#Iacchos

[theoihalioistuff]

Re: Dionysus being a hermaphrodite - I'm not sure if I'm missing some context because I did take a look at the said Orphic hymn

"Call Thesmophorus, spermatic God [Dionysos], of various names, who bears the leafy rod:

Mises [Misa], ineffable, pure, sacred queen, two-fold Iacchus, male and female seen"

Does it seem to be implying that Misa is supposed to be the female form of Dionysus? Isn't it more probable that Misa is the female form of Iacchus, a separate divinity (but sometimes identified with a few other gods)?

Hi! I'm sorry it took me a while to answer. Asks are kinda piling up and I'm right in the middle of exams 🥲. If you're waiting to have a question answered, I'm sorry if it takes a while or if I'm not able to get to all of them.

I find the Orphic Hymns to be such a headache, because they differ so much depending on the translation (specially in regards to punctuation, which changes the entire meaning):

Call Thesmophorus, spermatic God, of various names, who bears the leafy rod: [colon] Mises, ineffable, pure, sacred queen, two-fold Iacchus, male and female seen: Illustr'ous, whether to rejoice is thine in incense offer'd, in the fane divine; Or if in Phrygia most thy soul delights, performing with thy mother sacred rites (...) – Thomas Taylor (1792)

I call upon law-giving Dionysus who carries the fennel stalk, unforgettable and many-named seed of Eubouleus, and upon holy, sacred and ineffable queen Mise, whose two-fold nature is male and female. [Full stop] As redeeming Iacchos, I summon you lord, whether you delight in your fragrant temple At Eleusis, or with the Mother you partake of mystic rites in Phrygia (...) – again Apostolos N. Athanassakis (1977)

I call upon law-giving Dionysos, who carried the fennel stalk, unforgettable and many-named seed of Eubouleus, [comma] I call upon the sacred and holy, upon the ineffable queen Mise, whose twofold nature is male and female. [Full stop] Redeeming Iacchos, lord, I summon you, whether you delight in Eleusis in your fragrant temple, or with Mother you partake of mystic rites in Phrygia (...) – Apostolos N. Athanassakis and Benjamin M. Wolkow (2013)

I call on law-giving Dionysos, who bears the fennel wand, much remembered and many-titled seed of Eubouleus and on the holy, sacred, queen Mise, ineffable, with two natures, female and male, the liberating Iakchos. Whether you rejoice in your perfumed temple in Eleusis, or whether you perform your mysteries in Phrygia with the Mother (...) – Patrick Dunn (2018)

As you say Iacchos was frequently a separate deity, but his identification with Dionysos was also quite commonplace. Considering that when several names are listed together in the other hymns they're referring to a single invoked deity (and the orphic obsession of syncretising anyone and everyone with everything and their grandma), it's most likely that Dionysos, Mise and Iacchos are considered the same entity in this context.

Mise is an obscure figure to say the least. Appart from her hymn we only have (as far as I'm aware):

A dictionary entry in Hesychios s.v. [Μισατίς] Μίση: "One of those next to the Mother, whom they also swear by". Radcliffe Edmonds' Redefining Orphism would also see a reference to her in the entry for μισήτην: "They call misētēn the ones who are insatiable; 'and the misētēn women will use dildos' (Cratinus, fr. 316), and some simply call 'misēton' the one who is insatiable for food."

A reference in Herodas Mimes 1.56 that mentions a boy who spies a girl "at the Descent of Mise", referring to a festival or another cultic context.

Two inscriptions in Pergamon, one of which (IJSK 5.38) is the dedication of an altar "to Mise Kore" by the priestess Anthis.

An Orphic fr. 391 mentions Dysaules and Baubo as parents to Protonoe and Nisa. Some would correct the last name to Misa.

I've seen theories that range from claiming she's originally an Anatolian goddess, to claims that she's not a specific entity, but a generic divine stand in for the initiates (μῠ́στης).

