THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

THE FESTIVAL OF MAAT AS ALL DEITIES INCLUDING ANTINOUS

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

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

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

HADRIAN'S VILLA OBSERVATORY TOWER IS ALIGNED TO THE SOLSTICES

HADRIAN would have been planning a long night tonight in his personal observatory, despite the fact that it is the shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere — the Summer Solstice — which is exact at 12:51 p.m. in Rome Saturday. 

First, he would observe the setting sun sending a shaft of goldish-red light through a certain slit in his observatory tower to illuminate a golden statue of the Egyptian Goddess Isis.

Then there would be oracles at midnight. You can just see the cluster of priests and augurs, chanting and offering sacrifices amidst billowing clouds of incense. 

An Etruscan haruspex or two would be wearing yellow robes and conical hats as they inspected the entrails of animals. Patrician augurs would be wearing their finest ceremonial togas as they listened for messages from nocturnal birds. Babylonian astrologers would be clad in garish robes with multi-tiered crowns as they scanned the heavens and babbled to each other about their arcane calculations. 

And naturally the Egyptian priests would do their utmost to out-do all the others with outlandish make-up, headdresses and robes to the cacophony of sistrums, gongs and the whoosh of incendiary incense sending up pastel-colored clouds of smoke to the wailing of a priestess of Isis in the throes of a trance.

Scores of Imperial court officials and hangers-on would be stifling yawns as the oracles took most of the night. 

But yawns would turn to gasps of wonder and praise when the Emperor announced that he had just seen the RISE OF THE STAR OF ANTINOUS over the eastern horizon.

Then at dawn, the Emperor would climb stairs to the upper chamber to observe the Solstice Sunrise on June 21st.

He would announce the outcome of the oracles and whether the Antinoian Auspices for the coming year were favorable.

Modern Priests of Antinous will be celebrating rites at the HOLLYWOOD TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS to mark the Solstice.

The meditations of the Hollywood Priests of Antinous will be focused on an Italian archaeologist and her team who will be spending this Solstice at the ruins of a tower on a hillock at Hadrian's Villa which was the Emperor's own private observatory. 

These experts, led by MARIA DE FRANCESCHINI, have demonstrated that the observatory tower is in fact aligned to the Solstices. She believes the observatory was dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, who raised Osiris from the dead to become a god of resurrection and transfiguration — just as Hadrian declared Antinous a god of resurrection and transfiguration.
 
For centuries, experts had been mystified by the layout of the sprawling complex of marble baths, banquet halls, luxurious residences, gardens, shrines and unidentified structures 30 kilometers outside Rome.

Hadrian's Villa was a sprawling complex of buildings, temples, gardens, a zoo and — yes — even an observatory tower on a hillock on the edge of the compound from which Hadrian could observe the heavens. 

 But, in an article published in the journal Nature last year, De Franceschini wrote that she believes the mystery-shrouded Rocca Bruna Tower, long held to be Hadrian's private observatory, is in fact aligned so as to produce sunlight effects for the seasons.

She describes her findings personally in the video at the top of this entry. 

De Franceschini says that during the summer solstice, rays of light pierce the tower and another of the villa's buildings. In the Rocca Bruna Tower, dawn sunlight during the summer solstice enters through a wedge-shaped slot above the door and illuminates a niche on the opposite side of the interior (image courtesy nature.com). And in a temple of the Accademia building, De Franceschini has found that sunlight passes through a series of doors during both the winter and summer solstices. 

"The alignments gave me a new key of interpretation," says De Franceschini, who adds that the two buildings are connected by an esplanade that was a sacred avenue during the solstices. Based on ancient texts describing religious rituals and study of recovered sculptures, she thinks the sunlight effects were linked to religious ceremonies associated with the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was adopted by the Romans.

De Franceschini, who works with the University of Trento in Italy, has published a book describing the archaeo-astronomical work, VILLA ADRIANA ARCHITETTURA CELESTE. She credits two architects, Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray, for initially noticing the light effect in Rocca Bruna.

