Demeter and Persephone - Charlene Spretnak, artykuł.pdf - Charlene Spretnak - adad.molo

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE

Charlene Spretnak, M.A.

Fro m Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths

Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press, Boston

F or thousands of years before the classical

was caught by the logo of an oil corporation

and she cried, ‘Look, Mama, a horse with

wings!’ She became very excited about the

idea of a flying horse. I said, ‘Yes, his name

is Pegasus and he’s part of a myth. Myths

are very, very old stories. Maybe we can

find a book of myths in the library and I’ll

read them to you.’ Then I drove on farther

and thought aloud, ‘...but the oldest ones

have been changed.’ A trip to the public

library confirmed what I suspected from my

readings in archaeology and anthropology:

There were no collections of myths other

than engaging editions of Hesiod’s and

Homer’s revisionist works. I went home

and took my high school edition of Edith

Hamilton’s Mythology from the shelf. I leafed

through it and read that ‘Zeus had punished

men by giving them women’; that Pandora

was ‘that dangerous thing, a woman’; and

that from Pandora ‘comes the race of women,

who are evil to men, with a nature to do evil.’

In the interest of mental health and a positive

self-concept, this did not seem the best way

to introduce an impressionable, four-year-

old girl to the riches of mythology. (Later,

while researching the pre-Olympian myths, I

discovered that my daughter’s name, Lissa, is

derived from the Greek Melissa, a title for the

priestesses of Demeter.)”

Demeter is the Grain-Mother, the giver

of crops. Her origins are Cretan, and she

has been strongly connected to Gaia 1 and

myths were recorded by Hesiod and

Homer, the Goddess was the focus of

religion and culture. Here, Charlene Spretnak

re-creates the original, goddess-centered myths

and illuminates the contemporary emergence

of a spirituality based on our embeddedness in

nature. The author begins by explaining the

genesis of this project.

“The seeds for this book were planted in

the early seventies when I began reading of

certain archaeological and anthropological

discoveries. In the summer of 1975, I

attended a weekend gathering on Women

and Mythology conducted by Hallie Iglehart.

She showed slides of ancient Goddess statues

and artifacts from the Mediterranean area

and the Near East, and she talked about

the numerous clues that indicate an earlier

stratum of matrifocal mythology and culture

preceded the patriarchal order we call ‘ancient

civilization.’ I knew of the evidence from my

reading, but Hallie’s slides and art books

brought the subject to life. The images stayed

with me. The rest of the weekend was spent

on explorations into our personal mythology,

on recognizing recurring symbols and events,

and on seeing in our lives the ancient mythic

themes of transformation and rebirth.

“The impetus for the book came some

three months later when I was riding in our

car with my daughter, Lissa Merkel. Her eye

Charlene Spretnak, a co-founder of the Green Party movement in the United States, is a professor

of philosophy and religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)—a graduate

institute in San Francisco. In 006 she was named by the U.K.’s Environment Agency as one of

the “00 Eco-Heroes of All Time.”

Page 7

to Isis. 2 Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, or

Kore, is the Grain-Maiden, who embodies

the new crop. Every autumn the women

of early Greece observed a three-day,

agricultural fertility ritual, the Thesmophoria ,

in honor of Demeter. The three days were

called the Kathodos and Anodos (Down-going

and Uprising), the Nesteia (Fasting), and

the Kalligeneia (Fair-Born or Fair Birth). 3

The Thesmophoria , the Arrephoria , the

Skirophoria , the Stenia , and the Haloa were

rites practiced by women only and were of

extremely early origin. They were preserved

“in pristine purity down to the late days

and were left almost uncontaminated by

Olympian usage”; they emerged later in the

most widely influential of all Greek rituals,

the Eleusinian Mysteries. 4 Isocrates wrote

that Demeter brought to Attica “twofold

gifts”: “crops” and the “Rite of Initiation”;

“those who partake of the rite have fairer

hopes concerning the end of life.” 5

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter,

assigned to the seventh century B.C., is

a story written to explain the Eleusinian

Mysteries, which honored Demeter. 6

The tale became famous as “The Rape of

Persephone,” who was carried off to the

underworld and forced to become the bride

of Hades. However, prior to the Olympian

version of the myth at a rather late date, there

was no mention of rape in the ancient cult

of Demeter and her daughter, nor was there

any rape in the two traditions antecedent to

Demeter’s mythology.

Archaeology has supported 7 what

Diodorus wrote concerning the flow of

Egyptian culture into Greece via Crete: “the

whole mythology of Hades” was brought

from Egypt into Greece and the mysteries

of Isis are just like those of Demeter, “the

names only being changed.” 8 Isis was Queen

of the Underworld, sister of Osiris, and

passed freely to and from the netherworld.

