Greek Goddess Demeter - Your Inner Goddess

The Greek goddess Demeter is the goddess of agriculture and especially of corn. But she’s just as familiar with anything under ground as anything that grows above ground.

Illustration by Camila Carrion. To buy the original click here.

Demeter was the chief deity of the Eleusinian mysteries, a secret religious cult connected to reincarnation. If Demeter is your goddess within you know the secrets of death and rebirth. You know that death is simply transformation and that anything that dies will be reborn. You are deeply connected to earth and have an instinctive knowledge of the seasons, of planting the right seed at the right time so that the result will be growth.

The Greek goddess Demeter a sister of Zeus, who in typical style seduced her and made her pregnant – the result was the daughter Persephone, a girl of striking beauty, often called Core, girl.

One day Persephone was picking flowers with her girlfriends, and walked a bit away from them to pick a beautiful and rare narcissus. Her uncle Hades, god of the under world, desired her, and now he opened the earth and came out of the ground to abduct her, to marry her and make her queen of the underworld. Demeter was searching for her everywhere, but it took nine days before the sun god Helios, as the only one, would tell her what had happened. And not only that, he told her that the abduction had happened with the consent of Zeus.

In mourning Demeter laid the earth barren. Without her blessings nothing would grow and earth became an inhospitable place, where no one could live. Zeus was finally forced to act, and sent his messenger, the god Hermes, down to the underworld to persuade Hades to let Persephone return to her mother. Hades did agree, but on one condition: If Persephone ate anything at all in the underworld she’d belong there forever. Of course the young girl couldn’t resist when Hades presented her with a lovely pomegranate (yes, a kind of apple – they probably didn’t have chocolate in those days!) She took one bite and swallowed some seeds, enough for Hades now to claim her. But in a final agreement it was decided that Persephone would stay with Demeter for eight months of the year, while the rest of the year she’d spend with her husband in the underworld. This is why earth is barren for the four winter months.

If Demeter is your goddess within you have green fingers and dirty nails. You absolutely need a garden and to be in touch with soil. You love to grow your own vegetables and flowers – from your own seeds. You’d never just buy a plant at the garden centre in the spring to let it die in the autumn, without taking seeds to make sure the plant will be reborn next year.

You know what plants need to grow, you know that the earth itself nurtures us. And you know what’s below earth, below the surface. If Demeter is your inner goddess you might have a fascination for mines, caves, gold, oil and diamonds – anything valuable found under the ground. And the fascination might include the underworld, whether it’s crime in real life or crime books, or any hidden mysteries. You love to do research, to reveal secrets and find hidden mysteries.

In ancient Greece Eleusis was the most important city in Attica, next to Athens. Up to a 30 000 people could participate in the nine days long celebration of Persephone’s return to earth in the spring. Those who were initiated into the mysteries had to swear to keep silent about what was going on. And like anyone initiated to these secret religious ceremonies, there’s an aura of secret surrounding you, too. You don’t easily reveal your thoughts and ideas and don’t feel obligated to tell everyone about your whereabouts (though everyone knows you’re probably out in the garden digging!).