Let your transformative love, O Dionysos Eleutherios,
fall as fire from heaven upon the altar of our hearts,
strengthen our souls and awaken us from the deathly sleep
which holds us captive, so that we may live in your truth
instead of this dreary existence which is no better than a dream,
and pour your ecstasies out upon us, lord of libations, so that we may
know you more fully in both your joys and and your sufferings.

O Lord of Inebriation,
merciful Dionysos Methydōtēs,
free me from this sober state
under which I have been suffering
for much too long; unfetter my mind,
give wings to my soul, make the world spin
and seem surreal and joyously absurd once again,
so that I may feel you, and know you,
and commune with you more fully
in this state of blissful intoxication,
my sweet Savior, Dionysos Methycharmōn.

Dionysos Thyrepanoiktēs, I pray,
throw wide the doors of my mind
so that I may discover the hidden things
within myself, and in the worlds
which you have taught me how to reach
by walking the Labyrinth road.
Lead me safely home again
when the journey is done,
full of visions, lore, and sacred technology
that I can share with my tradition-hungry people.

O Dionysos, God of all plants,
and granter of sweet euphoria,
I ask your blessing upon these drugs
Paeiōn, Lusios, Tristhenes,
and implore you to make them potent
against the pains and ailments I suffer,
restoring me to health and good cheer,
so that I can go about freely doing
your work in the world once more.
Thank you Dionysos,
and thank you drugs.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

O Dionysos Diphuēs,
uniter of opposites
and dissolver of differences,
you who cleanse through tears
and the blazing thunderstrike,
worker of wonders, we pray; pour
your grace and powerful blessings
into these chernips we are creating
by combining the primordial elements
of water and fire, which existed even
within the solitary egg of Phanēs,
who delights in dancing.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
restore what you encounter to its pristine condition.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
drive out what is impure and corrupting.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
wash away whatever distracts, distorts and disrupts.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
burn up confusion, discord, illness, acedia, despair
and anything else that interferes with proper veneration.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
nullify and destroy the wicked work of sinister spirits
and the foolish mortals who do their bidding.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
release the hold of ancestral trauma and guilt
and remove any influence they are exerting.
O chernips which bear the blessing of Dionysos,
hallow what you touch that it may be fit for the God.

O beloved mystery which Orpheus revealed,
many-named and masked one,
you who bring release,
and the madness that saves,
may your grace be poured out
upon all who desire you,
and grant those who wish to know you
an awful revelation of your majesty.
Deliver us, when we draw near to you,
from coldness of heart, all manner of disruptions,
thoughts that wander, and a mind too full
of anxieties and imaginings to properly sense you.
With steadfast thoughts and kindled affections
may we worship you in truth,
and discover you in ecstasy,
Lord of the Labyrinth,
our God Dionysos,
the Starry Bull.

Against Qasas contains a delightful pun, which is found over and over again in Jewish magic, often without explanation. Although Judaism is very much a patriarchal religion and invocations of Yahweh (both liturgically and magically) often begin “the God of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses” or some variation thereof, in the examples I’m discussing it is the ancestral mothers of the Hebrew people who are invoked, specifically Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah.

Why these four?

While those familiar with their stories from the Torah (and later aggāḏāh) cannot deny their importance, there are plenty of other equally worthy candidates (hello Yāʿēl and Debōrāh!) especially since this formula usually occurs in protective spells, charms and amulets. (Frankly, I wouldn’t want to piss off any Jewish mother!)

Well, the first letters of their names combined spell brzl, or more accurately בַּרְזֶל, meaning “iron” which symbolizes strength, resistance, harshness, and inability to be bent or broken. Iron also had a ton of apotropaic functions for the ancient Israelites and their neighbors, driving off bad luck, illness, witchcraft, and assorted spirits, usually of a violent and chaotic (bordering on malevolent) nature. This folk custom was reinforced when Jewish groups were dispersed into Celtic, Germanic and Slavic lands where they likewise encountered families of spirits who shared an aversion to iron. So they invoked the ancestral mothers Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah — often bearing iron rods, swords or spears to drive the point home. 

Speaking of which, a reader had a wonderful question which I had taken for granted, or I would have explained earlier. 

What does NN mean?

