Mother and daughter, the spirits of barleycorn and love, and the queen of the dead, were honored with great and popular celebrations twice a year, at the time of sowing and the time of reaping. The Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece were the oldest and most revered of all the celebrations of the ancient Mediterranean.
...........................................................................................
"Blessed is he who, having seen these rites,
undertakes the way beneath the Earth.
He knows the end of life,
as well as its divinely granted beginning."
Pindar
..........................................................................
Goddess Demeter, Queen of Fertility
your love for your stolen daughter Persephone
made you leave your beloved Olympus
and vowed never to return, nor to allow crops to grow on earth
which grieved Zeus and caused him to order
Hades to return Persephone unharmed from the Underworld
and you Goddess Demeter
instructed the King of Eleusis in your Secret Mysteries
the sacred rites and teachings of your temple
which Aristotle, Sophocles, Plato, Cicero were initiated into
and Roman Emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius partook
your glorious ceremonies and purifications of the soul
which are beyond the fathom of human comprehension
known only to the priests and initiates
behind the blessed veil of the altar
that victorious encounter with the ineffable
sweet sacred meeting of the Divine
wondrous vision
the congruity of the beginning
and the end
of birth and death
the totality and the eternal generative ground of being
Copyright by Peter Paton 2006
excellent as always ...
A very well-written piece of mythology, Peter! As a goddess worshipper, I really enjoyed this poem.
Sage
Most Excellent....
TRASK
Susan
Regis (Reg)
Sending light and prayer ~~
(( Love And Intersesion, JoAnne )))
Thank you!!
Love Tinka
Birgit and Roger
Good day dear friend. GOOD DAY :D
Love,
Eileen
Susan
Simply superb writing and that picture is awesome! Very well done; bravo!
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in America, Karen Lynn in Texas. :D
Beautifully illustrated and written verse; well done!
May you and yours have a blessed Easter.
(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.