Autumn Equinox- Demeter and Persephone and 66 Adorations to Demeter

On 20 March, the Autumnal Equinox in all its bright beauty burst through the cracks in my curtains. The day was bright and I had decided to do a ritual in honour of Persephone and Demeter. I had previously worked with Persephone during Samhain and while doing work for the Witches of the Blackberry Field Oracle (A group of women who work with Dark Goddesses, and the teachings of the Delphic oracle- unfortunately as I’m not in Canada I cannot participate as fully in the group as I’d like. I owe my debts to Sorceress Slaying Crow O’ Hagen for indirectly giving me confidence to start my own system and providing me and The Sisters with wonderful information and resources. However even though I was led down that path by Hekate, it was only a short stop on the way. I feel my work with Anubis and Hekate has taken me down a different path in which Dark Goddess work is complimented by working with Psychopompic energies, “low” magic and Egyptian flavoured ceremonies.)

Anyway I stray… Working with Persephone and Demeter together during this Mabon is poignant for me, as in my own life, there are changes. I am learning to step out on my own, collecting things for my future home, my mother is moving away soon, and I will have to step up, and be independent of her, coming into my own the way in which Persephone learnt to be content and independent as the Queen of The Dead. Hekate, Persephone’s friend, will of course be by my side too, as my friend, my confidant. I will be saying goodbye to my family, some of my pets and the life I once knew, and I’ll have to embrace adult life, with one deaf little dog, a lizard and my boyfriend. Of course this is not an easy transition. Persephone, was said to initially be very unhappy, she kicked and screamed (whether raped or not), and Demeter grieved and raged.

The land became barren, humans died under her wrath, and Zeus had to make a plan (of course he was the one who led to Persephone’s “abduction”.) Funny how all this is happening in the midst of the change from the harsh summer to the crisp autumn, from Pisces to Aries, in every ending is a beginning, in every beginning an end.

Whilst all this was going on, we know little of Persephone’s experience with Hades in the Underworld. She surely changed, a trauma of being taken away, or even moving away into independence willingly creates change. This initiation into her role as Queen of Shades, is cemented when she finally eats the pomegranate seeds and is forced to return to the underworld every year for a third of the time (according to the Homeric hymns). She learns contentment in the land of the dead, she finds happiness when she returns to her Mother.

This lesson is important on many levels, for me it resonates due to a similar ordeal, for others and at other times in my life it may mean something about sacrifice, and working through grief, understanding rebirth through the Mysteries, and finding personal power. It could mean descending into darkness to come out changed, it could mean working with the dead, as we pay our dues to Charon. For each of us, the meaning, the symbolism, the resonance may be different.

I gave my offerings of sweet wine and grain, apple and rose petals and honoured the transition. I had found the 93 Adorations of Persephone by Melittabenu and changed “I adore” to “I honour”, I also pared it down to 66. I then wrote my own for Demeter which can be adapted. As a non-Hellenic practitioner my UPG may lead to different understandings of Demeter than others, I feel this best captured the way she has appeared to me. Our god/desses are not one-dimensional and if these adorations I’ve been looking over for the last week have anything to teach me/us, it is that.

I wrote my “adorations/honourings” using Goddess Aloud (Goddess Worship), The Homeric Hymns (Classical translated text), and Moon Magick (Neo-Wiccan Perspective).

I also wrote it outside, sitting under an apple tree, with crisp autumn leaves by my feet.

My reason for changing I adore, to I honour is the nature of my ritual, and due to me feeling that this ritual was to get to know the two goddesses better, I adore implies an already deep relationship.

1. I honour thee, Mother on Earth
2. I honour thee, Lady of the corn
3. I honour thee, Lady of Sorrow
4. I honour thee, Measurer of Time
5. I honour thee, of the blue robe
6. I honour thee, Carrier of wheat
7. I honour thee, Crowned with corn
8. I honour thee, Giver of bread
9. I honour thee, Protectress of women
10. I honour thee, Who presides over the fertile earth
11. I honour thee, of maternal love
12. I honour thee, Lady of fruitfulness
13. I honour thee, Giver of agriculture
14. I honour thee, Queen of Law
15. I honour thee, Whose feet nourish the soil
16. I honour thee, Mourner of Persephone
17. I honour thee, Raging one
18. I honour thee, Who makes the earth barren
19. I honour thee, Who brings cold
20. I honour thee, Lady of the equal night
21. I honuour thee, Who roams the land
22. I honour thee, Queen of the harvest
23. I honour thee, Mother of Dionysus
24. I honour thee, Who changes everything she touches
25. I honour thee, Spinner of the wheel*
26. I honour thee, Who searches high and low
27. I honour thee, Confider in Hekate
28. I honour thee, Draped in black
29. I honour thee, Who knows despair
30. I honour thee, Desolate land
31. I honour thee, Fertile seed
32. I honour thee, Initiator of the Eleusinian Mysteries
33. I honour thee, Who ripens the meadows
34. I honour thee, Blighter of fields
35. I honour thee, Autumn leaf
36. I honour thee, of the golden hair
37. I honour thee, Giver of the splendid gifts
38. I honour thee, Bringer of seasons
39. I honour thee, Daughter of Rhea
40. I honour thee, Who becomes the crone
41. I honour thee, Whose voice is crushed leaves
42. I honour thee, Queen among goddesses
43. I honour thee, Nurse of babes
44. I honour thee, Veiled in mourning
45. I honour thee, of the fragrant breast
46. I honour thee, of immortal hands
47. I honour thee, Who buries deep in fire
48. I honour thee, Who brings bitter pain
49. I honour thee, Who makes us weep
50. I honour thee, Who imparts immortality
51. I honour thee, Who takes it away
52. I honour thee, Revered one
53. I honour thee, Source of joy
54. I honour thee, Beautiful mother
55. I honour thee, Who destroys
56. I honour thee, Terrible wrath
57. I honour thee, Who celebrates Persephone’s return
58. I honour thee, Bringer of darkness
59. I honour thee, Who ripens the vine
60. I honour thee, Lady of the golden butterfly**
61. I honour thee, Who turns the grass
62. I honour thee, Who brings rebirth
63. I honour thee, Whose seeds fall to the soil
64. I honour thee, Who sows the land
65. I honour thee, Who reaps the bounty
66. I honour thee, Great Mother Demeter.

I  included the song “Persephone” by Kellianna in my ritual, as well as the “We all come from the goddess” song (the extended version), which contains the lines “Corn and Grain, Corn and Grain, All that dies is born again”

I believe working with Demeter and Persephone during the Equinox was a good move on my part as it solidified a relationship with the two goddesses, as well as helped me welcome in the season. Samhain’s focus will be different from my usual reliance on Demeter’s grief, and Persephone’s descent. I also feel the resonance of what happened in the myth and what is happening in my life now made the ritual all the more poignant and beautiful for me.

Mabon altar

Yes Anubis is almost always on my Altar, he opens the way, and guards the circle.

Of course, not only Is Hekate my other Patron, but she features within the myth and is Persephone’s friend.

Also features on my altar, are a candle each for Demeter and Persephone, Hekate, Apple, rose petals, wheat offerings, cards from my Druid Plant Oracle, Bolline/Sickle, Wine, three candles within a coffin, symbolising the descent and a spicy incense I associate with Autumn.

* In relation to the Wiccan Wheel of the Year.

** I had seen this beautiful large Yellow butterfly fluttering about as I looked up for inspiration:-).

 

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