ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

INVITES YOU TO TAKE HIS HAND

AND FLY WITH HIM OVER THE CITY OF ROME

AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS RELIGION

IN THE FOURTH CENTURY A.D.

TARRY A MOMENT WITH ANTINOUS IN HADRIAN's PANTHEON (4:00 min.)

JOAN OF ARC, SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON MAY 30th the Religion of Antinous honors Saint Joan of Arc who was burned as a heretic on this day in 1431.

She was a peasant girl who led the armies of the King of France against the occupying forces of the English. She claimed to have been chosen by God to drive the English from France and deliver the country to her King.

Joan of Arc said that she conversed daily with Saints Catherine and Margaret and St. Michael the Archangel. Her greatest victory was the liberation of Orleans, where Charles, then Dauphin, was crowned as King of France.

She was later captured by the English and subsequently tried by the Church and burned as a heretic. The focus of her trial was upon the nature of her visions, which the inquisitors condemned as Demonic, and upon her refusal to wear women's clothing.

Joan of Arc was in essence the most courageous of all transvestites, whose insistence upon male dress and hair style, and occupation as a warrior was the excuse used by the Church for her condemnation and subsequent burning as a heretic. The Church however reversed this decision in 1909 by beatifying her, and then finally consecrating her as a saint in 1920.

Though she is a saint of the Catholic Church and a devoted Christian, it is for her courage as a transvestite and possibly as a sacred lesbian that she is included as a Heroic Martyr Saint of the Religion of Antinous.

JAMES WHALE, SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON MAY 29th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the life of Saint James Whale (22 July 1889 — 29 May 1957), the openly gay British-born director of such films as Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man.

His movies were modern parables about the cruelty of "normal" people towards "monsters" in their midst. 

All of those 1930s films are recognized as classics of the genre. Whale directed over a dozen films in other genres, including what is considered the definitive 1936 film version of the musical Show Boat.

He became increasingly disenchanted with his association with horror, but many of his non-horror films have fallen into obscurity. Whale was openly gay throughout his career, something that was very unusual in the 1920s and 1930s.

He tended to use gay actors who were friends of his, including Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger, Charles Laughton and Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester, who played the "Bride". Thesiger has tea (below) in mad-scientist garb. 

Bride of Frankenstein, in particular, is widely interpreted as having a gay subtext and it has been claimed that Whale's refusal to remain in the closet led to the end of his career.

James Whale's true genius was in making movies which made the audience sympathize with the "monster" instead of the "normal" people, who invariably were portrayed as ridiculous, comic fools.

James Whale's soaring career was dashed by homophobic studio bosses who objected to having a "pansy" directing major movies. He spent the last decade of his life as an outcast in Hollywood.

He "accidentally" drowned in his own swimming pool in the mid-1950s after having become a chronic depressive following a stroke.

His life was brought to the screen in the award-winning movie Gods and Monsters, which is a masterful adaptation of a very wonderfully written gay novel entitled Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram.

The book and the movie are about his final weeks of life with flashbacks to his childhood in poverty in northern England and his traumatic experiences during World War I and to his heyday as the toast of Tinseltown, and his plunge into obscurity — and his final plunge into the watery arms of Antinous.

It is a great irony that the only out-and-proud Hollywood director of the 1930s is remembered as a man whose name is equated with monsters.

Sir Ian McKellen, who is also from conservative Northern England and is an openly gay star of stage and screen, was nominated for a Golden Globe and for an Academy Award for his role as James Whale in the 1998 movie Gods and Monsters.

Brendan Fraser also won critical acclaim in that film as Whale's yard boy who identifies with the Frankenstein monster. His compelling portrayal suggests to the audience that all of us are gods and monsters, to some degree. But then, even Antinous was a god to pagans — yet a monster to early Christians.

And Lynn Redgrave won a Golden Globe and got an Oscar nod for her scene-stealing performance as James Whale's disapproving Swedish housekeeper — a tongue-in-cheek characterization drawn from the real-life eccentrics who performed supporting roles in Whale's wonderfully campy old movies.

THE NIGHT NIJINSKY UPSTAGED THE TITANIC

ONLY NIJINSKY could upstage the Titanic.

