WHY IS THE ANTINOUS TARANTULA BLUE? MAYBE IT JUST WANTS TO BE BEAUTIFUL!

THE STAR OF ANTINOUS is well known as is the LOTUS OF ANTINOUS. 

And many people are aware that there is also an ANTINOUS ASTEROID and even a few people have heard of the ANTINOUS CRATER.

But very few people have heard of the ANTINOUS SPIDER, a gigantic, bright blue tarantula ... as large as your face ... which devours birds in South America.

Now scientists have discovered the secrets of why blue tarantulas are blue ... and that discovery may help humans make better wide-angle digital displays.

A team of scientists reported this week in Science Advances that blue coloration appears in 40 species of tarantulas in the Antinous tarantula, among the most ancient of spiders. 

Spider specialists don’t expect that the coloring wows females, because the eyes of tarantulas probably can’t tell blue from other colors.

It's possible that tarantulas use this color to signal to prey or predators instead, but that's still a mystery.

Perhaps Antinous tarantulas are blue in order to make them irresistible … to the birds they devour!

The Pamphobeteus antinous is native to the rain forests of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia and is known for its ferocity and for its consumption of small birds and other hapless creatures asleep and defenseless when it prowls at night. 

It runs and pounces very fast and surprises its prey unawares. It has no fear of humans and charges at people, hurling venomous hairs from its bristly legs and body. 

It was named after Antinous because of its beautiful iridescent coloring and its breathtaking size. Its leg span is as big around as a man's hand with outstretched fingers. For arachnid collectors, the Antinous truly is the most spectacular spider, living up to its name.

For us Antinoians, the Spider of Antinous is more than just a zoological specimen, just as the Red Lotus of Antinous and the Star of Antinous are more than just botanical or astronomical items. All three figure prominently in the belief system of this new/old religion.

The three ... the Flower, the Spider and the Star ... represent the three stages of initiation into the worship of Antinous which Antonyus has spelled out in the ECCLESIA ANTINOI Charter.

Priest Hernestus holds a "petite" female Antinous spider who is not as blue as the enormous males.

The Flowers of Antinous are the many people who join the group with an avid interest in Antinous and who draw artistic and intellectual inspiration from him, but who don't necessarily believe in his divinity. 

That doesn't make them any less beautiful or precious, for without them, there is no religion of Antinous.

But there are deeper and far darker secrets for those who become ensnared in the web of the Spider of Antinous. They are those of you who have stated your heart-felt belief in Antinous the God and who have applied for citizenship in the Sacred City of Antinoopolis. 

You have put yourself in his web. You believe in him and are awe-struck by him. And as you lie there in his web, perhaps unsure or even a bit fearful about what comes next, you look up and see your final destination shining darkly in the black nighttime sky. 

You see the Star of Antinous which is your own ultimate self. Becoming one with Antinous ... HOMOTHEOSIS ... becoming aware of your true sacred nature.

ANTONIUS SUBIA expresses it very beautifully:

There are many Flowers of Antinous, and of these, many, when they become aware of Antinous Consciousness, if I may use such a term to describe his touch, or the burning of his flame, are immediately ensnared in the confusion of the web of the Spider of Antinous. But few are they who have found the power of the Liberator, who restores the fragrance of the Flower and opens its petals to the unseen light of the Star.  I would say that those who have found their way back...return with new eyes...able to see the light that vanished from the sky...which is why I call the Holy Star of Antinous the Black Star.

So when we ponder this awesome blue spider ... "awesome" in the original sense of the word "scary" ... we think of the spiritual road upon which all of us have embarked. 

From the spiritual blossoming of the Flower of Antinous to the ravenous spiritual hunger of the Spider of Antinous to the heavenly spiritual shining of the Star of Antinous.

On January 29th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the discovery in 131 AD of THE STAR OF ANTINOUS by Emperor Hadrian and his house stargazers.

That discovery marks the visible ascendance of the Beloved Boy into the celestial firmament ... for all of us on Earth to see ... whether we live in a big city or in a village in the Brazilian rain forest.

YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU THANKS TO THIS WINGED SNAKE GOD

WE all know that the Ancient Egyptians believed you can take it with you ... that death does not mean you have to part with everything that was important to you in life ... but few people today understand that there was a far more sophisticated spiritual interpretation.

