Jenna November, 2009

Guy meets girl. He’s charmed by this innocent-seeming cutey, & as a result turns into a total caveman. He thumps her over the head with his club & drags her off to the cave, expecting her to be thrilled about a life of domestic servitude.

Everybody is at least roughly familiar with the story of Persephone.

Her father’s Zeus, the all-powerful king of the Olympian Gods. Her mother’s Demeter, the grain Goddess. To make a long story short, Hades, lord of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone  & abducted Her. Eventually she came to terms with her new living arrangements. Demeter, being the ultimate overprotective mother, was consumed by grief & decided to spread it around. No plant would grow & the earth suffered biter cold. Zeus sent his messenger Hermes to reason with his brother. However, before Persephone left the Underworld she ate 3 pomegranate seeds & by doing so bound herself to her husband’s realm. With Zeus arbitrating a compromise was reached. Nothing could be done to free her forever, so she would remain part of the year with Hades & part above ground with her mother. In the time she’s away, the earth would know the cold that comes from a mother’s sorrow. When Persephone returns in the spring, life would return once again & green things would flourish.

Most sources tend to agree that She was quite unhappy about Her forced marriage, but what if this wasn’t the case? What if She actively chose Her fate & ate of the pomegranate of Her own free will? Persophone is typically depicted as a young maiden poised on the brink of adulthood. The Wheel of the Year turns as it does, & at some point a girl will seek to cut herself free from her mother’s proverbial apron strings. This, too, is part of the Cycle.

It’s less about Hades abducting Her & more about Persephone finding Her own voice in the Darkness. What if She had begun longing for a way out? Hades provides Her with an opportunity, a means to get what She craved. Sure, it came in a form She might not have chosen for Herself, or at the least in an unexpected manner.  Her apparent unhappiness w/ Her new life Underground might’ve just as easily come from being frightened of change at 1st.  Her choice would’ve been quite confronting, as it is for anyone who actively seeks to take responsibility for himself.

Ultimately Persephone’s story is one of letting go.  The New Year has begun at Samhain, so the time is right to embrace her lessons. Old ties that no longer serve, old habits that have become destructive. Let them fall away as the Wheel turns. As the world prepares to rest in November’s embrace, follow her down into the Underworld & learn to find your own voice Below as she did. Hers is also a lesson in balance. She’s kept the best aspects of her past & melded them with her present. In a place of the dead she learned about life & how to define her own identity. She is both Kore the Maiden & the mighty Queen of the Underworld. Half the year she spends with her husband in his kingdom & the other half is spent with her mother in hers. She manages to retain a sense of self & share what knowledge She’s gained. Each of us will face his or her own personal Underworld, a time of darkness & uncertainty. However, Persephone shows us a way through. She teaches us that it’s possible to go through the dark & come out the other side a little stronger than before.

Tags: god, goddess, persephone

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Topaz Affinity October, 2009

Persephone

It happens every year; the warmer seasons fade to autumns docile colors and temperatures that soon bow to winter’s howling nipping winds.

Reminding us that Persephone is starting her journey to the underworld to be with Hades; causing her mother Demeter to grieve and the earth lose her luster of spring and summer.

It is said that the reason for the colder months is just the anguish of an ill-be-gotten mother whose daughter was taken from “under her nose”.

The story goes as such; Hades; lord of the underworld; had fallen in love with Persephone; daughter of Zeus and Demeter; and had asked Zeus for her hand. Zeus fearing Demeter’s reaction told Hades that he may not have it.
Hades then decided that he loved Persephone so much that he couldn’t live with out her and on day decided to whisk her away to the underworld, by thrusting through a cleft in the earth and grabbing her as she picked flowers with some nymphs.

Demeter being distraught with grief and anger punished the nymphs for not assisting her daughter in her time of need; by transforming them into the sirens we know today. But that was not all she had also stopped tending to the plants and spent her time searching the world for her beloved daughter, when Helios; the sun who sees all; told her what had happened.

