Sacred Source -Dionysos

 
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Dionysos Lord of Grain, Leaf and Vine. Partaking of his symbolic flesh and blood (bread and wine) was central to the Eleusinian mystery cult. His annual worship is far more ancient, however, and probably involved actual human blood sacrifice to insure crop fertility. He carries the thyrsus or phallic wand, is escorted by maenad priestesses (often in wine-induced frenzy) and rides upon the beast associated with Pan , the panther, or wears a panther skin. Many of his facets (son of Zeus, virgin-born, died then resurrected, etc.) predate and were subsumed by Christianity. Reverenced especially in Crete, Greece and Jerusalem, he is the primal archetype of self-sacrificing masculine divinity. Here he is depicted as standing kouros, or Divine Youth. As Dionysos triumphant he rides upon a lion, libation cup held aloft and accompanied by frolicking satyr.


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DY

8

$29

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