Yes, of course, the simple folk believed that you literally took things with you to the afterlife ... mummified body, ushabti figures, food, clothing. There was a huge industry specializing in tomb furnishings,  mummification and supplying the dead with sustenance.

But the material goods in tombs were only symbolic of a far richer, and spiritually deeper understanding of "taking it with you" after death.

The curious-looking winged snake on the papyrus of the 19th Dynasty scribe Amenemwija in Berlin's Egyptian Museum hints at that far deeper spiritual meaning.

The deity is called "Nehebkau" (Harnesses KAs) ... and he is poised in front of the deceased ... taking in the every spiritual essence (KA) that the deceased wants to take with him in the afterlife.

November 29th was one of this deity's feast days.

The Egyptians believed you give up only those things you don't want to take with you ... you take anything and everything else which you deem worth saving for eternity.

Nehebkau represents an advanced spiritual element. In computer parlance, he "downloads" the spiritual essence or "KA" of everything you want to have with you ... and Nehebkau defrags and condenses everything for instant retrieval.

The "KA" is the spiritual essence of everything. Each human has a main KA plus many subsidiary ones. Everything has at least one KA ... every blade of grass, every object, every animal ... everything.

Nehebkau literally takes all the KAs of the person and all the KAs that the person wants to have with him/herself in the afterlife ... all friends, memories, pets, pleasant experiences, houses, furnishings ... the spiritual essence of EVERYTHING ... and then he "downloads" them by swallowing them into his slender serpentine body ... and condenses them like zip files and defrags them and compacts and configures them all into an infinitely small corner of his infinitely vast mind ....

It is important to point out that this does not mean that the dead person drains the life force from all friends and family and leaves them empty. It does not mean they all have to die to accompany the deceased.

Instead, it is exactly like "downloading" the essence of the persons or objects. The persons and objects themselves remain intact ... their spiritual essence is unaffected ... but Nehebkau has downloaded the spiritual essence to accompany the deceased.

Nothing is diminished. Nothing is lost. The KA is copied and saved and filed away.

And in the afterlife, the deceased retrieves any and all docs, jpegs, YouTube URLS and files ... eternally fresh and alive ... for all eternity.

We tend to buy the Judaeo-Christian idea of ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust which means that we must "let go" while our loved ones, memories and treasures all crumble away and end up on the conveyor belt of the garbage incinerator ... like the final scene from a "Toy Story" movie.

Or we opt for the Eastern idea that you become one with the universe and everything dissolves away into one-ness ... no self, no ego, no death, no suffering, no end to suffering, no end to death ... etc. ... like the final scene of a movie about Tibetan monks and a little boy from Seattle.

These scenarios would have been appalling to the Egyptians. You take whatever and whomever you want along with you into the afterlife ... no carry-on bags necessary ... everything is neatly defragged and compressed and configurated and stored away in the infinitely vast mind of Nehebkau.

Yes, all of your earthly friends, pets and possessions will crumble away ... but their spiritual essence has been downloaded as a back up for you to keep with you ... for all eternity ... thanks to Nehebkau.

GLOBAL ANTINOUS BIRTHDAY CEREMONIES

"THE most salient feature about Antinous, and the thing that makes our religion different from others, is that Antinous was a mortal human being who actually lived," said Antonius Subia in global Zoom ceremonies this weekend celebrating the birthday of Antinous.

Speaking from the Hollywood Temple of Antinous to celebrants taking part from North and South America, Europe and Africa, he noted that we know his birth date ... 27 November ... and we know what he looked like from countless statues.

"He was a human being just like you or me," Flamen Antonius said. "He was not some ray of light of divine perfection. He was a person with faults and failings just like any of us. And yet he became the last deity of the Classical era ... we know he lived ... and we know he became a god."

JEAN-BAPTISTE de LULLY SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON November 28th the Religion of Antinous honors Saint Jean-Baptiste de Lully, who was born on this day in 1632 in Florence, Italy. 

Parlaying his looks, his dancing and his musical genius into an erotic/artistic career, he rose from being a scullery knave to becoming director of music in the Court of French King Louis XIV. 

By the time he died on March 22, 1687, he had created a new art form and had changed the course of the performing arts forever.

