Noblemen Of God
GOD OF THE VINE – Dionysus
If your mother was killed and descended to the underworld would you go down and save her? Greek God Dionysus did exactly just that. When his mother Semele, a mortal, was impregnated by Zeus, she wanted more than anything to see this truly divine presence. Hera came to Semele in disguise, and told her that she must see Zeus and everything that he was. So the next time Zeus came to Semele, she made him promise to show himself to her. Zeus, being madly in love with her, quickly agreed and presented himself in front of her. Instantly shocked and overwhelmed, Semele was burned to a crisp my Zeus’s goriness. When that happened, Zeus immediately realized that Dionysus was in her, so he removed Dionysus and stitched him onto his leg for safe keeping until he was ready to be born. Because Dionysus was born from Zeus, this made him immortal like the rest of the Gods.
As Dionysus grew older he began to grow upset with Hera for causing hid mother to get herself killed. So one day, while fully equipped with anger and courage, Dionysus went down into the underworld to find and retrieve is mother Semele. Once he found her, he was able to bring her back to Mount Olympus with him.
On a lighter note, Dionysus is also the god of wine and fertility. His worshipers would go into the forest to drink wine, and act like savages. Some say that Dionysus was the inventor of wine itself.
CONNECTING WITH DIONYSUS
Dionysus reminds us of the drive within us all to sacrifice anything in order to save our family..even if it means going down into the underworld. Although, Dionysus’s journey can symbolize a variety of things for people. All in all it has to do with going to great depths to get what we want, and not stopping.
The most obvious thing to do would be to go to a wine vineyard and do some tasting. This is a fun activity to do with friends and just have a good time. Or prepare sangrias with apples for a Samhain treat!
SYMBOLS AND THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR ALTER
Wine, gold, vines, pleasures, red, pine,