ON January 1st we celebrate the brief but shining life of Lucius Aelius Caesar, Hadrian's "other favorite" and chosen heir who predeceased the Emperor by dying suddenly on 1st January 138 AD. Antonius Subia says:
Long Live Lucius Aelius Caesar
The Prince of Flowers!
Hadrian's First Love
Who raised Temples to Antinous
Lucius Capricornius, who reigned for one day
And for all eternity
Beauty and Spirit of the Latins
The shining one who gave his blood for laurels
~ ANTONIUS SUBIA
ON December 31st we commemorate the Apotheosis of Aelius Caesar.
Hadrian adopted Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus, and called him Aelius Verus Caesar (portraits by Priest Uendi).
It was said that beauty was his only recommendation. His poor health soon overtook him and Hadrian is reported to have said, "We have leaned against a tottering wall and have wasted the four hundred million sentences which we gave to the populace and the soldiers on the adoption of Commodus."
He died on the Calends of January in the year 138 ... only a few months before Hadrian ... from an overdose of medicine given to help him make a speech to the Senate thanking Hadrian for the succession.
After Aelius Caesar's death, Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius (September 19, 86 - March 7, 161) on the condition that Antoninus Pius adopt the younger Lucius Verus and Hadrian's great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 - March 17, 180).
Marcus later co-ruled with Lucius as Marcus Aurelius until Lucius' death in 169, at which time he was sole ruler until his own death in 180. Collectively, they are remembered as the Antonine Dynasty of emperors who ruled wisely over a period noted for its peace and prosperity.
In his classic text The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 18th Century historian Edward Gibbon considers the reign of the Antonines, as well as those of their predecessors Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian, the height of the Roman Empire, after which time the empire began its inexorable decline.
Aelius Caesar is a major character in Marguerite Yourcenar's epic historical novel Mémoires d'Hadrien (Memoirs of Hadrian).
Lucius, as we affectionately call him, is the recipient of much bittersweet love and adoration from followers of the Religion of Antinous.
For us he represents so many pretty young men whose bright futures are thwarted by tragic illness.
Aelius Caesar is often called the Western Favorite, because of the possibility that he rivaled Antinous for Hadrian's love.
We venerate Aelius Caesar as the fallen Prince of Flowers, the spiritual twin brother of Antinous whose death is the end of the Saturnalia.
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.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30th, 2021
This week is dominated by Mercury conjunction Venus as they interact with Pluto and the Star of Antinous to make this a very special week indeed. Things will be explosive when Mercury/Venus and Pluto are aligned with the star. This creates an explosive situation for interpersonal relationships. It begins at the breakfast table over corn flakes when you say you want to go shopping and your alpha-male boyfriend starts in saying that it's typical of you to go off and spend money and waste time while he has to clean the house. Next thing you know, the two of you have been screaming at each other for hours. Remember that astrology is a tool to master such situations. Mercury-Venus-Pluto is a golden opportunity to rediscover the things you love about your lover. Okay, so he's a bitch-on-wheels. So what? He's your bitch-on-wheels and the two of you love each other. Make a stab at helping him clean the house — and sneak online and buy needless stuff on eBay when he's not looking.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31st, 2021
This New Year's Eve the Sun forms a positive trine aspect with Uranus which blows in a breath of fresh air which rejuvenates and invigorates you and encourages you to act first and ask questions later.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 1st, 2022
This New Year's Day weekend it's time to take advantage of those Clearance Sales and buy a new phone, tablet or other communications device when Mercury enters the tech-friendly and communications-conscious sign of Aquarius. This is the best time of year for communications technology upgrades. But hurry, because Mercury leaves Aquarius on March 24th and dives into the dreamy waters of Pisces.
SUN-MONDAY, JANUARY 2nd-3rd, 2022
Overnight Sunday-Monday, as if to underscore the beginning of yet another pandemic year, we come to the Capricorn New Moon, which we call the LAMIA MOON of dark magic. Meditation and rituals conducted tonight are best suited for rooting out malaise and sickness and for diminishing evil sendings. Look for areas in your life where you may be detrimental to yourself, may be working against yourself or may be making yourself sick, perhaps literally so.
