WE REMEMBER THE NIGHT OF THE TEARDROP WHEN WEEPING ISIS WORKED A MIRACLE

THE 16th of June is the Egyptian "Night of the Teardrop" festival. 

On this night, when the moon rises into the sky, Isis sheds one blessed and mournful tear for her beloved, Osiris, as the breeze from her wings fans the breath of life into him ... so that he is reborn to eternal life. 

That precious tear is then collected by intersex Nile inundation deity HAPI, signalling the start of the build up to the inundation in July. 

Similarly, Hadrian wept for Antinous after he died in the Nile in late 130 AD, and subsequently proclaimed Antinous a god. 

Divine Antinous called upon HAPI to bring forth a bountiful flood in the summer of 131 AD to end a famine. 

It was the first miracle of Antinous! 

The mystery teaching: Even in tears of grief, the divine miracle of life comes forth.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

PRIESTS of Antinous wish all gay dads a very Happy Father's Day.

Priest MICHAELUS ISOM, who is a gay father himself, says:

"We honor Hadrian on Father's Day.

"He is the Father of the Empire, so to speak

"And a Father figure to Antinous."

Art by FELIX D'EON.

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

THE 15th of June is the Egyptian festival when Ma'at unites as one with all the deities of the heavens. This is when all the gods take on the principle of Ma'at ... including Antinous as the final god of Egypt and ultimate Classical deity. Ma'at is often thought of as representing justice, but her true function is balance. If something has been pushed off kilter, then Ma'at embodies the power that restores equilibrium. This means that she can be appealed to if you are the victim of an injustice, and she will ensure that harmony is restored. However be very sure that you are the victim, because Ma'at is impartial, and will restore balance whoever has been at fault - this is the reason that justice is often shown as blindfolded.

15 de junho é o festival egípcio quando Ma'at une como um com todas as divindades do céu . Isto é, quando todos os deuses assumir o princípio da Ma'at ... incluindo Antinous como o deus final do Egipto e deidade clássica final.. Ma'at é muitas vezes considerado como representando a justiça , mas a sua verdadeira função é o equilíbrio. Se algo está desequilibrado , então Ma'at encarna o poder que restaura o equilíbrio . Isto significa que você pode chamá-la , se você for vítima de uma injustiça , e ela irá garantir que a harmonia é restaurada. No entanto, ser muito certo de que você é vítima , porque Ma'at é imparcial , e irá restaurar o equilíbrio quem foi a culpa - esta é a razão que a justiça é muitas vezes apresentada como com os olhos vendados .

15 de de junio es la fiesta egipcia Maat cuando se une como uno con todos los dioses de los cielos . Esto es cuando todos los dioses toman en el principio de Maat ... incluyendo Antinoo como el dios definitiva de Egipto y la deidad clásica final. Maat se piensa a menudo como la representación de la justicia , pero su verdadera función es el equilibrio. Si algo no es equilibrada , a continuación, Maat encarna el poder que restaura el equilibrio . Esto significa que puede llamar a ella si usted ha sido víctima de una injusticia , y ella se asegurará de que se restablece la armonía . Sin embargo estar muy seguro de que usted es la víctima , ya que Maat es imparcial , y restaurará el equilibrio el que ha sido el culpable - esta es la razón de que la justicia se muestra a menudo como los ojos vendados .

A FANTASY SUBWAY TRANSIT MAP OF ANCIENT ROMAN ROADS

THEY say all roads lead to Rome, but they also lead outward to a number of intriguing places. There’s Antinoopolis in Egypt, Londinium in what we now know as England, and … should funding from the mighty Emperor Hadrian arrive … the yet-built Panticapaeum station along the Pontus Euxinus, or Black Sea.
If the Roman Empire had managed build a continents-spanning transit system for its empire, it might have looked like this.

Or so says this wonderfully thought-out fantasy transit map from Sasha Trubetskoy, showing the major thoroughfares of the Roman Empire circa 125 A.D. as dozens of stops along multicolored subway lines.

Trubetskoy started poking into the idea after noticing there was a dearth of good maps of Rome’s old road network, let alone train-themed ones. So he decided to go for it, pouring about 50 hours of research and design work into his sprawling “Roman Roads.”