Frankly I've become thoroughly annoyed with Orphism. You can't say you're a proper polytheistic religion if you claim that Nyx is also Aphrodite who is also Demeter who is also Gaia who is also Hestia who is also Rhea who is also Isis who is also Selene (who is also Hekate who is also Melinoe) who is also Artemis (who is also Prothyraia who is also Eileithyia who is also Hera) who is also Persephone who is also Mise who is also Iacchos who is also Osiris who is also Adonis who is also Attis who is also Dionysos who is also Phanes who is also Physis who is also Erikepaios who is also Priapos who is also Eros who is also Metis who is also Zeus (who is also Eubouleus who is also Hades who is also Poseidon) who is also Helios who is also Apollo who is also Paian who is also Asklepios who is also Herakles who is also Chronos who is also Kronos, and everybody's also everybody's father and mother and sister and son, and to be honest it all makes me wish that the cosmic egg had never been hatched and I'm glad that Orpheus got torn to pieces.

[harvard-art-museums-sculpture]

Demeter and Persephone Enthroned with Iacchos, 100 BCE-300 CE, HAM: Sculpture

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894 Size: 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in.) Medium: Terracotta

https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/291840

[d-vient]

THESOULLESSHUNTER: an seven or eight-year journey.

So, I’ve definitively hung up my hunter’s coat. Like, I’m done playing Soulless Sam, for sure. But I did kinda want to take a moment to make a post about some of the highlights of my journey with him. Because my time with him will always be something I’ll remember fondly, even if he kinda went out with a whimper.

My version of Sam started out as pretty much something that came as close to a carbon copy as I could manage. I was always very much dedicated to keeping him tonally consistent to his canon counterpart, but in the beginning it came down to the minute details. It wasn’t until a few years in that he started to kind of develop in his own way, and start to really descend into... a very particular form of madness and insanity.

There were some times when Sam ended up developing rather intimate connections with women. Though sex was pretty much always a factor, some verses and scenarios had him forging different sorts of connections, all with their own distinct differences.

He found a sort of kinship with a girl name Ronnie. The two of them were pretty much torn from the same cloth, and often engaged in a romp or two whenever they were in each other’s vicinity. (Or at the very least, they’d flirt each other’s pants off.) At a point, Sam even wrestled for a brief period over whether he had any sort of special attachment to her, because he had gone through a very brief state of having a soul, despite not wanting it. (It was a magic anon that I actually chose to run with for a little bit.)

He developed a rather intense relationship with a demon who referred to herself as Alexis. And much like most of his pairings, the majority of their relationship was based around sex... but Alexis, I believe, was the first to really explore the idea of having an ongoing relationship with Sam, and actually convey to him that it would be an open one. That they could both fool around as much as they wanted, but they’d always come back to each other. (That didn’t necessarily last too long, but it was still something I thought was interesting. Also, just as an aside, I think the character of Alexis was the one who introduced me to Kate Upton.)

His penchant for preying on younger girls started to really take off when he found a naughty little minx in the form of a girl named Rhiannon. I can’t recall if she was a high school student or college student, but she was definitely in that age range. And she was the first girl that had, on record, driven Sam to the point where he had forced himself on her. And of course, subsequently she’d find herself tormented with a need that kept her coming back to him.

Sam also had a tendency to go a little bit older! Of course, it wasn’t often that it happened, but it certainly happened. I like to think about one affair he had with a woman whose name, I believe, was Eva. She was an upper-class woman, with a distinct taste for the more expensive, refined things in life. That being said, she took a certain shine to Sam because he was so rough around the edges. (And what makes this stick out even more in my memory was the fact that the woman’s FC was Kate Winslet. Now that’s a face you don’t see every day in the RPC. Which is a shame, because she’s damn fine.)

Funnily enough, I found myself dabbling into the wrestling RPC on a few occasions. XD It mainly came from my attraction to the Bella sisters, but I found some other fun dynamics in the form of Sam being played off of the likes of Natalya Neidhart and Paige.

While he wouldn’t take a deep dive into debauchery until much later, I distinctly remember him getting his first taste with a girl named Anna. Anna was another one of those girls that Sam formed a really special sort of relationship with. While they weren’t exactly torn from the same cloth - Sam was a hunter, but Anna was just a regular small-town girl - they definitely sparked a special sort of chemistry. One that ended up leading to Anna exploring a side of her that she didn’t often get to explore with other guys. (One of their first times having sex, I remember that there was a good amount of knife play involved.)

Not too long after Anna, Sam found another girl who... at least at first, looked a lot like her, but interestingly enough, the kind of connection they developed was one that was even more intimate in its own way. They bantered with each other like best friends, had sex that was about as passionate as it could possibly get, and they even came to blows on a few occasions, especially when a certain blond-haired man entered Sam’s life later on. But to the very end, she was always Sam’s Blondie.

