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DEMETER

“I begin to sing of rich-haired Demeter, awful goddess —of her and her trim-ankled daughter whom Aidoneus (Hades) rapt away, given to him by all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer.”  

               (-Homeric Hymn, translated by H.G. Evelyn white)

DEMETER (duh-MEET-er), is the goddess of harvest, agriculture, fertility, and grains. She is the central figure in the mystery Cult of Eleusis,where citizens made a pilgrimage to Eleusis to partake in a festival and initiation ritual tied to the myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone’s abduction by Hades into the underworld. This ceremony would initiate a citizen, provide some spiritual insight, thereby guaranteeing a better position in the afterlife. In my depiction, Demeter holds out her torch, in search of her abducted daughter, and an ear of wheat grain to symbolize her role in agriculture. Tto the left we have the main players of the missing daughter myth. A misty Hades behind, and Persephone in front, with triple-bodied Hekatebeside, who helped Demeter find her daughter, and became Persephone's attendant in the underworld. On the right we have a woman pouring libations to help the wheat grow, then Demeter holding the cut grain, symbolizing the cyclical nature, and transience of life.

Unfortunately, as the crime of revealing the inner secret ceremony was punishable by death, we can't know for sure what took place in the inner sanctum during the main ritual. What we do know is that something was “drunk” and something was "seen". Many believe that the Kykeon drink offered to initiates would produce a psychotropic, hallucinatory effect. Perhaps the drink was tainted with ergot (rotten barley fungi), or maybe mushrooms. Apparently, the ritual had three stages, (mirroring Persephone’s underworld journey); the descent, the search, and the ascent. Some believe the final act shown to the initiate was the cutting of an ear of grain, to symbolize the cyclical death and rebirth of nature. 

Want to own my Illustrated Greek myth book jam packed with over 130 illustrations like this? Support my book kickstarter "Lockett Illustrated: Greek Gods and Heroes" coming in early 2024. check my bio LINKTREE

#art #i am unbearable and i know this

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Naomi Shihab Nye, “Red Brocade”

[Text ID: “The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he’s come from, where he’s headed. That way, he’ll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then your’ll be such good friends you don’t care.”]

#quotes #naomi shihab nye #why do we have the sunflowers?

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#conor scruton #mary oliver #quotes #why do we have the sunflowers?

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demeter protecting persephone sketch

#art #married buried mourned #i am unbearable and i know this

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ppl romanticize reading poems like silently drinking hot tea, sitting under a blanket by the fireplace like in a period drama etc. when it actually feels like this

#quotes

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Diomedes

#art #a spear as a walking stick

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that holy leash

#quotes #but you're still carrying your father

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everyone be quiet i’m thinking of the letter mozart sent his sister when he found out his dad had died

#quotes #but you're still carrying your father #wolfgang amadeus mozart

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demeter protecting persephone sketch

#art #i am unbearable and i know this #married buried mourned #demeter & persephone

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(words from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott) + ariadne and asterius, the thread and the minotaur

im sorry that it took me this long to find you, brother - let me show you the sunlight

🧶 kofi link in bio if you’re feeling generous 🧶

#art #a labyrinthine man never seeks the truth #twice as many stars as usual #ariadne & minotaur

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Dionysus design!

#art #how do i look? convincingly human?

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THEM. // agamemnon and clytemnestra

#art #pillar of the house of atreus #fearless and you know it #agamemnon x clytemnestra

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schemin

#art #the man of twists and turns #a spear as a walking stick #diomedes x odysseus

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Klytemnestra in Mycenae, Casey J. King

#quotes #casey j king #fearless and you know it

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Ogden Nash, from the poem ‘Dragons Are Too Seldom’

Ocean Vuong, A Letter To My Mother That She Will Never Read

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

Sarah Elaine Smith, Marilou Is Everywhere

Samantha J. E. Riches, Encountering the Monstrous: Saints and Dragons in Medieval Thought

Victoria Schwab, Vicious

Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff, Obsidio

Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

Alexandra Christo, To Kill a Kingdom

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,

#quotes #oh when you love it

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twice as many stars

#art #twice as many stars as usual

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anne boyer “the harm will come: it never doesn��t” / julia armfield “to watch a horror movie is to know that something bad is going to happen. to have a body is really the same thing” / hilary mantel “we don’t have to invite pain in, it’s waiting for us: sooner rather than later” / marie howe “you know how we’ve been waiting for the big pain to come? I think it’s here. I think this is it. I think it’s been here all along” / gregory orr “I want to go back to the beginning. we all do. I think: hurt won’t be there. but I’m wrong” / toni morrison “the hurt was always there” / torrey peters “pain that had to be endured, withstood, pain that was the same as being alive, and so without end”

#quotes #fate has already staked its claim