DIONYSUS
(Greek, but is originally Thracia.) The Romans as Bacchus, the God of Wine, also know him. His number is 777, and his Tarot: Devil;
gem: black diamond, & amethyst; plants: Indian Hemp, orchis root, thistle. He is also connected to the sea.
The ram, the dolphin, the serpent, the tiger, the lion, the lynx, the panther, the ox, the goat and the ass are sacred to Dionysus; and his
symbols were the phallus, the bull and the thymuse. According to Forlong, the Greek letters I.H.S. were carved over his shrine.
Perfumes: musk & civet. His magical weapons: Secret Force, and Lamp.
In his earliest form, Dionysus was a vegetation god, before he became as the image we know today. Dionysus is more than some god of drunkenness
and other things. He represents two sides of us, what we are, and what we “really” are, or what we are and what we’d rather be.
(Macha’s note: I prefer his God of vegetation, wine, and death & rebirth images. However, if we look at the image of a drunken person, what we
see are two different sides of that person. It is rumored that when Dionysus was drunk…he had one of two personalities, either he was a happy
drunk, or a mean one. We all are like this and Dionysus teaches us to accept all sides of ourselves or we cannot be complete, and wine does not
play a role in this. It’s a lesson of “knowing Yourself.”)
Dionysus is the Greek god of wine. The start of the grape harvest is around Lammas/Lughnasadh. Dionysus is a savior god, titled Christos
(Anointed One), Dendrites (god of the tree), and acts as a scapegoat as Dionysus Melanaigis (of the black goat skin).
Dionysus’ know period of worship was from circa 1500 BC & probably earlier, through to Christianization circa 400 AD. Bacchus’, the Roman
counterpart, had a worship period know from 400 BC through to 400 AD. While Dionysus was the greatest of the later Hellenistic Greek gods, as
the youngest god he would become only a minor deity in Homer.
Dionysus is a God of vegetation, fertility, and wine. Dionysus is the son of Zeus & Semele (a human), daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. Hera
destroyed Semele with divine fire while she was pregnant, but Zeus rescued the fetus & embedded it in his own thigh until it was ready for birth;
hence, Dionysus’ title “Dithyrambos,” meaning Twice-born. However, during the time Hera was searching for him to kill him, he was turned into a
goat kid and put and sent to be cared for by Nymphs. He was torn apart by Titans who boiled him in a cauldron. The Goddess, Athena, saved his
heart, while Zeus rescued his limbs, and Apollo buried them on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, where the goddess Rhea brought him back to life
making him another death-and-resurrection god, sometimes called the "Thrice-born." Hera continued to pursue Dionysus, who was driving insane by
it all, and he wandered around relentlessly. He was eventually accepted into the cult of the goddess, Cybele, and joined in the mystical orgies
and frenzies that were part of her worship. There he learned to use his madness. Dionysus became a god that defied social order, broke taboos
and customs, and gained knowledge through divine madness.
His legends include many travels, to all parts of Greece and to Asia Minor, even to the underworld to rescue his mother, Semele, who he renamed
Thyone and brought to immortality on Mount Olympus. He brought civilization and viniculture to many countries. Widely worshipped, often with
ecstatic rituals; his female followers, the Maenads (also called Baccantes) danced and sang in orgiastic frenzy, in earlier times involving human
sacrifice and later mere flagellation. His retinue also included Satyrs.
Dionysus had many festivals, varying from place to place. These included the Lenaea in December when he was offered the new wine; the Anthesteria
at the end of February when the last year’s vintage was tasted; and the Greater Dionysia at the beginning of March.
Dionysus absorbed many regional deities including the Phrygian Sabazius, the Lydian Bassereus, & the Cretan Zagreus (in which identification he
was the son of Zeus a Demeter or Persephone).
In Orphic philosophy, hi bucolic nature was underplayed and he became the god of immortality, ‘who is destroyed, who disappears, who relinquishes
life and then is born again’ (Plutarch).
Dionysus, also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus, appears to be a god who has two distinct origins. On the one hand, Dionysus was the god
of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature, and who is the patron god of the Greek stage. On the other hand, Dionysus also represents the
outstanding features of mystery religions, such as those practiced at Eleusis: ecstasy, personal delivery from the daily world through physical
or spiritual intoxication, and initiation into secret rites. Scholars have long suspected that the god known as Dionysus is in fact a fusion of
a local Greek nature god, and another more potent god imported rather late in Greek pre-history from Phrygia (the central area of modern day
Turkey) or Thrace.