Lully's story has some parallels to the story of Hadrian and Antinous. The parallels are not exact. It is more as though Lully and Louis XIV were a "parallel universe" story of Antinous and Hadrian with bizarre twists thrown in to the plot of the story.

Lully was totally dependent upon the Sun King and was totally devoted to him. When the king expressed a whim to learn to dance, Lully became his dance instructor, creating a whole new art form involving dance and song.

Quite aside from his infamous carousing with boys, Lully was desperately in love with Louis XIV. It was an impossible love, of course. It could never be consummated.

The king viewed Lully as his artistic mentor, but nothing more. Lully viewed the king as the love of his life, and his art was merely an expression of that love.

Unwittingly, Lully planted the seeds for his own doom. Others took his idea and developed it further: And Opera was born.

The king became infatuated with Opera and totally lost interest in Lully's Baroque stage productions. He forgot all about Lully.

For Lully, that was tantamount to death, and he soon died as the result of a tragic "accident" -- he plunged a sharp baton-sceptre through his foot in a rage of despair after the king failed to appear at the debut of his latest masterpiece.

The wound became gangrenous, but when physicians advised that the foot must be amputated, St. Jean-Baptiste refused, saying that if he could never dance again, then he would prefer to be dead.

Yes, his life was like some nightmare, parallel-universe version of the Hadrian and Antinous story, set against the backdrop of men in silk brocade costumes and in four-inch heels and wearing ornate wigs. It is a story of a man's unconditional love and self-sacrifice for his Sun King.

St. Jean-Baptiste de Lully had a deep fondness for the Roman Gods, and he portrayed them with the gay flourish of the the court of the Sun King. It remains a style all its own, completely out of fashion...even among classical music weirdos.

We adore St. Lully's music...we adore the grace and profound emotions that pour from his chords. We love the beauty of his style of dance.

No doubt when Monsieur St. de Lully arrived at the Divine court of Hadrian the God, he immediately set about rearranging the Imperial Orchestra, replacing the Ney Flutes with Bassoons and Oboes, dismissing the Cythara in favor of Violas de Gamba.

Perhaps the old Greek musicians might have taken insult at being swept aside, but with a wave of his hand...Antinous calmed them.

So it was that the celestial Imperial Orchestra performed the new opera Of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Lully. The Imperial Court was astonished to hear the new sound. Even the Greeks were amazed (and the Greeks had heard everything). And With a wreathed nod of his illuminated head, Hadrian enthroned commanded his beloved Antinous to dance.

ANTINOUS WAS BORN ON THIS DAY 1,910 YEARS AGO

ANTINOUS was born on this day, November 27th in the year 111 AD — 1,910 years ago!

Festive celebrations are being held by worshipers all over the world, with special rites being conducted at the HOLLYWOOD TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS.

Antinous was born in the Bithynian city of Claudiopolis, modern-day Bolu in Turkey.

It was a major city in those days with a Hellenistic/Roman heritage dating back centuries. It was nestled among snow-capped peaks and woodlands full of wild beasts and full of mythical magic.

The portrait of the newborn baby Antinous and his mother against the backdrop of a Bithynian conifer forest is by PRIEST JULIEN, a New York artist who now lives in Hollywood.

Modern Claudiopolis/Bolu is a sleepy health resort. Not too many foreign tourists go there, but the area is a popular with Turkish vacationers because of its pine-covered mountains and its sparkling lakes and spa waters.

The altitude makes it refreshingly cooler than lower-lying regions, so Turks go there to get away from the heat and noise of places like Istanbul and Ankara.

Wikipedia says: "Local specialities include a sweet made of hazelnuts (which grow in abundance here) and an eau-de-cologne with the scent of grass. One feature of Bolu dear to the local people is the soft spring water obtained from fountains in the town."
 
Hazelnut candy? Grass-scented cologne? Amazingly soft spring water? Somehow that one little paragraph makes it sound like a place where Antinous would have to have been born.

The area where Antinous was born is a beautiful place, nestled high in piney forests and yet only a short distance from the sparkling Black Sea coast about halfway between Istanbul and Ankara.