I remember there was once a girl named Charlie, that Sam had a really amusing sort of relationship with. It wasn’t Charlie from the show; I don’t even think Charlie existed at that point. But this Charlie was quite literally a petite freak. She was about what you’d expect from someone who had her looks. (Her FC was Lucy Hale.) She was kind of quiet, kind of shy, kind of soft-spoken, maybe with a little bit of an attitude... but she also had a certain masochistic side to her that Sam liked to prey on. And, as always, Sam seemed to bring out a really kinky, twisted side to her.

Speaking of petite freaks with really kinky sides, that brings me to probably one of the most memorable pairings in my whole run. I’m not sure if I can speak for my entire following, but I think I’ve been told at least three times that if there was ever a girl that was perfect for Sam, if there was ever an OTP that involved my version of Sam, it would’ve been with Cassie Cosmos. While Cassie Cosmos was not the first Ariel Winter muse I had played against, she was without a doubt the most distinctive, and the one with the most developed relationship with my Sam. Cassie started out as a girl who made money off of cumming on camera, only to be bribed into Sam’s arms and taken - essentially - into his custody, all for a long ride of wild, frantic sex that got progressively more and more degrading as time went on. It wouldn’t be until the last year or so that there would actually be a change-up in their dynamic. While Sam had already used Cassie in a number of ways by this point, there came a point when she started to develop a rebellious streak and started to fight him more, after a traumatic experience of being roofied and subsequently abused by the man. She even ended up getting away for a bit... but they managed to reunite and reconcile - sort of - before things came to a close on my end.

I also found my love for bimbos and bimbofication through Sam, and managed to play out more than a few scenarios involving them. There was Cora, the blonde he wooed into the bathroom at the bar they were at, before making her walk back out with him completely naked, waving goodbye to everybody like nothing was wrong. There was another Charlie, who was much bustier than the other one I was talking about, and had a hell of a lot more daddy issues. (Which naturally made it easier for Sam to prey on her.) There was Lorelei, a girl who just needed a ride from point A to point B, but then ended up turning herself into a complete whore after Sam put his hands on her. There was Annie who, in some cases was a house maid for Sam, in others a stepdaughter. Whatever role she ended up playing, she was always boobs over brains, and completely infatuated with Sam, no matter how horrible he treated her. There was Maria who, for all of her psychic capabilities, could not fight or move on from Sam even if she wanted to. Sam even got to make a dumb little bitch out of Tifa Lockhart, who was actually my real-life first waifu! So yeah, good times!

I’m listing a bunch of girls right now, but that’s not to say that Sam didn’t have his fair share of male companions. Sure, they paled in comparison to the number of girls Sam fooled around with, but I can say at the very least that I was able to develop at least a few really good bromances. There were hunters like Dex and Laine, the former being a slightly younger man who Sam almost looked to as a protege of sorts, and the latter being an older, more seasoned hunter who shared more than a few hilarious interactions and misadventures with my soulless hunter. (I’ll never forget how Sam tried to talk him into letting him be his wingman, only to find out he was gay.) There were gods and monsters like Iacchos and Ky’lar, with the former bestowing some of his power onto Sam and grooming him to be something of a successor, and the latter coming into possession of his soul and bartering a deal that basically made Sam his lap dog. (Unfortunately, that one didn’t get to be explored as much, but... you know.) And of course, there was... Evan.

Now, Evan DeLaurentis deserves his own bullet-point because... personally for me, what Cassie was for the women’s side of the equation, RP-wise, Evan was for the men’s side. Like, while Sam’s relationship with Laine was definitely a prominent bromance for a while - and make no mistake, I loved that shit - his relationship with Evan tops that in my book because it was more to their dynamic. There was a lot more going on with them. Evan came into Sam’s life because he killed his wife and kid; he came into Sam’s life with the intention of ending it... but that didn’t happen, because they were both essentially equally unstoppable forces. And while they could’ve used that as a shit ton of opportunities to kill each other... they didn’t. Sure, they always had a sneaking suspicion that one would turn on the other. But they had enough respect for each other to be able to work together, even crack a few jokes at each other’s expense. (Gen probably played some role in bridging that gap, though. She was Sam’s Blondie, but she also shared a close relationship with Evan.)

