‘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.