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"He is a young god.
Mythologically obscure,
always just arriving

at some new place
to disrupt the status quo,
wearing the start of a smile."

--from Ann Carson' translation "The Bakkhai"

In the northern hemisphere we began our collective descent into winter's darkness, with the fall equinox on Wednesday September 22nd.

This is a good time to meditate on the most famous myth of the god Dionysus, intoxicating god of the night. It's a play written by Euripides in the 5th century BCE called "The Bacchae."

Athenians found the cautionary message of this play subversive. It disturbed their image of Greek reason, democracy, social order, and power. The women don't stay in their place. It ends on a gruesome note.

A few years after the play was performed, Athens fell to Sparta and their empire building was over. Euripides was in self-imposed exile, and perhaps he saw something that his fellow citizens could not...

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This episode is devoted to the Greek god Dionysus, whom Walter Otto aptly named “the epiphany god,” and his wife Ariadne.

Dionysus was called “the Loosener” or lysios in Greek, the loosener of limbs and of minds. The Greek word lysios comes from "lysis," which means “setting free" or "unraveling.” I want to pick up this thread to reflect a bit more on the nature of Dionysian loosening and epiphanies, by spending some time with the myth of Ariadne.

Who was Ariadne, to be partner to this god? Ariadne like Dionysus, is likely an older deity than the Olympians, one with much more significance than her place in Greek mythology suggests.

Thanks for listening.

"If the horizon hadn't swallowed you, I'd believe in it still,
let it hold me like a wall..." 
---Ioanna-Veronika Warwick  from "Ariadne Thanks Theseus for Abandoning Her" 

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What does the mythic relationship between Dionysus and the Titans suggest about our titanism and titanic culture, and ways to mitigate the destructive influence of titanic fantasies?

“Oh how lucky you are, how really lucky you are, if you know the gods from within…” Euripides, The Bacchae

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"Let Zeus, born in the open, awake to all under the sky, ever-watchful, ever-noticing, be exemplar for responding to all that the senses present with a richly elaborating imagination. Only well-shaped images fed by the senses can contain and differentiate our innate titanism."--James Hillman

 In this episode we consider today's battle with the titanic, the excess and pressure of the "unlimited" in Western culture, and the numbness and stress that it engenders in us. How can we participate effectively in the cultural dynamics and find a measure of health and happiness for ourselves?

"The mind that generalizes continually prevents itself from those experiences which would allow it to see and feel deeply." --- W.B. Yeats

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"I shall sing of Zeus, the best and greatest of the Gods; far-seeing, mighty, fulfiller of designs..." Homeric Hymn to Zeus

Real change begins with a change in perspective. The old myths offer a valuable lens and means to make such a shift. They reveal the shared webs of meaning and images that are the source of ideologies, theologies, and other constructs.

Greek mythology continues to be a particularly strong influence in the world today, given the colonizing history of Western culture. I think it can help us understand the deeper themes in this time of social unrest and transformation.

In this episode, we examine the Greek myths surrounding Zeus, the ruler of gods and men. What do these stories suggest about power, legitimate authority, and justice?

This episode builds on ideas in the last one, "Meaning is magic: the trickster Hermes and radical change." You might want to listen to that one first, if you haven't already.

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Meaning is a very powerful thing. The meaning of something is intimately connected with the nature of the thing itself, whether that thing be an actual "thing" or an idea. The meaning of something is central to its appearance, identity, and significance. When you change the meaning of something, you change the truth of it. 

You change the context. You may change the "rules." Something brand new may come into the world. Changes in meaning = world creation, my friend!

I think this is a useful lens to apply to the painful divisions and amazing developments taking place right now. People are consciously attempting to manipulate or change the meanings of things. This is causing a lot of disagreement, discomfort, and excitement.

The mythological figure that is most closely associated with these activities is the trickster. In this episode we take a look at Hermes, the Greek trickster god, to see how an expert uses the magic of meaning to recreate the world. 

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"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, pass the wit of man to say what dream it was."  --Shakespeare, from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

A few Celtic stories about encounters with fairies, to celebrate the solstice and midsummer, and to consider the need for healthy skepticism and making room for magic.

"The Celt in all ages of his long history, like the ancient Greek thinkers with whom his ancestors were contemporary, has always been inclined, unlike modern scientists, to seek an explanation for the phenomena of evolutionary life by postulating a noumenal world of causes as the background to a phenomenal world of effects.  Today, the rapid march of scientific pioneers, chiefly those in psychical research, is bringing our own cold and exact science very close to that indefinable boundary which separates the two worlds [...]"

 --Walter Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries 

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The help that we need often comes from unexpected sources, if we have the wisdom to recognize them. 

We're surrounded by helpers, teachers, and truth-tellers in the visible and invisible worlds, and yet it's easy to miss the advice and magical tools and get stuck. 

We think that we know what's important. We place faith in illusions of power and control. We're rude to the dwarf who stands at the side of the road.

There are so many old stories on this theme. Apparently, learning how to respond without arrogance is part of the process, a lesson on the journey that is repeated over and over again!

Here are a few short stories with a humorous twist to help you locate yourself on the spectrum between pride and prejudice, and an open mind and heart. I hope you find a moment or two in these tales to aid you in your quest for transformation.

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When the king is fatally ill and radical change is required, you need to make a journey down unfamiliar paths into the symbolic world of story, and find the water of life.  

"The Water of Life," a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, provides some guidance about how this quest can be undertaken. What message does it hold for you right now?

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"I’ve been terrified every moment of my life—and I never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." -- Georgia O’Keefe

How do you find the courage and commitment to be true to yourself?

A relatively small happening in your life, a minor mystery or random thought, even an irritant, can be a moment of awakening and the start of your quest. In this Native American story, a busy little mouse hears a strange roaring in his ears. This experience has no place in his world. Other mice tell him that it doesn't exist. But one day...

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."~ Joseph Campbell

Sending this out in celebration of my dad, Robert L. Svehla, who would have been 88 years old today.

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