Demeter and Persephone: The
Self-Renewal of the Divine Feminine
Prepare Yourself. Prepare
Yourself.
Open the Way.
Breathe Now. Be Now. Open the
Way.
Abbi
Spinner McBride Fire
of Creation
As
the mystical Pisces Full Moon rises, I wonder where to start this
meditation on the Divine Mother—Daughter, and I hear Abbi Spinner's
haunting chant, “Prepare
Yourselves”
playing in my body. So I sing along and follow the chant and
suddenly find myself walking with others in a solemn torch-lit
procession down a sacred road. I'm on my way to the initiation at
Eleusis in honor of Demeter and Persephone. I'm on my way to
encounter my eternal Being.
Prepare
Yourself. Open the Way.
Prepare
Yourself. This is a call to
step outside our daily reality and step into sacred space. The
masculine energy within us makes a decision to follow the path of
Initiation. It takes integrity and discipline to make that choice.
Open
the Way. This is a call to
allow something new to enter our lives.
It is a call to the feminine energy within each of us, for the Divine
Feminine's gifts are openness, receptivity and transformation.
Breathe
Now. Be Now. Open the Way.
Just
as a woman's body opens with the breath to enjoy sex and to give
birth, we are called by Demeter and Persephone's mystery of renewal
to open ourselves to our personal renewal. It takes trust and
courage to be this opened, as any woman will tell you.
So
this is how the Goddess Demeter/Persephone presented Herself to me.
As an energy of hope, of strength, and of renewal. As the knowledge
of Eternal Life. As the Wisdom that Life and Death are One.
Virgo
the Virgin
Constellation of Virgo
With
the Sun now traveling through the sign of Virgo, the Eternal Virgin,
it is time to honor the ancient Great Mother of Life and Death,
Demeter and Persephone. Long before Jesus the Christ died and was
re-born again, the Goddess went through her natural transformation,
descending to the Underworld of Renewal to bring back the riches of
Life. Virgo is symbolized by a celestial Woman bearing a sheaf of
wheat. She is the source of the Harvest. She is also the Virgin
Mother, with her Child seated in her lap, symbolic of the life she
brings forth. She is both seed and fruit, Mother and Daughter.
When
I carried my daughter in my womb, my body contained all of my eggs as
well as all of my daughter's eggs. The potential of future life.
Each daughter's mother carries the future within her body. This is
the mystery of the Divine Feminine.
The
Goddess blessed her daughters with the wisdom of the natural
processes of life, of ebb and flow, of building up and letting go,
although patriarchy is doing a great job of separating women from our
natural instincts and powers. As Father's Daughters, modern women
have given their allegiance to the masculine vision of achievement
and individualism, rather than to our unique feminine gifts of wisdom
and individuality. We have lost touch with our feminine powers
because patriarchy willed it so. But women can reclaim these powers,
as they are manifested in our bodies and within nature.
That's
when we discover the Goddess' powers of renewal. Each month when
women shed our menstrual blood and are renewed, we are participating
in the cosmic laws of creation and destruction, of life and death.
We can look at the transformation during the Moon's cycle and know
that our bodies are responding to it. Each month, a woman's body is
renewed as virgin, as mother and as crone. We instinctively know
there is no death, only cycles.
This
is the mystery of Demeter and Persephone. This is the initiation
that both women and men sought at Eleusis. How life comes out of
death, which in turn gives birth to new life. The eternal becoming
of our souls.
The
Eleusinian Mysteries
Demeter at Eleusis
The
great matriarchal societies existed from at least 7000 to 3500 BCE.
They were agricultural societies, and their goddesses reflected their
experience. It was the growing cycles of wheat and grains, legumes
and fruits which sustained them and so the Great Goddess reflected
this lifestyle. Their experience was of life as a cycle, where their
deities were born, matured, died and were resurrected. Demeter
became the Goddess of the Grain and her daughter Persephone became
the power of the Seed, which in turn brought new grain and life back
to the world after the Winter's cold.
After
the great Aryan invasions beginning in 4000 BCE, this natural
knowledge was saved as the psychological and spiritual initiations of
the mystery religions, whose main theme was the death of the old and
the birth of the new, the birth of spiritual awareness out of our
humanity, the alchemical transformation of gold/consciousness out of
lead/unconsciousness. Remember, patriarchy values linear time over
cyclical time. That's why most modern people don't believe in
reincarnation, which is a cyclical belief in the return of the soul
to life until it achieves enlightenment, rather than one lifetime
with a beginning, middle and end.