The region is teeming with bountiful wildlife and so Hadrian and Antinous went on hunting forays while in Bithynium. As a boy, Antinous must have played in these forests and bathed in these sparkling lakes.

He would have remembered these boyhood days during his travels with Hadrian to the far corners of the Empire. We often forget that Antinous had a family who must have loved him and missed him. They were no doubt proud of him, but they missed him.

And he missed them as he also missed his lovely Bithynia with its mountains and lakes and deep forests which, in winter, are covered in deep snow.

The first snows may have already fallen "back home" at the end of October in 130 AD when Antinous stood on the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Perhaps he had received a letter from home with the latest family gossip and news of the first snowfall. He would have remembered the scent of pine forests and fresh-fallen snow.

As he looked into the green waters of the Nile in far-away Egypt at the end of his brief life, perhaps he thought of "home" and lakes and dark forests and pine cones and the scent of hazelnuts being roasted and mixed with rose water and honey to make candy.

November 27th is an introspective moment ... an evaluation of things past ... and things to come. And above all, it is birthday party time. Let the Festive Season Begin with an Antinous Birthday Party!

THE APHRODISIAC ORCHIDS OF ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

ORCHIDS are perhaps the most appropriate flowers for festivities on the Birthday of Antinous, which is November 27 since his homeland of Bithynia is renowned for its wild forest orchids.

Orchids take their name from the Greek word "orchis" which means "little boy's testes" for the scrotal shape of the bulbs and blossoms.

Hadrian and Antinous would have known this. Antinous would have seen wild orchids in the piney woods of Bithynia as a boy.

Antinous especially would have loved Bithynian wild mountain orchids -- because the plant's tubers are ground to make a flour which is used in all sorts of dessert sweets. It is called "salep" and is used in a syrupy drink which was very popular throughout the Mideast and Europe until its popularity was overtaken by coffee.

In England, it was called "saloop" and was THE thing to drink before tea was imported from India.

These Bithynian orchid bulbs were incredibly popular in Ancient Rome, where they were ground to make sweet drinks which were believed to be aphrodisiacs (coming from the "testes" orchid) and which had names like "satyrion" and "priapiscus".

Paracelsus, the alchemist/chemist, wrote, "Behold the Satyrion root! Is it not formed like the male privy parts? Accordingly, magic discovered it and revealed that it can restore a man's virility and passion!"

Now, for the first time, a careful study of ancient artifacts in Italy has proven that the Romans were not only crazy about consuming orchids but also about showing them in their art. 

Botanist Giulia Caneva of the University of Rome (Roma Tre) has assembled a database of Italian artifacts, including paintings, textiles, and stone carvings of subjects including vegetation. Then, the team began the painstaking process of trying to identify the real plants the artists had copied. 

One surprise was that depictions of Italian orchids—there are about 100 species in all—showed up much earlier than expected. Although scholars had spotted the flowers in paintings from the 1400s, Caneva's team discovered that stone carvers were reproducing orchids as early as 46 BC, when Julius Caesar erected the Temple of Venus Genetrix in Rome. 

And at least three orchids appear among dozens of other plants on the Ara Pacis, a massive stone altar erected by the emperor Augustus in 9 BC, Caneva and colleagues reported last week in the Journal of Cultural Heritage. 

Artists probably chose the flowers to help emphasize the altar's theme of civic rebirth, fertility, and prosperity following a long period of conflict, Caneva says. 

But orchids and other plants begin to fade from public art as Christianity began to gain influence in the 3rd and 4th centuries, she notes. 

"My idea is that they are eliminating pagan symbols, and [those] that are related to sexuality," she says. With the arrival of the Renaissance, however, orchids blossom anew in art, "but this time mostly as a symbol of beauty and elegance." 
 

THIS IS THE DAY THE ORION NEBULA WAS DISCOVERED AND NAMED

ON 25 November 1610 French astronomer Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (Peiresc) discovered the Orion Nebula and coined the term "nebula". 

The Ancient Egyptians equated Orion with Osiris ... the rise of the Orion Constellation and dog star Sirius coincided with the Nile Inundation ... symbolized by Osiris rising from the dead.

Like Osiris, Antinous died in the Nile and rose to divinity. The first miracle of Antinous was the bountiful Nile Inundation in 131 AD which ended a long drought ... bringing life from death.