Exactly 100 years ago, on May 29th, 1912, with the sinking of the great liner still fresh in the public's mind, Vaslav Nijinsky made his debut as a choreographer — with a staging that was as unimaginably shocking as the Titanic tragedy.

Already acclaimed as the world's greatest dancer, Nijinsky choreographed Claude Debussy's "L'apres-midi d'un Faune" (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn) for the Ballet Russes. A standing-room-only audience was crowded into the Théatre du Chatelet for the premiere.

Nijinsky himself danced the title role as the lustful faun trying in vain to seduce a group of nymphs.

Almost immediately after the curtain went up, gasps were heard in the audience. Nobody had ever seen ANYTHING like this on stage and most people could not recognize it as "dance" at all. They were accustomed to pretty ballerinas in tutus and agile men on pointed toe.

Nobody was prepared for THIS — an Art Nouveau frieze of two-dimensional Minoan Knossos mural characters that come alive and "walk like Egyptians."

And nobody certainly was prepared for his ad-lib pelvic humping. This impromptu "onanistic climax" at the end of the piece caused men to boo and ladies to swoon. 

Asked why he had rutted a scarf on stage, he answered, "It wasn't I ... it was the faun!"

The Titanic sank in April 1912, ending the "Gilded Age," and Nijinsky wanked on stage in May 1912, totally transforming the Arts. The stage was set (literally) for the Great War and total transformation of global political, economic and cultural structures.

The world would never be the same ...

 

We consecrate Vaslav Nijinsky as a Saint of Antinous and as a living incarnation of Antinous/Pan/Dionysus. St. Vaslav Nijinsky knew how to live Homotheosis every day of his life — which means living daily the Divine Spirit of Being Gay — and he knew how to express this ineffable spirit through dance as well.

NORTH SEA 'INVADERS'

ADVANCING ON HADRIAN's WALL 

INVADERS are crossing the North Sea in an onslaught on Hadrian's Wall which would have impressed even the Emperor Hadrian, who saw many wonders while traveling the length and breadth of his Empire.

Antinous is believed by many experts to have accompanied Hadrian on the Emperor's visit to Britain in 122 AD to oversee construction of the Wall.

But this time it's not Roman soldiers or barbarians, it's friendly day trippers from Amsterdam who have taken advantage of a special North Sea ferry tour to make the crossing and visit Hadrian's Wall.

This first-of-its-king DFDS Seaways' tour, called the "Edge of Empire" tour, was first launched on a trial basis last year. Due to the popularity of the trial crossing – 300 passengers took the tour in 2011 – this year the Edge of Empire tour to Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum has been introduced.

Passengers travelling from Holland to England disembark the ferry at North Shields, just north of Newcastle, in the morning and spend the day in the region. They are collected on arrival by a taxi from EastCoast Tours and driven along the scenic route along Hadrian's Wall to the Roman Army Museum where they put on their glasses to watch the only 3-D film being shown about the World Heritage Site.

It's then off to Vindolanda to see the extensive excavations and artefacts including the famous Vindolanda Writing Tablets from 300 years of Roman occupation. 

The Vindolanda Tablets (photo lower left) are actually very thin chips of wood on which soldiers wrote messages which were then mailed home to Rome -- rather like postcards.

The first visitor to take the tour was Sacha Spoor and her son Yona Fokker. She said: "Yona’s father is currently touring Scotland on his motorbike, so we wanted to come and visit some of the places he has spoken about. Seeing Vindolanda on the 3-D film from above was breathtaking and then visiting the excavation site brought it all together. I am sure the visit will help Yona when he comes to study this at school. Meeting the archaeologist and having our own guided tour made the visit very special."

Yona added: "The 3D-film was 'cool', although I wouldn't want to be a Roman Soldier!"

Since undergoing a $10 million redevelopment project over the last three years, The Vindolanda Trust's two sites, Roman Vindolanda and The Roman Army Museum, have seen an increase in visitor numbers from people from all over the world.

DFDS Seaways is marketing the themed tours to its continental European audience as part of its minicruise breaks package from Amsterdam to Newcastle. 

Christine Burke, Contracting and Accommodation Manager at DFDS Seaways says: "We bring 200,000 Dutch visitors to the North East each year. It is important for us to develop the visitor experience and work with attractions and suppliers to show them what this region really has to offer. I'm sure our Dutch visitors will be fascinated by in what Roman life was like on the edge of the empire 2,000 years ago."

