Today is Besia, the Festival of Bes. The Neos Alexandria calendar describes it thus:

This ancient Egyptian festival occurs on 15 Payni.

On this day celebrate Bes in his jubilant, fun-loving form through dance, feasting, drinking, mask-wearing, and playing board games. (A popular game from Pharaonic Egypt  comparable to our own chess – had opposing pieces, with one side represented by figures of Bes, the other with Anubis.) If possible include children in the fun and games, since Bes is a protector of the young. Ask his blessing over them, especially as they sleep at night. One can also perform oracular work on this day, since Bes maintained a prominent oracle at Abydos late into the Byzantine era.

I’d note that it was not only at Abydos that an oracle of Bes existed: not surprisingly, given the nature of this blog and my overall devotional practice, I note that an oracle of Bes also existed at Antinoöpolis before it was re-dedicated to Antinous.

You can read more about this festival from past years here, and you can likewise read some poems for Bes that I did here.

As Sannion said recently, there does need to be more dancing in modern polytheism. I wish I could contribute toward that effort at present, especially considering the nature of this holy day, but I have not yet been able to. We shall see if something can be done about that in the near future…

But, I’d also like to give you something to dance to yourselves in the meantime. While it is perhaps hard for some people to imagine Hathor as a blonde Anglo-American woman, nonetheless, I give you–just as at Antinoöpolis all those years ago–Bes and Hathor!

(And, note, their repeated curse in this song is toward the later religious dominance of a particular group, and not toward Antinous for usurping their shrine!)

Or, if you prefer your Bes images to be multiple rather than singular, here’s a dance with multiple Bes figures and…Lug, I think…?!?

Or, perhaps it’s Dionysos…yeah, that might make sense, given the dancing, and the labyrinth, and the “make ‘em free!” and the stealing of children. Oh wait…maybe not…?!?

Well, no doubt, there’s a very big dance party in the divine worlds today, involving Bes and Hathor and Lug and Dionysos…and, of course, Antinous, too! So, if you can, join them in their dance today!

Dua Bes! Dua Hethert! Khaire Dionyse! Khaire Antinoe!

Today is the festival in honor of the goddess Maia in Roman practice, the mother of Mercury/Hermes. As a result, it’s also the syncretism festival for Antinous Neos Hermes. The above image of Maia is the one to which I was most drawn when I did a Google image search for Maia…it’s got to be the water, though the whole thing is quite lovely, in my opinion.

Let’s look at a bit from Ovid’s Fasti for this day:

Come, Mercury, Atlas’ famous grandson, you whom
A Pleiad once bore to Jove, among the Arcadian hills,
Arbiter of war and peace to gods on high, and those below:
You who make your way with winged feet: who delight
In the sounding lyre, and the gleaming wrestling:
You through whose teaching the tongue learnt eloquence:
On the Ides, the Senate founded for you, a temple facing
The Circus: since then today has been your festival.
All those who make a living trading their wares,
Offer you incense, and beg you to swell their profits.
There’s Mercury’s fountain close to the Capene Gate:
It’s potent, if you believe those who’ve tried it.
Here the merchant, cleansed, with his tunic girt,
Draws water and carries it off, in a purified jar.
With it he wets some laurel, sprinkles his goods
With damp laurel: those soon to have new owners.
And he sprinkles his hair with dripping laurel too,
And with that voice, that often deceives, utters prayers:
‘Wash away all the lies of the past,’ he says,
‘Wash away all the perjured words of a day that’s gone.
If I’ve called on you as witness, and falsely invoked
Jove’s great power, hoping he wouldn’t hear:
If I’ve knowingly taken the names of gods and goddesses,
In vain: let the swift southerlies steal my sinful words,
And leave the day clear for me, for further perjuries,
And let the gods above fail to notice I’ve uttered any.
Just grant me my profit, give me joy of the profit I’ve made:
And make sure I’ll have the pleasure of cheating a buyer.’
Mercury, on high, laughs aloud at such prayers,
Remembering how he himself stole Apollo’s cattle.