According to nature.com, Robert Hannah, a classicist from the University of Otago in New Zealand, says that De Franceschini's ideas are plausible. "They're certainly ripe for further investigation," he says.

Hannah believes that the Pantheon, designed by Hadrian in Rome with a circular opening at the top of its dome, also acts as a giant calendrical sundial, with sunlight illuminating key interior surfaces at the equinoxes and on the spring equinox on April 21st, the city's birthday.

Few classical buildings have been investigated for astronomical alignment, says Hannah, partly because it is much easier to check for alignments in prehistoric structures such as Stonehenge, which do not have potentially contradictory artefacts.

De Franceschini spends every solstice at Hadrian's villa, seeking further verification. Our thoughts and prayers go with her during this special season of the Solstice.

We can envision Hadrian, sick with grief and alone after the death of Antinous, ensconced in his observatory tower scanning the heavens for a sign from his Beloved Boy, praying to Isis for her to work her magic on Antinous.

'THE SEMEN OF THE FIRST GOD

TRULY IS IN HIS BODY'

ANTINOUS must have heard the many wondrous creation stories which the Egyptians told him during that fateful journey up the Nile.

The Egyptians had many creation stories, ranging from dry land appearing in the midst of the primeval ocean to the "Great Cackler" laying an enormous egg.

Our own favorite (and the one with the closest bearing on Antinous) is probably the least-well known of all of them, involving as it does an act of masturbation.

If you've never heard about it, it's because Victorian and Edwardian Egyptologists were so shocked by it that they referred to it only in Greek or Latin footnotes — if at all.

For a hoot, read Wallis Budge's embarrassed attempts to tell the story in English using words no stronger than "onanism" and "seed".

Hernestus once knew a Harvard teaching assistant who taught Beginner's Hieroglyphs at the Cambridge Adult Education School and who delighted in titillating his students (mostly lonely-hearts straight women and a couple of gay men) by demonstrating reflexive verbs in Middle Egyptian with the sentence: "The God Loved Himself With His Hand" and assigning homework that involved copying out the text with particular attention to the glyph showing testicles attached to an erect penis with a fountain of semen gushing forth from its end.

Here's the gist of the story:


The Great Creator sits alone, having not yet created anything, when the creative urge comes upon him and his penis throbs into a massive erection, which he strokes to ecstatic climax, sending his silvery semen flying into his mouth, whereupon he speaks the magical words that create the first "neteru" (gods) and all the universe.

"In the Beginning was the Word" is the way the New Testament puts it in a somewhat more family-friendly version of the same story.

It is this "essence of magical creation," which the Egyptians call "heka," which invigorates everything we do. It is liquid heka which flows through the desert in the form of the annual inundation of the Nile, creating life from barrenness.

Budge and the others translated "heka" as "magic," which is misleading and simplistic. But then they also translated "neteru" as "gods," which is also misleading since English is such a young language (scarcely 1,600 years old) that its linguistic concept of "god" necessarily reflects Christian attitudes.

An Egyptian or a Greek or Roman of Antinous's day might have been more comfortable with Medieval infatuation with Spheres of Angels and Archangels or with the Catholic panoply of Saints. The Egyptians might have thought that more like the divine agents they called "neteru."


The "neter" associated with the annual inundation of the Nile is the transgender deity Hapi. To our mind, and we believe to the minds of the Ancient Egyptians, Hapi is one of the most wonderful and beautiful of the "neteru."

Hapi's most distinctive attribute is bluish-green skin and a towering headdress consisting of papyrus and lotus plants which seem to shoot out of the crown of Hapi's head the way those plants do from the waters of the Nile.

As a transgender deity, Hapi has a robust male physique with athletic legs, narrow waist, broad shoulders and sinewy arms. But Hapi also has the pendulous breasts of a nursing mother and the round belly of an expectant one. Sometimes Hapi has the short-cropped hair of a man, but more often Hapy is depicted with long hair cascading over both shoulders almost to the waist.