The
old legends say that Demeter first brought agriculture to Eleusis,
producing the first wheat in the ancient world. But she was never
just the all bountiful, abundant Earth Mother. She was also her
Daughter, Persephone, who had to take the Underworld journey of death
and be reborn in the Spring. In the Underworld, Persephone was
married to Plutus/Pluto/Hades, the lord of the wealth of the
Underworld, he who guarded the inner riches of Life. He shows up in
the Mysteries as the son, the lover and the wise old man, for he is
the energy of Life and evolution. (Just as the planet Pluto is today
in astrology.)
The
symbols associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries are traditional
agricultural symbols, but they became metaphors for the psychological
transformation of our consciousness.
“What the cornucopia represents is that vessel of our own psyche out of which the crop must come, out of which the flower must bloom, and the figure carrying it can be either the child, the puer aeternus, or the old man. The woman (Demeter) represents the fostering field itself, the very source. The male (Plutus/child/old man) is simply the agent of the female in these systems: he is the one who represents the active arm, you might say, of the one whose body is really the body of giving, receiving and nourishing.” (Joseph Campbell, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine, p. 192.)
Of
all the thousands of people who went to participate in the Eleusinian
Mysteries, not one person ever revealed what went on there. The
Mystery stayed a mystery. But we can reconstruct some of it from the
ancient myths and understand that people were given an experience
of
eternal life. They came to know that death is an illusion and that
we partake in the eternal life of Spirit.
Jean Delville (1867-1953)
Women of Eleusis
This
is how the ancients experienced this Divine Mother/Daughter energy;
as the eternal round of life and death here on Earth. As we enter
into the death cycle of the year in the North, learn the lesson of
these two aspects of the Great Goddess. When you let go and accept
what needs to pass on, new life will surely come to you.
Prepare
yourself. Prepare yourself. Open the Way!
Blessed
Be!
Cathy
Bibliography
Joseph
Campbell, Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine,
Ed. Safron Rossi, PhD. (Novato, CA.: Joseph Campbell Foundation, New
World Library, 2013)
Homeric
Hymn to Demeter
Copyright:
2015 Cathy Lynn Pagano
The
Homeric Hymns of ancient Greece tell the story of
Demeter and Persephone this way.
[Note:
This Homeric Hymn, composed in approximately the 7th century BCE,
served for centuries thereafter as the canonical hymn of the
Eleusinian Mysteries. The text was translated from the Greek by Hugh
G. Evelyn-White and first published by the Loeb Classical Library in
1914.]
Eleusinian Mysteries
I
begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter, awful goddess -- of her and her
trim-ankled daughter whom Hades rapt away, given to him by all-seeing
Zeus the loud-thunderer. Apart from Demeter, lady of the golden sword
and glorious fruits, she was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters
of Oceanus and gathering flowers over a soft meadow, roses and
crocuses and beautiful violets, irises also and hyacinths and the
narcissus which Earth made to grow at the will of Zeus and to please
the Host of Many [Hades], to be a snare for the bloom-like girl -- a
marvelous, radiant flower. It was a thing of awe whether for
deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its root grew a hundred
blooms and it smelled most sweetly, so that all wide heaven above and
the whole earth and the sea's salt swell laughed for joy. And the
girl was amazed and reached out with both hands to take the lovely
toy; but the wide-pathed earth yawned there in the plain of Nysa, and
the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon her.
He
caught her up reluctant on his golden car and bare her away
lamenting. Then she cried out shrilly with her voice, calling upon
her father, Zeus, who is most high and excellent. But no one, either
of the deathless gods or of mortal men, heard her voice, nor yet the
olive-trees bearing rich fruit: only tenderhearted Hecate,
bright-coiffed, heard the girl from her cave, and the lord Helios,
Hyperion's bright son, as she cried to her father, the Son of Cronos.
But he was sitting aloof, apart from the gods, in his temple where
many pray, and receiving sweet offerings from mortal men. So he who
is Ruler of Many and Host of Many, was bearing her away by leave of
Zeus on his immortal chariot -- his own brother's child and all
unwilling.
