Monday, August 31, 2015

ANTINOUS WORKS MIRACLES FOR YOU
WHILE YOU DAYDREAM AT WORK


NEXT time you have a difficult problem to solve, and concentrating on it just isn't getting you anywhere, consider this: Maybe you're thinking too hard.


"Walk over to a window and think about the people or cars going by for a few minutes, until you get bored," suggests Josh Davis, research director at the New York Neuro-Leadership Institute. 

"Let your mind wander."

How will that help? "Always being 'on' blocks the brain processes that occur when we daydream," says Davis. 

His new book, TWO AWESOME HOURS Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done, draws on new discoveries in brain science.

The idea is certainly not new. The Ancient Priests of Antinous knew that zoning out for a few minutes allows your brain to tackle tasks it can't handle when you're busy. 

They called it the medium for Antinous to work miracles in your life.

In ancient times, Antinous was known as a miracle worker. His worshipers prayed to him for miracles, oracles, visions and answers to problems in their daily lives.

The Egyptian hieroglyphs on the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS state clearly that Antinous answers the prayers of all who call upon him through dreams and visions, for example.

The hieroglyphs also make cryptic references to his ability to work magic through his heart. This is a reference to the Ancient Egyptian concept of the "Intelligence of the Heart."

The Egyptians knew that the brain is the center of motor activity and sensory perception. 

But they believed the heart is the center of a form of intelligence which has baffled most mainstream Egyptologists ... who assume the Egyptians believed the heart was where cognitive thinking occurs.

But the Egyptians had a very different view of the universe from our rational, scientific view of the universe. 

We dissect facts and analyze them. But while the Egyptians were very good at analyzing facts, they also retained the Zen-like ability to see the whole ... which leads to contemplation ... not analysis.

The Egyptians understood that if you want to find an intelligent solution to a problem, your brain can do the work. You have all the necessary intelligence inside the bone in your skull.

However, most people use their brains the same way they use their muscles. You can strain your head just as if it were a muscle, and work very hard trying to arrive at an answer, but it doesn't really work that way.

When you really want to find an answer to something, what you need to do is contemplate the problem. Visualize your question as well as you can, and then simply wait.

If you don't, and if you instead try to find the solution through brute mental strength, you may be disappointed, because any solution that comes in that way is likely to be wrong.


But when you have waited for a while, the solution will come of itself. That is what the Egyptians called the Intelligence of the Heart ... using your heart instead of your head.

It will work for you in the same way your stomach will digest your food for you without your having to supervise it consciously. Our attempts to supervise everything consciously have all led to consequences that aren't too good for our stomach, and the reason for that is quite simple.

Conscious attention, which employs words, cannot think of very much. We are forced, therefore, to ignore almost everything while we are thinking. We think along a single track, but the world doesn't proceed along a single track.

The world is everything happening altogether everywhere, and you just can't take all that into consideration because there isn't time.

However, the Intelligence of the Heart can take it all into consideration because it is capable of handling innumerable variables at once, even though your conscious attention cannot...


The hieroglyphs on the Obelisk of Antinous promise that Antinous the Gay God enables us to discover the Intelligence of the Heart ... the Intelligence of HIM ... he opens his heart to you ....
 

Sunday, August 30, 2015

HADRIAN'S VILLA IS REBORN
AS A VIRTUAL 3-D WORLD YOU CAN INHABIT



NOW you can follow in the footsteps of Antinous and stroll through Hadrian's Villa ... as a digital avatar.

Bernie Frischer, a digital archaeologist at Indiana University and one of the first academics to use 3-D computer modeling to reconstruct cultural heritage sites, spent five years leading the development of the extraordinary 3-D VIRTUAL HADRIAN'S VILLA

The virtual simulation interprets the entire 250 acres and the more than 30 buildings of the 2nd-Century site.

The image above shows the digital 3-D virtual recreation of the Piazza D'Oro and adjacent gardens at Hadrian's Villa. The other image shows the ruins which visitors to the site see today.

Using a live 3-D multi-user online learning environment, visitors can interactively explore the entire villa complex.

RELATED WEBSITE documents the state of the site today and gives the scholarly background needed to understand the virtual simulation. 

The project combines information garnered from scholarly studies of how the villa was used with the virtual world gaming platform Unity 3D.

Frischer and the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory, which he directs at IU's School of Informatics and Computing, worked with the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts at Ball State University to offer visitors the opportunity to take on the roles of historically accurate avatars.

 That means you can slip into the avatar identity of members of the Imperial Court and Roman senators as well as soldiers and slaves. 

"The website makes it possible to study the state of the ruins today, including many sites on private land or in parts of the archaeological park closed to the public," Frischer said.

"The simulation shows how the site looked during the reign of Hadrian," he added. "It can be freely explored and used to support teaching and research." 

Non-playing characters also populate various places in the virtual villa, carrying out daily activities that would have occurred during the final years of Hadrian’s reign from 117 to 138 A.D. 

