DID ANTINOUS SEE THIS GRAFFITI FOUND AT VINDOLANDA ROMAN FORT?

WE wonder if Antinous saw this explicit bit of graffiti if he accompanied his beloved emperor on a tour of Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain.

Vindolanda Roman Fort is famous for its huge cache of POSTCARDS and even for the world's oldest wooden TOILET SEAT and lots of graffiti has been found there, scrawled by soldiers into stone walls.

But nothing prepared archaeologists for the latest discovery: graffiti of a phallus with a vulgar graffiti insult carved into the rock around the image.

As well as the obvious explicit carved phallus, the face of the stone which measures 40cm wide by 15cm tall, is engraved with the words SECVNDINVS CACOR, an engraving which makes this graffiti a very personal insult.

Specialists in Roman epigraphy, Drs Alexander Meyer, Alex Mullen, and Roger Tomlin, recognised it as a mangled version of Secundinus cacator: "Secundinus, the shitter" with the image adding to the force of the written insult.

"The recovery of an inscription, a direct message from the past, is always a great event on a Roman excavation, but this one really raised our eyebrows when we deciphered the message on the stone," said Dr Andrew Birley, Director of Excavations and CEO of the Vindolanda Trust. 

"It’s author clearly had a big problem with Secundinus and was confident enough to announce their thoughts publicly on a stone. I have no doubt that Secundinus would have been less than amused to see this when he was wandering around the site over 1,700 years ago."

The Roman phallus is often seen as a good luck charm or symbol of fertility, a positive symbol. 

However, in this case the author has cleverly taken its meaning and subverted it to their own aims. Each letter has been carefully carved, which would have taken a while, leaving little doubt to the depth of feeling held. 

This fabulous bit of social commentary from the ancient past will amuse visitors for many years to come. 

It reminds us that while the Roman army could be extremely brutal, especially to the native population, they were not immune to hurling insults at each other. Centuries before printed papers or social media were available this would have been one of the best ways to get a lot of people noticing a point of view.

ASTRO FORECAST: AUG 31st—SEPT 11th, 2022

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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AUGUST 31st to SEPTEMBER 11th, 2022

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THURS-FRIDAY, AUGUST 31st-SEPTEMBER 1st, 2022

This week, the Earth will shake (perhaps literally in the form of earthquakes) when the Sun and Venus are in dramatic configurations with Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. On the negative side, this means upheavals in personal relationships, in business transactions and in financial speculation. But let's stress the positive aspects. Things are volatile unless you are flexible and willing to learn hard lessons. You should look for guidance from an older person in financial and relationship issues. This is a time when maturity triumphs over youthful zeal. Sit back and heed the guidance of an old soul ... who can also be a spirit guide. And if you see a younger person blundering into a trap, this is the day to intercede and offer a wise word of advice based on personal experience. Heading into the weekend, the Sun squares off against 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.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd, 2022

This weekend, we come to the Sagittarius First Quarter Moon, which we call the EQUESTRIAN MOON in Antinous Moon Magic ... the Lunar Phase we associate with spiritual movement and progress, astral travel and astral projection ... On the material level, this Lunar Phase is excellent for making travel plans and for carrying out rituals for a safe journey with bountiful spiritual rewards ... or at least for washing that vehicle of yours.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th, 2022

Your ideas are larger than life Sunday with Mercury opposition Jupiter, and you see details as annoying and only there to slow you down. You need to be cautious about proceeding too quickly or over-expanding. This is a better day to evaluate your progress and make any adjustments that will make expansion easier. Other people may challenge your optimistic attitude, but their input is helpful in giving you a different perspective; watch responding in a self-righteous or arrogant manner. You may enjoy a brief trip today, which will be educational or enlightening.

MON-WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th-7th, 2022

This week Venus enters Virgo. Virgo Venus is the ultimate party organizer. Just avoid the Virgo Venus tendency to over-analyze and to offer "advice" (which is to say "criticism") where it is not wanted. Virgo Venus also likes to worry and fret and feel inadequate. Instead, play up the Virgo Venus panache at being the hostess with the mostest and plying your guests with food and drink and ensuring they are having a fabulous time.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th, 2022

This week, Mercury does an about-face and goes "backwards" as seen from Earth until June 2nd. This RETROGRADE MERCURY phase is a time of confusion in communications and commerce. About three times each year, Mercury the communications wizard turns into Mercury the fast-talking con man. This is the RETROGRADE MERCURY phase, and it lasts about three weeks. RETROGRADE MERCURY will be serving up glitches and snafus in communications, computers, transport, travel and social media. If you are buying a new mobile phone, be sure to read the fine print about hidden costs. Planning to move into a new apartment? Check the kitchen and bathroom for tell-tale signs of mold before signing the lease. Remember over the next three weeks that MERCURY wants you to play his sly game to win — not to be a whining victim. Make him proud of the way you play his game!

FRI-SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th-10th, 2022

This weekend, we come to the Pisces Full Moon ... In heterosexual astrology, the Pisces Full Moon is just a moon of sensual spiritual energy. But in Antinous Gay Moon Magic, this is the HOMOTHEOSIS MOON ... the archetype of gay sexuality ... when your sexual dreams can come true ... This hot Full Moon tells you it may be time to take your relationship to a whole new level ... This lunar phase helps you to deepen your love relationships in meaningful ways, making constructive compromises which allow each partner freedom while strengthening the bonds which unite you both.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th, 2022

This weekend, 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.

SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:

Another exciting week lies ahead between September 12th and 18th, 2022, when ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD squares off against the Sun for the GEMINI THIRD QUARTER MOON which in Antinous Moon Magic is called the CONSOLATION MOON because it is the Lunar Archetypal energy of serendipity and fortuitous misadventures. You win the Silver Medal (but not the Gold). You win $20 in the lottery (but not the jackpot of $20 million). It is about finding $50 in an old wallet ... More details next time ....

ANTINOUS ENABLES YOU TO DISCOVER THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE HEART

IN ancient times, Antinous was known as a miracle worker. His worshipers prayed to him for miracles, oracles, visions and answers to problems in their daily lives.

The Egyptian hieroglyphs on the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS state clearly that Antinous answers the prayers of all who call upon him through dreams and visions, for example.

The hieroglyphs also make cryptic references to his ability to work magic through his heart. This is a reference to the Ancient Egyptian concept of the "Intelligence of the Heart."

The Egyptians knew that the brain is the center of motor activity and sensory perception. But they believed the heart is the center of a form of intelligence which has baffled most mainstream Egyptologists ... who assume the Egyptians believed the heart was where cognitive thinking occurs.

But the Egyptians had a very different view of the universe from our rational, scientific view of the universe. We dissect facts and analyze them. But while the Egyptians were very good at analyzing facts, they also retained the Zen-like ability to see the whole ... which leads to contemplation ... not analysis.

The Egyptians understood that if you want to find an intelligent solution to a problem, your brain can do the work. You have all the necessary intelligence inside the bone in your skull.

However, most people use their brains the same way they use their muscles. You can strain your head just as if it were a muscle, and work very hard trying to arrive at an answer, but it doesn't really work that way.

When you really want to find an answer to something, what you need to do is contemplate the problem. Visualize your question as well as you can, and then simply wait.

If you don't, and if you instead try to find the solution through brute mental strength, you may be disappointed, because any solution that comes in that way is likely to be wrong.

But when you have waited for a while, the solution will come of itself. That is what the Egyptians called the Intelligence of the Heart ... using your heart instead of your head.

It will work for you in the same way your stomach will digest your food for you without your having to supervise it consciously. Our attempts to supervise everything consciously have all led to consequences that aren't too good for our stomach, and the reason for that is quite simple.

Conscious attention, which employs words, cannot think of very much. We are forced, therefore, to ignore almost everything while we are thinking. We think along a single track, but the world doesn't proceed along a single track.

The world is everything happening altogether everywhere, and you just can't take all that into consideration because there isn't time.

However, the Intelligence of the Heart can take it all into consideration because it is capable of handling innumerable variables at once, even though your conscious attention cannot...

The hieroglyphs on the Obelisk of Antinous promise that Antinous the Gay God enables us to discover the Intelligence of the Heart ... the Intelligence of HIM ... he opens his heart to you .... 

DID ANTINOUS SEE THIS TEMPLE RENOVATED BY HADRIAN IN BRIGHT COLORS?

DID Antinous see this temple?

Archaeologists in Italy are amazed by the brilliant colors of frescoes which were reused in an ambitious renovation project by Emperor Hadrian during the time of Antinous.

"It's the first time that the ruins of a shrine painted with such a wide palette of colors in an incredibly well-preserved state ... and with such rich, elaborate decorations ... has been unearthed," said archaeologist Marco Giglio.

The discoveries were made a the ruins of a temple in Cupra Marittime, said Giglio, who is research project coordinator and a professor at the University of Naples L'Orientale.

"Once we have cleaned and analyzed all the 100 fragments found and pieced them together, we hope it will give us a complete picture of what the temple once looked like."

The Cupra temple, built at the start of the first century AD, was the spiritual hub of a strategically and commercially important city that helped the Romans control the Adriatic coast and its maritime trading routes. Excavation began in July and is being led by the University of Naples L'Orientale and Cupra Marittima's town council, which oversees the archaeological park where the old city's ruins are situated.

Unusually, the newly discovered wall paintings appear to have been created in the so-called Third Pompeian (or "ornamental") style typically used to decorate rich households in Pompeii and Rome, rather than religious structures, according to Giglio.

The ancient sanctuary is thought to have had a sky-blue ceiling, while the lower part of the temple's walls were painted yellow. Red, black and yellow squares were separated by images of candelabra and garlands, with green bands of color running horizontally along the walls.

"Recovering intact ancient wall paintings like these is very rare. Paint is hard to preserve across time due to humidity, and it's also very hard to dig out correctly during an excavation," said Ilaria Benetti, an archaeologist from Pisa and Livorno provinces' Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape in a phone interview.

"The incredible state of preservation and integrity of the frescoed parts, and the extremely rich color palette used -- particularly the bright sky-blue and pinkish-red -- stand out as quite exceptional when compared to the traditional red paint normally used in ancient times, thus suggesting it was a lavish shrine," added Benetti, who is a frescoes expert but was not directly involved in the excavation.

Giglio added: "The sky-blue color is very rare for ceilings, which leads us to believe it was meant to indicate the celestial vault and that the shrine was built to honor a goddess."

The temple underwent several radical changes after its foundation, making it harder for Gilgio's team to envision what it originally looked like.

In 127 AD, the Roman emperor Hadrian funded a complete overhaul of the shrine as he feared it might collapse due to structural damage caused by aging or natural disasters.

