The story of king Pentheus and his fateful encounter with the god Dionysus is both horrifying and carries a certain warning.
There arrived one day in Thebes a dancing god of great beauty and magnetism. So strong was his pull that all the women in that town left their homes and followed him around, singing, dancing and drinking. By the time the reached king Penteus´ palace they were totally crazy and it was impossible to talk to them.
As Dinoysus himself had been struck by madness by Hera, his influence was great and this company scared the king so that he denies that Dinoysos is a god, denies the god´s whish to have his rites established in Thebes and chases them out of town.
Dinoysos then puts a spell on all the women and losing self-control they rush up the mountain to celebrate their rites, ripping apart animals and creating great havoc on the way.
Also Penteus was struck by a spell which caused him to want to find out these secret rites of the women. He dresses himself in women's clothes and follows them up the mountain and there he hides behind a tree to watch.
The women, among whom is Pentheus´ mother Agave, were by now delirious and in an altered state of consciousness and find him soon enough. Thinking he's an animal, they chase after him. And when they catch him and dismember him, Agave is the one who puts his head on a pole. She doesn't find this out until the women have returned to sanity after the rites and returned to the city.
The Connection to Pisces
People with Pisces strongly emphasized in their chart (or Neptune), might have to recognize the need to realize the experience of the Divine. Dionysus is also a loving and gentle god, full of mercy and care, he's a helper and redeemer, but if you deny him, and pretend he doesn't exist, he will take revenge unmercifully.
The negative side of Dionysus can be either that we deny ourselves our own, personal creativity, and even a little madness and abandon at times, or it can be the use of too much drugs or alcohol. Only if we go too far in one direction the unconscious will invade and take over, and then we lose control. If we repress out of existence one aspect of our lives, the unconscious will try to get even. And the more things have been repressed, the more ground they have to recover. It would seem that rationality is not the single road to sanity after all!
