we are not so different when they break you apart I will be here to collect each piece not to soothe your naked heart but to give closure to now-ashen limbs recollecting the time I sang for you and your tears fell like overripe grapes from their twisting, tangled vines I wrote these verses while … Continue reading More Binds than Separates
Tag: dionysos
Dionysos, Altered States, and Adaptogens
The goddess of the harvest has graciously bestowed two gifts upon us, (a) the fruit which pleases Dionysus so much, but which won’t keep, and (b) the produce which nature has made fit to store.”Plato, Laws, trans. Saunders, 844d A year or two ago, I started seeing something on my social media feed about something … Continue reading Dionysos, Altered States, and Adaptogens
Dionysiodotes
each press of char and bone against divine skin the pool of ash yet warm your hands seeking unity until they are caked in it gathering the remnants of body like single notes into harmonic one the light still shining down burning with the fire of spent worlds of planets singed by Titanic suns life destroyed, all destroyed save the heart unremitting you heal the melodies your lips … Continue reading Dionysiodotes
Happy Anthesteria
The Anthesteria is one of my favorite ancient festivals. This year, the historical dates run from sundown tonight (the 22nd) through sundown on the 25th. May you experience all the joys and blessings of the season. Tonight is a good night to open a bottle of wine and make a generous sponde for Dionysos. Blessèd, … Continue reading Happy Anthesteria
Happy Anthesteria 2020 (699.3)
Montsechia vidalii. (2017, March 18). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 23:24, February 5, 2020. Cropped photo. This is one of the world's oldest flowering plant fossils. Changes There is no snow this Anthesteria,no struggling walk in half-darkness,only the old decay of late-fall leaves,flocks of black birds fleeing skyward,the air too sticky, the grass yet … Continue reading Happy Anthesteria 2020 (699.3)
I Made a Symbol in PowerPoint
In a conversation today, transformative experiences (and the psychology research and philosophy behind them) came up. I mentioned Damascius and some of the stuff he says about Dionysos. (Even though I have not actually read Damascius' full discussion of the Phaedo, I've gleaned enough by now to have seen what people say about it and … Continue reading I Made a Symbol in PowerPoint
Happy Anthesteria 699.2!
The Anthesteria began at sundown, but I have felt it in the air with keen anticipation all day. Right now, at 7 PM, I am in my apartment eating dinner — ginger pork over rice with broccoli and toasted seaweed snacks — and after I finish eating, check Twitter, and ritually shower, I will open … Continue reading Happy Anthesteria 699.2!
Loosening Bonds (On Mysteries)
A chaste woman is given grace within the mysteries of Dionysos — not forced to drown down wine — allowed to worship with her will intact. One cannot always see scars. Who knows which of us bear bruises throbbing like Rhea's quick drumbeat and for whom a mystery is learning how to loosen one's grip … Continue reading Loosening Bonds (On Mysteries)
Anthesteria 2017
It's OK when ritual plans don't go as expected.