When I’m finished compiling the Ἱερός Λόγος for the monastic strain of the Starry Bull tradition I am going to have a book printed. I go back and forth on whether I should release it to the public or just keep it for members of the Order.

One of the chapters, containing Κατάρες (“Imprecations,” which are a kind of prayer slash incantation recited against hostile spirits) became so large it is now its own book. Katares can be prayed individually or as part of a larger ceremony, such as an exorcism or an attack on that entity (preemptively if need be — I am a firm believer that the best defense is a strong offense.) Many of them are modeled on spells and similar material from antiquity to the early modern period, and even some contemporary examples.

I believe that such a volume is needed because it taps into the current created by previous itinerant religious specialists; these malign entities are causing trouble in the world today; and the most important reason — in composing the historiolae I was given pieces of Dionysos’ lacunose backstory. It is especially frustrating when an ancient author refers to something we know little to nothing about as a commonplace, which his readers would have instantly picked up on no matter how cryptic the allusion. Sometimes this material came through visions, like I was viewing an episode of Legion. Other times the knowledge was just plopped into me noggin. Then there were the times it just flowed out of me, and I had no idea what I was typing. I’d read it afterward and go, “What. The. Fuck.”

One of the most interesting stories that has emerged from these historiolae is Dionysos’ activities in Judea and his relationships with Yahweh, Ašerah, Ašmedai, and Michael (among others.) I’d known he had a strong presence in the region from archaeology and references in authors like Philo, Plutarch, Tacitus and Livy but over the course of working on this a whole secret mythology emerged. It certainly wasn’t something I’d planned; indeed, most of the Katares were written while heavily inebriated or in other altered states of consciousness, which means I had even less control over what was coming through than normal.

I might be inclined to dismiss this material except that through experimentation I discovered that this shit actually worked when the formulae and other odds and ends were included. These show how important the power of story is. Despite that I readily admit that the material could be false without affecting the efficacy of the κατάρα; after all, the two most important components in my estimation are the inspiration and grace of Dionysos on the one hand, and my conservative approach on the other. I start from the assumption that my predecessors knew what they were doing. I don’t tinker unnecessarily, and if I don’t understand both how something works and how it fits within the whole, I leave that shit alone. That’s why a lot of this will be familiar to students of magic and esotericism rooted in the ancient Near East. But that still doesn’t explain where the historiolae came from in many cases. It all still requires a great deal of research, ritual work, and divination but this may be the opening of another strain of Dionysianism, alongside the Starry Bull (Southern Italy) and Starry Bear (Eastern and Northern Europe) traditions. I suppose it makes sense since the Jews and their neighbors had a reputation for exorcism and magic in antiquity and that’s clearly a core part of what this is about. I’m further uncertain if this should include Egypt or if Dionysos’ activities there constitute their own thing, and if there’s really any point in dividing and organizing things this way. It’s all centered on Dionysos, and Dionysos is what Dionysos is.

Either way I’ll start sharing the Dionysos Abraō material next week; I have some other stuff to take care of first. (Abraō means “of or worshiped by the Hebrews,” and comes from a votive inscription from the Decapolis. It’s what I’ve taken to referring to this aspect of the God as, like Asterios and Óðr for the other strains.) It does amuse me that I returned to blogging in the middle of Ḥag hasSukkōṯ, the Jewish festival most commonly associated with Dionysos by Greco-Roman authors.