Temple of Merope

So this is what I've been working on over the last couple of days. I've started a new project that I hope will be both informative and spiritually beneficial. I guess only people who visit it can tell me for sure. Personally, it's already enriched my experience of the Goddess.

I guess you could say I am doing it as much for me (probably more so) than for anyone else. I went looking for virtual Goddess temples and didn't really find what I was looking for. This virtual temple project is the result of that desire.

So, if you have the time please leave me some comments on this post and let me know what you think about the content of the Temple of Merope. More temples are in the works. Persephone and Demeter should be coming soon and at that time I will build an index page to house all the temples.

Connecting with the Goddess: Musings
(from Panthea's Temple of Merope)

We don't know for sure what her name was or what exactly her rituals might've entailed, but remnants of the Great Bee Goddess can be seen in recovered artifacts and the mytholgy of the Greek descendents of the Minoans. Though much of this Goddess is lost to antiquity, I believe versions of her (stripped of her Great Goddess stature) are found throughout later Greek mythology under the name Merope. But these may just be tiny pieces of her story.

I personally believe that Demeter herself is a later incarnation of the Great Bee Goddess. Demeter's priestesses were called Melissae (Bees) and some sources report that the priestesses believed they would be reincarnated as bees in the afterlife. Where did these ideas originate?

The Bee Goddess of Crete, of the Minoans, was intimately tied to the mysteries of life, death, and rebirth. Regeneration or transformation seem to be one of her primary functions. Most, if not all, Great Goddess figures can be given this distinction. Demeter and her various faces as Triple Goddess can certainly be equated with regenerative properties. Could Ancient Merope have also been a Triple Goddess?

Somehow this Goddess (an ancient and sacred face of Mother Demeter) found her way into my life. She settled down into my heart as if it were her hive and made a nice cozy home there. I have rather syncretically equated the Minoan Bee Goddess with the pleiadian star and the myth surrounding the Goddess it is named for. Though this star happens to be in the Pleiades, a constellation popular with the new age crowd, I don't feel anything is being "channeled" down to me. I simply feel her looking down from her hiding place in the vast blanket of stars above. Though her light is the faintest of the other six sisters, I feel it shining on me as the brightest star in the heavens.

Perhaps she has honored me as a modern version of one of her Melissae; her priestess. Since the bee is a common symbol for this Goddess, and thus a possible metaphor to be looked at allegorically, I wonder what the bee can teach me? I wonder what this little creature of the natural world can tell me about how to live and how to honor the Goddess? Might I be a worker bee? Or can I embrace the Queen within?

In this virtual sacred place I invite you to take on the title of Melissae yourself, and let your soul be opened up to this little known but largely felt face of the Goddess.

Korai-Persephone Musings

I've noticed over the past few years that the idea of Persephone being raped by Pluto/Hades is not readily accepted anymore. Beautiful retellings of their story involving a deep love and passion are emerging and being rediscovered around every corner.

It makes sense that Korai would be relunctant to leave the land of the living and the arms of her mother, Demeter. What doesn't make sense is that she would be held against her will or openly give up the opportunity to not only be Queen of the Underworld, but also the Shepherdess of Souls.

It's possible Korai might not have embaced her destiny wholeheartedly at first. Could she have been afraid to grow and to be transformed? Did she fear these things the way mortals naturally fear the transformation of death? Could she have fought these changes the way mortals fight to survive?

Eventually it is the love of Pluto that changes her; that makes her whole, and helps her to realize her true potential and destiny. I don't believe a divine being like that could be a rapist. So, why do you suppose this story became twisted? Is there some patriarchal reason as to why Korai would need to be forced into becoming Persephone?

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Persephone (Korai) is given away to Pluto/Hades by Zeus (sometimes her father and sometimes her uncle). This rings of patriarchal influences and hints that a woman couldn't possibly have the power to think for herself and make the decision to change her existence. In no way does this speak about what we know of Goddess societies and it can only be assumed that the myths including aspects of rape are a later retelling of a very ancient story.

I found the passage below at The Other Ivy's blog, Stone Circle. I immediately fell in love with it and it suddenly resonated inside me like something true. It wasn't the first time I had heard of an alternate, non-rape version of the story, but it was so inspiring that I had to post it here along with my musings.

...No one understands anymore
how beautiful he was. But Persephone remembers.

Also that he embraced her, right there,
with her uncle watching. She remembers
sunlight flashing on his bare arms.

This is the last moment she remembers clearly.
Then the dark god bore her away.

