The Hidden Secrets of Dionysus

Part 3

Within the previous part we had ventured into the significance of Dionysus and his deeper link to Hades and Zeus and we had hinted at their nature as tripartite deity. Where within this part of the Dionysus series we will go deeper into the Proto-Indo-European significance of such a figure, tying it deeper into the Jungian perspective and it’s implications.

Ouranos, Kronos, Zeus & Dionysus

So, now when it comes to Zeus, Hades and Dionysus as a tripartite deity. To fully understand this from a Jungian lens what is going on, we need to place this within the larger context of the succession of the rulership of deities. The first deity to rule the cosmos is Ouranos in the cosmogony of ancient Greece. He represented the night sky, representing the unconscious mind from a Jungian lens. He is the first ruler of the cosmos and is associated with the primal, untamed forces of nature. Where in the three-sky cosmological model, the celestial phenomena linking the nightly and daily skies is embodied by a "Binder-god": the Greek Kronos, a transitional deity between Ouranos and Zeus in Hesiod's Theogony.

Finally Dyēus the day sky father, who later in Greek tradition became merged with the thunder-god, as Zeus, representing the active, outward-facing aspect of the sky, is associated with daylight and consciousness. Zeus, who as other later thunder-gods is connected to the sun, spends the night in the earth, or the cavern of death and rebirth, going passed Kronos the binding god, that overthrew Ouranos representing the night. Where the goddess Eos, representing the dawn symbolizes the rise of consciousness. Finally Dyēus the day sky father, as the sun rising into the heavens, represents consciousness itself. Rising from the grasp and sleep of the unconscious. Which is also often symbolized as the wrestling with the serpent.

As such Zeus ends up overcoming the twilight of Kronos. Yet when it now comes to Kronos, he is tied to serpentine symbolism, pointing towards his original nature as an uninhibited libido figure, representing power and fertility. Where with the establishment of civilisation and societal order, he became associated with law, order and social taboos. Becoming a sort of paradox. Making the figure as a symbol of source of libido into a figure that becomes the source of it's restriction. Kronos's restriction of the primal forces of Ouranos signifies the ego's attempt to regulate and control instinctual drives. In the best case scenario, Kronos represents discipline and meticulous control. However in the worst case scenario, Kronos becomes the Negative Animus of the Terrible Mother.

Which can become tyrannical, and thus in Greek mythology was overcome by Zeus (Jupiter). He set up a different relationship between society and the individual. More based on justice, and a focus on cultivating an internal morality in people, then enforcing from outside, whilst the thunder-god also connects to a more self-controlled form of libido expression. Which is not self-denying, or tyrannical, but more knowing learning how to deal with ones impulses, through discipline, whilst letting it flow in a conscious manner. Which means acknowledging the impulses, and giving them conscious expression. Which allows for more creativity as well. We can see this symbolically also through Rhea, who is associated with the idea of raw flowing libido, and Kronos in his tyrannical restriction, having Zeus as their son, who unites flow and discipline in a conscious manner. His overthrow of Kronos symbolizes the ego's liberation from the constraints of unconsciousness and its assertion of autonomy and moral agency.

Where in the Orphic tradition Dionysus-Zagreus is the successor to Zeus. And he combines both the celestial nature of Zeus associated with discipline and the consciousness self-controlled form of libido expression, with the revitalizing, regenerative, transformational and vital energies from the earthly and chthonic realm associated with the Sovereignty Goddess.

Dionysus-Zagreus & Yemo

However the significance of Dionysus-Zagreus goes even deeper. Looking at the Proto-Indo-European pantheon and the connections to it. Within the Dionysian rites, his rituals connected to the Sacred Bull re-enacted the creation of the Cosmos and humanity by offering a bull as a sacrificial symbol. This act was in his mysteries seen as a divine dismemberment of the God himself. Echoing the dismemberment of Yemo.

Yemo being the Proto-Indo-European figure who was dismembered to create the cosmos and social order. Where Dionysus's flesh and blood, symbolized through the sacrificial meal of a bull and wine, when consumed by his worshippers, symbolized the God infusing his presence into his followers' bodies, imparting a portion of his Divinity. We can see here a connection between Dionysus-Zagreus and Yemo, who in other myths takes the form of a cow, or is sacrificed together with a cow. Yemo being connected to the underworld, overseeing the dead, and connected to bovines. Next to Dionysus-Zagreus as much as Yemo being linked to kingship. As Dionysus-Zagreus in myth was meant to take over from his father the thunder god, yet died and was dismembered. His kingdom was within the Orphic mysteries called the Kingdom of Happiness. Yet the connection within the Orphic tradition regarding Dionysus-Zagreus and creation can not only be found within ritual.

In the Orphic tradition, the Orphic Egg a cosmic egg, was the birth place from which emerged the primordial hermaphroditic deity Phanes, which they also identified with Eros and Dionysus-Zagreus. Phanes being connected to the creation of the cosmos. Phanes as Prōtogonos meaning "first-born", having been linked to Prajapati by scholars. Who was both connected to Brahman as much to Purusha. Purusha being this Cosmic Giant whose dismemberment by the gods created the universe. Hinduism refers to him as the soul of the universe, the universal spirit present everywhere, in everything and everyone, all the time. During the Vedic period Purusha was considered the ultimate sacrificial victim, whose sacrifice was the act of creation. Which also has been linked to Yama, and with it regarding both to Yemo from the Proto-Indo-European myth.

And this link to Yemo, who is both connected to sacrifice and kingship from a Proto-Indo-European lens, is because the king was seen as both at the centre of society, and outside of it's social order. As such being the figure who would be sacrificed as scapegoat, if the social order would fail. Dionysus as a deity also being this outcast deity, who at the same time was originally meant to be the king of the gods, after his father Zeus. As Zagreus where he is dismembered he is the scapegoat underworld twin, equated with powers of death, wasteland, drought, darkness, winter and the underworld. Where the reborn Dionysus as Divine Child, Saviour and New King is connected to the powers of prosperity, life, health, joy, the fertilizing waters, the renewed sun and renewed rulership.

In one Orphic Hymn we can see this connection, the hymn says, "I call upon you, blessed and wildly named Bacchos, the bull-horned redeemer of Nysa, god of the wine-press, conceived in fire." As such Dionysus-Zagreus combines both scapegoat and redeemer into one figure, being not just a figure of death and the underworld, but one that has the ability to be reborn like the sun is reborn every morning. Being Helio-Chtonic in nature, uniting the Celestial and Earthly realms, consciousness and unconscious.

Within the final part yet to come I will still go deeper into the more philosophical and Jungian implications of what this means. Especially the Jungian secret regarding Carl Jung and his connection to Dionysus.