Opinions Have No Value

From the Dionysian Artist: A note on sacred art, unique expressions of deity, and the inappropriateness of harassing folks whose images of the gods you don’t like.

I try to conduct myself with a general rule of “don’t piss on someone else’s joy.” The world it hard enough without flamewars over someone having fun wrong.

This is even more true with spirituality. It is not up to us to dictate to the gods how they enter the lives of others, in what forms or by what means. It follows that it’s not up to us to sit in judgement on whether or not someone else is doing it wrong. We’re perfectly free to not worship with folks whose ideas and methods we don’t like. We’re perfectly free to engage in debate with willing folks as to whose methods are better by some standard.

But threats against artists who have a different vision of the gods than one has? That’s right out.

The Dionysian Artist

2010 The Bacchae, directed by Staffan Valdemar Holm

In the last week fellow devotional artists have been complaining about criticism directed towards them because of their depictions of gods or for not following ‘proper’ methods of tradition. Ptahmassu Nofra-Uaa has even stated (publicly on facebook) that there has been threats and personal attacks against him for depicting Set…

This is really disturbing, especially in that these criticism and threats are sourced from supposed ‘pagan’ / polytheists. So I thought I’ll put forth some recommendations when dealing with divine art.

1. Foremost anyone who threatens an artist or encourages destruction of divine icons should be ostracised from the community. Iconoclastic behaviour should never be tolerated.

2. Regardless of skill, technique, manner, style, medium – so on, if a devotional artist calls there art that and is intended as a holy icon, it should be treated as such. It does not matter…

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Ariadne

River Devora wrote a love poem for Ariadne, in the wake of a very interesting Pantheacon. I had to share…

riverdevora

I scent beauty and I fall, fumbling, grasp the thread

I clumsy trip winding along the spiraling paths, following beauty, desperate, hungry

To the heart of the labyrinth I dance

Twirling, tangling, winding myself in you

Your threads entangle me

Tangled, tangled

I am trapped, a fly in your web, wrapped and trapped and wound and wound

We dance round, we dance round

Until I am nothing, until I am dissolved, cradled in your arms

I have forgotten my name

Or maybe I never had one

I dance in starlight

And you drink me down, consuming me

Your tongue chases my last gasping breaths

Inside, I am inside, I am inside you and you reweave me in starlight and silken threads

Dancing, dancing

You dance me into existence

I laugh a new laugh

I have a new name

That name is this moment

That name is laughter

That name is…

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Raising Up the God of the Vine

In about three weeks, we’ll be doing our devotional at Pantheacon! If you want to help get it going, there are a few things we could use help with:

Help Restore a Queer/Nonbinary Pagan Mentor’s Teeth!

Joi has always been there for the community. Let’s be their for them.

EmberVoices: Listening for the Vanir

My friend and former mentor, the nearly-legendary, green-locked, community “instigator” known as Wolfwomyn (amongst other names) has recently had some serious health problems that stole several of their teeth and almost took out an eye! While the worst of it has abated, there’s still a lot of work to be done, and that means a lot of dentistry to pay for.

A portrait of Wolfwomyn in their role as a Discordian instigator.

Every little bit helps, so share if you can, please! If enough of us put in what we can, maybe Wolfie can have new teeth by their birthday!

https://www.youcaring.com/thegreenone-714224

–Ember–

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A Prayer to Cthonic Dionysos

I wrote this for a friend of mine who was working with Dionysos in the Underworld. With their permission, I’m sharing it here, in case anyone else has a need for it.

Thiasos Bakkheios Through the Year

The ritual year for Thiasos Bakkheios starts with the Winter Solstice. The calendar of Attica (which many Hellenic reconstructionists use to set their ritual year) begins with the first new moon after the Summer Solstice, but I’ve found that scheduling with modern folks works better if the calendar starts closer to the secular new year.

Three Kinds of Ritual

After our last Dionysos devotional, Ember and I were talking about the kinds of devotionals we’ve hosted. So far, we’ve had the ecstatic ritual, with drinking and dancing and drumming, and the feast, with minimal ritual but much food and fellowship.

The thought we hand was that we should alternated between these and another kind, something more geared toward sharing lore and inspiration with one another. This kind of devotional would, I hope, better serve those of us who find inspiration in stories and conversation, and give us a more diverse set of approaches to Dionysos and his kin.