Ariadne, the symbol of womanhood which gave itself up to Dionysus in love, is a mortal Aphrodite, the divine archetype of bewitching graciousness. With Ariadne the nature of the Dionysiac woman is exalted in their queen. She is the perfect image of Beauty which, when it is touched by its lover, gives life immortality.
According to Homer, Daedelus built the labyrinth for Ariadne as her dancing place.  She is the Minoan fertility goddess of Crete, the sacred bride of Dionysos, the male aspect of fertility and wine, the mad god, the god of intoxication, the Liberator, the Roarer.  Their sacred union, is the mystical-paradoxical dance of life and death, the dance of creation, which reaches a primal, ecstatic frenzy transcending all limit, the shattering of the world of order - the chaos of the unfettered mystical state that attends the rebirth of the soul in new life.

 

The Myth

Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete.  The brilliant architect Daedelus built the labyrinth for her, and to house her half-brother the Minotaur.  Only Ariadne knew the way out of the labyrinth. 
The Athenian hero Theseus came to Crete to slay the Minotaur.  Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a sword and a golden ball of thread to unwind as he went, so that he could find his way back out of the labyrinth.
After he had killed the Minotaur, Theseus took Ariadne with him, but abandoned her on the island of Naxos for another woman while she lay sleeping.  Ariadne awoke to find herself alone and abandoned.  Heartbroken, she wept and danced her sorrow.  The God Dionysos saw the beautiful Ariadne dancing there and fell in love with her. He exalted her, and made her his bride, placing the crown of the sea, the diadem of Aphrodite upon her head. 
Upon her death, Zeus gave her immortality so that she could dwell forever in the heavens with Dionysus, who thrust her diadem into the sky where it shines still as the Corona Borealis.

Rocks split open, and streams of water gush forth. Everything that has been locked up is released. The alien and the hostile unite in miraculous harmony. Age-old laws have suddenly lost their power, and even the dimensions of time and space are no longer valid. (Otto)

 

References:
Otto, Walter F., Dionysus, Myth and Cult. Copyright 1965, Indiana University Press