Chapter Five – Myth & Ritual
Andy Gurevich
These fertility myths are metaphoric and archetypal. They involve some kind of journey into the underworld where the goddess symbolically dies.
Her death causes the desolation of the earth—crops shrivel, animals die, water disappears—and humans grow weaker. In time, all will die and there will be no one to praise the gods. These goddesses are tied to nature-they are the goddess of the earth, the crops, and all living things. Salvation of the earth occurs when the goddess somehow manages to return to the earth.
But a deal must be made; either the goddess or a representative must return to the underworld for a season.
This explains winter, the season of no growing plants, and it explains the cycle of the seasons—spring is the return of the earth goddess; summer she produces the abundance of the earth; fall celebrates the harvest and the preparations for the goddess’s return to the underworld.
These myths seek to explain the mystery of life and death and the afterlife.
These myths are also known as fertility or vegetation myths. The gods are called “chthonic” pronounced “tonic.” The term means subterranean, or below the earth, so you can see their association with growing plants.
But these myths evolved into a much deeper, much more complex meaning that goes beyond the fertility of the land. These goddesses represent life itself. If the goddess can return from death, is there hope for us?
The cycle of human life mirrors the cycle of the seasons-spring is our birth, summer, our growth to adulthood, fall our productive life when we bring forth new life, and winter, our old age when we still nurture, but will soon die. If the plants can be reborn in the spring, can we? These myths tell us that there is a life after our physical death. It is one of the great mysteries of our existence.
As rituals grew around the worship of these goddesses, they became more formal and became cults, not in our modern sense of cult. The most wide-spread cult was that of Isis. Originating in Egypt, it spread to Greece, Italy, and beyond. It persisted until the 4th century CE. The early Roman Catholic Church had an extremely difficult time suppressing it.
The next important cult was that of Demeter, in Greece. Historians from the earliest times knew little about this cult. There was an elaborate initiation ritual and certain requirements to join. Initiates had to be Greek-speakers, slaves could join at the consent of their masters. Every spring, initiates walked from Athens to Eleusis, the location of the shrine of Demeter.
The march was to honor Demeter’s search for Persephone after she was abducted to the underworld by Hades. Initiates fasted, drinking only kykeon, a mixture of barley, water and honey. Once the initiates reached Eleusis, they sacrificed a pig, cleansed themselves in the waters, and prepared to be admitted to the cult. Once in the temple, the ceremony included specific rites performed.
The important thing about the