[Line
33] And so long as she, the goddess, yet beheld earth and starry
heaven and the strong-flowing sea where fishes shoal, and the rays of
the sun, and still hoped to see her dear mother and the tribes of the
eternal gods, so long hope calmed her great heart for all her
trouble. . . . and the heights of the mountains and the depths of the
sea rang with her immortal voice: and her queenly mother heard her.
Bitter
pain seized her heart, and she rent the covering upon her divine hair
with her dear hands: her dark cloak she cast down from both her
shoulders and sped, like a wild-bird, over the firm land and yielding
sea, seeking her child. But no one would tell her the truth, neither
god nor mortal man; and of the birds of omen none came with true news
for her. Then for nine days queenly Demeter wandered over the earth
with flaming torches in her hands, so grieved that she never tasted
ambrosia and the sweet draught of nectar, nor sprinkled her body with
water. But when the tenth enlightening dawn had come, Hecate, with a
torch in her hands, met her, and spoke to her and told her news:
"Queenly
Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of good gifts, what god of
heaven or what mortal man has rapt away Persephone and pierced with
sorrow your dear heart? For I heard her voice, yet saw not with my
eyes who it was. But I tell you truly and shortly all I know."
[Line
59] So, then, said Hecate. And the daughter of rich-haired Rhea
answered her not, but sped swiftly with her, holding flaming torches
in her hands. So they came to Helios, who is watchman of both gods
and men, and stood in front of his horses: and the bright goddess
inquired of him: "Helios, do you at least regard me, goddess as
I am, if ever by word or deed of mine I have cheered your heart and
spirit. Through the fruitless air I heard the thrilling cry of my
daughter whom I bare, sweet scion of my body and lovely in form, as
of one seized violently; though with my eyes I saw nothing. But you
-- for with your beams you look down from the bright upper air over
all the earth and sea -- tell me truly of my dear child if you have
seen her anywhere, what god or mortal man has violently seized her
against her will and mine, and so made off."
So
said she. And the Son of Hyperion answered her: "Queen Demeter,
daughter of rich-haired Rhea, I will tell you the truth; for I
greatly reverence and pity you in your grief for your trim-ankled
daughter. None other of the deathless gods is to blame, but only
cloud-gathering Zeus who gave her to Hades, her father's brother, to
be called his buxom wife. And Hades seized her and took her loudly
crying in his chariot down to his realm of mist and gloom. Yet,
goddess, cease your loud lament and keep not vain anger
unrelentingly: Hades, the Ruler of Many, is no unfitting husband
among the deathless gods for your child, being your own brother and
born of the same stock: also, for honour, he has that third share
which he received when division was made at the first and is
appointed lord of those among whom he dwells."
So
he spake, and called to his horses: and at his chiding they quickly
whirled the swift chariot along, like long-winged birds.
[Line
90] But grief yet more terrible and savage came into the heart of
Demeter, and thereafter she was so angered with the dark-clouded Son
of Cronos that she avoided the gathering of the gods and high
Olympus, and went to the towns and rich fields of men, disfiguring
her form a long while. And no one of men or women knew her when they
saw her, until she came to the house of wise Celeus who then was lord
of fragrant Eleusis. Vexed in her dear heart, she sat near the
wayside by the Maiden Well, from which the women of the place were
used to draw water, in a shady place over which grew an olive shrub.
And she was like an ancient woman who is cut off from childbearing
and the gifts of garland-loving Aphrodite, like the nurses of king's
children who deal justice, or like the house-keepers in their echoing
halls. There the daughters of Celeus, son of Eleusis, saw her, as
they coming for easy-drawn water, to carry it in pitchers of bronze
to their dear father's house: four were they and like goddesses in
the flower of their girlhood, Callidice and Cleisidice and lovely
Demo and Callithoe who was the eldest of them all. They knew her not,
-- for the gods are not easily discerned by mortals --, but startling
near by her spoke winged words:
"Old
mother, whence are you of folk born long ago? Why are you gone away
from the city and do not draw near the houses? For there in the shady
halls are women of just such age as you, and others younger; and they
would welcome you both by word and by deed."
