Demeter

Demeter was first and foremost a Goddess of the harvest. Offerings to Demeter were common to ensure bountiful crops each year. She is a kind, generous and loving Goddess and has seldom been known to punish the mortals. It was Demeter who taught the secrets of agriculture to mankind. Aside from farming and crops, Demeter is also associated with civilization and law, motherhood and marriage, and higher magick. Demeter is best known for her role in the myth with her daughter Persephone:

When Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the Underworld, Demeter mourned for her lost daughter and searched desperately for her. When she discovered where Persephone had gone, it was too late to completely save her. Hades had tricked the girl into eating some pomegranate seeds. And so she was bound to return to the Underworld for 1 month for each of the seeds eaten. When Persephone leaves each year, Demeter mourns and we have winter. Spring returns when Persephone comes home.

The famed Eleusinian mysteries were initiated by Demeter, when she spent time in Eleusis during her search for Persephone. There were actually 2 mysteries, a Lesser and a Greater. The rites of the mysteries were based on the above story of Demeter and Persephone and celebrated the return of the Goddess' daughter. The festival of Thesmophoria was also dedicated to Demeter. This celebration was for married women only, and also involved the story of Demeter and Persephone.

In the Roman pantheon, Demeter is known as Ceres and Persephone is called Kore.