Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, ecstasy, and transformation. Dionysus was not only the patron of joy and intoxication. In the deeper layers of Greek mysticism, he was the deity of death and rebirth, the bearer of divine madness and the bridge between worlds. In the Orphic mysteries, Dionysus was understood as a spiritual mediator who enables the dissolution of the ego, the transition of the soul, and the awakening to higher consciousness.