Body and Blood of a God - To Drive Out Depression

There is a Hellenic ritual that I believe so very strongly in because it has worked for me countless times over. I call it The Dionysian Rite, and it does, in fact, have ancient Greek origins.

The belief in wine being the blood of the vine is very ancient, and the concept of ingesting the body and blood of a God is not unique to the Christian religion. It, also, is very ancient. Christianity is also not the first religion to have a Savior God. That, too, is ancient, and while more than one Greek God carried the Epithet of Savior, Dionysos is known as the God of life who returned from death.

This rite was probably done in a Cult setting with specific instructions, but we can also adopt cultic practices in modern Hellenism. Dionysos had worshipers who would attack, kill and eat a live bull (the sacred animal of Dionysos), and in so doing, considered themselves to be eating the God's body and drinking His blood. I adopted this concept for my own temple, using chocolate (an ecstatic food) along with wine or grape juice to be the body and blood of Dionysos, since Dionysos is also the God of ecstasy and wine and grapes. Now, if you can find pieces of chocolate shaped like a bull, that would be of the most ideal, but if not, a typical piece will do. The richer the better, and the more pure and fresh the wine or grape juice, the better.

While this is a practice I have adopted for my temple's general activity, it also has many benefits for the personal human body. It's important to remember that while this ritual mirrors others in modern time, it's not about salvation from our humanity, because our humanity is not damned, it's blessed. There is no "cross to bear." Dionysos reminds us that it's alright to live.

Whenever I am feeling depressed or anxious, I have found that the ritual does wonders for freeing me from it and returning me to the lively world. Depression and anxiety is a form of death for the human system, and thus when life is fused back into you, it pushes the death out. I don't even have to do it in a formal setting. I just hold the chocolate in my hand, and before eating it, I say, "Body or Spirit of Dionysos." And if I drink wine or grape juice, "Blood of Dionysos." The depression, and any other ailment of the mind and spirit I may be feeling, is then dissolved. Of course, it may be beneficial beforehand to ask Dionysos to bless the food and drink as His blessings upon the "food of joy and the drink of the vine."

I'm not saying that someone should give up medical treatment for their depression or other mental illnesses. I'm simply saying that adding spirituality to it, might be the completion to the cure you need. Again, I believe so strongly in the power of this rite that I encourage fellow Hellenists and Pagans to give it a try.

In the Goodness of the Gods,

I'll see you at the next Herm down the road,

Chris Aldridge.