It is the academic standard for the Greek deina (or simply Δ, sometimes stylized), itself a placeholder where the itinerant religious specialist (or as we would call them, “magician”) was supposed to insert the name of a spirit, their client, or the target. It is Englished as NN because most Greco-Egyptian magic insisted on maternal descent (i.e. “Bruce, son of Martha”) over the usual designation which included name and then either father or clan, especially if the document was intended to hold any legal weight. Magic observes a much older law however. 

And this holds true for Jewish, Syrian, Roman and other systems, not just Greek and Egyptian magic. I suspect this has a two-fold reason: you always know who the mother is, and precision is preferred in such operations. And secondly, there are certain things inherited and transmitted through the maternal line, so if you want to harm an enemy that’s one of the places you target. 

I have more thoughts on why Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah in particular were chosen — there’s a very important detail that isn’t apparent unless you know not just their stories, but the stories of their entire lines — but that will have to wait for another time, along with the Bacchic Judaica. Seeing that vile shit posted on r/hellenism has put me in a mood, especially considering the overlap with r/dionysus (including shared moderators.) But anyone who has seen the state of that forum and the fruit that’s come of it probably won’t be surprised. It does explain the push to return I had been feeling recently. That cannot be all that people find when they search for Dionysos online. So I’m going to share more of what I’m doing and experiencing, not just the cool shit I’m researching. And I hope you guys will too. 

I adjure you Qasas, daughter of Qatof,
and the 197 Mevakkalta-demons who are under you;
you who take the wife from the lap of her husband,
and remove the children from the lap of their mother,
hateful spirit who causes everyone in the house to suffer and weep,
though none draws your ire as much as the eldest daughter,
whose will you work the hardest to defile, deplete, and destroy.
By the mighty and wonder-working name of Bakcheios Abraō
I command that you no longer afflict
this pious woman, NN, O Mevakkalta Qasas!
Bring not poverty, or sickness, or ill-luck
into her well-ordered home;
appear not to her,
whether in dreams at night
or visions by day;
lie not upon her;
delude her not;
trouble her not,
nor her husband,
nor her children,
nor any persons in her home.
Askei kataskei erōn oreōn eōr mega semnyēr baui.
Life is victorious over all works of the unmaker and its allies!
Dionysos has removed hate, hindrances, curses, and nightmares,
O Mevakkalta Qasas, and bestowed love, honour, favour, and beauty
upon NN and her whole household. Your woeful works have been undone!
Creep away Mevakkalta Qasas, and all your foul minions with you;
do not set foot within 818 miles of NN and her home.
If you transgress against this my adjuration, I shall strike you with iron rods,
which are the holy ancestral mothers of the Hebrew people:
Bilhah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Leah.
Agla. Amen and amen. Selah!

A Satyr was chasing Nymphs
on the shore near Taremu,
when Skōlēx, the green worm of decay
rose out of the Nile, and mauled him,
just as NN is hurt.
Then comes Dionysos,
Prince of those in the West.
Dionysos rides a red donkey,
with black lips,
with white teeth;
he is ruddy himself,
he is clad in white,
his belt is black;
he leads three big cats,
the first one is white,
the second one black,
the third red;
the white one licks tears away,
the black one – infection,
the red one – blood.
And behold, NN’s wounds are healed!
Dionysos rides on to Taremu,
in pursuit of Skōlēx, the son of Nsyt,
with a white net to catch him,
with a red mace to smash his teeth,
with a black knife to chop him into pieces.

On his way to Ecbatana Dionysos decided to stop off
for a nap, and while sleeping beneath a date-palm tree
Zenūt climbed down from the branches,
laid upon his chest, and pressed her way
into his dreams, much to her regret,
for what the Ardat-Lilî saw there
destroyed her sanity.
When he was done playing with Zenūt
Dionysos plucked her from his breast, and said:
“No, I will not kick a pregnant woman in the belly with you.
No, I will not rape a fair-haired maiden with you.
No, I will not knot the mane of a horse with you.
No, I will not spoil the milk with you.
No, I will not trip a drunk man on his way home and laugh with you.
I will not do any of these things, and neither shall you.
Instead, Zenūt, go back to the witch that sent you.
Go back to the cold, dark cave where you live.
Or better yet, go back inside your mother’s womb,
the womb of Taklạt, Queen of the South,
who brought this and numerous other
afflictions into the world.
Go there and shrivel.
Go there and grow ever weaker.
Go there and perish.
And never return to cause me,
or NN, or any of my people any trouble again.”
Dionysos flicked the Ardat-Lilî, now powerless and insane,
far away from him, and Zenūt was never seen
troubling Bacchic men or women again.