For Vindolanda & Roman Army Museum information and online tickets visit www.vindolanda.com .

ENGLISH FIELD YIELDS HUNDREDS

OF HADRIAN AND ANTINOUS COINS

IMAGINE going out into a field with a metal detector and coming up with hundreds of Roman coins bearing the portraits of Hadrian and Antinous. That's what happened to a lucky amateur treasure hunter in the English West Midlands.


Hundreds of coins more than 1,800 years old were found at the undisclosed location in Staffordshire, according to The Sentinel newspaper.


The coins – some with immaculately-preserved images of Hadrian and Antinous – were discovered by metal detecting enthusiast Scott Heeley.


Experts say it is the most exciting discovery in the region since the Staffordshire Hoard, which is the largest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found.


Now officials at Hanley's Potteries Museum and Art Gallery must decide whether to buy the 242 coins and put them on public display.


Deb Klemperer, the museum's principal collections officer, said: "The last discovery of coins similar to these was back in 1998, but there were only around 18 coins in that find.


"This is very unusual for the area because it is quite a large find.


Details of the February find have only just been made public.


Experts at the British Museum have compiled a report on the discovery and an independent valuation committee will identify its worth.


A treasure trove inquest will be held to determine whether the find can be classed as treasure.

Some of the coins, which hail from the first and second centuries, feature images of politician and general Mark Antony, but most are of Emperor Hadrian with a few Antinous coins mixed in.


Ian Richardson, the British Museum's treasure registrar, said: "In the coin world, this is a good find."


Any financial reward will be split between the owner of the Stoke-on-Trent field and 50-year-old Mr Heeley.


The Network Rail maintenance worker, who lives in Hednesford, near Cannock, said: "My detector went off and I looked down and there was an English penny.


"I thought I would put it in my pocket for luck, and then the next thing it went off again and I found silver coins.


"A friend said 'Oh my God, you've hit the jackpot'. And every handful of soil which was coming out contained silver coins. I was totally shell-shocked.


"Some people will spend 35 years metal detecting and find nothing, and I've only been doing it a couple of years."

EMPRESS REGINA FONG

BELOVED SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON MAY 26th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the life of Reg "Regina Fong" Bundy, a blessed saint of Antinous, who was born on this day in 1941 and died on April 15, 2003. A brazenly gay cabaret artiste — she disliked being called a drag queen — she was a well-known AIDS charity host who influenced a generation of post-Stonewall gays in Britain with acerbic send-ups of politics and popular culture.

Regina Fong was not just a "queen", she was an "empress" — the last of the Russian Imperial Dynasty of the Romanoffs. Forget Anastasia (and Ingrid Bergman in a '50s film), Regina Fong was the REAL heir to Russian nobility. Like so many Russian aristocrats, she sought asylum in monarchical Britain after the Russian Revolution. There were indeed members of the Russian Imperial family who lived (albeit rather modestly) on the grounds of Windsor Castle during the 20th Century. Empress Regina lived (albeit rather immodestly) in London's West End.

Her Imperial Highness (HIH) Regina Fong did in fact become an Iconic cult figure on the European Cabaret stage. Known to friends as Reg (pronounced "Redge"), she lost her battle to cancer April 15, 2003.

But Reg, by creating Her Imperial Highness Regina Fong, a flame-red-wigged champion of gay rights, was insistently committed to being the knight in shining red armour who carried the banner of charities involved in transforming the AIDS epidemic from mortal tragedy into spiritual triumph. She reminded us all that gay cabaret, especially in London at that time, was (and continues to be) a central part of gay life.

After the "Gay Liberation" in the late '60s and '70s, drag queens and cabaret artistes were pushed to the back of the room, to more mainstream, homogenized images of gay life.

Regina Fong, and other Gay pioneers like Lily Savage, changed this forever and brought Gay Cabaret back to its rightful spot in the London Gay Scene. The Cabaret Tent at London Gay Pride events as the epicenter of Gay culture in good times and bad is the direct legacy of this valiant drag queen — er, ahm — cabaret artiste!

