Dionysos Androgynos
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Ariana Serpentine, author of the new Sacred Gender.
There are quite a few deities folks associate with queerness, but the one that I hear and see most consistently is Dionysos. Dionysos is a Mediterranean deity; while it is not inappropriate to label him a Greek god specifically, he was worshiped far beyond the boundaries of Greece and had temples and devotees throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. The legends, practices, and liturgy surrounding him come from a wealth of peoples and places; many were drawn to him in the ancient world just as they are today.
Why is Dionysos associated with queerness? Well, first off, he is a deity that is referred to in the masculine (generally; we’ll talk about the exceptions to that later) who was known for numerous relationships with other people who were masculine, like the satyr Ampelos and Prosymnus the shepherd. He was known for and associated with male-for-male love, and that was recognized and honored as a part of his nature.
Dionysos’ gender is also fluid. One of his epithets is “Androgynos” or “Man-Woman.” We still use the term “androgynous” today to describe people who straddle the gender binary when it comes to appearance, presentation, and personality. In the story of Prosymnus he takes the receptive role in sex, which in the ancient world was seen as an effeminate act. Cross-dressing and gender play are things mentioned in relationship to his wild rites and even have a place in Euripedes’ famous play about him, The Bacchae. There is also the Orphic Hymn to Mise, who is accounted as “female Dionysos” by some. He is also referred to as “two-bodied” in another Orphic hymn, another reference to his androgyny.
Dionysos is also liminal. He is a deity who appears in many places and times. He is associated with the cycle of death and rebirth. He is both chthonic (of the earth) and celestial (of the heavens), born of mortal woman and deity (and in fact his “second birth” after being sewn into Zeus’ thigh is also gender subversive). He descends into the underworld to uplift both his mortal mother Semele and demigoddess wife Ariadne into full divinity. He is a deity who defies boundaries of all sorts, and liminality is a core quality of queerness.
Here are some suggestions for ways to connect to Dionysos as a queer deity:
- Dress as fabulously and flamboyantly as you can while going to an entirely mundane location. Try and incorporate something that is leopard or snake print (leopards and snakes are sacred to him) and/or something that is purple (a sacred color for him, to represent wine and grapes) if possible. If there’s a Denny’s restaurant near you that could be the perfect place to try this out, as “Denny” is short for “Dennis,” which is derived from “Dionysos.”
- Dedicate queer sex acts to him, including solo activities. (Dionysos creates the first dildo out of the fig tree growing over Prosymnos’ grave so that he can have sex with him even though he has died.)
- Volunteer some of your time, energy, and money in his name to organizations and events that support queer folks.
With the prominence of Christianity in Western culture, it can seem sometimes like religion frowns on queer folks. Know that there are many forms of spirituality that have instead incorporated queer people and experiences as a real part of humanity, and part of divinity as well. Dionysos is there at the forefront of them, beckoning you to join in his wild, liberator revel.
Our thanks to Ariana Serpentine for her guest post! For more from Ariana, read her article “Trans Inclusion in Spiritual Spaces.”