A visit to the website might include eavesdropping on an imperial audience, participating in a feast, bathing or worshipping. 

"A user can select from a variety of avatars representing class, gender and ethnicity, including courtiers, senators, scholars, freemen, soldiers and slaves," Frischer said.

"This avatar system was based on scholarly studies of the circulation and flow throughout the villa," he added. "The goal was to make everything evidence-based, from the avatars' costumes to their gestures." 

For an example of the avatar experience, join Frischer on an eight-minute YouTube tour of the virtual villa, with Frischer playing the avatar's role of Hadrian.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

A LOST PALACE OF SPARTA FOUND



AN ancient Greek palace filled with cultic objects and clay tablets written in a lost script may be the long-lost palace of Mycenaean Sparta, one of the most famous civilizations of ancient Greece.

The 10-room complex, called Ayios Vassileios, was filled with striking artifacts, including fragments of ornate murals, a cultic cup with a bull's head, a seal emblazoned with a nautilus and several bronze swords.

The palace, which burnt to the ground in the 14th Century BC, also contained several tablets written in Linear B script, the earliest known form of written Greek, the Greek Ministry of Culture said in a statement

The ancient palace was uncovered about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) away from the historical Sparta that arose centuries later.

But far more important than the location is the discovery of the Linear B tablets, experts said. 

The new Linear B tablets at Ayios Vassileios are 100 years earlier than the next oldest tablets, and given that there is a Minoan settlement near the new Spartan palace, scholars may need to rethink how and where the language developed, they said.

The discovery could shed light on a mysterious period in the history of the Mycenaean civilization, the Bronze Age culture that mysteriously collapsed in 1200 BC.

Friday, August 28, 2015

KARL HEINRICH ULRICHS
SAINT OF ANTINOUS


ON AUGUST 28 the Religion of Antinous honors Saint Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the world's first gay activist, who lobbied governments 100 years before Stonewall for repeal of anti-gay laws, and who was also Chief Priest of Antinous worldwide in the latter half of the 19th Century.

Even before the term "homosexuality" had been coined, Ulrichs came out to his friends and families and proclaimed in 1864 that he was a "Uranian" — or "Urning" in his native German — and thenceforth waged a one-man campaign for gay rights in Germany.

Sanctus Carolus Henricus Ulrichs, Chief Priest of Antinous in the 2nd half of the 19th Century (worldwide!) wrote incredibly long poems — nearly in epic form — about Hadrian and Antinous.

He wrote a manuscript for a mammoth scientific work on Antinous in history, art, coins and his influence on ancient and modern culture. The manuscript was confiscated and destroyed in a police raid.

As part of his gay-rights lobbying effort, he wrote dozens of pamphlets with titles such as "Researches on the Riddle of Man-Manly Love" aimed at dispelling homophobic myths about same-sex love.

Late in life Ulrichs wrote: "Until my dying day I will look back with pride that I found the courage to come face to face in battle against the spectre which for time immemorial has been injecting poison into me and into men of my nature. Many have been driven to suicide because all their happiness in life was tainted. Indeed, I am proud that I found the courage to deal the initial blow to the hydra of public contempt."

Forgotten for many years, Ulrichs is now becoming something of a cult figure in Europe. There are streets named for him in the German cities of Munich, Bremen and Hanover. His birthday (August 28th, 1825) is marked each year by a lively street party and poetry reading at Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Square in Munich.

The International Lesbian and Gay Law Association presents an annual Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Award in his memory. He died on July 14th, 1895, in L'Aquila, Italy.

THE FOUNDING OF ANTINOOPOLIS


UNLIKE other so many other deities, Antinous started out as a mortal human being, who was born in Asia Minor and who became the companion of the mightiest man on Earth ... and who died tragically in the Nile ... and was deified to become the last Classical God.

At the command of his friend and lover Emperor Hadrian, who proclaimed the deification of Antinous, a mighty city of white marble rose on the banks of the Nile where he had died.

It was the Sacred City of Antinous, the glorious city in Egypt called ANTINOOPOLIS originally and later Ansenand Antinoé (also spelled Antinopolis or Antinoupolis).

It flourished for centuries before sinking into gradual decline and ruin. Now only a wretched village huddles the banks of the Nile, with a plain of rubble-strewn mounds stretching out behind it ... all that is left of the fabled city of Antinoopolis.


Archaeologists working at the site announced this week that they may have found A RIVERSIDE TEMPLE COMPLEX which may have marked the actual spot where Antinous died.


Our Lord Hadrian Augustus, Emperor of Rome, Pontifex Maximus, the New Jupiter, Hercules reborn, consecrated the shore of the Nile where Antinous fell, and solemnly founded the Holy City of Antinoopolis in Egypt in the year 130 AD.

Antinous had risen again from the depths of Tartarus, he had conquered death and returned to the place of the living.

By Victory and Proclamation, Antinous was elevated to godliness, and the ancient religion of Our God was set in motion. The Priesthood of Antinous was ordained, sacred statues and images proliferated, and Temples rose up in every corner of the world, for the glory of Antinous the God.

