(no subject)

[bjornwilde]

 Grump.

Just got snipped at on Tumblr because I mentioned that I thought Dionysus would be suited to work with mental illness instead of Apollo on a reblog of a few ideas of modern influences of the Greek gods. Yes, Apollo is all about illness and health, although come to think of it he passed physical health duties to Asklepios I do believe, but in the same thread the person (who may not be the OP) suggested Ares as worrying about soldiers and nuclear weapons, which to me is more Mars than Ares, but whatever, obviously Dionysus can't change. And hey, how about Dionysus being involved with theater and cinema? He is more than wine and ecstatic states.

And of course my suggesting Dionysus treating mental illness obviously means I don't think mental illness is a real illness.




Don't mind me. I just don't trust my knowledge enough to feel confident enough to argue the point but it is bothering me, so I am mentioning it here.

Comments

[silveraspen]

Hm. Interesting!

If I recall correctly, Mars and Ares are actually different names for the same deity, depending on whether you're drawing from Greek or Roman naming influence (like Hera and Juno, Zeus and Jupiter, etc.).

I do like the idea of Dionysus being involved with theater and cinema, which can evoke passionate and ecstatic creative responses!

I thiiiiink I see where you're going with the mental health approach - something like the high co-occurrence of certain types of mental illness (e.g. bipolar disorder) with manic/ecstatic states, is that it? I'm not sure it'd still be Dionysus as the primary sphere of influence there from an illness/health perspective, though; more in terms of the experience living life as a non-neurotypical individual in certain regards. Fascinating to consider in any event!

[bjornwilde]

To be honest, now that I've had a day to calm down from being accused of not seeing mental illness as a real thing, I do see how Dionysus isn't the best for healing mental illness. I can see him maybe working with Apollo with group/theater therapy, but Apollo would likely have to direct the matter.

Honestly, I think it was more Dionysus is familiar with the state of mental illness and so should have some influence in it but he's more for embracing than for changing that state.

I think it was just the attack out of nowhere (at least it seemed so to me) that really got me.

And now I want to write out my own list of modern things gods are doing. = ]

[bjornwilde]

And from what little research I've done with Ares/Mars, in Roman culture Mars was about violence for a reason and he also had farming aspects, whereas Ares was all about violence for any reason. At least, that's my take on the two. I know my views are not very scholarly.