The Christian heresiarch Carpocrates (whom I posted about here and here) was born in 2nd century Egypt and ended his days in Asia Minor, which had a pronounced Bacchic presence. Around this time there were even small circles of Orphikoi in the area, such as the community that produced the collection of hymns that has come down to us under their master’s name. I strongly suspect that these groups intersected and that there was substantial mutual inspiration between them.

Consider what Livy relates about the Bacchanalia and the Bacchic Martyrs of Southern Italy, as well as stories that circulated elsewhere. Hell, even back in the days of Plato we Bacchic Orphics had a pretty sketchy reputation.

But it isn’t just their marginal status and antinomian beliefs that causes me to intuit a connection between these groups, as Clement of Alexandria makes clear in book 3, chapter 2 of the Miscellanies:

6. This is what he says, then, in the book Concerning Righteousness: “The righteousness of God is a kind of universal fairness and equality. There is equality in the heaven which is stretched out in all directions and contains the entire earth in its circle. The night reveals equally all the stars. The light of the sun, which is the cause of the daytime and the father of light, God pours out from above upon the earth in equal measure on all who have power to see. For all see alike. There is no distinction between rich and poor, people and governor, stupid and clever, female and male, free men and slaves. Even the irrational animals are not accorded any different treatment; but in just the same way God pours out from above sunlight equally upon all the animals. He establishes his righteousness to both good and bad by seeing that none is able to get more than his share and to deprive his neighbour, so that he has twice the light his neighbour has. The sun causes food to grow for all living beings alike; the universal righteousness is given to all equally. In this respect there is no difference between the entire species of oxen and any individual oxen, between the species of pigs and particular pigs, between the species of sheep and particular sheep, and so on with all the rest. In them the universality of God’s fairness is manifest. Furthermore all plants of whatever sort are sown equally in the earth. Common nourishment grows for all beasts which feed on the earth’s produce; to all it is alike. It is regulated by no law, but rather is harmoniously available to all through the gift of him who gives it and makes it to grow.

7. “And for birth there is no written law (for otherwise it would have been transcribed). All beings beget and give birth alike, having received by God’s righteousness an innate equality. The Creator and Father of all with his own righteousness appointed this, just as he gave equally the eye to all to enable them to see. He did not make a distinction between female and male, rational and irrational, nor between anything and anything else at all; rather he shared out sight equally and universally. It was given to all alike by a single command. As the laws (he says) could not punish men who were ignorant of them, they taught men that they were transgressors. But the laws, by pre-supposing the existence of private property, cut up and destroyed the universal equality decreed by the divine law.” As he does not understand the words of the apostle where he says “Through the law I knew sin,” he says that the idea of Mine and Thine came into existence through the laws so that the earth and money were no longer put to common use. And so also with marriage. “For God has made vines for all to use in common, since they are not protected against sparrows and a thief; and similarly corn and the other fruits. But the abolition, contrary to divine law, of community of use and equality begat the thief of domestic animals and fruits.

8. He brought female to be with male and in the same way united all animals. He thus showed righteousness to be a universal fairness and equality .But those who have been born in this way have denied the universality which is the corollary of their birth and say, ‘Let him who has taken one woman keep her,’ whereas all alike can have her, just as the other animals do.” After this, which is quoted word for word, he again continues in the same spirit as follows: “With a view to the permanence of the race, he has implanted in males a strong and ardent desire which neither law nor custom nor any other restraint is able to destroy. For it is God’s decree.”

And how can this man still be reckoned among our number when he openly abolishes both law and gospel by these words. The one says: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” The other says: “Everyone who looks lustfully has already committed adultery.” The saying in the law, “Thou shalt not covet,” lt shows that one God is proclaimed by law, prophets, and gospel; for it says: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife.” But for a Jew the “neighbour” is not a Jew, for he is a brother and has the same spirit. Therefore it remains that “neighbour” means one of another race. But how can he not be a neighbour who is able to share in the same spirit? For Abraham is father not only of the Hebrews, but also of the Gentiles.

9. If the adulteress and he who committed fornication with her are punished with death, clearly the command which says “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife” speaks of the Gentiles, in order that anyone who, as the law directs, abstains from his neighbour’s wife and from his sister may hear clearly from the Lord, “But I say unto you, Thou shalt not lust.” The addition of the word “I,” however, shows the stricter force of the commandment, and that Carpocrates fights against God, and Epiphanes likewise. The latter in the same notorious book, I mean Concerning Righteousness, writes in one passage as follows: “Consequently one must understand the saying ‘Thou shalt not covet’ as if the lawgiver was making a jest, to which he added the even more comic words ‘thy neighbour’s goods’. For he himself who gave the desire to sustain the race orders that it is to be suppressed, though he removes it from no other animals. And by the words ‘thy neighbour’s wife’ he says something even more ludicrous, since he forces what should be common property to be treated as a private possession.”

These then are the doctrines of the excellent Carpocratians. These, so they say, and certain other enthusiasts for the same wickednesses, gather together for feasts (I would not call their meeting an Agape), men and women together. After they have sated their appetites (“on repletion Cypris, the Goddess of love, enters,” as it is said), then they overturn the lamps and so extinguish the light that the shame of their adulterous “righteousness” is hidden, and they have intercourse where they will and with whom they will. After they have practiced community of use in this love-feast, they demand by daylight of whatever women they wish that they will be obedient to the law of Carpocrates-it would not be right to say the law of God. Such, I think, is the law that Carpocrates must have given for the copulations of dogs and pigs and goats. He seems to me to have misunderstood the saying of Plato in the Republic that the women of all are to be common. Plato means that the unmarried are common for those who wish to ask them, as also the theatre is open to the public for all who wish to see, but that when each one has chosen his wife, then the married woman is no longer common to all.