There were some other ships and interactions that I enjoyed playing though, even the ones that didn’t get as much exposure or time to develop for one reason or another. Like, if I happened to write with you and you don’t happen to see something relating to you on here? Don’t think it isn’t any less valid or special for not being in this little retrospective post. I love the time Sam and I got to spend with each and every one of you.

Also, with that said, there were times when I found more profound memories and connections in the people I got to write with. The creative muns behind the characters. Some of the friends I’ve made in my time as thesoullesshunter are people I still talk to and keep and touch with today. I’d have to be soulless myself to not have a deep appreciation for that.

// @speakstothedead @notthescarsyoucansee @theraquelwrites @ohnicotine @goodtrble @hellfirebound @superlustersnew52 @tarynitdown @sinfulmuses @unbreakablewidow @miss-claire-v-m @jatamansi @travelerlainewalker @supernaturalchanel @degeneratemaidens @sulkinwrites  @queenofhartsxo  @anniethesunshine @tokill @saintsandsiinners @utterxdesires @shieldofgod-castiel @whiskcydreams @tenderlylethal @inevitcble @sinfulmuses @beautyveined @notyouraveragesecretary 

[viesolivagant]

Dionysos (Bacchus)

"It is an oversimplification to make this god simply the symbol of zestful, sexual passion. The personality of Dionysos, the divine youth or twice-born god, is infinitely complex, as the many names given to him show, although it is true that the earliest, 'Raging' or 'Breaker in Pieces', derive from the 'wild shouts of the orgy' (SECQ p. 285).

He was the son of Zeus and of Semele, originally either a Phyrgian mother-goddess or a mortal woman, daughter of Cadmus and of Harmony. Wishing to entertain her divine lover in all his glory, she was consumed by lightning. Abstracted from the lightning-blasted body of his mother, the unborn Dionysos completed his term in his father's thigh. This is the clear echo of a simple nature-myth: Mother Earth, impregnated by the lightning of the sky-god, bears a young god whose essence mingles with the life which springs from Earth's entrails....Creating the fable of the double birth served two purposes. It preserved the lightning-flash which originally symbolized the coupling of Earth and Heaven and it increased the prestige of the new god by deriving his descent from Zeus himself. (SECG ibid.)

This double birth, implying as it does double gestation, re-echoes the classic pattern of initiation - birth, death and rebirth. Zeus' thigh - a hollow like the hollow tree - gave symbolically to the initiatory powers possessed by Dionysos the exceptional strength which, again symbolically, lay within the thighs of the father of the gods.

He married Ariadne, originally an 'Aegean vegetation- or more specifically a tree-goddess'. Their marriage provided the theme for much Dionysiac art, the scene often symbolizing the union of the god with the initiate into his mysteries. According to Jean Beaujeu:

'These motifs were so frequently repeated and so widely disseminated as to lose a great deal of their significance, since it was not because the purchaser had been initiated into or attached to the cult that he bought or commissioned from an artist or a studio a Dionysiac subject. On the other hand there are instances - and the whole group of paintings depicting the principal scenes of an initiation, on the walls of the main room in the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii, is one -- which display a definite purpose and a genuine devotion'.

Dionysos may be seen clasped by Ariadne and yielding to her in ecstasy. His wife, Ariadne, and his mother, Semele, are images of the salvation freely wrought by Dionysos' love (JEAD p. 345).

As a vegetation-god of vine, wine, fruit and seasonal renewal, Plutarch's 'Lord of the Trees', it is he who, Hesiod tells us, 'scatters joy in profusion'. As 'genius of sap and budding shoots', Dionysos controls human and animal fertility. In any case, he bears the name of Phallenos and a phallic procession was the high point of many of his festivals. (In the Villa of the Mysteries there is one among many examples of wall paintings of the initiations depicting the 'unveiling' of the phallus.) In Dionysiac legends and worship such prolific beasts as goats and bulls often occur, bulls and goats being his favourite sacrificial victims, in earlier times torn to pieces by his worshippers in a bloody communion (SECG p. 290).

Both the social effects of his worship and the forms which it took provide some justification for calling him the god of liberation, of the destruction of inhibitions and taboos, the god of unbridled licence. 'The purpose of Dionysiac purification', says Boyance, 'was to give ultimate expression to that from which the soul needed to be freed.'