O Dionysos Ekpaglos, I pray that you come to the assistance of NN
who is being driven to ruin and despair through the evil machinations
of a coven of witches, as once your savagery was made known throughout
the entire Thessalian land when the dark-eyed and white-limbed Selēnē
was dragged down to the dirt, her divinity assaulted.
O Dionysos Saōmbrotos who taught Orpheus his songs,
Melampous his healings, and Empedokles his purifications
I implore you to blunt the attacks and strip these witches
of their power to poison, to bind, and to loosen;
O Dionysos Eleutherios, please save NN from these witches
and nullify any occult compacts they’ve made,
free any spirits they’ve coerced into helping them,
and soothe the dead whose wrath they have provoked against NN;
O Dionysos Sugcheion, I request that you blind their psychic perceptions,
obscure and confuse their divinations,
make it so all of their prayers go unheard
except prayers of repentance and atonement,
transform their curses into blessings,
and thwart any other craft that allows them
to interfere with or harm NN.
Finally I petition you, Dionysos Tristhenes,
to have all the powers and devices of these witches,
who are nothing but wicked and envious people,
destroyed and cast into the deepest part of Tartaros,
where the ashy Titans will ensure that they remain
impotent in the darkness
and unable ever to cause havoc
and hardship in the life of NN again.

Three Tyrsēnoi named
Odynē, Dystychos, and Dakrymos
bound Akoitēs to the mast of the ship;
he prayed to you, my God,
calling you by the blessed names
Lusios, Lyaios and Eleutherios.
As you delivered Akoitēs
by loosening his bonds
and destroying his foes,
likewise, I pray,
break, unbind and consume in flames
any curses, charms, evil glances
or other witchcraft that has been sent
against NN, and may the spirits of
Odynē, Dystychos, and Dakrymos
return to their summoner and wreck his life
for the impudence of using malefica
against one who keeps your festivals
and makes offerings to you, Dionysos
who cares for his people. Io evohe!

Although I’ve had a couple people ask me to post the screenshots from the Dionysian Discord here, or to share them with them privately, I am not going to do so for three reasons. 1) It would reveal the identity of my informant. While I did not ask them to spy on this group, wasn’t even aware they were part of the group, and couldn’t care less what a bunch of chronically online halfwits have to say about me, I’m not going to burn someone who’s done me a solid. 2) I didn’t come back to engage in bullshit community politics with a bunch of folks I don’t even consider part of the same religious tradition as mine; I wouldn’t have said anything at all if I hadn’t been so shocked by what was shown me. And 3) there’s no reason to, since almost the exact same things are being said in fully public forums at places like Tumblr and Reddit. For instance here’s a conversation about how the Greek Gods will punish you for holding the wrong political beliefs, or even not affirming the most extreme positions in a party’s platform vehemently enough; and here Zeus and Nemesis are petitioned for the deaths of both Jewish soldiers and civilians (who have no more say in how their government conducts itself than Americans or Brits do) with many of the same individuals participating. If you allow such beliefs and behaviors to go unchallenged that will become the public face of your religion. Be the alternative you want others to see, however you are best suited to do that. If you don’t know what that way is, pray to your Gods and spirits for guidance, inspiration and discernment. It doesn’t have to be eloquent. “O Gods, I am confused. Please help me find understanding, live virtuously, and each day serve as a better instrument of your will in the world.” What is more needed than that? 

