My Gentile Confession
I may be well versed in the Bible, but the Bible is for the most part Jewish while I very much take after the Gentile. My Gentile weekness is Dionysus the god of wine, woman and song. There is a point in Plato’s Republic where they are all talking about sex and most agree that young boys are the way to go. They tease one philosopher because he liked hanging out at the theatre and picking up girls, neither of which they approved of. It amuses me because I think hanging out a the theatre and picking up girls is a dam fine sport! I was once asked if theatre was better than sex, to which I had to answer; well it is such a good place too meet girls isn’t it. I have been to a lot of really good parties. Alcohol, drugs, music, art and sex all rounded off with a good dose of idolatry.
I would like to plant a church at Woodford Folk Festival. It is fertile ground to plant seeds of faith. I would like to show some of my Christian friends the spirit of that festival. And I would like to give the festival goers a taste of what Christianity is really about, not what people think it’s about. I would have a team of prayer warriors who would go around with t-shirts with “Prayer Warrior – ask me for prayer.” I would have a venue with music, public speaking and other performance with a soda bar that would sell all sorts of fancy mocktails.
One of the Dionysus cults was made up entirely of women who would seduce a young man, give him one hell of a good night then kill him and eat him. There were some really good reasons for wanting to shut down idol worship; some really dodgy things went down with idol worship. But most of the time Dionysus was worshiped by hanging out in the arty venues and drinking a lot of wine and trying to pick each other up.
There were two gods of music Dionysus and Apollo. The followers of Apollo were in to getting the details of the music right. They wanted every note to be where it belonged, they were a sober crowd. The followers of Dionysus were into getting the feel of the music right and the music felt so much better after a few glasses of wine. The followers of Apollo rehearsed, the followers of Dionysus jammed. I remember going to a gathering of musicians that a friend needed to lift to. They were a South American big band and they were rehearsing using a lot of very precise technical language.
“I’m going to jam with them.”
“I don’t think there the jamming kind.”
“Sure, but I’m going to jam with them.”
He did end up having a quick jam on the jimbas with a few radicals from the ensemble. Bret – Morris the Clown – Jester Royale a true follower of Dionysus.
Deuteronomy 18 forbids conjuring, that is along with: divination, abortion, speaking with the dead, casting spells and interpreting omens. But the Egyptians would use conjuring tricks to influence leaders in the decisions they made about state. A magician one asked me if there was a trick to juggling. Well juggling is just what is seems to be, it is a trick, but not like a magic trick. Any juggler will gladly give you a lesson on how to juggle. The secret to juggling is practice and that is no secret. In East Timor they called my juggling “sulap” – meaning sorcery. They had never heard of, seen or had a word for juggling. To them it was sulap, and sulap like they had never seen before.
But a magician’s trick deceives the audience. Things seem to happen that don’t happen, or at least not the way they seem. It is a law of The Magician’s Circle that no one use there tricks to make it seem like they have supernatural powers; as the Egyptians did. The audience should never loose grip of the fact that it is all an illusion and just for fun.
And so I do my juggling, magic, balloons and song in the Darwin CBD; entertaining drunks for tips. Kids and drunks that is what puts food on the table, kids have their charms but drunks pay better. The drunk girls don’t flirt with me like they used to when I did this in my thirties. I guess I’m not as young and sexy as I was. Is Dionysus a god just for the young, I think not. I look at my aunt & uncle in Royal Leamington Spa in England. They still party hard; they did an ABBA night at a local venue for her eightieth. They have a house in the Loire Vally, central France’s wine growing district with lots of châteaus. They are members of the Comadere that gather to try the local wines straight from the cellar door. I plan to be drinking French wine with them for the Solstice in 2025. A chance to party with two fine examples of the Dionysian spirit.
I was a compulsive drinker from 1997. In mid 2022 I discovered The Sinclair Method; a scientifically developed medical procedure for dealing with alcohol use disorder. Today I am cured of alcohol dependence, I have made a complete recovery, I drink when I want to; it is no longer a problem. But now I face a challenge with the medicinal marijuana. The Dionysian spirit comes with it’s tests. But I have thrived through years of alcohol dependence. And I am happier and more functional on the weed than off it. I don’t think the weed will present a greater challenge than I am up to. Then there is kava to consider and micro dosing of psilocybin. I don’t want to be driving, I want to be partying.
Clown Artist Philosopher 