Demeter

Demeter is the Megala Thea, the Great Goddess who is Mother, Provider and Protector of all. She is the Goddess of grain, fertility, motherhood. With her daughter Persephone she presides over the Great Mysteries of life and death.

Blessings

Demeter is the quintessential Mother Goddess, tender and loving, fierce and protective. She is the Grain Goddess, presiding over the fertility, growth and harvest of the fields. Her domain is the rich dark earth, its subterranean secrets and its abundant bounty. Her cult at Eleusis with her daughter Persephone endured for over two thousand years, with countless initiates. Together they rule the cycles of life, death and transformation.

God Of

  • Agriculture

Primary Cult Centers

  • Agrigentum
  • Athens
  • Cnidos
  • Eleusis
  • Lokroi
  • Priene
  • Sicily
  • Siris

Epithets

  • Anassa – Queen
  • Anesidora – Who Sends Up Gifts
  • Antaia – Besought by Prayers
  • Erinyes – Raging
  • Evalosia – Of Good Harvest
  • Hagnos – The Pure
  • Khloe – The Verdant
  • Kthonia – Of the Earth
  • Megala Meter – Great Mother
  • Megala Thea – Great Goddess
  • Melaina – The Black
  • Panagia – All-Holy
  • Plutodoteria – Wealth-Bestower
  • Thesmophoros – Of the Sacred Law

Symbols

Torch, Crown, Stalks of grain, Cornucopia, Poppies, Mint

Animals

Horse, Snake, Pig, Winged Dragon

Sacrifices

Grain, Poppy, Sunflower, Cypress, Storax, Myrrh, Civet, Olibanum, Bergamot, Baked goods, Local produce

Festivals

  • Epikleidia (Date unkown) –
  • Halao (26 Poseidon (December-January)) –
  • Skira (12 Skiraphorion (June-July)) –
  • Stenia (9 Puanepsion (October-November)) –
  • The Greater Mysteries (Boedromion 14-21 (September-October)) –
  • Thesmophoria (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. Buy locally produced food and get to know your farmers. Donate money or time to rape crisis counseling. Volunteer to work with children, who are our most precious resource.

More…

Articles

Ancient Hymns and Texts

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Modern Hymns and Devotions

Primary Sources

  • 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

Links

Modern Books

Demeter