Ariadne
Ariadne is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, half-sister of the Minotaur, and the one who gives Theseus the thread and the way out of the labyrinth. He takes her from Crete and abandons her - at Naxos or on Cyprus.
Heroine with a real cult, not a goddess, and the cult is the point of this entry. On Naxos she had a festival, and the Naxians told of two Ariadnes - the one married to Dionysus, whose festival was mirth and revels, and the one abandoned by Theseus, whose sacrifices were mourning (Plutarch, Theseus 20). On Cyprus, Paeon of Amathus records sacrifices to her on the second day of Gorpiaeus, with a young man lying down and imitating the cries of a woman in labour, and the grove where her tomb was shown called the grove of Ariadne Aphrodite (Plutarch, Theseus 20). At Athens the Oschophoria carried vine-branches in honour of Dionysus and Ariadne (Plutarch, Theseus 23). She was never an Olympian, and the marriage to Dionysus is the myth that made her immortal rather than an account of her cult. The planetary, elemental, zodiacal, tarot and sabbat values here are modern Western overlays with no ancient basis, and the tradition's own account is primary.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Venus
Offerings
- Offerings
- A threadWineIvyHoneyBreadDance
Sacred timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- Ariadne of NaxosThe Thread-GiverAriadne Aphrodite
- Gender Expression
- Feminine
- Titles
- Mistress of the LabyrinthThe Thread-GiverWife of DionysusLady of Naxos
- Symbols
- The threadThe crownThe labyrinthThe dance floorThe ivy
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneWarm woundedAddressAriadneLady of NaxosThread-GiverRelationshipThe one who gives the way out and is left behindWarningThe thread is given to someone else and she is left holding the labyrinthResonanceThose who help others out and are left those who must find the way out
- Modern Practice
Ariadne is called on by anyone who has to find the way through something, and by anyone who has handed the way to someone else and been left. The practice is the thread: lay down the route while you are still in it, so that it can be walked again by someone who is not you.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- The threadThe way throughThe labyrinthThe danceMarriageAbandonmentThe deserted bride
- Mythology Summary
Ariadne is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, half-sister of the Minotaur, and the one who gives Theseus the thread and the way out of the labyrinth. He takes her from Crete and abandons her - at Naxos or on Cyprus, depending on the teller - and Dionysus finds her there and makes her his wife and immortal (Hesiod, Theogony 947-949); Homer's Odyssey has Artemis kill her instead (XI.321-325). Plutarch collects the disagreements, including Paeon of Amathus's Cypriot account of her death in childbirth on Cyprus (Theseus 20).
- Related Deities
- DionysusAphroditeArtemisHephaestus
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsRedWhiteGoldBlueScentsRoseMyrrhJasmineMetalsGoldBronzeSilverAnimalsDoveSerpentSwan
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