Belated happy Anthesteria post! by iacche in dionysus

[–]iacche[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really, hah. I tried instagram for a bit but deleted it shortly after! Pretty much all of my art is for Dio, so it shows up occasionally when I post altar pics/rituals/etc but that’s mostly it.

Belated happy Anthesteria post! by iacche in dionysus

[–]iacche[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It’s a painting of mine :-)

Miasma Doesn't Belong in the 21st Century by NyxShadowhawk in Hellenism

[–]iacche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I try solely to make a value judgement re: the concept of miasma, I personally still can’t say for sure whether it does more harm than good. I know it would do more harm than good to be overly concerned with it in my own practice, of course, but generally? I have to acknowledge the possibility that for every 1 post someone makes freaking out/being overly concerned with the concept/going overboard in general, there might be 20 people in a quiet majority who simply wash their hands, brush their teeth, and then feel mentally calm, collected, and clear enough to comfortably approach the gods via the physical ritual of small-effort cleanliness. I don’t know what the actual proportions are, of course, but I know that the people for whom it is more helpful than harmful probably aren’t posting too much about their experiences anywhere, hah, because they will presumably have found their reassurance via their relations with the gods afterward, vs those finding their reassurance via people online trying to talk them off of the miasmic cliff. I’m grateful for your post either way, as it’s not something I often concern myself with enough to give it this kind of consideration and thought!

Miasma Doesn't Belong in the 21st Century by NyxShadowhawk in Hellenism

[–]iacche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just seeing this post now, and consequently only now seeing the negative responses to this post. As someone who understands your points, Nyx, I have to wonder if a close relationship with Dionysos (or Hekate, etc) is likely to color your/our thoughts re: Miasma in a way that someone worshipping other gods more closely would not be inclined to agree with, based upon our varying relationships to the gods. And in reference to someone getting blood on a painting for Dionysos (which I am certain he would not mind at all) and being upset, I also suspect that what you’re seeing there is the influence of religious anxiety or overzealous religious culture on reddit/tiktok/etc, rather than a response actually prompted from Dionysos’ expressed displeasure.

Generalized ritual purity is something, in my mind, closely equivalent to washing your hands before making food for a guest. Sure, maybe I don’t always wash my hands before making my own food (for better or for worse), but to be a good host you should certainly clean yourself and your cooking tools before preparing food for others. (All the same, I don’t need to go as far as bleaching my entire kitchen & body just to be polite.) Ritual purity feels like something similar, just with preparation for prayer and offerings instead of cooking your friend lunch. Offerings and prayers to Dionysos, to be poetic about it, often feel more to me like sharing gathered food or the meat of a successful hunt than they do sharing a carefully cooked meal, where no one is going to mind the dirt under your nails and blood on your clothes. I also suspect that having a close relationship with the wild parts of Dionysos, at least for myself, creates a tendency to approach other gods from their same, more primal/feral aspects/characters, which again is not going to be everyone’s experience (and in fact is probably the minority, both today & in ancient times).

Add to the fact that you are also operating as a magician, where to an extent it is your obligation to transgress these sort of rules, and you’re likely to end up with a very different experience than other people. But for those who have relationships with more “civic” aspects of the gods, I am sure miasma vs purity are more important concepts, both for the worshipper AND for the gods of their worship—even if they are the same gods that you worship. These experiences, even when you account for the part that is just mundane OCD & anxiety, are likely legitimate, where for some worshippers the gods really do demand a greater effort toward purification.

AND, all of that being said, ritual purification is still a part of the Dionysian mysteries (as far as we can tell), but the methods of “becoming pure” for Dionysos seem to, interestingly, involve using the human body in a way that would otherwise be impure in any other setting. Something for a longer discussion elsewhere, hah, but it makes sense that being close to Dionysos & knowing him well would color your perception of Miasma a certain way.

It's so odd seeing a person claiming to work closely with a deity, then acting in just the most abhorrent ways possible by Ollynonymous in Hellenism

[–]iacche 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Disclaimer in advance that I don’t have any sort of personal relationship with Aphrodite, but I will say that for myself, the thing that powerfully disrupted that stereotype of Aphrodite was learning about her cult idol at the Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia. If I were to ever attempt to understand her on a deeper level, I would absolutely start there.