[Line
118] Thus they said. And she, that queen among goddesses answered
them saying: "Hail, dear children, whosoever you are of
woman-kind. I will tell you my story; for it is not unseemly that I
should tell you truly what you ask. Doso [Giver] is my name, for my
stately mother gave it me. And now I am come from Crete over the
sea's wide back, -- not willingly; but pirates brought me thence by
force of strength against my liking. Afterwards they put in with
their swift craft to Thoricus, and these the women landed on the
shore in full throng and the men likewise, and they began to make
ready a meal by the stern-cables of the ship. But my heart craved not
pleasant food, and I fled secretly across the dark country and
escaped my masters, that they should not take me unpurchased across
the sea, there to win a price for me. And so I wandered and am come
here: and I know not at all what land this is or what people are in
it. But may all those who dwell on Olympus give you husbands and
birth of children as parents desire, so you take pity on me, maidens,
and show me this clearly that I may learn, dear children, to the
house of what man and woman I may go, to work for them cheerfully at
such tasks as belong to a woman of my age. Well could I nurse a new
born child, holding him in my arms, or keep house, or spread my
masters' bed in a recess of the well-built chamber, or teach the
women their work."
So
said the goddess. And straightway the unwed maiden Callidice,
goodliest in form of the daughters of Celeus, answered her and said:
[Line
147] "Mother, what the gods send us, we mortals bear perforce,
although we suffer; for they are much stronger than we. ... if you
will, stay here; and we will go to our father's house and tell
Metaneira, our mother, all this matter fully, that she may bid you
rather come to our home than search after the houses of others. She
has an only son, late-born, who is being nursed in our well-built
house, a child of many prayers and welcome: if you could bring him up
until he reached the full measure of youth, any one of womankind who
should see you would straightway envy you, such gifts would our
mother give for his upbringing."
So
she spake: and the goddess bowed her head in assent. And they filled
their shining vessels with water and carried them off rejoicing.
Quickly they came to their father's great house and straightway told
their mother according as they had heard and seen. Then she bade them
go with all speed and invite the stranger to come for a measureless
hire. As hinds or heifers in spring time, when sated with pasture,
bound about a meadow, so they, holding up the folds of their lovely
garments, darted down the hollow path, and their hair like a crocus
flower streamed about their shoulders. And they found the good
goddess near the wayside where they had left her before, and led her
to the house of their dear father. And she walked behind, distressed
in her dear heart, with her head veiled and wearing a dark cloak
which waved about the slender feet of the goddess.
[Line
184] Soon they came to the house of heaven-nurtured Celeus and went
through the portico to where their queenly mother sat by a pillar of
the close-fitted roof, holding her son, a tender scion, in her bosom.
And the girls ran to her. But the goddess walked to the threshold:
and her head reached the roof and she filled the doorway with a
heavenly radiance. Then awe and reverence and pale fear took hold of
Metaneira, and she rose up from her couch before Demeter, and bade
her be seated. But Demeter, bringer of seasons and giver of perfect
gifts, would not sit upon the bright couch, but stayed silent with
lovely eyes cast down until careful Iambe placed a jointed seat for
her and threw over it a silvery fleece. Then she sat down and held
her veil in her hands before her face. A long time she sat upon the
stool without speaking because of her sorrow, and greeted no one by
word or by sign, but rested, never smiling, and tasting neither food
nor drinks because she pined with longing for her daughter, until
careful Iambe -- who pleased her moods in aftertime also -- moved the
holy lady with many a quip and jest to smile and laugh and cheer her
heart. Then Metaneira filled a cup with sweet wine and offered it to
her; but she refused it, for she said it was not lawful for her to
drink red wine, but bade them mix meal and water with soft mint and
give her to drink. And Metaneira mixed the draught and gave it to the
goddess as she bade. So the great queen Deo received it to observe
the sacrament.
[Line
212] And of them all, Metaneira first began to speak: "Hail,
lady! For I think you are not meanly but nobly born; truly dignity
and grace are conspicuous upon your eyes as in the eyes of kings that
deal justice. Yet we mortals bear per-force what the gods send us,
though we be grieved; for a yoke is set upon our necks. But now,
since you are come here, you shall have what I can bestow: and nurse
me this child whom the gods gave me in my old age and beyond my hope,
a son much prayed for. If you should bring him up until he reach the
full measure of youth, any one of woman-kind that sees you will
straightway envy you, so great reward would I give for his
upbringing."
