Dark Goddesses
This is the first of several dark Goddess I will also share. The dark Goddess has many names for the Great Phantom Queen Her self Morrighan to Hecate and many others from different cultures. Hecate was for a time a bit over a year my matron and then I got the messgae long story but it has Benn Morrighan that has called me, I still honor and love Hecate but Morrighan is my matron. This is site is dedicated to Her and so since there is already infor mation and more yet to coem on each aspect of the Morrighan I will hold off on adding Her here. Mystic)0(
HECATE THE CRONE
Bony Old Crone
A-sittin’ alone
A-stirrin’ Her cauldron
And makin’ a moan...
..
Hecate, Crone Goddess, even though She is mostly known as the Crone, She is Hecate the maiden, Hecate the mother and Hecate the crone. She is a triple goddess in her own right. She is the three and the one. Unlike the detached meditations of the East, or the sedate Sunday prayer meetings of the church, witchcraft ceremony is passionate. The more deeply we feel about the Goddess Hecate when we pray to Her, the more moved we are by the liturgy, the more powerful the experience. There is a place of truth and love that reaches the heart. Devotion is a supremely personal matter, found by each of us in our own hearts. The more you learn about the Goddess Hecate, the firmer your faith will become. Learning to see the Goddess in all things is part of it, as the Goddess Hecate is everywhere. See Her when you slice an apple across, sit under a tree, or watch a moonrise. See Her when you perform simple tasks, such as sweeping, and recall the symbolism of brooms. A Goddess view of cooking turns a pot into a cauldron of transformation, gardening into goddesshood, singing into sorcery.
Connecting with the moon is one of the essentials of Witchcraft. In learning to keep time with Hecate's cycles, we can free ourselves from much of the structure of patriarchy. For women, the moon is especially connected to our blood, and so links us to all the mysteries of birth, life and death. The moon connects us with the trees and their stories and uses, as each of Her cycles is named for one of these living kinfolk of the earth. In a society based on solar concepts and imagery, Luna is especially helping in attuning us to the dark side and the many qualities associated with the deep self.
The Crone is the third and final aspect of the three-fold Goddess, Hecate. She is the dark moon, the wintertime, old age and knower of mysteries. The Crone time brings the harvest of experience, when we reap the accumulated benefits of all that we have learned. The Crone is a teacher or wise one, sometimes called the "wayshower" as she shines the light of wisdom for all to see. She brings patience.
In myth and legend, the Crone Hecate is often seen with her great black cauldron stirring up brews for magical transformation or bringing the dead back to life.
She is the fairy godmother who has just what we need to overcome the obstacles in our paths. She is the old woman of the woods, who lives alone in a humble cottage and can teach many secrets.
To admit the Crone is to admit the dark side of ourselves which is like the dark side of the moon----the Crone’s moon.
Hecate’s moon is hidden, and cannot be seen shining in the heavens. It is significant that astronomers and astrologers call Her the New Moon, thereby effectively ignoring the presence of the Crone. Some witches feel that we should return the word New Moon which would be the first sliver of the moon in the sky to the Maiden goddess, which is Her proper place, and reinstate the Old Moon (Dark Moon) as the Crone’s. We can therefore count our moon cycles from the first appearance of the slender waxing crescent, that very first sliver, and acknowledge the darkening end as the time of the Crone. To acknowledge this time is to allow for the natural cycles of our being as we move through the ups and downs of living. This is a far healthier way of life where each of our phases is embraced and loved.
The association of loneliness with old age is a common one. A wise crone understands the power that can be attained in solitude. She knows that all oneness is the true meaning of being alone and is actually what the word "alone" is made of. There is a point reached in solitude when we no longer feel isolated because we have found our connection to all beings in the universe. Some witches, when the moon is waning, feels the moon’s power pulling them into solitude, beckoning them to working more within themselves. The Crone teaches us to withdraw from the world during the waning moon to find peace and sustenance for our return journey into the struggles of living. The dark moon of the self is a period of withdrawal from the everyday world. It offers an opportunity to commune with ourselves and tap the creative potential therein. To return to this way of life necessitates leaving the "rat race" approach and validating slowness, inwardness and being here and now.