II. In his book entitled Magica Xanthus says: “The Magi think it permissible to have sexual intercourse with mothers and daughters and sisters, and that wives are to be held in common, not by force and in secret, but both parties may agree when one man wishes to marry another’s wife. “Of these and other similar sects Jude, I think, spoke prophetically in his letter- “In the same way also these dreamers” (for they do not seek to find the truth in the light of day) as far as the words “and their mouth speaks arrogant things.”

A lot of this cosmology is downright Empedoclean and Herakleitian.

And this strain of utopian Bacchic communitarianism interests me a great deal, as it’s something that we see resurface (again and again) with the Germanic, Scandinavian and Russian Romantic poets and even much earlier with François Rabelais and his Abbey of Thélème. (Not to mention here in America too.)

But even more relevant is the hero-cultus that developed around Epiphanes, the son of Carpocrates:

6. But the followers of Carpocrates and Epiphanes think that wives should be common property. Through them the worst calumny has become current against the Christian name. This fellow Epiphanes, whose writings I have at hand, was a son of Carpocrates and his mother was named Alexandria. On his father’s side he was an Alexandrine, on his mother’s a Cephallenian. He lived in all only seventeen years, and at Same in Cephallenia was honoured as a God. There a temple of vast blocks of stone was erected and dedicated to him, with altars, sacred precincts, and a “museum.” The Cephallenians gather at the temple every new moon and celebrate with sacrifices the day when Epiphanes became a God as his birthday; they pour libations to him, feast in his honour, and sing his praises. He was educated by his father in the general education and in Platonism, and he was instructed in the knowledge of the Monad, which is the root-origin of the Carpocratians’ heresy.

So much to be unpacked here, that I hesitate to introduce the following – but it does show that Gnostics and Orphics rubbed shoulders, even if these selections from the fifth book of Hippolytus Romanus’ Philosophoumena are concerning a different denomination:

Worshipping, however, Kyllenios with special distinction, they style him Logios. For Hermes is the Word who being interpreter and fabricator of the things that have been made simultaneously and that are being produced and that will exist, stands honoured among them, fashioned into the form of the phallos of a man, having an impulsive power from the parts below towards those above. And that this deity is a conjurer of the dead and a guide of departed spirits and an originator of souls has not escaped the notice of the poets.

This is the Christ who, he says, in all that have been generated, is the portrayed Son of Man from the unportrayable Logos. This, he says, is the great and unspeakable mystery of the Eleusinian rites, Hye, Kye! (“Rain, conceive!”) And he affirms that all things have been subjected unto him, and this is that which has been spoken, Their sound is gone forth unto all the earth just as it agrees with the expression, Hermes waving his wand, guides the souls, but they twittering follow. The poet means the disembodied spirits follow continuously in such a way as by his imagery he delineates:

And as when in the magic cave’s recess
Bats humming fly, and when one drops from ridge of rock,
and each to other closely clings.

These are, he says, what are by all called the secret mysteries which also we speak, not in words taught of human wisdom, but in those taught of the spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives not the things of God’s spirt for they are foolishness unto him.

And again, he says, the savior has declared the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you.

Jeremiah himself remarked He is a man, and who shall know him?

These, he says, are the inferior mysteries, those appertaining to carnal generation. Now, those men who are initiated into these inferior mysteries ought to pause, and then be admitted into the great and heavenly ones. For they, he says, who obtain their shares in this mystery, receive greater portions. For this, he says, is the gate of heaven; and this a house of God, where the Good Deity dwells alone. And into this gate, he says, no unclean person shall enter, nor one that is natural or carnal; but it is reserved for the spiritual only. And those who come hither ought to cast off their garments, and become all of them bridegrooms.

Concerning these, it is said, the Savior has expressly declared that straight and narrow is the way that leads unto life, and few there are that enter upon it; whereas broad and spacious is the way that leads unto destruction, and many there are that pass through it.

The entire system of their doctrine, however, is derived from the ancient theologians Mousaios, Linos and Orpheus, who elucidates especially the ceremonies of initiation, as well as the mysteries themselves. For their doctrine concerning the womb is also the tenet of Orpheus; and the idea of the navel, which is harmony, is to be found with the same symbolism attached to it in the Bacchanalian orgies of Orpheus. But prior to the observance of the mystic rites of Keleos and Triptolemos and Demeter and Bakchos in Eleusis, these orgies have been celebrated and handed down to men in Phliom of Attica.

And in the greater number of these books is also drawn the representation of a certain aged man, grey-haired, winged, having his penis erect, pursuing a retreating woman of azure color. And over the aged man is the inscription phaos ruentes, and over the woman peree. But phaos ruentes appears to be the light which exists, according to the doctrine of the Sethians, and phicola the darkish water; while the space in the midst of these seems to be a harmony constituted from the spirit that is placed between. The name, however, of phaos ruentes manifests, as they allege, the flow from above of the light downwards. Wherefore one may reasonably assert that the Sethians celebrate rites among themselves, very closely bordering upon those orgies of the Great Mother which are observed among the Phliasians. And the poet likewise seems to bear his testimony to this triple division, when he remarks:

And all things have been triply divided, and everything obtains its proper distinction

 That is, each member of the threefold division has obtained a particular capacity. But now, as regards the tenet that the subjacent water below, which is dark, ought, because the light has set over it, to convey upwards and receive the spark borne down from the light itself is the assertion of this tenet. I say the all-wise Sethians appear to derive their opinion from Homer

By earth I swore, and yon broad Heaven above,
And Stygian stream beneath, the weightiest oath
Of solemn power, to bind the blessed Gods.

