The Rough Bindweed (also known as Smilax) is a perennial evergreen vine sacred to Dionysos with spines on the stem and bright red berries growing in grape-like clusters. The myth of the problematic love between Smilax and Crocus serves to remind us of the wisdom of not trying to force incompatible bonding. Invite Rough Bindweed into your ceremonies to reestablish boundaries, especially after ecstatic union and joyful communion.

The Ivy is a hardy, evergreen, perennial vine with dark green leaves, greenish-yellow flowers in autumn, and purple-black berries in winter. Sacred to the god Dionysos, the Ivy features in nearly all iconography of the god and his retinue. Worn as crowns, wrapped around the thyrsus, and possibly even consumed by the Maenads in celebration of the Dionysiac Mysteries, the Ivy teaches ecstatic release and abandon. In the hands of the Maenads, the Ivy encourages the abandonment of social convention, the leaving behind of “sane” behavior, and the expansion of what we would consider reality.

Like most vines, the Grape is sacred to Dionysos who, among many things, is the god of revelry and credited with bringing wine cultivation to the Greeks. Joyful in its essence, the Grape is a vine of merriment, celebration, and communion. The Grape is also a teacher of fertility, lack of inhibition, and the divine union that results from the dissolving of boundaries.