"Practitioners Of Religion Should Have Direct Experiences With The Gods."

"Practitioners of religion should have direct experiences with the gods."

Really? Really? Is that the way to do ‘practice polytheism’? Direct experiences with the gods?

Either define what the hell that means a bit more or just stop.

Take for joy from the palms of my hands fragments of honey and sunlight, as the bees of Persephone commanded us.

Osip Mandelstam

Ω PERSONALITY

✔ KIND→ HELPFUL→ BEAUTIFUL

✘ ABANDONMENT ISSUES → RASH → CLINGY

Ω BACKGROUND

Ariadne is the immortal wife of Dionysus, and was the Princess of Crete. She was the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae. Ariadne knew that her father was evil, and that sacrificing people to the Minotaur was cruel. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus at first sight, and wanted him to live. She agreed to help him, and he promised to make her his bride and take her to Athens if he survived. She gave him a sword and a magical ball of yarn to help on his journey. 

These gifts however failed, and she eventually used her ability to see through the mist to help guide him through the maze. With this help, Theseus was able to slay the Minotaur. Before King Minos could do anything about it, they got back on their ship and sailed away, Ariadne accompanying Theseus. 

Eventually, Theseus grew tired of Ariadne. They stopped at the island of Naxos and Theseus “dumped” Ariadne and left her on the island. That night, when everybody was sleeping, Theseus woke up all his crew, except for Ariadne and they sailed off, leaving her deserted on the island. They had left the beautiful girl that saved their lives. 

Dionysus later found her crying and weeping for Theseus. He instantly fell in love with her and he comforted her. He was determined to make the poor girl happy again. Over time, he healed her broken heart and they were married. 

Ariadne remained faithful to Dionysus, but later died, and Dionysus couldn’t live without his beloved. He descended to the Underworld and retrieved her and his mother Semele back. They then joined the gods on Olympus, and Ariadne was made Dionysus’s immortal wife. 

Meet Ariadne, she is a daughter of Pasiphae and King Minos.

"You Have The Lovers" - by L.Cohen

You have the lovers, they are nameless, their histories only for each other, and you have the room, the bed, and the windows. Pretend it is a ritual. Unfurl the bed, bury the lovers, blacken the windows, let them live in that house for a generation or two. No one dares disturb them. Visitors in the corridor tip-toe past the long closed door, they listen for sounds, for a moan, for a song: nothing is heard, not even breathing. You know they are not dead, you can feel the presence of their intense love. Your children grow up, they leave you, they have become soldiers and riders. Your mate dies after a life of service. Who knows you? Who remembers you? But in your house a ritual is in progress: It is not finished: it needs more people. One day the door is opened to the lover's chamber. The room has become a dense garden, full of colours, smells, sounds you have never known. The bed is smooth as a wafer of sunlight, in the midst of the garden it stands alone. In the bed the lovers, slowly and deliberately and silently, perform the act of love. Their eyes are closed, as tightly as if heavy coins of flesh lay on them. Their lips are bruised with new and old bruises. Her hair and his beard are hopelessly tangled. When he puts his mouth against her shoulder she is uncertain whether her shoulder has given or received the kiss. All her flesh is like a mouth. He carries his fingers along her waist and feels his own waist caressed. She holds him closer and his own arms tighten around her. She kisses the hand besider her mouth. It is his hand or her hand, it hardly matters, there are so many more kisses. You stand beside the bed, weeping with happiness, you carefully peel away the sheets from the slow-moving bodies. Your eyes filled with tears, you barely make out the lovers, As you undress you sing out, and your voice is magnificent because now you believe it is the first human voice heard in that room. The garments you let fall grow into vines. You climb into bed and recover the flesh. You close your eyes and allow them to be sewn shut. You create an embrace and fall into it. There is only one moment of pain or doubt as you wonder how many multitudes are lying beside your body, but a mouth kisses and a hand soothes the moment away

Ariadne Deserted by Theseus by Herbert Draper

oil on canvas

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art

Of Ritual Madness and Ecstasy by Amdhuscias