My first introduction to greek mythology was in the 7th
grade and Mr. Edgil’s literature class. We read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology
class. I remember the basic story.
Demeter couldn’t find her daughter Persephone. Persephone
had been kidnapped by Hades. Zeus helped convince Hades to release Persephone
but Hades had convinced Persephone to eat some of the pomegranate fruit. Demeter
consented to let Persephone stay with Hades for part of the year.
I don’t remember much
other than starting to ask why we didn’t still worship the old ones. (Keep in
mind this was in the beginning of my Jesus freak stage but the seed was sown. )
Fast forward to Minneapolis the year 1996. I had been
attending college at Minneapolis Community College and hanging out at the Amazon
bookstore at the edge of Loring park. I had just started studying Dianic Wicca
and reading the works of Z Budapest and Fionna Morgan. When I moved out of my
parents house and into my first apartment, I held my first solitary ritual
honoring the Demeter and Persephone without really understanding what I was
doing. I lit a candle, did a self-blessing ritual and ate a pomegranate.
18 years and several initiations later, I am not sure if I
have a deeper understanding or just a better context for an agrarian cycle
based culture and rituals that honor that cycle.
I spent the early years of my life on a farm. My father was
a nursery man and grew dwarf fruit trees. He also raised a small amount of
animals that were our food. Like most farm families, in the spring and summer months
your time is spent outside preparing fields, sowing crops, and tending to the
vegetable garden beds and animal raising. After the harvest, the activities
turn indoors to crafting, food storage, and other projects that can be done
indoors. Then, at some point it gets warm again and the season shifts focus to
the outdoors again.
It’s our experience that informs us about our world. The
Eleusinian mysteries are based entirely on that process of seasonal change and
how they inform us about life, death, and rebirth. The wheel of the year.
I find it interesting that as we grow in our understanding
of the world around us, our understanding of the ancient world and mythology
changes as well.
For Instance Hades is still Lord of the Underworld and the Dead
but as we understand how the fertile earth affects our economy and how earth
becomes fertile he also starts becoming the patron of wealth and power in
addition to death and what happens after we die.
As we delve into our own experience of being a rebellious child,
we develop the understanding that Persephone could have been walking in her own
power. We get this idea that she is willingly seeking out Hades to get a better
understanding of the mysteries of life and death that our parents try to shield
us from. However, just because the daughter may have willingly gone off with
her bad boy, it does not invalidate the perception of the parent that she was
kidnapped or taken against her will.
There is always more than one view of the story. That is a
mystery in its own right.
For my own self, I have been going through a transformation
process. It is almost a year that I left my family and coven. I have cocooned
myself to grieve, heal and let go. While normally resurrection stories more
happen in the spring, mine seems to be happening now. Relationships that were
dead or dying or coming back to life and there are new relationships that are
being born to see what will be. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the ashes
of my life have done its job to fertilize and strengthen what remains and I
rise again. Ready to do my own celebrating with not just Hades but Dionysus as
well, honoring the harvest that is.
Blessed Be.