“I enjoy reading about history, though I’m not a huge classics buff,” says Trubetskoy, a 20-year-old statistics major at the University of Chicago.

“But there’s something alluring about Rome’s ability to carve out such a huge and advanced empire, with a legacy that lasts today.”

Trubetskoy’s primary points of historical reference were the Peutinger Table, sort of a gas-station highway map of Rome dating from ancient times, and the Antonine Itinerary, an atlas of thousands of places in the empire with estimated distances calculated among them. He also used Stanford University’s ORBIS tool and the Pelagios Project from Sweden’s Johan Åhlfeldt, which he describes as “kind of like Google Maps for Ancient Rome.”

Trubetskoy didn’t try to represent every single road and town in the empire, going instead for major routes and large-population cities to mark some “stations.”

In certain cases he mapped routes with real titles … the famous Via Appia, for example, the first major road in Rome.

When the historical name didn’t exist or was unknown, he chose creative nomenclatures like the Via Claudia for a road built under Emperor Claudius and the Via Sucinaria (or the Amber Road) to mark an old trade route running from Italy to northern Europe.

“I thought of myself as a Roman government official designing a map that people would actually be using … how do I make it effortless to look at?” he says. “I also had to make sure things were evenly spaced, colors were distinct, and the labels were unambiguous. I started from scratch at least five times before I arrived at the current design.”

KING LUDWIG II of BAVARIA SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON JUNE 13th the Religion of Antinous commemorates the life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who died on this date in 1886 under mysterious circumstances in an Alpine lake. As with Antinous, his death is shrouded in myth and legend and it will never be known whether he drowned accidentally or whether he was assassinated.

Born August 25, 1845, Ludwig was only 18 when he ascended to the throne of Bavaria in 1864. He was the  last truly sovereign monarch of that Alpine nation, which was engulfed by Prussia during his reign and very much against his wishes.

While the king of Prussia was planning a war against France, and various other crowned heads of Europe were scheming and conniving to commit war and bloodshed, "Mad" King Ludwig (as he was called) devoted the entire resources of his land to the performing and visual arts, commissioning operas by Richard Wagner and building the most astounding fairy-tale castles and palaces.

In the build-up to the Franco-German war, as troops were marching off to battle, Ludwig did not bother to see off his military forces. Instead, he went off on a jaunt to Switzerland to confer with Wagner on plans for a Wagnerian opera house in Munich. The opera house was never built, due to opposition from local critics. Instead, it was built at the Bavarian town of Bayreuth to the specifications of the composer, paid for by Ludwig personally.

Shockingly, in a staunchly Roman Catholic land, Ludwig never married and instead surrounded himself with handsome manservants, artists and architects.

Indeed, Ludwig is best known as a closeted gay man whose legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture, as he commissioned the construction of several extravagant fantasy castles (the most famous being Neuschwanstein below) and was a devoted patron of Wagner, who might never have finished his "Ring" cycle without Ludwig's ostentatiously generous support.

In an age of fiercely militaristic nationalism, Ludwig came under intense pressures from his advisers to abandon his artistic projects and to devote himself to empire-building. Feeling harassed and irritated by his ministers, he considered dismissing the entire cabinet and replacing them with fresh faces. The cabinet decided to act first.

 Seeking a cause to depose Ludwig by constitutional means, the rebelling ministers decided on the rationale that he was mentally ill, and unable to rule.

Medical psychiatry was in its infancy, and a panel of "experts" assembled mostly anecdotal evidence of the king's "madness" to satisfy the ministers.

The list of "mad" behavior included his extreme shyness, his distaste for politics and state affairs, his complex and expensive flights of fancy (including moonlit picnics at which his young groomsmen were said to strip naked and dance), conversations with imaginary persons, sloppy and childish table manners and sending servants on lengthy and expensive expeditions to research architectural details in foreign lands.
He was deposed on June 9, 1886, and placed under house arrest at a castle on the shores of Lake Starnberg south of Munich where he was under the constant watchful eye of a psychiatrist.

On June 13, around 6:00 pm, Ludwig asked the psychiatrist to accompany him on a walk along the shore of Lake Starnberg. The doctor agreed, and told the guards not to follow them. The two men never returned. At 11:30 that night, searchers found both the king and his doctor dead, floating in the shallow water near the shore.

