NEW SAINTS OF ANTINOUS FOR 2020

NEW saints of Antinous were announced by the Hollywood Temple of Antinous tonight during Foundation Day ceremonies shared globally with worshipers in North and South America and in Africa and Europe via Zoom.

Foundation Day commemorates the founding of the city of Antinoopolis by Emperor Hadrian on 30 October 130 AD on the shores of the Nile where Antinous died a few days earlier.

That was 1,890 years ago, and Foundation Day marks the beginning of our liturgical calendar ... Happy New Year 1890!

"This is a joyous occasion," said Priest Jim Crawford, participating from Washington DC in the evening's ceremonies. "We have mourned the death of Antinous. Now we rejoice in his deification and the foundation of his new city and religion!"

After weeks of deliberations, FLAMEN ANTONIUS SUBIA announced the following New Year's List of SAINTS OF ANTINOUS for the new liturgical year.

SAINTS OF ANTINOUS

Agnolo Bronzio, painter

Guido Reni, painter

Eduardo Albarella, Miss Bia, Stylist Artist, Drag Performer

Jorge Luiz Souza Lima, aka Jorge Lafond, actor comedian drag performer

Danny Cockerline, Porn actor, AIDS activist

David, King of Israel

Angelo Poliziano, Renaissance scholar

Giovanni Pico della Mirandolla, Renaissance scholar

The Red Lady of Paviland – 33,000 year old transgender shaman

William Dorsey Swann, born as slave, early gay rights activist first Queen of Drag

AS VENERABLE SAINTS

Judy Stevens, bartender and gay activist

Joe Bell, activist and father of Jadin Bell, who died by suicide

AS INNOCENT MARTYRS

55 Innocent Martyrs

Bruno Lenoir and

Jean Diot, July 6th 1750 last sodomites burned at the stake in France

Johana Medina Leon – Transgender asylum seeker, died in US custody

AS HEROIC MARTYR SAINTS

Mychal Fallon Judge, Gay Catholic Priest who died during 911attacks

Zak Kostopoulos, Gay and human rights activist killed by police

TRIUMPH OF THE LIBERATOR

ANTINOUS the mortal is dead. Antinous the God is born! 

On this day, October 31st, we surrender ourselves, body and soul, to the joy of Lord Liber, and join in the festival of Halloween, spreading the Love and Liberation of Antinous to the world of the living and the dead. This is the second day of the Ecclesiastic Year.

The festival of Antinous Liberator, the New Dionysus, is the place from which life comes and all love-joy with the ever-present specter of Our Lady death by its side.

The New God Antinous Liberator, sets us free with a wave of his hand. 
He destroys the bondage that holds our immortal spirit prisoner to the cycles of life and death, as the chains of time and matter fall of their own accord.

In benediction, Antinous Liberator confers the flame of Homotheosis upon the hearts of his chosen lovers so that we may indulge and burn in the ecstasy of being One with HIM.

We are free from the masquerade of the spirit in this world of illusion, we are unclothed before him. 

From his lips we drink the winged intoxication of the flesh and abandoned all reason and logic at his feet.

Antinous stands upon the crescent of the Moon. He passes through the Arches of the spheres, the 7 Archons bow down before HIM.

The god-power of Antinous shines over the face of darkness. The Spirits of the Dead awaken to dance as the wine of freedom flows down into the spider-heart of Tartarus.

As Dark as events in the world may become ... a powerful light is shining stronger for Gay, Bi, Lesbian and Transgender people everywhere in the world!

Every day, more and more of us come together,

Every day, the fire of Antinous spreads

His name becomes less a strange, unheard of and difficult to pronounce name from Ancient times ... and more a realization that once there was a time when being gay was a sacred state of being, and that there was a god who represented us, and spoke on our behalf to the immortal powers.

Antinous is with us again ... his power is growing stronger in our hearts.

Antinous is within all of US!

The Blessing of Antinous is with us all!

The Arisen Antinous has Come Again! 

Ave Antinous!

~ANTONIUS SUBIA

RAMÓN NOVARRO SAINT OF ANTINOUS

HE was proclaimed a saint of Antinous on the 50th anniversary of his horrific and homophobic murder: gay silent film icon Ramón Novarro ("Ben-Hur," "Mata Hari") was slain by two male hustlers on 30 October 1968 in Hollywood. 

The first Latin American actor to become a superstar, Ramon Novarro was for years one of Hollywood's top actors. 

Born Ramón Samaniego to a prominent Mexican family, he arrived in America in 1916, a refugee from civil wars. 

By the mid-1920s, he had become one of MGM's biggest box office attractions, starring in now-classic films, including "The Student Prince," "Mata Hari," and the original version of "Ben-Hur."

He shared the screen with the era's top leading ladies, such as Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer, and became Rudolph Valentino's main rival in the "Latin Lover" category. 

Yet, despite his considerable professional accomplishments, Novarro's enduring hold on fame stems from his tragic death ... his bloodied corpse was found in his house on Halloween 1968 in what has become one of Hollywood's most infamous scandals.