To reinforce the structure, Hadrian is thought to have had the painted walls chiseled off and covered in marble. This process pulverized the original colored sections but they were later used as a base for the new floors. "That's why the fragments recovered have been so well preserved, because their life was indeed short, roughly only a hundred years," said Giglio, noting that this detail supports the idea that Roman builders recycled materials.

Hadrian then added nine-meter high columns with ornate capitals, semi columns and lion-headed roof dripstones, some parts of which have now been found. He also built two brick arches that still flank the temple site.

According to Giglio, Hadrian's pagan masterpiece was later crushed to pieces starting from the 7th century. The marbles and columns were knocked down to be used as building materials, while at the end of the 19th century the temple walls were demolished to make room for a since-abandoned rural house that still looms over the shrine's ruins.

With just one fifth of the temple site excavated thus far, the archaeologist said his team has had "just a taste" of what's to come.

"Who knows what other decorations, patterns and elements could come to light?" he said. "It would be great that what we will unearth will lead to understand exactly how a construction site worked back in ancient Roman times."

JUAN GABRIEL IS A SAINT OF ANTINOUS GAY ICON TO MILLIONS IN MEXICO

WE honour Juan Gabriel, a superstar Mexican songwriter and singer who was an icon for millions of LGBT people in the Latin music world. He is a saint of Antinous.

Born 7 January 1950, he dropped dead 28 August 2016 at his home in California only hours after performing a standing-room-only crowd. He performed for two hours at the Los Angeles Forum on Friday, clad in one of his typical brightly colored outfits. In its review of the concert, Billboard called him "the ultimate showman." He was 66.

Juan Gabriel was Mexico's leading singer-songwriter and top-selling artist. 

His ballads about love and heartbreak and bouncy mariachi tunes became hymns throughout Latin America and Spain and with Spanish speakers in the United States.

He brought many adoring fans to tears as they sang along when he crooned his songs about love and heartbreak, including his top hits, "Hasta Que Te Conoci" ("Until I Met You") and "Amor Eterno" ("Eternal Love").

His hit "Querida" ("Dear") topped Mexico's charts for a whole year.

The adjectives "flamboyant" and "eccentric" followed him all his career, and he was imitated by drag queens in gay clubs throughout Mexico.

He skirted rumors of gayness his whole life. 

He liked to wear jackets covered in sequins or dress in shiny silk outfits in hot pink, turquoise blue or canary yellow, and he was known for tossing his head before dancing or jumping around the stage.

He was once famously asked by a television interviewer: "People look at you and say you are homosexual. What do you say?" His answer became part of his enduring myth.

"Lo que se ve no se pregunta," he answered … "Don't ask about something that is obvious."

Then Juan asked the interview what he saw when he looked at him.

The journalist said: "I see a singer before me, I see a winner" and Juan Gabriel replied: "That is the most important thing, because it is what you do that counts in life."

Juan started out as a waif ... having been sent to an orphanage after his father went insane with grief over the loss of Juan's mother and burned down their village and had to be carried off in a straitjacket.

Little Juan fled abuse at the orphanage by hiding in a rubbish bin and being transported to freedom in a garbage truck. 

Arriving in Juarez, he sang for tips and tricks in seedy clubs, where he caught the eye of a "talent scout" ... and the rest is showbiz history.

In 2015 artist Arturo Damasco painted a 40-square-meter mural of Juan Gabriel on a building in Juarez.

Juan Gabriel never married. According to The Associated Press, a former secretary of his, Joaquín Muñoz, claimed that the two men had a sexual relationship in a tell-all book, "Juan Gabriel and I." 

It confirmed what most fans already believed, but his fans were surprised when years later it became known that he had fathered four children with a friend, Laura Salas.

Juan Gabriel performed to packed auditoriums, including New York's Madison Square Garden and the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. 

A six-time Grammy nominee, Juan Gabriel was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and received countless industry awards.

He also garnered ASCAP Songwriter of the Year in 1995, Latin Recording Academy's Person of the Year 2009, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that same year.

The singer, who was born 7 January 1950, wrote his first song at age 13 and went on to compose more than 1,500 songs. He died 28 August 2016 at age 66 … a homeless orphan who came to be loved by millions.

THE PLOTINA MOON VIRGO NEW MOON

TONIGHT's Virgo New Moon is the lunar phase which, in Antinous Moon Magic, is called the PLOTINA MOON in honor of Emperor Trajan's wife, the Empress Plotina, who lobbied on Hadrian's behalf, ensuring he would be Trajan's successor.

Hadrian was a favorite of Plotina's and she did everything in her power to further his career and to position him to succeed her husband Trajan as emperor. Indeed, it is said that, upon Trajan's death, Plotina forged his signature on a will naming Hadrian as his successor.

It has been speculated that she and Hadrian were lovers, though his preference for males and their age difference (she was old enough to be his mother) may make that speculation seem a bit far-fetched.

Whatever the case, Plotina showered Hadrian with love, favors and the wealth of her insights into the machinations and workings of the inner coterie surrounding the Emperor.

Thanks to Plotina's tutelage, Hadrian was well-equipped to become emperor.

Each lunar phase represents a Divine Spirit or Archetype. The Spirit of the Plotina Moon is the Spirit of the Crone, the Wise Woman, the White Witch, the Great Mother Isis. She is a Spirit Guide.

She is not maternal like a mother, but instead she is more of a doting grandmother or great aunt. This Spirit has seen everything, been everywhere and experienced everything.

