Chapter I, Part IV of Dionysus: Myth, Cult and Psychology (2013).
In the context of the Dionysian myth and cult practices, the content we are dealing with is closely associated with repressed instinct and the accompanying emotions and affects. Dionysian experience and cult practices represent an attempt to assimilate these emotions and affects and to create a meaningful relationship between instinct and consciousness. The goal of the Dionysian experience is to prevent the dangerous accumulation of emotional and affective energies associated with repressed instincts in the unconscious and thereby prevent their potentially destructive effects or the inflation they may produce.
Psychologically, Dionysus as a god represents a symbol of the Self whose purpose is to compensate for the split created by the repression of instinct on one level and emotions on another. We should keep in mind, however, that although a one-sided approach to the duality of Dionysus and Apollo may have been sufficient for ancient or medieval man, modern man requires both the Dionysian and the Apollonian aspects in order to establish a conscious relationship with instinct, archetypal image and the accompanying emotions. Within the Dionysian myth, a solution to this problem is hinted at through the motif of the apotheosis of Ariadne and Semele. While Apollo is the hero who overcomes the dragon, which in the last instance represents the mother, the body or the unconscious, Dionysus is the one who raises it to the level of divinity.
To summarise, I would like to propose tentative answers to the three questions concerning emotions. Emotions are psychological states that associate a particular instinctive reaction or archetypal image with psychological contents that were previously unrelated to it. Emotions manifest themselves when instinct or archetypal image is blocked by consciousness. Their purpose is to establish a mediating link between instinct, image and consciousness. At first this mediating link manifests itself as a complex and, if assimilated, develops into a meaningful relationship with its archetypal core, whether that core is instinct or archetypal image.
In the light of these answers, the value of Dionysian experience for the psychic health of the individual becomes apparent.
Other parts of this chapter can be found here: