The Myth in my Own Words

Long ago, when man had barely come to creation, the deadly winter and agriculture were created. It all started out with me and my daughter happily going about our lives with not a worry in sight. Then my little Persephone wished to have a love, how preposterous! I said she shouldn't worry about that and she had everything she needed, but i knew that didn't stop her. As the day ended I went and visited my husband, little did i know he was up to no good. I caught Zeus ordering his little son to shoot an arrow at our precious daughter, this inflamed me. I tried to deflect the arrow but it sank into the ground. Not long after Hades rose out of the ground and abducted my beautiful daughter. I felt like a piece of me had been ripped out and set back my job to search for my darling Persephone. Meanwhile the evil Hades has her trapped underground. She is sadly getting happier being underground and falling in love with Hades as he is already with her. While they are celebrating their wedding, Zeus figured out that a serious problem was being created. Since I have been searching for Persephone, my job has been set back and the land has been in a darkness blanketed with snow. If I don't find Persephone, then all of the people will die off and all of the gods will be jobless. So Zeus sent Hermes to do the onerous task Hades. The thought of my daughter leaving angered him, but he knew he had to do it. So he made my darling Persephone a magic pomegranate seed, which would let her spend time in the world above for a month out of the year. When he gave the pomegranate to her, she ate four seeds! Which means she gets to spend four months instead of one above ground with me! Once she came above ground and bloomed with beauty, I was so very happy to see her! The land returned to sunshine and harvesting, although it didn't quite return to how it was before. Since she went into the ground and spend time with Hades four months out of the year, I would make the the lands a desolate. That, my friends is how the winter and agriculture was created!

Resolution of the myth

The resolution is a bitter sweet ending of the myth. Demeter doesn't get what she wants completely, but she gets it for an amount of time. Persephone spends eight months with Demeter, and four with Hades. Sadly, Demeter wants all the time with her daughter but she doesn't get that. Hades feeling the same way as Demeter. He is mad that he can only spend a four measly months with his beloved wife. Although, he knows that is how it has to be to keep the human race running smoothly. Persephone gets the best of both worlds. She gets to spend time with both of the people she loves most. Even though everybody isn't quite at the end, they learn to live with the consequences to keep the human race and their jobs alive.

Climax of the myth

At the climax, everything is not right and needs to be fixed. Demeter is searching everywhere for her daughter as she sits in the underworld celebrating her marriage with her new husband Hades. She is happily in love, but wants to see her mother again. But she is afraid that if she does see her mother, Hades will be taken away from her. Meanwhile above the clouds, Zeus and his servant are watching everything play out in front of them and figuring out the problem. The problem is major and they need to fix it before they are out of a job. They are happy for Persephone, but they need to focus more on the earth at the moment, since it is in present day winter. Demeter is searching all over the earth to find Persephone, without any luck. There are many concerns at the climax of the myth, but they will soon be resolved

Conflict in the Myth

In the myth, the few major conflicts are Hades and Zeus. If they had never taken Persephone from her mother, winter would never exist. Hades isn't the main person to blame, since he was shot by the arrow and fell madly in love with Persephone. But because of that, he abducted her from her mothers happy atmosphere and taken down to the cold underworld. Zeus is the main cause of this situation with Demeter's anger. He wanted his daughter to find love so he took it into his own being to fulfill that wish she had. With him and his little servant, they both created the main conflict of the myth. By taking Persephone away from Demeter, she became angry and depressed. When those emotions come to Demeter the earth suffers extremely. Zeus and Hades together conflict with Demeter and cause a huge problem to the earth that has to be fixed in the end.

Beginning Character mood

In the beginning of the myth, Demeter has a very calm and loving attitude. She is at a very good place in the beginning. Watches and cares for her daughter, Persephone, while keeping the earth in an all year round harvesting season. She is calm and peaceful by doing her daily routine with no interruptions or disturbances. Demeter also shows a loving side her her at the beginning of the myth. She shows the love for her daughter through the nature and how she is always there talking and giving advise to her sweet Persephone. The nature she sets in the beginning is full of life and peace because of her love and happiness for her own daughter. Since she is so happy, the atmosphere and nature of her godly powers are the same. Because Demeter is such a caring mother, she is always happy and filled with love around her daughter.

Demeter's Setting

When Demeter is found or imitated, it is usually in a naturistic setting. Since Demeter is the goddess of grain and harvest, one of the places she can be put into is a grain field. Since grain is one of the main providers for man, she would focus on those a lot. Plus, since she is usually found carrying a piece of grain, it would be appropriate for one of her settings to be in a grain field. Another main place she is found is in a light forest. Providing for the animals is another job of hers, so the forest is a huge provider of fruit and plant for the small animals. Plus, Persephone lives in the forest, and since Demeter is a watchful mother, she spends a lot of time in that setting watching her daughter. Since Demeter is the goddess of grain and harvest, she spends most of her time in a naturistic setting. 

Demeter Cultural Connections

Demeter has been shown to many cultures today. Three of the connections are through space, publishing, and fragrances. The space connection is a french micro-satellite named Demeter that was launched i December, 2005. It was made to study activity of volcanoes, earthquakes, anthropology and the earth's electromagnetic environment. The second connection is a publishing company named after Demeter. It is a book publisher focused on motherhood/ mothering books, poems, and many more forms of writing. The third and final connection is a fragrance company called Demeter Fragrance. The New York fragrance company produces smells based on everyday natural scents which they combine to create different quirky smells. These are just a few of the several references Demeter has in the modern day culture.

A Story of Demeter

Long ago Zeus and Demeter had a child named Persephone. Demeter always wanted Persephone to be hers, but Persephone felt different. She wanted to be with somebody, so Zeus ordered a cupid to shoot an arrow. The arrow shot Hades, so he kidnapped Persephone and took her to the underworld where they got married. This infuriated and scared Demeter, for her daughter was gone and there was nothing to do. She spent time searching which took her focus off of taking care of the weather. It became present time winter in this period of time. Zeus realized what was happening and told Hades. He got a magic pomegranate and gave it to Persephone to eat. One seed represented a month that she would stay in the underworld, and she ate 4. So every four months a year when Persephone is gone, her mother mourns and does not create a "harvesting season" for the earth, or in other words it's present day winter.

If you want to see the full myth in a video click on the link i found below:

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