Autumn Equinox :: The Myth of Demeter and Kore, An Original Retelling
Demeter is the daughter of Rhea and Cronos and sister of Hades, Hestia, Hera, Poseidon and Zeus. She is the benevolent
mother, teacher and provider. The fertility of the fields and the bounty of the harvest are her domain and, though she
holds a seat on Mt. Olympus, she is an earth goddess known to disguise herself as a mortal woman so that she may feel the
rich soil under her feet and be surrounded by her mortal children. She has divine children as well, her son Plutus, the god
of wealth is the child personification of the bounty she offers man and by her brother Zeus, she bore a daughter whom she
called Kore, meaning simply “the girl”.
Kore was beautiful, joyful, charming and curious and her mother delighted in bringing her to earth where she could play and explore until she tired herself out. Mother and daughter were so often together and so alike one another that the locals began to call them ‘the Demeters’. As each year passed, the girl became more beautiful, her mother’s heart swelled with pride and gods and mortals alike paid compliment to Kore’s ability to bring light and joy wherever she went. Soon, the cacophony of compliments reached the ears of Aphrodite, goddess of love and most beautiful among the gods causing her to take notice of Kore. The once cherubic toddler had blossomed into a stunning, captivating maiden, gorgeous enough to rival even Aphrodite. Enraged by jealousy, Aphrodite enchanted the god Hades with visions of Kore.
From his dark home in the underworld, Hades lusted for the woman in his visions. He caught sight of her dancing through the fields accompanied by nymphs, smiling and laughing; taking such joy in the simplest of things. Hades looked around his own home, the House of Ais, filled with melancholy and forgetfulness, cold, moldering and dingy, in a realm light never touched and he knew he had to have her.
In the Upperworld, on a plain near Enna on the island of Sicily, Kore gathered wildflowers for her mother. The day was perfect, sunflowers turned to honor Helios high in the sky and Kore’s basket overflowed with vervain, poppies and pennyroyal; when one red bloom caught her eye. As she bent to pick the solitary blossom, the ground shook and rumbled beneath her feet, she fell to her hands and knees and a fissure opened in the surface of the earth. From the yawning darkness below charged four even blacker stallions, nostrils’ snorting flames and smoke, their hooves shooting sparks as they struck the soil of the Upperworld. Beneath coats gleaming with sweat, their muscles knotted as they hauled the black chariot of Hades from the cavernous darkness.
Kore struggled to rise, flight the only thing on her mind, but the Dark Lord reached out, grabbed her arm in his gloved hand and in the next moment she was in the chariot. The horses reared in unison, strained against the reigns and crushed the scattered wildflowers beneath their hooves as they whisked the maiden and their master back into the gaping hole. The horses slowed to a trot after they crossed the River Styx and were safely passed Cerebus, the three headed dog whose slobbering barks Hades had silenced with only a glance. Hades turned to the girl, wanting to ease her fright and show her the beauty of to his own world. Through reddened eyes, Kore looked at the cavernous walls, arching cathedral like above her head. The babbling sounds of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness reached her ears, calming her and her tears subsided. Winding through dimly lit caves and windy caverns, they passed the home of the Fates and the dark castle of the goddess Hecate. After some time, they arrived in the torch lit throne room.
Demeter called out again, Kore still hadn’t returned and Selene had long since risen to watch over the night. The mother snatcher her green cloak around her shoulders and set off into the dark calling Kore’s name. On the plain, she saw the basket, its white ribbons reflecting in the moonlight; she began to run. Her feet passed over where the schism had been and fell on the smothered petals of a poppy. All around her feet lay forgotten flowers, mangled and stamped into the soil. Demeter threw back her head and screamed to Selene above, “What tragedy has befallen my daughter?” No answer came, the goddess cried out again and again, her anguish waking up the townspeople, who gathered at a safe distance, torches in hand. Demeter addressed the crowd, eyes streaming, arms full of battered stems, she asked them “What has happened to my daughter?” The townspeople had no answer for her, they had seen Kore only that morning. The goddess cursed the darkness for hiding Kore from her and turned to the ripening field of wheat, in an instant, flames leapt, illuminating the sky and Demeter’s search began.
By morning, she had crisscrossed the countryside, frightening villagers out of their beds with her wailing. Alternately pleading and raging, she questioned them relentlessly, but they had no information to give. Her search had taken her from one of the island to the other and now, as Helios took the reigns of the chariot of the sun, Demeter stood at the eastern horizon to greet him. He answered her questions directly. It had been Hades, her brother, who had abducted the girl and yes, Zeus had witness the entire event. Her despair turned to rage that Kore’s own father would do nothing to interfere in the abduction of his daughter. She confronted Zeus on Mt. Olympus, demanding that he force Hades to release his captive, but Zeus had no such power over the Lord of Death.