Our own Knight Stephanos personally knew Empress Regina Fong and conferred with her often in the legendary Black Cap gay bar in the heart of the West End Theatre District of London. And so it is fitting that Knight Stephanos (pictured right with Her Imperial Highness) explains her Sacred Significance to us:

"Reg Bundy and his creative spirit, through HIH Regina Fong, reminded us all that we mattered as gay people, that we mattered, and that being just who we were was were our strength laid as a culture.

"I knew Regina Fong between the years of 1989 and 1995, a time when contracting the HIV Virus was a virtual death sentence. We witnessed scores of wonderful gay men fall to aids. Regina Fong (and more importantly his non-drag persona Reg Bundy) was a pillar of hope with his sarcastically witty way of keeping up stiff-British-upper-lips during some incredibly dark times.

"If Reg could keep up a brave face in such a scary time, then all was not lost. I had many conversations with Reg in the old front bar at the Black Cap. Surrounded by the dregs, gutter street characters and top-notch West End talent that would congregate, Reg held court and parlayed the latest gossip and told stories of how it was to be gay in London before it was legal.

"He was a Romantic at heart, a Dreamer and a Bitch, who always left you with something to think about, cry about or laugh about. There are many things that are a fog to me about London in those far-off days. But Reg Bundy I always remember as clear as a bell.

"I assumed Reg would live for ever. It is surreal to me that he is gone, But I know his spirit lives on, looking down from some corner of the Black Cap and many other pubs in London, and even right here in Hollywood, California, keeping watch and holding court, drinking vodka-and-tonic — being a beacon in dark times — and a Gay Saint Always."

MODERN ASTRONOMERS VERIFY ACCURACY
OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ASTROLOGY PAPYRUS

A MYSTERIOUS Ancient Egyptian papyrus with mystical occult listings of "lucky" and "unlucky" days has provided a team of modern astronomers with proof that star-gazers 3,000 years ago were aware of the periodicity of binary variable stars.

A report on studies of the "Demon star" Algol by a research group from the University of Helsinki, Finland, stunned the astronomical community this week by indicating that the Ancient Egyptians had calculated the periodicity of Algo.
 

The Emperor Hadrian is known to have been fascinated by astronomy and astrology and even cast his own astrological charts.  Antinous and Hadrian visited Egypt and conferred with magician/priests. After the tragic death of Antinous, Hadrian discovered a new star, THE STAR OF ANTINOUS.

Thus, it is highly possible that the Emperor was aware of this famous text because it was recorded on many papyrus scrolls, several of which are in museums around the world.

This ancient text, which was so important that it was recorded on so many scrolls, is known as THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF DAYS

The Finnish scholars studied one such papyrus, the Egyptian papyrus "Cairo Calendar 86637," parts of which are in the British and Cairo Museums. This astrological calendar is probably the oldest preserved historical document of bare eye observations of a variable star, the Finnish astronomers said. Egyptologists have been baffled by the papyrus and its inscrutable calculations. 

In this calendar, each day of the Egyptian year was divided into three aspects, each ruled by a stellar deity. A favorable or unfavorable quality was assigned to each of the three divine aspects of a day. Two "lucky" aspects made a day "mostly lucky" while two "unlucky" aspects made it "mostly unlucky." Three "lucky" or "unlucky" aspects on any given day gave a clear astrological prediction either way.

Until now, it was wholly unclear how the Ancient Egyptian priest/astronomers arrived at their conclusions. The Finnish astronomers are convinced the prognostications were based on mathematical calculations of stellar brightness, among other things.

"The texts regarding the prognoses are connected to mythological and astronomical events," says Professor Sebastian Porceddu of Helsinki University.

"A modern period analysis revealed that two statistically significant periods of 29.6 and 2.850 days have been recorded into the good prognoses. The former is clearly the period of the Moon. The second period differs slightly from the period Algol. In this eclipsing binary, the dimmer star partially covers the brighter star with a period of 2.867 days," he wrote.

"These eclipses last about ten hours and they can be easily observed with bare eyes. Their period was discovered by Goodricke in the year 1783," says docent Lauri Jetsu.

"We can explain why the period of Algol has increased by about 0.017 days," Jetsu adds. "The period increase during the past three millennia could have been caused by the observed mass transfer between the two members of this binary. In fact, this would be the first observation that confirms the period increase of Algol and it also gives an estimate of the mass transfer rate."

