JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS SAINT OF ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

THE Religion of Antinous honors St. John Addington Symonds, the English poet and literary scholar who shocked Victorian sensibilities by openly promoting the cause of same-sex love.

John Addington Symonds was born on 5 October 1840, to a wealthy middle-class family in Bristol England. His father was a liberally minded doctor with connections and close friendships with many of the most illustrious and forwards minds of the time.

It was this environment of Victorian middle-class sexual repression that caused John Addington Symonds to blossom into one of the first and most prolific proponents for the cause of love between men.

While teenager in school, he was awakened by Plato to the awareness of love between boys among his schoolmates and almost immediately and unhesitatingly came out of the closet, even to his father, who was initially dismayed but ultimately supportive.

From then on, Symonds devoted his entire life to the study of homosexuality through art and history. He was the most pronounced defender of the ancient and glorious legacy of love between men, and a champion of social change.

He was a deep admirer of Walt Whitman, and later worked closely with Edward Carpenter, and Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, co-founding the British Institute for Sexual Science, which advocated a methodical study to overturn the laws against homosexual love.

For his life-long work and devotion, and for his early recognition and exultation of his sexuality, John Addington Symonds is a canonized Saint of the Religion of Antinous.

The most sacred of his many contributions to the enlightenment of our freedom are the words that he wrote about Antinous, whose beauty he glorified with poetry and elegance in the language of a lover of the homosexual, erotic beauty of Our God. John Addington  Symonds died in Rome on the 19th of April 1893.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EGYPTIAN DEITIES HAS AN ENTRY FOR ANTINOUS

ANTINOUS is featured in a large new book on Egyptian deities.

"The Complete Encyclopedia of Egyptian Deities: Gods, Goddesses, and Spirits of Ancient Egypt and Nubia" by Egyptologist Tamara L. Siuda features Antinous, including his modern-day worship as Antinous the Gay God, thus proving that this impressive book is indeed complete. 

Tamara Siuda was until recently the head of the House of Netjer, and essentially thus head of the Kemetic Orthodox religion (a modern form of Ancient Egyptian religion), as well as being a Mambo Asogwe in the Haitian Vodun religion. Book order information HERE.

More images below:

ASTRO FORECAST: APRIL 17th—27th, 2025

Antinous is a Moon God. He is, of course, many other things and he wears many hats. But one of the ways he was worshiped in Antiquity was as ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD.

His worshipers looked skyward and saw His beautiful face perpetually turned towards the Earth. The Man in the Moon was actually the Blessed Boy in the Moon for the ancient priests and worshipers of Antinous. Swiftest and most youthful of all the Zodiacal deities, Antinous speeds through an entire year's worth of Astrological signs in just 28 days.

ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD represents our deepest personal needs, our basic habits and reactions, and our unconscious gay selves. Where Hadrian the Sun acts, Antinous the Moon REACTS. How do we instinctively react or respond to problems? What do we feel we need for a sense of security? Look to ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD for answers.

ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD is both our inner boy child and our inner lover. His ever changing phases, as he sweeps past all the other Planets in all the Signs, make us at turns responsive, receptive, and reflective. Eternally youthful, ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD represents our childlike spontaneous and instinctual reactions.

ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD beams down on us to make us imaginative, creative, intuitive, sentimental, adaptable, introspective, and protective. On the negative side, and depending on where he is in the Zodiac, he can make us moody, restless, and irrational.

Antinous Astrology Forecast

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APRIL 17th to 27th, 2025

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THURS-FRIDAY, APRIL 17th-18th, 2025

This week, Mars enters Leo, to stay there until June 17th, 2025. In this period, you will feel very invigorated, with loads of energy to do just about anything. The planet Mars thrives in Leo, so it is a good period for getting lots of things done, even quickly solving problems that used to be just too much. Mars passes through Leo every year and a half, so it's not a life-changing thing. But Mars truly enjoys this period of endless energy and heightened capacity. Make the most of it!

SAT-SUNDAY, APRIL 19th-20th, 2025

This week, powerful forces are at work when the Sun forms a 90-degree square aspect to Mars to unleash explosive energies. Sun square Mars creates a very tense energy which looks for expression through some kind of action, sports, sex, creative self-expression. The square causes obstacles in self-assertion which have to be overcome with the courage and fighting spirit which comes naturally. On the negative side this can lead to setbacks, frustration and may boil over as arguments, fights, tantrums or ... on the global level ... to wars and conflicts. Once the energy finds a safe way of expression, then the tremendous energy can lead to great achievements in Mars activities such as sports, military endeavours, fighting for a particular cause, even dramatic acting. The fiery willpower really does need a useful outlet to stop this warlike energy turning on the self or loved ones ... or pitting one nation against another. Competing and winning is important to maintain a healthy ego.

MONDAY, APRIL 21st, 2025

Overnight Sunday-Monday, we come to first of two Aquarius Third Quarter Moons in succession, which we call the SPRING BLUE MOON.