A bereaved Demeter returned to earth as a bent old woman. Lost in her own misery, she neglected her duties of fertility and the fields lay like wastelands as she wandered the mainland, finally ending up at the village of Eleusis. King Celeus took pity on the disheveled hag who seemed so lonely and lost and he offered her the position of nursemaid to his two toddler sons. As an old woman named Doso, Demeter entered the palace to look after children that were not her own. Her own child was lost to the darkness and death of the Underworld.
Draped in a royal purple robe, Kore sat on a cast iron throne encrusted with the jeweled treasures of the earth. She had been in the Underworld for some time now and had come to appreciate the wealth and beauty that lay within the belly of the earth. Veins of gold and silver cut patterns through stones, diamonds, sapphires and emeralds twinkled in the walls of the throne room and the marble, which was strenuously mined to create the great temples of the Upperworld, lay about down here in giant slabs. Her soon to be husband wasn’t ugly, quite the contrary, he was tall and distinguished with dark hair and eyes and rippling muscles. Underlying his obvious strength was a quiet benevolence that sent the gifts of inner earth up to the surface so that man may prosper and the gods be placated. With regal silence, she received the crown and became Persephone, Queen of Hades, to whom all living things must return.
The souls of the dead and the spirits of the Underworld feasted well that night. Hades and Demeter danced across marble floor and she felt the power of the knowledge of death swell through her. Until now, she had refused all food, scared of what might grow in the Underworld, but in the atmosphere of celebration, she accepted the seeds of the pomegranate offered to her by her attendant.
In time, Demeter took a liking to the two young princes and in return for their father’s kindness she decided to make them immortal. She began the nightly ritual required, starting with the older of the two boys, Demophon. Anointing the toddler with ambrosia, the drink of the gods, she held him over the hearth fire to burn away his mortality. On the ninth and final night, Queen Metanira happened into the kitchen and screamed in horror. Demeter turned quietly, smiled at the woman, imagining the fear and terror that must be rushing through her and put the toddler safely on the ground. Queen Metanira ran to him, inspected him closely and turned to rage at the old hag, but in the crippled old woman’s place stood the goddess Demeter, clad in her green mantle, hair bound with ribbons of gold, emitting a radiant light.
Demeter spoke to the woman, who still clutched her child while kneeling at the feet of the goddess, “As a mother myself, I understand your actions. I will not harm you. Rise and build in my honor the greatest temple in all of Greece.” The queen rose and assured Demeter that she would set all the assets of Attica to building a home worthy of the goddess. Demeter left Eleusis that night, wandering again through the countryside, still without her beloved Kore and now even without the two mortal children she had come to love.
Mortals flooded the temples all over Greece, priests consulted oracles and offered sacrifice until the streets ran with blood, and constant prayers reached the ears of all the gods. Their fields would not sustain even a weed and the store houses were emptied. Zeus looked down and took pity on man. He appealed to Demeter to return to her duties as goddess; she refused. He begged; she refused. Finally, he capitulated and sent Hermes, messenger of the gods, to Hades to ask the Dark Lord to return Kore to her mother. As obstinate as his sister, Hades refused Hermes’ instruction, even when threatened with the ire of Zeus. Then Hermes appealed to the god’s softer side and showed him a vision of Demeter’s trials since Kore had been stolen from her.
Hades softened and agreed that his bride may leave, but since she had eaten the seeds of the pomegranate, she could only leave for two-thirds of the year. She must spend the remaining one-third in the Underworld as his queen. Persephone, who had been listening to the exchange, smiled with delight as she began to remember her life in the world above. Her mother, the flowers, the trees, the smell of the grass, the people, she longed for it all and was elated to return with Hermes. She took the messengers hand and turned to her husband, leaving him with a kiss to remember her and assuring him that she would return to her throne.
Demeter sat at a crossroads, not really caring which direction she should take, when Hermes and Kore appeared before her in gleaming light. Mother and daughter embraced, tears of joy ran down all three of their faces and Hermes, puffed up with pride, returned to Zeus to tell of the greatness of his own negotiating skills.
Now the goddess looked at the devastation that had been wrought during her months of longing and neglect and vowed that man should learn the art of agriculture in order to sustain himself. She returned to Eleusis with Kore. The temple that had been promised to her was just nearing completion but she went directly to the palace of King Celeus and Queen Metanira. When she asked for their second son, Triplotemos, the queen readily called for him. The two goddesses took Triplotemos to their new temple and instructed him in the ways of cultivation and agriculture. Demeter explained how to prepare the soil, sow the seed and tend the crops and Persephone shared the secret of the harvest, how death is a stage through which all things must pass in order to be reborn again. Ever after, potential initiates have come from all over the Greek speaking world to learn the Great Mystery of Life, Death and Rebirth at the Temple of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis.
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