Demeter
You let loose your divine power, and the Earth itself smiles.
Bring forth the corn and barley. The rice and the fruit of trees.
Let all that lives venture forth and partake of your generous bounty.
Let all who live fear too your righteous anger.
Take from this earth your divine power, oh mistress of life.
Let Winter blanket the Earth in snow and cold.
Reminder of your loss and pain, the cold and freezing rain.
Mourn the loss of life's innocents, and hold out the hope of rebirth.
Bless us all, holy mother, and be merciful.
Our Lady of the Corn
Demeter holds an awesome place in the scheme of things. She lends her life force to all that lives, and the Earth brings forth life in amazing abundance and variety. Without Demeter, there is no life. There is no growing season, no planting, no reaping of the earth's abundance. Demeter is also an archetype of the mother. Jealous of her children's attentions, over protective, and dangerous when her children are threatened. It is said that upon the death of her child, Persephone, Demeter withdrew her power from the Earth. That the world lay dying until Lord Hades returned what he had taken. It is said that Zeus, the childs father, gave her to Hades as bride, and that in the end, a compromise was reached that would allow Persephone to spend two thirds of the year with her beloved mother, and one third of it with her husband, the Lord of the Underworld. Thus Persephone became Queen of the Underworld, and in many ways, its supreme ruler, for it was through the power of these two Goddesses that reincarnation was possible.
But what was this time of Demeter's loss and mourning? Was this the Ice Age? After all, Gods are eternal, and what the writer of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter perceives as months could very well have been thousands of years, and our current seasons only our own experience of a still recovering world.
But, who is Demeter? What does this Goddess hold in her heart and in her divine mind that is of importance to us? It is, unfortunately, something that has been mostly lost to us today. It is the Great Eleusinian Mysteries which cannot be fully reconstructed, but which can be guessed at and profound truths come forth from what we do know. It is life after death.
One could surmise, that it was Persephone, child of Demeter, that brought hope to the dead. It was Persephone who brought her light into the dark realm below and offered the dead a chance to be useful once more, a chance to provide their life force to future generations, and for some, to be fully reincarnated into the world so that their special and enlightened souls could make the world a better place. People like Gandhi, King, Mother Teresa, etc. are examples of such souls.
The Christian idea of an afterlife was itself heavily influenced by the Greek belief in the power of the Two Goddesses and the promise of life after death they brought to the world. What was revealed to the initiates is not really known, but what we do know is that the Mysteries were celebrated and initiates fasted, walked for miles, and drank the kykeon as well as danced and worshipped and then finally a revelation. Putting their minds into a state open to divine visitation, the initiates left the mysteries different, and for two thousand years, yes, 2000, the mysteries were celebrated and lives were changed.