A lifelong bachelor, Novarro carefully cultivated his image as a man deeply devoted to his family and to Catholicism. His murder shattered that persona. 

News reports revealed that the dashing screen hero had not only been gay, but was dead at the hands of two young male hustlers.

Since then, details of his murder have achieved near mythic proportions, obscuring Novarro's professional legacy. 

For a comprehensive look at this saint of Antinous, the book Beyond Paradise presents a full picture of the man who made motion picture history. 

Including original interviews with Novarro's surviving friends, family, co-workers, and the two men convicted of his murder, this biography provides unique insights into an early Hollywood star ... a man whose heart was forever in conflict with his image and whose myth continues to fascinate today.

THE FOUNDING OF ANTINOOPOLIS

ON this day we commemorate the founding of the Sacred City of Antinous, the glorious city of ANTINOOPOLIS in Egypt as it originally was called and later Ansena and Antinoé.

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. 

On this day 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 initiated.

We recognize the Foundation of Antinoopolis as the first day of the New and Holy Year of Religion of Antinous.

HOMOPHOBIA MARTYRS REMEMBERED ON ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF ANTINOUS

ON four continents tonight, adherents of Antinous took part via an interactive online conference call in a candlelight vigil in memory of worldwide martyr victims of homophobia.

The vigil drew Zoom participants from across the United States, as well as from Brazil, Germany and South Africa. The ceremonies coincided with the October 28 observance of the Death of Antinous on that date in the year 130 AD.

At the Hollywood Temple of Antinous, the founder of the modern religion of Antinous, ANTONIUS SUBIA, related the true-life story of how Antinous drowned in the Nile at the end of October in the year 130 AD, and how Hadrian proclaimed him the last deity of the Classical Era.

Priest DECO RIBEIRO, participating from São Paulo (photo below right), solemnly read out the names of LGBTIU victims of homophobic murders over the past 12 months ... and linked them to the tragic death of Antinous.

With a quavering voice, Deco paused from time to time to remark on individuals whose names were on the list. 

He also honoured hundreds of victims of homophobic attacks around the world.

Sadly, many of the other people were listed as "Unidentified" either because their families had withheld their names out of shame ... or because they were street people whose identities were never determined by authorities.

Antonius noted that the list of names represents only the tip of the iceberg ... and only one 12-month period. Countless thousands more suffer and are murdered on a daily basis around the world.

On October 28th we commemorate the death of Antinous and his descent into the Underworld.

"Antinous passes out of the world of the living tonight and enters the Underworld, where he hears the names of all these people and gathers them to him and embraces them and saves them from oblivion," Antonius told worshipers.

"I pray to Antinous to watch over them, now as his divine spirit sinks down into the place of the dead ... and when he returns, that he will bring for hope again, that these deaths will stop," Antonius said. "This is what I wish for."

On October 30th, another international interactive online ceremony will be held consecrating newly nominated saints of Antinous for 2020 and also ritually celebrating the return of Antinous from the Underworld and the establishment of the city of   ANTINOOPOLIS by Emperor Hadrian on that date in 130 AD.

ANTINOUS IN THE UNDERWORLD

ANTINOUS is dead. Hadrian is weeping over his limp body on the banks of the Nile where his beloved perished in late October of the year 130 AD.

While mourners wail in the world of the living, Antinous descends into the Underworld. The modern Religion of Antinous commemorates this descent into the Egyptian Duat on October 29th.

Flamen Antonius Subia says:

Antinous is embraced by Osiris beneath the water of the Holy Nile, and he is given over to Hermes-Anubis and led into the underworld.

He appears before the Lords of the scale of Maat, but his spirit is divine and the scales crumble at his touch.

Hermes-Anubis escorts Antinous into the Hall of the Queen of the Dead, Persephone, and because he is a witness of the Mysteries of Eleusis, he obtains from her the pomegranate of immortality.

The immortal spirit of Antinous does not taste death, and he is given to drink of the fountain that restores memory because he has learned from Orpheus that he is from the Earth but is a Child of the Stars.

Antinous conquers death and returns from darkness. At midnight Antinous the God arises from the Nile and steps onto the shore from which he fell. The spirits of the entourage of Dionysus attend his resurrection and he is reborn as the New Osiris-Dionysus.

In the Religion of Antinous, this is the last day of the Ecclesiastic Year, it is spent in darkness and in solemn devotion.

As Antinous journeys through the underworld, we confront the weakness of being without our god, we reflect on the passage of the year, and on the influence of Antinous upon our lives, and we pray for the triumph of his return.

At midnight, a pure candle is ignited to symbolize the deification of Antinous Our God.

ANTINOUS DIES AS A MORTAL RISES AS A GOD AT THE FEAST OF THE BENNU PHOENIX

ON October 28th we commemorate the tragic death of Antinous in the Nile in October 130 AD. October 28th is also the Egyptian Day of Transformation into the Bennu Bird. 

This festival is the conclusion of the Mysteries of Osiris ... a festival which Antinous and Hadrian witnessed in Hermopolis during the final days of the mortal life of Antinous. 