Demeter’s other antecedent was Gaia, 9

the ancient Earth-Mother who had power

Alessandro and Francesco Sanguinetti, Ceres (Demeter) with

Torch and Corn Spike , 1848-1859, Neues Palais, Potsdam,

over the underworld because the earth is

the abode of the dead. 10 At certain sites

in Greece, Demeter was worshipped as

“Demeter Chthonia,” 11 and in Athens the

dead were called Demetreioi , “Demeter’s

People”; not only did she bring all things to

life, but when they died, she received them

back into her bosom. 12 That the maiden

form (Kore) of the Goddess would share the

functions of the mature form (Demeter), as

giver of crops on the earth and ruler of the

underworld, is a natural extension. The early

Greeks often conceived of their Goddesses

in maiden and mature form simultaneously;

later the maiden was called “daughter.” 13

In addition to the connections with

Isis and Gaia, another theory holds that

Persephone (also called Phesephatta ) was

a very old Goddess of the underworld

indigenous to Attica, who was assimilated

by the first wave of invaders from the north;

the myth of the abduction is believed to be

an artificial link that merged Persephone

with Demeter’s daughter, Kore. 14 Whatever

the impulse behind portraying Persephone

as a rape victim, evidence indicates that this

twist to the story was added after the societal

shift from matrifocal to patriarchal, and that

it was not part of the original mythology. In

fact, it is likely that the story of the rape of

the Goddess is a historical reference to the

Rosicrucian

Digest

No. 2

2009

Page 8

invasion of the northern Zeus-worshippers,

just as is the story of the stormy marriage of

Hera, the native queen who will not yield to

the conqueror Zeus.

Although the exact delineation of

the pre-Olympian version of the myth of

Demeter and Persephone has been lost, the

following version seeks to approximate the

original by employing the surviving clues and

evidence. This extremely ancient and widely

revered sacred story of mother and daughter

long predates the Judeo-Christian deification

of father and son.

favorite shade of tender green. She loved to

walk among the young plants, beckoning

them upward and stroking the weaker shoots.

Later, when the plants approached

maturity, Persephone would leave their care

to Her Mother and wander over the hills,

gathering narcissus, hyacinth, and garlands of

myrtle for Demeter’s hair. Persephone Herself

favored the bold red poppies that sprang up

among the wheat. It was not unusual to see

Demeter and Persephone decked with flowers

dancing together through open fields and

gently sloping valleys. When Demeter felt

especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats

would spring up in the footprints She left.

One day They were sitting on the slope

of a high hill looking out in many directions

over Demeter’s fields of grain. Persephone lay

on Her back while Her Mother stroked Her

long hair idly.

“Mother, sometimes in my wanderings

I have met the spirits of the dead hovering

around their earthly homes and sometimes the

mortals, too, can see them in the dark of the

moon by the light of their fires and torches.”

“There are those spirits who drift about

restlessly, but they mean no harm.”

“I spoke to them, Mother. They seem

confused and many do not even understand

their own state. Is there no one in the

netherworld who receives the newly dead?”

The Myth of Demeter and Persephone

There once was no winter. Leaves and

vines, flowers and grass grew into fullness

and faded into decay, then began again in

unceasing rhythms. Men joined with other

men of their mother’s clan and foraged in

the evergreen woods for game. Women with

their children or grandchildren toddling

behind explored the thick growth of plants

encircling their homes.

They learned eventually which bore

fruits that sated hunger, which bore leaves

and roots that chased illness and pain, and

which worked magic on the eye, mouth, and

head.

The Goddess Demeter watched fondly

as the mortals learned more and more about

Her plants. Seeing that their lives were

difficult and their food supply sporadic, She

was moved to give them the gift of wheat. She

showed them how to plant the seed, cultivate,

and finally harvest the wheat and grind it.

Always the mortals entrusted the essential

process of planting food to the women, in

the hope that their fecundity of womb might

be transferred to the fields they touched.

Demeter had a fair-born Daughter,

Persephone, who watched over the crops

with Her Mother. Persephone was drawn

especially to the new sprouts of wheat that

pushed their way through the soil in Her

Karoly Brocky, Ceres and Triptolemos , ca. 1853.

Page 9

stopped, surrounded by Demeter’s grain, and

shared weary smiles.

“Very well. You are loving and giving

and We cannot give only to Ourselves. I

understand why You must go. Still, You are

My Daughter and for every day that You

remain in the underworld, I will mourn Your

absence.”

Persephone gathered three poppies and

three sheaves of wheat. Then Demeter led

Her to a long, deep chasm and produced

a torch for Her to carry. She stood and

watched Her Daughter go down farther and

farther into the cleft in the earth.

In the crook of Her arm Persephone

held Her Mother’s grain close to Her breast,

while Her other arm held the torch aloft. She

was startled by the chill as She descended,

but She was not afraid. Deeper and deeper

into the darkness She continued, picking

Her way slowly along the rocky path. For

many hours She was surrounded only by

silence. Gradually She became aware of a low

moaning sound. It grew in intensity until She

rounded a corner and entered an enormous

cavern, where thousands of spirits of the dead

milled about aimlessly, hugging themselves,

shaking their heads, and moaning in despair.

