Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. Today’s blog post is about the connection between Maenads and Ariadne! Maenads are remembered as the followers of Dionysus, always celebrating the God of Wine and Revelry with endless bacchanals. Now, you may wonder what they have to do with Ariadne. The answer is that Ariadne is the wife of Dionysus!
In this way, we can think of Ariadne as the ultimate Maenad. In more modern terms, I think that we can almost equate the energy of the Maenads with Rock n’Roll Groupies and the energy of Ariadne with the Rockstar wives and girlfriends. After all, plenty of Rockstars have quite a Dionysian energy to them, so the women who worship the energy of Rock n’Roll and Music would be the Maenads to the Rockstar Dionysus. The wife or steady girlfriend is the Ariadne, the much-loved and truly respected woman in the life of the Rockstar, differing from the more common Maenads in the form of Groupies.
I realize that discussing Rockstars and Groupies and the wives and girlfriends may seem to be off-topic. However, as I said, the idea of a Rockstar being God-like and having followers in the form of Groupies and wives or girlfriends that are given better respect definitely feels aligned with the energy of Dionysus, Maenads, and Ariadne. A prime example of this kind of energy is Jim Morrison, even confirmed as having Dionysus as his primary archetype by Jean Shinoda Bolen in her book Gods in Every Man. Jim Morrison certainly was followed by his fair share of Groupies, but ultimately it was Pamela Courson who was his Ariadne, the woman who inspired his music and held his heart! I have to say, I could certainly see Jim Morrison creating a constellation in honor of Pamela, had she died before him instead of the other way around. After all, Jim even referred to Pam as his Cosmic Mate, which definitely brings to mind the energy and magick of constellations!
That brings us back to Dionysus and his beloved Ariadne. Ariadne is a truly fascinating figure of Greek myth, who first appeared when she aided Theseus in killing the Minotaur. She was the daughter of King Minos and his Queen, making her the half-sister of the Minotaur, but she knew how much the monster needed to be defeated, so she chose to aid the hero. She is famously associated with mazes and Labyrinths due to her aiding of the hero Theseus. Theseus was supposed to marry Ariadne in gratitude for all that she did for him, but he ended up abandoning her on the Island of Naxos. It was Dionysus who came to Ariadne’s aid and then fell in love with her!
Dionysus saw Ariadne when she was sleeping and fell in love with her at that time. During their relationship, which is most often stated to be a marriage, it is well known that Dionysus took Ariadne’s crown (as she was born a Princess) and used it to create the constellation Corona Borealis! That is where my reference about Jim creating a constellation for Pam came from, as this is one of the most famous and romantic stories of Dionysus and Ariadne.
It is very interesting that one of my favorite Greek mythic love stories is one that features a God of Wine and Revelry, already surrounded by many women who would gladly be his lover. That being said, Dionysus may have had countless Maenads, and his celebrations always involved sexual rites, but his true love was most definitely Ariadne. I think part of the reason I love their story so much is that Ariande had been brutally betrayed by a hero, but a God deemed her to be worthy of being his Divine Wife! Beyond that, the connection energetically between Dionysus and Rockstars certainly adds to this fascination, as I have always been fascinated by 60s Rock Music and Rockstars and Groupies.
I like to think of Ariande as the Queen of the Maenads, the woman who led the other women who worshipped her husband. She is the one who gained the heart of the God of Wine and Revelry, and she has been celebrated in festivals that were held on Cyprus and on Naxos. So, those ancient festivals that celebrate Ariadne very likely could have been attended by Maenads, or even organized by Maenads (as Maenads are often classed as Priestesses of Dionysus). Finally, I want to say I like to think that the Maenads respected Ariadne, feeling that she was the ultimate version of them, and that they loved her as the leader of them all!
I hope you have enjoyed this slightly rambling look at the complex relationship between Maenads and Ariadne. What is your favorite thing about Ariadne? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the painting Ariadne by George Frederic Watts. I found this artwork on https://www.oceansbridge.com/shop/uncategorized/ariadne-8.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
- Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
- Gods in Every Man by Jean Shinoda Bolen
- Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes
- Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison by Patricia Butler
- https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Ariadne.html