They had already visited the Shrine of the Bennu (phoenix) Bird in Heliopolis Egypt. 

Now in Hermopolis, during the passion play, Antinous and Hadrian see how Isis and Nephthys search for and finally find the body of Osiris. 

Then, using the Scroll of Thoth from the sacred library at Hermopolis, Isis raises Osiris from the dead and transforms him into a spirit which can pass from the Underworld into the world of the living.

At the end of the Festival of the Passion of Isis and Osiris, Antinous plunges into the Nile under mysterious circumstances. Grieving Hadrian proclaims him a god ... he is worshiped throughout the Empire as Antinous in the form of Osiris. And Antinous is worshiped as a lunar deity. 

There is a spell of Transformation in the Book of the Dead, Chapter 83 (LXXXIII): 

I fly up and out of the Primeval Waters 

I come into being as the God Kheper

I am the Bennu, the Soul of Ra,

and the guide of the gods in the Tuat.

I become a Shining One, 

I am Mighty,

I become sacred among the Gods,

I am the Moon God

who vanquishes all darkness.

The OBELISK OF ANTINOUS speaks of Antinous becoming "a shining one" and also of being full of the "Semen of the First God" which is the creative force of the universe. That means Antinous can assume "any form his heart desires" since he (like Osiris) is one with the First God ... and one with the Bennu Bird.

Antinous IS the Phoenix.

THE DEATH OF ANTINOUS

ON October 28 the Religion of Antinous commemorates The Death of Antinous.

Near the village of Hir-wer, Antinous fell into the Nile and drowned.

There are those who believe that he was murdered, or that he willingly gave himself over to human sacrifice to prolong the life of his beloved Hadrian, or that his death was the suicidal effect of teenage melodrama, or that is was merely an accident, but there is no way to know, no way to be certain.

Grief-stricken Hadrian only said he "plunged into the Nile" but never elaborated on the circumstances of the death of his beloved.

Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia says:

We priests of Antinous do not take a definite position and leave the matter as an unknowable mystery. The manner in which Antinous died is not important, only the effect that his death had upon the world has significance.

On this day, we solemnly and silently mourn the Death of Antinous whom Hadrian loved and for whom he wept, and we sorrow for the loss of such great beauty at so young an age.

We pray for the Bithynian boy who died so far from home.

With his death, our religion was set in motion.

We lament and exalt in the grief of Hadrian that was so strong and so powerful that it spread to the whole face of the world, and affects us still today.

We pray also for all those homosexuals who have died in youth as a consequence of repression, we mourn the suicides, and commit them to the soothing arms of Antinous, who was assumed into the Nile for all of us.

It is one of the great ironies of history that, by dying dramatically, a  young person who was unremarkable except for his beauty became irrevocably bound with the most powerful man in the world. 

Emperor Hadrian proclaimed Antinous a God. He established a city on the bend of the Nile where the young man died — Antinoopolis. 

He named a constellation in the heavens after Antinous.

And without gentle Antinous at his side, Hadrian became an embittered and broken man. He became capricious and at times cruel. A reign which had been marked by Hellenistic principles of tolerance descended into bloodshed.

It is indeed remarkable how one young man, a commoner with no wealth or political influence, changed the course of history simply by dying. And the thousands of statues sculpted on orders of grieving Hadrian became the iconic image of Classical beauty — the last deity of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Antinous fell into the Nile, beneath the swirling waves, but when his body was pulled from the water ... a God emerged. Antinous is our God, he has accomplished the salvation of all lovers of his beauty. His is our salvation. He is Antinous the Gay God. He is the last pagan God of Classical Rome.

For centuries, he was worshiped in secret by gay men who were afraid to worship him publicly. Men such as Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman sang his praises. When the Nazis marched into the offices of gay-rights advocate Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin, they smashed a ceramic wall relief of Antinous which Dr. Hirschfeld had set in a place of reverence over the doorway.

And now, in the 21st Century, the "Most Great and Good God" (as he was known among his followers) is being discovered by a whole new generation of people seeking gay spirituality.

We dedicate our lives and our souls to fulfilling the Divine Hadrian's command to establish the Religion of Antinous for all who seek gay spirituality. We dedicate our lives and our souls to serving Antinous the Gay God.

ANTINOUS AND THE SCROLL OF THOTH BY WHICH ISIS RAISED OSIRIS FROM THE DEAD

ANTINOUS would see only one more sunset and sunrise on this date in the year 130 AD. And after that final sunrise, he would never see another sunset ...

On October 27th Antinous and the Imperial entourage were in the ancient city of Hermopolis, the Sacred City of Thoth/Hermes during the celebration of the Death and Resurrection of Osiris.

We believe that the spiritual forces of this occasion, and the Mysteries divulged to him by the Hermetic priests of the god Thoth, were the inspiration for this ascension into godliness.

The Passion of Isis and Osiris was played out annually in Ancient Egypt and formed the cornerstone of the Egyptian belief system, a belief system which taught that you could die horribly and tragically and yet you could be revived and restored and in fact you could become a god.