We exalt in the deification of Antinous, and marvel at his assumption into heaven. 


We concelebrate the Foundation of Antinoopolis by re-founding the sacred city within our hearts, declaring ourselves the New Stones of Antinoopolis. 

With love for Antinous in our hearts, the New Temple of Antinous was founded in 2002, called ECCLESIA ANTINOI, and the New PRIESTHOOD OF ANTINOUS was initiated.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

ARCHAEOLOGISTS AT ANTINOOPOLIS
FIND EVIDENCE OF ANTINOUS-OSIRIS TEMPLE



BIG news has reached us from ANTINOOPOLIS, where archaeologists have found evidence of a temple dedicated to Antinous-Osiris and a large harborside peristyle court.

Finding the exact location of the ancient waterfront is important since it may indicate the site at which Antinous died.


We know that Emperor Hadrian commanded that a sacred city be founded at the location where Antinous drowned in the Nile.

We also know from an ancient papyrus that an impressive quayside port facility was constructed at or near that site.

Using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), archaeologists have found a large square compound of paving stones bordered by columns ... which could mark the site where Antinous drowned.

It is highly possible that the compound resembled the Serapeum at Alexandria depicted at the top of this entry ... since that was the prevalent style in Roman Egypt.


The archaeologists also found a stone door lintel which is inscribed with a dedication to Osiris, indicating it came from a temple. 

Since Antinous was worshiped as Osiris, it is likely that the temple was dedicated to him in that form.

However, it is too early to speculate on the temple's location since the stone was found in isolation with no other building stones around it. It is possible the stone was moved in subsequent centuries when the city was used as a quarry.


Writing in his annual report, James B. Heidel, president of the Antinoupolis Foundation, says the discoveries in the past year at the site have exceeded all expectations.

Finds include ornate capitals which once adorned colossal columns.


Heidel also says LAST YEAR'S LOOTING has abated somewhat following a return to a semblance of stability in Egypt.

Since the revolution in Egypt, which resulted in runaway lawlessness, the site has been subject t"SYSTEMATIC LOOTING" for three years. 


The scope of looting diminished in recent months, although local villagers still search for "trinkets" to sell on the black market, he writes.

Heidel says his archaeologists working at Antinoopolis (also known as Antinoe) say local villagers continue to encroach on the dig site ... ostensibly to create new space for housing and graves.

However, it is an ages-old practice in Egypt for villagers to build houses over places where they can "accidentally" unearth ancient treasures by digging tunnels under their homes. And excavation of new graves can "accidentally" reveal more ancient treasures.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

NEFERTITI IN TUT'S TOMB THEORY
GETS BACKING OF TWO TOP AUTHORITIES



TWO recognized Egyptian authorities say they believe it is possible that Nefertiti is buried in a secret chamber behind a hidden doorway in King Tutankhamun's tomb.

Egypt’s minister of antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, told a news conference he will look into the theory put forth by renowned Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves. In a monograph, Reeves urged officials to at least look into the possibility without rejecting it outright.


"I agree with Nicholas Reeves," the Egyptian minister said.

The antiquities minister “had a long discussion” with Dr Reeves and invited him to Egypt.

The September meeting will see Dr Reeves present his case to an assembly of Egyptologists and archaeologists.

Eldamati's predecessor, Dr. Zahi Hawass has also expressed support. Initially skeptical, Hawass has now obviously read Nick Reeves' paper on Tutankhamun's tomb. 

Unlike his previous dismissive comments, he now says Reeves' theory should be investigated, according to an Al Ahram report.

"In my opinion Reeves is one of the leading experts on the Valley of the Kings, with many publications on the subject to prove it," Hawass said of Reeves. 

"Thus, if he says anything about the Valley, we all as Egyptologists have to respect him," Hawass added, "and I do respect him as a person, and I also respect his scholarship."

Dr Reeves’ evidence is circumstantial: He points to marks and depressions in the tomb’s walls, as revealed by new high-resolution photos, and combines these with prior evidence that the items in Tutankhamun’s grave were ‘recycled’ from a regal predecessor.

He also highlights anomalies in the paintings of the pharaoh in the burial chamber as indicating they are images of Nefertiti ‘doctored’ to look like the boy king.

It was a sufficiently strong argument to win the attention of Egypt’s government.

Our initial story in July (which you can READ HERE) made headlines around the world … and now the Egyptian government is taking Reeves's theory seriously and has promised to look into it further.

Writing in a paper published at ACADEMIA.EDU, Reeves bases his theory on new, high-definition color photography of painted scenes in Tutankhamun's burial chamber released in recent months online by Madrid-based art-replication specialists Factum Arte.

He believes he has discovered a secret doorway in a false wall within the tomb of King Tutankhamun. On the other side, he speculates, is the undisturbed burial of the tomb’s original owner - Queen Nefertiti, the wife of the "heretic" pharaoh, Akhenaten.