Zeus; under pressure from Demeter and the starving peoples of the earth; demanded that Hades return Persephone to her mother. Hades refused; causing Zeus to exercise his power and authority with his brother decreed that their marriage be null and void as long as Persephone ate nothing of the Underworld’s food.

Starving Persephone gave to Hades’ temptations with a pomegranate, and consumed a few seeds thus causing her marriage to Hades to be consummated in the eyes of the Olympians.

Waiting until Demeter and her daughter were once again united; Ascalaphus informed the other gods that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate seeds.

But it was the Fates rule that no one who had eaten from the gardens of the underworld would be aloud to return, and to save the peoples of the Earth Zeus, Hades, and Demeter made a deal. Persephone was to spend half of the year with her mother, and the other half of the year with Hades as queen of the underworld.

Her return from the underworld marks the beginning of spring, summer is the time that Persephone and her mother get to spend together, her journey back brings the beginning of autumn, and winter is marked by the number of pomegranate seeds that Persephone had consumed. So it is believed that autumn and winter are a form of a mother‘s grief of a “lost” child.

Thus reminding us that there is greater meaning to what we see as trivial things and the reasoning behind the season changes.

Tags: Demeter, hades, persephone, underworld

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Anne Baird August, 2009

DEMETER ~ THE FIERCE MOTHER

I have always loved Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture. Normally, I celebrate her at Harvest. This year, I have reasons for thinking of her earlier…

August is the height of late summer.  That is why, in the central image of this painting, we see Demeter, a gloriously fruitful goddess, bearing golden sheaves of wheat against a background of blazing summer skies, poppies, and flowing rivers. Everything symbolizes the fertility and abundance she showers on a hungry world. How beautiful she is!

In her left hand, however, she bears a torch. And vignettes that tell a less sunny story surround her. It is that story that has earned her second title, The Fierce Mother. That is the story I tell today.

Demeter, provider and mother figure for the whole world, had only one child, a daughter named Persephone. This lovely girl was her pride and joy. While busy with her great task of making the Earth fruitful, Demeter took satisfaction in knowing that her ceaseless labors of love allowed her precious child to be carefree. Persephone could, and did, spend her days dancing in the meadows with her friends, gathering flowers that her mother had nurtured and brought to the peak of perfection. She led an idyllic life!

Then one day, the unthinkable happened. Hades, the lonely King of the Underworld, kidnapped Persephone and took her to his dark kingdom. There, he raped her, and forced her to marry him. All with the collusion of Zeus, King of the Gods, Persephone’s father, and Demeter’s brother!

Demeter was devastated. Taking a torch in her hand, she searched tirelessly for her lost child in every nook and cranny of the Earth. But nobody could tell her where Persephone had gone. She sank into a grief so profound that she abandoned her care for the world. Crops failed. Animals died. Blasted by famine, drought and winter, people died as well. Their cries for help to Mother Demeter went unanswered.

When Demeter finally discovered that Hades had stolen Persephone, she was outraged and demanded that Zeus force Hades to return her.  Conditions on Earth had become so dire that Zeus had to take action.

He ordered Hades to restore Persephone to her mother. But Hades claimed the unhappy girl had just broken her fast by eating seven seeds of a pomegranate – a symbol of marriage in the ancient world. As his wife, she was obliged to remain with him forever.

Zeus made a canny compromise. Persephone would spend 8 months of every year with her mother on Earth. She would return to the Underworld with her husband for only 4 months – after harvest!

Demeter had to be content with this partial victory. Her delight at her reunion with Persephone was great. Soon, Earth bloomed again. A bumper harvest made thanksgiving celebrations more joyful than ever. When Persephone returned to Hades, winter came back with a vengeance. But the Greeks lived in hope. They knew that when she returned, Demeter’s blessing would be restored. They celebrated that…

I honor the great Goddess of Abundance and Fertility. But I am inspired by her example as Fierce Mother.