Because he saved his mother Semele from the Underworld when she was blasted by Zeus' lightning and guided her to the abode of the Immortals, Dionysos was also regarded as a chthonian god, who initiated and guided souls and freed them from the Underworld. Aristophanes has depicted, under the name of Iacchos (see shout), an infernal Dionysos who leads the dance of his initiates, dances of the dead in the meadows of the Underworld.

However, the part which he played in the Eleusinian Mysteries reveals his passage through the depths of Earth as a phase of germination and as a pledge of fecundity, 'All things growing upon Earth ultimately originate in the depths of the Underworld' (SECG p. 294). His descent into that Underworld, whether in search of his mother or to make it his temporary abode, would therefore symbolize the round of seasons, Winter and Summer, death and resurrection. Once again this displays the structural pattern of gods who die and are brought back to life common to religions and mysteries which flourished throughout the Greco-Roman world at the beginning of the Christian era.

In a more deeply religious sense, despite its perversities and even through their medium, the cult of Dionysus bears witness to the tremendous effort made by human beings to break the barriers which separate them from the divine and to set their souls free from the trammels of Earth. Sexual excess and giving full rein to the irrational were rather clumsy efforts to grasp the superhuman. As paradoxical as this may seem, if we consider his myth in its entirety, Dionysos symbolizes the attempt to spiritualize life-forms, from the plant to the ecstatic, since he is the tree- and goat-god, the god of religious enthusiasm and the mystic marriage. In his myth he synthesizes a whole cycle of evolution.

Before his time, as has been said, there were two worlds, the human and the divine, and two races, that of gods and that of mortals. Humans were to accept the risk of alienation in the hope of transfiguration.

Every devotee of Dionysos hoped to escape from the body through ecstasy and, at the highest pitch of fervour, to achieve intimate union with the god by whom he or she was temporarily possessed.... The worship of Dionysos was a major source of Greek spirituality in helping to define and to propagate the notion of the soul....Thanks to the Dionysiac movement, the notion dawned of a soul related to the godhead and, in one sense, more real than the body itself (SECG pp. 291, 300).

Since he had led his mother (the Earth) from the Underworld to Olympus, it was legitimate to believe that he meant to open the doors of immortality to all the children of Earth. That at least is one of the meanings and vectors of the Dionysos symbol.

In psychoanalysis - and as a reminder of the main primitive aspects of the god - Dionysos symbolizes the shattering of inhibitions, repressions and regressions. He is a Nietzschean figure of the life force confronting Apollonian restraint.

He symbolizes those dark forces which well up from the unconscious. He is the god who presides over the outbursts inspired by intoxication in all its forms, that of the drunkard or of the crowd gripped by music or dance, and even that of the very madness with which he afflicts those who have not paid him due honour. He endowed mankind with the gifts of the natural world and, in particular, with that of the vine. He is a god of many shapes, creator of illusions and worker of miracles (Defradas in BEAG).

He would, therefore, symbolize the forces which bring the destruction of the personality, his 'orgies' promoting regression to life-forms reflecting primordial chaos and the drowning of the conscious in the lava of the unconscious. His appearance in dreams denotes very severe psychic tension and the imminence of breakdown. The ambivalence of his symbol may be perceived as a Dionysiac liberation which may lead to either to spiritualization or to materialization, a factor causing the personality either to develop or to regress. Deep down, he symbolizes the life force which tends to break free of all bounds and restraint. "

"The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols" by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant Translated from the French by John Buchananan-Brown

[roseliterapeuta]

Celebração do dia 3 de outubro🍇💜 ☆ Marawu, ritual dos índios Hopi para assegurar a fertilidade das mulheres e da terra, garantindo a continuidade da vida. Reverenciavam-se as deusas da agricultura Angwu-Shahai-i (A Mãe Corvo), Hano Mana, Angwusnasomtaka e Hokyang Mana, responsáveis pelas dádivas da terra e regentes dos seres da natureza. Dia de Santo Dionísio, versão cristianizada do deus pagão pré-helênico Dionysus, a divindade do vinho, da fertilidade e da colheita. Um antigo ritual recomendava misturar vinho da safra anterior com a da atual e beber um copo, pedindo a cura dos males antigos e recentes. Já Dionisio ou Baco, era o deus greco-romano do prazer, da natureza selvagem, da expressão livre, das sensações e emoções, dos rituais de renovação e regeneração. Nos Mistérios de Eleusis, ele era Iacchos, a criança divina, que nasce e morre anualmente nos ciclos de renovação. Dionísio era acompanhado por Sátiros e por um séqüito de mulheres, as Mênades ou Bacantes, que participavam de seus rituais orgiásticos e, nos momentos de fúria etílica, despedaçavam os homens. Seus símbolos eram a hera, a videira, o vinho, a flauta, o tamborim e os címbalos. Originariamente um deus da Trácia, o culto a Dionísio influenciou outras culturas. Devido à sua natureza hermafrodita, atualmente Dionísio é cultuado nos círculos estritamente femininos de Wicca Dianica, além de ser considerado um deus da vegetação pelas seitas neo-pagãs. *informações extraídas do livro “ O Anuário da Grande Mãe”, de Mirella Faur.  . . via @luz_da_magia7 . . . #antigaarte #deusas #deuses #tribohopi #oraculos #mitologiacelta #sagradofeminino #indioshopi #roseliterapeuta (em Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul) https://www.instagram.com/p/CF4dwfFnCrh/?igshid=1mj2u625tv7pw