Since then the world’s media has been frothing at the prospect of the discovery of the century ... the tomb of one of Egypt’s most famous queens.

Archaeologists' reactions have ranged from cautiously hopeful to outright skepticism. 

Leading the charge for the skeptics is Zahi Hawass, former head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

He passionately states: "Reeves' study is a theory for fame and publicity and not based on archaeological or scientific evidences."

Less accusational, yet similarly doubtful, is Bristol University Egyptologist Aidan Dobson: "It's a long way from observing possible outlines of doors to the conclusion that one leads to the burial chamber of Nefertiti."

Reeves is the first to acknowledge that his is just a theory at this stage: "Each piece of evidence on its own is not conclusive, but put it all together and it's hard to avoid my conclusion.” 

And if his theory is right, then it's “potentially the biggest archaeological discovery ever made.”

It shouldn't be too difficult for non-invasive radar to at least determine if there is a void behind the walls of Tutankhamun's burial chamber. 

What they'll do next if there are indications that there IS something there is another matter. But that's certainly a good problem to have.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

PALMYRA TEMPLE SEEN BY ANTINOUS
BLOWN UP BY DAESH BARBARIANS



THESE are the first images of the Baalshamin Temple in Palmyra Syria which DAESH Islamic State barbarians have blown up, in what the United Nations has called a "war crime".


Antinous and Hadrian visited Palmyra, fabled "Garden City" of the desert and most definitely saw this temple in its full glory. 

The photo at right shows how impressive even its ruins were prior to its being blown to bits by DAESH (top photo).

We know Antinous and Hadrian saw it because records say that Hadrian personally ordered a vast expansion of the temple.

News of the destruction of the temple comes after relatives and witnesses said Wednesday that Khaled Asaad, an 81-year-old antiquities scholar who devoted his life to understanding Palmyra, was beheaded by DAESH militants, his bloodied body hung on a pole. He had even named his daughter after Zenobia, the queen that ruled from the city 1,700 years ago.

The fate of the nearby Temple of Bel, dedicated to the Semitic god Bel, was not immediately known. ISIL supporters on social media also did not immediately mention the temple's destruction.

ISIL members have also  looted and vandalized a museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul and have massively damaged the ancient cities of Hatra and Ninevah, both UNESCO world heritage sites.


DAESH claims ancient relics promote idolatry and say they are destroying them as part of their purge of paganism. However, they are also believed to sell off looted antiquities, bringing in significant sums of cash.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has been told that DAESH militants have killed 30 suspected gay men for "sodomy" in recent months.

Only last week, DAESH released a video showing CHILDREN STONING two gay men to death after they had been thrown off a building in Homs Syria. It was the latest in a grisly series of such gay execution videos. 

Last month, DAESH released a video showing two other men accused of being gay THROWN OFF A BUILDING and then stoned by a crowd in Palmyra.

Only a few weeks earlier, more than 25 men were EXECUTED BY CHILDREN at the famous theater in Palmyra.

CHAVELA VARGAS
SAINT OF ANTINOUS



CHAVELA VARGAS, the forceful lesbian songstress who was born in Costa Rica and rose to fame in Mexico, and influenced generations on both sides of the Atlantic, has been proclaimed a Saint of Antinous.

When she died in 2012 at age 93, she was especially known for her rendition of Mexican rancheras, but she is also recognized for her contribution to other genres of popular Latin American music.

Never one to hide her lesbianism, she has been an influential interpreter in America and Europe, muse to figures such as Pedro Almodóvar, hailed for her haunting performances, and called "la voz áspera de la ternura," the rough voice of tenderness.

FLAMEN ANTONIUS SUBIA speaks for millions of gays in the Spanish-speaking world when he says her passing is a saddening loss. He grew up with her music.

ANTONIUS RECALLS:

My parents had always played her music it...among many other singers...she was the only one who made an impact on me.  She was the only one who stood out...mostly because I could tell that she was crazy...she wasn't trying to sound pretty or traditional...but more like someone having an attack of too much feelings.

It wasn't until I was in my late teens that a friend pointed out that all her love songs are sung about women, I hadn't even noticed, I had just taken them at face value, you broke my heart songs, without really thinking about the context...that was when I really started to like Chavela Vargas...when it suddenly dawned on me that this dramatic, bellowing woman, who was such a favorite of my parents, was A LESBIAN!!!

As it turns out she was a hard-core lesbian, though never public about her sexuality, she never actually hid it...it was pretty much right there for everyone to see.  She drank heavily, carried a gun and wore a big red poncho...how can you not love a lesbian such as that?!  Eventually the drinking became too much and she dropped out of making music for a long, long time...only to return about 10 years ago, at 83 years of age with a new album...and it was during her return that I finally learned that, yes indeed, just as I suspected, she was in fact a Lesbian.  My favorite quote is when she said: 

"I've never even been to bed with a man. Never. That's how pure I am; I have nothing to be ashamed of. My gods made me the way I am." - Chavela Vargas

Chavela Vargas is a blessed Saint of Antinous.