TUES-THURSDAY, JANUARY 4th-6th, 2022
This New Year's week is a great time to take in an art exhibit, virtually if not in reality ... or to create art yourself ... Capricorn Venus is in a creative sextile with Pisces Neptune. Trust your intuition on all matters of money and love. And when you go online this week, you can expect romance because Pisces Neptune loves romance.
FRI-SATURDAY, JANUARY 7th-8th, 2022
This weekend you discover the warrior goddess within your heart ... when the Sun aligns in conjunction with Venus ... both in steadfast Capricorn. You fight for your beliefs ... no one can defeat you.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 9th, 2022
This weekend we come to the Aries First Quarter Moon, which is the Lunar Phase we call the INVICTUS MOON ... the Antinous Moon Magic spirit of Mithras ... because this lunar phase always occurs in December or January near the Solstice Birthday of Mithras ... Invictus is the bold light that shines forth from a gay man's eyes to illuminate those around him. It is the warmth of your every being ... It is the optimism which brightens a dismal day when things are going wrong. Invictus is indomitable, unbeatable, unconquerable ... It is a determined spirit which never admits defeat, never gives up, never quits ... Invictus is a beacon which dispels darkness and casts out shadows ... In Antinous Moon Magic, tonight is an ideal time for meditation and rituals aimed at illuminating opaque situations or questions ... It is well-suited for planning assertive, goal-oriented action aimed at whole-heartedly positive results.
SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:
Another exciting week lies ahead between January 10th to 16th, 2022, when we come to the Cancer Full Moon. It is the lunar phase we call the LUNUS MOON in Antinous Moon Magic — the Moon of Moons! This is a Full Moon which brings out powerful emotions. Because this Full Moon always occurs during December/January, it is emotional farewell to the old year and heart-felt welcoming of the new year. You will shed sentimental tears for loved ones you have lost during the past year, not to mention a job or other things you may have lost ... More details next time ....
TWO ancient Egyptian papyrus magic spells in use in or near Antinoopolis have been deciphered by Italian archaeologists, who say the curious documents had a "fill-in-the-blanks" format for targeting people to bless ... or to curse.
Antinoopolis was always a place of "magic, sorcery and strange religious fervor " according to Royston Lambert in his authoritative book about Antinous, BELOVED AND GOD.
We know that the priests of Antinous wrote a LOVE SPELL. Lambert notes that even to this day local villagers believe the place to be haunted.
Just last year, scholars in Australia translated a GRIMOIR disguised as a Coptic prayer book which magician-priests at Antinoopolis could have used to cast spells.
But the latest discovery of two spells goes much farther towards enlarging our knowledge of magical skills in the Antinoopolis area.
ON December 28th the Religion of Antinous celebrates the life of Saint Edward Perry "Ned" Warren, who died on this day in 1928.
Estranged and ostracized by "decent" socialites, Saint Ned Warren was a famed gay Bostonian art collector who virtually single-handedly built up the collections of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston Museum of Fine Arts through his passion for Classical art.
As a sissified schoolboy who suffered the taunts of bullies, he wrote a poem comparing a classmate in whom he was infatuated to Antinous.
He and his lover John Marshall travelled around Europe seeking out and buying art treasures for great museums. They were referred to snidely as "the bachelors of art" among society circles in Britain and America.
But Warren was so fabulously rich, and museums depended on him so much, that nobody dared say anything to his face about his blatant homosexuality. His gifts to the Boston MFA made up 90 per cent of its Classical collection, one of the finest in the world.
Even so, he found puritanical Boston deeply disagreeable, and spent most of his life in England when he was not at his apartment in Rome.
The famous Warren Cup and Rodin's statue The Kiss are just two of the most well-known objects he rounded up -- both of which were rejected by museums in Britain and America as being too raunchy. Museum curators feared museum-goers could be lured into thinking unwholesome thoughts.
Warren in fact actually commissioned the The Kiss from Rodin, explicitly saying he wanted large genitals on the man. To this day, photographs of the famous statue tend to avoid a full-frontal male view for that very reason.
The Warren Cup is a solid silver goblet which dates back to the 1st Century CE/AD and was found near Jerusalem. It is believed that it was deposited along with other valuables (some gold coins, jewellery and other precious items) in a cache by the servants of a fleeing Roman nobleman during one of several Jewish uprisings. It is even possible that it was buried during the uprising that was crushed by Hadrian's legions.
The cup itself is considerably older, and may date to Republican times. And it is done in a retro-style which was a bit archaic even when it was new.