In conclusion, the Finnish experts wrote: "The Ancient Egyptians made accurate measurements that provide useful constraints for modern astronomers."

"It seems that the first observation of a variable star was made 3,000 years earlier than was previously thought," says Dr. Jetsu. "However, I want to emphasize that our research has only been sent to a scientific journal about two weeks ago. This type of results can raise a lot of controversy before they are accepted."

The research was made in collaboration by the researchers from the Department of Physics and the Department of World Cultures of the University of Helsinki. It has been published electronically in the arXiv. The Egyptological part of the research will be published separately.

POMPEII TO GET EMERGENCY RELIEF

 TO REPAIR RAIN-DAMAGED VILLAS

POMPEII will receive emergency funding from the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO to repair damage at Pompeii caused by torrential rains over the past year, according to ANSA, Italy's news wire agency.


UNESCO said it would work with Italy over the next nine months to rebuild villas and other parts of the famed Roman site that have collapsed over the last year.


Under the deal, UNESCO will provide expert advice to the Italian government on how to upgrade conservation.


UNESCO's assistant director-general for culture, Francesco Bandarin, said the project would be a "complex endeavour".


Campania Governor Francesco Caruso told ANSA that a second deal had been signed with local business groups to safeguard the area outside Pompeii's walls.


Last November there was a collapse in the House of the Gladiators which drew criticism from UNESCO and the European Union (EU).

It was followed soon after by a collapse at the famed House of the Moralist, spurring further criticism from international conservation groups.


Last month there were another three minor cave-ins, including one at the House of Diomedes, after a fresh bout of heavy rain.


There was also an outcry when an eight-square metre section of a wall fell near the Nola Gate.


"Everything needs to be checked, otherwise there will be a series of more collapses," site officials said.


The EU subsequently pledged to step up supervision of Pompeii and provide more funds in future to protect one of Italy's most popular historic sites.


Pompeii was destroyed when a volcanic eruption from nearby Mount Vesuvius buried the city in ash in 79 AD and it now attracts more than two million visitors a year.


Critics have complained for years about looting, stray dogs, structural decay and poor management at Pompeii.

CENTAUR MOSAIC AT HADRIAN's VILLA OFFERS INSIGHTS INTO EMPEROR's MIND

THE FAMOUS Centaur Mosaic from the grand dining pavilion of Hadrian's Villa at Tibur has intrigued art historians for decades. The mosaic is on view at the Altes Museum in Berlin, along with stunning sculptures of Hadrian and Antinous. But few people have had the opportunity to view it up close with commentary by eminent art historians — until now!

This new video (below), with a running narration by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, provides brilliant insights not only into the Roman interpretation of Greek art, but also into the subtle differences in the way that the Romans and the Greeks perceived their place in the cosmos.

One important point which Drs. Zucker and Harris do not make, however, is that Hadrian was called "The Lion Slayer" because the Emperor and Antinous killed a man-eating lion in Egypt in the summer of the year 130 AD — only weeks before the tragic death of Antinous. 

Another detail is that the centaur downed by the tiger is a female, presumably the mate of the centaur holding the boulder. It is unclear whether the downed mate is dead or only stunned and is about to be rescued — just as Hadrian rescued Antinous from the Egyptian lion in real life.

So Hadrian's dinner guests could look at the mosaic and interpret the bearded centaur as being a mythic aspect of the emperor himself — protecting the Empire from the beastly forces of chaos. Hadrian could also be equated with Chiron, with Antinous perhaps his tutor.

In Greek mythology, Chiron was one of the Titans, the greatest of the Centaurs. Chiron was the tutor to a great many gods and demigods, including Prometheus, Theseus, Achilles and Hercules, to name but a few.

Astrologically, Chiron represents a person's healing energies and, indeed, the word for "surgery" in many European languages (chirurgie in French and German, cirugya in Spanish, chirugia in Italian and Portuguese) comes directly from the Ancient Greek words for "Chiron Hands" — a healer with the skilled hands of the Titan Chiron.

Astrologically, the asteroid Chiron currently is in a highly fortuitous aspect to Pluto — an aspect of cosmic healing which will last on and off through September. Hadrian, who was obsessed with astrology himself, could hardly have looked at this mosaic without pondering cosmic implications.