The rest will have to wait until tomorrow evening, but after what I read I wanted to get that last one out. It’s based on the theory that both the Egyptians and Hebrews were enslaved under the Hyksos and that Amalek is the divine progenitor of the Amalekites (a nomadic Hyksos tribe encountered in 1 Samuel and elsewhere) as well as the perpetually reborn spirit of antisemitism. Unlike some folks I won’t try to tell you what Dionysos’ political beliefs are, but I know what Euripides wrote in Bakchai and I believe it:

Will anyone say that I do not respect old age, being about to dance with my head covered in ivy? No, for the God has made no distinction as to whether it is right for men young or old to dance, but wishes to have common honors from all and to be extolled, setting no one apart. (204-209)

Brutal, lawless shepherd-king, protector of the descendents of Esau,
Amalek the swayer of nations, who feeds on ignorance, and hate,
and the blood of Israelite children and grandmothers; by the signet ring
of the one who blesses with abundant vineyards, he who hunts in the
mountains of Gilbōa, and founded Beth She’an as the chief of the cities
of the Decapolis, you are vanquished. Crafted by the Telchines, and worn
by Orpheus, Melampos, Akoites, Pythagoras and Empedokles,
with the great and mighty pentalpha I bind, rebuke, and render you impotent,
you foul slave of Beliar!

In every generation the spirit of Amalek rises up to slaughter
the offspring of Yakōb, but the vigorous son of Zeus has sworn
to stand beside Yahō Sabaōth in defense of these people,
and has granted his prophets the power to wield the ring against you.
Ever since you ate fruit from the Tree of Ašerah you cannot be
killed, or maimed, or obliterated Amalek,
and so always find a way to return and resume your mission
to crush their power or annihilate the Hebrews
wherever they may be found, and you have raised
many evil humans and malignant spirits against them,
but all your labor has come to naught, son of Lamaštu,
for you fight against Adōnai and Bakcheios Abraō
and those who serve under or are allied with them,
and so the Jews still thrive in every part of the world.

No matter what new genocide, inquisition,
pogram, or intifada you contrive, Amalek
who is skilled at manipulating the minds of mortals,
you will not prove successful against Ēl Šadday
and Dionysos the slayer of Achōr and Bēlisath,
who will always be there to thwart you, Amalek,
favorite son of Typhōn of Avaris, the enemy of all the Gods
of Egypt, Canaan and Greece.
Defeated, damaged, and defiled you flee
back to the desert seeking solace and comfort in the arms
of your monstrous parents Typhōn and Lamaštu,
and that shows your stupidity more than anything else,
for they have no compassion in them, and care only about
conquest, and subjugation, and the perversion of holiness.

So prepare, once again, to feel the full fury of the pentalpha unleashed,
and all of your schemes toppled like a house of cards,
not by I but by Bakcheios who commands the twenty-four Warriors
and Elah Šemaya whose kingdom and people are protected
by Michaēl, Gabriēl, Raphaēl, Uriēl, Anaēl, Sariēl, Kamiēl, and Zadkiēl,
each with seven myriads of Angels beneath them.

You are vanquished Amalek!
You are vanquished Amalek!
You are vanquished Amalek!

And for those of you who think Dionysian monasticism is a queer idea, well, these guys would beg to differ. There are as many ways to worship the Bacchic One as there are flowers in Nysa.

And the connection between Bacchic Orphism and Pythagoreanism isn’t exactly novel either; I’ve certainly written about it often enough, as have Gábor Betegh, Leonid Zhmud, Carl Kerényi, and a couple others.

Like Proklos:

All that Orpheus transmitted through secret discourses connected to the mysteries, Pythagoras learnt thoroughly when he completed the initiation at Libethra in Thrace, and Aglaophamos, the initiator, revealed to him the wisdom about the Gods that Orpheus acquired from his mother Kalliope.

And if you don’t think the community he founded was in any way monastic, might I recommend the Pythagorean Sourcebook? And reading, rather than talking shit in your “secret” Discord. I may have been gone awhile, but I’ve still got eyes everywhere. Silly thing; I don’t care that you hate me. I’ve seen what you cheer for. I didn’t think about you once during my hiatus. What a shame the same wasn’t true for you. Maybe you’d be happier if you touched grass and worshipped Dionysos more. It sickens you that I’ve returned? Well, it sickens me that you would say such vile things about Jews in space dedicated to He Who Loves the Stranger … and nobody challenged you. I will.

Before I share some of the imprecations which contain historiolae concerning Dionysos’ interactions with Yahweh, Ašmedai, Masṭēmā and other entities from Jewish and related traditions, I figured I’d post some background information for y’all.

