Today’s card features a Goddess I have mixed feelings for. I mean, yes, she’s all home and hearth and field and grain. But boy, did she put the hover in helicopter mother!
Most of us have a passing knowledge of the story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. If you heard the version that I did, Hades is the big bad boy who stole her baby.
Well, let’s stop and think about that.
Here is Demeter gracing the Five of Earth. This card traditionally means loss of home and loss of money. Loss of family as well. So she is a good one for this card.
However, before y’all yank out your hankies to wipe your eyes, let’s consider this.
Persephone was abducted, or so we are told, by that rotten old Hades. Then her mother goes into serious shut down mode (no, that’s not a U.S. government dig) over this loss. Instead of doing something productive, she stops working.
Now, when Demeter stops working, it’s bad, y’all. No crops. No food. No nothing. So Zeus had to get involved. I see Zeus as the Olympus CEO. So he has to have a meeting with Demeter about her attitude.
When she tells him what’s what, he goes to his brother. His brother claims Persephone is happy where she is. Heck, she even ate some food.
That’s bad. You eat. You stay. Kind of like at a fairy banquet. Good news is she ate six pomegranate seeds (must be one of them-thar new-fangled diets, yo.) So Zeus mediates the conflict.
The final decision? Six months up and six months down–what you might call a split work shift.
I think Persephone was happy with her husband. I think our pretty little virgin Goddess got tired of being under mama D’s thumb and struck out on her own. I think the whole abduction thing was just a smear job by her mother. And it’s easy to do a smear job because most of us never go to the source being smeared. We just nod our heads and agree with the smearer. (Why do I suddenly want a bagel and schmear?)
The Five of Earth energy can be about loss and lack. But how often do we consider what caused the loss and lack? So someone’s parent kicked them out. Do you really think it’s all one sided? Sometimes it is (I personally know someone who was beaten and thrown out at the age of 14 for coming out to her folks). But I think more often than not, it’s a combination of things.
So today’s journal prompt may not be an easy one. “What am I doing to foster my feelings of lack and loss? How can I reroute that thinking into positive avenues of change?”
Seek joy, y’all! Pass it on.
Five of Earth, Dark Goddess Tarot, Ellen Lorenzi-Price, 2013
http://www.darkgoddesstarot.com
Great post. I to have read somewhere the version of Persephone going with Hades of her free will. No rape whatsoever. It’s looks more like Demeter suffered an empty nest syndrome. She could have taken a hobby of sorts and discover nice new aspects of herself. How would the world be now if she just had……..:D
LOL, Ellen. I love the idea of just picking up a new hobby. 😀
Wow! Love this post. I’m visiting you from the ABLA, and I’m definitely signing up to your blog feed. I love your reframing of the Demeter story, and I love your questions for reflection at the end. I’ve been doing a lot of personal work lately on lack and loss, especially focusing on money stuff. I look forward to reading more of your blog!
Thank you, Holly! Your Tarantulas post was so evocative. I really enjoyed the message.