Persephone moved through the forms to

a large, flat rock and ascended. She produced

a stand for Her torch, a vase for Demeter’s

grain, and a large shallow bowl piled with

pomegranate seeds, the food of the dead. As

She stood before them, Her aura increased in

brightness and in warmth.

“I am Persephone and I have come to

be your Queen. Each of you has left your

earthly body and now resides in the realm of

the dead. If you come to Me, I will initiate

you into your new world.”

She beckoned those nearest to step

up onto the rock and enter Her aura. As

each spirit crossed before Her, Persephone

embraced the form and then stepped back

and gazed into the eyes. She reached for a

Benno Elkan, Persephone . Grave statue, Ostfriedhof Cemetery,

Munich, nineteenth century. Photo by Mathias Bigge.

Demeter sighed and answered softly, “It

is I who has domain over the underworld.

From beneath the surface of the earth I draw

forth the crops and the wild plants. And in

pits beneath the surface of the earth I have

instructed the mortals to store My seed from

harvest until sowing, in order that contact

with the spirits of My underworld will

fertilize the seed. Yes, I know very well the

realm of the dead, but My most important

work is here. I must feed the living.”

Persephone rolled over and thought

about the ghostly spirits She had seen,

about their faces drawn with pain and

bewilderment.

“The dead need us, Mother. I will go to

them.”

Demeter abruptly sat upright as a

chill passed through Her and rustled the

grass around Them. She was speechless

for a moment, but then hurriedly began

recounting all the pleasures they enjoyed

in Their world of sunshine, warmth, and

fragrant flowers. She told Her Daughter

of the dark gloom of the underworld and

begged Her to reconsider.

Persephone sat up and hugged Her

Mother and rocked Her with silent tears. For

a long while They held each other, radiating

rainbow auras of love and protection. Yet

Persephone’s response was unchanged.

They stood and walked in silence down

the slope toward the fields. Finally They

Rosicrucian

Digest

No. 2

2009

Page 0

few of the pomegranate seeds, squeezing

them between Her fingers. She painted the

forehead with a broad swatch of the red juice

and slowly pronounced:

“You have waxed into the fullness of

life and waned into darkness; may you be

renewed in tranquility and wisdom.”

For months Persephone received and

renewed the dead without ever resting or even

growing weary. All the while Her Mother

remained disconsolate. Demeter roamed the

earth hoping to find Her Daughter emerging

from one of the secret clefts. In Her sorrow

She withdrew Her power from the crops, the

trees, the plants. She forbade any new growth

to blanket the earth. The mortals planted

their seed, but the fields remained barren.

Demeter was consumed with loneliness and

finally settled on a bare hillside to gaze out

at nothing from sunken eyes. For days and

nights, weeks and months She sat waiting.

One morning a ring of purple crocus

quietly pushed its way through the soil

and surrounded Demeter. She looked with

surprise at the new arrivals from below and

thought what a shame it was that She was

too weakened to feel rage at Her injunction

being broken. Then she leaned forward and

heard them whisper in the warm breeze,

“Persephone returns! Persephone returns!”

Demeter leapt to Her feet and ran down

the hill through the fields into the forests.

She waved Her arms and cried, “Persephone

returns!” Everywhere Her energy was stirring,

pushing, bursting forth into tender greenery

and pale young petals. Animals shed old fur

and rolled in the fresh, clean grass while birds

sang out, “Persephone returns! Persephone

returns!”

When Persephone ascended from a dark

chasm, there was Demeter with a cape of

white crocus for Her Daughter. They ran

to each other and hugged and cried and

laughed and hugged and danced and danced

and danced. The mortals saw everywhere the

miracles of Demeter’s bliss and rejoiced in

the new life of spring. Each winter they join

Demeter in waiting through the bleak season

of Her Daughter’s absence. Each spring they

are renewed by the signs of Persephone’s

return.

Patricia Reis, Drawing from Minoan and Mycenaean

ENDNOTES:

1 Lewis R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States , vol.

3 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 28, 48-50.

2 Jane Ellen Harrison , The Religion of Ancient Greece

(London: Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd., 1905),

51-52.

3 Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study

of Greek Religion (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press, 1922), 120-131; also R.F. Willetts,

Cretan Cults and Festivals , (London: Routledge and

Kegan Paul, 1962), 152.

4 Ibid., Harrison, Prolegomena , 120.

5 Harrison, Religion of Ancient Greece , 51.

6 E.O. James, The Cult of the Mother Goddess: An

Archaeological and Documentary Study (New York:

Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1959), 153.

7 Sir Arthur Evans, The Earlier Religion of Greece in

the Light of Cretan Discoveries (London: Macmillan

and Co. Ltd., 1931), 8.

8 Harrison, Religion of Ancient Greece , 52.

9 Farnell, Cults of the Greek States , 28, 48-50.

10 Ibid., 8.

11 Ibid., 48-50.

12 Jane Ellen Harrison, Myths of Greece and Rome ,

(London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1927), 73.

13 Harrison, Prolegomena , 263, 274.

14 Gunther Zuntz, Persephone: Three Essays on Religion

and Thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1971), 75-77.

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