Dionysus - The archetype of Pisces developing on from Sagittarius and Jupiter Jupiter developing into Neptune in the birth chart
Dionysus was the great Olympian god of wine, vegetation, pleasure and festivity. He was depicted as either an older bearded god or a pretty effeminate, long-haired youth. His attributes included the thyrsos (a pine-cone tipped staff), drinking cup, leopard and fruiting vine. He was usually accompanied by a troop of Satyrs and Mainades - female devotees or nymphs. Dionysus was close to nature and women, familiar with the mystical realm and feminine world, often an unwelcome and disturbing element, a cause of conflict and madness, “the god of ecstasy and terror, of wildness and the most blessed deliverance”, mystic, divine child - specialness of person or destiny, shaman, psychological androgynous, capable of major emotional shifts precipitated by minimal events, focused on the moment, dancing and lovemaking were especially important, intense, spontaneous, sought full sensual experience - all five senses. In Greek mythology Dionysus was the only god who rescued and restored (instead of dominating or raping) women” - Jean Shinoda Bolen
Zeus and Semele had been having a love affair for quite a while.. Hera, the wife of Zeus didn't have any trouble figuring out what her husband was up to. So Hera had the newborn killed and torn to bits, he was resurrected by his grandmother. To protect the infant god, Hermes changed Dionysus into a baby goat and took him to a group of mountain nymphs to be raised. While living in the mountains with the nymphs, Dionysus invented the process of growing grapes and making wine.
As he grew to manhood, Hera found him again and drove him into a state of madness. Dionysus started to wander mindlessly though the Greek countryside where he became known as "The Wanderer". He developed quite a following of men and women who worshipped him in the mountains, drinking, dancing ecstatically to frenzied music, and otherwise behaving like "wild ones".
Their celebrations alternated with periods of deep meditation and extended contemplative silences. ( The word "orgy" comes from these gatherings where the celebrants reached an ecstatic state and felt that they were "at one" with the Greek god.) Dionysus was rapidly becoming well-known as a result of his followers and their wild celebrations. - The Goddess Path
Jean Bakula describes the person with the Dionysian archetype as being:
Sad and despairing one moment, and ecstatic the next, depending on what or who transported him to his latest high in life
His archetype often seek an idealized version of a perfect woman, who is both mother and lover, and have a string of affairs while unsuccessfully trying to find her.
Another route may be to have a great love of nature, as the Great Mother, and he may enjoy being a caretaker or nurse, having a career that used to being seen as more feminine.
A shamanic psyche is often that of an androgynous, male-female type of person.
In our current resurgence of the Women’s Spirituality Movement, Dionysus is present in women who embody the priestess archetype as a mediator between two worlds.
To be a man with a shamanic personality in a culture which is made up of men who get up and go to work every day is viewed as more than “different”, and most likely as “insane.” If Dionysus is the only strong archetype in a man, he will still be drawn towards experiencing altered states of consciousness. The realm of an invisible world feels right to him, and fascinates him with its insights. He can function as a mystic if he keeps it quiet, while functioning in the “real” world, but finding this Dionysian element of life gives him a larger sense of meaning”
art by Christian Beels