Lord Dionysos,
God of Orpheus and Melampos,
God of Empedokles, Pythagoras, and Nonnos,
God of Nietzsche, Ivanov, Bataille, and Morrison,
inspire us to read the Holy Words
of your Starry Bull tradition
and to reflect upon them day and night.
We implore you to grant us illumined understanding
of what we truly need, that we may put these teachings
into practice and embody them in our lives.
Yet we know that understanding and good intentions
are empty things unless they are rooted in your gracious love.
Therefore we ask that the Holy Words
may not be merely signs upon a page,
but channels of grace engraved upon our hearts;
not only words remembered by the mind,
but living seeds planted within the soul.
Dionysos Bakcheios, help us keep your Holy Words before us
and to meditate upon them constantly, persevering in prayer
and remaining watchful against every spirit of confusion,
every force of delusion, and every passion that would
twist their meaning or cloud our understanding.
Guard us, that we may receive with humility the wisdom
you have poured into the hearts and minds
of those inspired souls who preserved these teachings,
that they might endure through the centuries
and help us know you more deeply,
follow you more faithfully,
and walk more correctly upon your sacred path.
May we honor your traditions
with our entire bodies, minds, and spirits,
and may the Holy Words transform us
into worthy members of your thiasos.
Io euoi! Io Dionysos, the Starry Bull! Hail to your
prophets, poets, and performers, who have shown us the way.
May they always be remembered, and may they never thirst.