 Therefore, he says, when, on the people assembling in the theatres, any one enters clad in a remarkable robe, carrying a harp and playing a tune upon it, accompanying it with a song of the great mysteries, he speaks as follows, not knowing what he says:

 Whether you are the race of Kronos or blessed Zeus, or mighty Rheia, Hail, Attis, gloomy mutilation of Rheia. Assyrians style you thrice-longed-for Adonis, and the whole of Egypt calls you Osiris, celestial horn of the moon; Greeks denominate you Wisdom; Samothracians, venerable Adam; Haemonians, Korybas; and the Phrygians name you at one time Papa, at another time Corpse, or God, or Fruitless, or Aipolos, or Green Ear of Corn that has been reaped, or whom the very fertile Amygdalos produced— a man, a musician.

 This, he says, is multiform Attis, whom while they celebrate in a hymn, they utter these words:

I will hymn Attis, son of Rheia, not with the buzzing sounds of trumpets, or of Idaean pipers, which accord with the voices of Kouretes; but I will mingle my song with Apollon’s music of harps, “evohe, euan,” inasmuch as you are Pan, as you are Bakchos, as you are shepherd of brilliant stars.

 

Who are you?

 

Thomas said: “We have heard that there are some on the earth who take the male seed and the female monthly blood, and make it into a lentil porridge and eat it, saying: ‘We have faith in Esau and Jacob.’ Is this then seemly or not?”

Jesus was wroth with the world in that hour and said unto Thomas: “Amēn, I say: This sin is more heinous than all sins and iniquities. Such men will straightway be taken into the outer darkness and not be cast back anew into the sphere, but they shall perish, be destroyed in the outer darkness in a region where there is neither pity nor light, but howling and grinding of teeth. And all the souls which shall be brought into the outer darkness, will not be cast back anew, but will be destroyed and dissolved.”

– The Pistis Sophia, translated by G. R. S. Mead

Irenaeus: Against Heresies Book I, Chapter XXV
1. Carpocrates, again, and his followers maintain that the world and the things which are therein were created by angels greatly inferior to the unbegotten Father. They also hold that Jesus was the son of Joseph, and was just like other men, with the exception that he differed from them in this respect, that inasmuch as his soul was stedfast and pure, he perfectly remembered those things which he had witnessed within the sphere of the unbegotten God. On this account, a power descended upon him from the Father, that by means of it he might escape from the creators of the world; and they say that it, after passing through them all, and remaining in all points free, ascended again to him, and to the powers, which in the same way embraced like things to itself. They further declare, that the soul of Jesus, although educated in the practices of the Jews, regarded these with contempt, and that for this reason he was endowed with faculties, by means of which he destroyed those passions which dwelt in men as a punishment [for their sins].

2. The soul, therefore, which is like that of Christ can despise those rulers who were the creators of the world, and, in like manner, receives power for accomplishing the same results. This idea has raised them to such a pitch of pride, that some of them declare themselves similar to Jesus; while others, still more mighty, maintain that they are superior to his disciples, such as Peter and Paul, and the rest of the apostles, whom they consider to be in no respect inferior to Jesus. For their souls, descending from the same sphere as his, and therefore despising in like manner the creators of the world, are deemed worthy of the same power, and again depart to the same place. But if any one shall have despised the things in this world more than he did, he thus proves himself superior to him.

3. They practise also magical arts and incantations; philters, also, and love-potions; and have recourse to familiar spirits, dream-sending demons, and other abominations, declaring that they possess power to rule over, even now, the princes and formers of this world; and not only them, but also all things that are in it. These men, even as the Gentiles, have been sent forth by Satan to bring dishonour upon the Church, so that, in one way or another, men hearing the things which they speak, and imagining that we all are such as they, may turn away their ears from the preaching of the truth; or, again, seeing the things they practise, may speak evil of us all, who have in fact no fellowship with them, either in doctrine or in morals, or in our daily conduct. But they lead a licentious life, and, to conceal their impious doctrines, they abuse the name [of Christ], as a means of hiding their wickedness; so that “their condemnation is just,” when they receive from God a recompense suited to their works.

4. So unbridled is their madness, that they declare they have in their power all things which are irreligious and impious, and are at liberty to practise them; for they maintain that things are evil or good, simply in virtue of human opinion. They deem it necessary, therefore, that by means of transmigration from body to body, souls should have experience of every kind of life as well as every kind of action (unless, indeed, by a single incarnation, one may be able to prevent any need for others, by once for all, and with equal completeness, doing all those things which we dare not either speak or hear of, nay, which we must not even conceive in our thoughts, nor think credible, if any such thing is mooted among those persons who are our fellow-citizens), in order that, as their writings express it, their souls, having made trial of every kind of life, may, at their departure, not be wanting in any particular. It is necessary to insist upon this, lest, on account of some one thing being still wanting to their deliverance, they should be compelled once more to become incarnate. They affirm that for this reason Jesus spoke the following parable:–”Whilst thou art with thine adversary in the way, give all diligence, that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he give thee up to the judge, and the judge surrender thee to the officer, and he cast thee into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last farthing.” They also declare the “adversary” is one of those angels who are in the world, whom they call the Devil, maintaining that he was formed for this purpose, that he might lead those souls which have perished from the world to the Supreme Ruler. They describe him also as being chief among the makers of the world, and maintain that he delivers such souls [as have been mentioned] to another angel, who ministers to him, that he may shut them up in other bodies; for they declare that the body is “the prison.” Again, they interpret these expressions, “Thou shalt not go out thence until thou pay the very last farthing,” as meaning that no one can escape from the power of those angels who made the world, but that he must pass from body to body, until he has experience of every kind of action which can be practised in this world, and when nothing is longer wanting to him, then his liberated soul should soar upwards to that God who is above the angels, the makers of the world. In this way also all souls are saved, whether their own which, guarding against all delay, participate in all sorts of actions during one incarnation, or those, again, who, by passing from body to body, are set free, on fulfilling and accomplishing what is requisite in every form of life into which they are sent, so that at length they shall no longer be [shut in the body].

