The September Equinox will fall on—September 23—specifically at 08:21 UTC. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, the Autumnal Equinox will be of some significance to you. We shall infer that “Demeter and Persephone are strongly connected to the time of the Autumn Equinox.”
Some maintain that it is the time of the Dark Mother. The ancient Greeks were very knowledgeable about the legend of Persephone.
The ‘Mysteries’ are linked to a myth concerning Demeter and Persephone, which is a story coming from Greek mythology. “The Homeric Hymns are a collection of thirty-three anonymous Ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods.” The oldest were written in the seventh century BC. This being the essence of Greek literature.
The Eleusinian Mysteries are considered to be of importance to the Greco-Roman world. “The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis (West Attica, northwest of Athens) in ancient Greece.”
They were the “most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece”, dating to somewhere around the years 1600 through 1100 BC. Eleusis is said to have been the place that Demeter originally found her daughter.
The mysteries represented the story of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades. We have a three part theme: descent, search, and ascent.
Persephone used to live far away from the other gods, a goddess within Nature herself before the days of planting seeds and nurturing plants. In the Olympian telling, the gods Hermes and Apollo had wooed Persephone; but Demeter rejected all their gifts and hid her daughter away from the company of the Olympian gods. The story of her abduction by Hades against her will, is traditionally referred to as the Rape of Persephone.
Zeus, it is said, permitted Hades, who was in love with the beautiful Persephone, to carry her off as her mother Demeter was not likely to allow her daughter to go down to Hades.
Nice post!