Zucker and Harris, founders of Smarthistory, aptly point out that this mosaic — only a tiny fraction of the dining pavilion's mosaic — must have been a profound source of dinner conversation.

THE SACRED HOUNDS OF ANTINOUS

 AND HERMANUBIS

WORSHIPERS of Antinous tend to be animal lovers. Perhaps it is because Antinous and Hadrian both are known to have loved animals. Hadrian even erected a tomb to his favorite horse. Horses, dogs, cats, pet birds — many members of ECCLESIA ANTINOI have beloved animal companions, or have had at various times in our lives.

Dogs are especially popular. Our own Flamen Antinoalis Antonyus Subia, a native of El Paso, has likened himself to a Rio Grande coyote.

On May 22nd, appropriately, the Religion of Antinous honors the faithful dog Maira who was so devoted to her master that she followed him into the heavens as the Constellation Canis Minor.

May 22nd is the Ancient Roman festival of Canis Erigoneius (Feast Day of the Dog of Erigone) which honors the she-dog Maira and her elderly master Icarius and his daughter Erigone.

This doggy feast day is not to be confused with the other Ancient Roman feast day each year when a dog would be crucified as a warning to all watchdogs not to fall asleep on the job. That was what happened once when the Gauls defeated a Roman Legion and marched undeterred on the city of Rome itself. The city's terrified residents fled in all directions. Total evacuation of a major city is impossible.

A few people stayed behind (mostly the infirm, elderly and pregnant mothers-to-be) and sought refuge with a few soldiers and Vestal Virgins atop the Capitoline Hill, where the city's vast treasure was stored in the Temples of Zeus, Juno and Minerva. Food was running low and the Sacred Geese of Hera looked very tempting but the Vestals warned that the goddess would not condone their slaughter. Spare the geese, and you spare Rome! Slaughter the geese, and Rome is lost!

The Gauls were intent on getting their hands on that treasure, so one night the Gauls crept up the slopes of the hill undetected, the hunger-weakened soldiers and watchdogs having dozed off. Only the plump Sacred Geese of Juno raised the alarm and roused the soldiers, who managed to stave off the Gauls and hold out until reserve Legions could arrive to retake the city and drive out the Gauls.

Needless to say, the dozy guards and watchdogs were punished severely — thrown off the Tarpeian Rock to their deaths. And after that, the Romans annually crucified a dog to make sure no watchdog forgot the lesson. Meanwhile the Sacred Geese were pampered to death, dying of arteriosclerosis and avian gout from over-eating.

But on the feast day of Canis Erigoneius, the Ancient Romans turned sentimental and pampered their dogs in remembrance of the faithful she-dog whose devotion to her master and mistress triumphed over death itself. Like so many holidays (both ancient and modern), it was a day to get falling-down drunk because the story involved Dionysus and the gift of wine to mankind.

It is the stuff that prime-time premium cable TV miniseries are made of: A kindly old man throws a party for his neighbors, who get completely hammered and end up murdering their host in a drunken frenzy. Afterward, they bury his body in a secret location, making off with his fortune and killing each other for their "fair" shares.

Ah! But the old man's faithful dog finds the secret grave under a tree and digs up his body. His daughter sees the grisly corpse and hangs herself in grief from the tree where the grave is located. The dog sits by both bodies, dutifully protecting them from anyone who approaches so that the dog has to be killed in order for authorities to dispose of the corpses.

That is the story in short. It could well be adapted as a forensic police mini-series except for the fact that the god Antinous-Dionysus plays a leading role. The full story is that kindly old man Icarius had been hospitable to the god Antinous-Dionysus and so, in gratitude, the God had given him a cutting of the finest wine grape vine in the universe.

With it, Icarius had been able to produce the mother of all wines, which was so potent that the neighbors who tasted it all came down with such severe alcohol poisoning that they became isanely envious of his fortune and desirous of his voluptuous daughter that they murdered Icarius — to get the Gift of the God.

Antinous-Dionysus was so outraged at what happened that he slapped a virulent curse on everyone in the neighboring countryside. He sent a plague of violent illness and delirious madness over the entire region. If they thought they had been poisoned from the divine wine, they REALLY got sick out of their minds this time.

