By Diane Keating Sciacca (wolfinblack@pagan.net) for the Keepers of the Silver Flame
Far from being the fat, jolly old Bacchus who was worshipped in Rome, Dionysus is a temperamental, beautiful, rosy-cheeked youth who mostly leaves it to his followers to raise a ruckus. Often seen riding a large leopard and wearing the skins of young deer, leopards, wolves and goats, Dionysus's mood can go from wildly joyous to uncontrollably poisonous in a heartbeat. A god of the earth, Dionysus' power waxes and wanes with the cycle of the seasons; his followers traverse the land, seducing youths, hunting and throwing crazy wine and mead orgies during the summer and early autumn; at the Winter Solstice, they hold one huge send-off Bacchanale, after which the totem dies and goes to lie with Gaia until the Vernal Equinox.