Madness

Someone I know went crazy yesterday.  Like out of his head, take off all his clothes, run down the street naked kind of crazy...

Literally.

An intoxicant was involved, and perhaps more than the one we know about, or even in combination with some mental health problems or breakdown.  But what we do know does not explain the severity of it or the duration.  It doesn't add up. 

I wasn't there, but I happened to hear of it when it first happened.  I said some prayers for his safety, focused on sigils of protection and finding.  In my concern, I prayed to Dionysos, thinking of him as a god of madness, and even protector of the mad.  (Thinking of the madness of the maenads, or the protection I've felt when I've felt mad with grief or intoxication.) 

But later I realized, in addition to that, he is also a god who strikes with madness, as a punishment or consequence of hubris, denial or wrong-doing.  The person in question, I'm afraid, was guilty of all three.  And although he suffered no serious injury, he did not escape the consequences.  He was found, arrested, and (to sum up) a whole lot of shit, all of his own making and responsibility, caught up with him.  Am I saying that he was divinely punished?  I don't know.  You could also chalk it up to karma, entropy or inevitability, I suppose.  I have no problem with holding all possibilities, even conflicting ones, as equally true.

So even though in compassion I tried to reach out with prayers and magick, it was way out of my hands.  I spent a lot of time today comforting my friend who is really close to him. But it all hit so close to home that I feel nearly shell-shocked with the strangeness and implication of it, how sudden and inexplicable it was, how one's life and plans can turn on a dime, and especially... how much worse it could have been, for him, or for the people around him.

It's a sobering reminder (pun intended) to check yourself, your true intentions, and your weaknesses and limitations.