As the photos demonstrate, the Warren Cup shows two scenes (one on each side of the cup) of a man and a youth having sex on a couch. The silverwork is exquisitely done and the hair and draperies and facial expressions are beautifully rendered. It also reflects a bit of tongue-in-cheek wit by showing a servant boy peering curiously around a door frame at the lovers.
On one side a young man (barely more than a boy himself) is having his way with a young boy. On the other side, an older man with a beard is having anal sex with a younger man who is seated on top of him and holding onto what appears to be perhaps part of the drapes of a canopy bed. A servant looks on from the doorway off to the right side.
Saint Ned is believed to have purchased the Warren Cup from an antiquities dealer in Italy.
His efforts to sell it to museums in London and the U.S. were rebuffed.
The Warren Cup's unabashedly gay sex theme is impossible to ignore. The cup has been controversial in the art world ever since it first came to light in the 19th Century.
For many, many years, museums on both sides of the Atlantic refused to obtain it (despite its unquestionable value as a remarkably important historical piece of art) because of Victorian and Edwardian moral objections to its "immoral and beastly" theme.
At one time a curator for the British Museum was interested in acquiring the Warren Cub.
But other experts reminded him that one of the members of the board of directors of the British Museum was the Archbishop of Canterbury. The result was that museum officials were loathe to show his reverence even a photograph of the cup, let alone ask him to condone purchasing it for the collection.
So the cup languished in Warren's personal collection for many years and changed hands many times after his death, never ever being put on public display.
The British Museum finally purchased the Warren Cup for a large sum in 1999 -- and even then there was much titillation in the tabloid press.
Ned Warren wrote extensively about his views that homosexuality is a spiritual state of being, something divinely magical. Taunted as a schoolboy for being a bookworm and a sissy (he would get up at 5 a.m. to read Greek until breakfast), he nonetheless had many crushes on other schoolboys. He wrote about them all in his diary, and even wrote a poem about one especially beautiful boy whom he called a modern Antinous.
As an adult, he continued to proclaim his notion of idealized homosexual love, much to the distress of his family in Boston.
He even wrote a book entitled The Defence of Uranian Love about the same time that Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray was published.
He also used his wealth to sponsor the educations of numerous boys and young men who showed promise but had no money.
He was very generous and had a big heart. For example, he heard that the daughter of a vicar in his district in England had become pregnant out of wedlock and was going to be forced to give up the child.
Saying "this is as bad as Boston," he was so outraged that he legally adopted the little boy himself. He allowed mother and son to live upstairs in his home in England at his expense and loudly defied anyone to besmirch her honor or that of Travis, the little boy.
Ned Warren and his lover John Marshall had a stormy, on-again off-again relationship, but they were together at their flat in Rome in February of 1928. On the evening of the 15th, John went to bed early not feeling well. Ned tiptoed in later and kissed him good night and got in bed beside him. John was dead by morning.
Ned never recovered from that blow. He returned to England, where his health declined rapidly. Saying he couldn't face Christmas and New Year's without John, he died in a nursing home in England on December 28, 1928, at the age of 68.
He was cremated on January 1, 1929. But because he had always been blatant about his homosexuality, no members of his family attended the funeral and none of the museums that had benefitted so much from his largesse sent a representative to the memorial service.
His ashes were buried in the non-Catholic cemetery in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, a town known as a spa in Etruscan and Roman times.
We honor Edward Perry "Ned" Warren, 1860-1928, who wrote a poem likening a boy he loved to Antinous.
TONIGHT's Libra Third Quarter Moon is the lunar phase we call the CROSSROADS MOON in Antinous Moon Magic. It is symbolized by the "Herme" shown here, the ithyphallic stele of Mercury which guarded intersections of Roman roads.
Tonight is a propitious time for setting a new course, possibly changing course, setting out in a new direction. It is about making a decision. The key is not to worry about which choice to make. The key is to make a choice and go ahead with it.
Each Lunar Phase represents a Divine Spirit or Archetype. The Spirit of the Crossroads Moon the decision-making capability of Antinous/Mercury. It is the spirit of making choices, weighing options and then choosing one.
This Crossroads lunar spirit is the guardian at the crossroads who admonishes travelers not to dither nor tary, not to avoid making a decision. He is the guardian who presents travelers with alternatives. He does not care whether the right choice is made, but only insists that some choice is made.