Life has few surprises left for this Spirit, and yet she marvels anew at each bright new day of discovery. There is always something yet to be discovered, some new secret to be unveiled, some riddle to be solved.

The Spirit of Plotina is ever seeking to reveal all and to share her vast grimoire of secret knowledge with her favorite protege.

The Virgo New Moon comes at the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere when crops have been harvested and leaves are beginning to fall and the heat of summer wanes. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is the New Moon signalling a time to put away winter clothes and plant for spring with the knowledge you have gained during the winter.

It is the same New Moon, and ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD gazes down on both hemispheres. The days are getting shorter and the days are getting longer. Yet, our Lunar Deity invites us to look beyond the calendar to seek the wisdom that the PLOTINA MOON has to offer us, wherever we live.

The key words for the PLOTINA MOON are: Wisdom. Experience. Magnanimity. Old Age. Wise Woman. Vast Intelligence.

This lunar phase represents deep inner wisdom that comes from the "school of hard knocks".

This is the wise old "curandera" (white witch) who needs no books or rituals because the magic is deep down inside her soul. She and the magic are one and the same.

On a superficial level, this lunar phase is a time to honor to an older person, an old gay wizard, for example, who is influential in your life. On a deeper level, it is inviting you to become better acquainted with the ancient "curandero" (gay wizard) in your soul.

IT'S SERPENTINE FOR THE PLOTINA MOON By Our Crystal Meditation Advisor Martin Campbell

OUR scintillating astrology expert Hernestus has advised me that this moon phase is the Virgo New Moon, the Plotina Moon in the Antinous faith. This moon puts us in mind of our grandmothers, older wise women or the Pagan 'Crone'. 

Many women display great wisdom - we have all met such women or grown up with them.

Trajan's wife, Empress Plotina, was a guiding force behind Hadrian as he waited in the wings to become Emperor. She was not so much a mother figure as a wise and forceful guide who put his feet on the path to lofty heights.

My maternal grandmother was the 'Plotina' in my life. She was worldly, strong, indomitable and totally understood me. 

When my Dad tried to get me to do 'manly things' it was she who took Dad aside and explained to him that I was a 'sensitive' boy who should not be troubled with such nonsense!! Blessed be to her in her next life.

Embrace your feminine aspects - they are part of you and help to balance your more driven masculine and sexual nature. 

Crystals, are of course, often perceived as a 'girl' thing. I am studying to be a crystal healer and have met very few men who study this art. 

As I work with my crystals I call in guidance from my spirit guides and angels. My angels are male but my guides are female. It is nice having the balance - I think I do better work having this approach.

For this moon I would recommend that you meditate holding or being with an image of the following crystals:

Howlite - these are typically greenish white but can be artificially coloured. They help prepare your mind to receive wisdom and insights. Women are often very patient and this is a crystal which helps to embody this in you.

Serpentine - these many coloured/colored crystals (top photo) help you to understand the spiritual aspects of your life and help you to receive or retrieve insights and great wisdom from various sources.

Ametrine - these lovely crystals are a natural blend of Amethyst and Citrine crystal. They help you to unite your feminine and masculine aspects to overcome prejudice and take control of your life - just like my late grandmother did for me!

In Light and Life,

MARTIN

To get more advice from Martin Campbell and to find out how to contact him CLICK HERE.

GERMAN SCIENTISTS ARE AFRAID TO DECANT THIS BOTTLE OF ANCIENT ROMAN RED WINE

SCIENTISTS in Germany would love to decant a bottle of Ancient Roman red wine which has been aging for more than 1,600 years ... but they are afraid to open the bottle.

The sealed glass bottle was found in a Roman tomb in 1867 and put on display at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in the western German city of Speyer.

Museum directors fear that a moment's carelessness could shatter the bottle, destroying its priceless content. Though scientists would like to test it to figure out exactly how old the wine is and where it comes from, as well as perhaps seeing how it tastes – cracking it open is out of the question. 

"It's not clear what would happen if air gets into the wine," said Ludger Tekampe, who heads the department responsible for storing it. 

There's also the danger that, after all this time, it could have become poisonous, although scientists suspect the alcohol would not be dangerous, but just taste disgusting.

In any event, the ultra-old wine has survived a lot, including ancient drinkers, handling on its way to the museum, and two world wars, with nary a problem. 

Tekampe said he hasn't observed any changes in the wine or its container in his 25 years at the museum, the bottle appears to have been carefully constructed by the Romans to prevent the wine from decomposing.

"The content is remarkably stable," Tekampe said. 

Still he's the only one who handles the bottle. Everyone else is just too afraid.

"I held the bottle in my hand twice during renovations. It was a strange feeling," Tekampe said.

NINE MILLION MUMMIFIED DOGS FOUND AT EGYPTIAN TEMPLE OF ANUBIS

AS Antinous and Hadrian journeyed up the Nile in September of 130 AD, they must have seen the mighty monuments at Memphis ... and the sprawling cliffside ANUBIEION, the mystery-shrouded Temple of the jackal-headed Egyptian deity Anubis at Saqqara south of modern Cairo.

But was Antinous aware that nine million dog mummies were entombed there?

The unique, terraced temple compound was built into the face of the cliffs overlooking the ancient Egyptian capital city of Memphis-Mennefer. Beyond the Anubieion lay the necropolis city of the dead. In front of it lay the teeming city nestled in the Nile Valley.