Solitude is one of the doorways to the deep self. It is especially useful for the cultivation of our powers of concentration. Most witches, as we begin to grow in our magical abilities, find that we seek solitude more and more, as it enables us to focus intensely on the objectives of our spells, rituals and doing more work within ourselves without distractions. 
Hecate as Crone understands the power of silence. Many spiritual journeys include a period of silence, or teach its discipline. Some adepts take permanent vows of silence, fir it opens up energies on the psychic level. Silence is the last step of magic, necessary during the gestation or formation period of our spell’s workings for preservation and protection.
It is essential that we practice silence in our meditation and rituals, for it opens the door to universal consciousness.
Hecate as Crone, is the knower of mysteries, secrets of existence, or hidden things. She presides in the dream worlds, guiding us through the unconscious labyrinths of our deep minds. She teaches us the symbolism of our dreams and helps us to understand and shape them to our choosing.
Lastly, Crone Hecate understands endings, and utilize the waning moon for banishings, or spells to ride ourselves of unwanted or stuck energy.
We can become Crones in our uses and understanding of the five elements of creation:
Spirit Crones are conversant on the psychic planes, easily traveling in and out of our bodies, telepathic, clairvoyant, prophetic, divining whether it be Tarot cards, crystal balls, Runes, etc., understanding the cycle of birth, life and death and the rituals thereof, skilled in casting circles for small covens or large, spells, and the uses of dreams.
Air Crones have profundity of thought, quickness of tongue, are adept in poetry, myth and language, the composing of verbal spells, the eloquence of asking aid from forces and elements. Air is to know. The Air Crone is also a Cutting Crone, for our minds are like cutting edges that sort and separate our thoughts. Naming a thing separates it out from the rest of creation. Cutting is also criticism, pruning, saying no, discipline. When we reach the crossroads of our lives, such as the time of passing from child to adult or maiden to mother, we must cut the umbilical cord of our habits on the old path in order to be free to embark upon the new. The cutting Crone is sometimes called Atropo, the third of the three Fates in Greek mythology.
Fire Crones possess understanding of the secrets of fire and energy. They know the ways of conserving, storing and spending energy wisely, using vital forces with care and discrimination, rather than scattering them carelessly and wasting them. Fire is also kundalini, which a wise crone knows how to channel and direct for desired purposes. Fire is will, in which the Crone has achieved mastery. And on its simplest level, fire is our natural source of heat and light, and can be used for magic in many ways. A seasoned witch usually knows how to build and sustain fires, as well as to contain them safely, and extinguish them when necessary.
A Water Crone is no longer a slave to her emotions, nor does she repress or deny them. Water is to dare. She is adept in her relationships with others, knowing enough detachment for an overview, and enough caring for compassion. She knows that her desires are sacred and worthy of cultivation and fulfillment. The Water Crone looks deep into her reflection in underground waters. When the water catches the light of the moon, she is there to find insight and divination.
A wise Earth Crone knows her body, knows the earth, is adept in health care for herself and others who seek her aid. She is familiar with the seasons and methods of planting and cultivation, herbology, and agriculture. And she is also wise in ways of money, seeing its connection to human love and service and precious human energy. She is sensible, practical and dependable, keeps her promises and understands commitment, knows how to work as well as play.
The idea of "balance" can be misleading for it often implies the adjustment of two opposing entities. For example, the yin/yang symbol of the Orient, the sun/moon dichotomy of the alchemists, the anima/animus theory or the Jungians, the god/goddess universe of the Druids and the tetragrammaton of magicians, in all these systems there is an "attempt" to honor and give equality to both ends of the polarity but do not be deceived. While pretending to create a world supportive of the female, they are still perpetuating the dichotomy, and thus the role stereotypes that oppress us all. This, Witches must realize, is the fatal flaw of even more advanced movements such as Neo-Paganism, modern witchcraft and the New Age spiritualities. Liberation can only come by returning to the Goddess.