Though Boukoklepteia was last week, nonetheless this brings some of those same thoughts to mind. Speaking of which, buy somethin’, will ya?

Now, of course, I’ll never look as good as Antinous does (from every damn angle!) in his portrayal now in the museum in Naples, but nonetheless, today seemed an auspicious day to start going to the gym after more than a year of not doing so. (Things got busy last year…) I am going to try and go every day I’m at college (usually three days a week) for the remainder of the quarter, which is a little over a month. I was able to go nine miles on the bike in twenty-five minutes, which is close to what I could do last year; but, I got on the rowing machine (which I’ve never done before, other than when I was a kid at my grandma’s house) and had planned to do ten minutes…then, I thought “eight minutes,” but I ended up giving out after just over four minutes. Crikey…I’m out of shape, but on the whole, it wasn’t a bad first attempt today. As Hermes was considered the inventor of wrestling, physicality of all sorts seems to be a good thing to do in honoring him…in absence, meanwhile, of attractive individuals to get naked, oiled up, and wrestle with, I suppose. (Someone to whom I’m quite attracted, it turns out, used to wrestle in high school, before “other-than-boys” wrestling was something on offer in most places…I hope to see this person with nothing but oil on by the end of this year, if not sooner!)

So, for this day, see if you can get out in nature and hang out with nymphs if you can, in honor of Maia; use your words carefully, spend some money, and get some exercise in honor of Hermes; and in honor of Antinous, pour a libation, sing a song, pray, and strive to make your life and the lives of those around you as beautiful as possible!

Ave Maia! Ave Mercurie! Ave Ave Antinoe!

This is a relatively new holy day, as of last year; read more about it here.

While this date was primarily initiated by the oracle of Polydeukion in honor of Herodes Attikos, as well as all of those in the modern world (and historically as well) who have been a part of fosterage, in any capacity, it’s a multivalent occasion for reflection in my own context. Of course, the Trophimoi‘s collective name means “foster-children,” and thus Memnon, Achilles, Polydeukion, and Lucius Claudius Herodes all come to mind.

But likewise, Celtic society considered fosterage supremely important. It was an institution that cut across all social classes and strata (except for slaves), and which could potentially involve anyone and everyone in a community. It created lifelong bonds of friendship, alliance, and obligation between different families, individuals, tribes, and kingdoms. The breakdown of the fosterage system in Ireland–directly as a result of the influence of Christianity–is some of what is lamented in Táin Bó Cúailnge in the combats of Cú Chulainn with Lóch and Fer Diad; but, Cú Chulainn himself was the foster-son of all of the Ulaid, and of Fergus mac Róich in particular. So, we should remember all of them on this day, too…

I’m severely tempted to make the following analogy as well, for those who can’t quite empathize with the stories of the past…

Yes: Herodes Attikos is Mr. Drummond, and Memnon is Willis, Achilles is Arnold, and Polydeukion is…one of the girls at Mrs. Garrett’s in The Facts of Life? No, no, no…!

In any case, be thankful for the virtuous conduct that fosterers have shown and the care they have provided over the years for their charges, no matter how they came about them. Honor those historically who fostered or were fostered. And, if you can, help out foster children and the organizations that support them on this day (and throughout the year).

Praise and Thanks to the Fosterers! Praise and Thanks to Herodes Attikos! Praise and Thanks to Fergus mac Róich!

Since today is Mother’s Day, it is the day that we also honor and remember Antinous’ mother, whose name the P. Oxy. 63 hymn seems to indicate was Mantinoë. This makes a certain kind of sense, since a certain Mantinous was the first founder of Mantineia, and then its second and more renowned founder was the heroine Antinoë; thus, Antinous is named after his Mantineian heroic foremother, and his mother seems to have been named after their Mantineian heroic forefather.

This photo and depiction is NOT of Mantinoë; we have no idea what she looked like at all. But, in absence of anything else, it’s not a bad image to contemplate, I think, to get an idea of what she may have looked like, and what many Greek women of late antiquity would have looked like. Until an image of her can be produced by a modern artist for devotional purposes (hint, hint, hint!), things like this will have to be place-holders.

