Bakkhai on the Storm - A Radio Play (Euripides' The Bakkhai as put to the music of The Doors)

 

Bakkhai on the Storm

SCENE 1

(Darkness. A faint, crackling hum, like an old radio tuning in. The sound of wind, distant and whispering.)

DIONYSUS (whispering, distant at first, then growing closer):
Is everybody in?
Is everybody in?
(A pause. The organ hum deepens, a faint heartbeat joins it.)
The ceremony is about to begin...

(The hiss of static, voices murmuring, overlapping, neon lights buzzing to life)

DIONYSUS (soft, eerie):
The face in the mirror won’t stop.
The girl behind won’t disappear.
The phone is dead, the voice in the next room fades...

(Distant, distorted voices whisper incomprehensible phrases. The sound of a match striking. A sudden whoosh, fire igniting.)

Strange gods are coming... Savage heads, wild-eyed...

(A deep rumble, the crackle of fire, a distant, crowd cheering, chanting, laughing wildly.)

Fervour Ekstasis

A whisper, like ivy tendrils

Caresses my mind

And makes me shiver.

I see the God in his eyes,

Smell Him in his sweat,

Taste Him on his skin.

I feel Him in his fingers.

My sight turns to mist

And drum beats echo from far away.

I slip, slide from his embrace 

And fall into His

Through smoke and wine and madness.

In frenzy, I feel the need to scream,

To dance, to roar – We are lions! –

The need to tear flesh and wash it down with blood.

I fall from myself

Deeper and madder and to a darker place;

I fall into silence.

I fall before Him,

Desire set upon the altar of my flesh;

My thoughts of Him alone.

My obsession, my dream, my Muse-man.

In bondage to His glorious call

I drink of His inspiration -

Fill me, O God, with Your heat

And when the flames consume me

Lead me to be reborn. 

Fridge Magnet Anthesteria

You whisper;

       And I -

Joy drunk,

Fall from your mad embrace

Through milk and honey and warm ecstasy.

My blood trembles
And fevered visions flood from your fierce worship

A Prayer to Dionysus

Dionusos, send your blessing

Relieve me of my mortal pains

Fill me with your healing madness

Before I drive myself insane

Blessed Bakkhus, bring oblivion

Let me sleep a dream-filled sleep

Send your wisdom-laden liquid

To drag me down into the deep

Eleuthereus, emancipator

Relax my body and my mind

Fill my lungs up with your visions

Show me what I need to find

Nyktipolos who prowls the night

Drown out my hurt with ecstasy

Through lust and pain and violent loving

Set my mind and spirit free

Kharidotes – who brings grace

Inspire me in words and rhyme

Ease the passage of my thoughts

And turn them into flowing lines

Dionusos send your blessings

Let me see with mystic sight

Let me wander in your shadows

Until I’m ready for the light

By Red and Green and Sacred Things

 

By red and green and sacred things,

Through wine and weed and words -

A call that only I can hear,

My thoughts within me churn.

A deafening silence within me rings,

Words tumble from my lips,

The spirits of the world draws near

And hold me in their grip.

By sounds and signs and images

Transcribed upon the page,

Of ecstasy and love and lust

Of sorrow, pain and rage.

The liquid passes o’er my lips,

His red-blood fills my veins,

The smoke expands within my lungs;

And reality does wane.

I spin and dance and leap about

And yell and prophesy;

The veils of space and time grow dim

And rend eternity.

The worlds collide and overlap –

Heaven, Earth and Hell.

I walk on old and shadowed roads

Ones that he knows so well.

Truth and lies and in between

Twist and fuse and merge,

Whispers shout into my ears,

And fantasies emerge.

My body aches and yearns and longs –

I hunger for his kiss.

His scent excites my flesh and soul,

His touch brings fear and bliss.

These gifts given from my Lord

Teach of secrets and unseen

Granted by the power of

Words and red and green.

Hellenic Prayer Beads and Prayers for Each of the Gods Represented

This is my set of prayer beads; each bead represents a deity in the Hellenic pantheon (and Inanna, who is Sumerian).

This is which deity each bead represents, starting with the bead symbolizing Hestia (Hestia,is always the first and the last)

Dionysus

Though known primarily as the god of grapes and wine, Dionysus or Dionusos is a god of many functions and forms.  He is the (semi-) respectable patron of the theatre and actors, as Greek drama developed out of the masked rituals and celebrations in which his life was acted out by and for his followers.  (In fact a mask was often used as an idol for this god, carved out of vine or fig wood).  In this guise Dionusos is a god of civilization and peace and community.   Dionusos is also the effeminate yet phallic, savage mystery-god who leads his followers – the wild maenads (the ‘raging ones’) – in blood thirsty festivals, ripping animals to pieces with their bare hands and dancing all night within the flames.  Dionusos is also a fertility god, worshiped along side Demeter; where she is the solid, receptive force of nature he is the liquid, active aspect.  Dionusos is a divine saviour who dies for mankind and is reborn, and through eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood humanity is granted eternal life in paradise.  Dionusos presides over communication with the dead, over euphoria, insanity, fear, liberation and intoxication.  Dionusos releases from the mundane and allows the breaking of society’s rules and through his intoxicating possession he grants his followers the ability to perceive the world from a divine point of view.