Ludwig was known to be a strong swimmer, the water was less than waist-deep where his body was found, and the official autopsy report indicated that no water was found in his lungs. Nonetheless, the official death certificate listed suicide by drowning. The death of the doctor was never explained.

Most other monarchs of his era have been forgotten, or else their names have been cursed by succeeding generations for laying the groundwork for the First World War. But Ludwig was only interested in laying the groundwork for grand architecture and enduring cultural masterpieces. His legacy of art and architecture — and homoerotic romance — continues to inspire and to enchant.

FELIZ DIA DOS NAMORADOS WHEN ANTINOUS SPROUTS WINGS OF CUPID

Feliz dia dos namorados! 12 de junho ... Happy Valentine’s Day in Brazil! 12th June (English below)

ANTÍNOO-EROS

Como a última divindade clássica do panteão romano, Antínoo, o Deus Gay, se fundia com muitos outros deuses antigos, que melhor expressavam determinado aspecto do Garoto ou ajudavam a disseminar o culto em determinada região. Antínoo foi comparado a (e identificado como) Dionísio, Apolo e até Diana, a Caçadora.

E, dentre as entidades nas quais Antínoo se metamorfoseava, estava Eros, o Cupido.

É Flamen Antonius Subia, Supremo Sacerdote da Religião de Antínoo, que diz: "Como Eros, Antínoo é Amor, é a força que a Beleza inspira nos homens. Antínoo é o amante que seguimos em nossos corações. Essa veneração da beleza e da sensualidade masculina é a pura expressão do amor de Antínoo-Eros.”

“Antínoo-Eros é o mais poderoso de todos os deuses, o mais inegável, aquele que nos domina quando menos esperamos, que facilmente nos abandona e nos deixa desolados, que é capaz de nos levar às raias da loucura, forçando-nos a cometer todo tipo de extravagâncias. Em Seu nome, estamos dispostos a entregar nossas vidas e morrer por quem Ele nos determinou amar. Nenhum outro deus tem esse poder. Antínoo-Eros é a única força a superar a Morte.”

Sim, é Antínoo, com as asas do Cupido, que se encarrega pessoalmente de flechar o coração de todo gay que se apaixona. Foi Ele que uniu os amantes-guerreiros de Esparta e o Batalhão Sagrado de Tebas. Que uniu Aquiles a Pátroclo, Felipe a Bartolomeu, Verlaine a Rimbaud.

Hoje, dia 12, quando você se perder no olhar do seu namorado, quem vai te encontrar vagando, sem rumo, e te guiar até o coração dele é ninguém menos que o Garoto em pessoa - Antínoo, o Deus Gay.

JUNE 12th – Valentine’s Day in Brazil

As the last Classical deity, Antinous the Gay God morphed with many previous deities, that better expressed some aspects of the Boy or helped the spreading of the religion to different regions. Antinous was compared to (and identified with) Apollo, Dionisos, even Diana the Huntress.

And among these deities Antinous also morphed into Amor/Eros, the Cupid.

Flamen Antonius Subia says: "As Eros, Antinous is love, the force that beauty inspires in men. Antinous is the lover after whom we follow in our hearts. The veneration of beauty and sensuality in men is an expression of the love of Antinous-Eros.”

"Antinous-Eros is the most powerful of all deities, the most undeniable, the one who overtakes us when we least expect him, the one who as easy deserts us and leaves us destitute, the one capable of driving us over the edge of insanity, forcing us to commit all manner of extravagances. In His name, we are willing to surrender our lives and die for the one whom he has deigned that we should love. No other god has this power. Antinous-Eros is the only force that can overcome death…."

Yes, it’s Antinous, sprouting Cupid’s wings, who personally sends an arrow through the heart of every gay man who falls in love. It was He who united the lovers-warriors of Sparta and the Sacred Band of Thebes ... who joined together Achilles and Patroclus, Phillip and Bartholomew, Verlaine and Rimbaud.

Today, when you lose yourself in your boyfriend’s eyes, He will find you wandering alone and guide you to your boy’s heart – Antinous the Gay God.

THE RISE OF THE STAR OF ANTINOUS

ON JUNE 11th, the Religion of Antinous celebrates the Rise of the Star of Antinous.  This is the date in our Liturgical Calendar when the Constellation of Antinous begins to rise over the horizon at sunset. It is visible on the eastern horizon along the banks of the Milky Way.

