DEMETER
Goddess of grain and the maternal archetype,represents a woman's drive to provide physical and spiritual sustenance for her children.

Vulnerable Goddess

Virtues:
Ability to be maternal
Nurturing of others
Generosity

Vices:
Depression
Burnout
Fostering dependency
Unplanned pregnancy

Also know as Cere and daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Demeter is the Goddess of corn and grain, bread and agriculture. She is depicted as crowned and holding sheafs of wheat and a torch. Demeter gave birth to Persephone. When Persephone was abducted into the underworld by Hades, She renounced her duties as goddess, began a fast and went into exile from Olympus. She spread the knowledge of the cultivation of corn. During her exile the earth became barren until Zeus demanded that Hades return Persephone. However,Persephone had eaten from a pomegranate and was forever bound to the underworld. As a compromise, she was allowed to rise up into the world with the first growth of spring and return to the underworld at seed sowing in fall. And so the Earth is barren in the winter, while Demeter mourns, and becomes fruitful again when Persephone is released.

Demeter made herself known to the children of Eleusis, who raised her a temple and instituted the Eleusinian mysteries. In Sept.-Oct., the candidates for initiation purified themselves in the sea, then processed down the sacred path from Athens to Eleusis. The rites remain secret, but involve a search for a mill for grinding corn, and a spiritual experience. During the rites, women, men and slaves were all treated as equal.