articulating and codifying and adapting this tradition for use by others. I will then proceed to guide others through it and teach some of the necessary techniques and then I’m going to attempt to organize activities for the thiasos on both a local and long-distance level.

Mostly I will be leading by example and anyone who wishes to revel with me is free to do so and likewise they are free to say “Yeah, that’s not for me,” or sift through what I post and glean what is most useful for them while discarding the rest. But I will not eschew speaking authoritatively on certain matters – especially things relevant to this tradition’s mysteries – because following this path will tear you apart and set you free so that you require nothing from no man or society, nothing that cannot be found in Dionysos himself. But that, my friends, is dangerous and frightening work and there are consequences if you do it wrong. I will not personally instruct anyone in this tradition that I am not willing to shoulder the burden and consequences of failure for – and if you balk at even the simplest of instructions that shows me that you are not ready for me to place this trust in you.

Just to be clear when I speak authoritatively it will only be with regard to the thiasos of the Starry Bull.

I do not speak for all Dionysians.

I do not speak for all Orphics.

I do not speak for all Hellenics, Romans, Thracians or syncretic Egyptians.

And I sure as hell do not speak for all polytheists and even less so for all neopagans.

For that matter I do not speak for any god, spirit or human but myself.

The only reason you have to accept what I say is because you acknowledge that you want what I am offering.

But there are as many ways to Dionysos as the god has faces and there are many wonderful and talented individuals out there who are deeply engaged in his worship and talk about him and share their experiences with him. Over the last couple weeks alone I’ve read marvelous material by Oracle, Dver, Aridela, Suz, MadGastronomer, Rhyd Wildermuth, Galina, Sunweaver, Narkaios Alepou, Jason Mankey, Where Dionysos Dwells, Ginandjack, Jack Faust and numerous others I’m sure I’m forgetting at the moment. So it’s not like I’m your only place to turn for a Dionysian fix.