Dionysos Kolotes

Early in January, when I was in the deepest throes of my hyperfixation on researching everything about Dionysos, I found this post by @bacchant-of-dionysus with a nice, neat list of epithets of Dionysos, with their Greek spelling (much appreciated), meanings (even more appreciated), and small prayers you could say with the epithets (I was about to weep tears of joy). As I was reading through it, I saw the epithet of "Dionysos Kolotes", Kolotes meaning "spotted gecko", which gave me serious pause. It almost seemed comedical - where in Dionysos' mythology were geckoes of any kind even mentioned, especially spotted ones? And why the specification?

When I came back around to this epithet while working on my series of prayers, I decided to take to the internet to see if I could dig up any more information on why Kolotes was an epithet of Dionysos. After a few searches, I came across this page on Theoi.com about Asklabos, who had been turned into a spotted gecko. I'll copy it down below, it's not very long:

"Askalabos was the son of a peasant-woman named Mimse who the goddess Demeter visited upon first arriving in Attika during her long search for Persephone. The woman offered her a drink of barley-groats, and the goddess hurriedly quaffed it down to relieve her thirst. The boy rudely mocked her as a glutton and in her anger she cast the drink at him, transforming him into a spotted gecko."

This is interesting, because, while Dionysos was mentioned nowhere here, the story of Demeter looking for Persephone was in fact a part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which He does have some connections to. But that still begs the question - why is it Dionysos who is given the epithet of Kolotes, rather than Demeter, who it would seemingly be more fitting to?

In my own opinion, this epithet is one that seems to connect to Dionysos' habit of being, in some ways, a God of hospitality. Frequently, when He appears in myths, He is seen judging people on their hospitality (usually lack of). For example, in the Bacchae, one of Pentheus' greatest evils was his lack of hospitality towards the maenads, and he was ripped apart. Lykurgous, too, attacked Dionysos and His maenads, and was punished with madness. And the Tyrrhenian pirates, who kidnapped Dionysos to sell him to slavery, found themselves turned into dolphins. In all of these examples, Dionysos is the one who carries out the punishment of those who have violated Xenia. The spotted gecko, meanwhile, was once a boy who mocked a Goddess as she quenched her thirst after frantically searched for Her missing daughter.

So in my opinion, Dionysos holds the epithet of Kolotes not because He is someone who would also mock Demeter on Her worst days, but because He reminds others not to do the same, as a God who seems to oversee Xenia. Just as we see dolphins not as an inspiration to go out and kidnap someone, but rather as a reminder to not take advantage of others, the spotted gecko is a reminder to always be courteous to other people, even when their actions seem strange or desperate to us. We do not know what they have undergone.

Aphrodite

Content warning: Because of the deity being discussed in this post, there are talkings of sex and sexuality under the cut.

Who is Aphrodite?

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, desire, passion, pleasure, sexuality, fertility, and procreation. She has many epithets, or titles, that relate her to other aspects as well.

Antheia - The blooming, Friend of flowers

Anadyomene - She who rose from the sea

Ambologera - Delayer of old age

Aphrogenea - Foam born

Apostrophia - Expeller of sinful desires

Areia - The warlike

Callipygos - Of the beautiful buttocks

Charidotes - Giver of joy

Elikoblepharus - She with fluttering eyelids

Eleemon - Merciful

Eratoplucamus - Lovely haired

Gamelia - She who resides over marriage

Morpho - The fair shaped, Of shapely form

Nicephorus - Bringer of victory

Ourania - Heavenly

Pandemos - Common to all people, Of all people

Panmorphilos - Lover of all shapes

Peitho - Persuasion

Pontia - Of the sea

Philomeides - Laughter loving

Philopaneia - Lover of all

These are just some of her many names. She has many more epithets, including newer ones applied through UPG and modern practice.

Aphrodite and the Moon

This section is entirely UPG

I associate Aphrodite with the moon, more specifically, the moon's cycle. I do not see her as *the* moon goddess, but rather as having an aspect of the moon. I see her as the cycle the moon follows. There’s a few factors that contribute to this UPG of mine.

The first being that the moon’s cycle and a woman’s cycle are roughly the same length in time. I guess here it’s important to note that I am female, and a part of my work with Aphrodite has been centered around that.

The second is that the moon controls the tides. Aphrodite is considered a sea goddess. But my association goes a little deeper than that. I have always heavily associated the ocean and its movements with Aphrodite, beyond just her usual ‘risen from the sea’ aspect. I don’t see her as the personification of the sea, or *the* ocean deity, but as the movements of the ocean. The waves, the tides, the things washed up on the shore in the waves, the feeling of a wave pulling and pushing the water as you stand in it. \

I really began to understand this association when I started working with the moon phases, and learning about how to live and plan by them. A book I highly recommend to learn about this subject is Lunar Living by Kirsty Gallagher.

Offerings for Aphrodite.

Chocolate

Honey

Fresh Fruits

Cherries

Apples

Olive oil

Water

Apple juice

Wine, especially red

Teas infused with herbs associated with her

Or just any tea

Fruit and/or herb infused water

Roses

Jasmine

Myrtle

Cinnamon sticks*

Orchids*

Love letters (to yourself, or to someone else)

Jewelry

Seashells

Devotional Acts

Self care

Morning / night beauty routines

Write love letters to yourself or to someone else

Visit the ocean if possible

Practice gratitude

Practice self confidence

Listen to music that makes you feel confident

Listen to music that reminds you of Aphrodite

Practice self acceptance

Tell your loved ones you and appreciate them

An act of kindness toward a stranger

Give compliments to yourself or to someone else

Watch a romance movie

Read Sappho’s poetry

Read poetry about love, romance, or sexuality

Read poetry dedicated to her

Explore your sexuality

Learn about the important of practicing safe sex

Pleasure yourself

Read a romance novel

Read an erotica novel

Care for your mental and physical self

Learn about the ocean

Read her myths

Read modern retellings of her myths

Write retellings of her myths

Write poetry or song dedicated to her

Practice cyclical living (by the moon phases)*

Practice sea focused witchcraft

Dance

Create a playlist dedicated to her

Meditate and ask her to be present

Other Aspects of Aphrodite

People often forget, especially with the more popular and well known deities, that they can have aspects most would view as negative.

Aphrodite isn’t just the goddess of love and beauty. She also resides over the negative aspects of her associations. Jealousy, obsession, clinginess, heartbreak, self-centeredness, manipulation.

This isn’t to say that working with her will bring those things. You can work with her to get past these things or move them out of your life just as you would any other aspect of her.

Anything in this post marked with the symbol * means that it is my own UPG

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amazingariadneisnotonfire

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