ANTONIUS SUBIA

Monday, August 24, 2015

ALEXANDER NOT IN AMPHIPOLIS TOMB,
BUT MAYBE HIS LOVER HEPHAESTION



LOOTERS are the latest threat to the mysterious tomb found in Greece last year which turned not to hold the remains of Alexander the Great ... but which contains a male skeleton which could be that of his lover Hephaestion.

A year ago it was hailed as the biggest archaeological find of the century ... with  Greece's then prime minister proclaiming that this was "most certainly" the LOST TOMB OF ALEXANDER.

Now, amidst a cataclysmic economic collapse in Greece, archaeologists have withdrawn from the mysterious large tomb at AMPHIPOLIS in Macedonia.

"No one works here anymore. The project is frozen, like everything else in Greece," a young guard told French news agency AFP, referring to the country’s economic crisis that in addition to mass layoffs and revenue cuts, it has also hit spending on cultural projects. "We still don’t know if the country is going to run out of money."

That leaves the large tomb vulnerable to looting. Greece's economic crisis is spurring a cultural crisis too, according to an in-depth report from the National Geographic, which says desperate Greeks are resorting to looting the antiquities of their fabled homeland and selling them on the black market.

The Amphipolis Tomb is an easy target despite the fact that experts say there is no chance that Alexander the Great's bones are there if, indeed, they were ever buried there.


Instead, they held out tantalizing possibility that the MOTHER OF ALEXANDER or possibly Roxana the WIFE OF ALEXANDER or even his male lover HEPHAESTION may have been entombed there.


Analysis of the scattered remains now shows that bones found in the tomb belong to:

  • One woman over 65 years old.
  • Two men around 35-45 years old each, the younger of whom may have suffered fatal knife wounds.
  • One infant.
  • One adult person (male or female) who had been cremated.

In addition, non-human bones were found, probably those of a horse.

Archaeologists found skeletal material belonging to a man who may have been the original inhabitant in the tomb, very close to the floor. The body belonged to a man who stood at 1.60 meters in height (5 ft. 2 in.), whose bones had been shuffled by looters.

The skeletal remains and bits of wooden debris were interspersed by iron and copper nails along with ivory and glass decorative adornments for the coffin.

The discovery of skeletal remains raises almost as many questions as it answers, since wood was not thought to have been used for royal coffins in the time of Alexander the Great. Royals were cremated in Ancient Greece.

However, it could be the body of a non-royal person ... such as Alexander's lover Hephaestion.

The announcement comes weeks after the archaeologists uncovered mosaic flooring of the second chamber ... revealing the Abduction of Proserpine/Persephone by Pluto. 

The symbolism of the MOSAIC, which was discovered in the second chamber along with CARYATIDS, vastly increases the chances that this tomb houses a member of the Macedonian royal family.

Alexander sailed from Amphipolis to Asia. 

However, it is almost certain that his tomb is located in Alexandria, since people such as Julius Caesar, Hadrian and Antinous are supposed to have visited his burial site there.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

RECORD TURNOUT OF GLOBAL WORSHIPERS
FOR TONIGHT'S LION HUNT CEREMONIES



A record number of worshipers participated via Skype tonight in ceremonies commemorating the SACRED LION HUNT, the final recorded event in the brief life of Antinous ... when he and Hadrian slew a man-eating lion in Egypt in August of the year 130 AD.

Worshipers from across the United States, Mexico and Brazil as well as Europe took part via Skype in the ceremonies held at the Hollywood Temple of Antinous.


The rituals were celebrated in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

The skin art image courtesy Michael Isom shows Antinous subduing the man-eating Marousian lion in the Egyptian desert in the year 130 AD.

The SACRED LION HUNT was immortalized in poetry and in stone, showing Antinous brashly attacking the lion with his adamantine-tipped spear and wounding it ... so that Hadrian had to gallop to his rescue and dispatch the beast.

Hadrian added medallions to the Arch of Constantine showing him and Antinous with feet on the lion's neck and also making sacrifice to the great lion-killer Hercules.

Soon legend would have it that scarlet-red lotus blossoms had sprung forth from the pool of the lion's blood ... which we honor as the LOTUS MOON, the Pisces Third Quarter Moon in June.

Within a few short weeks after the Sacred Lion Hunt, Antinous himself would be dead. The Sacred Lion Hunt is the last recorded event in His short life.

Novice Priest DECO RIBEIRO related the story of the Lion Hunt via Skype from São Paulo Brazil. Flamen ANTONIUS SUBIA celebrated the liturgical ritual in Hollywood.

Antonius noted that the brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. Tonight's rituals and meditations were aimed at enabling participants to traverse the road between who they think they are and who they can be. The key is to set forth on the journey ... with adamantine-tipped spear in hand ... galloping forward.

A special highlight of tonight's ceremonies was the skin art of long-time Antinous worshiper Michael Isom, whose arms are adorned with Sacred Images of Antinous.