Sacred players acted out the roles of Osiris, his murderous brother Set and his faithful consort Isis. It was through the magical spells contained in the fabled "Scroll of Thoth" that Isis brought Osiris back from the dead.



At Oxyrhynchus Antinous had seen just how potent the magical spells of Isis were.

The festival of Osiris celebrated at Hermopolis and observed by Hadrian and Antinous commemorated the rending of the body of Osiris and the searching of Isis for each of the parts.

We believe that something of a cathartic nature happened within the soul of Antinous at Hermopolis just before he plunged into the Nile on the opposite bank across from Hermopolis.

We will never know precisely what happened. Did Antinous get a glimpse at the fabled Scroll of Thoth? Did some Egyptian magician-priest teach him a bit about spellcasting? Did Antinous perhaps believe that he could use a spell to prolong Hadrian's life?

The Egyptians believed anyone who drowned in the Nile would become "a deified Osiris". Some Egyptian magical spells call for the magician to "deify a scarab beetle" -- which means to drown it in Nile water and thus make it sacred and magical.

We will never know for sure what happened as a result of the ceremonies on October 27th, the last day and the last sunset of the brief mortal life of Antinous. The sun would rise on October 28th and, although the mortal Antinous would die, there would never be another setting of the sun for Antinous the Gay God!

FLAMEN ANTONIUS SUBIA tells us:

Like Osiris, Antinous descended into the Nile, and arose to bring the blessing of eternal life to the world. The Religion of Antinous, like the body of Osiris was scattered over the face of the world, and we who worship him, are like Isis, gathering the fragments together again.

Hermopolis was the last city that Antinous ever saw, and the Passion of Osiris was the last religious ceremony in which he took part. Certainly it was here and at this time that an Awakening occurred, dark in its implications, causing Antinous to relinquish his life.

But it was of splendid power in that, from the death of the boy, a god emerged. We observe that in Hermopolis, the scattering of the body of Osiris was the moment when the sperm of the blessed one was planted in the immortal spirit of Antinous, Our God.

The Sacred Nights of Antinous begin tomorrow ....

HOW DID ANTINOUS DIE? AND WHY? By Our Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia

I go over this question again and again,
I haven't stopped wondering... and quite honestly,
I still don't know what to think...about how Antinous died.
Any possibility is probable...even Human sacrifice.
The ancients alluded to the rumors...so anyone who repeats them
...is being a scholar.

Dio Cassius suggested (or rather claimed) that Hadrian
Had the body of Antinous cut open for the examination of his organs,
Not to find the cause of death, as in an autopsy
But to examine the organs...for divination.
These were the organs of a god to be.

Horrible, and macabre
but why wouldn't Hadrian have every inch and morsel
Of his beloved Antinous examined and studied,
...Treated like sacred jewels from the depths
Of the most beautiful corpse?

I think we are all in agreement that,
The Body of Antinous was very likely Mummified.
That it was not buried in the earth...like a Greek of a Christian,
Nor laid in the tomb, covered in oil and herbs like a Jew
Nor burned on the pyre...like a Roman,
But that Antinous was very likely given the burial rites
Of an Egyptian King...a fashion still popular
Among the rich Hellenistic- Roman Nobility.
We have all seen the fayoum funereal paintings.
If you could afford it...you would be given the very best version
Of an ancient Egyptian Royal burial,
Your Body would be preserved to the very best of Mummification
Possible at that time...not quite as well as the ancients, but basically well preserved.

Hadrian, I imagine, paid top Sesterses
To have the Body of Antinous treated with the greatest and most sacred respect
Due the highest of kings
The best of the best were brought to Antinoopolis to Mummify the body of Antinous.
It seems very likely to think that the Roman Augurs,
Who were always part of the court, would want to examine
The organs of Antinous, before they were preserved in salt and nitron,
And gain whatever spiritual significance they might reveal,
...like a sacrificial Animal.
Why wouldn't they want to know if there was anything to be known
From the lobes of his liver and spleen,
Ridiculous as it may sound to us now,
And scandalous as it might seem to a Roman...and especially to a Christian.
Why wouldn't they make their examination,
Before his beautiful organs were dried and placed in their eternal alabaster urns?
Hadrian would have wanted to know why.

Maybe the slander came from the fact that his organs were examined,
Like a sacrificial lamb, or a bull.
Many of the coins of Antinous have a bull or a ram on the reverse,
Perhaps because Antinous was the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."
In slanderous minds...some would say
That he died..for no other reason than to be examined,
...as though Hadrian slit his neck.