The Three-Way Place
by Donna Wilshire
Hecate was originally from Thrace and Anatolia. Also known as Hecuba, Her name means "influence from afar". She has been seen sometimes to have three bodies, allowing her to be all-seeing and all-knowing. She has also been depicted with three heads, those of a lion, a horse, and a dog. Let us see if we can come to know Her!
Ah - OO - OO - OO!
We must seek Hecate at dusk for dusk is Her time - all transition times are Her times. It is time to greet Her! Let us welcome Her.
"Come Hecate, Beloved of all Grandmothers! Goddess of Transformation. Goddess of all Sacred Changes!"
Welcome, Mother of all magical, healing words! Beloved Grandmother! Bringer of life - too short but never ending."
Hecate is The Three Way Place, the Crossroads, the Fork in the Road, the Place of Change, Death, and Rebirth.
She is also our guardian, our old Mother, Hekat!
Seek Her, Women, at the Three Way Place, seek Her where the road forks! Seek Her in times of flux, at times of change, always shifting, always changing, the Y that marks the road!
Call on Hecate when you wish to lose something of yourself, when you wish to end something: a stage ... a phase ... a relationship ... an apprenticeship ... a period of mourning ... a dream that has died ... an attachment... an old idea about yourself... a role you play, say, perhaps that of victim?
Call on Hecate and prepare for a death, for Hers is a Death dealing place! Plan what it is that you need to rid yourself of. Search for what it is that keeps you from your bliss!
As you call on Her, use your dark wisdom which is Her gift to you and look straight at the Truth. Prepare to kill whatever stands in the way of your Becoming!
Pause, and reflect and listen to your deepest voice. Listen ... and She will speak ....
Hecate, the Old Wizened Crone, She is the Mother of Death and Rebirth. It is She who allows you to age with dignity!
You must laugh when you see Her wrinkled old face! She reminds us to live our lives in the here and now! Smile at Her and find your joy! Laugh! Look at Her and ask yourself what those wrinkles, what that shriveled skin means, anyway! Are you afraid others will hate you for your wrinkles? For your sagging breasts? For your aging skin? For your wirey, graying hair?
Know when you look at Old Hekt, when you see those wrinkles, and those sagging breasts ....
...they are our marks of wisdom!
Sing praises to Old Women and Hags!
Glory be to Crones!
Sing praises to Old Hekt!
I highly recommend Hecates cauldron for more info. Lady hecate is Her daughter and Priestess and had great detailed information about how to realted and honor Hecate
The Goddess InannaIshatar
I see Inanna as both a light and dark Goddess for She has helped mme work in my own underworld and my researchseem to show She is also associated with the underworld She is also closely associated or may even be Ishatar .Inaan takes Her own journey and is transformed.
From the great heaven [great above] she set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven the goddess set her mind on the great below. From the great heaven Inana[2] set her mind on the great below. My mistress abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld.
(Black, Cunningham, et al. 1998-2000:1 of 8)
Inanna is a triple Goddess, She is the Goddess of Rebirth. Inanna is regarded as a daughter of the sky-god An, but also of the moon-god Nanna. A variation of her name is Ninnanna, which means 'queen of the sky'. She is also called Ninsianna as the personification of the planet Venus. Inanna is portrayed as a fickle person who first attracts men and then rejects them. She is depicted as richly dressed goddess or as a naked woman. Her symbol is the eight-pointed star. Important sanctuaries of Inanna were in Uruk, Zabalam, and Babylon. The Akkadians called her Ishtar.
the representation of Woman in all her stages:
Maid
Mother
Crone
Inanna is the most important goddess of the Sumerian pantheon in ancient Mesopotamia. She is a goddess of love, fertility, and war. Inanna figures prominently in various myths, such as 'Inanna's descent to the underworld'. In this particular myth she travels to the realm of the dead and claims its ruling. However, her sister Ereshkigal, who rules the place, sentences her to death. With Inanna's death, however, nature died with her and nothing would grow anymore. Through the intervention of the god Enki she could be reborn if another person took her place. She choose her beloved consort Dumuzi, who would from then on rule the underworld every half year.