For decades, experts were unsure what purpose the Anubieion served. No where else in Egypt is there a temple dedicated solely to Anubis. Some temples to other deities had niche shrines to the jackal-headed deity who conveyed the souls of the dead to everlasting life.

But the discovery of myriads of mummified dogs in the Anubieion's catacombs makes it clear that the Anubieion was indeed a temple whose goal was to assist people in making the transition from earthly life to eternal life.

The dog mummies were sold to serve as "guide dogs" for souls of the departed.

As Christianity spread in Egypt, Anubis morphed into St. Christopher ... and many early Coptic images of Saint Christopher depict him with the head of a dog (image at left).

The discovery came during routine excavations at the dog catacomb in Saqqara necropolis by an excavation team led by Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo (AUC), and an international team of researchers led by Paul Nicholson of Cardiff University.

Initial inspection reveals that dogs of all breeds and ages were mummified, from newborn puppies to decrepit old dogs.

“We are recording the animal bones and the mummification techniques used to prepare the animals,” Ikram said.

Ikram also told National Geographic, which is financing the project, that "in some churches people light a candle, and their prayer is taken directly up to God in that smoke. In the same way, a mummified dog's spirit would carry a person's prayer to the afterlife".

Saqqara dog catacomb was first discovered in 1897 when well-known French Egyptologist Jacques De Morgan published his Carte of Memphite necropolis, with his map showing that there are two dog catacombs in the area.

However, mystery has overshadowed such mapping as it was not clear who was the first to discover the catacombs nor who carried out the mapping, and whether they were really for dogs.

"The proximity of the catacombs to the nearby temple of Anubis, the so called jackal or dog-headed deity associated with cemeteries and embalming, makes it likely that these catacombs are indeed for canines and their presence at Saqqara is to be explained by the concentration of other animal cuts at the site," Nicholson wrote on his website.

"These other cults include the burials of, and temples for, bulls, cows, baboons, ibises, hawks and cats all of which were thought to act as intermediaries between humans and their gods."

Despite the great quantity of animals buried in these catacombs and the immense size of the underground burial places, Egyptologists have focused on the temples and on inscriptional evidence rather than on the animals themselves.

The mysteries behind De Morgan's mapping were unsolved until 2009 when this team started concrete excavations at the cemetery in an attempt to learn more about the archaeological and history of the site.

"Results at the first season showed that De Morgan map has substantial inaccuracies and a new survey is under way," Nicholson said.

"The animal bones themselves have been sampled and preliminary results suggest that as well as actual dogs there may be other canids present. Furthermore the age profile of the animals is being examined so that patterns of mortality can be ascertained."

ASTRO FORECAST: AUG. 25th—SEPT. 4th, 2022

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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AUGUST 25th to SEPTEMBER 4th, 2022

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 25th, 2022

This week, Uranus the planet of revolutionary change stops dead in its tracks (as seen from Earth) and goes Retrograde (backwards) for the next five months. Even when going forward, Uranus shakes things up. When URANUS TURNS RETROGRADE it still shakes things up for us, but it starts to do so in a very pushy way. It pushes us to dig deep and really face the problems and the roadblocks that have impeded progress. It forces us to re-evaluate our values and our priorities.

If we've been turning a blind eye to a problem, Uranus retrograde will put that problem in our face, front and center, and make it impossible to ignore. If we've been too willing to settle and reluctant to venture from our comfort zones, Uranus will shake us out of it like you shake ants out of a picnic blanket.

Uranus sparks awakenings and inspires us to challenge what we accept as the norm, but when it goes retrograde it forces us to do so through an overhaul.

While Uranus is in retrograde, on a personal level, you may find Uranus forces you to re-evaluate your life — what you've accepted, what you've settled for, the choices you have made. If you've been mindlessly heading down the wrong path, Uranus retrograde gives you the proverbial slap in the face to bring you back to your senses — the kind of slap that stings, but for which you are grateful. After something happens, you may find yourself wondering, "what am I doing? Why am I doing this?" That's the planet's influence on you while in retrograde.

As a society, you'll find Uranus retrograde is when there is unrest and that brings attention to things we've let slide for far too long. More people begin to rethink the direction we've been taking, challenge convention and advocate for change.

You can really use Uranus retrograde to your advantage. It is an ideal time to reflect on your life. Examine your past in relation to your future, and if there is an "Aha!" moment to be had, Uranus retrograde can help you find it.

Have you fallen into bad patterns of thought or behavior? Have you trapped yourself in a lifestyle or job that hasn't really been working for you, but you stuck with it because it was easier than changing? Uranus retrograde is going to make you see what brought you to where you are, face your fears and take you out of your comfort zone, ultimately guiding you to the realization that there are better paths to take.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26th, 2022

Mercury leaves fastidious Virgo and wings its way into laid-back Libra. Depending on your own star sign, Libra Mercury may cause you some difficulty making decisions and getting work done and generally finding your way through the highways and byways of life. Libra Mercury gets a bad reputation for being lazy, indecisive, two-faced and a downright liar. But it's not true! Well, actually, it IS a bit true ... but also not true ... both true and not true at the same time.

And that is exactly how Libra Mercury sees everything ... they see both sides to every question ... they sees two people (or two nations) arguing and they see that both sides are partly right ... and both sides are also partly wrong.