Antinous threw himself into the Nile...he died,
But even Hadrian had no idea why,
Hadrian only said that Antinous fell,
...if we are going to be scholars,
The ancient suggest that he drowned to prolong Hadrian's life,
Or rather...if Hadrian represents the Empire,
Then Antinous died for the benefit of the Roman Empire.
Dio Cassius, in his effort to belittle Hadrian,
Made the death of Antinous out to be a sacrifice to Hadrian's vanity,
But avoided the relevance of Hadrian's life to the benefit of all Romans.
If Antinous gave his life to prolong the life of Hadrian,
He was actually giving his life...in human sacrifice,
To prolong the benefit that Hadrian had brought to mankind,
To the whole of the Roman Empire.
If it was suggested to Antinous that by the sacrifice
Of that which was most dear to Hadrian,
That Hadrian would continue to live beyond his natural years,
If Antinous Loved Hadrian...as I feel that he did,
And if Antinous believed in Hadrian...what he meant to the world,
What he had done for Rome...for all mankind,
And what he could do in the future,
If someone were to suggest that through his own death,
Antinous could benefit Hadrian and ensure that Hadrian would continue to reign,
Do you think that Antinous would hesitate?

Of course he would hesitate.
There was more involved than we know,
Something happened...there was some kind of separation of the heart.
Antinous would have found some other way to benefit Hadrian,
With his life...by living...unless there was no other way.
If Antinous gave his life as a human sacrifice,
It would have been a very extreme psychological despair
That led him to take his own life...what could that have been?

Knowing what I know about Love,
I would say that it was simple acts of cruelty
That led to the end of Antinous.
Hadrian must have treated Antinous in a cruel manner
leading up to that sacred night in October of 130.
Antinous must have felt worthless to Hadrian,
Ruler of the Known World,
Hadrian might have said something that pushed Antinous
Over the edge.

Antinous was only a boy of 18 or 19,
Full of emotional turmoil,
The slightest word from Hadrian
Might have set Antinous...full of teenage hormones,
into an unbalanced, irrational state,
in which he was capable of anything.

Their relationship had no equality,
Hadrian was ruler of the world,
Antinous was nobody...a pretty boy
With thousands of rivals, an Empress who probably didn't approve,
And a rival in Lucius Verus...Antinous was harassed
On all sides by everyone who had something to gain,
And then there was that person who suggested 
That if Antinous gave his life,
That the reign of Hadrian would continue.

Hadrian cried as woman because he knew the real reason why 
Antinous died...Hadrian knew...and he cried...because he knew.

There must have been a final moment between them,
A final goodbye....that left Hadrian full of regret,
Our Religion is founded on Hadrian's regret


I think Antinous drowned for his own personal reasons,
He fell into the Nile by accident,
Maybe he was drunk,
Maybe he was suicidal...drowning off a boat is
A hard way to kill your self on purpose,
But there are others who have slipped into the river
And drowned...who were considered gods.
Who knows...rivers have no answers.

In Antinous...I feel that he gave himself to the Nile
He gave himself to such an extent that he died,
Whether by accident.... drunk...or visionary,
Antinous died in the Nile...he drowned.

So why do we worship him?
because Antinous is the god of the gays
There is no other gay god except Antinous,
Find fault in H.I.M. if you wish,
But Antinous is great and strong....
For those who see and know HIM,
There is no such thing as weakness,
Nor strength.
~ANTONIUS SUBIA

OPEN YOUR EYES TO WEIGHTLESSNESS DURING THE SACRED NIGHTS OF ANTINOUS

THE Sacred Nights of Antinous are fast approaching: The dark nights between the death of Antinous (28 October) and his Triumph over Death (31 October). 

This is a magical Space/Time event when the veil between the worlds is lifted. (Painting by RYAN MARTIN.)

This magical event is known by many names: Halloween ... Samhain ... Día de los Muertos ... All Saints/Souls Day ... it is also when we change the clocks (in most countries) ... an hour forward in some places ... or an hour backwards in other places ... the time displayed on the clock is unimportant ... your location in the Time/Space continuum is unimportant.

This Shoegazer video by Washed Out, which is a favourite of Antonius Subia, best illustrates what happens to each of us during the Sacred Nights of Antinous.

We become "Weightless" ... as the Time/Space boundaries between Dreaming and Waking evaporate ... we see waking life as a dream ... we "dreamscape" our dreams to make them real ... we see the world through the eyes of Antinous ... we see Antinous in the eyes of all around us ... the Ancient Priests in Rome see through our eyes ... we see through the eyes of the Future Priests on distant planets ... we see through the eyes of Antinous ... for whom all dimensions are HERE and NOW.

You open your eyes and see through the eyes of all your incarnations ... past incarnations ... your present incarnation ... future incarnations ... all simultaneously ... bundling and harnessing all the spiritual power from all your incarnations (and all the difficult lessons) in an illuminating flash of insight ... A moment which is eternity.

You become weightless. You take the leap of faith ... HOMOTHEOSIS ... Gay-Man-Godliness-Becoming-the-Same ... the same leap of faith that Antinous took when he plunged into the Nile on 28 October 130 AD.

He did not take that leap of faith in order to die ... he took that leap of faith in order to fill his lungs with the Semen of the First God ... in order to transcend Time and Space ... so that all moments in Time are NOW ... all points in Space are HERE ... so that he can LIVE CONSCIOUSLY.

It is his gift to each of us. All he asks is that we open our eyes to ...

