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Oh, I’m excited!
One of the reasons that I drew up a detailed list of the core pantheon is that I want to adapt this divination system that I recently stumbled upon again. (I used a version of it back in my old...
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to bend the ruthless Lords of the Shades by song and suppliant prayer
Seneca, Hercules Furens 569 ff Orpheus had power to bend the ruthless Lords of the Shades by song and suppliant prayer, when he sought back his Eurydice. The art which had drawn the trees and birds...
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he was called the “wind-stayer”
Diogenes Laertios, selections from book seven of the Lives of the Eminent Philosophers 59. Satyros quotes this same Gorgias as saying that he himself was present when Empedokles performed magical...
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Here are our festivals
I couldn’t sleep so I decided to put together the festival calendar of the thiasos of the Starry Bull for the year to come. 2014 March 8: Pannychis of Ariadne An all-night vigil in honor of the...
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Map of the Underworld
Note that they do not list the triclinium maius of Dionysos because only initiates know the way there. Tagged: dionysos, haides, heroes
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Our festivals
As is appropriate for a tradition rooted in the soil of Southern Italy: The city of Tarentum offers sacrifices of oxen and holds public banquets nearly every month. The mass of common people is always...
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Since you asked …
A couple of folks have asked how they could show support or reimburse me for the divination and other spiritual services I’ve performed for them if they didn’t have the money to contribute to the...
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It was a good show!
We had a wonderful show with guest Rev. Tamara Siuda, Nisut of the Kemetic Orthodox religion, which you can listen to here:...
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A Simple Desate Rite
Theoinophilus has written a lovely introductory ritual for our tradition that I am proud to share with you here. A Simple Desate Rite On a large plate on the floor in front of the shrine, or on an...
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There is no one way to be a Dionysian
BWK 108 C. Antonius Apellas from Blaundos [Dionysopolis], having been punished by the god often and many times because, although he had been called, he did not want to come and be present at the...
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Important notice: the date of the Pannychis of Ariadne has been changed
When I was coming up with the list of festivals for the thiasos of the Starry Bull I put a lot of thought into their dates. Lenaia and Anthesteria were kept on the lunar system, as this is both...
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Italians are “programmed” more for perceiving sanctity than other populations.
The conclusion is that Italians are more often regarded as saints than others. We are led to ask ourselves why? In fact, we are in the presence of a phenomenon having to do with social perception....
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How traditions evolve within the thiasos of the Starry Bull
A week or so ago I was watching some videos of Sadhus and noticed that they wore these cool threaded bracelets but didn’t think much about it beyond that. Then a couple days later while discussing...
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A thiasos of the Starry Bull Liberalia
The next festival on our calendar is the Roman Liberalia, which Senex Caecilius of Ancient Worlds describes as follows: In rural areas, the Liberalia (March 17) was a festival that was connected to...
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Prescriptions
I’ve had a couple questions about religious prohibitions within the thiasos of the Starry Bull. At the akousmatikos stage there are none, except the general purity rules for shrine and temple work. As...
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Why it’s impossible to revive the ancient mysteries
Someone at Patheos has proposed reviving the Eleusinian mysteries. I’m just going to come out and say this: the old mysteries are dead and it’s pointless to even attempt what they are proposing. It’s...
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More on mysteries
There’s another component that I left out of the last post. While it’s true that location is central, something the ancients themselves recognized: It was not we who originally invented those rites,...
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There’s nothing odd about a Dionysian taking a traditionalist stance
Maenadism is, in a sense, a mimesis or imitation of the mythic past: And the Boeotians and other Greeks and the Thracians, in memory of the campaign in India, have established sacrifices every other...
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30 days of devotion in one night
I snagged the questions for this from Ruadhán McElroy, who has been posting some great responses so far and is also running a fund-raiser to get a cool devotional ring for Eros – check it out! 1. A...
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