Then
rich-haired Demeter answered her: "And to you, also, lady, all
hail, and may the gods give you good! Gladly will I take the boy to
my breast, as you bid me, and will nurse him. Never, I ween, through
any heedlessness of his nurse shall witchcraft hurt him nor yet the
Undercutter: for I know a charm far stronger than the Woodcutter, and
I know an excellent safeguard against woeful witchcraft."
When
she had so spoken, she took the child in her fragrant bosom with her
divine hands: and his mother was glad in her heart. So the goddess
nursed in the palace Demophoon, wise Celeus' goodly son whom
well-girded Metaneira bare. And the child grew like some immortal
being, not fed with food nor nourished at the breast: for by day
rich-crowned Demeter would anoint him with ambrosia as if he were the
offspring of a god and breathe sweetly upon him as she held him in
her bosom. But at night she would hide him like a brand in the heart
of the fire, unknown to his dear parents. And it wrought great wonder
in these that he grew beyond his age; for he was like the gods face
to face. And she would have made him deathless and unaging, had not
well-girded Metaneira in her heedlessness kept watch by night from
her sweet-smelling chamber and spied. But she wailed and smote her
two hips, because she feared for her son and was greatly distraught
in her heart; so she lamented and uttered winged words:
[Line
248] "Demophoon, my son, the strange woman buries you deep in
fire and works grief and bitter sorrow for me."
Thus
she spoke, mourning. And the bright goddess, lovely-crowned Demeter,
heard her, and was wroth with her. So with her divine hands she
snatched from the fire the dear son whom Metaneira had born
unhoped-for in the palace, and cast him from her to the ground; for
she was terribly angry in her heart. Forthwith she said to
well-girded Metaneira:
"Witless
are you mortals and dull to foresee your lot, whether of good or
evil, that comes upon you. For now in your heedlessness you have
wrought folly past healing; for -- be witness the oath of the gods,
the relentless water of Styx -- I would have made your dear son
deathless and unaging all his days and would have bestowed on him
ever-lasting honour, but now he can in no way escape death and the
fates. Yet shall unfailing honour always rest upon him, because he
lay upon my knees and slept in my arms. But, as the years move round
and when he is in his prime, the sons of the Eleusinians shall ever
wage war and dread strife with one another continually. Lo! I am that
Demeter who has share of honour and is the greatest help and cause of
joy to the undying gods and mortal men. But now, let all the people
build me a great temple and an altar below it and beneath the city
and its sheer wall upon a rising hillock above Callichorus. And I
myself will teach my rites, that hereafter you may reverently perform
them and so win the favour of my heart."
[Line
275] When she had so said, the goddess changed her stature and her
looks, thrusting old age away from her: beauty spread round about her
and a lovely fragrance was wafted from her sweet-smelling robes, and
from the divine body of the goddess a light shone afar, while golden
tresses spread down over her shoulders, so that the strong house was
filled with brightness as with lightning. And so she went out from
the palace.
And
straightway Metaneira's knees were loosed and she remained speechless
for a long while and did not remember to take up her late-born son
from the ground. But his sisters heard his pitiful wailing and sprang
down from their well-spread beds: one of them took up the child in
her arms and laid him in her bosom, while another revived the fire,
and a third rushed with soft feet to bring their mother from her
fragrant chamber. And they gathered about the struggling child and
washed him, embracing him lovingly; but he was not comforted, because
nurses and handmaids much less skillful were holding him now.
All
night long they sought to appease the glorious goddess, quaking with
fear. But, as soon as dawn began to show, they told powerful Celeus
all things without fail, as the lovely-crowned goddess Demeter
charged them. So Celeus called the countless people to an assembly
and bade them make a goodly temple for rich-haired Demeter and an
altar upon the rising hillock. And they obeyed him right speedily and
harkened to his voice, doing as he commanded. As for the child, he
grew like an immortal being.
[Line
301] Now when they had finished building and had drawn back from
their toil, they went every man to his house. But golden-haired
Demeter sat there apart from all the blessed gods and stayed, wasting
with yearning for her daughter. Then she caused a most dreadful and
cruel year for mankind over the all-nourishing earth: the ground
would not make the seed sprout, for rich-crowned Demeter kept it hid.
