Sunday, August 24, 2025
Saturday, August 23, 2025
THE HISTORY OF THE ROSY LOTUS
OF ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD
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 Julien
Beautiful CG Art by Antonius Subia
Music by Kevin MacLeod
For more info: THE TEMPLE OF ANTINOUS
Friday, August 22, 2025
THE PLOTINA MOON
VIRGO NEW 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
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,
WILLEM ARONDEUS SAINT OF ANTINOUS:
'HOMOSEXUALS ARE NOT COWARDS'
'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!"
Thursday, August 21, 2025
ASTRO FORECAST: AUGUST 21st—31st, 2025
Antinous is a Moon God. He is, of course, many other things and he wears many hats. But one of the ways he was worshiped in Antiquity was as ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD.
His worshipers looked skyward and saw His beautiful face perpetually turned towards the Earth. The Man in the Moon was actually the Blessed Boy in the Moon for the ancient priests and worshipers of Antinous. Swiftest and most youthful of all the Zodiacal deities, Antinous speeds through an entire year's worth of Astrological signs in just 28 days.
ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD represents our deepest personal needs, our basic habits and reactions, and our unconscious gay selves. Where Hadrian the Sun acts, Antinous the Moon REACTS. How do we instinctively react or respond to problems? What do we feel we need for a sense of security? Look to ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD for answers.
ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD is both our inner boy child and our inner lover. His ever changing phases, as he sweeps past all the other Planets in all the Signs, make us at turns responsive, receptive, and reflective. Eternally youthful, ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD represents our childlike spontaneous and instinctual reactions.
ANTINOUS THE MOON GOD beams down on us to make us imaginative, creative, intuitive, sentimental, adaptable, introspective, and protective. On the negative side, and depending on where he is in the Zodiac, he can make us moody, restless, and irrational.
AUGUST 21st to 31st, 2025
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21st, 2025
Do you have a broken heart? Or a health worry? Healing energies get a sudden and dramatic boost this week when Chiron the Healer comes galloping to the rescue to form a beneficent trine with the Sun ... the heavenly body which iis so important that this positive aspect to CHIRON IN ARIES will unleash powerful energies that will last for weeks ... This is a good time for medical checkups and treatment ... also, you can expect a positive and expansive outlook which can benefit your well-being at this time. You may be more open-minded with regard to experiencing new things, which will allow healing of your mind, body, and spirit.
FRI-SATURDAY, AUGUST 22nd-23rd, 2025
Overnight Friday-Saturday, 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. This night is when we celebrate our gay brothers.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 24th, 2025
This weekend, the Sun and Uranus are in a 90-degree square aspect to each other. This aspect creates unreliability and betrayal amongst friends, allies and coworkers. Stress and rancor and lots of rage and unrest are the result.
MONDAY, AUGUST 25th, 2025
This week, the planet of love, leaves down-home Cancer and struts into show-off Leo, where she remains for a month. This is a chance to put on high heels and strut your stuff and make yourself attractive to others so your popularity soars. When you look good, you feel good so treat yourself to a new outfit or a facial or a haircut or any other pampering session that boosts your self esteem. Old-school astrology texts like to call Leo a Drama Queen. They like to paint planets in the sign of Leo as people with superiority complexes. This happens occasionally, but mostly it doesn't. Leo is the sign of Royalty, and royalty, the kind that stays in power, doesn't lord over others. True royalty is generous, humane and often quietly dignified. Venus in Leo gives you the expressive dignity of a Queen or King, you have creative dominion over an artistic field… and the hearts of others.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26th, 2025
In ancient times Antinous was famous for love spells and you can see for yourself this week when love goddess Venus forms powerful configurations with the outer planets Saturn and Neptune. First, Venus forms trine aspects with Saturn and Neptune, which are aligned in conjunction with each other. Venus trine Neptune means you see the world through rose-colored glasses. This is a good day for smooth-talking gigolos who pay fanciful compliments to you — and you find yourself actually believing them ... And why not? Is that such a bad thing? Why not enjoy the fantasy as long as it lasts ... and as long as you know it's a fantasy? On the positive side, Venus trine Saturn helps you perceive whom you can trust for the long run and it helps you remember that business can be a pleasure.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27th, 2025
This week, Venus forms a sexy sextile with impetuous Uranus. You may meet a stranger who ordinarily would not be your type ... but who certainly appeals to you.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28th, 2025
This week the Earth may shake for you when Venus moves into opposition with Pluto. Venus opposition Pluto is something that happens only once a year. There is equally the possibility of making a profound commitment at this time, particularly in a sexual relationship. Power struggles are also possible in this phase. Venus opposition to Pluto can also literally cause the Earth to shake ... in the form of earthquakes. There is equally the possibility of making a profound commitment at this time, particularly in a sexual relationship. Power struggles are also possible in this phase. Venus opposition to Pluto can also literally cause the Earth to shake ... in the form of earthquakes.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29th, 2025
Be prepared for quirky surprises and uncanny coincidences on Friday impetuous and unpredictable Uranus forms a rare sextile aspect to dreamy and mystical Neptune.
SAT-SUNDAY, AUGUST 30th-31st, 2025
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.
SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK:
Another exciting week lies ahead between September 1st and 7th, 2025, 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 ....
THE SACRED LION HUNT
ON the 21st of August, with the Sun in the final degrees of Leo the Lion, we commemorate the Sacred Lion Hunt ... when Hadrian and Antinous slew a man-eating lion in Egypt in August 130 AD.
Priests of Antinous celebrate the event in with ritual ceremonies at the Hollywood Temple of Antinous which also see worshipers participating live online from North and South America, Europe and Africa.
During the special ceremonies they also honor the Sacred Rosy Lotus of Antinous ... the pink waterlily said to have sprung forth spontaneously from the lion's blood as it splattered the banks of the Nile.
Flamen Antonius Subia relates in vivid detail the events of the Sacred Lion Hunt: The place is Egypt, somewhere in the rocky wilderness between the scattered oases southeast of Alexandria.
The time is August of the Year 130 AD. The Sun is poised to enter the Sign of Leo. The Constellation of Aquila the Eagle is at its zenith in the nighttime sky ... just as it is now.
It is the constellation of the Emperor. And the Emperor and his Beloved are touring Egypt when they hear grisly accounts of a man-eating lion marauding the countryside on the edge of the cultivated land. The "Marousian Lion" it was called.
They lead a hunting expedition out into the wilderness. The whole expedition is rife with symbolism from the start since the Sun is in Leo in the daytime skies and the Eagle is soaring in the nighttime skies and the Ancients believed killing lions was tantamount to defeating death itself. Lion hunting was the sport of kings.
As the Imperial retinue looks on in horror, the snarling lion charges toward the boy, causing his panicked horse to whinny and wheel about in terror. But Antinous maintains his balance and, instantly judging distance and angle, sends his lance sailing towards the lion as it quickly closed the gap between them.
The lance slams into its rear flank, inflicting a serious but not fatal wound. Enraged even more, the lion uses its fangs to pull out the lance and charges anew against the Boy who is fumbling with his quiver to ready a shot with his bow. But an arrow is already in the air from behind Antinous, and it whizzes past his ear and hit its mark in the throat of the lion.
The lion spins about and collapses writhing in the dust, rage in its eyes, blood and saliva guttering from its fanged mouth, gasping for breath as it struggles to get to its feet — because Antinous has dismounted and is sprinting toward it with a drawn dagger.
Hadrian draws his steed to a halt and dismounts with an agility and lightness befitting a man half his age, fueled by adrenaline and alarm for his Beloved Boy, who faces imminent peril from the mortally wounded lion, still capable of severing an artery with one swipe of its mighty paw.
Hadrian draws his hunting axe from his belt and holds it high as he lunges onto the lion's back and dispatches the beast with one powerful blow which splits its skull in two with a frightening crack and a spurt of bright red blood which bathes both the older man, now panting and perspiring heavily, and the younger man who still shows no visible expression of concern, just a wild-eyed look of excitement in his eyes, as if he never realized the danger he had been in — as if he thinks he is immortal.
A cheer goes up from the coterie of onlookers when they realize the lion is dead, killed seemingly by a single blow from the Emperor's hand. Courtiers whose eyes are unskilled in the ways of hunting will later claim Hadrian had struck the lion dead with a club.
As soldiers and nervous bodyguards rush forward to make sure everything is all right, the emperor, his adrenalin-strength ebbing as quickly as it came, shakily wraps a blood-spattered arm around Antinous and plants his gilded, spike-soled sandal on the dead animal's neck and nods to Antinous to do the same.
There they stand, bathed in blood and bathed in the adulation of the Imperial coterie, each with one foot on the vanquished man-eater as the animal's blood spreads out and covers the surrounding rocks and sand and a few scrubby wildflowers growing from a crevice in a rock.
Even the flowers are splattered with blood. And these red blossoms will be plucked by members of the entourage to take back as souvenirs to show to envious courtiers who had not been invited along.
Soon legend would have it that scarlet-red lotus blossoms had sprung forth from the pool of the lion's blood, the lion which had been brought down by Antinous and which had been dealt its death blow by Hadrian — the SACRED RED LOTUS.
Under the Sign of Leo. And under the Constellation of the Eagle.
Within a few short weeks, Antinous himself would be dead. The Sacred Lion Hunt is the last recorded event in His short life.
And some time afterward, grieving Hadrian would look up into the nighttime skies with tear-filled eyes and his court astronomers would point out a New Star which had appeared in the southern part of the Constellation of Aquila the Eagle.
If you go outside tonight and peer out into the darkness with all its deep and hidden dangers, remember Antinous and how he peered out into the barren wilderness with all its deep and hidden dangers.
He charged forth, his bridle-reins in his left hand and an adamantine-tipped lance in his right, and he faced death unafraid.
For Antinous knew he was immortal.
The Constellation of Antinous, still under the wing of the Imperial Eagle, will be right directly over your head tonight ... shining proof that Antinous is a God and that he is indeed immortal.
Don't look out into the darkness around you and be afraid. Instead, look up and remember the Beloved Boy, who was a fearless hunter, who stalked death itself, and who emerged victorious over it.
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