Story
Before she left for the underworld, Inanna put on her divine regalia and took up "the appropriate divine decrees [me]" (Kramer 1972:86). She instructed her minister Ninshubur that, after three days, she was to ask help of the great gods. At each of the seven gates of the underworld, Inanna removed part of her regalia, until, naked and bent, she came before the seven judges of the underworld and her elder twin-sister Ereshkigal, whose name means "Queen of the Great Earth." All gave her "the look of death," and they had her dead body hung on a hook.
Three days later, Ninshubur began to seek help, but neither the chief god nor the moon god, Inanna's father, was sympathetic. However, the god of wisdom instructed two creatures to sprinkle over Inanna's corpse both a life-giving plant and life-giving water.
When the creatures sympathized with Ereshkigal, who was groaning in misery, she offered them rich rewards, but they asked only for the corpse on the peg. They sprinkled it, and Inanna lived again. However, before the judges would let her leave the great below, they insisted she provide a substitute, and so demons ascended with her to bring her substitute back. Inanna refused to give them several faithful servants, but she surrendered her bridegroom Dumuzi because he was not in mourning for her. For a while Dumuzi escaped the demons, but finally they carried him off. Then Inanna mourned for him. Finally, Dumuzi's sister arranged to take his place in the underworld for part of each year (Black, Cunningham, et al. 1998, 1999, 2000: 1
Interpretation
When Inanna arrived at the first gate, she demanded entrance, telling the gatekeeper she had come to attend her brother-in-law's funeral. Kramer, followed by other scholars, considered this excuse "false" (1981:157); so they advanced various explanations of Inanna's decision. Joseph Campbell saw her as going to meet her opposite (1964:105-109), Kramer judged her as longing for "still greater power" (1981:156), and Lipinkivi thought she went "to deprive her sister, Eres[h]kigal, of her powers" (2004:190). Feminist discussions of the poem include Perera's Jungian interpretation (1981) and Diane Wolkstein's, who viewed Inanna as searching for knowledge (1983:156).
"Inanna's Descent" took its final written form after years of recopying in a male-dominated religion, and, during that time, it is probable that Inanna slowly changed. Visual as well as written material[4] from Sumer persuades me that originally Inanna had the right to visit the underworld as part of her realm. For instance, a Babylonian seal depicts a winged female with high, horned crown and bird feet, standing with her head among "deities and their human worshippers" and her feet among "demonic creatures."
This dominating goddess may be Inanna, and the "hierarchical arrangement" perhaps indicates "her dual nature, partially of 'heaven and earth' and partially of the underworld" (Williams-Forte in Wolkstein and Kramer 1983:189). In addition, the fact that Ereshkigal and Inanna were sisters may indicate that they could once have been a single goddess.[5] This suggestion may explain not only Inanna's decision, but also her assertiveness at the first gate.[6]
By the time the poem reached the form in which it has come down to us, death seems no longer an accepted part of the cycle of life. Instead, it was terrifying, to be avoided, since it led to a dreary existence in the Land of No Return (Foster 2001:138-142). Further, it seems likely that only in a culture that feared death and the underworld would there be enmity between deities of the great above and the great below, as there seems to have been between Inanna and Ereshkigal. Now not even a goddess could enter the underworld without being humiliated, stripped of means, abject, and naked.