[quase-bruxa]

Celebração do Dia 3 DE OUTUBRO Marawu, ritual dos índios Hopi para assegurar a fertilidade das mulheres e da terra, garantindo a continuidade da vida. Reverenciavam-se as deusas da agricultura Angwu-Shahai-i (A Mãe Corvo), Hano Mana, Angwusnasomtaka e Hokyang Mana, responsáveis pelas dádivas da terra e regentes dos seres da natureza. Dia de Santo Dionísio, versão cristianizada do deus pagão pré-helênico Dionysus, a divindade do vinho, da fertilidade e da colheita. Um antigo ritual recomendava misturar vinho da safra anterior com a da atual e beber um copo, pedindo a cura dos males antigos e recentes. Já Dionisio ou Baco, era o deus greco-romano do prazer, da natureza selvagem, da expressão livre, das sensações e emoções, dos rituais de renovação e regeneração. Nos Mistérios de Eleusis, ele era Iacchos, a criança divina, que nasce e morre anualmente nos ciclos de renovação. Dionísio era acompanhado por Sátiros e por um séqüito de mulheres, as Mênades ou Bacantes, que participavam de seus rituais orgiásticos e, nos momentos de fúria etílica, despedaçavam os homens. Seus símbolos eram a hera, a videira, o vinho, a flauta, o tamborim e os címbalos. Originariamente um deus da Trácia, o culto a Dionísio influenciou outras culturas. Devido à sua natureza hermafrodita, atualmente Dionísio é cultuado nos círculos estritamente femininos de Wicca Dianica, além de ser considerado um deus da vegetação pelas seitas neo-pagãs. *informações extraídas do livro “ O Anuário da Grande Mãe”, de Mirella Faur.

[interfaithconnect]

Ancient Greek Holidays: Lenaia

This past week I celebrated the festival of Lenaia, which lasts for three days in the Attic month of Gamelion, which on the Gregorian calendar corresponds to somewhere between late January and early February (placement of the ancient holidays is explained further in my ‘Greco-Egyptian Calendar’ post). Originally developed in Ancient Greece, it is celebrated today by some Hellenic pagans, especially reconstructionists who strive for a historically accurate religious practice (several of the words and concepts mentioned here are discussed in my ‘Glossary of Terms’ if you’re confused!).

This is an event revolving primarily around worship of the god Dionysos, though like the majority of ancient festivals our knowledge of what exactly was celebrated, and why, is limited. It is generally agreed upon that Lenaia commemorated Dionysos’ murder, dismemberment, and later rebirth, as well as possibly being connected to the yearly cycle of wine production (Guía 2013, 106). Again like most other festivals, the first day began with a procession of sacrifices and offerings for the gods - in this case including phallic imagery, loaves of bread, jars of wine and water, and the recitation of wild and ecstatic hymns known as dithyrambs (Aristotle, trans. 1902). Some archaeological evidence suggests the practise of a women-only rite involving wine and the symbolic transformation into maenads (”raving ones”, female followers of Dionysos who took part in ritual intoxication) (Swallow 2014), though this is disputed.

