'TOTALITER ALITER' THE TALE OF THE TWO PRIESTS OF ANTINOUS

(From THE MEMOIRS OF AN ANCIENT PRIEST OF ANTINOUS by Ernest Gill)

TWO PRIESTS  of Antinous at the Temple of the Blessed Boy in Rome had devoted their lives to the Good God and were getting on in years.

As young men they had become priests together. Their love for each other was symbolized and enhanced by their love for Antinous. They had lived out their lives together at the great Temple of Rome under the most exalted Priest Nikias.

Nikias of Rome was the author of a famous inscription in Greek which addresses Antinous as NEOS HERMES the "New Hermes" who conveys the deceased through the portals of death into transcendent light. A great Antinoo-Hermeticist, Nikias had taught them much about the triumph of Antinous over death.

And now, as toothless old men, they were approaching the final stage of their earthly priesthood. Both men were frail and ill. They knew death was imminent.

But they were unafraid, for they were confident that they would be re-united in death through the grace and love of the Most Great and Good God whom they had served so faithfully all their lives.

But how exactly would that re-union occur? The ancient texts spoke of the Barque of Millions of Years sailing across the heavens towards the Star of Antinous. But that was the Egyptian imagery, and these priests were both Romans and had only ever served in the Antinous Temple of Rome.

The Rome Temple would of course place their death masks in niches in a special area of the temple dedicated to former priests.

Incense and prayers would be offered to them. Would their shades inhabit those niches?

Would Antinous welcome them in Hades, despite the fact that Antinous the Boy God had come from Bithynia in Asia Minor?

Would their souls be reincarnated as some Eastern mystics believed? Would they hover between heaven and Earth or perhaps be consigned to spending part of the year in the underworld and part of it as lemurs roaming the Earth?

They weren't afraid. But they were exceedingly curious to find out. Confidentially, they believed amongst themselves that they would sail with Antinous aboard the Boat of Millions of Years —  a perpetual journey which would never end. But they weren't sure ....

They had spent years perfecting their meditation skills and, without false modesty, they could claim to be masters at the art of trance vision travel. They both knew that the Egyptian hieroglyphs had told the truth in promising that Antinous speaks through dreams and visions. They also knew how to send psychic messages to each other, and had done so on many occasions.

So they made a deal. He who was the first to die would appear to the other in a dream and reveal what the afterlife was like.

As accomplished as they were, they nonetheless knew that such astral communication must be as succinct and simple as possible.

So they agreed that, if the afterlife was as they had envisioned it, the deceased would appear to his friend and utter the word TALITER meaning "exactly so" as they had expected it to be.

And if it was not as they had imagined, the deceased would say ALITER meaning "different" from what they had expected.

The fateful day came not long afterward, and the surviving priest lit incense and recited prayers before the niche mask of his beloved friend and fellow priest.

That night, almost immediately after his head touched his pillow, his deceased friend appeared to him. He was no longer old and sick and frail. He was as young and handsome as the day they had entered the temple. And he was smiling and clearly very excited and seemed to have forgotten the agreed-upon words.

"Taliter or aliter, which is it?" the sleeping priest asked his departed friend.

The friend smiled bigger than ever and said: TOTALITER ALITER — "totally different" — and still beaming with joy, he turned and vanished into golden light.

DAVID BOWIE SAINT OF ANTINOUS

WE honour David Bowie as a SAINT OF ANTINOUS.

He was born 8th January 1947 and died of cancer 10th January 2016 ... having revolutionized Western popular culture.

When homosexuality was still considered a shameful secret to many, Bowie told the world he was gay, and music ... and the lives of many of his fans and followers ... would never be the same.

"I'm gay," declared David Bowie, "and always have been, even when I was David Jones."

When he uttered these now-immortal words in the Jan. 22, 1972, issue of England's Melody Maker, the fledgling starman had just released December 1971's Hunky Dory and already was giving his interviewer a taste of his glam-rock milestone, June 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. 

The British Parliament had only decriminalized homosexuality in 1967 ... post-­Stonewall U.S. gay life was not yet three years old.

