Ariadne's Tribe: Minoan Spirituality for the Modern World

Walk the sacred labyrinth with Ariadne, the Minotaur, the Great Mothers, Dionysus, and the rest of the Minoan family of deities. Ariadne's Tribe is an independent spiritual tradition that brings the deities of the ancient Minoans alive in the modern world. We're a revivalist tradition, not a reconstructionist one. We rely heavily on shared gnosis and the practical realities of Paganism in the modern world. Ariadne's thread reaches across the millennia to connect us with the divine. Will you follow where it leads?

Find out all about Ariadne's Tribe at ariadnestribe.com. We're an inclusive, welcoming tradition, open to all who share our love for the Minoan deities and respect for our fellow human beings.

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New-Old Minoan Deities: The Discovery of Joy

One of the more exciting aspects of revivalist spirituality is the discovery of new-to-us deities. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, we do a little happy dance!

In this case, a happy dance is especially appropriate. Allow me to introduce you to a new deity pair: Thumia and Kaulo.

They aren't entirely new deities to us, to be honest. Instead, they're faces of a goddess and a god we already know: Therasia and Dionysus. The fact that they're a "mismatched" mother-son pair from a Minoan standpoint (in the Tribe pantheon, Therasia's son is Korydallos, and Dionysus' mother is Posidaeja) suggests that they go back to the Minoans' ancestors in Neolithic Anatolia, who had a single Mother goddess and, we think, a single Son, each with many different faces that eventually "evolved" into separate deities. (We think there was also a single Daughter goddess corresponding to the three Daughters in the Tribe pantheon.)

Back to our new deities: Why is a happy dance appropriate for Thumia and Kaulo? Because they're deities of joy and physical pleasure. They have presented themselves to us as the patron deities of sex workers but also the patrons of all kinds of joyous physical activities, from dancing to partying to cuddles, hugs, and massages. And humor: a deep laugh, a gentle giggle, all the fun of life that can be had without doing it at anyone else's expense. Though Kaulo is more prone to humor (especially bawdy humor) than Thumia, they both appreciate the joy and sacredness of laughter.

Their message to us is simple: They want us to experience joy, to hold it in our hearts and in our beings as we move through life.

In case you're worried about these deities being a cis/het male/female pair, don't panic. Neither of them fits easily into any kind of "straight" human category - the Minoan deities are notoriously boundary-breaking in a number of regards, this one among them. There's no binary of any sort inherent in these two deities, even if we do loosely filter them into "goddess" and "god" format so we can organize them into the pantheon. In human terms, we might call them genderfluid. But they’re deities, so human gender doesn’t exactly apply.

In addition, if you think of Thumia and Kaulo standing next to each other, you can imagine a third deity, whom we call ThumiaKaulo, standing between them—a blend of the two. The Two imply the existence of the Third, magically speaking.

We're still learning about these deities, but we wanted to introduce you to them so you could get to know them as well. So far, we've figured out that Thumia and Kaulo are both fond of the color red and of any kind of small, jingling bells, especially gold or bronze colored ones (new bronze is golden in color). You could wear a red sash or belt in their honor or maybe some ankle or wrist bells. They enjoy incense, wine, and fresh water as offerings... as well as pleasure and joy. Dance for them, feast for them, make love for them, and share the joy!

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Laura Perry is a priestess and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. She's the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne's Tribe, an inclusive Minoan spiritual tradition. When she's not busy drawing and writing, you can find her in the garden or giving living history demonstrations at local historic sites.

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