What mother has not had the experience of having to go look for their child? Of fighting to retrieve them from some danger? It may begin early with a terrifying, momentary loss of a youngster in a grocery store. As they grow older, and life becomes complex, the losses may become more challenging.

I know mothers who have fought fiercely to extricate a lost child from the grip of an addiction. Others have sought to rescue a beloved child from depression, a painful marriage or loss of a partner, financial losses, or eating disorders. At the moment, I, and my family, are facing a life-threatening illness in a cherished son.

At such times, the model of Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture and Abundance, and Fierce Mother, is good to remember.

Demeter refused to abandon the quest to restore her daughter to Life. Her persistence succeeded. Persephone WAS returned to Earth, though she was not the same carefree child she was before her descent into Underworld.

Both mother and daughter were transformed by their experience of loss. Persephone grew up. Demeter discovered untapped resources of strength as well as abundant provision.

But that is a story for another day…

For now, have a blessed August.

Anne Baird, Designer/Owner of GODDESS CARDS, is a self-taught artist who has been painting and writing since childhood. Her chosen media for her unique line of greeting cards is watercolor, with touches of gouache, ink and colored pencil.

She is launching an E-Goddess Card website soon, where the Goddess on the Go can send Goddess “e-cards”, enriched with music and stories, at the click of a mouse. (A virtual mouse.)

Tags: Demeter, goddess, persephone

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Mary DAlba March, 2009

As we move into the springtime, the leaves turn green, the weather turns warmer and life is breathed back into Nature.  People’s attitudes shift into happiness, playfulness and they spend more time outside, enjoying nature.     If you’ve ever wondered if the Goddess influenced this, wonder no more.

Persephone and Demeter, mother and daughter, speak to the change in the seasons.  Grief turns someone cold, as represented by Demeter turning the earth cold because of missing her daughter.

Persephone is the Greek Goddess of the Underworld.  She is the daughter of Demeter and Zeus and the wife of Hades.  She was also known as “Kore”.  In some myths, the name Persephone could not be uttered – she was referred to as “The Iron Queen” because she was known to be cruel as the ruler of the Underworld.

Demeter is the Main Greek Goddess of the Harvest.  She ensures that nature and the harvest are plentiful.  However, there are times she grieves when Persephone is away, which is known as our winter.

In their story, Persephone was wooed by many of the gods such as Hermes, Apollo and Ares.  However, Demeter turned them down and sent them away.  She felt they were not good enough for Persephone  and wanted to keep Persephone with her.

One day, Persephone was picking flowers in the forest with some nymphs when Hades burst through a break in the earth and abducted her.  Demeter turned the nymphs into sirens for not stopping Hades.  Because of her grief, she neglected her duties on earth, making the harvest die.

Zeus negotiated Persephone’s release from Hades when people on earth started to cry out from starvation and lack of life in the harvest and agriculture.  Zeus found Persephone and tried to bring her back from Hades.  Before he could do that, Hades fed Persephone pomegranate seeds, which are the foods of the deceased spirits.  By doing this, it tied Persephone to Hades.  Zeus then negotiated a truce – Persephone would spend part of the year with Hades and part of the year with Demeter.  When Persephone is with Demeter, Demeter is happy and it’s wonderful weather – Spring, Summer, Fall.  When Persephone leaves, Demeter turns sad and winter comes to chill out happy feelings.

There are a few different ways to look at this story.  Demeter could be the overprotective mother because Persephone may have wanted to spend time with Hades.  Or, Persephone could be the victim of a kidnapping and fell in love with her kidnapper.

However, this story says how people deal with grief and situations that have no control over.  How do you handle situations that turn your world upside down?  Demeter got very sad and retreated, so much so that she created a very cold world.  Does your world get cold when things aren’t going well?

Demeter and Persephone teach us that there are ways that you can handle what life throws at you.  Life must go on, it may not be quite the same, but you are meant to make the best of what you have.  If you are going through a tough time, ask Demeter and Persephone to help you deal with grief and sadness.  Wear brighter colors, speak in positive tones, spend time with people who can uplift your spirits.  By doing this, Spring will come back to your life soon.