He wasn't the first British pop singer to come out (that was Dusty Springfield in 1970); he did it while newly married to Angie Bowie, months after fathering future film ­director Duncan Jones.

But Bowie led the way in contextualizing pop through LGBT identity. The Hunky Dory song "Queen Bitch" is sung in gay vernacular ("She's so swishy in her satin and tat!") from the perspective of a participant in gay life and set to buzzing guitar chords clearly cribbed from The Velvet Underground, which earlier chronicled this gender-mutable world through its ties to Andy Warhol, who had a Hunky Dory tune written about him too.

That same year, Bowie scored a U.K. hit with "John, I'm Only Dancing," a wham-bam of pansexual knowingness considered too outre for U.S. release until hisChangesOneBowie collection in 1976.

That was when Cameron Crowe prodded Bowie to tell Playboy, "It's true ... I am a bisexual. But I can't deny that I've used that fact very well."

By then, Bowie's glam had transformed Elton John from stern balladeer to Technicolor rocker; gave ex-Velvets leader Lou Reed his first smash (the Bowie-produced account of Warhol's stupendously queer Factory, "Walk on the Wild Side"); shook U.K. pop out of its post-Beatles doldrums through glam-rockers Sweet, Slade, T. Rex and so many others; and shaped Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman's final signings before handing the reins to David Geffen: Those were Jobriath, an even more whimsical dandy, and Queen.

And through his R&B radio ­success with "Young Americans" and "Fame," Bowie bolstered disco's early link between clandestine gay dance halls and ­defiantly upscale soul. 

He used his outsider stance not simply to be breathtaking; he also built bridges. You can bet his sartorial influence on the cross-dressing New York Dolls and sponsorship of both Mott the Hoople (he wrote and produced "All the Young Dudes") and Iggy Pop similarly paved a path for what became punk.

And when he went electronic in the late '70s, he begat Gary Numan, The Human League and the New Romantic club scene of Culture Club and Duran Duran.

Suddenly, England's New Wave was awash with baby Bowies both male (Spandau Ballet) and female (Eurythmics' Annie Lennox) that filled the first playlists of MTV.

Even disco's Grace Jones fully ­actualized her ­freakiness when she covered the Bowie/Pop tune "Nightclubbing," which set a stage for today's art-pop transgressions of Lady Gaga and Janelle Monáe.

"I loved how he challenged people about how gender was represented," says Adam Lambert of Bowie's beyond-music contributions.

Married to Iman, a Somali-American, since 1992, Bowie let unconventionally matched and gendered ­heteros know their nonconformity would be cool too. They could all be heroes, each and every day.

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.

ASTRO FORECAST: JANUARY 6th—16th, 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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JANUARY 6th to 16th, 2022

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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.

SUN-MONDAY, JANUARY 9th-10th, 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.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11th, 2022

The second week of the New Year 2022 is a time of reflection when the Sun forms a dreamy sextile aspect to intuitive Neptune, inviting you to reflect introspectively about how this year is going so far, and to start dreaming about how the rest of the year may turn out. This is the perfect evening for oracle games, scrying, dream-scaping and fortune-telling.

WED-FRIDAY, JANUARY 12th to 14th, 2022

This week, we come to one of the most anxiously tense times of the year and the hazard lights start flashing when eager Sagittarius Mars squares off against nebulous Pisces Neptune. Imagine yourself barreling down a freeway at high speed ... and suddenly being enveloped in a fog bank which cuts visibility to zero. If you don't reduce speed immediately, you are bound for disaster. Sagittarius Mars is the fast sports car thundering down the highway ... and Pisces Neptune is the fog bank ... and you are in the driver's seat. This astrological configuration spells trouble for people who proceed full speed through life without any regard to their surroundings. They will come a cropper this week. However, this Mars-Neptune Square configuration is excellent for people who have latent intuitive, artistic or spiritual talents ... like Antinous-Dionysus. Mars invigorates and enlivens these talents. So the answer is: Proceed with caution, but keep your eyes open for brilliant new opportunities and insights which otherwise would have flashed past you unseen at high speed.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15th, 2022