HOMOTHEOSIS

 

HARRY HAY SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON October 24th we honor Harry Hay, (Henry Hay, Jr.), the American gay rights activist (born April 7, 1912, Worthing, Eng. - died Oct. 24, 2002, San Francisco, Calif.).

He believed that homosexuals should see themselves as an oppressed minority entitled to equal rights. He acted on his convictions and in large measure prompted the dramatic changes in the status of homosexuals that took place in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th Century. 

A member of the Communist Party, he participated in labour actions in the 1930s. In 1950 he founded the first sustained gay rights organization, the Mattachine Society, a support network for homosexuals that for a time had to remain secret. 

When during the 1950s he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, both the Communist Party and the Mattachine Society forced him from their ranks as a risk. 

The biography "The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement", by Stuart Timmons, was published in 1990.

VIVACIOUS, ANDROGYNOUS PETE BURNS IS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS

PETE BURNS, the vivacious and androgynous frontman for British pop and New Wave band Dead or Alive, is a saint of Antinous.

Born 5th August 1959, he died 23 October 2016 from cardiac arrest at age 57.

Dead or Alive's biggest hit was also its first ... "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" ... which charted around the world and peaked at No. 11 in the U.S. in 1985. 

The band, known as much for its proto-Goth style as its music, had a handful of lesser hits including "Brand New Lover" and "Something in My House."

Burns, who appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, went through extensive rounds of plastic surgery around that time and significantly altered his appearance.

He talked openly about his ever-changing looks in interviews and a television special. 

At one point he won a significant settlement from his surgeon for a lip procedure gone wrong.

Burns was married to Lynne Corlett in 1980, and the two separated in 2006. A short time later he married Michael Simpson, a union that lasted less than a year.

"He was a true visionary, a beautiful talented soul, and he will be missed by all who loved and appreciated everything he was and all of the wonderful memories the has left us with," said Priest Julien in nominating him for sainthood.

"He was a visionary artist and all of his fans are devastated by the loss of this special star who will inspire millions forever," she added. "He never conformed to gender rules. He inspired a generation of people to be all that they could be and to settle for nothing less than their ultimate goal."

THE SCORPION GODDESS SELKET GUARDS THE TOMB OF ANTINOUS

23 October is the feast day of the Egyptian scorpion goddess Selket/Serqet ... on this day the Sun enters Scorpio. When Isis went off in search of the body of slain Osiris, she left her baby Horus in the protection of Selket ... because everyone knows scorpions are good mothers ... scorpions carry their babies on their backs. Selket is the guardian of Horus and ... by extension ... she is the guardian of Antinous.

23 de outubro é o dia da festa do escorpião deusa egípcia Selket / Serqet ... neste dia o Sol entra em Escorpião. Quando Isis saiu em busca do corpo de Osíris morto, ela deixou o bebê Horus na proteção de Selket ... porque todo mundo sabe escorpiões são boas mães ... escorpiões carregam seus bebês em suas costas. Selket é o guardião de Horus e ... por extensão ... ela é a guardiã dos Antinous.

23 de octubre es el día de fiesta de la diosa egipcia escorpión Selket / Serqet ... en este día el Sol entra en Escorpio. Cuando Isis fue en busca del cuerpo de Osiris muerto, ella dejó a su bebé Horus en la protección de Selket ... porque todo el mundo sabe que los escorpiones son buenas madres ... escorpiones llevan a sus bebés en sus espaldas. Selket es el guardián de Horus y por extensión ... ... ella es el guardián de Antinoo.

SOME MODERN ANTINOUS WORSHIPERS PURCHASE NEWSPAPER DEATH NOTICES

LATE October is the time of the Sacred Nights of Antinous ... culminating with the death and deification of Antinous.

In the modern religion of Antinous, we commemorate the Death of Antinous on 28 October ... but many scholars and Antinous adherents believe 22 October may have been the date.

Some faithful worshipers purchase obituary death notices in newspapers on the anniversary, such as the one above.

The death notice at the left was published in the Camden New Journal on 17 October 2013.

The exact date is uncertain. 

All we know for certain is that his death occurred in the final week of October during a visit to Egypt with Emperor Hadrian in the year 130 AD. 

Near the Egyptian village of Hir-wer, Antinous fell into the Nile and drowned. Antonius Subia says:

"Antinous fell into the Nile, beneath the swirling waves, but when his body was pulled from the water ... a God emerged. Antinous is our God, he has accomplished the salvation of all lovers of his beauty. His is our salvation. He is Antinous the Gay God. He is the last pagan God of Classical Rome."

SUNRAYS ILLUMINATE INNER SANCTUARY OF ABU SIMBEL AT DAWN OCTOBER 22nd

FOR most of the year, the inner sanctum of the main temple at Abu Simbel is shrouded in darkness.

On two days, traditionally the anniversary of the birthday and coronation of pharaoh Ramses II, a shaft of sunlight pierces the gloom, illuminating statues of gods and the king in the temple's inner sanctum.