He personifies the roads, streets and highways in life, both literal and figurative. He also represents the network of veins and arteries in your body along which oxygen-enriched blood flows to every organ.
And this spirit is the embodiment of any parting of the ways. He is the turning point and the divining rod who shows the way ahead.
Tonight is ideal for carrying out meditations and rituals aimed at making decisions or deciding what course of action to take. Because this lunar phase occurs in December or January, it is an ideal time for taking stock of the old year and making decisions for the new year.
Followers of the cult of Mithras often associated these two dates with the god, and were even said to celebrate the New Year on December 25th, as it marked his birth.
IN celebration of the return of Antinous Invictus, for the five days between December 25th and the 1st of January, we commemorate the Golden Age of the reign of Saturn.
This is a time outside of time, and an occasion for joy and freedom from the world when Sol Invictus returns.
The divine twins are born, Osiris and Isis, Seth and Nephthys, Castor and Pollux, Freyr and Freya (for whom this time is also known as Yule).
(Image: Antinous as the Ghost of Christmas Present by S.L. GORE.)
We celebrate the Saturnalia with indulgence and as the festival of Liberty and total Freedom. There shall be no authority and no submission during this sacred period.
There is to be no war, and no form of violence committed, only peace and harmony and the many joys of ecstasy are allowed.
The rejoicing of the Saturnalia ends with the apotheosis of the Prince of Flowers, Aelius Caesar, on January 1st.
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.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23rd, 2021
Now we come to the December Solstice. Check out the nearly 20,000 worshipers of Antinous at the ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD FACEBOOK PAGE and you see there are people in South Wales (UK) and New South Wales (Australia). There are people in Sao Paulo and Sydney. There are people in California and Cape Town, and there are some in Portland Oregon and Portland Maine.For some of us the days are getting shorter and Winter is approaching. For others of us the days are getting longer and Summer is on the way. For our brothers in Brazil and South Africa and Australia, the jacarandas are in bloom and the days are hot and balmy. Sydneysiders are bracing for another bush fire season.
For our brothers here in Britain and Europe, the days are short and almost completely sunless and the scent of roasted chestnuts and mulled wine fills the air from vendors on city streets.
For our brothers in the US and Canada, ice storms and the icy fear of pandemic disaster have put a chill on this Solstice Season.
Wherever we are, regardless of the season, Antinous the Gay God looks into our hearts.
And it is all happening at this magical moment. Twice a year there is a moment — in fact, a few days — when the sun seems to "stand still" in the heavens. From the Latin "sol stasis" we derive our name for these events: solstices.
That's the very odd thing about this blue marble upon which we live. The Solstice occurs at the same moment everywhere. But the hands on the clocks point to 23 different hours. And in some places it signals the start of summer (though the days start getting shorter), while in others the it signals the start of winter (though the days start getting longer).
But it is really the same moment and we are all living and breathing at this same moment, though we live in places where the hands of the clock point in all different directions. Each of us is alone. All of us are together in this aloneness. It is the same phenomenon. But how you see it depends on how you look at it.
The days are getting longer. The days are getting shorter. It all depends on how you look at it.