5. And thus, if ungodly, unlawful, and forbidden actions are committed among them, I can no longer find ground for believing them to be such. And in their writings we read as follows, the interpretation which they give [of their views], declaring that Jesus spoke in a mystery to His disciples and apostles privately, and that they requested and obtained permission to hand down the things thus taught them, to others who should be worthy and believing. We are saved, indeed, by means of faith and love; but all other things, while in their nature indifferent, are reckoned by the opinion of men–some good and some evil, there being nothing really evil by nature.

6. Others of them employ outward marks, branding their disciples inside the lobe of the right ear. From among these also arose Marcellina, who came to Rome under [the episcopate of] Anicetus, and, holding these doctrines, she led multitudes astray. They style themselves Gnostics. They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They have also other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles.

No veil now covers the curls on my delicate cheek, nor in maiden shame have I hidden the blush on my face, I come as a Bacchant, celebrating death. I have thrown the veil from my hair, my saffron robe hangs loose. I bring on the dead with my groans. (Euripides, The Phoenician Women)

I just saw A Mata Negra (The Black Forest) by Brazilian director Rodrigo Aragão, which IMDB describes as follows:

In this mystical horror tale, a young woman uncovers the Lost Book of Cipriano, an ancient tome with power for both wealth… and pure evil.

The first hour or so was beautiful and creepy and genuinely suspenseful. It reminded me of the magical realism of Luis Buñuel, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Álex de la Iglesia and Guillermo del Toro, with every frame a work of art. Then it kind of goes off the rails with the main character’s increasingly poor choices making it difficult to root for her. But it never becomes unwatchable, especially after the naked chicken demon is introduced. The film also teaches a very valuable lesson about commitment and not half-assing it.

Here’s the trailer:

This image by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme really conveys something of the Black Sun experience:

As does this video by Sigur Rós:

And I’m hardly the only one to suggest a connection between Dionysos and the Black Sun. There’s also this dude:

Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov. Also not a Nazi.

He wrote in The Vineyard Of Dionysus:

Dionysus walks his vineyard, his beloved;
Two women in dark clothing – two vintagers – follow him.
Dionysus tells the two mournful guards – the vintagers:
“Take your sharp knife, my vintners, Grief and Torment;
Harvest, Grief and Torment, my beloved grapes!
Gather the blood of scarlet bunches, the tears of my golden clusters –
Take the victim of bliss to the whetstone of grief,
The purple of suffering to the whetstone of bliss;
Pour the fervent liquid of scarlet delights into my ardent Grail!”

For Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov Dionysos was more than just a poetic trope. In Dancing Maenads in Early 20th-Century Britain Fiona Macintosh remarks:

In Germany and Russia there were followers of Dionysus, who shunned the modern world altogether and lived in quasi-Bacchic settings and practiced Dionysian rituals.*

* Blom (2008), 200-2. In Russia, for example, Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949), classical scholar and author of The Hellenic Religion of the Suffering God (1904), lived in ‘The Tower’ believing he was Dionysus from 1905 onwards. In Germany there were numerous bearded and naturist followers of Dionysus, including the young Herman Hesse.   

He was quite the interesting fellow, according to James H. Billington:

‘Viacheslav the Magnificent’ was the crown prince and chef de salon of the new society, which met in his seventh floor apartment ‘The Tower,’ overlooking the gardens of the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Walls and partitions were torn down to accommodate the increasing numbers of talented and disputatious people who flocked to the Wednesday soirees, which were rarely in full swing until after supper had been served at 2 A.M.

Acclaimed poet Maria Skobtsova recalled the symposiastic paradise created by Ivanov decades later, as a White émigré in Paris:

We lived in the middle of a vast country as if on an uninhabited island. Russia was illiterate, whereas in our milieu was concentrated all the culture of the world: the Greeks were quoted by heart, we welcomed the French symbolists, we thought of Scandinavian literature as our own, we were familiar with the philosophy, theology, poetry and history of the whole wide world, in this sense we were citizens of the universe, the keepers of mankind’s cultural museum. This was Rome in the time of its decline… We played out the last act of the tragedy concerned with the rift between the intelligentsia and the people. Beyond us stretched out the Russian Empire’s snowy desert, a country in fetters: it was as ignorant of our delights as of our anguish, while its own delights and anguish had no effect on us.

Jesús Ángel Espinós writes in The realm of Hades and its symbols in Mandel’štam’s Tristia: a transparent path to redemption:

So, through the mediation of bees and their honey Persephone softens her gloomy character and takes on a new redeemer aspect through which the bees, probably a metaphor of the souls of the dead, transmute their honey into sun, and consequently transcend their earthly existence, as can be observed in the final verses of poem I, 208:

Take for joy my wild gift,
A homely and dry necklace
Of dead bees who transformed
honey into sun.