On February 22, a day celebrating the king's birthday and again on October 22, a day celebrating his coronation, sunlight illuminates seated statues of the sun gods Re-Horakhte and Amon-Re, as well as a statue of king Ramses II. The statues sit in the company of the Theban god of darkness, Ptah (who remains in the shadows all year).

The spectacle—which has endured more than 3,200 years of Egyptian history—draws thousands of tourists to Abu Simbel to watch this ancient tribute to a pharaoh whose name is still known up and down the Nile Valley for his military exploits and monumental building projects.

Ramses, who ruled Egypt for 66 years from 1270 to 1213 BC (about 50 years after the death of Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut) made a name for himself by battling the Hittites and the Syrians, Egypt's enemies to the north.

To celebrate his victories, Ramses erected monuments up and down the Nile with records of his achievements. He completed the hypostyle hall at Karnak (Thebes), and completed the funerary temple of his father, Seti I, at Luxor on the West Bank of the Nile.

The main temple at Abu Simbel, which Ramses ordered built near the border of Nubia and Upper Egypt, was dedicated to two sun gods, Amen-Re and Re-Horakhte. 

Standing 100 feet (33 meters) tall, the temple was carved into an already-standing sandstone mountain on the banks of the Nile.

Four colossal statues of Ramses, each 66 feet (22 meters) high, guard the entrance to the temple.

Rising to the pharaoh's knees are smaller statues of family members: his mother; favorite wife, Nefertari; and son, Prince Amonherkhepshef.

Inside the temple, three connected halls extend 185 feet (56 meters) into the mountain. 

Images of the king's life and many achievements adorn the walls. 

A second temple at Abu Simbel is dedicated to Nefartari, who appears to have been Ramses' favorite wife.

"Abu Simbel was one of, if not the largest, rock-cut temples in Egypt," says Bruce Williams of the Oriental Institute of Chicago, "The rock was sacred because the Egyptians believed the deity was living inside the mountain."

Rock-cut temples may have been especially significant in ancient Egypt because the bulge in the otherwise flat land may have signified the location where the gods emerged from the Earth, says Williams.

NOW YOU CAN BUY THIS TOWNLEY ANTINOUS BUST FOR YOUR OWN HOME

NOW you can now buy a replica of the British Museum's famous Townley bust of Antinous for your own home in marble-like stone or in bronze. The original is on display in the Museum, in Room 70, in the Ancient Greece and Rome section. This replica has been created by ThinkSee3D, experts in 3D digital heritage in Britain.

The MARBLE REPLICA was developed from a 3-D scan but digitally improved, 3-D printed and moulded. It is sold as a cast in a composite containing some real marble, gypsum and resin. Size: 25cm tall, 2.5kg. It costs £180 (about $230).

The BRONZE MODEL is derived from a 3-D scan but digitally improved moulded, cast in wax then investment cast in bronze. 

This reinterpreting of the Townley bust (in this case by changing materials not form) makes this a unique and rare object that will itself last for thousands of years. 

The bronze model is made to order, so please allow up to 12 weeks for delivery. Size: 25cm tall, 4.25kg. It costs £960 (just over $1,000).

To create a replica, ThinkSee3D takes the British Museum Digital Team's scans of artefacts on display in the Museum's galleries and produces 3D prints from which moulds are made.

These moulds are then used for production of the replicas which are cast using traditional techniques and finished by British artists.

Both busts are available via global delivery service and many have already been sent to Europe, Australia, India and the US. The cost of shipping is calculated when you order depending on your location.  Payment is via credit card (via Stripe) or Paypal (which most people use).

CLICK HERE for the full range of other sculptures from ThinkSee3d!

SAINT DIVINE HARRIS GLENN MILSTEAD

ON October 19th we honor Saint Divine (October 19, 1945 — March 7, 1988), born Harris Glenn Milstead. 

Divine was an openly gay American actor, singer and drag queen.

Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century," Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's wear in musical performances.

Even so, he considered himself to be a character actor and performed male roles in a number of his later films.

He was most often associated with independent filmmaker John Waters and starred in ten of Waters's films, usually in a leading role.

Concurrent with his acting career, he also had a successful career as  a disco singer during the 1980s, at one point being described as "the  most successful and in-demand disco performer in the world."

Divine, the seventh-of-a-ton transvestite star of Mr. Waters's early movies, helped set a new standard for drag that endured long after Divine's death of heart failure in 1988, Mr. Waters said.

"When we started in those days, drag queens were square," Mr. Waters explained. "They hated Divine: they wanted to be Bess Myerson. And Divine would show up in a see-through miniskirt with a chainsaw instead of a pocketbook."

The Divine look, which stylist Van Smith first created in 1972 for Pink Flamingos, had three components. First was the hair, shaved back to the crown to allow more room for eye makeup.

Second was the makeup, acres of eye shadow topped by McDonald's-arch eyebrows; lashes so long they preceded the wearer; and a huge scarlet mouth. Third were the clothes: shimmering, skintight numbers that gave Divine a larger-than-life female sensuality.

