Written in 2008 by Erynn Rowan Laurie

[Offeringse prepared and nine candles – red if possible – are laid out on the altar or shrine space.]

Even the eternal gods are not perfection. Even the eternal gods may fail. Divine Antinous, when he hunted the Mauretanian lion, fell before the creature, his pride and eagerness making him careless. It was only the hand of the Divine Hadrian that saved the Bithynian, he who is enthroned with the Gods of Egypt.

In remembrance that even the gods may fail, we acknowledge our own failures on this day. We ask the aid of the God Antinous – Beatus, Iustus, Benevolens – to hold us up despite our failings, to help us release these failures and forgive ourselves for our errors and our hubris. In nomine Antinoi Aeterni:

[After acknowledging each failure, light one of the candles at the invocation.]

When we are blinded by pride
Antinous-Apollon, Navigator, give us sight.

When we are numbed to compassion
Antinous-Dionysos, Lover, give us kindness.

When we are consumed by greed
Antinous-Hermes, Liberator, free us from desire.

When we lose our path
Antinous-Hermes, Navigator, be our compass.

When we are driven to obsession
Antinous-Apollon, Lover, show us the truth.

When we are enslaved to habit
Antinous-Dionysos, Liberator, break our chains.

When we fall to illusion
Antinous-Dionysos, Navigator, clear away the mists.

When we lose heart
Antinous-Hermes, Lover, steal our hearts back for us.

When intelligence fails us
Antinous-Apollon, Liberator, open our minds.

As these candles burn, may Antinous the Beautiful, the Just, the Benevolent, burn away our flaws and our failures. Accept our offerings and work change within us. Antinous, Salvator, dona nobis pacem.