To begin with, here are some older pieces from the House of Vines which you may or may not already be familiar with:

• Dionysos and the Jews
• The Jewish God in Alexandria
• mangling dogs in Bacchic frenzy
• Hail Semachus and his Daughters!
• The Ivy-Covered Cross

And here are an assortment of academic articles:

• The Afterlife of Orphism: Jewish, Gnostic and Christian Perspectives by Guy G Stroumsa
• Babylonian Jewish Society: The Evidence of the Incantation Bowls by Avigail Manekin Bamberger and Simcha Gross
• Beth Shean/Scythopolis in Late Antiquity: Cult and Culture, Continuity and Change by Katharina Heyden
• A Dated Inscription from Beth Shean and the Cult of Dionysos Ktistes in Roman Scythopolis by Leah Di Segni
• Death and Eternal Life at Beth Shean by Stephanie Hagan
• The development of Jewish ideas of angels : Egyptian and Hellenistic connections, ca. 600 BCE to ca. 200 CE by Annette Evans
• Dionysos and His Retinue in the Art of Late Roman and Byzantine Palestine by Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom
• Dionysos in the Decapolis by Sonia Mucznik
• Dionysus Between Sāsānian Iran and Roman Allusions by Robert Schulz
• Divorcing Lilith: From the Babylonian Incantation Bowls to the Cairo Genizah by Dan Levene and Gideon Bohak
• Dramatis Personae in the Jewish Magic Texts: Some Differences between Incantation Bowls and Geniza Magic by Shaul Shaked
• Elephantine papyri and ostraca s.v. Wikipedia
• Eshem-Bethel and Herem-Bethel: New Evidence from Amherst Papyrus 63 by Karel van der Toorn
• In Praise of Gods & Goddesses in Aramean Egypt: Papyrus Amherst 63 by Tawny Holm
• Jewish Magic Literature in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages by Peter Schäfer
• Judahite Pillar Figurines: More Questions than Answers by Robert Deutsch
• The Judean Pillar-Figurines and the Archaeology of Asherah by Ron Tappy
• The “Man-Bull” and the «Master of Animals» in Mesopotamia and in Iran by Alireza Taheri
• Marzēaḥ s.v. Wikipedia
• Moses/Musaeus/Mochos and his God Yahweh, Iao, and Sabaoth, seen from a Graeco-Roman perspective by G.H. van Kooten
• New Gold Lamellae and Amulet Capsules from (Judaeo-Christian) Graves at Juliopolis by Roy D. Kotansky and Melih Arslan
• Old-Babylonian, Middle-Babylonian, Neo-Babylonian, Jewish-Babylonian? Thoughts about Transmission Modes of Mesopotamian Magic through the Ages by Nathan Wasserman
• Outside the Canon? Three Unique Figurines from Beth Shemesh, Socho, and Jerusalem by Raz Kletter
• A Paganized Version of Psalm 20:2-6 from the Aramaic Text in Demotic Script by Charles F. Nims and Richard C. Steiner
• Popular religion in ancient Judah during the 8th and 7th centuries BC by Valia Papanastasopoulou
• A Promise of Wisdom: The Classical Origins of the Odysseus and the Sirens Mosaic Floor from Scythopolis (Bet-Shean) by Nava Sevilla Sadeh
• Reading Dionysus: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Cultural Contestations of Greeks, Jews, Romans, and Christians by Courtney Friesen
• A Study in Conceptual Parallels: Graeco-Roman Binding Spells and Babylonian Incantation Bowls
  by Ortal-Paz Saar
• Syncretistic and confessional features in Mesopotamian incantation bowls by Tapani Harviainen
• The Visits of St. Sabas to Beth Shean by Gabriel Mazor 
• Was YHWH worshipped in the Aegean? by Nissim Amzallag

Last night our household held a lovely rite to honor Apollon with prayer, and plentiful offerings, and singing, and dancing. It was one of those moments where everything came together beautifully, transcendently. My wife has written about it here. One of the things that helped properly set the mood was this rendition of the First Delphic Hymn to Apollon by Thanasis Kleopas and Loukiani Papadaki. May it likewise bring all of you into the realm of the Archer God, Phoibos of the golden hair.

Yeah, I know I said I was going to start posting the Bacchic Judaica today, but upon further reflection decided to save it for the Shabbos.

Here are two musicians I am currently enjoying: Ben Caplan and Benjamin Tod.

And Ren would be a third.