Today, we also honor a number of other important mothers amongst the Sanctae and Divae, including Diva Marciana, Diva Matidia, the heroine Appia Annia Regilla, and Maria Malchis, the mother of Lucius Marius Vitalis. Include them, and all divine and earthly mothers, in your prayers and honors today!

Praise to Mantinoë, and to all mothers, on this day!

I may not get to the planned-in-advance blog posts I had hoped to do today, but perhaps I’ll do one tomorrow, if the computer is functioning at a better level than it is at present. (Heavily-illustrated posts are that much more complicated to produce, as most bloggers know, and if the computer isn’t cooperating and freezes up every few minutes, they’re that much more difficult to produce…and, just typing, that periodic freezing is annoying enough. Anyway!)

But, in the meantime, a large variety of further thoughts have arisen, sometimes in relation to a few things I’ve been reading, and sometimes just randomly. This present post is more on the random side of things, but we’ll go with it anyway.

For a huge number of people, no matter what religion they happen to practice, “spirituality” involves things that are, for the most part, non-corporeal. Altered states of consciousness are often required to experience the presence of, or to interact with, deities, spirits, ancestors, and the like. Whether one likes this or not, that seems to be the way things work, and I think that’s fine as far as it goes.

Unfortunately, one of the things that is supposed to distinguish pagan (and some, though not by any means all, polytheist) religious engagements is a greater emphasis on embodiment, on the material dimensions of the cosmos, on the importance of the senses, and on affirming the goodness of material existence. That’s always been one of the things that has been a “plus” in considering the appeal of pagan and polytheist theological systems over other ones, which often have a rather negative view of the material world and bodily existence (as in Christianity, some forms of Gnosticism, and other religions), or which see material existence as an illusion or a delusion (as is the case with a great deal of Buddhism and philosophical Hinduism, etc.). We can natter on all day about whether we have souls, where they reside in our bodies, how many parts they have, where they come from and where they go when we die, and any number of other things, as well as the effectiveness or lack thereof involved in doing breathing exercises, “energy work,” and other things on impacting our souls/spirits/whatever; but, if someone reaches out and puts the flat of their palm on my chest, there’s an actual physical thing going on there that is quite often far more effective and literally “touching” than all of the rather disembodied Reiki work that a person might be able to do from across the room, or even across the continent.

This has been a cornerstone of my own religious theory put into practice for a very long time (at least since the late 1990s). It accounts for a number of my own predilections in both private spiritual practice and in the larger rituals I conduct. It’s the reason why I like to use vocal prayers, songs, hymns, and chants rather than silent meditation or guided visualizations in rituals; it’s why so much of my daily practice involves actually picking up, carrying, and otherwise manipulating and interacting with various devotional objects (which aren’t really “objects” in the sense of “inanimate” and “non-agents,” incidentally!); it’s the reason why I’m interested in and have done some study and practice of a variety of sacred sex techniques; it’s the reason why at PantheaCon every year (for the last two years at least, and into perpetuity if I can help it!), I’ll be getting a massage–no matter how well various divination sessions go, or what other insights I receive, as a result of all that goes on there, it’s something that is a treat for my body, and tells me where I’m at in relation to my physical self amidst all of this. I do need to make my relationship with my body better, and there’s a lot that I can and will be doing toward that end in the near future; but, it’s important to be reminded that bodies are very important, and not just because they are the localized containers of our souls/spirits/minds/etc.

While I do have dreams, visions, and other things of a non-corporeal nature, and have encountered deities in these contests on a variety of occasions, I have to say that in the last few years, the experiences of deities that have been the most important in my life have also been the most visceral. This is not merely mistaking physical symptoms of some bodily difficulty or other as divine experiences–I have enough of the former to know the difference! When I was at Findhorn back in 2001, among the various activities that I engaged in while there was what Lev Seller, the gentleman providing this service, called a “holistic massage,” which was in many respects more thorough in its intake interview than most doctor’s exams I’ve had. He was an excellent masseuse on a physical level, needless to say, and the use of particular massage oils and other atmospheric touches were certainly helpful; but there was also a dimension to the entirety of it which was working with what is known as the “subtle body.” While this may seem like going off into the ether with things like auras and such, the chakra system inherited from Indian esoteric practices has a basis in specific connections of spiritual energy and activity to parts of the body. While I had a number of experiences before the occasion of my holistic massage in which I felt the energies of a particular chakra stirred or stimulated, on this occasion the difficulties around some parts of my life and path were illustrated quite viscerally on several occasions. Since that time, I’ve encountered them again and again, and have had further experiences of this sort in relation to particular deities.