The name ‘Lenaia’ itself is derived from the name of an area in the city of Athens called the Lenaion – either a theatre or gathering-place similar to a forum where competitions of both dramatic and comedic plays were held in honour of Dionysos. These competitions were later moved to the Theatre of Dionysos, but the name remained. Some scholars argue that Lenaia was merely another name for, or perhaps a precursor of, the more well-known Rural Dionysia (not to be confused with the City Dionysia, which was celebrated upon the end of the winter season and attracted visitors from all across the ancient Mediterranean), which also took place during winter and which included dramatic and tragic performances. At any rate, there are several possibilities including the Lenaia being a more ancient Dionysia, being a regional variety of the same festival, or having drifted in meaning and placement over time. This is where scholarship and reconstruction becomes equal parts useful and frustrating!

The evidence for these festivals actually being one and the same is, in my opinion, fairly convincing, but because Dionysos is one of the most important deities in my practice, I choose to observe both separately and emphasise slightly different themes. I place the Rural Dionysia at the end of December and focus on its more tragic and serious qualities. This being the time of the year when Dionysos goes to take the place of Apollon at Delphi, both gods become (in my experience) relatively distant and unavailable to their followers - it therefore heralds a time of separation and is an occasion of mourning (more about that will be in my Rural Dionysia post). The City Dionysia of course arrives later in the year, in the spring.

The Lenaia is, for me, a joyous festival dedicated to the elation of Dionysos’ rebirth following His murder, and thus the recognition of His chthonic, or underworld, aspects and His triumph over death - "honouring Dionysos as lord of vitality and new life" (Bramshaw 2013, 210). Similar themes can be found in the famed Eleusinian Mysteries, which mark Persephone’s loss to and return from the underworld and which in some accounts call upon Dionysos’ ecstatic and hedonistic qualities to joyfully bless the festivities (Kerényi 1996). Today the Lenaia can be celebrated with drinking wine, watching movies, singing and playing instruments, attending a play, reciting hymns and prayers, and holding a symbolic vigil. As with anything, the point is not to spend the most money or to be the most sophisticated, but to put in as much effort and you honestly (and safely!) are able in order to honour the gods. Dionysos in particular is an ecstatic and wild god who appreciates food and drink and merrymaking. Any holiday dedicated to Him is usually a time to let loose and have fun!

References Cited

Aristotle. 1902. The Poetics. Translated by S. H. Butcher. Electronic document, http://www.denisdutton.com/aristotle_poetics.htm

Bramshaw, Vikki. 2013. Dionysos: Exciter to Frenzy. Avalonia Books, London.

Guía, Miriam Valdés. 2013. Redefining Dionysos in Athens from the Written Sources: The Lenaia, Iacchos and Attic Women. In Redefining Dionysos, edited by Alberto Bernabe, Miguel Herrero de Jauregui, Ana Isabel Jimenez San Cristobal, and Raquel Martin Hernandez, pp. 100-119. De Gruyter, Berlin.

Kerényi, Karl. 1996. Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life. Translated by Ralph Manheim. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Swallow, Peter. 2014. Reconstructing the Lenaia. The Posthole 42: 31-38.

[violettesiren]

Rigid sleeps the house in darkness, I alone Like a thing unwarrantable cross the hall And climb the stairs to find the group of doors Standing angel-stern and tall. I want my own room's shelter. But what is this Throng of startled beings suddenly thrown In confusion against my entry? Is it only the trees' Large shadows from the outside street lamp blown? Phantom to phantom leaning; strange women weep Aloud, suddenly on my mind Startling a fear unspeakable, as the shuddering wind Breaks and sobs in the blind. So like to women, tall strange women weeping! Why continually do they cross the bed? Why does my soul contract with unnatural fear? I am listening! Is anything said? Ever the long black figures swoop by the bed; They seem to be beckoning, rushing away, and beckoning. Whither then, whither, what is it, say What is the reckoning. Tall black Bacchae of midnight, why then, why Do you rush to assail me? Do I intrude on your rites nocturnal? What should it avail me? Is there some great Iacchos of these slopes Suburban dismal? Have I profaned some female mystery, orgies Black and phantasmal? 