When Inanna protested the removal of her regalia, the gatekeeper told her to be quiet: "Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has been fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the rites of the underworld." During her descent, Inanna lost in order: crown (queenship?), precious necklace (charisma, glamour?), two oval stones (birthing ability or femaleness?), breastplate "Come, man, come" (sexual allure), gold ring (her seal, her signature?), rod and measuring line (authority), and "garment of ladyship" (robe of deity). Everything that signified her status and identity disappeared. Some translators understand the naked Inanna as forcing Ereshkigal to relinquish the throne to her; others have Ereshkigal retaining the throne.[7] Nevertheless, Inanna became a corpse.
Significantly, in this poem from a male-dominated society, Inanna could return to the great above only with the help of a male deity, as she had clearly known when she instructed her minister to appeal to several of them. The god of wisdom hatched the plan to free Inanna and created from dirt under his fingernails two ghostly, fly-like creatures, so like the denizens of the underworld that they could pass the gates unnoticed. They were to get Ereshkigal to release Inanna's corpse to them.[8] All went as planned: they sprinkled the corpse with the life-giving substances, and Inanna came alive again.
Surprisingly, the Sumerian poem does not mention a decrease in fertility on earth during Inanna's absence even though fertility was supposedly her concern.[9] It is also curious that, while Inanna's corpse was hanging on the peg, her sister Ereshkigal was lying moaning, seemingly in the act of giving birth or after doing so: "The mother who gave birth, Erec-ki-gala [Ereshkigal], because of her children, was lying there." Was Ereshkigal, not Inanna, the source of fertility?
To reward the creatures who commiserated with her, Ereshkigal offered them "a river with its water," which they refused, and "a field with its grain," which they also refused. Not only could Ereshkigal give away river water, but she could also offer grain! In Mesopotamia, river water was life, fertility, for it irrigated the fields in which grew the grain that people depended on. So, here, fertility came from the underworld; life-giving rivers flowed out of it, and seemingly dead seed placed under the earth's surface produced new life.
In the poem, there is a connection, at least of proximity, between Ereshkigal's sickness and Inanna's revival. Ereshkigal appeared to be suffering from birth pains. Was Ereshkigal birthing Inanna? Was Inanna's body the seed of her revived self? All a seed seems to need to become new life is water and nourishment, water and plant. Was it then Ereshkigal who brought new life into the world? She seemed to have some control of seed. Were the dead in the underworld seeds of new life? Is this poem preserving a remnant of an earlier cyclical attitude to life?[10]
This dominating goddess may be Inanna, and the "hierarchical arrangement" perhaps indicates "her dual nature, partially of 'heaven and earth' and partially of the underworld" (Williams-Forte in Wolkstein and Kramer 1983:189). In addition, the fact that Ereshkigal and Inanna were sisters may indicate that they could once have been a single goddess.[5] This suggestion may explain not only Inanna's decision, but also her assertiveness at the first gate.[6]
By the time the poem reached the form in which it has come down to us, death seems no longer an accepted part of the cycle of life. Instead, it was terrifying, to be avoided, since it led to a dreary existence in the Land of No Return (Foster 2001:138-142). Further, it seems likely that only in a culture that feared death and the underworld would there be enmity between deities of the great above and the great below, as there seems to have been between Inanna and Ereshkigal. Now not even a goddess could enter the underworld without being humiliated, stripped of means, abject, and naked.
When Inanna protested the removal of her regalia, the gatekeeper told her to be quiet: "Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has been fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the rites of the underworld." During her descent, Inanna lost in order: crown (queenship?), precious necklace (charisma, glamour?), two oval stones (birthing ability or femaleness?), breastplate "Come, man, come" (sexual allure), gold ring (her seal, her signature?), rod and measuring line (authority), and "garment of ladyship" (robe of deity). Everything that signified her status and identity disappeared. Some translators understand the naked Inanna as forcing Ereshkigal to relinquish the throne to her; others have Ereshkigal retaining the throne.[7] Nevertheless, Inanna became a corpse.
