Sirius Rising: A Devotional Anthology for Cynocephalic Deities

[Note: this devotional has formally closed for submissions. Publication date to be announced. Thank you to the many talented contributors who made this devotional possible.]

We are pleased to announce that Sirius Rising: A Devotional Anthology for Cynocephalic Deities is now open for submissions. This anthology will focus on the cynocephalic deities of the Greco-Roman and Egyptian pantheons, such as Anubis (Yinepu), Wepwawet, and Hermanubis. Please spread the call for submissions far and wide.

Examples of acceptable submissions include: essays and scholarly work. Translations and interpretations of ancient texts. Prose and poetry. Anubis and Wepwawet — the same deity, or divine twins? The associations of extant canid species (e.g. wolves, jackals, coyotes, foxes, and dogs) with these deities. Comparisons and contrasts to cynocephalic and way-opening canid-deities in other traditions and mythologies, such as Celtic or Norse, or even Meso-American (e.g. Xolotl). The cynocephalic deities in their various forms and roles, such as: funerary, war, shamanic/way-opening; light-bringing, kingship, canids (wolves, jackals, dogs, foxes, even coyotes!).

Readers are strongly encouraged to explore many aspects of these deities, as well as some of the more obscure and lesser-known or less-popularized myths and symbolism associated with these deities.

Any submitted artwork must be original, greyscaled and 300dpi at full print size. Color submissions for the front cover are encouraged. In the event of multiple cover submissions, the editors reserve the right to make the final selection.

Editors also reserve the right to make any minor changes in the case of
spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting and related. The editors reserve the right to reject any submission that they feel does not meet the above criteria. Editors may request that submissions be tweaked or modified as necessary.

As with all devotional anthologies at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, no monetary compensation will be provided, since proceeds will be directed to charitable organizations and to help promote the Bibliotheca Alexandrina line. However, all contributors will receive a coupon code which will allow them to purchase three copies of the anthology at cost.

Please send submissions to cynocephalidevotional@gmail.com. Submissions will be accepted starting July 25th, 2010, in consideration of that date being the reckoned rising of Sirius and the major feast-day of many cynocephalic deities, including the Graeco-Egyptian syncretic Hermanubis and his early Christian counterpart, St. Christopher. The deadline for submissions will be on May 22, 2011, the date Ovid’s Fasti gives for the rising of Sirius, interpreted as the celestial form of the Hound of Erigone in a myth of Dionysos. The editors will acknowledge all submissions, but this does not guarantee your submission will make it into the final edit of the anthology. All submissions will remain the property of the individual author, and all rights pertaining thereunto will remain with the author. A permission to publish form will be sent out to authors upon acceptance of their final drafts for publication. It is expected that no plagiarism of any sort will be involved in any piece accepted for permission, and that all customs of academic responsibility and honesty will be observed in citing sources (whether formally in footnotes/references or informally within the text of a piece), where applicable/necessary.

The editors of this devotional are Shin “Solo” Cynikos and P. Sufenas Virius Lupus. Solo is a Greco-Egyptian polytheist, cynanthrope, female-to-male transguy, magician and sacred scavenger. When not at his government job or traveling out of country, Solo enjoys blogging about polytheism, animism, transgender rights and scavenging. You can find his writings here and his crafty bits here.

P. Sufenas Virius Lupus is an academic by day, and a founding member of the Ekklesía Antínoou and contributing member of Neos Alexandria. Lupus’ poetry and essays have been published in various Bibliotheca Alexandrina devotional anthologies, with a whole book of poetry called The Phillupic Hymns (2008) among these. He has also released The Syncretisms of Antinous (The Red Lotus Library), and has poems in the Scarlet Imprint anthology Datura: An Anthology of Esoteric Poesis(2010).