“As above, so below; as below, so above.”
~ Hermetic axiom
“The Greek god Dionysos was dismembered into countless pieces by persecutory enemies, the Titans. Yet he remained a figure of many guises and pursuits. He was called the Divided/Undivided, the Loosener, the Lord of Souls, the Lord of Wild Beasts. His realm was outside the conventional constraints of the city; his dances took place on hillsides near woodlands. In the city he ruled the theater, both comic and tragic.”
~ Hillman, James. The Force of Character: And the Lasting Life . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
On Monday, a NASA spacecraft will deliberately slam into an asteroid called Dimorphos. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, or DART, aims to see if this kind of kinetic impact can help deflect an asteroid posing a threat to Earth.
Dimorphos is a small asteroid moonlet orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. The asteroid system poses no threat to Earth, NASA officials have said, making it a perfect target to test out a kinetic impact — which may be needed if an asteroid is ever on track to hit Earth.
Now for names, mythology and more including our psyche. I understand the scientific need to join with other countries to protect this planet. Yet I also feel the need to question how this will affect us too. I am happy to say it is a “mixed blessing,” or “swiftness and cunning,” and “dual-formed.” I am amazed how well this all addresses the wonder of a profound mystery. A lovely one I am beholding to.
Didymos
Didymos was a mythological Greek hero from Athens. One day, while attempting to perform a sacrifice to the god Dionysus, a white dog snatched the sacrificial animal from him.
Didymos went on to create the Garden of Kynosarges in honor of the dog’s swiftness and cunning. He later built a temple in honor of Heracles, his mother Alcmene, and his nephew Iolaus.
The Garden of Kynosarges was a garden located outside the city of Athens, Attica, Greece during the 5th century BC.
Dimorphos
So Dionysos is an ambivalent deity (one of his cult epithets is dimorphos, ‘dual-formed’). He is associated with the seasons, the unruliness and vitality of unchecked growth, the cyclical rebirth of green vegetation, but also with the danger present in all of this. Wine, Dionysos’ gift to humankind, is a mixed blessing. It promotes social bonding but can be destructive if drunk undiluted or in excess.