Hades appeared and forcefully decided to take Kore to live with him in the Underworld. Suddenly, the earth beneath her cracked open and a chariot pulled by black horses surfaced. The young Kore (Persephone), daughter of vegetation Goddess Demeter, was picking flowers by the lakeside. For the initiated, the rebirth of Persephone symbolized the eternity of life which flows from generation to generation, and they believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife. Followers of the cult of Demeter and Persephone celebrated in a religious festival which led its initiates through a symbolic life, death, and rebirth. The Eleusinian Mysteries were the secret re-enactment of this myth which occured once a year in Eleusis, Greece. According to the Eleusinian Mysteries, Persephone divided her time between Earth and Hades, acting as Goddess of grain and Queen of the Underworld for each half of the year. Kore is her name as a vegetation goddess. Peridot, green Tourmaline, and Dioptase are excellent bright green crystals.Ĭitrine, Gold, and Topaz are excellent golden colored crystals with which to celebrate the spring growth and coming harvest.Persephone is also called ‘Kore,’ which means both ‘daughter’ and ‘maiden’ in Greek. Persephone should be honored with altars of flowers and with crystals that express the joy of spring with bright colors of green and gold, reflecting the new growth of grain, and the harvest. Spring is a glorious time when the world gets Persephone’s beauty back, and her mother again gives her gifts of growth and harvest. Enjoy and celebrate her return to the world each year. Honor Persephone as the Goddess of Spring. However, she is considered to be a kind and understanding Queen. Whenever she goes to the underworld her hair and eyes turn dark and when she returns back from the underworld her hair turns blonde and her eyes turn back to blue. In the winter, Persephone is the Queen of the Underworld. For when she is in the Underworld, Demeter takes away the gifts of grain and harvest until she returns. In the late fall, when she has to go back to the Underworld, the world gets quiet, cold, and forbidding. There is dancing and singing, and celebrations of the new life and the return of Persephone. Unfortunately Persephone had eaten a number of pomegranate seeds that bound her to the Underworld, one month per year for each seed.Įach year when Persephone returns to the world from the Underworld, the earth again is alive with new growth. Zeus couldn’t let the Earth die so he allowed for Persephone to return home if she had not tasted food in the Underworld. Demeter halted all plants from flowering and ripening. Grief and fury overwhelmed Demeter when she heard the news. Demeter soon learned that Zeus allowed Hades to marry Persephone. We shall never know.ĭemeter, upset that her daughter was gone, went out to the ends of the Earth to find her child. Some accounts say that seeing that Hades loved her, and knowing Demeter’s temper, Zeus suggested the abduction to Hades. Again, some stories say that her father, Zeus was mixed up in the abduction. One story points a finger at Aphrodite, who fearing that Persephone would remain a virgin, instructed her son Eros (Cupid) to shoot his sharpest arrow through Hades’ heart.Īfraid that Demeter would not allow her to depart to the Underworld with him, Hades abducted Persephone while she was picking flowers. Hades, the God of the Underworld wanted Persephone to become his bride. She was honored as Kore, meaning “Beautiful Maiden.” She was Demeter’s daughter, and Demeter loved her truly. Persephone was a young goddess that lived apart from the others and delighted in picking flowers in the woods. Her story is one of abduction, love, grief, and celebration. She is called Kore: Beautiful Maiden, She is also the Queen of the Underworld. Daughter of Demeter and Zeus, Persephone is the beautiful goddess of spring.
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