#bustedkeaton

[incorrectfahc]

@bustedkeaton both are gemini!

[utterlypure]

Is the Minoan Snake Goddess Ariadne?

In the sense that she originates in Minoan religion, and that she is associated with the serpentine, yes.

However, the idea of the “Minoan Snake Goddess” as a discrete attested figure is on rather shaky historical ground, since it’s widely accepted by modern scholars that the famous sculptures that gave rise to the image were reconstituted from fragments in a way that doesn’t match up to any other known Minoan iconography.

A lot of the perception of Minoan religion in the early through late twentieth century was essentially born out of romanticized, somewhat politically motivated ideas constructed by Sir Arthur Evans and those who followed his work. These don’t actually turn out to have a lot of basis in what little we can glean from the historical record.

While it’s clear that snakes are associated with maenads and “the Dionysian current,” it’s much less clear whether they played any significant role in the earlier Minoan religion. I tend to believe they had some symbolic role, based on the strong presence of the serpentine in later myth and imagery associated with Dionysos (and also Persephone), as well as on the symbolic presence of cobras in relation to Egyptian goddesses, since ancient Egyptian religion most likely influenced Crete (I will talk more about the possible relationship of Hathor and Isis to Ariadne later). But I don’t think we can easily speak of “the Minoan Snake Goddess” as a historical entity. One source that goes into this is this paper, but trawling through the Minoan sections of Academia.edu will turn up plenty more.

As such, rather than try to link Ariadne to this figure to make a point about her association with snakes, I would prefer to discuss the recurring serpentine motifs in maenadic imagery and archaic Greek myths of underworld deities.

[utterlypure]

I read that in Kerala, India, they have a ritual where the worshippers (the articles i saw said they worship snakes in general and its a fertility/family blessing ritual) make a mural (kalam) or mandala of entwined cobras (very labyrinthine) on the ground, decorate it, sing, and play devotional music. They assign two or more girls to sit on the kalam and they go into an ecstatic movement/dance frenzy. Isnt that awesome??? It reminds me of Ariadne and so many of the European snake myths ive read

Indian folklore and ritual is not my area of expertise, but some cursory investigation tells me you’re talking about something called Sarpam Thullal. I can’t find a lot of information on it in English, but here’s one account. 

I tend not to range as far afield as India in looking for motifs and mythemes associated with Ariadne, because once I got started on collecting all the serpent, bull, and labyrinth associations from across the world, I’d never stop. But this does look like an interesting example of the human fascination with snakes and their association with ecstatic ritual.

[sunshine-captain]

bustedkeaton replied to your photoset “Also, two most recent additions to my Star Trek collection. The...”

Tell us how the newspaper comics are I'm curious to get it myself

I certainly will when I get around to reading it!!! I have a bunch of books from the library to get through first, but I’ll post about the comics when I read em!

I will note the book is very nice, it has a lil bookmark ribbon, and nice thick paper. So. Just for what that’s worth, haha!

[horrormonitor]

bustedkeaton replied to your post: every post abt the urbz on this site is like 10...

Ohhh shit i played that on xbox for hourssss

i was fucking OBSESSED with that game for yeeeeears...like that, bustin’ out, and thug 2 were the only games i could play over and over and over again on my old gamecube. it’s so fucking good. i was reading about the in-development sequel that got scrapped for the sims 2′s console port and i got legitimately bummed because this game deserved an entire franchise.

[wake-up-its-1984]

@bustedkeaton oh shit thanks for the protip, i'm gonna have to do that now 👀

[hellenic-reconstructionism]

Can we please get a Hygieia post?

Just did it! I had a great experience with/introduction to Her recently and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one with Her on my mind.

[dorkery]

bustedkeaton replied to your post: There's no reason why you need that many products...

Life coach anon needs to paypal u the cost of an interior organizer if theyre literally gonna take time out their day to talk to a stranger abt their bathroom

i’m honestly amused by the fact that:

they came through an ”unfuck your habitat” post

you know, the blog about being positive and mentally healthy by doing chores and clean up?

so someone saw my post which was about PERSONAL CLEANING VICTORY and was

O F F E N D E D

by how many things were on my sink

and then had to come to my inbox to let me know exactly why i should feel bad about my sink

fun addendum: they also realised they were being petty as hell because they commented anon

:/