The House of Vines

Sorry guys, the session has been postponed until tomorrow

Posted on 05/23/2013 by thehouseofvines

When I was starting the prep work for the oracles tonight I did my usual preliminary divinations and they indicated I should hold off. So if you were debating getting a question in, well, the deadline’s been extended.

At least this gives me time to do some more devotional stuff going into the session. Trying to put a positive spin on this and not feel like I’ve failed him by not being able to deliver. But it’s not about me, and who knows maybe there’s something weird going on. Still, I don’t like this. Not one bit.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: dionysos, oracles

One last post on this and then I’m going to shut up until the show

Posted on 05/23/2013 by thehouseofvines

Honestly, you know what bothers me the most about this whole thing? It isn’t necessarily the religious angle. It’s what these people are doing to the medium of comic books.

I fucking love comic books! They’re good gonzo fun. I mean look, here’s Superman boxing Muhammad Ali:

Here’s Bruce Wayne tripping balls and hallucinating that he’s the Batman from another planet while he waits for his backup personality to reboot after returning from the dead:

Ah, racism:

This shit is not meant to be taken seriously.

When you do you get Kingdom Come and fucking Joseph Campbell.

What’s wrong with entertainment for entertainment’s sake? Why does it always have to mean something? And if it does, why focus on the medium instead of the message?

When I want something fun, I’ll look at this:

And when I want something serious, I’ll look at this:

The world needs weird. We have enough serious.

And yes, there are of course exceptions.

But those are stories with explicitly religious themes. I’d even cop to gods and spirits inspiring guys like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, etc.

But that’s not the same thing as thinking that this is divine:

And reading a bunch of people explain why they don’t have to go by the traditional definition of what constitutes a hero because they “aren’t recon” is making me think about Stephenie Meyer.

“I’m going to write a story about vampires! Only there’s going to be nothing dead and icky with them. They don’t need to drink the blood of humans to survive and sunlight makes them sparkle! Oh, and they have awesome super powers! And play baseball! And don’t have sex until marriage which makes the fact that they’re still attending high school even though they’re really, really old somehow less creepy. Yay vampires!”

Yay vampires indeed.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: gods, heroes, philosophy | 9 Comments

Worship Camazotz, not Bruce Wayne.

Posted on 05/23/2013 by thehouseofvines

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: gods | 12 Comments

They burned their ancestors for fuel

Posted on 05/23/2013 by thehouseofvines

You know when the Egyptians built their steam trains.
They didn’t have any fuel to burn – no wood, no trees anywhere.
But they did have a lot of old mummy rags lying around
So the gathered up all the rags and burned them in their trains.
Yeah, they burned their ancestors for fuel.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: christianity, dionysos, egypt, heroes, music, spirits | 5 Comments

Perhaps they have a point

Posted on 05/23/2013 by thehouseofvines

I mean, I find inspiration in modern accounts of my god — hello Eternal Bacchus — so maybe comic books can tell me valuable things about him as well.

From his entry at Comic Vine we learn:

He fell down from Olympus, soon hitting the earth. He was kidnapped by AIM agents and used as the basis for their ray of inebriation. With this ray, every Hero in the Marvel Universe became in a drunken state. As it turns out, every Hero had to be individually programmed into the machine. Consequently, AIM forgot about the members of the Great Lakes Initiative, Wisconsin’s official team. Deadpool was not affected by the ray because of his healing factor, which constantly regenerated his brain. Together, they defeated AIM and freed Dionysus.

When Mephisto goes to The Infinite Embassy looking for information about The Serpent he can’t get into the Council of Godheads so he gets his information about the Greek Gods and where they stand from Dionysus’s wine soaked lips. Dionysus explains to Mephisto that the Greek Gods have now made their home on Earth, and if Odin razes it, like he plans, that would be bad for Dionysus and his fellow gods.

Oh yes. That is valuable information. I feel so much closer to Dionysos for having read that.

And they even gave him a makeover.

He went from looking like this:

To this:

What a handsome fella!

See, new things are always better.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: dionysos | 11 Comments

Quoted for truth

Posted on 05/23/2013 by thehouseofvines

I came across this quote from the Bhagavad Gita in an article comparing Hindu and classical Greco-Roman forms of sacrifice:

By sacrifice will you procreate! … Foster the Gods with this, and may They foster you; by enriching one another you will achieve a higher good. Enriched by sacrifice, the Gods will give you the delights you desire; he is a thief who enjoys Their gifts without giving to Them in return. Good men eating the remnants of sacrifices are free of guilt, but evil men who cook for themselves alone eat the food of sin. Creatures depend on food, food comes from rain, rain depends on sacrifice, and sacrifice comes from action. . . .the ever pervading infinite spirit is present in rites of sacrifice.