This week, Mercury does an about-face and goes "backwards" as seen from Earth until February 3rd. 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!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16th, 2022

This weekend, the LGBT spiritual revolution gets a big boost when the Sun is in conjunction with Pluto and both are aligned with the star of Antinous in the sign of Capricorn ... sending transformative healing energies that can radically alter gay spirituality for centuries to come. Pluto takes more than 250 years to orbit the Sun. To give you some perspective, the last time Pluto was in Capricorn was in the late 18th Century ... the dawning of the Age of Reason and the revolutions in France and America. This time around, Capricorn Pluto is once again revolutionizing global political and economic structures along with belief systems. This is an opportunity for LGBT advancement that will not come again in our lifetimes. Seize the opportunity for transformational healing to prepare you for the world that will exist when Pluto leaves Capricorn and enters Aquarius ... in 2023. More on how Capricorn Pluto and the Star of Antinous can change your life: PLUTO ALIGNS WITH THE STAR OF ANTINOUS.

SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:

Another exciting week lies ahead between January 17th to 23rd, 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 ....

WE TOAST ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD DURING THE MINOR BACCHANALIA

ON January 6th we celebrate the Minor Bacchanalia.

The lesser Festival of Dionysus is celebrated when the wine has reached fermentation. Traditionally a secret ceremony limited to women, but opened to men during Roman times.

It is the season in which Dionysus rules at Delphi and at Eleusis, though the full ceremonies of the Minor Bacchanalia were only performed once every two years.

Mythologically this is the occasion when the Titans lure and capture the child Dionysus, charming him with a mirror and toys. The Titans murder him, rend his limbs from his body and eat his flesh.

This is the first Wine festival and triumphal procession of the entourage of Dionysus whose arrival signals the Victory of Antinous over the forces of life and death as represented by the Archons.

ANTINOUS IS A GOD OF HEALING By Our Priest Adriaan van den Berg

Antinous heals! For centuries the ancient believers of Antinous petitioned their God for good health and for Antinous to heal them.

Antinous knows these calls, these petitions and requests, these most dire and desperate pleas, he is familiar with the circumstances and conditions of sickness, he understands the suffering and he intervenes.

His healing power, according to the Obelisk of Antinous in Rome, is expressed through dreams, but he is also a god of the miraculous... Not the cheap trick variety, but of the interventionist kind. 

Yes, Antinous can instantly and immediately cure you from what afflicts you. You just have to ask! A simple prayer to Antinous, as if you were conversing with him, is all it would take. Ask him to heal you. 

Our God is a God of Healing and he will listen to those calling upon him. If you fear the Covid virus, take all precautions, but ask Antinous' to free you of all fear and apprehension, he will give you peace.

Antinous is a friend above all, an intimate and sincere friend to all who profess friendship with him. Again, profess your friendship through prayers to him, and you will be blessed with a companion too.

Ave Antinous!
Adriaan van den Berg
Priest of Antinous

ANTINOUS CAN HELP YOU TO MEDITATE By Our Priest Adriaan van den Berg

AS a new year brings new resolutions, let us take a look at HOMTHEOSIS as a Meditative Concept.

I don't have scientific proof, but if I'm right, this little word we have been casting about may possibly as a regular meditative practice stimulate the immune system, elevate mood, foster psychological integration, counter stress and improve the health of practitioners over time as well as in certain immediate regards. 

"Homotheosis" refers to a certain oneness of a gay man with the god Antinous who we regard as the "Gay God." 

As a concept it is to a certain inherent extend also a reference to a practice which can combine elements of meditation, prayer and veneration and devotions to Antinous to arrive at a unique experience that is transcendental. 

It is up to you to incorporate and integrate it's elements to your liking, to for instance invite Antinous into your existing regimen of meditational practices. 

"Homotheosis" is a concept with potential we have but begun to explore. Gay men & LGBTGQI people as well as straight all stand to benefit from the acquaintance with Antinous offered by Homotheosis. 

Let us know of your personal experiences in this regard.

Ave Antinous!
Adriaan van den Berg
Priest of Antinous