Very strikingly, Hapi effortlessly holds before him/herself a platter heaped high with incredible amounts of crops, beverages, groceries and produce, often including casks of wine, sheaves of wheat and even entire sides of beef.

Just as the Egyptians had no problems thinking that the universe and the neteru (and ultimately they themselves) were all products of primordial masturbation, they also had no problems thinking that their lives depended on a transgender deity who was, in essence, their mother/father and provider of everything they put in their mouths and clothed their bodies with.

It is a popular misconception to try to fit Isis and Osiris into the roles of Mother Earth goddess and Great Father god who bring forth riches from a bountiful Earth. That is an alien concept to the Egyptians, for whom the Earth was a desert. Our own English word "desert" comes directly from the Ancient Egyptian "desheret" — meaning the "Red Land" of sunrise and sunset.

It was only divine "heka" flowing through this barrenness that permitted life to thrive in a verdant valley called the "Black Land" or "Kemet," from which the Arabs derived "al-Chem" and our words "alchemy" and "chemistry" come.

As Herodotus said: "Egypt is the gift of the Nile," by which he meant: "Egypt is the gift of Hapi."

So when Antinous plunges into the Nile on that fateful October day, he becomes becomes one with Hapi. Antinous and the transgender source of all life merge and flow into each other.

Antinous opens his mouth and his nostrils and allows himself to be filled with heka which, after all, is the semen of the Great Creator himself.

The hieroglyphs on the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS proclaim that Antinous can assume any form his heart desires "for the Semen of the First God Truly is in His body!"

It's the ultimate seminal experience.

And it is Antinous's unique gift to us as gay men. He asks us to take the plunge with him and to explore what words like "god" and "magic" really mean.

THE INUNDATION OF THE NILETHE FIRST MIRACLE OF ANTINOUS THE GOD

 

ON JULY 25 the Religion of Antinous joyfully commemorates the First Miracle of Antinous — the Bountiful Inundation of the Nile which ended a drought which had caused food shortages throughout the Empire.

The famine had overshadowed the tour of Egypt by the Imperial entourage in the year 130. The half-starved Egyptians looked to Hadrian, whom they worshipped as pharaoh, to perform a miracle which would end their misery.

But as Hadrian and Antinous traveled up the Nile during the summer and autumn of 130, the Nile once again failed to rise sufficiently to water the fields of Egypt — Rome's "Bread Basket" and chief source of grain and other staple foodstuffs.

It was a humiliating disappointment for the Emperor following the jubilant welcome by peoples during the earlier part of his tour through the Eastern Empire. In Ephesus and other cities he had been welcomed as a living god.

But the Egyptians had given him and his coterie what little they had in the way of food and wine — and he had failed to convince the Inundation Deity Hapi to bless them with bounty. Hapi is one of the most extraordinary deities in the history of religion.

Hapi is special to us especially because Hapi is hermaphroditic. With many other such deities, the gender division is down the middle of the body (like some Hindu deities) or the top half is one gender and the bottom half is the other.

But Hapi is very complex and the genders are mixed throughout his/her body. Male deities invariably have reddish-orange skin in Egyptian Art and female deities have yellowish skin. Hapi has bluish-green skin. Hapi has long hair like a female deity but has a square jaw and a beard. Hapi has broad shoulders yet has pendulous breasts like a nursing mother. Hapi has narrow hips and masculine thighs, but has a pregnant belly. Nobody knows what sort of genitals Hapi has, since they are covered by a strange garment reminiscent of a sumo wrestler's belt.

Hapi is both father and mother to the Egyptians. Hapi provides them with everything necessary for life. As Herodotus wrote, "Egypt is the gift of the Nile". Hapi wears a fabulous headdress of towering water plants and she/he carries enormous offering trays laden with foodstuffs.


The Ancient Egyptians had no problem worshipping a mixed-gender deity. I think it is very important to draw the connection between Hapi and Antinous, especially since the First Miracle that Antinous performed as a god involved Hapi. The Egyptians accepted Antinous into their own belief system immediately and were among the most ardent followers of Antinous.