Libra Mercury helps to give you a balanced view of the world. It enhances your skills at mediating a compromise which is beneficial to both sides ... and beneficial to you. Libra Mercury loves harmony and balance so much that it tries to please everybody. So you may find yourself tacitly agreeing with people on both sides of an argument. That infuriates both sides, of course, and both sides accuse you of being two-faced.

In fact, you may not have agreed with either side. You wanted to tell both sides to take a hike. You only nodded in tacit agreement just to shut them up and avert open conflict. The result is that you end up being caught in the middle ... a plight that Sun Sign Librans know all too well.

So the down side of Libra Mercury is that decision-making is more difficult. You look at a restaurant menu and it ALL looks so good that you can't make up your mind ... again, a plight that Sun Sign Librans know all too well.

But the up side of Libra Mercury is that you are open to new experiences ... you pick a menu item you have never eaten before ... and it turns out to be delicious. You are driving along your regular route home from work and suddenly turn off down another street you have never explored before ... and you discover places which turn out to be wonderful.

As for being lazy ... that is also partly false ... and yet also partly true. Libra Mercury is very industrious when it comes to something that is interesting, pleasant or lovely. So you may find yourself beavering away at some fabulous project with your mind and soul concentrated solely on that fab project.

Meanwhile, boring and tedious tasks fall by the wayside. You may conveniently "forget" to do things which are uninteresting to you. Mercury Libra is the artistic genius who creates the most exquisitely inspiring art ... and yet who lives in absolute squalor and filth. Art is intensely interesting to them ... but housekeeping is intensely boring, so they "forget" to do any house cleaning. Sun Sign Librans are experts at "forgetting" unpleasant or uninteresting things.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27th, 2022

This weekend, we come to the Virgo New Moon, which is the lunar phase in Antinous Moon Magic we call the PLOTINA MOON in honor of Emperor Trajan's wife, the Empress Plotina, who lobbied on Hadrian's behalf, ensuring he would be Hadrian's successor ... The Spirit of the Plotina Moon is the Spirit of the Crone, the Wise Woman, the White Witch, the Great Mother Isis ... But "she" is a Spirit Guide who transcends gender — she is the ancient gay wizard in your soul. This New Moon signals the beginning of the last third of the calendar year. It is time to start wrapping up your projects for this year ... and making good on those bold and ambitious New Year's Resolutions.

SUN-FRIDAY, AUGUST 28th-SEPTEMBER 2nd, 2022

This week, the Earth will shake (perhaps literally in the form of earthquakes) when the Sun and Venus are in dramatic configurations with Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. On the negative side, this means upheavals in personal relationships, in business transactions and in financial speculation. But let's stress the positive aspects. Things are volatile unless you are flexible and willing to learn hard lessons. You should look for guidance from an older person in financial and relationship issues. This is a time when maturity triumphs over youthful zeal. Sit back and heed the guidance of an old soul ... who can also be a spirit guide. And if you see a younger person blundering into a trap, this is the day to intercede and offer a wise word of advice based on personal experience. Heading into the weekend, the Sun squares off against 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.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd, 2022

This weekend, we come to the Sagittarius First Quarter Moon, which we call the EQUESTRIAN MOON in Antinous Moon Magic ... the Lunar Phase we associate with spiritual movement and progress, astral travel and astral projection ... On the material level, this Lunar Phase is excellent for making travel plans and for carrying out rituals for a safe journey with bountiful spiritual rewards ... or at least for washing that vehicle of yours.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th, 2022

Your ideas are larger than life Sunday with Mercury opposition Jupiter, and you see details as annoying and only there to slow you down. You need to be cautious about proceeding too quickly or over-expanding. This is a better day to evaluate your progress and make any adjustments that will make expansion easier. Other people may challenge your optimistic attitude, but their input is helpful in giving you a different perspective; watch responding in a self-righteous or arrogant manner. You may enjoy a brief trip today, which will be educational or enlightening.

SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:

Another exciting week lies ahead between September 5th and 11th, 2022, when we come to the Pisces Full Moon ... In heterosexual astrology, the Pisces Full Moon is just a moon of sensual spiritual energy. But in Antinous Gay Moon Magic, this is the HOMOTHEOSIS MOON ... the archetype of gay sexuality ... when your sexual dreams can come true ... This hot Full Moon tells you it may be time to take your relationship to a whole new level ... This lunar phase helps you to deepen your love relationships in meaningful ways, making constructive compromises which allow each partner freedom while strengthening the bonds which unite you both ... More details next time ....

RETROGRADE URANUS OFFERS YOU A NEW KICKSTART FOR BIG CHANGE

WHATEVER you expect for the coming five or six months ... forget it ... because the unexpected will happen! 

Uranus planet of revolutionary change is retrograde (moving backwards as seen from Earth) once every year ... for about half of the year. 

On the global level, this means revolutions, destruction, disaster, assassinations and wholly unexpected political change. 

On the personal level, you will be forced to reevaluate your life. Retrograde Uranus is the proverbial slap in the face to bring you back to your senses — the kind of slap that stings, but for which you are grateful.

You can really use Uranus retrograde to your advantage. It is an ideal time to reflect on your life. 

Examine your past in relation to your future, and if there is an "Aha!" moment to be had, Uranus retrograde can help you find it.

Have you fallen into bad patterns of thought or behavior? Have you trapped yourself in a lifestyle or job that has not really been working for you, but you stuck with it because it was easier than changing?