The net effect, as Mr. Smith ordained it, was a cross between Jayne Mansfield and Clarabell the Clown.

"If you look at anything that Divine wore, you sure couldn't find that off the rack," Mr. Waters said.

All of Divine's costumes were constructed by a Baltimore woman who made outfits for strippers. Subtle they were not. There was the red fishtail dress from Pink Flamingos, in which Divine looks equal parts mermaid, Valkyrie and firetruck. And there was the sheer wedding gown she wears in Female Trouble (1974), underwear not included.

Divine once famously said that if anybody was shocked by a 300-pound drag queen in a slinky cocktail dress "then maybe they need to be shocked." He himself would describe his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in."

As a part of his performance, he would constantly swear at the audience, often using his signature line of "fuck you very much", and at times would get audience members to come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins and breasts.

He became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance, held in the Hippodrome in London, that coincided with American Independence Day, Divine rose up from the floor on a hydraulic lift, draped in the American flag, and declared that "I'm here representing Freedom, Liberty, Family Values and the fucking American Way of Life."

When he performed at London Gay Pride parade, he sang on the roof of a hired pleasure boat that floated down the Thames passed Jubilee Gardens, whilst at a performance he gave at the Hippodrome in the last year of his life, he appeared onstage riding an infant elephant, known as Bully the Elephant, who had been hired for the occasion.

Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular amongst gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world's biggest gay clubs, such as Heaven in London. According to Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, this was "not because Divine happened to be a gay person himself... but because it was the gay community that openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine."

He was also described as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century ... who was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom."

On the evening of March 7, 1988, a week after his starring role in "Hairspray" was released, Divine was staying at the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles. The next day, he auditioned for a part in the Fox network's television series "Married ... With Children". After dining with friends and returning to the hotel, he died in his sleep of an enlarged heart at age 42.

THE FESTIVAL OF CERNUNNOS

THE 18th of October is the Festival of The Horned God, known to us as Herne or Cernunnos. 

He is the protector of wild places and the spirits and creatures that inhabit them. He is the Lord of the Hunt, the mightiest of hunters and yet also he personifies the power of the stag, the subject of the hunt. 

He leads himself and us on a merry dance over hills and through the woods.

In his oldest guises he is Pan, and the dancing shaman wearing the skin and antlers of the stag. We honor Antinous-Cernunnos as a form of Pan.

EL SANTO NIÑO FIDENCIO

ON October 18th  we honor a gay man who is adored as a saint by millions of people in Mexico.

El Niño Fidencio, Saint of Antinous, was a Mexican "curandero" (male witch healer or shaman) in the 1920s and '30s who is regarded as a saint by his modern-day followers (although he is not recognized by the Catholic Church) and who depicted himself in drag as the Virgin Mary.

His millions of believers point to the fact that he has been credited with innumerable healings and other miracles. He is credited with saving countless lives and with curing incrable ailments.

His millions of believers also point to the numerological phenomenon that he was born on October 18, 1898, and he died on October 19, 1938.

The story of El Niño Fidencio also has many parallels to the story of the Magnificent Religion of Antinous.

Like ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD after deification on the banks of the Nile, El Niño Fidencio was a winsome young man beloved by all who worked miracles along the banks of a great river (Rio Grande) flowing through the barren wasteland of a desert between two lands, the US and Mexico.

The Nile divided the Land of the Living from the Land of the Dead,  the Rio Grande divides (or joins) two culturally merging societies.

The Ancients believed Antinous worked miracles in the lives of his faithful followers. Antinous healed the sick, he granted people love and prosperity, he shielded them from peril.

Historian Royston Lambert's book Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous devotes a full chapter to the Religion of Antinous and mentions the miracles he was able to bring forth.

The oracle priests of Antinous could intercede with the God, or followers could appeal directly to Antinous:

"There is evidence of oracles at Tarsos and perhaps at Rome itself," Lambert writes. "No doubt it was through these pronouncements and visitations that he wrought miracles and healing for which he evidently became famous in the east."

In many areas, people named their children Antinous in the fervent belief that he would watch over and protect their offspring all their lives.

There is the well-documented case of a man named Serapamon who lived in Antinoopolis in the 3rd Century and who called on the priests of Antinous for a love spell to attract a certain woman named Ptolemais. Clearly, his followers truly believed he could work miracles for those who believed in him.

Lambert points out: "The frequent use of his medals as talismans or amulets demonstrates demonstrates a widespread faith in his powers in Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt."

Lambert makes it clear that, for early followers of Antinous, there was no doubt in their hearts or minds that he could work miracles — and did so on an everyday basis.

"Indeed," Lambert goes on to state, "the popular vigour and genuine conviction of the 'belief' in Antinous were widespread and persistent enough to provoke the scorn of some sophisticated pagans and the anxious and unremitting indignation of most Christian apologists for two and a half centuries to come."

We should remember the heart-felt faith of the early followers of Antinous, who knew Him to be their salvation. We should remember their undying faith when we honor El Niño Fidencio in the face of the "anxious and unremitting indignation" of Catholic clerics to this day.