Saturday, August 22, 2015

THE HISTORY OF THE ROSY LOTUS
OF ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD





When Emperor Hadrian visited Alexandria,
the poet Pancrates presented him
with a beautiful lotus flower.


Awestruck by the magnificent rosy-red petals,
Hadrian agreed to name the flower
after his beloved Antinous.


Drawings by Uendi


Beautiful CG Art by Antonius Subia


Music by Kevin MacLeod


For more info: THE TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS

Friday, August 21, 2015

THE SACRED LION HUNT



ON the 21st of August, with the Sun in the final degrees of Leo the Lion, we commemorate the Sacred Lion Hunt ... when Hadrian and Antinous slew a man-eating lion in Egypt in August 130 AD.

The modern-day Priests of Antinous are celebrating the event in special ceremonies in which they also honor the Sacred Rosy Lotus of Antinous ... the pink waterlily said to have sprung forth spontaneously from the lion's blood as it splattered the banks of the Nile.

Flamen Antonius Subia relates in vivid detail the events of the Sacred Lion Hunt:

The place is Egypt, somewhere in the rocky wilderness between the scattered oases southeast of Alexandria. The time is August of the Year 130 AD. The Sun is poised to enter the Sign of Leo. The Constellation of Aquila the Eagle is at its zenith in the nighttime sky — just as it is now.

It is the constellation of the Emperor. And the Emperor and his Beloved are touring Egypt when they hear grisly accounts of a man-eating lion marauding the countryside on the edge of the cultivated land. The "Marousian Lion" it was called.

They lead a hunting expedition out into the wilderness. The whole expedition is rife with symbolism from the start since the Sun is in Leo in the daytime skies and the Eagle is soaring in the nighttime skies and the Ancients believed killing lions was tantamount to defeating death itself. Lion hunting was the sport of kings.

When at last the Imperial party flushes out the man-eater, the huntsmen and archers stand back and leave Hadrian to close in on the beast with his steed. Hadrian has just got off an arrow which wounds the animal when, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, young Antinous rides ahead, his reins in his left hand, an adamantine-tipped lance in his upraised right hand.

As the Imperial retinue looks on in horror, the snarling lion charges toward the boy, causing his panicked horse to whinny and wheel about in terror. But Antinous maintains his balance and, instantly judging distance and angle, sends his lance sailing towards the lion as it quickly closed the gap between them. 

The lance slams into its rear flank, inflicting a serious but not fatal wound. Enraged even more, the lion uses its fangs to pull out the lance and charges anew against the Boy who is fumbling with his quiver to ready a shot with his bow. But an arrow is already in the air from behind Antinous, and it whizzes past his ear and hit its mark in the throat of the lion.

It has been fired by Hadrian, who is approaching at full gallop and who, even while the first arrow was still in the air, had already readied a second arrow, which this time penetrates both lungs.

The lion spins about and collapses writhing in the dust, rage in its eyes, blood and saliva guttering from its fanged mouth, gasping for breath as it struggles to get to its feet — because Antinous has dismounted and is sprinting toward it with a drawn dagger.

Hadrian draws his steed to a halt and dismounts with an agility and  lightness befitting a man half his age, fueled by adrenalin and alarm for his Beloved Boy, who faces imminent peril from the mortally wounded lion, still capable of severing an artery with one swipe of its mighty paw.

Hadrian draws his hunting axe from his belt and holds it high as he  lunges onto the lion's back and dispatches the beast with one powerful blow which splits its skull in two with a frightening crack and a spurt of bright red blood which bathes both the older man, now panting and perspiring heavily, and the younger man who still shows no visible expression of concern, just a wild-eyed look of excitement in his eyes, as if he never realized the danger he had been in — as if he thinks he is immortal.

A cheer goes up from the coterie of onlookers when they realize the lion is dead, killed seemingly by a single blow from the Emperor's hand. Courtiers whose eyes are unskilled in the ways of hunting will later claim Hadrian had struck the lion dead with a club.

As soldiers and nervous bodyguards rush forward to make sure everything is all right, the emperor, his adrenalin-strength ebbing as quickly as it came, shakily wraps a blood-spattered arm around Antinous and plants his gilded, spike-soled sandal on the dead animal's neck and nods to Antinous to do the same.

There they stand, bathed in blood and bathed in the adulation of the Imperial coterie, each with one foot on the vanquished man-eater as the animal's blood spreads out and covers the surrounding rocks and sand and a few scrubby wildflowers growing from a crevice in a rock.

Even the flowers are splattered with blood. And these red blossoms  will be plucked by members of the entourage to take back as souvenirs to show to envious courtiers who had not been invited along.

THE SACRED LION HUNT was immortalized in poetry and in stone, with Hadrian adding medallions to the Arch of Constantine showing him and Antinous with feet on the lion's neck and also making sacrifice to the great lion-killer Hercules.