Uranus retrograde makes you see what brought you to where you are, face your fears and take you out of your comfort zone, ultimately guiding you to the realization that there are better paths to take.

ANTINOUS WORKS MIRACLES FOR YOU WHILE YOU DAYDREAM AT WORK

NEXT time you have a difficult problem to solve, and concentrating on it just isn't getting you anywhere, consider this: Maybe you're thinking too hard.

"Walk over to a window and think about the people or cars going by for a few minutes, until you get bored," suggests Josh Davis, research director at the New York Neuro-Leadership Institute. 

"Let your mind wander."

How will that help? "Always being 'on' blocks the brain processes that occur when we daydream," says Davis. 

His book, TWO AWESOME HOURS Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done, draws on new discoveries in brain science.

The idea is certainly not new. This enkoimesis (ἐγκοίμησις) "dream-incubation" was used in Abaton sleep chambers of Aesculapius temples where worshipers sought healing visions from the god to cure their ailments.

The Ancient Priests of Antinous knew that enkoimesis "dream-incubation" and zoning out, even for a few minutes, allows your brain to tackle tasks it can't handle when you're busy. 

They called it the medium for Antinous to work miracles in your life.

In ancient times, Antinous was known as a miracle worker. His worshipers prayed to him for miracles, oracles, visions and answers to problems in their daily lives.

The Egyptian hieroglyphs on the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS state clearly that Antinous answers the prayers of all who call upon him through dreams and visions, for example.

The hieroglyphs also make cryptic references to his ability to work magic through his heart. This is a reference to the Ancient Egyptian concept of the "Intelligence of the Heart."

The Egyptians knew that the brain is the center of motor activity and sensory perception. 

But they believed the heart is the center of a form of intelligence which has baffled most mainstream Egyptologists ... who assume the Egyptians believed the heart was where cognitive thinking occurs.

But the Egyptians had a very different view of the universe from our rational, scientific view of the universe. 

We dissect facts and analyze them. But while the Egyptians were very good at analyzing facts, they also retained the Zen-like ability to see the whole ... which leads to contemplation ... not analysis.

The Egyptians understood that if you want to find an intelligent solution to a problem, your brain can do the work. You have all the necessary intelligence inside the bone in your skull.

However, most people use their brains the same way they use their muscles. You can strain your head just as if it were a muscle, and work very hard trying to arrive at an answer, but it doesn't really work that way.

When you really want to find an answer to something, what you need to do is contemplate the problem. Visualize your question as well as you can, and then simply wait.

If you don't, and if you instead try to find the solution through brute mental strength, you may be disappointed, because any solution that comes in that way is likely to be wrong.

But when you have waited for a while, the solution will come of itself. That is what the Egyptians called the Intelligence of the Heart ... using your heart instead of your head.

It will work for you in the same way your stomach will digest your food for you without your having to supervise it consciously. Our attempts to supervise everything consciously have all led to consequences that aren't too good for our stomach, and the reason for that is quite simple.

Conscious attention, which employs words, cannot think of very much. We are forced, therefore, to ignore almost everything while we are thinking. We think along a single track, but the world doesn't proceed along a single track.

The world is everything happening altogether everywhere, and you just can't take all that into consideration because there isn't time.

However, the Intelligence of the Heart can take it all into consideration because it is capable of handling innumerable variables at once, even though your conscious attention cannot...

The hieroglyphs on the Obelisk of Antinous promise that Antinous the Gay God enables us to discover the Intelligence of the Heart ... the Intelligence of HIM ... he opens his heart to you ....

ANNOUNCING THE LARGEST GALLERYOF ANTINOUS IMAGES IN THE WORLD

WE are proud to announce the most extensive collection of Antinous images in the world!

Flamen Antonius Subia spent nearly two years assembling the GALLERY OF ANTINOUS ICONS. 

What initially was supposed to be one page of images became a massive library.

He says it turned out to entail "months of painful, agonizing, finger-crippling, endless catalogueing, and intricate photoshop enhancing and resizing of countless... countless. ..Antinous images!"

The endeavour proved to be not only a technical challenge but also something of a spiritual initiation.

Antonyus says, "I now feel that I am an expert in Antinous Iconography...as over the process, I have become deeply familiar with each and everyone of Antinous's wonderful, beautiful statues and busts and other images.

"I have to tell you that in the end...it has been the most meaningful, and intimate experience of getting to know Antinous on a level that I have never before felt.

"He is so astonishingly beautiful... I found myself treating each and every one of his images with particular, loving care and devotion.

"It's amazing...when you handle his beautiful image again and again...when you gaze upon him, and study him, and see example after example, they all seem to blur together until you are left with this cumulative impression of what he really must have looked like...like the sum total...as though I had layered translucent leaves of his face and body one over the other, each showing through to the next, cancelling out errors, cracks, chips, peculiarities, the hand of the artist, modern enhancements, slight differences...my own impression of what I always thought he looked like...all blurring together into a ghostly form of his true image...I see him now.

"But I am also deeply familiar with all the different variations...I know them all by name, location, origin, and bits of their history...I know the image of Antinous as I had never known it before."

Antonyus adds that the gallery is not complete and he has issued a call for readers to submit more images.

"My intent is to have the most complete collection of Antinous images in the world," he explains. "We are after all The Temple of Antinous, his modern religion. It is only right that we take his image into our possession and display his form for all to see....with reverance and piety...not as an object of art, or history, but as an object of worship."

