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Demeter
Blessing:
Demeter is a Goddess of the earth, especially of the cycles of growth and decay. But unlike Gaia, who is concerned with all life - plant, animal, human, etc - Demeter's focus is the tilled and cultivated soil of an agricultural community. She is also the Mother, intensely devoted to her daughter. When her daughter was stolen from her, she was prepared to stamp out all life in return. Instead of death, however, her grief gave rise to Mysteries of transformation and hope.
Epithets:
Erinus (Raging), Kabeiria (Mother of the Kabeiroi), Karpophoros (Bringing Fruit), Khloe (Verdant), Khthonia (Earthly One), Kidaria, Kourotrophos (Protector of Youth), Lousia (Mild), Melaina (Black), Meter (Mother)
Symbols:
torch, crown, stalks of grain
Animal(s):
horse, snake
Sacrifices:
grain, poppy, sunflower, cypress, storax, myrrh, civet, olibanum
Primary Cult Center(s):
Agrigentum, Cnidos, Priene, Sicily, Siris, Lokroi, Athens, and especially Eleusis
Festivals:
Epikleidia: (date unknown)
The Greater Mysteries: Boedromion 14-21 (September-October)
Halao: 26 Poseidon (December-January)
Skira: 12 Skiraphorion (June-July)
Stenia: 9 Puanepsion (October-November)
Thesmophoria: 9, 11-13 Puanepsion (October-November)
Ways to honor:
Plant and care for a garden. Even a small plant in a pot will help you connect with her, as you watch it grow and nourish it. Support the rights of farmers and migrant workers in orachards. Theirs is not an easy life, and yet without their toil, our country would grind to a hault. Donate money or time to rape crisis counsiling. Give of your time and gifts to children, who are so very important.
For more information:
Apollodorus' Library 1.1.5-1.2.1, 1.5.1-3, 1.6.1, 2.5.12, 2.6.1, 3.12.2, 3.6.8, 3.7.1, 3.12.1, 3.14.7
Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica 4.986-990
Aristophanes' Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria
Euripides' Helen 1301-1368
Hesiod's Theogony 453-506, 910-914, 965-974
Homer's Odyssey 5.125-128
Homeric Hymn to Demeter 2, 13
Homeric Hymn to Dionysos 1.5.3
Hyginus' Fabulae 83, 141, 146, 147
Hyginus' Poetica Astronomica 2.4, 2.25
Ovid's Metamorphoses 5.341-571, 6.118-119, 8.738-878, 9.422-423
Pausanias' Description of Greece 1.13.8, 1.14.3, 1.37.2, 2.5.8, 8.15.1-4, 8.25.2-8, 8.37.6, 8.42.1-13