She also remembers, less clearly,
the chilling insight that from this moment
she couldn't live without him again.

The girl who disappears from the pool
will never return. A woman will return,
looking for the girl she was...

- Excerpt from"The Myth of Innocence"
from Averno by Louise Glück.

The Laws of Demeter

I was reading the book Mysteries of Demeter: Rebirth of the Pagan Way by Jennifer Reif when I came across the Thesmoi (Laws) of Demeter.

After an extensive search on Google I found no other versions of this so I can only assume that it's at the very least an interpretation of an original Classical Pagan text and not just the author's own view. If anyone can identify the original text that these laws come from please point me to it.

For the sake of argument (and because I think it can make for interesting conversation) I am going to treat these laws as a legitimate text of the Goddess. You'll find my interpretations and comments below.

I. Give praises to the Holy Mother - all that is born rises from within her.

II. All that sustains thee flows from her body.

III. The wise and Holy Mother pleasures in peace and honest labor.

IV. Tend to your life with gentle wisdom, and to your days with love's compassion.

V. Honor the Goddess' rites and mysteries - to bring justice, peace, and the nation's fertility.

VI. Know the cycle of the blessed seed as the mystery of the soul, revealed.

VII. Honor the pure and Holy Maiden, whose power is joy ever-reborn.

VIII. Praises to Royal Persephone, who at thy death will welcome thee.

IX. Praises to the Holy Mother, whose song is the light of eternity.

X. May you know your immortal being and drink of her cup everlasting.

Items I. and II. seem to be saying the same thing, though I think the second one is a reminder that we are not only born of the Goddess, but that she also sustains us. It speaks in metaphor about the Earth personified as Goddess - as the food we eat and the water we drink all being her and of her body. This reminds me of the Eucharist in a way... of the neo-Pagan rite of cakes and ale, etc.

Line III. says the Goddess likes it when we are peaceful, honest, hardworking people. In one sentence we are told that we should not create strife, war, kill, etc. - not lie - and be prepared to work for everything in our lives. In short - be peaceful, be truthful, and nothing comes easily so earn your keep.

In Law IV. we are told to "tend to our lives with gentle wisdom". Maybe this is too vague for me. I mean, I get it I guess, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Is it saying be gentle and wise with oneself or be gentle and wise with others? Or maybe it's saying both of those things. I understand the bit about love's compassion well. I think it's a reference to "loving thine neighbor" and treating others with love as a healthy mother does her children.

Number V. is a little odd to me I think. There seems to be some nationalistic flair to it that I don't understand. Or perhaps it's simply about agriculture because in ancient times without the rites of the Goddess, that were connected with the planting and harvesting of plants, there would be no food. With enough food there is less chance of war and injustice. Right?

I like VI. because it's saying that in nature the mysteries of the soul are shown to us and that only through this realization does the soul find freedom and peace. At least that's my take on it. I think it could also say "know that the cycles of the moon are the mysteries of the soul revealed" or anything with a similar cycle. Nature in general can be used here as well. This line also makes nature sacred by referring to the seed as blessed.

VII. is not distinct enough for me either. I understand it but again what do I do with it? We are told that the Maiden is joy ever-reborn. Okay. So there is rebirth and the Maiden is the personification of this concept. But then again so is the seed spoken of in the line above. Maybe it's saying to simply honor the Maiden concept during worship? Or maybe I need to think on this one more.

I think stanza VIII. tells us simply that in death Persephone is there to welcome us into the Underworld and that there is life after death. I notice the distinction between the Maiden and Persephone here though and see a triplicity not usually spoken about in the myths of Demeter. A complete Triple Goddess figure is seen (the Maiden/Korai, the Mother/Demeter, the Crone/Persphone) as opposed to just the "Twin Goddesses" or the mother-daughter concept most often emphasized. I think that's interesting and deserves more thought.

Is IX. telling us that in singing the Mother's song, or worshipping her, that we find the light of eternity? Is it saying that the Mother is the truth and the light a la Jesus? I'm not saying that in a bad way, only picking up on the correlation between two myths. Hmm... that makes me want to think on this one more too.

Line X. closes the laws with a phrase reminiscent of the Charge of the Goddess; "and mine is the cup of wine of life that is the Cauldron of Cerridwyn, that is the grail of immortality". The cup itself is Goddess imagery that resembles the womb and also the well-spring of knowledge that is the source; the Goddess. This line in essence says you are immortal and life is everlasting. If this is an ancient text after all then it's possible it had a hand in inspiring the Charge as well - not that the concepts are not universal to say the least.