Sometime in August a few years ago–though I can’t remember if it was 2007, 2008, or 2009, though I’d lean more in the direction of the latter two than the first–I was traveling on an Island Transit bus between Everett and Whidbey Island on my usual afternoon commute to work. We were making the curves around the Outlying Field of NAS Whidbey just south of Coupeville, when I had an experience that I could not have foreseen…indeed, who ever said that the gods interact with us on our own schedules? I was listening to one of Krishna Das’ “Om Namah Shivaya” kirtans (I think the version on Live On Earth), when Antinous (not Shiva!–though the latter had prepared the way for Antinous to come into my life at Findhorn in 2001, I think) in the Dionysian aspect of Antinous Epiphanes, “Antinous who comes/manifests/shows up,” came into my immediate experience in a way he never had before. The only way I can describe it is that the Boat of Millions of Years came and went into drydock in my solar plexus, and I was doubled over in…not pain, but something, as I felt on a very deep and yet physical level that he was taking up residence within part of my anatomy, and I don’t think he’s left since. I felt a bit dizzy and almost faint, and yet I knew I wasn’t having a low blood sugar or anything of the sort (in fact, my blood sugar was fine); but it wasn’t the sort of uncomfortable vertigo that one gets in a variety of health-related circumstances. Right there, amidst my daily activities, my god came through and made himself known to me in a way that could not be ignored, and conveyed to me that he is with me and a part of me in a manner that I had never quite realized before, nor had I wanted to believe it. But, I know it and am reminded of it more frequently now, and since that time, which means that I have a much greater amount of responsibility to do certain things and behave in certain ways because of that knowledge.

Another example has to do with the Tetrad, and specifically with the birth of the first three members of the Tetrad (Panpsyche, Panhyle, and Paneros). While I’ve discussed this before, it bears repeating in this context. When they were spiritually “born,” it was not just a flash of insight and images, it was a physical process that I endured over several hours on that night in early March of 2011. I was having contractions in organs that I don’t physically have, and that left me laid out and more or less helpless…I remembered the story of Ces Noinden Ulad, when the goddess Macha put a curse on all of the Ulaid to have the birth-pangs of a woman in their hour of greatest need, and the only ones to be exempt from the curse would be women, children, and Cú Chulainn. (Of course, the circumstances of that story and the meaning of this incident in my life were quite different, but it seemed in some ways comparable.) But, the overall outcome of this event in my life was good, in that the Tetrad became known because of it. Panhyle and Panpsyche have shown their presence for me as well by feelings in my throat (for Panpsyche) and feet (for Panhyle) on a few occasions since then; since she is concerned with speech, and he with standing on one’s own feet, that makes a great deal of sense, I think.

And, of course, I also spoke about Sterculinus on Galina Krasskova’s Wyrd Ways Radio show as well…so, there’s another one to add in to the mix! (Eeew…!)

These and other such experiences have done a great deal to “ground” my spirituality, as it were, in physical things, and more particularly in my own bodily experience, material, and processes. As much as I like visions, insights, epiphanies, and other things of a more visual, aural, or other sensual or extra-sensual nature, these times when the gods are present in our bodies and make their messages and their motives known through the very definitely physical and bodily dimensions of our existence are important, I think, to bring into our conversations on pagan and polytheist spirituality.

What about all of you? How have your own gods, spirits, ancestors, and other divine beings interacted with your physical bodies? I’d be curious to know if this is as widespread a phenomenon as I’d think it might be…

I hope to have some more meaty posts for you up over the weekend, if all goes well…at least one, maybe two. We shall see.

