Few days ago, @M0h_5en led me into a snake pit 🙂 and suddenly there were mythological snakes slithering everywhere...
I don't know where is the best place to start writing about it, cause it's all interconnected...So I'll just start here: Who are Persephone's parents?
Both Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, describe Persephone as the daughter of Zeus and his older sister, Demeter, though no myths exist describing her conception or birth....
Well, that's kind of true...According to the Orphic theogony, "when Rhea (Earth goddess), gave birth to Zeus (storm god), she became Demeter (Grain goddess)"...
Zeus then attempted to rape Demeter (Rhea), who turned herself into a snake to scare him. But Zeus also turned himself into a snake and eventually succeeded in raping her...
The child born from that union was their daughter Persephone...Zeus then "seduced" Persephone in a shape of a snake, after which Persephone gave birth to Zagreus/Dyonisus...
What does all this mean? I hate to be repeating myself again and again and again (and again 🙂)...but I think it's time to look at climate, agriculture calendar and lifecycle of snakes (and snake eagles, symbols of Zeus) in Ancient Greece...
As I said already, Demeter is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over grains and the fertility of the earth...So Rhea (Earth Goddess) turns into Demeter (Grain Harvest Goddess) at the time of the grain harvest...
According to Hesiod, who wrote in mid 8th century BCE in BÅ“otia, grain harvest started: "When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, are rising". Which in the mid 8th century BCE in BÅ“otia, was around the first week of May...In Taurus...I talked about this in my post "Hesiod on grain"...
Which is interesting, because in Europe, beginning of May (Taurus), beginning of the harvest, is also the beginning of Thunderstorm season...So Thunderstorm (Zeus) arrive (is born) when Rhea turns into Demeter...
So it is exactly as the Orphic "theogony" (or should I call it natural science) tells us...But what about "Zeus and Demeter mating as snakes to give birth to Persephone"?
Guess when snake mating season is in Europe?
Yup, you guessed right. In Apr/May, when grain harvest begins...
During that time males engage in ritualised fights that once were interpreted falsely as mating ceremonies...
VERY IMPORTANT BIT!!! 🙂
Hence snake animal calendar marker joins lion animal calendar marker
God most high...
Snake: Apr/May, beginning of the main snake mating season, beginning of summer.
Lion: Jul/Aug, beginning of the main lion mating season, end of summer.
In the middle of summer is Summer Solstice...When (sun) god is Most High...
I talked about this in my post "You will trample the great lion and serpent"...
Anyway, Persephone (Grain) the daughter of Demeter (Grain Harvest) and Zeus (Thunderstorms) gets conceived and born during harvest, when snakes mate (Apr/May)...Snakes and grain, snakes and grain...And Demeter and Persephone...I talked about the link between snakes and Demeter in my post "Demeter riding a panther"...
BTW, snakes are the only true solar animals. They are in our world when sun is in our world (day and hot part of the year) and they are in the underworld when sun is in the underworld (night and cold part of the year). I talked about this in my posts "Enemy of the sun" and "The chthonic animal"
Snake is also the symbol of sun's heat which dries the earth and brings drought...Which is where dragons that steel and guard water come into play...Did you know that Slavs believed that "dragons were just old snakes"? I talked about this in my post "Dragon that stole rain"...
You can read more about Slavic snake-dragon folklore, which holds the key for unlocking the meaning of both snake and dragon as a symbol, in my post "Letnitsa treasure"...
Persephone is the goddess of grain, deified grain seed. Interestingly, grain seed planting season (Oct/Nov) is when Persephone, gets abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld...I talked about this in my post "Abduction of Persephone"...
Persephone is the goddess of grain, deified grain seed. Interestingly, grain seed planting season (Oct/Nov) is when Persephone, gets abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld...I talked about this in my post "Abduction of Persephone"...
"Faceless female busts, Cyrene Museum, Libya...may represent Persephone"...
Is this when Zeus seduces Persephone in a shape of a snake and fathers Zagreus/Dyonisus? Some sources say that it was Hades, The Chthonic Zeus, who was the father of Zagreus, the "Chthonic Dyonisus"...
So let me finish this article with one of my favourite depictions of Demeter, the goddess with beautiful golden hair...Here she is as Ceres emerging from the ground holding grain, poppies and snakes...Or is this Persephone being born?
Why is Demeter is holding grains, snakes and opium poppies? I explain that in my post "Poppies and pomegranates"...
That's it...For now...
To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...
And, when do people encounter snakes? During the harvest when clearing the fields. It was probably pretty scary, suddenly stepping on a snake while cutting grain. I remember finding snakes while making hay in the summer. Of course we used machines, but a mangled snake hanging from a hay bale was still pretty startling. Did the grain harvest goddesses protect from snakebite?
ReplyDeleteHi, a similar depiction of the sun and crescent moon appears on the Nebra sky disc and on a gold ring from Mycenae. On the the ring under the sun and moon there's a depiction of a goddess holding poppies. Opium poppy has also been found in the Unetice culture which produced the Nebra disc.
ReplyDeleteUnless a seed falls to the ground and dies it does not bear much fruit. - Jesus speaking of his death and resurrection, which took place at the barley harvest. The harrowing of Hades was associated with his 3 days in the ground.
ReplyDelete