Tags: Demeter, goddess, persephone

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Anne Baird March, 2009

The Winter Solstice was about the rebirth of the sun. The Spring Equinox is about the rebirth of the earth. The signs of this massive stirring are everywhere!

Soaking rains shift to brilliant sunshine, and back again. Soil softens. Snowdrops creep out. Shoots of tulips, daffodils and crocuses push, green, through drooping winter pansies. Birds return. Hibernating animals wake up. Days lengthen. Nights shorten.

Slowly but surely, Earth is turning toward March 21st, the Spring Equinox, when day and night will be in perfect balance.  The time of Ostara, Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, who has lent her name to this Sabbat, is at hand.

What bliss, after the harsh winter so many have experienced, to sense the advance of this beautiful young goddess! She heralds the return of life and fertility to the world.

Her counterpart, in Greek mythology, is Persephone, the Maiden. Persephone is restored to her mother, Demeter, after spending the winter in the underworld, with her abductor and lord, Hades.  When she returns, Demeter lifts the long, grieving winter that has punished Earth during her daughter’s absence, and spring bursts forth.

Ostara and Persephone are both filled with vitality and joy when they return to the world they love. This may be especially true for Ostara, who isn’t burdened with Persephone’s dark memories of kidnapping, rape, and forced marriage ~ and the knowledge that she must return to the underworld ~ and Hades ~ at summer’s end.

The symbols that surround Ostara include eggs, rabbits and spring flowers ~ all of which speak of the fertility and new life she brings. The egg, especially, has always been a sacred sign of fecundity. Long before it was understood that women became pregnant when the males with whom they lay fertilized the eggs they carried hidden within their bodies, many people believed that the Earth itself was hatched from an egg.

Mama Donna Henes, the Urban Shaman, tells us that, “The myths of the peoples of Polynesia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Greece, Phoenicia, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Central and parts of South America and Africa all describe an original cosmic egg from which the universe is born. The Latin proverb, Omne vivum ex ovo, proclaims, ‘All life comes from an egg.’

It is only natural… to assign the birth of the world to a Great Mother Goddess who laid the egg of life. All of nature… is a constant cyclical reminder of just such a fertile female force…. All life does, indeed, come from an egg,”

Our Pagan ancestors often painted their eggs red at the time of Spring Solstice, and the return of Ostara. The decoration they added symbolized the rays of the Sun, and their prayer that the Sun would warm the egg, and from it create new life. Rabbits were also associated with Ostara, since they were known to be incredibly fertile, and because of their long association with the Moon, and the Goddess.

These symbols, and the happy custom of feasting and celebration at the time of the Spring Equinox, were co-opted by Christianity as it gained ascendancy over Paganism.  The chocolate Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, Easter baskets, and Easter egg hunts that children enjoy today have their roots in the celebrations and religious practices of their Pagan ancestors.

Today, modern Celtic Pagans have adopted Ostara enthusiastically. The focus is on balance ~ equating the balance between night and day at the Spring Equinox, with the need for balance in one’s own life. It is also a time for new beginnings, for the planting of seeds that will bear much fruit, for celebration of the rebirth of the soil, the land, and oneself.

It is a time for feasting and fun!

Here are a few suggestions I have found for celebrating Ostara.

1. Color hard boiled eggs, and decorate with symbols for the Fertility God, the Goddess, and the Sun God.
2. Hide the eggs and have an Ostara Egg Hunt
3. Light a candle on Ostara Eve, and give a blessing to the departing spirits of winter. Welcome the arriving spirits of spring.
4. Fill your house with spring flowers
5. Clear out the old growth in your garden or pot garden
6. Plant new seeds
7. Enjoy a chocolate rabbit, if you don’t have a real one

Give thanks for family and friends with whom you share Ostara’s journey from winter into spring ~ from death to new life ~ and to fresh beginnings.

Tags: goddess, Ostara, persephone, sabbat

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