Significantly, in this poem from a male-dominated society, Inanna could return to the great above only with the help of a male deity, as she had clearly known when she instructed her minister to appeal to several of them. The god of wisdom hatched the plan to free Inanna and created from dirt under his fingernails two ghostly, fly-like creatures, so like the denizens of the underworld that they could pass the gates unnoticed. They were to get Ereshkigal to release Inanna's corpse to them.[8] All went as planned: they sprinkled the corpse with the life-giving substances, and Inanna came alive again.
Surprisingly, the Sumerian poem does not mention a decrease in fertility on earth during Inanna's absence even though fertility was supposedly her concern.[9] It is also curious that, while Inanna's corpse was hanging on the peg, her sister Ereshkigal was lying moaning, seemingly in the act of giving birth or after doing so: "The mother who gave birth, Erec-ki-gala [Ereshkigal], because of her children, was lying there." Was Ereshkigal, not Inanna, the source of fertility?
To reward the creatures who commiserated with her, Ereshkigal offered them "a river with its water," which they refused, and "a field with its grain," which they also refused. Not only could Ereshkigal give away river water, but she could also offer grain! In Mesopotamia, river water was life, fertility, for it irrigated the fields in which grew the grain that people depended on. So, here, fertility came from the underworld; life-giving rivers flowed out of it, and seemingly dead seed placed under the earth's surface produced new life.
In the poem, there is a connection, at least of proximity, between Ereshkigal's sickness and Inanna's revival. Ereshkigal appeared to be suffering from birth pains. Was Ereshkigal birthing Inanna? Was Inanna's body the seed of her revived self? All a seed seems to need to become new life is water and nourishment, water and plant. Was it then Ereshkigal who brought new life into the world? She seemed to have some control of seed. Were the dead in the underworld seeds of new life? Is this poem preserving a remnant of an earlier cyclical attitude to life?
The most important goddess of the
Sumerian pantheon in ancient Mesopotamia.
She is the goddess of love, fertility, and war.
As the "Lady of the Palace," she ruled as queen. As "Mother of All," she was the goddess of fertility, birth, and nature. The importance of which shows up in the following Sumerian proverb that may be a blessing or "toast" given to a young man by his father or close friend:
|
As the goddess of war and strife, she held the title Nin- kur-ra-igi-ga, "the queen who eyes the highland" meaning that other lands feared her. Battle was called the "dance of Inanna, and she was at the very heart of it. She was "the star of the battle-cry, who can make brothers who have lived together in harmony fight each other". She is known for causing the fall of the city of Agade:
|
This is "Hel", Norse Goddess of Death,
Hel was known as the queen goddess of the underworld. She was originally raised in Asgard with her father, but was later given the underworld of Nifelheim/Helheim as her domain. She presided over all of the dead but those who were killed in battle. Those who died heroically in battle ended up in Valhalla, the Hall of the Heroes. She was the sole goddess to decide the fate of those souls who entered her domain.
Depicted: Hel had quite a disturbing appearance; she was born with her bones exposed on the outside of her body. It is also sometimes said that she was both black and white. Her body was known as representing both sides of the spectrum.
Other Names: Halja, Hell, Hella
Father: . Loki
Mother: Angurboda
Siblings: Fenrir, Jormungand
Tree: Elder
Plant: Holly
Sacred Objects: Wells
Hel ("the Hidden" from the word hel,"to conceal") is the Norse goddess of the dead, ruler of the nine worlds of the Land of Mist, Niflheim or Niflhel, located in the far north-- a cold, damp place that is home to frost giants and dwarves. The name Hel was applied both to the Queen of the Underworld and the land itself, and it is thought that the land gave the Queen Her name. In the late Christianized form of the myth, when Hel became Hell, she was said to be the daughter of Loki, who was equated with Lucifer.
In appearance She is said to be a fearsome sight: She is described as being piebald, with a face half-human and half blank, or more usually, half alive and half dead. It is told that when She was born, disease first came into the world. She was said to sweep through towns and cities bringing plague: if she used a rake, some would survive; if a broom, none would.
