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The Return of Persephone. Frederick Leighton

Persephone-Demeter-Hades-Elysian-Mysteries

the greatest gifts which Demeter gave were cereal (also known as corn in modern Britain), thecultivation of which made man different from wild animals; and the Mysteries which give the

initiate higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, dated to about the seventh century BC. she is invoked as the"bringer of seasons", a subtle sign that she was worshipped long before she was made one of the

Olympians. She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the EleusinianMysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon.

The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek : ) were initiation ceremonies held everyyear for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the

mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance.These myths and mysteries, begun in the Mycenean period (c. 1600 BC)

[1][2]and lasting two

thousand years, were a major festival during the Hellenic era, later spreading to Rome.[3]

Thename of the town, Eleusís, is a variant of the noun , éleusis, arrival.

The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret, as initiation was believed to unite the

worshipper with the gods and included promises of divine power and rewards in the afterlife.[4] There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries.

Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents.De meter's

emblem is the poppy, a bright red flower that grows among the barley.

The Mysteries seem to be related to a myth concerning Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and

fertility as recounted in one of the Homeric Hymns (c. 650 B.C.). According to the hymn,Demeter's daughter Persephone (also referred to as  Kore, "maiden") was gathering flowers with

friends, when she was seized by her uncle, Hades, the god of death and the underworld, with theconsent of her father Zeus. He took her to his underworld kingdom. Distraught, Demeter 

searched high and low for her daughter. Because of her distress, and in an effort to coerce Zeus

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to allow the return of her daughter, she caused a terrible drought in which the people sufferedand starved. This would have deprived the gods of sacrifice and worship. As a result, Zeus

relented and allowed Persephone to return to her mother 

Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever 

consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. BeforePersephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked her into

eating pomegranate seeds, (six, eight, or perhaps four according to the telling) which forced her to return to the underworld for a season each year. As a result, Persephone could not avoid

returning to the underworld for part of the year. According to the prevailing version of the myth,Persephone had to remain with Hades for six months (one month per seed) while staying above

ground with her mother for a similar period. This left a large period of time when Demeter wasunhappy due to Persephone's absence therefore she did not cultivate the Earth and it withered.

When Persephone returned to the surface, Demeter became joyful and cared for the Earth again.

However, six months of summer was unlikely and it is easier to believe that Persephone stayedwith Hades for four months and Demeter eight months. The end result was eight months of 

growth and abundance to be followed by four months of no productivity.[8]

These periods

correspond well with the Mediterranean climate of Ancient Greece. The four months duringwhich Persephone is with Hades correspond to the dry Greek summer, a period during which plants are threatened with drought.

[9]After the first rains in the fall, when the seeds are planted,

Persephone returns from the Underworld and the cycle of growth begins anew.

The Eleusinian Mysteries probably included a celebration of Persephone's return, for it was also

the return of plants and of life to the earth. Persephone had gone into the underworld (underground, like seeds in the winter), then returned to the land of the living: her rebirth is

symbolic of the rebirth of all plant life during Spring and, by extension, all life on earth.

Penelope, Stanhope

Penelope

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Though she has not seen Odysseus in twenty years, and despite pressure the suitors place on her to remarry, Penelope never loses faith in her husband. Her cares make her somewhat flighty and

excitable, however. For this reason, Odysseus, Telemachus, and Athena often prefer to leave her in the dark about matters rather than upset her. Athena must distract her, for instance, so that she

does not discover Odysseus¶s identity when Eurycleia is washing him. Athena often comes to her in dreams to reassure or comfort her, for Penelope would otherwise spend her nights weeping in

her bed.

Though her love for Odysseus is unyielding, she responds to the suitors with some indecision.She never refuses to remarry outright. Instead, she puts off her decision and leads them on with

 promises that she will choose a new husband as soon as certain things happen. Her astutedelaying tactics reveal her sly and artful side. The notion of not remarrying until she completes a

 burial shroud that she will never complete cleverly buys her time. Similarly, some commentatorsclaim that her decision to marry whomever wins the archery contest of Book 21 results from her 

awareness that only her husband can win it. Some even claim that she recognizes her husband before she admits it to him in Book 23.

America Guided by Wisdom

The Seal of California

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Odysseus and Calypso, Brueghel

Odysseus and his men

Odysseus and Circe, Edmund Dulac

Perseus and Andromeda, Rubens

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The Head of Medusa, Rubens

The Fall of Icarus, Brueghel

Daphne, Tiepolo

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Raising of Europe, Coypel

Hermaphroditus, Bernini

Narcissus Caravaggio

he youth has not returned for days. In a dark pool so still it might hold a man up, in his ownreflection, he has drowned himself. ³His eyes were aware of the pointed corners of his eyes, and

his hands aware of the pointed tips of his fingers. Struck down by such knowledge, he could notlive men¶s ways, but became a dancer before God.´

1This is Narcissus. He has made God in his

own image. His transformation into a flower, the plant that exists for the singular purpose of  being beautiful, is witnessed by Echo, who, like Narcissus himself, has been transfixed by his

image. The poor nymph watches him from afar. She keens like a bird in mourning, her sharp

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cries carving the air with a voice that only grows thinner. Eventually all will be still²ametamorphosis of longing gives birth to only loss. As Narcissus loses his form, experiencing a

separation from the self, a divorce of ethereal from corporeal, Echo has fallen in love with amirage²the painting which comes close to but will not attain reality; a painter whose mind has

 blurred the concepts of reality and illusion. The solid form, the ideal, is recurringly unattainable.This is the tragedy of the artist as well as of the observer: to reach into the lake and find you have

destroyed perfection, or to waste away, separate, on the fringe of an ideal that will never belongto you, that you might never truly understand. Lost in shadow.

In Caravaggio¶s  Nar cissus, Echo is unseen, lost in the chiaroscuro that illuminates only the

isolated figure of the mythological youth.

Oedipus and the Sphinx Ingres

Queen Jocasta and King Laius had a child, Oedipus. Prophet said Oedipus will kill his father so the King

leaves his son on a mountainside and bashes stakes through his feet. A shepherd saves him and raises

him. Oedipus leaves after hearing of this myth. He ends up encountering his dad on his way to thebes

and kills his dad in a chariot crash. In Thebes, Oedipus is terrorized by the Sphinx, who asks riddles. If 

you cant answer right it kills you. Oedipus solves the riddle and kills the Sphinx. Thebes has no king so

they nominate Oedipus who then marries Jocasta his mother. They learn the truth, she kills herself, he

gauges out his eyes. OediPus means swell foot, aka seer of things (associated w/ knowledge). Theme of 

Knowing thyself which ties into Freud and psychoanalysis.

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The Alexander Mosaic