Vines and olives were at length discovered, and the blessings of Demeter and Persephone, of which one Triptolemus is said to have been the minister; before his time the animals had been eating one another.
Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain and the harvest, matters to my research because her story ties the turning of the seasons to a loss in the underworld, and because Donnelly placed her among the gods of Atlantis.
On Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus Hades takes Persephone to the underworld, and Demeter's grief makes her neglect her duties, so that famine falls and growth on Earth stops.
On The Sirens captivating voices and perilous allure the Sirens were once mortal maidens who served Persephone, the daughter of Demeter.
The Olympian Gods has Demeter among the children Cronus swallowed, until Zeus, helped by Metis, made him bring them back up.
On Despoina was primarily worshipped in Arcadia, particularly in Lycosura Despoina is the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon, at the heart of the Arcadian Mysteries, and her brother is Arion, the immortal horse born of the same union.
On Poseidon and Erymanthos the people of Erymanthos revered gods of the land and fertility, such as Demeter, Artemis and Pan.
And may we not suppose that vines appeared, which had previously no existence, and also olives, and the gifts of Demeter and her daughter, of which one Triptolemus was the minister, and that, before these existed, animals took to devouring each other as they do still?
Ignatius Donnelly, on The Aryan Colonies from Atlantis, traces the Eleusinian mysteries back to Plato's island: Poseidon stood at their base, and the ceremonies were tied to seed-time and harvest and to Demeter, or Ceres, whom he calls an Atlantean goddess and daughter of Chronos, the one who first taught the Greeks to use the plough and plant barley.
The Three Little Pigs’ 3,000-Year-Old Secret explains that pigs were sacrificed to Demeter and Persephone in the secret Thesmophoria rites, including a pregnant sow buried alive for Demeter.
On Mary of Bethany I quote Claire Heartsong's Anna, the Voice of the Magdalenes, in which Mary of Bethany recalls being introduced during her training to the warrior goddesses she calls the Dark Mothers, Demeter among them, with Sekhmet, Durga and Kali.
Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus
For every page I tagged with Demeter, see the Demeter tag archive.
Biodynamic agriculture is practiced globally under the Demeter label.
While receiving this training I was introduced to the warrior goddesses – ‘the Dark Mothers’ – Sekhmet, Durga, Kali, Demeter and many others.
After Hades abducts Persephone, Demeter searches for her daughter and causes famine on Earth.
She spends two-thirds of the year (8 months) on Earth with Demeter.
Zeus (Jupiter in Roman mythology), spared by his mother Rhea, rallied his siblings, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, and overthrew Cronus, imprisoning the Titans in Tartarus.
In Greece, during the secretive Thesmophoria rituals, pigs were sacrificed to Demeter and Persephone, goddesses of grain, fertility, and the underworld.
A pregnant sow was buried alive for Demeter.
They were maidens in the company of Persephone, daughter of Demeter.
In Hyginus' Fabulae, Demeter curses them for failing to step in.
Poseidon was at the base of them; the first hierophant, Eumolpus, was "a son of Poseidon," and all the ceremonies were associated with seed-time and harvest, and with Demeter or Ceres, an Atlantean goddess, daughter of Chronos, who first taught the Greeks to use the plough and to plant barley.
Despoina is primarily associated with the Arcadian Mysteries, a cult focused on Demeter and Poseidon.
Despoina is the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and fertility, and Poseidon, god of the sea and horses.
Despoina's brother is Arion, a divine, immortal horse, born from the same union of Demeter and Poseidon.
Despoina was worshipped in secretive rites similar to the Eleusinian Mysteries, which focused on Persephone and Demeter.
In a myth recounting Despoina's birth, Poseidon, as a stallion, pursued Demeter, who transformed into a mare to escape him.
During this event, Demeter's fury over the encounter is reflected in her epithet Erinys (Fury).
Despoina was primarily worshipped in Arcadia, particularly in Lycosura, where a temple dedicated to her and Demeter existed.
Despoina was often depicted alongside her mother, Demeter, and other chthonic deities.
Connection to Persephone: Despoina and Persephone share thematic similarities as daughters of Demeter, linked to fertility and the underworld.
She reminds us of the diversity within Greek religious practices, where major gods like Demeter and Poseidon had local offshoots or manifestations.
She is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, and Zeus, the king of the gods.
Hades, the god of the Underworld, abducted Persephone while she was gathering flowers in a meadow.He took her to the Underworld to be his wife, sparking grief and outrage from her mother, Demeter.
Demeter's sorrow over Persephone's disappearance caused her to neglect her duties, leading to famine and a halt in natural growth on Earth.
Persephone spends a third of the year with Hades (representing winter) and the rest with Demeter (spring and summer).
Persephone's only full sibling (sharing both Zeus and Demeter as parents) was Despoina, a lesser-known deity in Greek mythology associated with mysteries and fertility.
Despoina's name, meaning "mistress," reflects her connection to secretive rites similar to those of Persephone and Demeter.
Kronos then swallows his children as they are born: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.
These deities, including Zeus, were twelve in number: Zeus (or Jupiter), Hera (or Juno), Poseidon (or Neptune), Demeter (or Ceres), Apollo, Artemis (or Diana), Hephæstos (or Vulcan), Pallas Athena (or Minerva), Ares (or Mars), Aphrodite (or Venus), Hermes (or Mercury), and Hestia (or Vesta)." These were doubtless the twelve gods from whom the Egyptians derived their kings.
He married his sister Rhea, who bore him Pluto, Poseidon, Zeus, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera.
By Demeter (Ceres) he had Persephone (Proserpine); by Leto, Apollo and Artemis (Diana); by Dione, Aphrodite (Venus); by Semele, Dionysos (Bacchus); by Maia, Hermes (Mercury); by Alkmene, Hercules, etc., etc.
For instance, Keleos, who lived at Eleusis, near Athens, hospitably received Demeter, the Greek Ceres, the daughter of Poseidon, when she landed; and in return she taught him the use of the plough, and presented his son with the seed of barley, and sent him out to teach mankind how to sow and utilize that grain.
The people of Erymanthos were devoted to the worship of the gods, but they primarily revered deities associated with the land and fertility, such as Demeter, Artemis, and Pan.
The twelve Olympians were Zeus (king of the gods), Hera (queen of the gods), Poseidon (god of the sea), Demeter (goddess of the harvest), Athena (goddess of wisdom and war), Apollo (god of the sun and arts), Artemis (goddess of the hunt), Ares (god of war), Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty), Hephaestus (god of fire and metalworking), Hermes (messenger of the gods) and Hestia (goddess of the hearth).
With the help of Metis, Zeus gave Cronus an emetic potion, causing him to vomit up his swallowed children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.
Cronus (Kronos): The youngest of the Titans, leader of the first generation of Titans, and father of the first generation of Olympians (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter, and Hades).