Demeter – Greek Goddess Of Vegetation & Fertility

In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of harvest, grains, fertility and parenthood.
She is the daughter of Cronos and Rhea. Like her Roman equivalent, Ceres, she is often associated with a cornucopia filled with fruit and grain.

Demeter possessed mysterious powers of growth and resurrection… her name translates to “Mother Earth” – the abundant soil as well as the resting place of the dead (which were know by the Athenians as “Demeter’s” people).

Sympathetic to to suffering and grief, she always answers to those who call on her for help.

Demeter is the Mother aspect of the Triple Goddess, forming a triad with Persephone (her daughter) and Hecate (the Crone).
Demeter’s teaching of the art of sowing and ploughing made it possible for mankind to thrive in one place and end their wandering nomadic lifestyle.

Now I’d like to share some of Goddess Demeter’s mythology with you…

Mama Bear In Action!

Demeter kept everything blooming, sprouting and growing until Hades (God of the Underworld and Zeus’s older brother) abducted Persephone to the Underworld to be his bride… Demeter had no idea where Persephone was and became grief stricken …  she put off her duties of creating bounty on the Earth and instead searched day and night for her beautiful missing daughter.

What Demeter didn’t know at the time was that Zeus had arranged a marriage between Persephone and Hades when Persephone was just a child!

YIKES!

So … apparently Hades became impatient and rose from the Underworld and abducted Persephone. With intervention from Zeus (who I forgot to mention earlier is Persephone’s father), a deal was worked out and Persephone was finally allowed to return to Demeter for 6 of the 12 months each year.

The Turning Of The Great Wheel Of The Year

That’s why we have seasons. Every Spring, Demeter makes sure the flowers are blooming, the crops are growing and the fields are green in anticipation of Persephone’s return home. Every fall, when Persephone returns to the Underworld, Demeter becomes depressed and ignores the crops and flowers and lets them die…

Then the following Spring, Demeter brings everything to life again, to welcome her daughter’s return to her arms.
What a beautiful story of a mother’s love… the Mother Archetype can be loving and nurturing to the max, and then in a flash can become protective and devastating to anyone or anything that threatens their little ones. I can totally relate, how about you?

And…

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