At Naxos, Dionysus met the beautiful Ariadne who had been abandoned by the hero Theseus. Falling in love with her, they married and she bore him
Oenopion, Thoas, Staphylus, Latromis, Euanthes, and Tauropolus. From Naxos he sailed to Argos and caused the women to go insane until their
king, the hero Perseus, acknowledged his divinity and built a temple in honor of Dionysus.
His worship eventually firmly established throughout the world, Dionysus was then free to ascend to Mount Olympus, where he took his seat at the
right hand of his father Zeus. Even Hera, his tormentor, finally accepted him. Some claim that the wise Hestia, goddess of the hearth, gave up
her place at Olympus to make room for him, and indeed she was happy to be rid of the petty jealousies that were rampant in the heavens.
Dionysus was also one of the very few that was able to bring a dead person out of the Underworld. Although he had never seen Semele, he was
concerned for her. Eventually he journeyed into the Underworld to find her. He bribed Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, with a gift of myrtle
to release his mother, faced down Thanatos (Death) and brought Semele back to Mount Olympus. Still, just so other ghosts did not become jealous,
Dionysus changed his mother's name to Thyone ('raging queen') and that's how he introduced her to the other Olympians. Zeus provided an apartment
for her and Hera wasn't at all happy with this arrangement, but she kept a resigned silence.
Dionysus became one of the most important gods in everyday life. He became associated with several key concepts. One was rebirth after death.
Here his dismemberment by the Titans and return to life is symbolically echoed in tending vines. The vines must be pruned back sharply, and then
become dormant in winter for them to bear fruit. The other is the idea that under the influence of wine, one could feel possessed by a greater
power. Unlike the other gods, Dionysus was not only outside his believers but also within them. At these times, a man might be greater then
himself and do works he otherwise could not.
The festival for Dionysus is in the spring when the leaves begin to reappear on the vine. It became one of the most important events of the year.
Its focus became the theater. Most of the great Greek plays were initially written to be performed at the feast of Dionysus. Those who took
part, including writers, actors, and spectators, were regarded as sacred servants of Dionysus during the festival.
Many scholars believe that the Greek dramatic tradition ultimately originated in the ecstatic rites of Dionysus. The dramatic tradition is known
to have originated in the Hellenic Mystery Schools, and the first of these schools was that of the Orphic Mysteries, which incorporated civilized,
allegorical versions of the Dionysian rites into their system.
Dionysus Incense
1 part apple blossom
½ part ivy leaves
1 part resin
A few drops pine oil
½ part fur needles
½ part fennel leaves
½ part vine leaves
2 parts myrrh
A very few drops of red wine
According to Scott Cunningham, the God, Dionysus, is also represented by the amethyst. Use this stone to entice dreams, overcome alcoholism, for
healing, psychism, peace, love, and protection against thieves, courage and happiness. This stone also calms fears, and raises hopes, & lifts
the spirit.
In Graeco-Roman times, the amethyst was worn set in bronze rings and worn to charm off evil, and cups of amethyst were carved and evil & sorrow
were banished from all that drank from it.
The gods of the amethyst are Bacchus, Dionysus, and Diana.
As mentioned at the beginning, Dionysus’ stone is the black diamond. The diamond alone is represented by the Strength Tarot. The black diamond
is equated to the Devil Tarot card and these represent addiction, delusion, pity, depression, violence, pettiness, lack of vision, control by
others, submission.
The diamond worn promotes spirituality, even ecstasy, the shaman’s ritual state of consciousness. It is often utilized in meditation and in
spiritual pursuits. When carried the diamond instills self-confidence in relationships with the opposite sex.
SOURCES:
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/dionysus.html
http://www.hermetic.com/sabazius/dionysus.htm
http://www.thanasis.com/dionys.htm
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, & Metal Magic, by S. Cunningham.
Encyclopedia of Gods, by Michael Jordan.
Lammas: Celebrating the Fruits of the First Harvest, by Anna Franklin & Paul Mason.
The Witches' God, by Janet & Stewart Farrar.
Who’s Who in Classical Mythology, by Michael Grant & John Hazel.
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