WILLEM ARONDEUS SAINT OF ANTINOUS: 'HOMOSEXUALS ARE NOT COWARDS'

WE honor Willem Arondeus (22 August 1894 – 1 July 1943) as a saint of Antinous for his courage in standing up against hatred, intolerance and bigotry.

He was a Dutch gay non-Jewish artist and writer who led a group in bombing the Amsterdam Public Records Office in order to hinder the Nazi round-up of Jews, was executed with 12 others by firing squad.

He had started life as an illustrator, designer of posters and tapestries and a painter. In 1923 he was commissioned to paint a large mural for Rotterdam City Hall. During that same period, he illustrated poems by J. H. Leopold, Pieter Cornelis Boutens and Martinus Nijhoff. He admired the older Dutch designer Richard Roland Holst, as can be seen in his work. He did not attain much fame and lived in impoverished circumstances.

Around 1935, he gave up visual arts and became an author. The poems and stories he had written in the 1920s went unpublished, but in the year 1938 he published two novels, Het Uilenhuis ('The Owls House') and In de bloeiende Ramenas ('In the Blossoming Winter Radish'), both illustrated with designs by Arondeus himself. 

The year 1939 saw the publication of his best work, Matthijs Maris: de tragiek van den droom ('The Tragedy of the Dream'), a biography of the painter Matthijs Maris, who was a brother of the Dutch artists Jacob and Willem Maris. 

Two years later, Figuren en problemen der monumentale schilderkunst in Nederland ('Figures and Problems of Monumental Painting in the Netherlands') was published, again with designs by the author. 

At that time in 1941, however, Arondeus was already involved with the Dutch resistance movement.

In the spring of 1941, Arondeus started an underground periodical in which he tried to incite his fellow artists to resist the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Earlier than others, Arondeus realized that the demand by the Nazi occupiers that all Jews register with the local authorities was not, as the Nazis claimed, for their own safety, but rather so they could be deported to the Westerbork concentration camp and from there to the death camps in occupied Poland. 

In the spring of 1942, Arondeus founded Brandarisbrief, an illegal periodical in which he expressed the artist’s opposition to the edicts imposed by the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture); the Nazis' cultural committee. 

In 1943, Brandarisbrief merged with De Vrije Kunstenaar ("The Free Artist"), where sculptor Gerrit van der Veen was one of the editors. Together with composer Jan van Gilse; openly lesbian publisher and writer Tine van Klooster and her partner, publisher Koos Schregardus; sculptor Frits van Hall and his sister, dancer Suzy van Hall; and a number of other artists and intellectuals, the group called for mass resistance against the German occupation.

A concerted operation was underway to hide Jews among the local population, with various underground organizations preparing forged documents for Jews. 

Arondeus was a member of one such group, Raad van Verzet (Resistance Council), which also included openly lesbian cellist and conductor Frieda Belinfante and typographer Willem Sandberg, who was then curator at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum. 

Within a short while, the Nazis began to expose the false documents by comparing the names with those in the local population registry. 

To hinder the Nazis, on 27 March 1943, Arondeus led a group in bombing the Amsterdam Public Records Office. Thousands of files were destroyed, and the attempt to compare forged documents with the registry was hindered.

Within a week, Arondeus and the other members of the group were arrested. Twelve, including Arondeus, were executed that July by firing squad.

In his last message before his execution, Arondeus, who had lived openly as a gay man before the war, told his lawyer these words, traditionally translated thusly: "Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards!"

The Dutch original quote is "Zeg de mensen dat homoseksuelen niet per definitie zwakkelingen zijn!" ... literally: "Show people that homosexuals are not by definition wimps!"

THE HISTORY OF THE ROSY LOTUS OF ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

 

When Emperor Hadrian visited Alexandria,
the poet Pancrates presented him
with a beautiful lotus flower.

Awestruck by the magnificent rosy-red petals,
Hadrian agreed to name the flower
after his beloved Antinous.

Drawings by Uendi

Beautiful CG Art by Antonius Subia

Music by Kevin MacLeod

For more info: THE TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS

HERE ARE THE WINNERS OF THE 5th MODERN GAMES OF ANTINOUS

It is with great joy that we,

The Priesthood of the Temple of Antinous

Announce the winners of

The 4th Antinous Sacred Games!

FIRST PLACE CHAMPION

Poetic Essays by Ramon Martinez

"Maricones D Antaño"

(CLICK HERE)

SECOND PLACE

DAVID M. KOHLMEIER

"Antinous Fragments"

(CLICK HERE)

THIRD PLACE

Multiple Illustrations, Sculpture, Jewelry

By Robert Sekulovich

HONORABLE MENTION

"Across Rivers Of Time"

Art by Gwailome

HONORABLE MENTION

Dr. Ben Gazur article on Antinous

(CLICK HERE)

HONORABLE MENTION

"Antinoi Mors" (Death of Antinous)

by Milan Kovačević

The Winners will receive the following prizes

1st Place Champion $700
And the tripod incense brazier

2nd Place winner will receive $300
3rd Place winner will receive $200

Games Past Entries can be viewed HERE.

In all this time there were 14 entrants. 

Some entrants submitted multiple pieces,

But these were judged together as one entry.

Winners were selected by a panel of judges

And their decision was announced

During online Zoom ceremonies
Originating from the Hollywood Temple of Antinous.

May Antinous bless all those

Who participated in His Sacred Games!

AVE ANTINOUS!