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Nov 6, 2007 - 11:02 AM |
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Persephone |
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We often identify Virgo with Persephone. She was the daughter of Zeus' sister Demeter (goddess of agriculture and guardian of marriage) and Zeus (making Zeus Persephone's uncle and father). One day Persephone was out to pick flowers. She strolled around the meadows, collecting roses, hyacinths and lilies and bound wreaths of them. Persephone went ahead to where she thought she spotted an especially beautiful narcissus. Just as she bent down to take it, she heard a tremendous sound shaking the earth and there, in front of her she saw the ground opening itself and from out of the underground there rushed a chariot drawn by four black horses. The chariot was driven by a man with dark features and with a strange, black crown on his head. It was easy to see that he was some kind of a king.
Terrified, Persephone began to run, but was soon caught by the dark king who lifted her up and seated her by himself in the chariot. Persephone cried and called out for her mother, but to no avail, the chariot disappeared into the hole and the ground closed itself after them, leaving no trace and no sound.
When Demeter discovered her precious daughter missing, she began a frantic search. She sought her without ceasing, not eating or sleeping. At last she learned Hades had taken her daughter; she went to persuade Hades to give her daughter back, but he would not listen to her. In her grief, she failed in her duties as goddess of agriculture. That year was the most dreadful and cruel ever experienced by humanity. No seed sprang up from the ground. People died of starvation and Demeter herself looked feeble.
After watching the famine's progression, Zeus took matters into his own hand. He spoke gently to Demeter, trying to persuade her to do her job. But she would not listen, and replied she would never let anything grow on the earth until she saw her child, Persephone.
Zeus realized his brother Hades must yield. He eventually did, and Zeus told Demeter that her daughter could come home, provided she had not eaten anything while in the underworld. He sent the messenger to the underworld to fetch Persephone. Hades, downcast, knew he must obey the word of Zeus. Persephone was elated to hear the news that she could finally return to her mother. Before her departure with Hermes, Hades told her not to forget him, and to think kindly of him. He tricked her to eat a few pomegranate seeds, knowing in his heart that if she did so she must return to him.
Demeter and Persephone had a happy reunion, they had a lot to talk about. Demeter grieved when she learned about the pomegranate seeds. Zeus sent his mother Rhea to speak to Demeter. Rhea explained that Persephone could remain with her 8 months out of a year, but the rest of the year, she has to go back down to the underworld to be with Hades. Demeter understood and apologized for the desolation she had brought about. She made the fields rich and productive again, but during the four months that Persephone is in the underworld, she still grieves for her daughter, letting winter rule the world.
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Christian just called me after her now weekly checkup. According to the doctor, little Persephone will be here in three or four days at most.
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