TUES-SATURDAY, APRIL 22nd-26th, 2025

This promises to be the most explosive week of the year, and you may expect confrontations. A T-square is forming between the Sun, Mars, and Pluto. It begins with the Sun squaring Mars on April 22nd, the Sun squaring Pluto on the 23rd, and Mars opposing Pluto on April 27th, which coincides with the Taurus New Moon. On the 25th, Venus is exactly conjunct Saturn. This is a recipe for strife, upheaval. But Antinous teaches us to harness rage for justice, LGBTQIA+ rights. Never cruel. Never cowardly. Never give up. Never give in!

SUNDAY, APRIL 27th, 2025

This weekend, we come to the Taurus New Moon, which we call the MARCUS AURELIUS MOON highlighting Taurean qualities (determined, practical, devoted, grounded, dependable) and 2nd House themes (material security, values, self-worth). On a spiritual/higher plane, the New Moon in Taurus seeks inner peace through stability and contentment.

SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:

Another exciting week lies ahead between April 28th and May 4th, 2025, when we come to the Leo First Quarter Moon. It is the Lunar Phase in Antinous Moon Magic which we call the SCARAB MOON of miracles and wish-fulfillment. Meditations and rituals carried out tonight can result in an unexpected breakthrough. Eureka! Unanticipated solution. Fortuitous surprise. Sudden change for the better. Plucking victory from the jaws of defeat. An oracle reading or meditative trance can produce a sudden answer for transformation of a bad situation into something profitable ... More details next time ....

THE SPRING BLUE MOON OF 2025

TONIGHT we come to the first of two Aquarius Third Quarter Moons in succession, which we call the SPRING BLUE MOON. 

In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Spring Blue Moon.

Whether Springtime or Autumn, you should remember your inner child. Regardless of your age, rediscover the sense of wonder, curiosity and magic you had as a child. 

Perhaps you have forgotten how wonderful life can be. 

Perhaps you have forgotten how to play like a child. Rediscover the joy and fun you had as a child. You are never too old to have fun and to be joyful.

SAINT SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ

ON April 17th the Religion of Antinous honors Saint Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 17th Century Mexican nun, scholar, poet, scientist, playwright, musician and lesbian.

She was exceptional not only for her intelligence and beauty, but also because she wrote literature centered on intellectual and sexual freedom.

In the poem "Redondillas" she defends a woman's right to be respected as a human being. "Hombres necios" (Stubborn men) criticizes the sexism of the society of her time, and pokes fun at men who publicly condemn prostitutes, among other things, but privately hire them.

She also has a philosophical approach to the relative immorality of prostitution. This was exemplified when she posed the question, "Who sins more, she who sins for pay or he who pays for sin?"

In the romantic comedy entitled "Los empeños de una casa" about a brother and a sister entangled in a web of love, she writes using two of her most prominent themes, love and jealousy.

She did not moralize, but rather, in the spirit of her lifetime interests, inquired of how these deeply emotional matters shaped and carved a woman's pursuit of liberty, knowledge, education and freedom to live her life in self-sovereignty.

Her revolutionary writings brought down upon her the ire of the Roman Catholic Church at the end of the 17th Century. She was ordered to tone down the sexuality of her writings. She did not.

However, powerful representatives from the Spanish court were her mentors and she was widely read in Spain, being called "The Tenth Muse". She was lauded as the most prominent poet of the post-conquest American Continent. Her work was printed by the first printing press of the American Continent in Mexico City.

She is believed to have penned 4,000 works, but only a few have survived. They were rescued by the Spanish Viceroy's wife, who was rumoured to be her female lover. In April 1695, after ministering to the other sisters struck down by a rampant plague, she is said to have died at four in the morning on April 17th.

For her love of learning and her devotion to the beauty of sexuality and for her courage to write about controversial things in the face of the Spanish Inquisition, we honor Saint Sor Juana as a Prophet of Homoeros.

PAGAN JOURNALIST MARGOT ADLER IS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS

WE honor Margot Adler as a Saint of Antinous the Gay God.

She was a pioneering modern pagan and well-respected all-round journalist who enabled millions of listeners on NPR radio in North America to get a balanced and informed view of paganism. 

She reported on news and current affairs from New York City ... most notably the 9/11 tragedy ... and her listeners respected her religious beliefs were did not make her "weird" or "demonic."

Margot Adler authored DRAWING DOWN THE MOON, a 1979 book about Neopaganism which was revised in 2006 to include our own modern Religion of Antinous.

The book is considered a watershed in American Neopagan circles, as it provided the first comprehensive look at modern nature-based religions in the US.

For many years it was the only introductory work about the American Neopagan communities. And it mentions Antinous ... and our new religion!

JEAN GENET ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A SAINT HE IS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS

ON April 15th the Religion of Antinous remembers Jean Genet as a Saint of Antinous.

Saint Jean Genet was one of the first and most modern gay poets, whose elegance and sordid love for the street life was unprecedented, and has never been matched.

Among his most fervent desires, expressed from the very beginning was that he should one day be elevated to Sainthood.

We of the Religion of Antinous, fully and faithfully, take faith in the spirit of Saint Jean Genet, through whom the eternal voice of Antinous spoke with the most voluptuousness and vain-glory.

Saint Jean Genet died on this day in Paris in1986.