Something I have been working on. Usual caveats apply, especially since this is in an incredibly preliminary stage. But I have had enough people ask about it, particularly post- posting this piece on primary sources for the Starry Ram tradition, that I figured it was worth sharing.

It is difficult to decide what the criteria for inclusion should be. Veneration in the lands of Israel/Samaria and Judah, Egypt, Syria, Babylon, etc.? Their relationship to Dionysos? The role they play in the emerging Starry Ram hieros logos, mysteries, cultus, customs and magical practices?

Oi. It’s enough to give one a headache!

And that’s not even factoring in the need to figure out what the relationships between these divine powers is [within the context of the Starry Ram, since that significantly differed depending on region and era], negotiating what they want for inclusion in the Starry Ram pantheon and developing practices that will be most pleasing to them, as well as what they’re offering in exchange for that, not to mention figuring out how all of this fits in with the Starry Bear and Starry Bull traditions, and practical matters like whether I should just list one entity or their distinct manifestations. (The list currently is somewhere in between.)

I am truly blessed to have my beautiful wife as a collaborator, someone who can walk in the worlds of academia and spiritwork with equal skill and grace. Someone who will drop everything to spend hours with me in ritual because of a sacred impulse, have some serious shit dropped on us, and then produce such beautiful and potent work as the Starry Bear and Ram adaptations of the Phaldōr incantation. Truly the Gods have been good to me.

The list has been modified, and can be found here.

And here is the Starry Ram adjuration against Phaldōr. May you and all of your allies, spirit and human alike, be forever powerless.

And here is a Starry Bear or Heathen version of the varðlokka against Phaldōr which is very potent.

While “Zionist” may be an insult to Markos’ friends in the r/dionysus forum, I regard it as a compliment considering the company it puts one in, namely the circle of the Emperor Julian who fought for the restoration and preservation of all traditional faiths, not just his own Hellēnismos:

Julian sent for some of the chiefs of the Jewish people and exhorted them to return to the observance of the laws of Moses and the customs of their fathers. On their replying that because the temple in Jerusalem was overturned, it was neither lawful nor ancestral to do this in another place than the metropolis out of which they had been cast, he gave them public money, commanded them to rebuild the temple, and to practice the cult similar to that of their ancestors, by sacrificing after the ancient way. The Jews entered upon the undertaking, seeking the most skillful artisans, collected materials, cleared the ground, and entered so earnestly upon the task that even the women carried heaps of earth, and brought their necklaces and other female ornaments towards defraying the expense. The Emperor, the other Pagans, and all the Jews, regarded every other undertaking as secondary in importance to this. (Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica 5.22.1-2)

May his memory be a blessing.

One of the things I love most about life is its capacity to surprise. Mr. “Bonjour Jon Bon Jovi” from Australia chimed in, and actually provided some thoughtful, critical commentary on the subject for a change. I’m so proud and knew he had it in him. Folks, give our Aussie friend a round of applause! That kind of behavior should be met with positive reinforcement. Everyone can change. Everyone can do better, and be better. Never forget that. And also remember that Dionysos and the other Gods is what matters, not any of this, good or bad as it can be. Them, always them.

The true Orpheotelest is a master bricoleur. Over the last couple days I have adapted material from the Zend Avesta, the Coffin Texts, the Qumran sectarians, some Tamil Śaivite hymns and this, which is based on an Anglo-Saxon prayer to the Cross (itself strongly indebted to a Wodēnic original.) I’ve also been playing around with meter, rhyme, repetition, and some rhetorical tricks with impressive Greek and Latin names which I’m not going to bother listing. If you’ve got a major in Classics, a minor in Lit Crit and a job as a barista I’m sure you spotted them. And damned if it’s not working! The ancients sure knew some shit. (Especially Onomakritos.) I just improved on the originals by making them Bacchic Orphic. All kidding aside, it’s like I’m having a dialogue with all of these great ancient artists, a dance, a choral collaboration with a host of honored deceased in praise of the Lord of Song. Io evoe! Io io Dionysos Dithyrambos! And I think it’s making me a better poet. Because you can’t just steal willy-nilly and stitch the random bits together like Victor Frankenstein on an ether binge. I mean, ok, technically you could, and that does sound pretty fucking cool actually (Note to self…) but the point is, that’s not what I’m doing on these occasions. I’m putting a lot of thought into how everything fits together, why, and what every word and line and symbol is doing in a given text, etc. A lot of the time I’ve gone over it so much, tweaking here and there again and again, rewriting lines or whole quatrains or more, inserting Bakchica that performs the same function as the replaced historiola, or riffing in a totally different direction so that only an echo, a hint of the original remains. But I wouldn’t have gotten there without those who came before, without cannibalizing the dead, which has opened a door in my writing that did not exist before. It’s magic. It’s amazing. Lolo Bromios!

