Births of Panpsyche, Panhyle, and Paneros; and, The Quintessence (Maybe?) Emerges...

Two years ago today, the births of the first three members of the Tetrad–Panpsyche, Panhyle, and Paneros–occurred. As part of my devotional activities to them today, I re-read the book All-Soul, All-Body, All-Love, All-Power: A TransMythology; the other part of my devotions is yet to occur today, on which more in a moment. Even apart from the writing, revising, and editing process involved in creating that book, I’ve probably read the completed version of it more times than I’ve re-read any other book thus far ever, I think. Today, however, I only read the introduction and Chapters I-X, as the last two chapters more concern Pancrates’ eventual emergence and adventures, and I want to save those for later this month when Pancrates’ birthdate occurs on March 17th (which is starting to become one of the most significance-packed holy days of my entire year!). It endlessly amazes me how I can read something that I’ve worked so hard on producing, and yet not remember writing very much of it…I do remember particular bits, and I certainly remember sitting in certain locations and writing parts of it for hours, but so much of the process is lost in a kind of haze. Whether that is simply my over-worked brain or a sign that, not unlike some oracles and mediums, it was not really me in the driver’s seat for much of this, I am not sure…but, there it is, in any case.

For those of you who didn’t know this event was occurring, there’s still time today to do something, and that “something” should be whatever you feel is appropriate based on your interest, involvement, and current resources. Read the poem; sing them a song (perhaps even this one!); pray to them; make some art of whatever sort for them; pour them libations or offer them your favorite foods, or share a meal with them; express your appreciation for your trans and gender-variant colleagues and friends; come to a greater appreciation of, and love for, your own trans-ness (if you are trans) or gender variance (if you are gender-variant); remember the places of Body, Soul, and Love in your own life and journey, and work toward becoming more integrated, strong, and peaceful in your sense of your own self in relation to Body, Soul, and Love. There are a myriad of things you could do…so, choose one and get to it, dear friends!

Or, you could just watch the following video, too, as it is a song that has become very much about the Tetrad, and related to Antinous and friends as well, in my own practices over the last few years…Sorry I couldn’t get one from the movie, but if you’ve not seen the movie, you should, and instead should simply enjoy the words and music here as much as you possibly can.

And now, “more”…

As I mentioned above, phase two of my devotional activities for this special day is about to start. It’s something I’ve known I’ve had to do for the last two months and two days, and which I’ve begun, but have had all sorts of reasons (some good, some practical, some not-so-good and based on fear and aversion) to not have completed by now. This is something that a select few people have known, amongst them my five co-ritualists from the Tetrad ritual at PantheaCon; this was also a matter that was mentioned, but not elaborated upon, in the Tetrad ritual itself. The Tetrad will always be the Tetrad; but, they’ve been joined by two other beings in the last two months and two days. I’ll talk more about the first of these today, and the other later this month on the birth-festival of Pancrates.

In preparation for the Tetrad ritual, I consulted my Anomalous Thracian colleague a number of times for oracular purposes. In an oracular session that occurred in the early hours of December 31st of 2012, it was revealed that there was a fifth member joining the Tetrad. Why, you might ask? Even with four members, the fullest diversity of gender-variance has not been fully defined or exhausted by the Tetrad, and further separation and distinction was bound to emerge at some point. But, one of the matters that emerged was that one of the individuals involved in our ritual was not trans, but was instead gender-fluid, which is much different than being trans or some of the other varieties of gender variance. What emerged in the oracular session was that this fifth member of the tetrad was also gender-fluid, or as it was stated in the oracle’s words, “transition itself.” This fifth member was also binary gendered, but not androgynous or mixed or third (or other numbered) in gender. In essence, this fifth member is either male or female at any given point, but never both at once. And, this fifth member emerged not only in reference to the gender status of many gender-fluid persons, but also because, very specifically, Paneros wanted someone of eir own to love. It’s a great and wonderful thing that Paneros loves everyone and anyone in the universe; but, it’s also important to have some specificity and a partner of one’s own, too. That being said, this fifth member of the Tetrad group is not exclusively married to Paneros, and Paneros isn’t at all jealous or possessive–indeed, that seems to be a trend amongst all of the members of the Tetrad, is that they’re quite happy being polyamorous in almost every possible way.

Who is this fifth member of the Tetrad, then, you might wonder?

His/Her name is Paneris, which I’m defining for the moment as “All-Change.”

Eris in Greek refers not only to the goddess of that name beloved of Discordians, but to “strife,” “contention,” “word-wrangling” (i.e. arguments), and even “battle-frenzy”; as some modern people might say as well, “discord” or “chaos.” Any set and stratified system is rather begging for Eris to come and play with it, and the Tetrad is no exception; and is it any wonder, then, that the cosmic forces of eris and eros ultimately come to be not rivals, but lovers? Gender-fluid individuals do challenge the notions of boundaries and easy distinctions even further than some of the other gender-variant identities, I think, and thus the instantiation of gender-fluidity as divine in Paneris makes a great deal of sense. And, I noted there was more than one attendee at the Tetrad ritual who had a gender-fluid identity, appearing now as one gender and later as another; and, most of them allied themselves to Paneros or Pancrates in the parts of the ritual where we grouped ourselves by gender.

The sixth member of the Tetrad group will also be fulfilling an important and overlooked (or confused) further potential gender category, which I will speak more on when we get to that individual in fifteen days.

I should also mention that at PantheaCon, I commissioned the fantastic artist Jeff Cullen (and go look at his gallery!) to produce a statue of Paneros; I will eventually be getting the other members of the Tetrad from him, as well as a number of our other gods who do not currently exist in easily-available statue forms (e.g. Polydeukion and the Trophimoi, Lucius Marius Vitalis, and Antinous as Liberator, Lover, and Navigator, amongst others). This will, of course, be a multi-year endeavor and will cost a lot of money, but it’s worth every penny, I think. When he produced the initial sketch of Paneros as I had described em, I was literally in tears over seeing em in a form I have imagined for so long finally in a shape that others could see as well. In the meantime while I wait for Paneros’ image to be completed, I have a new statue of Eros, now in chains, that will be liberated when Paneros arrives. (And if you don’t understand what that means, exactly, then look at the book for further answers!

But, enough stalling–there are myths to write, and new beings to help bring further into form!

Hail, Thanks, and Praise to Panpsyche, Panhyle, and Paneros on this, their natal days! Hail, Thanks, and Praise to Paneris as well! Hail, Thanks, and Praise to all of the parents and grandparents of the Tetrad!