You should read the rest of the article. It’s really good.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: gods, greece, hellenismos, italy, religious practice, rome | Leave a comment

And people wonder why we can’t have nice things

Posted on 05/22/2013 by thehouseofvines

The Pagan controversies of 2013 so far have been …

My fandom is serious religion.
Don’t give too much — the gods will get uppity!
Miasma is inconvenient and hard to understand so I just ignore it.
My friends did this ritual for me over Skype and now I’m married to Loki too!
Gods and spirits don’t require animal sacrifice anymore. That’s so unevolved!
Don’t trust writers. They write for a living. It’s in their vested interest to ensure there’s stuff to write about.
Gods aren’t savage. As if.
You can worship anything you want, or nothing at all — just not Jesus & friends!
Oh noes! Paganism is being invaded by Nazi fundamentalists! They believe things, and think there’s a right and wrong way to do stuff!
Who are you to tell me that I don’t need external validation? I’m insulted!
What? I buy my ritual tools at Walmart. Do you have a problem with that?
Why are you excluding me from your party for your imaginary friends just because I’m an atheist?
How dare you call yourself a polytheist. If I say you’re Pagan, you’re Pagan, damn it!

Did I miss any? Cause I feel like there was more.

Dver said it best:

Yes. That’s what I’m feeling at the moment. Pride.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: paganism | 54 Comments

Submit to Ares

Posted on 05/22/2013 by thehouseofvines

Details on Pete Helms’ artistic contest in honor of Ares can be found here. Ares has only received 8 poems, an essay and some art. Granted, all of it top-notch. But he deserves better. His axe is savage.

The deadline is May 27th — Memorial Day.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: ares, writing | Leave a comment

Keep your schedule open Wednesday May 29th!

Posted on 05/22/2013 by thehouseofvines

Because that’s when we’ll be having an open forum on the whole “Achilles in a cape” debate on Wyrd Ways Radio. Hopefully we’ll get some interesting callers with interesting perspectives on this issue.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: gods, heroes, paganism, spirits | 1 Comment

Journey we more into the Nightmare

Posted on 05/22/2013 by thehouseofvines

Comes death on strange hour
Unannounced, unplanned for like a scaring over-friendly guest you’ve brought to bed
Death makes angels of us all & gives us wings where we had shoulders smooth as raven’s claws
No more money, no more fancy dress
This other Kingdom seems by far the best until its other jaw reveals incest & loose obedience to a vegetable law
I will not go
Prefer a Feast of Friends
To the Giant family

– Jim Morrison

Exene Cervenka remembers Ray Manzarek with words such as this:

Music has a power that’s underestimated in our culture, but at one time we recognized that. Ray brought that power to the world; he brought it to the entire world. The problem with a lot of younger people today, and with a lot of music, is that it’s a passive soundtrack to their lives … it’s not music as a mind-expanding drug. That’s what the ’60s and the ’70s were about. Music has led multiple generations through the doors of perception, and it didn’t just lead you up to them and drop you off, it led people through those doors, and kept them open for people like me.

Reading that made me pause and think, “Wow — am I being too hard on the man?”

I’m fucking glad you’re dead Ray! Burn in hell Ray!

Burn.

In.

Hell.

Ray!

Speaking of things infernal, here’s a guided tour through the House of Haides:

The Underworld has many names.
But the House of Ais is what you know and do not see.

And Reconstructing the Labyrinth connects labyrinths with the underworld:

I have descended into the heart of the labyrinth multiple times, but I think there are multiple labyrinths inside oneself. They do not exist separately from one another, but in layers that spiral downwards, overlaid, one on top of the other. The heart of one is the beginning of another, and when someone reaches that heart they can either take that lesson with them and retrace their steps back into the light, or they can continue down further.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: haides, jim morrison, spirits | Leave a comment

Death is Ravenous, Death is Consuming … Death is Love

Posted on 05/22/2013 by thehouseofvines

Go read this post on commitment to death by Melitta Benu. It’ll make you think.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: haides | Leave a comment

Nothing alike

Posted on 05/22/2013 by thehouseofvines

This girl came into the store last night. She looked like Hayden Panettiere but with pink dyed hair and piercings. She was also sporting a Thor’s hammer. I am hesitant to remark on Thor’s hammers and volknuts when I see them pass through the store because the chance of meeting a potentially interesting Heathen are practically nil compared to the likelihood that the person is either just out of prison and doesn’t have a fondness for brown people or is just into loud music. Since she didn’t seem to be in either of those categories I went ahead and complimented her on it.