In the fields the oxen drew many a curved plough in vain, and much
white barley was cast upon the land without avail. So she would have
destroyed the whole race of man with cruel famine and have robbed
them who dwell on Olympus of their glorious right of gifts and
sacrifices, had not Zeus perceived and marked this in his heart.
First he sent golden-winged Iris to call rich-haired Demeter, lovely
in form. So he commanded. And she obeyed the dark-clouded Son of
Cronos, and sped with swift feet across the space between. She came
to the stronghold of fragrant Eleusis, and there finding dark-cloaked
Demeter in her temple, spake to her and uttered winged words:
"Demeter,
father Zeus, whose wisdom is everlasting, calls you to come join the
tribes of the eternal gods: come therefore, and let not the message I
bring from Zeus pass unobeyed."
Thus
said Iris imploring her. But Demeter's heart was not moved. Then
again the father sent forth all the blessed and eternal gods besides:
and they came, one after the other, and kept calling her and offering
many very beautiful gifts and whatever rights she might be pleased to
choose among the deathless gods. Yet no one was able to persuade her
mind and will, so wroth was she in her heart; but she stubbornly
rejected all their words: for she vowed that she would never set foot
on fragrant Olympus nor let fruit spring out of the ground, until she
beheld with her eyes her own fair-faced daughter.
[Line
334] Now when all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer heard this, he sent
the Slayer of Argus whose wand is of gold to Erebus, so that having
won over Hades with soft words, he might lead forth chaste Persephone
to the light from the misty gloom to join the gods, and that her
mother might see her with her eyes and cease from her anger. And
Hermes obeyed, and leaving the house of Olympus, straightway sprang
down with speed to the hidden places of the earth. And he found the
lord Hades in his house seated upon a couch, and his shy mate with
him, much reluctant, because she yearned for her mother. But she was
afar off, brooding on her fell design because of the deeds of the
blessed gods. And the strong Slayer of Argus drew near and said:
"Dark-haired
Hades, ruler over the departed, father Zeus bids me bring noble
Persephone forth from Erebus unto the gods, that her mother may see
her with her eyes and cease from her dread anger with the immortals;
for now she plans an awful deed, to destroy the weakly tribes of
earthborn men by keeping seed hidden beneath the earth, and so she
makes an end of the honours of the undying gods. For she keeps
fearful anger and does not consort with the gods, but sits aloof in
her fragrant temple, dwelling in the rocky hold of Eleusis."
So
he said. And Hades, ruler over the dead, smiled grimly and obeyed the
behest of Zeus the king. For he straightway urged wise Persephone,
saying:
[Line
360] "Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, go, and
feel kindly in your heart towards me: be not so exceedingly cast
down; for I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless
gods, that am own brother to father Zeus. And while you are here, you
shall rule all that lives and moves and shall have the greatest
rights among the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not
appease your power with offerings, reverently performing rites and
paying fit gifts, shall be punished for evermore."
When
he said this, wise Persephone was filled with joy and hastily sprang
up for gladness. But he on his part secretly gave her sweet
pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not
remain continually with grave, dark-robed Demeter. Then Hades the
Ruler of Many openly got ready his deathless horses beneath the
golden chariots And she mounted on the chariot and the strong Slayer
of Argus took reins and whip in his dear hands and drove forth from
the hall, the horses speeding readily. Swiftly they traversed their
long course, and neither the sea nor river-waters nor grassy glens
nor mountain-peaks checked the career of the immortal horses, but
they clave the deep air above them as they went. And Hermes brought
them to the place where rich-crowned Demeter was staying and checked
them before her fragrant temple.
[Line
384] And when Demeter saw them, she rushed forth as does a Maenad
down some thick-wooded mountain, while Persephone on the other side,
when she saw her mother's sweet eyes, left the chariot and horses,
and leaped down to run to her, and falling upon her neck, embraced
her. But while Demeter was still holding her dear child in her arms,
her heart suddenly misgave her for some snare, so that she feared
greatly and ceased fondling her daughter and asked of her at once:
"My child, tell me, surely you have not tasted any food while
you were below? Speak out and hide nothing, but let us both know. For
if you have not, you shall come back from loathly Hades and live with
me and your father, the dark-clouded Son of Cronos and be honoured by
all the deathless gods; but if you have tasted food, you must go back
again beneath the secret places of the earth, there to dwell a third
part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be
with me and the other deathless gods. But when the earth shall bloom
with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the
realm of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be a
wonder for gods and mortal men. And now tell me how he rapt you away
to the realm of darkness and gloom, and by what trick did the strong
Host of Many beguile you?"
