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Why we Dionysians are better than everyone else
Rhydgate has exploded. There’s now so many comments it’s difficult to keep track. However I think that this one may just be my favorite: Fertility is cool and all, but aren’t there other things to...
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Happy birthday House of Vines!
WordPress informed me that I started this blog five years ago today. Man there have been a lot of dick pics, weird videos, obtuse poetry and controversy in that time. Here’s hoping I’ll still be around...
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May our Bacchic Martyrs be remembered
On the 2014 calendar for the thiasos of the Starry Bull (and things may be different next year – Black Team is still working on it) there are four festivals honoring different groups among the...
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A chief cow-herder’s work is never done
The post on our Bacchic Martyrs is far from complete. However, I spent the whole night compiling it and then about a half hour ago through a careless keystroke ended up deleting the whole thing. There...
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I’m seriously starting to feel set up here
As you may recall, we had some difficulty coming up with the date for the thiasos Karneia (to the point that seven diviners were consulted and it somehow still ended up a draw) so as archiboukolos I...
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Worship, the Sannion way
I have been doing this ritual stuff since my early teens, which means that I’ve had a lot of practice and gotten pretty good at it. I have all of the necessary steps memorized and an innate sense of...
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Death and what comes after
One of the things that distinguishes the thiasos of the Starry Bull from other Dionysian groups is our strong chthonic and eschatological focus. Consequently, I’ve posted about the topic quite a bit....
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Songs for the Martyrs
Mumford & Sons – Broken Crown So crawl on my belly ’til the sun goes down I’ll never wear your broken crown I can take the road and I can fuck it all away But in this twilight, our choices seal our...
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Sardonic
While looking to see if I could find anything more on the maenad Chorea, whom we honor as one of the Bacchic Martyrs, I came across this passage: The most famous building in the city of Argos is the...
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Well, it looks as if 2015 is going to be an interesting year
As the first step in the process of coming up with next year’s festival calendar for the thiasos of the Starry Bull, I sat down tonight with Dionysos and divined the names of the months, deriving them...
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Starry Bull Book of Days
Jose Prado left a comment on my last post about an interesting practice in Santeria which set off all kinds of bells for me. Keeping alive my ancestral traditions, I’m now going to totally rip this...
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A calendrical experiment
I worked through the night, creating close to a dozen different festival calendars for the thiasos. Ultimately I was satisfied with none of them, so I decided to go in an entirely different direction....
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bricolage festivals
Since folks generally seem to be in favor of going with the conceptual festivals we can proceed to the next step – placement. I figure we’ll come up with four or five alternatives and then have a vote....
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A tradition distilled
Wine Labyrinth Spider Severed Head Noose Ivy Cup Rose Dove Bull skull Door Pile of stones Starry crown Phallos Drum Pomegranate Wolf Egg Drugs Distaff Mask Knucklebones Whip Bull-roarer Sheaf of wheat...
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Where the Wild Things Are
The creatures who hunt the young god down, tear him apart and devour his flesh raw aren’t Titans. It was Onomakritos who first called them that: Those about the sanctuary say that the Mistress was...
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The Mask-God
The Gurôb Papyrus Accept ye my great offering as the payment for my lawless fathers. Save me, great Brimo … and Demeter and Rhea … and the armed Kouretes: let us … and we will make fine sacrifices. A...
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The good die young, even if they’re not
In an epigram by Leonidas, my favorite Tarentine poet, Philokles offers up the tokens of his childhood so that Hermes, the guide of souls, will lead him through the transition into adulthood – the...
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Io! Most mighty youth
Io! Most mighty youth, I salute you, almighty splendour, who stands as leader of the company of gods! Come to Dikta at this New Year’s Day and take delight in the music, which we weave for you with...
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How do you make Eleusinian myth better? Place it in Italy and add Korybantes!
Hydria (water jar), Late Classical, red-figure, ca. 340–330 b.c. Greek, South Italian, Apulian Represented here is Hades’ abduction of Persephone (Kore). Hades’ chariot occupies the central area of...
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