Chastisement I

O Dionysos Dakryotimos,
God who crowns the humble
and casts down the proud,
I tremble before your mighty works.

You are patient,
yet your patience is not without measure.
You call, and those who answer find life;
you warn, and those who harden their hearts
invite their own ruin.

I remember the daughters of Minyas,
who despised your holy festivals
and mocked the sacred dance.
They chose the labor of their own hands
over the joy you freely offered.
Therefore frenzy overtook them,
and terror became their companion,
that all generations might know
that no one scorns the God
of Ecstasy with impunity.

I remember Ino,
who wandered in dreadful madness,
until grief swallowed her house.
I remember Agavē,
who, in blindness of mind,
lifted her hand against her own son
and afterward awoke to unbearable sorrow.

These things came about
not because you are capricious,
but because your judgment is exacting.
Therefore teach me reverence,
lest I become wise in my own eyes,
and a terrible lesson to others.
Keep me from the arrogance
that laughs at sacred things
and calls darkness light
and falsehood truth.

Give me instead a humble heart,
quick to repent, ready to rejoice,
and eager to obey your call.
Let me enter your mysteries with clean hands
and an honest spirit,
seeking neither to command others,
nor to test the God, but only to walk
faithfully in the path you have opened.

For you break the stony-hearted,
yet you heal the honest seeker.
You humble those who exalt themselves,
yet you raise up those who bow before you.
Your discipline is fearful,
but your mercy is sweeter than new wine.

Therefore I will honor your name,
keep your festivals with gladness,
welcome the stranger,
care for the weak,
and rejoice in the gifts you have given,
that I may dwell in your favor
all the days of my life.

For yours is the wild mountain,
the fruitful vineyard,
the dance, wise judgment,
and joy to the righteous.

Io euoi! Io io Dionysos!

Chastisement II

O Lord Dionysos,
God of mercy and righteous judgment,
whose hand both chastens and restores,
whose vine is pruned that it may bear sweeter fruit,
look upon me according to your divine wisdom.

If I stray from your holy way,
do not leave me to the counsel
of my own Titanic heart.
Correct me before I become hardened.
Wound my pride, but heal my soul.
Break whatever in me resists the truth,
that I may become a worthy servant
of your mysteries.

As the Tyrrhenian pirates sought to bind you,
thinking the God could be bought and sold,
yet found themselves overwhelmed
by ivy, wine, and the roaring of the sea,
deliver me from the greed
that would make merchandise of your gifts.
Let me never seek to possess
what can only be received with reverence.

As the daughters of Proitos
withheld your worship
until suffering taught them
that no household flourishes
when it forgets the Giver of Joy,
teach me never to neglect
the sacrifices of gratitude
or the festivals of thanksgiving.

As Ikarios learned
that even holy gifts require wisdom,
grant that I may receive your blessings
with discernment and humility.
Keep me from misusing what is sacred
through ignorance,
carelessness,
or pride.

If I cling to falsehood,
scatter my counsels.
If I seek empty glory,
bring my ambitions to nothing.
If I delight in my own strength,
show me how frail I am.
Take from me every comfort
that leads me away from you,
for better is a bitter correction
than a pleasant destruction.

Yet remember your mercy,
O Liberator.
You sought Ariadnē
when she had been abandoned,
and crowned her with unfading stars.
You descended to the house of Haides
to bring Semelē into immortal light.
So also remember me,
when your discipline
has accomplished its purpose.

May every rebuke
become wisdom.
May every loss
become purification.
May every trial
become steadfastness.
May every tear
water the vine of righteousness
until it bears abundant fruit.

For your judgments are not born of wrath alone,
but of love that refuses to surrender the soul to ruin.
The knife of the vinedresser cuts only
that the vine may flourish.

Therefore chastise me, O Dionysos,
but never cast me away.
Correct me, but do not abandon me.
Lead me through repentance into joy,
through discipline into freedom,
and through your holy mysteries
into the fullness of life.

Chastisement III

O Dionysos Eleutherios,
may your devotees, priests,
and religious specialists
remember that they are not the source,
but the conduit of tradition;
not the wine, but the mixing-bowl;
not the God, but the opening
through which the God may pass.

Let them not profane the silence with haste,
nor wound the mystery with excess of speech.

Free them from impurity of intention,
from the hunger for praise,
from the desire for power,
and from the illusion
that the mysteries belong to them.

Let them remember
that every hymn is borrowed,
every gesture received,
every flame already kindled
before they arrived.

Where they purify,
let it be true purification.
Where they instruct,
let it be remembrance, not invention.
Where they lead, let it be toward you
and never toward themselves.

But if they abuse the trust
that has been placed into their hands;
if they seek disciples rather than devotees,
obedience rather than reverence,
or honor for themselves
instead of glory for the Gods;
then do not leave them
to prosper in their corruption.

Withdraw the sweetness
that has become poison.
Scatter every work
built upon vanity.
Let every falsehood
be brought into the light,
every hidden motive uncovered,
every proud heart brought low.

For abandonment is the greatest judgment.
Do not surrender them
to the blindness of their own desires,
but correct them
while correction is still possible.
Better to suffer sparagmos
than lose their souls.

As you humbled Pentheus,
who mistook dominion for wisdom,
and as you cast down Lykourgos,
who raised his hand against what was holy,
so also humble every Boukolos, Mantis,
Hierus, Hymnod, or Orpheotelest
who would place himself
between the seeker and the God.

Let them learn
that no office is secure
without humility,
no authority endures
without obedience,
and no mystery remains
where pride has made its dwelling.

Yet remember your mercy,
O Dionysos Lusios.
The hand that chastens
is the hand that heals.
Let every rebuke
become repentance,
every humiliation
become wisdom,
every fall
become the beginning
of return and restoration.

For those whom you love,
you do not abandon.
Dionysos Lusios,
loosen whatever binds them falsely.
Dionysos Eleutherios,
free them from the illusion of control,
that they may become
faithful guardians of your mysteries,
and transparent vessels
of your holy presence once again.

Chastisement IV

O Dionysos, never cease to rebuke me.
Better the wound that heals
than the peace that abandons.
Better your pruning knife
than a vine left wild to perish.
Better your severe mercy
than the terrible freedom
of a heart surrendered to itself.