Dionysus

Lee Berman · 29 Nov 2010, 13:06 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:06:32 -0500
Subject: (urth) Dionysus
Message-ID: <SNT123-W65E4D30A43F274226A5052CF240 at phx.gbl>

In conclusion, I think the presence of Dionysus' millenia-long worship does 
provide a significant enough basis for a secret underpinning to understanding
of the Sun series. More and more this seems to me like a gnostic universe that 
Wolfe has created.

I was struck by how Jeff Wilson's recent description of his beliefs was similar to the 
gnostic concept of The One, the deity who is the Lord of All Opposites. Paired light and 
dark, creation and destruction, masculine and feminine, etc. The more I read of gnosticism
the more I find its concepts peppered through the Sun Series: The Green Man, Ouroboros,
The Abraxas, Amphisboena, Quadraf(r)ons/Janus etc.

In a recent discussion of whether there was a Christ in the Sun universe, Andrew Mason 
noted the mention of Alla as a name for The Outsider. I wonder if this is a sly way for
Wolfe to suggest that Islam is following a gnostic-style of worship of God. Andrew also 
notes that there is a story which seems to be about Jesus. Andrew has only a minor quibble
with the description that the Jesus character was possessed by The Outsider as he did his
thing. I'm thinking this deviant view of the Jesus-figure is meant by Wolfe to suggest this 
is not really our Jesus in the story but a gnostic version.

Perhaps the final evidence of this view is found at the very end of BotNS. In the denouement,
after all the mechinations of an angelic race living in a Kabbalistic universe, after all the 
cosmic upheavals, we are not left with  a monotheistic, savior-worshipping Christian planet. 
Ushas has four gods, two light, two dark, two male, two female. A very gnostic finale, I think.

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