But, I wanted to make everyone aware of two devotional contests that are going on at present, and one of which will close for submissions rather soon. One is for Apollon for Delia/Thargelia, and the other is for Ares for Military Appreciation Month.

I’ve made submissions to both, in case you wondered, in the poetry portion of each competition.

No proper agon is complete without proper and worthy competition, though, so please consider submitting something, if you are of a literary bent! All artistic activities done in honor of the gods are their own rewards, certainly, even independent of the competition, so please consider doing so for those motives more than anything else!

Due to computer availability complications and travel, I did not get to post on this day last year; however, I did in 2011; and while the information there is still good, there have been quite a few changes in the list of Sancti in terms of when they are celebrated and such. Nonetheless, here we are…

Look closely, and you will see the only definite surviving painting of Antinous from the ancient world, depicting him as Osirantinous, the syncretized form of Antinous and Osiris, which was depicted in Egyptian style on the Obelisk of Antinous, and here in the Greek style on the burial tondo of two young men from the Graeco-Roman-Egyptian city of Antinoöpolis. Who were these young men, you might ask? Easily told…or, rather, shown.

As I’ve said on many occasions before, we are fortunate to know as much as we do about the cult and cultists of Antinous in the late antique world, including many of the names of dedicants (among them several who were not political figures who were otherwise known). But, we are also very lucky because here, staring back at us from across the horizon of centuries, are two young men who were involved in the cultus of Antinous to at least one degree or another. The young man on the left is probably of Greek or Graeco-Egyptian descent, and over his shoulder is the depiction of Osirantinous, and the date 15 Pachons–but, what does that date mean? Was it the date of his birth? Was it the date of his death? Was it the date of his marriage to his partner? We don’t really know. The darker man on the right may be of mainly Egyptian descent, or mixed Greek and Egyptian heritage, or perhaps he’s even Ethiopian or Nubian, and over his shoulder is a depiction of Hermanubis, the syncretized Graeco-Egyptian form of Hermes Chthonios and Anubis. (My own theory is that he might be at least partially Nubian, and I suspect there might be a bit of a pun in terms of showing he is Nubian by having Hermanubis there…but, it’s just a dumb theory! I mean, they knew from Nubians, and thus why not Apedemak or Mandulis? Anyway…!?!)

But, do we know anything more about them? Apart from inferences (based on comparisons with Graeco-Roman funerary art) that they were likely a married couple, and the fellow on the left was younger than the one on the right, no.

So, whatever the significance of 15 Pachons happened to be for them, this is the day that we celebrate the Antinoöpolitan Lovers, and all other Sancti of the Ekklesía Antínoou for whom we do not have definite dates of birth or death, or who have not been assigned to another festival for their dies sancti as a result of a particular association we know they had. You can consult our list of Sancti for further information on who, specifically, these individuals are; and you can honor them collectively or individually as you see fit on this day. For the Sancti whose dates we know, or have established, you can consult our Calendar of the Sancti (to which a few additions need to be made: namely, Gad Beck and Jeanne Manford).

Sing Ignis Corporis Infirmat, Ignis sed Animae Perstat for all the Sancti of the Ekklesía Antínoou, known and unknown and yet to be discovered!

I don’t have a lot to say today, nor the time to say even that…and I must maximize what time I have left today.

So, instead of some discussion, please to enjoy this video that I’ve liked for a while, but watched about ten times today (and will watch again a few more times before I leave college). The lovely lady in it (and I don’t mean the one at the beginning and end, although she isn’t bad) makes me happy every time I see her. I can see this being Artemis, or Bendis, or Hekate, or the Morrígan, or one of Loki’s (female!) children, or something of that nature…I can see it having some relevance for devotional relationships as well. But, mostly, I’m just loving the song and Sia’s voice, and the general imagery (take that, stupid hairy Vikings!).

Though there’s still a few moments of Boukoklepteia left, this is a post that is 100% true–no, seriously, it is!