The last word of the poem, “sun”, inserts itself into a fundamental network where metaphors pertaining to “black sun” and to “night sun” claim attention. In both epithets it has been observed as an Orphic influence that refers to Dionysus Nyktelios, the “Dionysus of the night sun”. Broadly speaking, the imagery of both suns, particularly that of the “night sun”, has to be related to Vjačeslav Ivanov, classical philologist and erudite Symbolist poet, who exerted a great sway on Mandel’štam, especially in his youthful years. Ivanov employs the image of “night sun” in several works such as in the articles ‘Мысли о символизме’ (‘Thoughts about Symbolism’), ‘Орфей’ (‘Orpheus’), in the essay ‘Взгляд Скрябина на искусство’ (‘Skrjabin’s View of Art’), and in the poems ‘Ночное солнце’ (‘Night Sun’) and ‘Сердце Диониса’ (‘Dionysus’ Heart’) among others. Orphic rituals enable us to expiate the guilt inherited from the Titans, and consequently avoid the pu-nishments of afterlife and the cycle of reincarnations. In addition, Plutarch suggests that there must have been a work dedicated to Dionysus Nyktelios, which probably described the mourning for the god’s death and the orgiastic rites in honor of his rebirth. Nevertheless, in spite of Plutarch’s witness, the existence of such a work, perhaps an epic poem called  Νυκτέλια, cannot be proved. In this hypothetical poem the initiates would be instructed in the symbolic meaning of the night, which should be explained by the opposition night/day, shadow/light, an opposition that can be observed in the Mandel’štamian oxymora “night sun”, and to a lesser extent “black sun”. On the other hand, this interrelation of opposite qualities can be traced back to Ivanov, who closes his poem ‘Ночное солнце’ (‘ Night Sun’) with the following command: “В полночь зови незакатный свет!” (“At midnight call the never setting light!”; v. 7). In sum, from this point of view, the Orphic sun of poem I, 208 (v. 15), created by the honey of dead bees, should be understood as a sun of salvation that, under the appearance of a Dionysus reborn, would set us free from the continuous and numerous gloomy metaphors that dot Mandel’štam’s Tristia. On the other hand, the bees were a symbol of poetic talent in classical Antiquity as must be inferred from the recurrent scene of bees that perch on the lips of future poets when they are still in the cradle or that, in the case of the young Pindar, even build a honeycomb on his lips according to Pausanias (Description of Greece IX, 23, 2), or feed him with honey as Philostratus (Images II, 12, 2, 4) states. So, I might venture that the bees, by means of their poetic force, defy death, which is the same as saying that poetry, incarnated in the honey, reveals itself as immortal.

Regarding this imagery, Terras remarks: “We know that precisely at the time of Mandelstam’s intensive contact with Ivanov, the latter was lecturing on Novalis and translating his poetry and, in particular, his Hymnen an die Nacht. In the very first of these hymns we find a ‘liebliche Sonne der  Nacht,’ translated as Mne solntsem ty polunochnym siiaesh’, ‘You shine for me as a midnight sun’ […]. The not inconsiderable role played by Novalis in Mandelstam’s thought […] is surely due to Ivanov’s mediation.” (The Black Sun: Orphic Imagery in the Poetry of Osip Mandelstam. SEEJ, 45, No. 1, 45-60.)

It kind of amuses me that they’re making such a big deal about the whole Black Sun thing now. I mean, I’ve used the pics in a bunch of posts, and written quite extensively on the subject. If I thought this was something shameful and to be kept secret I’m doing rather a shitty job of it, don’t you think?

Here’s some real ammunition, folks, rather than gossip and insinuation to go by.

Read and judge for yourself.

• The Mystery of the Midnight Sun
• The Story
• Tangled Windings
• Waves of Madness
• Carried Away
• On Oschophoria
• On Lampteria
• Dionysos may be the reason for the season, but don’t blame Christmas on him!
• Chthonic Dionysos and the Saints of the True Vine
• On Dionysos Eubouleus

That’s why I use the symbol. That’s what it means to me. Not Nazism. 

And of course folks are free to disagree with my interpretation and usage and disassociate or push back however they please. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong and stupid.

Though your argument that Scarlet Magdalene gets to decide what’s antisemitic because she’s Jewish, well, that’s just bullshit. And disappointing, because I’ve come to expect better of you. 

I mean, I asked five Jews and they all said it was cool. Granted five isn’t a minyan, but it’s bigger than one. If we’re going by your metric, shouldn’t that carry more weight?

And unlike a certain someone these were observant Jews, albeit like her at least three of them had broken the Mosaic commandment against having other Gods. One is also an adulterer, but I respect his opinion on religious and magical matters because people are complex and complicated. Just because you know one fact about someone doesn’t mean you know anything about who they are or what their life and world are like. 

I just question your timing and tenacity and dishonesty. 

Why, it’s almost like you’re trying to smokescreen folks. 

The responses to my explanation for why I use the Sonnenrad have been rather interesting. There has been concern that I’m trying to force others to use it, tirades about UPG and going beyond the sources, worry about blindly accepting whatever a God happens to tell us, theoreticals about all the horrible things a God might command one to do, whether it’s even possible for the Gods to act contrary to the good, etc.

I really wonder how many of these people even bothered to read my explanation before weighing in. If you need a refresher, here you go:

This image was given to me in a dream by Dionysos. Initially I was uncomfortable with that since I was aware of its Nazi associations. But it kept showing up in visions and meditations over the course of a couple months. And then the God showed me what it means, how it’s one of the symbols of his mysteries and more importantly what can be done with it. And that’s all I needed. I will never stop wearing it, talking about it, or using it.

The first thing you’ll notice is that at no point was there discussion about other people using this symbol or not. Not in the account, and not in any of the subsequent posts I’ve made. Not only have I not encouraged others to adopt it, I haven’t attempted to argue anyone down from their positions.

Look, I get it. Nazis bad. Anything they touched is going to be forever stained for you. Not only can’t these symbols ever be redeemed, but anyone who uses them is a jerk or worse, and you want to stay as far away from that as possible.

Cool.

You can stop reading now.

I’m not going to try to convince you of anything, but I’m also not going to engage with your kneejerk arguments because they aren’t based in anything other than emotion. May you lead a happy and fulfilled life – preferably as far away from me and mine as possible.

Now on to the theological points.

I didn’t take on the Sonnenrad because Dionysos told me to. There was no blind acceptance of anything, no threats or compulsion.

It began simply with a dream in which I was given the symbol. He didn’t explain anything, including why he wanted me to have it. We were just hanging out in the Labyrinth talking and suddenly he extended his hand and there was a black disc with moving tendrils resembling Sig-runes around the circumference. I held it in my hands and felt this vibrating power that made me kind of dizzy and the next thing I knew I was awake.

I felt disoriented, but got up and went to my lap-top to confirm that he had indeed given me what I thought he had. I spent a half hour or so checking out a smattering of sites, most of which repeated the same bare bones information. I said, “Hmm, that’s weird. Wonder if it means anything.” And then I went back to bed.