Fruitful Branch of Bacchus be with me.
Fruitful Branch of Bacchus is what I ever adore.
Fruitful Branch of Bacchus is true health.
Fruitful Branch of Bacchus is frenzy, ecstasy,
inspiration, and the chanting of sacred verse.
Fruitful Branch of Bacchus is deliverance,
loosening of bonds, and the shattering of chains.
May the Fruitful Branch of Bacchus banish all evil.
Fruitful Branch of Bacchus be ever over me,
and before me, and behind me,
because the ancient enemy flees
whenever he sees you.
Flee from me, a servant of triumphant Liber Pater,
O vengeful demon, by the sign of the Fruitful Branch.
Behold the Branch of the Dominus Fufluns Pachie.
Begone, you enemies of Aventius
and his Fruitful Branch! Begone!
Dionysos Zagreus
deals death and gives life,
casts his foes down into the Pit,
and ransomed from Haides
the souls of his blesséd.
He is the God who makes mad,
and who frees,
and by his Fruitful Branch,
he has conquered thee.

O Phaldōr, foe of diviners, who sows
confusion, false interpretations, and
holy words misheard; why are you
harassing us here at the mat?
Has it slipped your mind what happened,
son of Eikelos, sender of nightmares,
and Eris, disrupter of divine order,
when you challenged Dionysos,
the deliverer of oracles, before?
Have you so easily forgotten the torments
he inflicted upon you, and the oath he got
from you never again to interfere with his prophets,
mantic priests, madwomen, and Orpheotelests
just to get the pain to stop?
Shall I remind you?

Angry that mankind should be given guidance
through the hardships of life, and knowledge
of future events you traveled through Thrake
and Makedonia scattering the knucklebones,
chasing the madwomen from their underground sanctuaries,
and snuffing out the everburning fire on his altar,
until you met the God on the road to the temple
where his giant mantic snake dwelt.

Before you had a chance to insult the son of Zeus
who rules from on high and his fiery wife Thyōnē,
Dionysos hailed you mockingly, and said:

Behold, it is Phaldōr, the confounder of man,
who has a head but no reason,
who has eyes but no sight,
who has a tongue but only speaks gibberish,
who has hands but no deeds,
who has a heart but no strength,
who has legs but cannot walk.

Then he took from his belt a pouch
in which were kept 24 stones,
each marked with a letter from α to ω.
He drew the stones from the pouch
one by one, and cast them at your feet
asking the spirits that resided in each
to assist him. And this is what he said:

The Seven became Four,
and the Four became Twenty-Four,
in which all things
that can be spoken of
are contained.

The Seven are the Charaktēres
which constitute the Superlative Name
of the first-born God, αεηιουω.
They also represent the Pleiades,
the Seven Stars who crown
the Heavenly Bull, and once
were the Seven Sisters
who nursed my infant self,
and when I reached manhood
bore me Four mighty sons.

The Four are called Guardians,
great allies of the Kingdom of Nysa,
and the Hymnōdai chant their names
for enlightenment and protection.

ZBCHXKS is in the East,
has the face of a dragon,
is surrounded by white,
rules over the waters,
and cures all ailments
pertaining to the torso.

LOGTĒPS is in the South,
has the face of a spider,
is surrounded by red,
rules over the air,
and cures all ailments
pertaining to the arms.

REPHNAI is in the North,
has the face of a Wolf,
is surrounded by black,
rules over the earth,
and cures all ailments
pertaining to the legs.

PŌDTHYM is in the West,
has the face of a bull,
is surrounded by gold,
rules over fire,
and cures all ailments
pertaining to the head.

Each of the Four
have Six Warriors
of which the Chorus
of Twenty-Four Powers
is made.

As he spoke their name each of the
Guardians and their Warriors materialized,
armed with maces, swords and axes,
eager for a fight. They took turns
playing with you, Phaldōr, until each had
had a turn. Then Dionysos the Merciful
offered you a way to end your torment,
the oath that you are now breaking.

Depart, Phaldōr, and do not disturb
these sacred proceedings,
or you will face the Guardians
and their Warriors, the Twenty-Four
who have surrounded you
while I made this utterance.