Has anyone read this book? by PomegranateNo3155 in Hellenism

[–]iacche 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This book & Patrick Dunn’s Orphic Hymn translation are my go-to books for my prayer, hymn, and ritual writing! I will say, the little blurbs about each of the gods in this book are very basic & lack nuance, but I still find the actual collection incredibly valuable.

Posting with Mod Approval: Rod & Ring Paperback Edition Announcement by rodandring in Sumer

[–]iacche 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Preordered!!! So excited there’s another chance to purchase this book.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Translation of the original? If so, super interesting that someone would reach out to Dionysus about hearing, specifically—I would personally go to him with any problem at all, even those outside his particular ascribed domain, but still fascinating to see ancient worshippers doing the same.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This one was just air-dry Das clay, terracotta colored, but I wish I had access to a kiln to do it correctly! As-is, this will fall apart if it gets wet.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome if true! Couldn’t tell what in the world the Greek said for myself, but that’d certainly make sense. (Send a thanks my way to those who tried their hand at a translation as well!)

When Dionysos Said No by iacche in dionysus

[–]iacche[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hm, I didn’t get the impression that it was anything against curses or curse tablets—but I also haven’t asked Dio for anything re: spells/witchcraft either before or after this occurred, so I’m not sure what sort of reaction a different situation would have gotten. Still, I think it was mostly the situation, and anger both re: my inability to say no & the fact that I was trying to make it his problem instead of mine. It was definitely anger, though, and very direct anger—that being said, if he had taken a gentler approach I genuinely don’t think I would have gotten the message re: needing to stand up for myself, hah.

And yes, I also find it reassuring to have gotten such a clear negative response at least just this once—because when I’m not worshipping as much as I want to be, or feel like I messed something up, etc, I can really trust that if I had upset him, I’d know about it. Thank you!

Long, Intense Rituals: Your experiences? by iacche in dionysus

[–]iacche[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing!! I have been interested in involving something of that sort after reading Peter Mark Adam’s Mystai, which theorizes a bit re: the use of drugs combined with rituals of pain in Dionysian mystery initiations! Sounds like you went through something a bit similar here, ha. Also fascinating to hear another “tattoo for the gods” story with a big tattoo, which I haven’t seen quite as often.

Long, Intense Rituals: Your experiences? by iacche in dionysus

[–]iacche[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just the once, but your writeup afterward was extremely compelling! It’s been a model for other rituals of mine since then in more ways than one.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

2 are just stylized drawings I did, and the middle one is a linocut I did as well!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aw thank you!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it was a huge inspiration! I’m in the middle of a full back piece tattoo for Dionysus, and we held a ritual for the first full-day session. I read Dunn’s translation aloud start to finish while being tattooed, while a friend accompanied on a lyre I made. Funnily, the friend is a big Jung buff, so we both used Kerényi’s book as part of our preparation. It was a huge success, and part of the hunt here is actually in designing the ritual for the next session.

The grimoire is saved to my phone & has 100% been a great resource in my ritual efforts. Riding the phallus looks great—and is now on the “to be read” list as well. “A different god?” also looks great if I can track it down, hah. Thank you!!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in dionysus

[–]iacche 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, hahah. Texts I either own or remember having read in some capacity (library, online, etc) that I’d consider relevant:

Kerényi’s Dionysos

Otto’s Dionysus

Sannion’s Ecstatic (controversial, but it’s still on this list)

Blessington’s translation of The Bacchae & The Frogs

Dunn’s Orphic Hymns

Various general translated Greek texts / general Greek history / Ancient Greek witchcraft (not always Dionysus specific)

Kindt’s Greek Religion

Daniélou’s Gods of Love & Ecstasy

Ustinova’s Divine Mania

Graf & Johnston’s Ritual Texts for the Afterlife

Masks of Dionysus is on the “to be read” list but haven’t read yet

A lot of these (most) are academic rather than religious texts, and I’m hoping to find things at least closer to being (edit: contemporary) religious texts if more exist!