A couple days later my mind returned to the symbol. It made me really uncomfortable because of its Nazi associations. Why had he given it to me? What did he intend for me to do with it? How did I personally feel about it, for that matter.

Mostly it made me uncomfortable. It’s not just that I don’t like Nazis and anything associated with them was tainted – but as someone who had already gotten plenty of flak for my conservative and Right-leaning views, well, adopting this symbol would have some pretty severe ramifications. To the point that it could destroy all of my community-building efforts which I had undertaken expressly for him.

So I filed it away in the back of my mind, and went about organizing the Polytheist Leadership Conference. And for the next six months or so, that was that. There were no further dreams, no whispered messages or visions, I was swamped with work both during the Conference and in its immediate aftermath, and I got involved in some esoteric work involving next level stuff with the Toys, opening up the Green Way thread of the tradition, working more closely with Orpheus, Medeia and Melampous, and generally growing the Starry Bull community with close to a dozen initiates made over the next couple years.

Then the Sonnenrad started showing up more and more for me. People would mention it in books and articles I was reading, it’d pop up in videos and movies, I began seeing it in dreams and visions, it filtered subconsciously into my writing and then David Bowie released his final album ★ and went to join the heroes. At this point I felt I needed to understand the symbol and its occult significance better so I hit the books. Most writings were either full of incomprehensible jargon, or veered off into crazy land often with heaping helpings of delusional racism, antisemitism and messianiac Hitlerism. The alchemical literature proved more useful – and overlapped significantly with what I had been calling the Bull-Wolf ritual combat strain of the tradition – but a lot of it was also unproductive or way over my head, since my knowledge of the subject is fairly minimal. Nevertheless I was able to piece together some significant stuff from these disparate sources but also felt that I had taken things as far as I could through the research route.

So I went back and prayed for Dionysos to send me another dream, perhaps one with a little more clarity. And I got zilch. Nada. Nothingburger. A couple weeks straight of prayer, bedtime ritual, entheogens, etc. netted the same results. So I figured that was that, and it would remain a closed mystery to me. I’ve encountered plenty of other strains within the Starry Bull that were like that, so it didn’t surprise me overmuch.

Then, as I prepared to take another class through the Toys course the Sonnenrad started aggressively showing up again – not just via the exercises, but whenever I’d meditate and occasionally in dreams too. I begged Dionysos to reveal its meaning, and though he communicated very little to me directly more and more of it started opening up for me until I had a pretty good sense of what it was, what processes it oversaw, and once mastered how its energy could be utilized.

At which point Dionysos and I needed to have another heart-to-heart because I was very uncomfortable making what amounted to Nazi spiritual tech part of the Starry Bull tradition. I knew enough by then that I was convinced it was so much more than that and the Nazis and related Occultists had only scratched the surface – but it’d be a really fucking hard sell for others. The couple of times I’d brought it up in the group people freaked and threatened to leave. These were my people, who trusted and spent years working with me. If they had that reaction, I could just imagine how others would take this.

So Dionysos and I talked. He didn’t try to convince me of anything, beyond the fact that I was on the right track and if I could get over my inhibitions I would make some serious breakthroughs. He assured me that although I would one day share this with others, that was a ways off and I needed to spend time learning and mastering it just for myself. He gave me glimpses of how he’d come by it, what it meant to him beyond the extensive lore surrounding it, and what I might one day be able to do with it – including stuff none of the literature had touched on.

And that’s where things have remained the last couple years. It’s only been twelve months or so since I’ve felt comfortable and confident enough to begin wearing it around or using it in ritual.

No divine commandments. No bullying, intimidation or danger of him retreating. No grand mission. No problem with my hesitancy and oodles of questions, which were all handled by him with patience and grace. No grand conversations about morality, cosmology and the place of man and the Gods in such things. I was merely presented with options and choices, and what follows naturally from them.

Your experience with your Gods may be different than this, leading to the anxieties inherent in your question – but this is Dionysos we’re talking about, and one of the things he values above nearly all else in his interactions with humans is consent and things happening in the right way, in the right place, at the right time.

And for that I am infinitely grateful.

More from Scarlet Magdalene:

Ironically enough, his own signature was also removed for reasons just as serious and well before his blog posts I’m afraid.

1) You are lying. You removed my signature after the posts, because I checked as I was making them in case I needed to change the language.

2) Are you seriously claiming that wearing a Nazi necklace* is on the same level as raping a child? Fucking seriously?!?

I wonder how long it’ll take her to do anything about the second sexual predator she has on her list. I just checked, and yup, they’re still there.

I also love the dude who is white knighting for her.

“OMG, like, he’s cultural appropriating from Nazis!!!”

Yeah, buddy. Maybe I am.

I walked up, punched a Nazi right in the nose, stole all his symbols and now I’m gonna repurpose them for my queer, disabled, foreign God. Fight me if you want them back. 

Gods these people are ridiculous and have some truly fucked up priorities.  

* Which isn’t, but that’s irrelevant to the argument.

If you are seriously interested in learning about the history and meaning of the Sonnenrad I would recommend starting with James Pontolillo’s The Black Sun Unveiled: Genesis and Development of a Modern National Socialist Mythos and Stanton Marlan’s The Black Sun: The Alchemy and Art of Darkness. The first consists largely of primary source material (photographs as well as documents) much of which is obscure and difficult to track down elsewhere – and the second really delves into its esoteric significance. Both have some points I’d quibble with, but are infinitely to be preferred to the sort of info that’s likely circulating on Twitter. 

The Black Sun is a Nazi symbol!

What did it represent?

Nazism. Duh.

Then why wasn’t it in wider use?

Because the Swastika!

Right. So when they used it, it was for other purposes. What were they?

Nazis killed 6 million.

They did. In fact they were responsible for many more deaths than that. A lot of Nazis were very wicked men.