Did you know that each of the seven last words that Christ spoke on the cross became a magical formula, overseen by its own Power or Angel? My favorite is Τετέλεσται, meaning “It is completed/consummated/accomplished.” The Word’s root is important within the Bacchic Orphic mysteries:

When the soul comes to the point of death, it suffers something like those who participate in the great initiations (teletai). Therefore the word teleutan closely resembles the word teleisthai just as the act of dying resembles the act of being initiated. At first there are wanderings and toilsome running about in circles and journeys through the dark over uncertain roads and cul de sacs; then, just before the end, there are all kinds of terrors, with shivering, trembling, sweating, and utter amazement. After this, a strange and wonderful light meets the wanderer; he is admitted into clean and verdant meadows, where he discerns gentle voices, and choric dances, and the majesty of holy sounds and sacred visions. Here the now fully initiated is free, and walks at liberty like a crowned and dedicated victim, joining in the revelry. (Plutarch, De Anima fragment preserved in Stobaios Florigelium 120)

Do you know the Angel of this Word, and his Power?

Veistu, hvé rísta skal?
Veistu, hvé ráða skal?
Veistu, hvé fáa skal?
Veistu, hvé freista skal?
Veistu, hvé biðja skal?
Veistu, hvé blóta skal?
Veistu, hvé senda skal?
Veistu, hvé sóa skal?

Know how to rist?
Know how to read?
Know how to paint?
Know how to pry?
Know how to ask?
Know how to offer?
Know how to send?
Know how to sacrifice?

I’ve got one other thing to add: ΑΣΚΙ ΚΑΤΑΣΚΙ ΛΙΞ ΤΕΤΡΑΞ ΔΑΜΝΑΜΕΝΕΥΣ ΑΙΣΙΟΝ.

Funny addendum: while I’ve always been of the opinion that the famous voces magicae “hocus pocus” either came from the Eucharistic phrase “Hoc est enim corpus meum” or the doggerel Latin “hax pax max Deus adimax” today I read that in Sharon Turner’s The History of the Anglo-Saxons it is claimed to derive from Ochus Bochus, a Norse magician or galdrmaster who became a demon in death called upon for aid by other magicians. I also read that it was a Russian corruption of the name Bacchus, but I have a hunch that’s not true.

I do, however, believe in the power of: ΑΡΒΑΘ ΑΡΒΑΩΘ ΒΑΚΧΑΒΡΗ.

Do you know what it means and what it does?

Why, that’s the damnedest thing. WordPress provides statistics on where your visitors come from, how many of them there are, and the number of pages they visit, among other details. Most days I get between 14 and 88 hits from Australia, but on 05/16/2026 and 05/17/2026 there was a precipitous rise. I’ve had 560 hits over the last 7 days from Oz alone. Weirdly the spikes occur on those two days, and only those days.

So, dear readers, do you think our unimaginative troll “Bonjour Jon Bon Jovi” is a) Markos Gage, b) his even worse POS ex Wanyiepoo Masse Masse Massse, c) one of Markos’ brainwashed teen-aged “acolytes” eager to defend his master d) some other deranged Aussie trying to work out his grief because a marsupial ate his baby or some shit by harassing random folk online, or is it possibly e) the spikes are pure coincidence, and our kookaburra is from somewhere else. Hey, as a religious specialist for mumble mumble years I’ve come to believe that coincidences are rarer than Echidna’s kind, but I suppose it’s always possible.

Who wants to put money on his ability to avoid mentioning farts and toes? Yeah, I wouldn’t take that bet either. But this should be entertaining.

I’ve just got one thing to say: אבד כדברא.

For a discussion on the different ways to evaluate ancient Greek and other literatures, check out this older piece of mine.

I hate when people, especially in the Hellenic communities, treat Homer as ancient fanfic. While his poems weren’t necessarily the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Scriptures, they were highly revered, philosophers discovered incredible depth and symbolism in the text via exegesis and eisegesis, religious specialists used them in spells or for divination, etc. And the New York Times just reported on another purpose — assisting the deceased in their journey through the Underworld.

Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’
For the deceased of Roman-era Egypt, Greek literature may have offered a cheat code to a more comfortable afterlife.

O gentle yet powerful Dionysos,
hear me when turmoil rises within and around me.

Protect me from Lyssa,
spirit of raging frenzy, blind fury, and destructive madness.
Let not wrath consume reason,
nor violence overcome compassion.

Cool the burning mind with sacred calm.
Steady the trembling heart.
Where chaos howls, let wisdom answer.
Where hatred grows, let mercy take root.

By the vine that brings fellowship,
by the dance that restores weary souls,
by the holy cup shared in peace,
drive away savage anger and ruinous impulse.

Grant me mastery over my own spirit:
patience in provocation,
clarity in confusion,
and restraint when passion surges like fire.

May my home be guarded from cruelty and discord.
May my tongue speak healing rather than harm.
May my hands bring comfort rather than destruction.

O Liberator and healer of wounded minds,
lead me from frenzy into balance,
from fear into courage,
from bitterness into joyful life.
May peace prevail where madness sought to reign.