Dionysos is often viewed as simply a wine and party God, but that is not Dionysos. He is a God of Ecstasy, the Wild, Frenzy, Madness, Drama, and a patron of the Queer Communities. He is also the spirit of the downtrodden – those who are cast aside or controlled by a society that attempts to chain people down.
In his entourage, Dionysos had satyrs, leopards, maenads, as well as the daimons Lyssa and Mania. Lyssa is the daimon of mad rage and fury, while Mania is the daimon of ecstasy and divine madness, to an extent. Usually it is Mania who is sent by the Gods to inflict its power upon mortals who dare to defy the Gods, or else need to be awakened to their weaknesses. Often there was more than one daimon of Mania, and together they were called the Maniai.
In ancient Greek tellings, divine madness was often inflicted on certain people by various deities for their own agendas: agendas which demonstrate the glory of the Gods or else expose the individual’s weaknesses, bringing them to a place where they must seek restitution for what they have done under the influence of mania. For example, Herakles was inflicted with madness (mania) by Hera. He ended up killing his family. When he became sober and grieved, he was tasked with penitence and performed his infamous 12 labors.
The question of rage and blind fury among the protesters across the nation for the murder of George Floyd and others have caught my interest; not least because the riots and protests are classic examples of Mania: divine madness. The Powers that Be have controlled every aspect of our lives with fear. Fear is a barrier that keeps boundaries intact, especially with struggles for power. Fear is the shield which Dionysos breaks in order to induce chaos for order to be restored. One of his epithets is Eleutherios, or the Liberator. It is also this name of Dionysos that I serve as devotee.
The question of the Gods and politics is a hotbed in many Neopagan and Witchcraft circles. But what many seem to forget is that the daimons of the Gods are involved in every aspect of our lives. The daimons carry the personifications of what we as a people seek out and experience. Dionysos approached kings to declare his divinity, and when they attacked him, he caused his enemies to be afflicted with his daimons and they would lose themselves to their passions. An example is King Pentheus. The king forbade the worship of Dionysos, not allowing women to participate in his rituals. When Dionysos appeared before the king, Pentheus had him locked up. The chains which bound the God, however, fell off, and the jail doors opened. Disguising himself as a woman, Dionysos led Pentheus to the mountains where his wife and daughter were, joining in the revelries of the God. When Pentheus was spotted (he was hoping to catch a glimpse of an orgy), he was brought down off a tree and ritually dismembered. It was only when Dionysos lifted the mad daimon that Pentheus’ wife and daughter realized what they had done. This rending and tearing of the king was a sign Dionysos was sending: the powerful can be brought low, and dismemberment of the “natural order” of society could easily be toppled by the God in his desire to free the oppressed.
Dionysos as a God is neither all good nor all bad. He is a God, and his domains are concerned with freeing the spirit of humanity in order to demonstrate his power. He empowers the persecuted, and lifts up those who have fallen beneath the boots of powerful government.
Social constraints were his specialty: in some parts of ancient Greece (like Athens), women were chattel. They were under the authority of their father, brothers, and later husbands. They had zero power except at certain festival rites, especially those invoking Dionysos. Unlike some other Mystery cults, foreigners and slaves were liberated in rituals which had spirit possession. Outlaws found a home with his Mysteries as well. Dionysos took the marginalized of society and helped them find liberty. Once their spirits tasted liberation, they knew they could never go back to the status quo ever again.
With everything going on in the country right now, I cannot help but see the beauty of Dionysos’ energy in everything. The downtrodden are angry. Marginalized groups are finding solace in their wrath, tearing down a broken system which – for far too long – has kept them beaten under the heels of their masters.
This type of mania is blessed by Dionysos. The ancestral wounds of many folks in this day and age have festered for far too long. This kind of holy delirium has long been overdue, and the murder of George Floyd is the final act of a drawn out fight between the oppressor and the oppressed.
Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, criticized Athenian democracy and frequently was compared by Plato to a gadfly. Just as a gadfly pricked and annoyed, so, too, was Socrates the “prick” for judging the societal conscientiousness of Athens. He was also in touch with his daimon directly without the interference of the Gods in an act called “nympholepsy,” or possession by the nymphs in order to heighten his spiritual awareness. This caused the Athenians to also accuse Socrates of blasphemy and impiety. Socrates was aware of his inner divinity. For this disruption to the natural order in Athens, he was tried and convicted. He was killed by drinking hemlock. Yet it was this criticism which needs to be channeled, and the people of the Old Order must be challenged.
One of the greatest examples of a slaves’ connections to the cult of Dionysos is Spartacus. He was a Thracian gladiator whose revolt against Rome led to him having tens of thousands of followers. Plutarch, the writer and theurgist who dwelt at the Temple of Apollo, wrote that Spartacus’ wife was a prophetess of the God. She was an initiate of the Thracian cult of Dionysos (he had different manifestations of his cult throughout the Greek world). One morning Spartacus woke with a serpent coiled around his head (the Agathos Daimon?). From this omen, his wife stated that he would become great. Her ecstatic trances, combined with popularity of the cult among slaves and the poor, drew crowds to Spartacus’ cause. His victories against the Romans solidified his memory, and Italy was shaken by his revolts.
In the end, I contemplate this revolutionary style of fighting for justice as the spirit of the God being unleashed upon our society to tear down the broken system that we have. It is imperialistic in its spirit and oligarchic in its manifestation. This must be brought to the ground if a new awakening is to occur. The Gods are calling us; they are moving us to find our spirits and free ourselves.
Your ancestors all fought for a variety of reasons. Somewhere in our past, we were all warriors. It is there. And we must ask ourselves during this time of upheaval whether we shall be a part of the Old Order, or the New? Will we allow ourselves to have him possess us in holy mania so that we experience the Oneness of Enlightenment? Or will we remain purposefully blind to our own shackles? You cannot control Dionysos. He will free us from chains and open up the prison doors of our minds. It is his ecstatic glory that will find its way into our spirits, a serpent coiling above our heads.
Choose wisely.
Eirene kai Hugieia!
(Peace and Health!)
Oracle
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