Nazi bad.

On that we can certainly agree.

Black Sun is Nazi.

Well, the symbol actually predates the–

Black Sun bad!

Some believe that symbols are neutral vessels into which we pour meaning and our assorted personal associations. I’m not sure I buy that, but–

NAZIS BAD. BLACK SUN BAD.

Now, now. Enough of that. We’re having a civil conversation here–

YOU BLACK SUN. YOU NAZI. YOU BAD!!! 

Death Cab For Cutie is a Nazi band!

The Cult is a Nazi band!

Dead Can Dance is a Nazi band!

Kadavar is a Nazi band!

GUNSHIP is a Nazi band!

Arditi is a Nazi band!

(Ok, I’ll give ya that one.)

Carbon Airways is a Nazi band!

Soundgarden is a Nazi band, if you take out the hole!

I find it very strange that Scarlet Magdalene and people like her insist on calling me a Nazi. When asked for evidence she posted links to 4 or 5 older pieces of mine – every one of which consisted of me not only denouncing Nazi ideology (beyond just “they killed a bunch of people” – like, even if that hadn’t happened I’d still oppose Nazis) but condemning all forms of racism, sexism, etc. When this was pointed out she doubled down with I hate Jews (curious, since three of my romantic partners have been of Jewish extraction; I’d say that rather proves the opposite, especially since I’m still on good terms with two of them) and then started ranting about the pics. Oh, the pics!

One of which was taken at a largely Black production of Euripides’ Bakchai by the historical Classical Theatre of Harlem and the other taken here in my office. In both I’m wearing a Sonnenrad necklace; in the second I’ve got on my SPQR t-shirt with the Roman eagle, and I’m flashing an “OK” hand sign. Plus my cool glow-in-the-dark vine bong is visible, though no one ever remarks on that even though it’s clearly proof that I’m a Nazi – Hitler was born on 4/20 after all!

Except, you know, it isn’t proof. None of it is.

Sure, the Nazis culturally appropriated the Roman eagle – but so did the United States of America before them, and the Russian Empire before them, and the Holy Roman Empire (which was neither holy, Roman nor an empire) before them, and the Byzantines before them, and probably a dozen other polities over the centuries I’m forgetting, all of whom wanted to foster some connection with my people, even if only on a symbolic level. Hell, truth be told, we weren’t even the first nation in antiquity to adopt the eagle but like Johnny Cash once we took something over ours became the definitive version everyone wants to emulate. (Sorry Trent, but it’s true.)

So yes, I wear my SPQR shirt as an expression of Italian pride and support for the values that made Rome such an exceptional world power. Our Imperium lasted more than a thousand years, and has cast a long shadow over subsequent European history. How long was the German Reich around for – a little more than a decade?

And you know what helped bring the fuckers down? My people.

Specifically, my grandfather and about five or six of his cousins – all of whom enlisted in the American Armed Forces even though they were first and second generation immigrants and treated like shit for it because America was pretty damn racist at the time. That didn’t matter, however, when their newly adopted country was attacked; all those boys went out to fight against their former homeland and its fascist allies, and several never returned. That’s one reason I wear the SPQR – to honor my ancestors and the hard sacrifices they made for the freedoms we all so casually enjoy – including your freedom to call me a Nazi.

And I’m sorry, I don’t care if the ADL and SPLC claim that the “OK” hand gesture is a White Supremacist symbol – it’s been around for decades in contexts as diverse as scuba-diving to baseball to rock’n’roll to American sign language. Just because some trolls at 4chan started a meme and the conspiratorial lefties went nuts over it does not change its fundamental meaning and history. When I flash it I am not signifying that I’m a racist – I’m mocking your gullibility, libtards. And that should be obvious from context, since it usually appears in posts where I am denouncing racism. Why the fuck would I do that if I’m a Nazi?

Now, the Black Sun.

This symbol and variations on it go back not only to migration-era Germany, but to pictographs and related imagery from the Neolithic found throughout continental Europe. True, for a few short years it was also employed by a select group of Nazis interested in the Occult; also true, the form I favor was designed by Himmler for the Wewelsburg castle – but do you know why they used it?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

But I do, and that’s why I continue to even though I’ve gotten all kinds of shit for it. I’m not going to go into the historical, mythical, Occult and Runic significance of the Sonnenrad, nor what it means to us within the Starry Bull tradition. That’s a topic for another day. Instead I’m going to say one thing, and one thing only – my personal reason for wearing it.

This image was given to me in a dream by Dionysos. Initially I was uncomfortable with that since I was aware of its Nazi associations. But it kept showing up in visions and meditations over the course of a couple months. And then the God showed me what it means, how it’s one of the symbols of his mysteries and more importantly what can be done with it. And that’s all I needed. I will never stop wearing it, talking about it, or using it.

And you’re welcome to disagree all you want. You can run around calling me Nazi til you’re blue in the face. You can maintain that belief no matter how often folks point to my anti-racist writings, the fact that every ritual group I’ve been involved in since my Wiccan days has had members of color, that no one can point to any racist groups I’ve been a member of, no racist events I’ve attended, no racist activities I’ve engaged in, and so on and so forth until the cows come home.

Eventually people are going to see through your bullshit, that you’ve got nothing more than empty “Nazi!” and “Racist!” insults to lob.

And then what?

Will you reflect on all that time you’ve wasted hating on me instead of getting out there and fighting actual Nazis like my grandfather and his cousins did? Okay, technically most of them were deployed to the Pacific theater rather than Europe but Imperial Japan was no less evil than the Nazis, and in some respects much worse. Just ask the Chinese, Filipinos, POWs, etc. But my point stands – your keyboard crusades will accomplish nothing. They will consume everything decent, vital and meaningful about you until you die worthless and forgotten.

