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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Virtues, Values, and Modern Folklore in Ariadne's Tribe

A member of Ariadne's Tribe recently asked what our main virtues and values might be, and that got me thinking. We don't have a formalized list of virtues and values the way, for instance, modern Norse Pagan groups often do. But the values that matrilineal societies have traditionally supported are a big part of the attraction of Minoan spirituality.

The Minoans appear to have valued egalitarianism, inclusion, interdependence, and an animistic reverence for nature. Those are among the major values we espouse in Ariadne's Tribe. They inform our spiritual practice and our daily lives. They're enshrined in our Official Policies. We do our best to be living examples of these values as we interact with the Big World.

We've also developed some concepts that can best be described as Tribe folklore through our experiences with the deities.

The first of these is often spoken with a bit of wry laughter: Individuation is problematic. I've written before about how our pantheon doesn't fit neatly into a human-style family tree. In fact, the metaphor I use most often is a carnival fun-house full of mirrors.

Sure, we consider some of our deities to have parent-child type relationships. But others look like they might be twins or reflections of each other. Some of the "children" have multiple mothers - and some might be aspects of those mothers!

So instead of trying to force our deities into a hard polytheist style family tree, we've learned to allow ourselves to think of them in a more fluid, less structured kind of way. This means letting go of the need to firmly and clearly label every deity and instead, simply experiencing them as they interact with us in our spiritual practice.

This also means expanding the concept of individuation is problematic to ourselves and the world around us, as the deities lead us to explore different ways of being. After all, scientists talk about the whole universe originally having been a single entity before the Big Bang. Who are we to demand separation when the deities themselves continue to show us how we're all connected, all part of the same cosmos? We are Ourania and she is us.

The second bit of Tribe folklore that has landed and stuck is the phrase reverent joy. This comes across in that wry laughter at the concept I was just talking about. In the Christianity-infused western world, reverence is often given a heavy Calvinist interpretation. In other words, it must be somber, serious, humorless. No smiling allowed, and definitely no laughter. In that worldview, laughter is profane.

But that's not what our deities have taught us. They've shown us, time and time again, that joy is sacred. That reverence doesn't mean being serious, but rather, being attuned to the divine within in and around us, in its many and varied forms.

Our deities smile and laugh. They exude joy and invite us to share in it.

Of course, there are times when life simply isn't joyful. Days and events when we don't feel like smiling or laughing. The deities are still with us in those times, holding us, holding space for us.

But they are also with us when we smile, when we laugh, when we joke and dance and giggle. When we make bad puns and then laughingly groan at them (Korydallos especially approves).

So open yourself to joy, knowing that it's every bit as sacred and reverent as anything else you might experience.

Together we are 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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