A Temple Wild Podcast
Dionysos and the Vines
Today, we encounter Dionysos through the lens of his most sacred plants, the Vines — specifically the Ivy, Grape, and Rough Bindweed. We also talk about wine, entheogens, and consciousness-altering brews of the ancient Greek world; the Maenads who danced into ecstatic union; as well as some of the places, mountains, and other herbs sacred to the god of divine madness.
Daphne and Apollo
In this episode we discuss the myth of Daphne and Apollo. Daphne, whose name actually means Bay Laurel in Greek (Δάφνη), was a nymph of ancient Greece who, while running from Apollo’s advances, was transformed into a sacred tree of prophecy and ritual cleansing. In one story, she is the beautiful daughter of the River Peneos in Thessaly, and in another version she belongs to the River Ladon in the Peloponnese. But it is her connection to Mount Parnassos and the oracular Bee nymphs which is to me the most interesting, as it links her quite intimately, as we will see, with the Pythia — that ancient Oracle of Delphi.