They had no problem worshipping a gay deity who had united himself with a hermaphroditic deity. It must have seemed very logical and credible to them.

It made sense to them and enriched their belief system, made it more personal since they could identify more easily with a handsome young man than with a hermaphrodite wearing a sumo belt (Hapi forgive me!).

Herodotus also said he once asked a very learned religious man in Egypt what the true source of the Nile was.

The learned man (speaking through an interpreter, since most Greeks never bothered to learn Egyptian) paused and finally told him the true source of the Nile is the thigh of Osiris.

We think of it as a strange answer. We think of the Nile as an "it" and the source as a "geographical location". But the Egyptians thought of the Nile as "us" and its true source as "heka" — the magical semen of the creator.

So, a learned Egyptian would have assumed that a learned Greek would understand what was meant: That Hapi is the equivalent of Dionysus, who was "incubated" in the inner thigh of Zeus after his pregnant mortal mother Semele perished when she could not bear the searing sight of her lover Zeus in all his divine panoply.

It's a very poetic way (a very Egyptian way) of saying that the "true source" of the Nile, which is to say Egypt itself, is the magical heka/semen from the loins of the original creator.

We will never know what happened during that journey up the Nile along the drought-parched fields with anxious Egyptian farmers looking to Hadrian for a miracle. All we know is that Antinous "plunged into the Nile" and into the arms of Hapi in late October of the year 130.

And then the following summer, Hapi the Inundation Deity provided a bountiful Nile flood which replenished the food stocks of Egypt — and the Roman Empire.

Our own Flamen Antinoalis Antonius Subia explains the more esoteric aspects of this special Religious Holy Day:

"The Dog Star Sirius appears, and the sacred Star of Antinous begins to approach its zenith in the night sky of the northern hemisphere. The appearance of the Dog Star once announced the rise of the Inundation of the Nile, though it no longer does due to the precession of the Equinox, which is the slight alteration of the position of the stars.

"After the Death and Deification of Antinous, the Nile responded by rising miraculously after two successive years of severe drought. It was on this day, July 25th, in the year 131 that the ancient Egyptians recognized that Antinous was a god, nine months after his death, following their custom of deifying those who drowned in the Nile, whose sacrifice insured the life-giving flood.

"Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, it is part of the constellation Canis Major, or the big dog, which is the hunting dog of Orion. Mystically, Sirius and the constellation Canis Major is Antinous Master of Hounds and Orion is Hadrian the Hunter.

"The position of Orion, along the banks of the Milky Way, our galaxy in relation to Sirius is a mirror image of Pyramids along the bank of the Nile, which is the same relationship as Antinoopolis to the Nile, with the Via Hadriani, the road which Hadrian built across the desert to the East, linking the Nile with the Red Sea — Rome to India.

"We consecrate the beginning of the Dog Days of Summer to the advent of the Egyptian deification of Antinous and the miracle of the Inundation of the Nile."

The First Miracle of Antinous the Gay God is enshrined in the hieroglyphic inscription on the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS which stands in Rome.

The East Face of the Obelisk, which is aligned to the rising sun Ra-Herakhte, speaks of the joy that fills the heart of Antinous since having been summoned to meet his heavenly father Ra-Herakhte and to become a god himself.

Then the inscription tells how Antinous intercedes with Ra-Herakhte to shower blessings upon Hadrian and the Empress Sabina Augusta.

And Antinous immediately calls upon Hapi ...

Hapi, progenitor of the gods,
On behalf of Hadrian and Sabina,
Arrange the inundation in fortuitous time
To make fertile and bountiful, the fields
Of Both Upper and Lower Egypt!

We joyfully celebrate this, the First Miracle of Antinous!

Subian Philosophy: Vastness of the Cosmos

"A few months ago, when I climbed the Mountain in El Paso and found myself all alone ... at a sacred spring in a sacred grove ... the only sensation I felt was Fear of the Vastness of the Cosmos. To look into the vastness of the eternal void and not be afraid of falling down into it. To imagine that I am able to fly  ... because of Antinous power."