![]() ![]() Horrified, the parents ask her to leave and she fiercely threatens them. She helps to care for their son and to return their favor, she puts the child in the fire each night, to make him immortal. Old and desperate, she is taken in by some parents. She cannot find her anywhere and begins to wander the earth, until she reaches the town of Eleusis. Meanwhile, Demeter is left on earth, searching desperately for her daughter. In one of the main versions of the myth, Persephone is not only abducted, but also raped by Hades. Persephone is abducted and taken down to the Underworld to become Hades' wife and, eventually, the magnificent Queen of the Underworld. She screams, but the only ones who hear her are the sun and the moon. At the moment she reaches for the beautiful flower, the crack in the earth widens and Hades appears on a chariot and snatches her. ![]() As Perspehone wanders further away from her mother, she is enchanted by this flower. Hades has left out a alluring narcissus flower growing out of a cleft in the earth. ![]() One day Persephone wanders off picking flowers of roses, crocuses, and irises. Meanwhile, Hades, the Lord of the Dead and Underworld has been watching Persephone and developed an incredible love and passion for her. They are incredibly close as mothers and daughters can be when girls are just beginning to mature into womanhood. She taught humans how to plant the seed, grow the plants, care for and cultivate, harvest, and finally how to ground the wheat into flour to make bread.ĭemeter has a beautiful loving daughter named Persephone, who was also known as Kore or maiden. Along with providing all the plants, foods, and vegetables, she also gifted mortals the ability to cultivate wheat. In deeper antiquity she was known as Gaia, the life-giving earth mother who nourished and fed the people. These personal inspirations work as collective dreams to heal not only ourselves, but also our loved ones, our community, and our world.ĭemeter is the ancient Greek goddess of grain, agriculture, and harvest. Using this story as a guide and inspiration, we find a way to access our own processes through the themes of mother-daughter relationship, familial love, loss, grief, death, fear, and rebirth. As we dive into the story of the great mother goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, we also connect to the profound mysteries of life. The cult of Demeter and this particular myth was so important that it formed the crux of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a famous and secret religious rite of initiation practiced in ancient Greece between 1600- 1100 BCE.Īlthough lost to history and forever shrouded in mystery, it is thought these sacred practices provided initiates a direct experience to help at the time of death and give entrance to a blessed afterlife. This myth is a tale of the deep connection between mother and daughter and also the story of maidenhood and innocence and its passage into maturity and fullness. The story of Demeter and Persephone powerfully captures the unfolding of the seasons, welcoming in new light. As we approach the Spring Equinox, we feel the warming air and are inspired by the natural beauty of rebirth after winter. ![]()
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