Soon legend would have it that scarlet-red lotus blossoms had sprung forth from the pool of the lion's blood, the lion which had been brought down by Antinous and which had been dealt its death blow by Hadrian — the SACRED RED LOTUS.

Under the Sign of Leo. And under the Constellation of the Eagle. 

Within a few short weeks, Antinous himself would be dead. The Sacred Lion Hunt is the last recorded event in His short life.

And some time afterward, grieving Hadrian would look up into the  nighttime skies with tear-filled eyes and his court astronomers would point out a New Star which had appeared in the southern part of the Constellation of Aquila the Eagle.

The New Star would be interpreted as a celestial sign that Antinous had been raised to the firmament, that the Constellation of the Imperial Eagle had been joined by the CONSTELLATION OF ANTINOUS. It was a sign that Antinous was now a God.

If you go outside tonight and peer out into the darkness with all its deep and hidden dangers, remember Antinous and how he peered out into the barren wilderness with all its deep and hidden dangers. 

He charged forth, his bridle-reins in his left hand and an adamantine-tipped lance in his right, and he faced death unafraid.

For Antinous knew he was immortal.

The Constellation of Antinous, still under the wing of the Imperial Eagle, will be right directly over your head tonight — shining proof that Antinous is a God and that he is indeed immortal.

Don't look out into the darkness around you and be afraid. Instead, look up and remember the Beloved Boy, who was a fearless hunter, who stalked death itself, and who emerged victorious over it.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

THE SACRED BAND OF THEBES
THE ARMY OF LOVERS


AUG. 20 the Religion of Antinous commemorates the Sacred Band of Thebes, the Army of Gay Lovers whose courage and valour have echoed down through the ages as an inspiration that Gay Love is a magical means of Conquering Fear and  Doubt.

The Sacred Band of Thebes, also called The Theban Band, was a battalion composed entirely of homosexual friends and lovers. This military unit, consisting of 150 male couples, was based on the belief that men fighting alongside their lovers would die rather than shame one another.

According to Aristotle, the Army of Lovers were sworn into military service at the Tomb of Iolaus, one of the many male lovers of Hercules. Iolaus had helped the god in the Twelve Herculean Tasks. 

He often acted as Hercules' charioteer and companion, and the closeness of their relationship was such that he was known as Heracles' symbomos (altar-sharer), since the two could be honored at one and the same altar — a very rare occurrence in ancient Greece, where each divinity would have his or her own altar.

Iolaus was called the eromenos (beloved boy) of Hercules, and was thus a Sacred Hero of same-sex love in Thebes. Hercules, Iolaus and Eros were often depicted together.

That is probably why the army of gay lovers was called the Sacred Band, since they took their oath of allegiance at the Sacred Tomb of Iolaus, which was at the same time a shared sacred altar to Hercules. In effect, the warriors were swearing that they would fight alongside their comrades the same way Iolaus and Hercules fought together — armed with the arrows of Eros.

You can see the parallels to Hadrian and his beloved boy Antinous, and later this week the parallels become even clearer when we commemorate the SACRED LION HUNT

After that hunt in the Libyan desert in the summer of the year 130 AD, Hadrian and Antinous made sacrifice to the Great Lion Slayer Hercules — thus cementing the identification between Hadrian/Hercules and Antinous/Iolaus — and their affiliation with the Sacred Band of Thebes.

The great Theban general and tactician Epaminondas is generally credited with establishing The Sacred Band, although some sources claim it was his "beloved friend" Pelopidas who was responsible for recruiting them. No matter — they both fought side-by-side at the head of The Sacred Band.

This corps d'elite first took to the battlefield against Sparta, which had dominated Greece since the fall of Athens in 404 BC. The Spartans were confident of victory, as they had never suffered a defeat on the battlefield — never ever.

Deploying the Sacred Band on his front left wing, "Epaminondas made his left wing fifty deep and flung it forward in the attack." 

The "extra weight" of this wing and the "fanatical bravery of the Sacred Band" broke the Sparta right wing, which contained their best warriors. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, the Spartan king was killed and their right gave way.

Witnessing this, the rest of the Spartan forces, who had not yet been engaged, fell back in disarray, running for their lives. Thus, Sparta suffered their first recorded defeat in more than 400 years — at the hands of an Army of Gay Lovers.

But the end came in 338 BC at the battle of Chaeronea when King Phillip II of Macedonia and his son Alexander (later called Alexander the Great) defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes-Boetia. Alexander confronted The Sacred Band of Thebes, the elite corps of 300 homosexual lovers who were by that time the most respected soldiers in the world.

But alas! They were no match for the Macedonians under Phillip and Alexander. It was a rout. The Athenian and Theban armies gave way and began retreating from the advancing Macedonians. Only The Sacred Band stood their ground — and died. Only a few were subdued and captured. Of those who died, it was found that not one had been wounded in the back — a sign that they had not turned away from the fight.

