The Dionysian Wave
The Dionysian wave refers to the cultural shift that occurred in the 1960’s when the Earth moved into the influence of the Age of Aquarius.
Named for Dionysus, the Greek god of inebriation and ecstasy, the Dionysian wave is the rejection of intellectualism and materialism, the purview of the demon called Mammon.
This wave was characterized by two parallel yet fundamentally different phenomenon: the counter-culture movement and the modern gnostic movement.
The Counter-Culture Movement
Most people are aware of the counter-culture movement in the 1960s. The counter-culture or hippie movement broke down social norms, facilitated revolutions, and introduced spiritual teachings along with experimentation with drugs, sexuality, music, and art. All of this was a natural part of the new Aquarian influence, and a necessary aspect of the Dionysian wave disrupting the old ways of rigid materialistic thinking.
However, the counter-culture movement did not have the keys to build and sustain a true utopian society. While it did open many doors for positive change, it also planted the seeds of widespread psychological breakdown, social confusion, and spiritual chaos.
The Gnostic Movement and Conscious Revolution
The gnostic movement, with its headquarters in Mexico City, started to gain momentum in the early 1960’s with the publication of Samael Aun Weor‘s The Perfect Matrimony. This book openly revealed the teachings of the sexual mysteries, which went so strongly against the social mores of the time that he was briefly imprisoned.
This gnostic movement overcomes materialism and intellectualism with esoteric discipline, psychological meditation, and upright sexuality, thereby harnessing that same Dionysian wave, but with the inebriation of spiritual ecstasy.
Gnosis is a living tradition; part of a long lineage of Western esotericism, with a doctrine that is continually reignited through individual revelation, while always having the venerable religious traditions as a foundation.
The counter-culture movement, for all of its revolutionary impulses, rode the Dionysian wave unconsciously, and produced little in the way of genuine advancement to society or the individual. A conscious revolution is needed to bring about true change.