"Her story is not just crimson pomegranates, all of the splendour of spring bends to her will. But this floral maiden also sends shudders of fear with one delicate footstep through all of hell. She reigns over the birth of flowers and gentle beings, raises baby birds in her lap, and with fawns she plays. She reigns over demons and demise alike and before her fury, even Death himself pales. - Nikita Gill |
February 12th
Day 12 It is said that if you eat any kind of food in the Underworld, you cannot leave. After Hades abducted Kore and brought her to the Underworld, it took Demeter weeks to find her, during which time we are unsure exactly what happens. They do marry, making her the queen of the Underworld. There are accounts that paint Hades as a terror, stealing Kore from her mother and forcing her into a life she never wanted. There are also interpretations that Kore found this new realm different from everything she grew up knowing, and fell in love with it... and Hades. Before she was found (there are different accounts of how she was retrieved, whether it was by Hermes, Hecate or Demeter herself), she ate seeds from a pomegranate. Some say that she did not know the laws of the Underworld, some say she was starving and couldn't bear another day without food. But she was a goddess, and one could argue that she knew the laws and ways of her kind better than most. Did she eat the seeds knowing that it would tie her there? She ended up spending the rest of her time traveling between worlds- a few months of the year with Demeter (said to be spring and summer, when the harvest is bountiful), and the rest of the year with Hades. Was she a wisp of a girl caught in a terrible mess, or was she a goddess who balanced the duality of her personality, interests, and relationships like a true queen? Her name switches from Kore to Persephone at this point in the story- in Latin Proserpina, derivative of pherein phonon or "to bring or cause death". Pomegranates symbolize fertility and life but also power (the imperial orb), blood and death. A fruit parallel to the polarity of the Greek goddess it is tied to, pomegranates are also very symbolic in other religions and cultures, such as Christianity and Judaism. Possible Powers: Power, Fertility, Prosperity Located: 32.0488012, -84.8160491 |