In addition, all the unwed female offspring of the district spontaneously hanged themselves from the nearest tree. This is the origin of the biblical Grapes of Wrath.

Icarius was immortalized as the constellation Bootes, Erigone was placed into Virgo along with Persephone, and the dog Maira was placed in the Canis Minor.

Flamen Antinoalis Antonyus Subia relates the story in detail, concluding with the words, "Antinous, who is the New Dionysus, gives us the power of the dog Maira to find the buried mystery of his wine-giver."

For that is the Mystery Teaching of this myth. Icarius died and was dug up and raised to the heavens. He was "Twice Born" (Dio-Nysus) just as the god Antinous-Dionysus was born twice. As a foetus, Dionysus was taken from his mother's womb at the point of death and was sewn up in the upper groin-thigh of Zeus so that he could grow to full term — and was born a second time by the King of the Gods.

Similarly, Antinous was born of mortal woman but died and was reborn as a god at the proclamation of Hadrian in his capacity as the earthly Zeus.

Ah! But that's not all for us dog-lovers!

This is where Hermanubis comes into the story. In the 2nd Century AD the Religion of Antinous was thriving at the same time that the cult of Hermanubis was spreading to Rome. The Romans thought of Hermanubis as a merging of Hermes the messenger god and Anubis the Egyptian god of the dead.

But as so often, the Greeks hadn't translated the glyphs correctly and the Romans had blindly trusted the Greeks. In fact, the name Hermanubis is from the Egyptian Heru-M-Anpu, which means Horus-as-Anubis.

Rightly or wrongly (perhaps with the intercession of Hermes the Trickster), the Greco-Egyptian magician priests of Hermopolis understood that Hermanubis combined the cunning canine qualities of nocturnal scavenging (like a Mexican coyote) to emerge at dawn triumphant — like Horus the Sun God.

Woshippers of Hermanubis underwent initiations in which they discovered the "Anubic Light" which led them out of the darkness of their earthly existence. For a while, the cult of Hermanubis was very popular in Rome and there were great statues of Hermanubis. But a scandal of some sort resulted in the total suppression of the worship of Hermanubis in the city of Rome. No one knows why.

But his worship continued in the provinces, particularly in Egypt, where Anubis was quickly supplanted by Hermanubis — combining Horus and Anubis — Light Emerging from Death. 

If you look closely at the Tondo of the Two Lovers, the portrait shows two men who are clearly worshippers of both Antinous and Hermanubis.

Antinous was worshipped at Antinoopolis on the East bank of the Nile, directly across the river from Hermopolis, where Hermanubis was worshipped on the West bank of the Nile. The two gods were clearly "neighbors" and were closely enough related to each other that they were both considered compatible for helping someone to become "Twice Born" and to triumph over death.

Ironically, Hermanubis is still worshipped around the world, although few of his worshippers are even faintly aware of that fact. The Egyptians never lost their love for the dog-headed god who carried the young Horus over the heavenly Nile each night towards the Dawn of Eternal Life. Over the centuries, Hermanubis lost his doggy ears and became totally humanoid. As Christianity became the religion of the empire, the boy Horus became the boy Jesus. Hermanubis was no longer called Hermanubis, but rather Christophorus — Christ Bearer.

But the symbolism never changed. He is still the faithful spirit-being conveying the Boy God safely through the deadly waters of the Nile.

The question for us worshippers of Antinous is whether that little boy on his shoulders is Horus/Jesus — or is he just possibly Antinous?

That would give a whole new interpretation to the Tondo of the Two Lovers. Perhaps the artist was trying to tell us that, for the citizens of the Sacred City of Antinoopolis, the Blessed Boy Antinous had come to replace the Boy God Horus, and that Hermanubis was involved in lifting Antinous out of the deathly Nile and carrying him towards the Shore of Eternity.

That is certainly something to consider next time you see a plastic St. Christopher statuette on a car dashboard. It isn't Christopher carrying Jesus, but rather Hermanubis carrying Antinous!

If you listen carefully, you can hear Antinous/Hermanubis/Christopher giggling boyishly in the background at our very mortal mistranslations and miscommunications — which seemingly uncannily turn out to be very uncannily correct!

SAINT PLATO AND THE DIVINE TWINS

THE SUN has entered the Sign of Gemini — the Twins Castor and Pollux, Gods of Homosexuality. 