[Line
405] Then beautiful Persephone answered her thus: "Mother, I
will tell you all without error. When luck-bringing Hermes came,
swift messenger from my father the Son of Cronos and the other Sons
of Heaven, bidding me come back from Erebus that you might see me
with your eyes and so cease from your anger and fearful wrath against
the gods, I sprang up at once for joy; but he secretly put in my
mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against
my will. Also I will tell how he rapt me away by the deep plan of my
father the Son of Cronos and carried me off beneath the depths of the
earth, and will relate the whole matter as you ask. All we were
playing in a lovely meadow. We were playing and gathering sweet
flowers in our hands, soft crocuses mingled with irises and
hyacinths, and rose-blooms and lilies, marvellous to see, and the
narcissus which the wide earth caused to grow yellow as a crocus.
That I plucked in my joy; but the earth parted beneath, and there the
strong lord, the Host of Many, sprang forth and in his golden chariot
he bore me away, all unwilling, beneath the earth: then I cried with
a shrill cry. All this is true, sore though it grieves me to tell the
tale."
[Line
434] So did they then, with hearts at one, greatly cheer each the
other's soul and spirit with many an embrace: their hearts had relief
from their griefs while each took and gave back joyousness.
Then bright-coiffed Hecate came near to them, and often did she
embrace the daughter of holy Demeter: and from that time the lady
Hecate was minister and companion to Persephone.
And
all-seeing Zeus sent a messenger to them, rich-haired Rhea, to bring
dark-cloaked Demeter to join the families of the gods: and he
promised to give her what rights she should choose among the
deathless gods and agreed that her daughter should go down for the
third part of the circling year to darkness and gloom, but for the
two parts should live with her mother and the other deathless gods.
Thus he commanded. And the goddess did not disobey the message of
Zeus; swiftly she rushed down from the peaks of Olympus and came to
the plain of Rharus, rich, fertile corn-land once, but then in nowise
fruitful, for it lay idle and utterly leafless, because the white
grain was hidden by design of trim-ankled Demeter. But afterwards, as
spring-time waxed, it was soon to be waving with long ears of corn,
and its rich furrows to be loaded with grain upon the ground, while
others would already be bound in sheaves. There first she landed from
the fruitless upper air: and glad were the goddesses to see each
other and cheered in heart. Then bright-coiffed Rhea said to Demeter:
[Line
459] "Come, my daughter; for far-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer
calls you to join the families of the gods, and has promised to give
you what rights you please among the deathless gods, and has agreed
that for a third part of the circling year your daughter shall go
down to darkness and gloom, but for the two parts shall be with you
and the other deathless gods: so has he declared it shall be and has
bowed his head in token. But come, my child, obey, and be not too
angry unrelentingly with the dark-clouded Son of Cronos; but rather
increase forthwith for men the fruit that gives them life."
So
spake Rhea. And rich-crowned Demeter did not refuse but straightway
made fruit to spring up from the rich lands, so that the whole wide
earth was laden with leaves and flowers. Then she went [to many
lands], and she showed the conduct of her rites and taught them all
her mysteries, awful mysteries which no one may in any way transgress
or pry into or utter, for deep awe of the gods checks the voice.
Happy is he among men upon earth who has seen these mysteries; but he
who is uninitiated and who has no part in them, never has lot of like
good things once he is dead, down in the darkness and gloom.
[Line
483] But when the bright goddess had taught them all, they went to
Olympus to the gathering of the other gods. And there they dwell
beside Zeus who delights in thunder, awful and reverend goddesses.
Right blessed is he among men on earth whom they freely love: soon
they do send Plutus as guest to his great house, Plutus who gives
wealth to mortal men.
And
now, queen of the land of sweet Eleusis and sea-girt Paros and rocky
Antron, lady, giver of good gifts, bringer of seasons, queen Deo, be
gracious, you and your daughter all beauteous Persephone, and for my
song grant me heart-cheering substance. And now I will remember you
and another song also.