Phantasmagoria by D.H. Lawrence

[harvard-art-museums-sculpture]

Demeter and Kore with Iacchos, HAM: Sculpture

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894 Size: 11.8 x 6.9 x 4.9 cm (4 5/8 x 2 11/16 x 1 15/16 in.) Medium: Terracotta

https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/292392

[quase-bruxa]

Celebração do Dia 3 DE OUTUBRO Marawu, ritual dos índios Hopi para assegurar a fertilidade das mulheres e da terra, garantindo a continuidade da vida. Reverenciavam-se as deusas da agricultura Angwu-Shahai-i (A Mãe Corvo), Hano Mana, Angwusnasomtaka e Hokyang Mana, responsáveis pelas dádivas da terra e regentes dos seres da natureza. Dia de Santo Dionísio, versão cristianizada do deus pagão pré-helênico Dionysus, a divindade do vinho, da fertilidade e da colheita. Um antigo ritual recomendava misturar vinho da safra anterior com a da atual e beber um copo, pedindo a cura dos males antigos e recentes. Já Dionisio ou Baco, era o deus greco-romano do prazer, da natureza selvagem, da expressão livre, das sensações e emoções, dos rituais de renovação e regeneração. Nos Mistérios de Eleusis, ele era Iacchos, a criança divina, que nasce e morre anualmente nos ciclos de renovação. Dionísio era acompanhado por Sátiros e por um séqüito de mulheres, as Mênades ou Bacantes, que participavam de seus rituais orgiásticos e, nos momentos de fúria etílica, despedaçavam os homens. Seus símbolos eram a hera, a videira, o vinho, a flauta, o tamborim e os címbalos. Originariamente um deus da Trácia, o culto a Dionísio influenciou outras culturas. Devido à sua natureza hermafrodita, atualmente Dionísio é cultuado nos círculos estritamente femininos de Wicca Dianica, além de ser considerado um deus da vegetação pelas seitas neo-pagãs. *informações extraídas do livro “ O Anuário da Grande Mãe”, de Mirella Faur.

[igemellistark-tbd-blog]

[thelovingflame]

iacchos started following you

Hestia was reading over a stack of files in her office when one of the assistants knocked on the side of her door frame saying that someone was here to see her. The goddess smiled at the mortal and told her to lead the visitor in whenever they were ready. Once the woman departed, she placed the files into her drawer and sat back in her chair.

Once she caught sight of her nephew in the doorway she stood from her chair and opened her arms to him. "Dionysus Iacchos, it has been far too long." She embraced him in a warm hug and lead him to the less formal seating area she had in her spacious office next to the barely burning fireplace. "Now, how are you dearest?"

[samsxcola]

♔

I'm kind of relieved you couldn't cure me of the blood entirely.  I don't know how to live without this sixth sense.

[harvard-art-museums-sculpture]

Demeter and Persephone Enthroned with Iacchos, 100 BCE-300 CE, HAM: Sculpture

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Harris Kennedy, Class of 1894 Size: 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in.) Medium: Terracotta

https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/291840

[magikalhekate]

Theotherkhione and Iacchos needed a little magic in their lives

"Hello and to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

[quase-bruxa]

Celebração do Dia 3 DE OUTUBRO Marawu, ritual dos índios Hopi para assegurar a fertilidade das mulheres e da terra, garantindo a continuidade da vida. Reverenciavam-se as deusas da agricultura Angwu-Shahai-i (A Mãe Corvo), Hano Mana, Angwusnasomtaka e Hokyang Mana, responsáveis pelas dádivas da terra e regentes dos seres da natureza. Dia de Santo Dionísio, versão cristianizada do deus pagão pré-helênico Dionysus, a divindade do vinho, da fertilidade e da colheita. Um antigo ritual recomendava misturar vinho da safra anterior com a da atual e beber um copo, pedindo a cura dos males antigos e recentes. Já Dionisio ou Baco, era o deus greco-romano do prazer, da natureza selvagem, da expressão livre, das sensações e emoções, dos rituais de renovação e regeneração. Nos Mistérios de Eleusis, ele era Iacchos, a criança divina, que nasce e morre anualmente nos ciclos de renovação. Dionísio era acompanhado por Sátiros e por um séqüito de mulheres, as Mênades ou Bacantes, que participavam de seus rituais orgiásticos e, nos momentos de fúria etílica, despedaçavam os homens. Seus símbolos eram a hera, a videira, o vinho, a flauta, o tamborim e os címbalos. Originariamente um deus da Trácia, o culto a Dionísio influenciou outras culturas. Devido à sua natureza hermafrodita, atualmente Dionísio é cultuado nos círculos estritamente femininos de Wicca Dianica, além de ser considerado um deus da vegetação pelas seitas neo-pagãs. *informações extraídas do livro “ O Anuário da Grande Mãe”, de Mirella Faur.