When the beloved Baldar was killed through Loki's treachery, the entire world begged Her to release him from death. Hel agreed, but only if every creature on earth truly mourned for him. So beloved was Baldar that everything--gods, humans, animals, trees, stones--wept for him. All except an old giantess, called Thokk, who was Loki in disguise.
Hel in a reading can represent a time of simultaneous endings and beginnings, the point at which the circle is completed. She can also indicate integrity, as opposites unite to form a stronger whole.
http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/hel.html
•Hel is the Norse queen of the underworld, a mother goddess in her underworld guise. She rules over a fiery womb of regeneration and is especially responsible for those who died of diseases or old age. Her underworld, unlike the Christian hell which recieved its name from her, is simply an otherworld, a place of renewal and not a place of punishment and misery. When northen shamans visit her realm, they put on a helkappe, a magic mask (sometimes a helmet) that renders them invisible. It is possible that the masked harlequin, a standard character in commedia del l'arte, was orginally one of the kindred of the goddess Hel. Hel teaches that death and rebirth go hand in hand.•
.
Persephone, Greek Goddess
Her mother, the goddess Demeter, had heard Persephone's screams when Hades grabbed her. She began an intensive search for Persephone. After learning how Zeus had betrayed their daughter, and consumed by grief and sorrow, Demeter demonstrated her outrage by withholding her blessing from the earth until Persephone was returned to her. Droughts ensued, and the earth lay barren. Mankind was facing a major famine. Zeus finally relented and sent the god Hermes to bring the young goddess Persephone back to her mother. Not that the goddess Persephone sloughed off any of her responsibilities as the Queen of the Underworld . Apparently Persephone didn't spend all her time "going home to momma". Having made the decision to consume the seeds of the pomegranate while in the underworld, Persephone managed to somehow always be there when others came visiting, ready to receive them into the underworld and to serve as their hostess and guide. In another intriguing story, the Greek goddess Persephone agreed to hide Adonis, a mortal youth who was Aphrodite's lover, from Aphrodite's suspicious husband. But upon seeing the beautiful Adonis, Persephone, receptive goddess that she was, also fell for his charms and refused to give him back to Aphrodite. (Remember, these Greek goddesses were the original "wild women", refusing to yield to convention!) In Greek mythology Persephone, goddess of the soul, is the possessor of its dark and frightening wisdom. But the goddess Persephone is also the harbinger of spring . . . and a reminder of all the growth and hope that it brings.
of Innocence and Receptivity
and Queen of the Underworld
Persephone, a Greek goddess known in her childhood by the name Kore (or Cora, meaning young maiden), was the only child of the union of Demeter (goddess of the bountiful harvest) and Zeus, the mighty king of the Olympians. The Greek goddess Persephone was born when Demeter was Zeus' consort, long before his marriage to the goddess Hera. By all accounts Persephone had an idyllic childhood, raised by her nurturing mother and played with her father's other daughters, the Greek goddesses Athena and Aphrodite. Always a cheerful and compliant child, the little goddess Persephone was a parent's dream.
The god Hades, however, did not bother to woo the young Persephone, traditional goddess protocol notwithstanding. After asking for (and receiving) her father's approval for Persephone's hand in marriage, Hades simply abducted her one bright sunny day when she stooped to pluck a narcissus from a field of wildflowers near her home. The meadow was suddenly rent open, and Hades simply reached out and snatched Persephone away, taking her to his underworld kingdom and making her his queen. Although the young goddess Persephone grew to love Hades, she remained lonely for her mother and the life she'd known on earth.
