ON October 8th we joyously celebrate International Lesbian Day!
Lesbian Day is a great opportunity to highlight the achievements of queer women, and the challenges all LGBT people face.
Antinous is the loving god of ALL of us and lesbians put the L in LGBT.
OCTOBER 7th the Religion of Antinous honors St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, Christian patron saints of male-male love.
They were inseparable officers in the Roman army stationed in Syria during the reign of Emperor Maximian, who was fond of them and honored them repeatedly, which gave rise to jealousy in the court.
A rival denounced Sergius and Bacchus, accusing them of not venerating the ancient gods of Rome, and of being Christians. When summoned to sacrifice to the genius of the Emperor, as was the Roman custom, Sergius and Bacchus refused.
They were imprisoned and subjected to a long series of tortures aimed at forcing them to sacrifice to the gods. They were stripped of their uniforms and made to walk through the streets wearing the clothing of women, a strange form of humiliation not usually inflicted on Christians, but a sign that their sexuality was being used to mock the saints.
Bacchus was beaten to death, but Sergius proved to be considerably stronger than any torture that the Pagans could subject him to. When he was on the verge of surrender, and in despair, the spirit of Bacchus appeared to him and said:
"Why do you grieve and mourn, brother? If I have been taken from you in body, I am still with you in the bond of union — Hurry then, yourself, through beautiful and perfect confession to pursue and obtain me."
Sergius was so strengthened that he could not be compelled to betray his faith, and the pagans chopped off his head.
For their strength and for the valor of their love for one another, and because for so many centuries they have remained the champions of homosexual love and devotion, we honor the Christian Saints Sergius and Bacchus as saints of the Religion of Antinous.
OCTOBER 5th is Aura Placidus, the autumnal feast of Dionysus, deity of liberation and ecstatic transcendence over death as symbolized by divine intoxication.
Aura Placidus means "gentle breeze" and today is a day to simply enjoy a day of rest.
For Dionysus, it was a day of rest after the gathering of the grapes and preparing them for fermentation ... and maybe having a taste or two, just to see how it was getting on.
The Aura Placidus was celebrated with singing, dancing and games ... and with much feasting and drinking.
Antinous traditionally has been identified with Dionysus "Twice Born" of mortal woman and divine radiance.
Antinous/Dionysus reminds you that you are HOMOTHEOSIS ... Gay Man Godliness Becoming the Same in Divine Radiance.
Today we take a break, sit back, and toast Antinous/Dionysus the divine liberator!
OCTOBER 4th is World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay.
Here, we see how Antinous harvests grapes as a dog looks up at him adoringly, and who can blame it?
This is the Lanuvium bas-relief. Its inscription describes a group loosely translated as the Companions of Antinous.
The inscription says Antinous was born on November 27th. That is how we know his birthday.
Join Antinous in loving all creatures!
O Dia Mundial dos Animais: Antinous e cão no basuário Lanuvium. Junte-se a Antinous em amar todas as criaturas! ... El Día del Animal o Día Mundial de los Animales: Antinous y perro en el basrelief de Lanuvium. ¡Únete a Antinoos para amar a todas las criaturas! #worldanimalday 🐶🦊🦁🐵🐔🐥🐼🐷🐨🐸🐝🐞🐍🐌🦋🐙🐠🐁🐢🐯🦇🐫🐳🌍❤️
THE 3rd of October is the feast of the Netjer Arriving at Abydos (site of the Tomb of Osiris) in Egypt which we commemorate because Antinous has always been equated with Osiris as deity of transcendence over death.
This Egyptian festival is part of the re-enactment of the legend of Isis and Osiris.
Today the body of Osiris would be brought by boat up the Nile accompanied by Isis, Nephthys and other mourners, priests and priestesses to the ancient burial site of Abydos. It was here that the Mystery of the death of the god, and his burial, took place.
This represented the triumph of Osiris over death. An effigy of Osiris was removed from his temple and processed along the Nile to the jubilation of crowds lining the river banks.
Not many people realized that there is a symbolic Tomb of Osiris which was a pilgrimage site for millions of Egyptians over the centuries.
Many Egyptians even designed their own tombs to be a REPLICA TOMB OF OSIRIS.
Just as people make pilgrimages to the Ganges, Mecca, Lourdes and other sites today, the Ancient Egyptians made pilgrimages to Abydos to make offerings.
Many pharaohs also built symbolic tombs at Abydos in addition to their actual tombs in Thebes, Memphis and elsewhere.
Antinous died before reaching Abydos. Did Hadrian weep at the mysterious Osireion Tomb Of Osiris behind this temple? Did he bury Antinous in this most holy of Egyptian cities? Is the Lost Tomb of Antinous hidden in the "wadi" (arroyo) on the edge of the western desert where so many Egyptians buried their loved ones to be close to Osiris?
The Tomb of Osiris is a subterranean chamber fed by an underground channel from the nearby Nile, which created a moat inside the chamber. The chamber was accessed by priests via a long, dark passageway.
A mound of earth covered the tomb, symbolizing the original mound which rises out of the cosmic depths in the Egyptian creation myths.
The mound, which is a feature of illustrations in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, is thought to be the inspiration for the first pyramids.
But that raises the controversial issue of the true age of the Tomb of Osiris, an issue hotly disputed by experts.
At nearby Antinoopolis, archaeologists have detected a "deliberately buried" structure with ground-penetrating radar in February and suggested it could be an OSIREION ... symbolic Tomb of Osiris ... raising hopes that this could be the Lost Tomb of Antinous.