Her: Oh thanks. It has a face on it.
Me: I see that. I like that it’s not the standard one everyone wears.
Her: It’d be better if it only had one eye.
Me: How so?
Her: He was one-eyed. Don’t you know anything?
Me: I think you’re thinking of Odin, not Thor.
Her: Same difference.
Me: [after a long, awkward silence] You do King Harald proud.
Her: I don’t get it.
Me: I would have been surprised if you had. Have a nice day. [insincere smile]

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: heathenry, odin, thor | 10 Comments

Come for the grill food, stay for the theological debate

Posted on 05/21/2013 by thehouseofvines

So this guy approaches the counter, stares at me uncomfortably for a while and then we have this conversation:

Man: That tornado is proof that Jesus loves us.

Me: Uh … huh.

Man: You see, we are made to suffer so that we do not become attached to worldly things. Suffering lifts our eyes from sinful pleasure up to our heavenly father. God gives us suffering so that we will love him and come join him in his celestial kingdom instead of remaining down here, where we would if we were happy.

Me: I’ve never been happier to be a polytheist.

He doesn’t understand the term, asks me to explain. I point to the line forming behind him and say perhaps another time.

Woman: You’re a polytheist? I’m Wiccan too!

I glance at her Doctor Who t-shirt, flying spaghetti monster button, three wolf moon bag and the shiny silver pentagram dangling between her ample bosoms.

Me: I never would have guessed.

Woman: Are you praying to the great mother for the victims in Oklahoma?

Me: Who do you mean? My religion has many great mothers.

Woman: The universal mother, she who is behind all godforms.

Me: No.

Woman: What?

Me: No. I won’t be praying to her for the victims. What would be the point? Assuming she exists — and let’s not get into that, because you seriously don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say about that — I kind of doubt she’s sitting there debating whether to help those people or not and if she is why would a prayer from some random dude in Oregon sway her? Do you think the world works like American Idol?

Woman: I just … I just …

And then she flees, leaving her change on the counter. I pocket it and grin at the next customer.

Me: And how may I help you?

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: christianity, gods, paganism, philosophy | 55 Comments

The Bessoi

Posted on 05/21/2013 by thehouseofvines

“The Satrai alone of the Thracians have continued living in freedom to this day; they dwell on high mountains covered with forests of all kinds and snow, and they are excellent warriors. It is they who possess the place of divination sacred to Dionysos. This place is in their highest mountains; the Bessoi, a clan of the Satrai, are the prophets of the shrine; there is a priestess who utters the oracle, as at Delphoi; it is no more complicated here than there.” — Herodotos, Histories 7.111

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: dionysos, music, oracles | 1 Comment

A Door closes

Posted on 05/20/2013 by thehouseofvines

May you be remembered for your deeds.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: music | 4 Comments

Let Sannion school you

Posted on 05/20/2013 by thehouseofvines

So there’s this post floating around Tumblr that reads, in part:

Only a very wealthy and powerful person would have been able to commission and purchase such a sarcophagus, and it was probably made for a member of one of the old aristocratic families in Rome itself. The subjects – the triumph of Dionysos and the Seasons – are unlikely, however, to have had any special significance for the deceased, particularly as it is clear that the design was copied from a sculptor’s pattern book.

Okay childrens, I want you to think about that for a moment.

So these Romans paid a shit-ton of money to have a marble sarcophagus made.
And the motifs in it were copied from a sculptor’s pattern book.
These folks are aristocrats — and Roman aristocrats are notoriously conservative when it comes to religion.

And yet we’re supposed to believe that the Dionysiac funerary motif meant nothing to them?

Seriously?

Nobody spends that kind of money on something that don’t mean nothing to them.
Wouldn’t the fact that the motif was in the book imply that there was popular demand for it? Because I’m thinking only including stuff you know people don’t want is kind of a poor business model to follow.
And this is Italy where there was a strong Dionysiac cult presence going back to to the 6th and 7 th centuries before the common era. Tons and tons of funerary and sepulchral art featuring the god and his retinue have been found in the region — in fact there’s often even underworld hints in symposiatic scenes from Magna Graecia.

“Unlikely to have had any special significance for the deceased” indeed.