Part of Persephone missed her mother horribly, but another part had grown rather fond of the god Hades. And Persephone was rather enjoying her role as Queen, even if it was in the underworld. While preparing to return to the earth with Hermes, Persephone accepted a pomegranate offered to her by Hades. She knew full well that anyone who had eaten while in the underworld would not be allowed to return, even a goddess -- Persephone went ahead and ate seven of the seeds. Her choice prevented her from ever being fully restored to Demeter, but did open up the possibility of a compromise. Hermes was able to negotiate an agreement on her behalf between Hades, a god who was usually rather cold-natured and self-centered, and Demeter. Persephone would be allowed to stay with Hades in the underworld for four months each year (winter) and would return to the earth and her mother the remaining months. The goddess Persephone was soon reunited joyfully with her mother. Each year as Persephone left to join her husband in the underworld, Greek mythology tells us that the goddess Demeter would begin to grieve, bringing on the cold, barren winters. But a few months later Persephone, the goddess associated with awakening, would return to bring spring and its verdant growth in her wake . . . thus were the seasons established.
The goddess Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, was willing to help Psyche pass Aphrodite's tests so that Psyche could be reunited with her beloved husband. Psyche had been assigned to go to the underworld and return with some of Persephone's famous youth serum/beauty ointment (actually it was a sleeping potion, but hey, we all know what a bad night's sleep can do to our appearance!) While Psyche was in the underworld, she found Persephone to be both a gracious and generous hostess.
The Greek goddess Persephone also helped Heracles (Hercules), loaning him Cerberus, the ferocious three-headed dog that guarded the entrance of the underworld, so that he could complete the Twelve Labors he'd been assigned to make retribution for the death of his wife. The goddess Persephone was also at home in the underworld when Odysseus (Ulysses) arrived. She rewarded him with a legendary tour of the souls of women of great renown.
Eventually, Zeus had to step in to settle the argument. He ruled that Adonis should spend a third of the year with each of the goddesses, Persephone and Aphrodite, and be left to his own pursuits the remainder of the year. Unfortunately, Adonis chose to spend his free time hunting and was killed in a hunting accident a few years later.
The Greek goddess Persephone represents both the youthful, innocent, and joyous maiden aspect of a woman as well as the more womanly self who, innocence lost and family attachments loosened, can begin to consciously decide for herself.
[From "Introduction"; Visions of the Cailleach, by Sorita d'Este and David Rankine.]
"Cailleach" derives from the old Irish caillech, or "the veiled one". The modern word cailleach means "old woman" or "hag" in Gaelic. The Cailleach is a widespread form of Celtic hag-goddess tied to the land and the weather who has many variants in the British Isles.
The Caillagh ny Groamagh ("Gloomy Old Woman", also called the Caillagh ny Gueshag, "Old Woman of the Spells") of the Isle of Man is a winter and storm spirit whose actions on the 1st of February are said to foretell the year's weather--if it is a nice day, She will come out into the sun, which brings bad luck for the year. The Cailleach Uragaig, of the Isle of Colonsay in Scotland, is also a winter spirit who holds a young woman captive, away from her lover.
the Cailleach migrated with the Celts from Spain to Ireland, and on to Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is possible that her worship and stories also spread into the rest of Britain, hinted at in local folklore and place names. Thus we find possible echoes of her presence in England, Wales, and Jersey. The continental connection is also reinforced in shared motifs found in Brittany (France) and Scandinavia.
More than any other figure in Celtic or British myth, the Cailleach represents the cumulative power of time. Her great age is a common theme in many of the tales about her, and as a result she has almost always been seen as a hag or crone (a meaning of her name). Her earth-shaping ability, through accidental placement of great stones expresses a mythic explanation for processes which take millions of years. The deliberate placement of stones is frequently tied in with Neolithic burial chambers, hinting at the survival of a cult from the distant past.
The Cailleach also has strong associations with both the weather and water, being viewed as the goddess of the harsh winter months. In this role she has been linked in literature ad legend to the Celtic maiden goddess Bride, sometimes as polar opposite and at other times as being dual manifestations of the same goddess. The extent of her power was made clear when she exercised her control over the forces of nature, which made her a significant figure in local folklore.
The Cailleach was also particularly connected with animals in the role of Lady of the Beasts. In Ireland her favoured animal was the cow and in Scotland her particular animal was the deer. She was known to keep herds of her favourite animals and protect them from hunters, who petitioned her for assistance to be successful.