However you look at it, remember that we are all brothers, lovers and comrades. And we are all turning, turning toward our own true delight.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24th, 2021
This Yuletide season is likely to be a major turning point for the entire decade when logical-minded Aquarius Saturn is in a 90-degree square aspect to bull-in-a-china-shop Taurus Uranus. Because both planets are so slow-moving, Saturn square Uranus will dominate the whole of the coming year. But what is particularly interesting is that Saturn, the conservative, traditional and by-the-book planet, is in Aquarius — the most progressive sign, and Uranus, the revolutionary, unique, break-all-rules planet, is in Taurus, the most traditional sign. The Saturn-Uranus square can bring us enormous friction, but also incredible opportunities for change and progress. History will be made during the year-long Saturn-Uranus transit, so you want to pay special attention to the themes that play in your life during this historic configuration — because these themes are here to stay.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25th, 2021
On Christmas Day, the birthday of Sol Invictus, momentous cosmic events are occurring near Pluto aligned with THE STAR OF ANTINOUS in Capricorn. First of all, your emotions get their knickers in a twist when love planet Venus aligns in conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. This once-a-year Venus/Pluto rendezvous is always a time of transformation in matters of love and money. On the downside, it also produces feelings of jealousy, envy, possessiveness and greed. But that's not all, because your intuition is enhanced when Mercury forms a sextile aspect with dreamy Neptune. You should trust your intuition about financial and business matters, but be wary of fast-talking con-men who try to cloud your mind. You can count on finding the right word at the right time by trusting your inner voice.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26th, 2021
Overnight Sunday-Monday we come to the Libra Third Quarter Moon. This is the lunar phase we call the CROSSROADS MOON in Antinous Moon Magic ... It is symbolized by the "Herme", the ithyphallic stele of Mercury which guarded intersections of Roman roads ... Tonight is a propitious time for setting a new course, possibly changing course, setting out in a new direction. It is about making a decision. The key is not to worry about which choice to make. The key is to make a choice and go ahead with it.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 27th, 2021
An ex-lover will call or visit you in the next 40 days ... Capricorn Venus goes "Retrograde" (backwards) until January 29th. Retrograde Capricorn Venus is emotionally cool, cautious and distrustful ... this is a good time to review, reassess, and revive your relationships ... and that means it may be time to end some career or personal relationships. Retrograde Capricorn Venus is nostalgic for "the good old days" ... so you can expect to hear from old friends and ex-lovers. You may not have seen them for years, and suddenly they show up on your doorstep ... and the two of you have a wonderful time reviving old memories ... and possibly reconciling old differences. In fact, Retrograde Venus periods are often characterized by old lovers getting back together and re-marrying.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28th, 2021
Now Jupiter re-enters Pisces after having slipped "backwards" into Aquarius, the sign it had left last May. Jupiter only changes signs once a year, and when it does, it pretty much sets the scene, and gives us that "one topic" to focus on. This year is particularly special because both Jupiter and Neptune are in Pisces together, for the first time since the mid-19th Century. The great news about this pairing is that both Neptune and Jupiter feel at home in Pisces, so they feels great here. In Pisces, Jupiter can be as wise, spiritual, and big-picture as he wants. Neptune aspires to turn dreams into reality. The last two years or so have not been easy. The conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and the Star of Antinous in Capricorn has been heavy and confining. Jupiter in Aquarius overall has been a better placement than Jupiter in Capricorn, but since Jupiter shares the sign with Saturn (in domicile in Aquarius) it gets to play by Saturn’s rules. Now that Jupiter moves into Pisces, our sense of faith and optimism will finally be restored.
WED-THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29th-30th, 2021
This week is dominated by Mercury conjunction Venus as they interact with Pluto and the Star of Antinous to make this a very special week indeed. Things will be explosive when Mercury/Venus and Pluto are aligned with the star. This creates an explosive situation for interpersonal relationships. It begins at the breakfast table over corn flakes when you say you want to go shopping and your alpha-male boyfriend starts in saying that it's typical of you to go off and spend money and waste time while he has to clean the house. Next thing you know, the two of you have been screaming at each other for hours. Remember that astrology is a tool to master such situations. Mercury-Venus-Pluto is a golden opportunity to rediscover the things you love about your lover. Okay, so he's a bitch-on-wheels. So what? He's your bitch-on-wheels and the two of you love each other. Make a stab at helping him clean the house — and sneak online and buy needless stuff on eBay when he's not looking.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31st, 2021
This New Year's Eve the Sun forms a positive trine aspect with Uranus which blows in a breath of fresh air which rejuvenates and invigorates you and encourages you to act first and ask questions later.
SAT-SUNDAY, JANUARY 1st-2nd, 2022
This New Year's Day weekend it's time to take advantage of those Clearance Sales and buy a new phone, tablet or other communications device when Mercury enters the tech-friendly and communications-conscious sign of Aquarius. This is the best time of year for communications technology upgrades. But hurry, because Mercury leaves Aquarius on March 24th and dives into the dreamy waters of Pisces.
SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:
Another exciting week lies ahead between January 3rd to 9th, 2022, when we come to the Capricorn New Moon, which we call the LAMIA MOON of dark magic. Meditation and rituals conducted tonight are best suited for rooting out malaise and sickness and for diminishing evil sendings. Look for areas in your life where you may be detrimental to yourself, may be working against yourself or may be making yourself sick, perhaps literally so ... More details next time ....
