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- Penelope Proddow, Barbara Cooney, Dionysos and The Pirates (1970)

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When I say "connect with nature" I don't just mean the aesthetic forests with deer and beautiful flowers.

I mean the weeds growing through concrete, the fungus that grows on the rotten shed, the nettles that always seem to return and the scary, spindly cellar spider in the corner of the bathroom.

Nature is not always pretty or magical - the pigeons and seagulls you swat at are nature too, the wasps and flies that hover by your meals are animals too, store-bought strawberries and the leaves that fall from your neighbour's tree are not all that different from the Giant Sequoias and it's seeds.

If you want to connect and understand nature, I mean *really* connect to it, in it's entirety, you have to seek out and learn about the ugly, scary and mundane things as well. You don't have to like it, just don't forget that it's there.

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Anthesteria time 😎

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Today is Choës, the second day of the festival of Anthesteria. The day was named for individual wine jugs - and some of those that have been discovered could hold well over a litre of wine! The day’s celebrations included dressing up and visiting friends, conversation, storytelling, music, dancing, and drinking contests.

Some scholars believe this day commemorates the anniversary of the wedding of Ariadne to Dionysus. In ancient Athens, the Basilinna, ceremonial Queen and wife of the Archon Basileus, ceremonial King and Magistrate of religious rites, became the mystic bride of Dionysus in a secret and sacred ceremony held at night in the temple dedicated to Dionysus outside the city walls in the marshes of the Ilissos river.

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Featured image: Dionysos, the god of wine, and Ariadne among satyrs and maenads Terracotta kylix attributed to the Oakeshott Painter. Greek, Attic, circa 55c BCE. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image source: X Public domain.

A kylix is an ancient Greek vessel for mixing water and wine. The usual ratio was one part wine to three parts water.

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A Dionysian Christmas 🎄 Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! 🍷♡

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Photos from the recently excavated House of Phaedra. The frescoes are lovely, but regular readers of this blog will share my interest in the household shrine and associated ritual objects, which include an incense burner, a tiny carved head of Bacchus, and the remains of vegetal offerings.

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Every time you make Dionysus this goofy drunk comic relief in your modern retelling, an angel loses their wings

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The science behind THC + alcohol as a combination is literally soo interesting because it basically causes the crimson red duckling in your body to confront the serpent in the bronze vessel of your heart. Basically you feel good because the duckling is able to eat the harmonious seeds stored within the vessel and transfer these positive energies into your body. You can have bad highs when this happens if the duckling awakens the serpent and it bites the duckling. The interesting part is when you ingest alcohol after THC because it floods the vessel and causes the serpent to fall into a deep sleep. The duckling never gets attacked by the serpent when this happens because it is unconscious and the duckling is actually able to get fat from the harmonious seed, which causes an enjoyable sensation.

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What's wrong with working with deities?

The issue is the verb "working with". You do not "work" with ancient foreign powerful deities. This is a very western way to treat figures that your society sees as exotic. Deities are not your colleagues, tools or means to achieve something. They don't pop up to serve you.

According to the Greek religion (and many other religions from surrounding cultures) you are subject to them and below their magnificence. This is how the gods of this religion are, as recorded by our ancient ancestors during more than a thousand years of worship.

I'm not saying the Greek (or Egyptian, or Norse etc) gods are not wise or benevolent. I'm saying that this English phrasing completely ignores the power difference and dependency between worshiper and deity.

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"Marble relief of Dionysos with a snake’s body supported by an eagle with outstretched wings. Only the head and tips of the eagle’s wings survive as the relief is broken at this point. Dionysos wears a nebris and himation and a hemhemet crown. He carries a cornucopia and a bunch of grapes. Harpokrates stands in the top right corner. The carving is in shallow relief and surrounded by a frame."

-British Museum

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god these violent delights are fucking AWESOME lol. having a great time. btw does anybody know what we’re doing after this

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ἥκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα Διόνυσος, ὃν τίκτει ποθ᾽ ἡ Κάδμου κόρη Σεμέλη λοχευθεῖσ᾽ ἀστραπηφόρῳ πυρί

"I have come, the child of Zeus, to this land of Thebes. I, Dionysus, whom Semele the daughter of Cadmus once bore, brought forth by the fire of lightning."

Bacchae - Euripides

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I sketched some Greek gods for a postcards project earlier this month ^-^ These are Dionysus, Ares, and Artemis