Edited by Rebecca Buchanan
Price: $12.99
Publication Date: 8 June 2017
Place of Publication: Asheville, North Carolina
ISBN: 978-1546777571
Pages: 244 pp
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 5″ x 8″
Father of War. Father of Peace.
Father of Fear. Father of Courage.
Father of Discord and Harmony.
Ares and Mars. Though the two Gods are often conflated in popular culture, they manifest to their devotees today as distinct entities. Similar, yes, but not the same — usually. In their respective pantheons, they are Gods of war, violence, virility, and raw passion, but also duty, loyalty, devotion, and fatherhood.
They are numinous, yes, but also physical, earthy, tangibly here Deities. They are Gods of the body, who revel in and celebrate all that our physical selves can do. Labor, forcing ourselves to move (martial arts, exercise, the tilling of a field, the planting of crops, the carrying of weapons and shedding of blood in defense of another), is an offering perhaps best suited to these Gods more than any other.
Hopefully, the words contained in this devotional — the prayers and poems and new myths and rites and essays — will please them just as much.
And hopefully they will inspire you, the reader, to get up and move and celebrate these two Gods, the undaunted, eternal Masters of War and Fathers of Peace.
It can be purchased in paperback format through Amazon, and through Barnes and Noble. All of the proceeds from Dauntless – as well as many of the other volumes in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina series – will be used to help promote the revival of the worship of the Greek and Egyptian Gods, with a portion of the proceeds given to a worthy charitable organization in their name. So, not only will you be getting a wonderful book about the modern worship of Ares and Mars – but your money will be going to do good work and help the revival of ancient polytheistic religions.
ATTENTION Librarians, Teachers and Retailers: Dauntless is also available at reduced cost for academic institutions, lending libraries (public and private) and retailers. Check our online store, or email baeditor@gmail.com with any questions.
We are rebuilding the Library of Alexandria one book at a time!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mars by Nina Kossman … 3
Dedication … 4
Introduction by Rebecca Buchanan … 9
Ares
Ares by K.S. Roy … 11
Prayer to Ares by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 12
Hymn to Ares III by Rebecca Buchanan … 14
Prayer to Ares by Merit Brokaw … 15
Ares’ Grace by Jessi Robinson … 17
A Few Thoughts on the Rivalry of Athena and Ares by Amanda Artemisia Forrester … 18
Ritual Opening of a Shrine to Ares by Natasha Handy … 22
The Gift by Merit Brokaw … 24
Glory by Gerri Leen … 25
Blood on the Stones by Jason Ross Inczauskis … 28
Prayer to Ares by Shawna Goddard … 31
An Offering by Rebecca Buchanan … 32
A Warrior’s Initiation to Ares by Natasha Handy … 33
Ares’ Abode by Merit Brokaw … 35
Hymn to Ares by Terence P. Ward … 36
Foster Father by Merit Brokaw … 38
Godwin’s Law by Jason Ross Inczauskis … 40
Walking With Ares by Edward Garibaldi … 69
To Ares by Amanda Artemisia Forrester … 76
Who Are You, Ares? by Amanda Artemisia Forrester … 77
Outline of a Ritual for Ares: Presenting a Performance or Physical Devotion by Jamie Cambron … 79
Prayer to Lord Ares, My Spiritual Father by Natasha Handy … 81
Prayer to Ares the Healer by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 82
To Ares Candaon by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 84
Mars
Statue of Mars, after restoration, l’hôtel du Commandant militaire. … 85
Armilustrium Novum by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 86
Mars Rising by Vonnie Winslow Crist … 88
Rust by Rebecca Buchanan … 89
Mars’ Dialogue With Disciplina by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 126
Iron in the Blood; or, 1:13 a.m. by Taqerisenu … 128
Great War (After Ted Hughes) by Larry D. Thacker … 129
Herodes Attikos’ Commentary on the Carmen Saliare by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 132
Ave Mars by Jacobus Apostata … 135
Great-Breasted Mars, Mother of Warriors, and Other Celtic Syncretisms by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 138
The Two Gods
Detail from Les Invalides, Statue of Mars, northern facade, Paris, France. … 163
A Brotherly Talk by Gerri Leen … 164
Ares: Archetype and Ancestor: Divine Descent — Mythology As Family by Iona Miller … 167
A Warlike Antinous? The Possibility of an Ares/Mars-Antinous Syncretism by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus … 210
Ares by Ravenart … 223
Appendix A: Public Domain Hymns — Homeric Hymn 8 to Ares; Orphic Hymn 65 to Ares; Hesiod, Shield of Heracles 56 and 191; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 7. 400; Ovid, Fasti Book 3 … 224
Appendix B: Recommended Reading … 229
Appendix C: Our Contributors … 230
Appendix D: About Bibliotheca Alexandrina — Current Titles — Forthcoming Titles … 240
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