And I’ll still be over here, worshiping my Gods and making lasting friendships with interesting and diverse people who care more about my words and deeds than the necklaces and t-shirts I wear. (And if they have questions about my accessories we’ll have an honest conversation like human beings, not neurotic online twits.)

Incidentally, you may want to take another look at your Xenia Declaration, Scarlet Magdalene. While you’ve been trying to besmirch my reputation (something I do far better than you ever could) you let another sexual predator sign up. Wow, you have no knowledge of your so-called community and don’t do any sort of vetting, do you? Unless you do know and are actually ok with that sort of thing. Once is an accident, twice a coincidence – but any more and it will start to seem to like a pattern …

Damn, I am so glad you removed me because of my t-shirt and necklace, since I have zero desire to be associated with you people.

Anyway, it’s 11/11 now. Take a few moments to reflect on and honor those who were truly Anti-Fascist, and gave their lives up in the great fight against tyranny.

There is a lot of curiosity about my political beliefs for some reason, so here’s where I’d come down on a number of issues if I was in charge. If you want to know my thoughts on other matters feel free to post your questions in the comments section below. 

Abortion: I do not believe that a pregnancy should be terminated unless the mother’s life is in danger or there are diseases or defects that will severely compromise the quality of life of the fetus. However I do not believe that it is the government’s place to restrict access to abortion. This inevitably makes the situation worse and more dangerous; it also violates the bodily autonomy of women. Instead of focusing on the ballot box and courts, I would direct efforts and resources towards decreasing the need for abortions. This means better sex ed, access to contraception, counseling and support not only during pregnancy but through childhood (including increased funding for healthcare, welfare, housing, childcare, education, etc.) streamlining adoption, and similar initiatives on both a private and governmental level. If life is truly precious then we as a society need to act accordingly. 

Citizenship: No distinction should be made based on ethnicity, gender or country of origin. Instead I would divide the population into two classes – metics (or resident aliens) and citizens. Metics do not enjoy the benefits of citizenship, nor the responsibilities. Citizenship is only granted after a period of two years’ service to the State. This could be in military, medical, engineering, education, agriculture, public works and infrastructure, as well as similar fields. In return the citizen will receive voting rights, access to free education and healthcare, etc. Although I would encourage social stigma towards metics, under the law they will be treated equally with citizens. Citizenship must be renewed every ten years, with another two year period of service.  

Drugs: By all metrics prohibition has not only proven ineffective, it has created untold problems which disproportionately affect minority and impoverished communities. I would legalize everything, tax and regulate the industry, and redirect funds towards education, rehabilitation, and facilities where addicts can get safe and clean fixes. 

Economy: I would like to see a mixed model. While capitalism and private enterprise will be encouraged, a number of industries and resources will be nationalized, and much will be handled through public service programs. Even when there is a government option private alternatives will be available to ensure healthy competition.  

Education: Provided free to all citizens. After basic education (which not only covers literacy, history and the humanities, STEM, essential life skills, etc. but is also designed to inculcate civic virtues) students will be tested to determine their aptitudes and then enrolled in trade schools which will also help with job placement upon graduation, should they so desire. Higher education will be cheaply available, but if debt is incurred they will have the option of enrolling in a public service program to pay it off. 

Environment: There is no nation without its land and resources. Conservation, responsible management, the development of clean and renewable energy sources, etc. will all be strongly encouraged, with various public service programs directed towards that end. Violators will be severely punished as traitors to the State.  

Guns: All citizens should be encouraged to carry, provided they’ve gone through thorough training and background checks. I do not believe that the government can be trusted with a monopoly on violence, especially since attempts to restrict access to firearms always target vulnerable, marginalized and minority communities. The epidemic of mass shootings we’ve experienced since the 1990s is the result of complex societal issues that need to be addressed and will not stop until they are. Besides, criminals by definition do not obey the law so how is a gun grab going to help? 

Healthcare: Provided free to all citizens. Metics should have access to cheap and quality medical care; if they incur debt as a consequence and cannot pay, they may enroll in a public service program where they can work it off.  

Marriage: I believe that the foundation of society is the family, but that it is not the government’s job to determine the makeup of individual family units. Furthermore it should not be in the business of sanctioning marriage, which is a religious institution and therefore should be left to individual religions to determine its nature and legitimacy. If same-sex couples, multiple partners, platonic friends or whatever wish to have their unions formalized that’s between them and their clergy. Likewise if religious institutions do not wish to recognize the legitimacy of such unions they should not be forced to. Matters of inheritance, medical advocacy, benefits, etc. should be disentangled from marriage and people permitted to come up with their own personal arrangements.  

Military: I am largely anti-interventionist and so would reduce the armed forces to just what is needed to protect our borders, scrapping the majority of our overseas bases. (While increasing funding for espionage, black ops, cyberterrorism, etc.)

Prisons: I would abolish for-profit prisons and mandatory minimum sentences, especially for non-violent offences. (Many of which would be decriminalized anyway.) I would place greater emphasis on reforming the character of criminals rather than simply punishing them. While incarcerated they would undergo therapy, education and for those who are eligible work-training, the latter under an apprenticeship program that would help them find employment upon release. Other programs would be in place to help them successfully reintegrate into society. Those with life sentences may volunteer to be the subjects of scientific experiments or dangerous and undesirable labor; if they happen to survive they may be eligible for parole. 

Prostitution: Essentially the same as my drug policy, however I would require the prostitutes be licensed and undergo regular medical check-ups, whether they work out of a state-run brothel or are private entrepreneurs. In the brothels they would receive the same benefits as other government employees.  

Religion: Although officially Polytheist with State-run temples and priesthoods, the population will enjoy the freedom to practice whatever religion they please, or none at all. However tax exemption will be given only to those religious institutions who help conduct the festivals and rites of the Gods of the State. We possess a very open pantheon; the requirements are to bless and protect the people and land of the State, and to do the opposite towards our enemies.