Dione links etymologically to Diana (Artemis in Greece). As Diana of the Grove, her priests plucked the golden bough. As Artemis, she became a cat to escape the monster Typhon. As Goddess of the Hunt, she is indeed attended by panthers.

'Panther' is a general name for big cats, normally used for the ones that can have black fur - leopard and jaguar, and also the puma. With black fur they become the 'black panther', and gain a hunting advantage in forests and at night. 'Panther' itself comes from 'pan' meaning 'all' and 'therao' meaning 'to hunt'. Because the panther swims, climbs trees and hunts on foot, it is an All-hunter, like its goddess. In South America, this 'Lord of the Animals' is a jaguar.

Dion also points to Dionysus, whose carriage is drawn by panthers.

Dionysus is a god of the Mystery religions that prepared initiates for the Crossing. Scenes from the Eleusinian Mysteries on Greek vases show him accompanied by a panther or sitting on a panther-skin couch. He is the 'twice-born' traveller between worlds, who brought his mother Semele back from the Underworld - anticipating the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (Jung). A thread runs between Semele - Persephone - Demeter - Rhea - Cybele - Diana - Dione.

'Dione' is a goddess, largely forgotten today, who joined Zeus at Dodona - the ancient oracle of whispering trees. Robert Graves refers to her as 'Dione, a woodland Great Goddess, otherwise known as Diana'. Dione and Diana have the same Sanskrit root dyaus and Latin dies (day) as Zeus, and might be roughly translated as the 'Divine'.

Dodona was the most ancient oracle, founded by the Greek Noah, Deucalion, after the flood sent by Zeus. Herodotus says it began when two black doves flew out from Egypt - one to Dodona and the other to Libya. The black dove was most likely Isis, who was known to the Greeks under different names. Graves equates Dione with Rhea, the Earth-goddess and mother of Zeus; and also with Aphrodite, who held a black dove in her statue at Phigalia.

Philo of Byblos gives another clue when he says, 'Cronus gave the city of Byblos to the goddess Baltis, who is Dione'. Cronus, or El (Lord) was the chief god of the Phoenicians, and the brother-wife of Baltis-Dione. Byblos was their 'first city', and a great centre of culture from which we get the word 'Bible'. Baltis comes from the word 'bal' meaning blazing white, and was associated with Venus. This makes sense of the tradition that Dione was the mother of Aphrodite, who herself used the name Dione.

Baltis may also have been the Babylonian Love-goddess Beltis, who was the consort of their chief god Marduk, also called Bel. Bel Marduk absorbed most of Sumerian Enlil, Lord of the Air, whose weapon was 'amaru', the deluge. [Bel, Ba'al, El, Ba'alat, Beltis and Baltis may all be related words meaning Lord or Lady, and 'shining white'.] The deluge of 'Baltis's' Sumerian consort mirrors the deluge of her Greek consort, Zeus. And so, as far back as writing records, Dione-Baltis was the first goddess for mankind.

Black Panther shows herself in the whispering trees of Dione, the soul-hunts of Diana, and the travel between worlds of Dionysus.

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