Alexander was so moved by their nobility and courage that he asked his father to bury them with honour and raise a monument in the form of a Sacred Lion over their mass grave. In 1881, the shattered fragments of this Lion Tomb were discovered, surrounded by the bones of 254 pairs of men with their weapons, arranged in a phalanx of seven rows, the battle formation of the Sacred Band.

In 1902 the fragments of the Sacred Lion were reconstructed and placed again over the tomb of The Sacred Band (depicted left) by the secret homosexual society known as the Order of Chaeronea, founded by gay-rights pioneer George Cecil Ives.

It reminds us once again of the Sacred Lion Hunt which we celebrate later this week.

So, what has all of this got to do with us in our daily lives? We're not soldiers. We're not brave and courageous. Like Dorothy Gale, we're meek and mild. Timid. We know that if we were on a battlefield, we would turn and run. We would hide and "play dead" and hope nobody found us.

We assume that the Army of Gay Lovers were all fearless. We think they were unafraid. We don't think of them as being saredy-cats like us. We think they didn't mind the prospect of agonizing death. We think they were somehow above such mortal fears and doubts.

That's nonsense, of course. They were scared out of their wits. We can scarcely imagine how afraid they were. As they stood there alone against the mightiest army in the Ancient World, their emotions shifted beyond the mere terror of possibly being killed, to the actual horror of inescapable agony and death. It is one thing to be terrified — we all know the fears generated by terrorists who fly airliners into buildings. 

But the emotions experienced by those trapped in the planes or inside the burning buildings go far beyond mere terror to the actual horror of inescapable agony and death. That is the Mystery of Terror as opposed to the Mystery of Horror. We tend to forget the distinction!

The Army of Gay Lovers were not without fear. On the contrary, they were staring into the horror of impending pain and death. But they did not allow their fear to overwhelm them. 

Instead, they turned their fear "inside-out" and used it as a magical shield. The barbs of fear were no longer poking inward to themselves, but instead were pointing outward towards their foes.

And that is the Mystery Teaching of the Army of Gay Lovers. It was no doubt part of the initiation which the recruits underwent at the Tomb of Iolaus. They were schooled in magico-religious methods for handling fear. It's about learning to harness Mars energy. Mars is all about the double-edge sword of fear/bravery and how you can learn to wield that Sword of Mars.

It's not about being fearless. It's about being able to transform your fear into a mighty force which wins the battle of life. Mars Warrior Energy is not about death. It is about LIFE. It is about harnessing fear and doubt and turning them into useful energies in your daily life.

Life — from the time you are born until the time you die — life is just one constant battle. And if you give in, then you are lost. And if you give in to the fear and doubt that constantly confront you each and ever day, then you are lost. It's about using selfless love and transcendant awareness to transform fear and doubt into constructive energies which empower you to stand up and wade into the fray of daily life.


The Band of Thebes were initiated into Mystery Teachings which showed them how to transform fear and doubt into a magical force which made them invincible — capable of asserting their will and making their dreams become reality. 

And the catalyst was male-male love and devotion.

This is one of the deepest and most profound Mystery Teachings of the Religion of Antinous

We are talking about the Mysteries of Antinous-Mars. This is why Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia has painted Antinous in the guise of the War God (above). 

Antinous is not just about gay male beauty. He is about gay male warrior energy.

Mars is a very important constituent aspect of Antinous. In Fixed Star Astrology, the STAR OF ANTINOUS is characterized by a mixture of Jupiter/Mars energy along with Venus energy — unique among Fixed Stars. To overlook Mars is to overlook a major component of what Antinous is all about.

Mars and his Alchemical Intelligence Graphiel and Daimon Barzabel (Deimos and Phobos) is much misunderstood by philosophers and occultists. 

The fiery Graphiel/Barzabel energies of the red planet ("terror" Deimos and "horror" Phobos) are often seen as frightful and horrific and destructive and warlike with no other qualities. This is a shallow analysis and one that should be discarded. Understanding your Martial nature — the Antinous-Mars warrior inside you — is essential to your survival and growth as a gay man. Terror and horror accompany us all our lives.

We are all afraid every day. We are all riddled with doubts every day. Look around you — most people are consumed with fear and doubt. Fear fuels their lives! But each of us can learn to turn our fears and doubts "inside-out" so that their barbs no longer point inward towards us, but instead so that these barbs of fear and doubt form a protective shield around us. 

It girds us with a constructive energy which helps us to advance through the Herculean travails which we face in our daily lives. Instead of being "fearfully" timid, we become "fearsomely" determined not to let life get us down.

Tomorrow, this transformational ability to turn fear "inside-out" will help us to understand how Antinous was able to charge the man-eater during the SACRED LION HUNT.

He must have been terrified. He was young and inexperienced and alone on his steed and armed only with an adamantine-tipped lance.

But through his loving bond with Hadrian/Hercules, Antinous/Iolaus was also magically armed with the "fearsomely strong" energies of the Sacred Band of Thebes.

Flamen Antinoalis Antonius affirms: "We consecrate and honor their memory and call upon their strength and courage in our own hearts, that we may become the New Sacred Band."