Wherever you live on Earth, you can see the Constellation of Antinous on starry nights from mid-June through late October when, in synchronicity with the Death of Antinous in late October, the Star of Antinous descends below the western horizon in the glare of the setting sun. 

The Constellation of Antinous is no longer recognized by astronomers (just as Pluto has been demoted to the rank of "dwarf planet"). But it is still visible from any point on Earth nestled between Sagittarius and Capricorn and in the talons of Aquila (the Eagle Constellation) representing the Imperial Eagle which carried Antinous to lofty heights.

The most visible identifiers are the three bright stars of Aquila — Altair at the crown of his head, Tarazad, and Alshain. Alshain is derived from Arabic for "Two Friends" which astrologers have cited as a hint as to how to interpret the Sign of Antinous.

The Star of Antinous is however difficult to see. Most people cannot see it at all. You won't find it on any star chart. Like the Star of Bethlehem, it is a mystery and a conundrum about which many theories have been written.

And even if you could see it, the light which reaches your eyes would have left the star thousands of years ago — perhaps about the time that Emperor Hadrian discovered the star.

The simple truth of the matter — and the most beautiful facet of all — is the fact that Hadrian discovered the Star of Antinous with his own tear-filled eyes as he looked skyward in grief after the death of his beloved Antinous. Distraught and weeping, the emperor stood under the canopy of the star-studded heavens and looked up the River Nile towards the spot where his Beloved Boy had died. And he saw a new star which he recognized as a celestial sign that the gods had taken Antinous to be one of them.

You have to realize that Hadrian was a keen astronomer/astrologer himself. He knew the heavens like the back of his hand and he was so adept at casting horoscopes that it was said he had determined the exact hour of his death. He built an observatory at his sumptious villa outside Rome. And the tour of Egypt had brought him into contact with the finest Egyptian magician/priests, one of whom taught him how to cast a binding spell which could give him dream-visions and could also cause someone to fall hopelessly in love with him or — depending on how it was cast — even cause that person to die in agony.

Hadrian was that sort of control freak. Despite the fact that he was the mightiest man on Earth who could send a man to death on a whim (and did so, on occasion), he also wanted control over the future. And he wanted to be able to force someone to love him and never, never leave him.

Much has been theorized about those fateful final days leading up to the death and deification of Antinous and Hadrian's discovery of the STAR OF ANTINOUS.

Yes, much has been written about these events and about Hadrian's obsession with magic and astrology and soothsayers. One of the more fanciful versions was published in a novel in the mid-1950s by the German author Ernst Sommer. Entitled simply Antinous, the novel suggests Antinous sacrificed his own life to save his beloved emperor during the imperial tour of Egypt in the year 130 AD.


The dramatic climax of the plot has Hadrian lying in a villa in Hermopolis, feverish and at death's door after having been bitten by a mosquito. The emperor writhes in bed, calling out Antinous's name. The Empress Sabina and heir-apparent Lucius, jealous but also fearful that the presence of Antinous might further agitate the emperor, issue orders that the boy be kept away from the emperor.

After several daring attempts to sneak into the villa, Antinous is finally put under house arrest aboard an imperial vessel anchored a few miles upstream near the fallen-down Temple of Bes (the future site of the Sacred City of Antinoopolis). Lucius has ordered that he be put in irons to prevent him from sneaking off to visit Hadrian. But the guards cannot bring themselves to place the beauteous boy in irons, in defiance of Lucius's orders. Instead, they merely confine him to his quarters below deck with a single porthole overlooking the nighttime waters of the Nile.

Sensing that the emperor is dying, Antinous realizes his love for Hadrian is boundless and that nothing can keep them apart. Thinking back to his discussions about life and death with Jewish Rabbis, Christian clerics and Egyptian priests of Osiris, he realizes that the day has come. The hour has arrived. It is time to surrender everything he has — in a pure act of love that will transform everything.

He opens the porthole hatch and sees an unusually bright star which seems to beckon. He steps out of his clothes and leaves them (his last earthly possessions) lying in a heap on the floor. He climbs deftly out the porthole and slips quietly into the water.

