HAIMAKOIRIA

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

Cole Brings Plenty, actor, model, and most importantly activist was found dead. He was assaulted in a club in Lawrence, Kansas. He was killed and his braids; a symbol of his heritage, of his Lakota decent, and a sacred symbol across many an indigenous nation, were forcibly cut.

I beg of thee and I plead with thee, spread the word. Do your part, however big or little, to bring light to this situation. Whether it be by reblogging this post or others alike, or by going out and making a stand. Do it.

Shed light on the situation. This goes beyond the death of one man. It is about the abuse and the destruction of natives and their communities. Of the killing of many an innocent soul. Of the brutalization of many First Nations.

We have seen time and time again, many indigenous people die by similar means. We need to bring light on the deaths of any and all indigenous individuals dead, missing or at risk. It is an epidemic, an assault, and a silent cleansing of many a nation.

Whether it be the estimated 6,000 dead at the hands of Canadian residential schools, the murdered and missing indigenous women and children, or the killing of an actor and activist, you cannot deny the sheer abhorrence of this problem. The problem of many Native American people dying, going missing and being abused, at an alarming rate. At a level unprecedented and unparalleled, at a level of which should not be kept silent.

Cole Brings Plenty, actor, model, activist.

Look at him and spread awareness for him and for many others befallen by the same fate.

Books of Myths, Poetry, Hymns, and Plays Involving Dionysos:

The Bacchae

The Frogs

D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths

The Complete World of Greek Mythology

Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides’ Bacchae

Dionysiaca

The Glory of Hera <— take this one with a grain of salt, as it presents Freud’s theories as credible

The Library

Academic Texts on Dionysos and His Cult:

Dionysos: Exciter to Frenzy <— favorite

Pagan Regeneration, chapter iii: Dionysian Excesses

Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life

Dionysos (Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World)

Ecstatic

The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited

The Glory of Hera

A Mythological History of Ancient Greece. Volume 1: In the Beginning

Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding Through Images (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World)

Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia

The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revisited

Gods of the Greeks

Dionysus: Myth and Cult

Ancient Mystery Cults

Books on Ancient Greek Culture:

Religion and Art in Ancient Greece

Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical (Ancient World) <— favorite

The Gods of Olympus: A History

The Glory of Hera

A Mythological History of Ancient Greece. Volume 1: In the Beginning

Prayer in Greek Religion

Ancient Greek Religion (Blackwell Ancient Religions)

Race and Citizen Identity in the Classical Athenian Democracy

Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece

Friendship in the Classical World (Key Themes in Ancient History)

Aphrodite and Eros: The Development of Greek Erotic Mythology

Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion

The Homeric Gods: The Spiritual Significance Of Greek Religion

On Greek Religion: Cornell Studies in Classical Philology

“Reading” Greek Death: To the End of the Classical Period

From Death to Rebirth: Ritual and Conversion in Antiquity

Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World

Citizen Bacchae: Women’s Ritual Practice in Ancient Greece

The Greek Way of Death

Athenian Myths and Festivals: Aglauros, Erechtheus, Plynteria, Panathenaia, Dionysia

The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece

Psyche the Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality Among Ancient Greeks

Gender and Immortality: Heroines in Ancient Greek Myth and Cult

Ritualized Friendship and the Greek City

Everyday Life In Ancient Greece

Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece

Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion

Myth and Thought Among the Greeks

Myth and Society in Ancient Greece

Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece

Magic in the Ancient Greek World

Ancient Magic and Ritual Power (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World)

Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology of Ancient Greek Secret Cults

Greek Religion: A Sourcebook

Ancient Greece: Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization

The Greek Way of Death

Devotional Texts:

Written In Wine: A Devotional Anthology For Dionysos

Miscellaneous:

Athenian Myths and Festivals: Aglauros, Erechtheus, Plynteria, Panathenaia, Dionysia

Rain, Conceive! Ancient Mysteries of Demeter & Persephone; Dionysos; Percival

Old Stones, New Temples

Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence

it's like looking through a collection of letters sent between lovers, or at a shelf of books and photos left behind in an empty house. a little peek into what once was, a little window into the life of people we will never know. those people may no longer be with us, or they may be older than us or still younger than us. it may be the last words someone ever spoke in their lives, memorialized on a small fandom forum by sheer accident. i hate to think about all the things that will be lost when these places inevitably shut down or are otherwise lost to time. cemeteries are overgrown by nature, as is expected and even encouraged, but the internet and our digital lives, all the internet mausoleums, can simply disappear with a click. i find that as tragic as i do cathartic.

A lot of modern alternative spirituality is more deeply entwined with far right conspiracy theories than most people realize, and it's very easy to go from a harmless interest in neopagan spirituality to believing in a satanic pedo network, and pretty much everything else pushed by QAnon. (This idea that there's this underground movement of satanists whose religion requires them to abuse young children for ritual purposes has roots in blood libel and witch panic.)

The New Age movement (which is an actual spiritual movement; it's not just a bunch of people being kinda shallow about Eastern spirituality) tends to buy into the New World Order conspiracy theory, which which derives from claims pushed during the Satanic Panic by a bunch of (now extremely debunked) people who claimed they were involved somehow in this satanic cult (whether because they were straight up lying or misled by false memories unintentionally implanted by people who'd already made up their minds that the conspiracy existed). The NWO conspiracy theory is effectively just The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion gussied up to appeal to the political biases of the average 20th American conservative rather than the 19th century European conservative.

Now, somebody reading this post might be wondering, "wait, New Agers are pretty critical of Christianity and consider themselves progressive - why are they going for this?" One reason is that New Age is a very libertarian movement, and libertarians slide into fascism pretty easily. Also, a lot of New Agers simply aren't progressive whatsoever; they're just conservatives who aren't Christian. Another reason is that some people who consider themselves progressive assume that these conspiracy theories must be fundamentally true on some level, put their own spins on them, and functionally repackage this bullshit to sell to a new audience. Thus we get people thinking it's progressive to believe that Christianity was produced by an ancient global conspiracy, because unlike those mean Nazis, they aren't blaming Jews for it. They're just blaming... (checks notes) ...space lizards who just so happen to be dead ringers for every antisemitic allegation in the book.

And of course, another idea that's popular with a lot of neopagans is the Great Goddess hypothesis. The Great Goddess hypothesis is one of those ideas that came about during the Romantic period, that influenced modern witchcraft. The problem is, it's discredited as hell. There's literally no evidence of some pan-European goddess cult that only ended once patriarchy became a thing. Loads of evidence for many diverse goddesses, sure, but that's obviously not the same thing.

However, some neopagans refuse to accept this, and quickly resort to conspiracism to maintain their belief that this pan-European goddess cult was a real thing. Depending on who you ask, you'll hear that Christians, the patriarchy, or the Jews are part of this conspiracy to keep the truth of the Goddess from the masses. (Albeit, they probably won't say "Jews" outright; they'll probably use some form of antisemitic dog whistle.) This is because once somebody accepts a conspiracist explanation for one thing, it's pretty much only a matter of time before they're accepting conspiracist explanations for just about everything they have a grievance with.

***Disclaimer: This is not meant to cast judgement on others. Please do not start discourse over this.***

So this looks like a good read. Text: after half a year of work, my academic zine on the history of antisemitism & appropriation in western occult movements is done 🖤 a 22-page PDF full of citations, illustrated with historic & public domain images, pay-what-you-want (or FREE!): https://ezrarose.itch.io/fyma-a-lesser-key