Mycogenous – a book exploring Dionysos in the fungal realm

This project has been a long time in the making.

Dionysos has always come first for me – I discovered Him before I was even properly pagan, and He was the first god I came to when I started studying polytheist traditions, and has remained by far the most important god to me, sometimes almost to the point of henotheism. I think of myself as a Dionysian as much as anything; He is at the core of who I am. And yet, all these years, everything I’ve written, and only now have I finally created a book entirely dedicated to Him. Only now do I feel I have something to say, to share, to offer those looking to connect with Him. Something very special to me.

For the last five years or so, I have been sinking deeper and deeper into a particular form of Dionysos. Not just a form (or a mask, or an aspect) – it became clear that this is a whole distinct approach to the god. A type of mysticism with its own unique gnosis and praxis. A Mystery, even.

And while I won’t claim that it’s new, or even that I’m the first to recognize or receive it, I do feel I’m meant to disseminate it in some way, so that others might pick up the threads. Or, should I say, the hyphae.

For this Dionysos is not the familiar god of the wild animal, or the verdant vine, but rather a fungal god – not just symbolically but literally. He is the Dionysos that brings life out of death, that dissolves boundaries, that opens doors, that effects transformation…all through the varied manifestations of the fungal kingdom. And no, I am not just referring to mushrooms (mind-altering or otherwise), although they are part of it. I’m also talking about the kind of fungus that rots the dead, the kind that intertwines with trees, the kind that turns grapes into wine, the kind that heals, the kind that destroys, the kind that spreads and changes everything it touches.

I have taken to calling Him by the title Mycogenous Dionysos.

Over the years since I had my initial epiphany while staring at the proliferation of mold in a wine cup on His shrine (an image of which adorns the cover of this book, as is shown fully above), I have been slowly – so slowly – unearthing more layers to this Mystery, developing practices, making connections. For the last six months or so, I have been trying to find a way to channel that into words so it could be communicated (or rather, so I could gesture in the right direction for others to make their own way, since explicit transmission of something like this is neither possible nor appropriate). This is the result.

In this book, I use a combination of prose, poetic allusion, and visual art to convey something of what I have experienced and learned, in hopes of helping the mycelium of Mycogenous Dionysos to spread. I don’t know who, if anyone, will feel called to this path, or resonate with it, or be taken wholly by it as I have, but I know I need to put it out there. I need to release the spores; it is not up to me where they land.

I see this as more of a devotional offering than a traditional book – there’s no ISBN, it’s not going on Amazon, and I will be personally handling, preparing and sending out each one, as is fitting for a message that should rightly be passed from one devotee to another. (And as such, I’m only making small batches at a time as I gauge interest – 20 copies in this first run.)

This book is small, but I think – I hope – it provides an entry into deeper exploration. This is a markedly different path from other ways to Dionysos (though complementary with them, I think, in the larger scheme of things). It is largely quiet and contemplative – but also initiatory and even shamanic. It has changed me profoundly. Now I want to open that door for others.

Mycogenous

7.5×7.5 inches, 82 pages, 80# semi-gloss paper, matte casewrap hardcover

Incorporates reproductions of several original ink and brush illustrations created for this project, as well as three tipped-in color plates of masks I made several years ago as I began delving further into this path.

Available only in my Etsy shop

As always, I would appreciate any help spreading the word about this, as I do not have social media or any other way to communicate beyond this blog and my shop. While I wrote this for polytheists and especially for Dionysians, I do wonder how it might resonate with those unfamiliar with the god but drawn to fungi or spiritually connected to nature, so please feel free to disseminate beyond the pagan world.

A shot of the drawings for the book shortly after I made them, along with the prints used.

~ by Dver on October 2, 2023.