At the same moment, Hadrian breathes his last breath, to the horror of Sabina and Lucius and the others who are gathered at his bedside. In a state now beyond physical life, Hadrian opens his eyes to see Anubis standing before him with outstretched hands, lifting him out of bed and guiding him away down many dark corridors. At last, Hadrian is taken through a massive portal and into a chamber where Thoth is waiting beside scales placed before Osiris.

Thoth begins the Weighing of the Heart ceremony as Osiris asks who this person is who seeks admittance to his realm. In the midst of the solemn proceedings there is a loud banging at the portal and Anubis announces that someone has arrived to offer his own heart in exchange for the emperor's heart, so that Hadrian might live and walk the earth again. That person is standing unseen just outside the portal. After brief discussion, the Egyptian deities acknowledge that the Law of Maat specifically envisions such an exchange and that, indeed, it is the most sacred and powerful of covenants — surrendering one's own heart on the Scales of Truth for that of a loved one. Such love cannot be denied. The offer cannot be denied.

Genesthoi — So Be It Done!

Back at the death bed in the Hermopolis villa, Hadrian gasps suddenly and his eyelids fly open, to the amazement of everyone who thought he had just expired. Sensing what has happened, he speaks hoarsely of a vivid dream involving deities. He looks around and demands to know where Antinous is.

"Where is he? What have you done with him? I know he would be here at my side if he were physically able. Bring him to me at once!"

But as Sabina and Lucius stammer excuses, and before the runners can summon Antinous, a boat crewman bursts into the room with the news that Antinous is missing and presumed to have drowned in the Nile.

Hadrian suffers a relapse, but the Egyptian magic is well done. So he cannot die this time. As the search for Antinous continues, with hope waning each day, Hadrian retreats to the rooftop observatory of the villa in Hermopolis which has been placed at his disposal by a wealthy Hermopolite. The emperor stares into the heavens night after night, refusing to give up hope that Antinous might yet be alive, perhaps dazed and confused and lost somewhere along the river.

Then one night he looks into the heavens and sees the proof that he has been looking for since the disappearance of Antinous. He summons the empress and Lucius and the entire court and also calls for the chief astrologer of the Temple of Thoth in Hermopolis to come quickly.

He informs them that a new star has appeared in the heavens and that it is a celestial sign that Antinous has left this earthly existence to ascend to the pantheon of the gods. He has surrendered everything on behalf of his beloved emperor, just as he had always said he would. Everyone thinks Hadrian has suffered another relapse and is delusional with fever. But the astronomer arrives and swiftly confirms that the sharp-eyed emperor has indeed discovered an uncharted star.

As Hadrian leaves to issue orders for the deification of Antinous, construction of the city at the spot where he drowned and erection of temples throughout the world, the astronomer remains behind in the rooftop observatory with the wealthy owner of the house. Where precisely is this new star, the owner asks. "I know quite a bit about the stars for an amateur, but I can't for the life of me see anything at the spot in the heavens where Caesar was pointing just a while ago."

The astronomer says that the new star is definitely there and that astronomers throughout the world will confirm its existence and it will be recorded duly in all the star charts.

"Yes, but can't you point it out to me?" the wealthy man pleas. "I'm straining my eys looking, but I just can't see anything."

The astronomer answers, "And that is why you will never be a good  astronomer. You scan the heavens with your eyes, but not with your  heart."

So Hadrian looked into the nighttime skies and discovered a new star to point the way to that new religion. As a scholar and man of science he was able to see it with his own two eyes. Perhaps it was a super-nova which flared and then went out — who knows? He saw it and his court astronomers confirmed it and the Constellation of Antinous was recorded in the star charts for 19 centuries to come.

But more importantly, Hadrian discovered the Star of Antinous shining in his heart. The Death of Antinous showed him a way to make his vision of the perfect religion a reality on Earth. It was the Light he was seeking. It was the Light of Antinous.

So when you look up into the nighttime skies tonight in search of the Star of Antinous, don't be surprised if you can't find it with your physical eyes. You can't find it in physical space, which is why Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia calls it the Dark Star of Antinous. Look inside your heart and you will find it shining there with all the beauty of a dream of perfection ....

Lumen Antinoi Adiuva Nos!

(Light of Antinous, Sustain Us!)