Song 22
Oh sweet Ariadne
Oh
Mystery
Mine
Ever
Am
I
Thine
As I tread
The
Red
Thread
Of
Your
Ecstatic
Way
Where
You
Announce
The arrival of the god
In
Slow
Sinuous
Dance
The
Rapturous
Yoga
Of
Prophecy
Wet with sweat
Above
Minotaur’s
Severed
Head
26/6/12
‘Ariadne’ comes from a dream; “I was getting married. It was a royal wedding. I was unsure who the bride was. I knew her but did not know her. She was not a complete stranger nor was she familiar. The wedding took place. There was a red rose in the room. Exquisitely beautiful & complex music was playing: ‘Oh sweet Ariadne, Oh mystery of mine/ thou are mine, ever mine/ Sweet Ariadne’” (9/2/12). Before the dream I had never heard the name Ariadne; yet after, it filled me with joy & longing. Recently I came across ‘Ariadne’ in Nancy Qualls-Corbett’s book ‘The Sacred Prostitute, ‘In Greek mythology Ariadne is a mortal woman associated with the divine. She is an image of perfect beauty. She was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. It was she who gave the hero Theseus a ball of thread to help him find his way out of the Minotaur’s maze. She is associated with the goddess Aphrodite & is depicted as the leader of the dancing maenads, the woman followers of Dionysius (In the poem; ‘the god’ … or the Self). ‘Plutarch explains that the dance was a madness filled with prophecy & a secret knowledge. The dancing body connects with the personal & transpersonal; through erotic ecstasy the profundity of the spirit is realised.’
Nancy Quails-Corbett, The Sacred Feminine: Eternal aspects of the feminine, Pgs 69-71.