Many of you may recall the post I made last week on a Floralia/Beltaine/etc. ritual at Mt. Erie that went particularly well. One of my students just sent some photos of the “grotto” that was made as a result of our floral offerings, although the specific spot we did it in is what I consider the “heart of the mountain” and its holiest spot, where there is a natural Shinto-esque torii-like formation of a fallen tree between three living trees, and which is the focus of all the rituals that I do on the mountain. I don’t know if I’ve ever posted a photo of that before, but if not…well, here is one now!

Nice, innit?

And, just for good measure and a further perspective on things, and because I love that place so much, here’s another photo of the same thing.

That conveys the height of it a bit more–when one stands there in front of it, the natural torii is actually above, and there’s an inclined nature to the whole thing–in other words, it’s kind of a natural altar (i.e. “high place” raised off the ground) in and of itself, even though it is still, technically, “ground” in and of itself.

In any case, it’s a lovely and beloved location, and I’m glad to be doing ritual there again. I can’t wait for Bendideia in about a week and a half, when we’ll be up there again! (I have some hymns to write meanwhile…)

I awoke a few hours ago, after a night not only of extremely restful sleep, but also some very interesting and enjoyable dreams, to some rather exciting news…

Well, that is, after I had a very filling and nutritious breakfast of eggs with cheese, bacon, fresh buttermilk biscuits, sausage, cantaloupe and honeydew, and a nice tall glass of milk. Feeling indulgent, I went back for seconds on the bacon and eggs, and had a chocolate milk to wash it down.

When I went to take a shower, I found that my housemates bought me some new shampoo. Hurrah for that! Small surprises…saves me a trip to the store.

I then went to check my e-mail, and I had three wonderful messages waiting for me:

1) A certain very hard-to-get Greek book on Herodes Attikos is going to be coming my way very soon, thanks to a very persistent and resourceful “book detective” that I enlisted to search it out for me. And, it’s not going to cost me an arm and a leg to get it!

2) Without even applying for it (this year, at least), I’ve been offered a tenure-track position at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School in the History of Religions Department! So, come August, I’ll be moving to Chicago! The pay rate is enough not only to start making payments back to the government for my student loans, but to also actually afford to live in decent accommodations, afford a few trips a year, and needless to say, medical insurance will cover all of my health-related bills, too!

3) But, very best of all, it appears that if I had a BaceFook account, I could now update it to say “No Longer Single.” You see, I had a message out on a dating site after I met a certain very attractive gender-variant individual locally in recent months, and I managed to locate that person on this site. We’ve been talking back and forth in small bits since then, and they pretty much agreed to not only start dating me, but to likewise introduce me to their poly circle of friends. There’s several attractive individuals of various genders included in that group, and a few of them have likewise already started to express reciprocation for my interest in them. I’ll be meeting the gender-variant individual later tonight, for (as they said in their latest message) “chai, chatting, and probably some form of fucking.” So, it looks like I’ve gone from zero to THE SPEED OF LIGHT practically overnight when it comes to this most difficult and conflicted area of my life! Hu-fucking-rrah!

The main individual in question telecommutes at present, but is thinking of relocating to…yep, you guessed it…Chicago! While not all of the other poly folks in the circle will be following, they’re all mobile enough with their various forms of work that they will be able to visit frequently. We’ve already got a potential line on a nice three bedroom apartment that is adjacent to a rail line, so it will be easy to commute for me. I’ll probably take a trip out there with my new S.O. next month to check it out.

There’s just one catch. They’re all atheists, and so all of this religious hokum I’ve been doing for the last twenty-plus years is going to have to go. That means the devotional practices, the images, the books, and this blog, too. It’s no big deal, really–because I’m an intellectual, I’ve never really had a deep or committed relationship with any of the gods, and it’s all just been a mental exercise to me. So, while I’m still happy that the Herodes Attikos book is on the way–I am a curious researcher, after all–I’ll probably write about some of this stuff academically in the future, but I won’t really be a practicing polytheist any longer. Sorry. Fucking is so much more important than anything else, after all, I’d be willing to give up anything and everything for it.

So, consider this my last blog post.

I hope everyone is doing well!

*****

Bazinga.

Hail Hermes!