This is the zodiac sign which ushers in a special sacred time in the Religion of Antinous, for this is the time of year when the STAR OF ANTINOUS rises, after having been hidden below the horizon since the Death of Antinous at the end of October.

On May 21st the Religion of Antinous honors the Divine Twins, Castor and Pollux. On this date we also honor our Saint Plato, because May 21st is Plato's birthday, and no worshipper of Antinous could possibly forget HIS birthday.

The greatest of all western mystics and philosophers was born on this day in the year 427 BC. He was originally named Aristocles, but was called Plato by one of his teachers because of the breadth of his shoulders and of his speech, and we might also say because of the magnitude of his legacy of wisdom.

He was a follower of Socrates and the majority of his works are written as Dialogues of Socrates, wherein Plato elaborates his vision of the Universe, the inner workings of mankind, the complexities of human relationships, and the virtues of civilization.

All we know about Socrates is in reality only what Plato has told us of his teacher. Out of loyalty, Plato gave all personal credit to the wisdom of his divine teacher. Plato founded the Academy in Athens that was dedicated to the love of wisdom and to the perfection of the minds and souls of young men. Plato studied Pythagoreanism in Italy and made further speculation into the mathematical mysticism of the first philosopher thereby creating the model upon which western monotheism is based. The Platonic system was essentially a unification of the social inquiry of Socrates with the cosmic ramifications of the teachings of Pythagoras.

Here is how Flamen Antinoalis Antonyus Subia explain's the significance of Saint Plato:

"In the vision of Love that Plato expounded, Venus Urania, Celestial Love, is glorified as highest form of human affection, above the earthly requirements of procreation. The love between two men, what is innocently called Platonic Love, was considered by Plato to be the most divine form of relationship. Hadrian, in all ways the most Platonic of all Emperors, the veritable manifestation of the Philosopher King as glorified by Plato in The Republic, was demonstrating the meaning of Venus Urania, for all the world to see, in his passion for Antinous. For the beautiful light in which Plato illuminated the inner nature of homosexual love, he is venerated as a divine Saint of the Religion of Antinous."

But May 21st is also when we honor Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri who were born as triplets with the beautiful Helen as their sister. The mother of the three was Leda who was seduced by Zeus who came to her in the form of a swan. Leda gave birth to an egg from which emerged Castor, Pollux and Helen.

The identical brothers were inseparable, and had a deep affection for one another, for which reason they were often worshipped as gods of homosexuality. Helen was constantly being abducted and in need of rescue, which the brothers were usually successful in accomplishing, however, her beauty was eventually to lead to the Trojan War.

Castor was a skilled horseman, and Pollux was an unconquerable boxer. They took part in the voyage of the Argonauts, and together with Orpheus were able to calm a storm at sea, for which reason they were worshipped as the protectors of sailors.

Later in the voyage, Castor was killed, and Pollux was so overwhelmed that he begged Zeus to accept his life in exchange for his brother's. Out of compassion, Zeus immortalized Castor and proclaimed that Pollux would spend half the year in the underworld and half the year in heaven with his brother. Together they were placed in the sky as the sign of Gemini.

The Divine Twins miraculously appeared in Rome to announce the victory of the Republic over the allies of the last king by watering their horses in the Fountain of Juturna in the Forum.

Flamen Antonyus has this further insight into Castor and Pollux:

"The sacredness of the Twin Gods, with their third twin sister Helen is found in Norse Mythology as the Alcis and as the twins Frey and Skirnir with their third twin sister Freya.
"The symbolism of brotherly love, and of sacrificing one's life for the immortality of a brother is at the heart of the Religion of Antinous, and is an example of the sacrifice that Antinous is said to have committed for the prolongation of the life of Hadrian. The Dioscuri are Antinous and his "rival" Aelius Caesar, and they are also seen in the two brothers of Hadrian's court, Macedo and Statianus Caesernius, who were servants, protectors, confidants, lovers, friends, witnesses and first priests of Antinous.
"The Sacred Star of Antinous rises during the sign of the brothers Castor and Pollux."

Thus we pay tribute today to St. Plato, who enunciated the philosophy of same-sex love, and to the inseparable Castor and Pollux whose same-sex love is immortalized amongst the stars.