The Ceres Death Ritual (Series) Part I

“The Synchromystical Journey of Ceres”

"Where the girl was [Persephone who had been abducted by Haides] she [Demeter] knew not, but reproached the whole wide world - ungrateful, not deserving her gift of grain - and Trinacria (Sicily) in chief where she had found the traces of her loss. So there with angry hands she broke the ploughs that turned the soil and sent to death alike the farmer and his labouring ox, and bade the fields betray their trust, and spoilt the seeds. False lay the island’s famed fertility, famous through all the world. The young crops died in the first blade, destroyed now by the rain too violent, now by the sun too strong. The stars and the winds assailed them; hungry birds gobbled the scattered seeds; thistles and twitch, unconquerable twitch, wore down the wheat ... O thou, divine ... Mother of crops and harvest." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.475

Down the rabbit hole we go…on a journey to the underworld with Ceres.

In the days following the mass shootings (33 dead) at the Virginia Tech campus on April 16^th 2007, I spent a lot of time wondering why mid-April seems to be the cruelest time of year here in the States. If you listen to the media, it would seem that a random assortment of misfits copycat one another every few years or so, in an act of selfish glory… After the dust has settled, and the carrion have picked the carcasses of these tragic stories clean do we ever gain any real insights? We’ve been given a multitude of possible triggers to explain these bloodbaths ranging from religious wackos, anti-government sentiments, white power organizations, lack of gun control, violent video games and movies, and neo-Nazis celebrating the birthday of Adolph Hitler.

Do these “official” stories ever tell us anything useful, and for all the time spent covering these events have the so-called experts learned anything (or do they already know, and don’t care to intervene as has been claimed by many)? Is it a way to disarm and marginalize those who oppose or question the elite? Perhaps it’s even a massive cover-up to cloud the waters of a far more sinister agenda. Or, is it a cosmic drama being played out by a vengeful Goddess? And could we really blame her…?

The fundamental connection between Waco, TX., Oklahoma City, OK., Columbine in Denver, CO., and Blacksburg, VA appears to be the time of year in which they have taken place. Why this particular week in mid-April? What I started to see, set off a chain of sychromystical connections that has continued to expand, even as we now enter the second week of May.

The dates April 16^th-21^st correspond with a week long Roman celebration to the Goddess Ceres (Demeter/Isis). This spring festival took place from roughly April 12-19^th (The 19^th being known as the “Cerealia”). Ceres “The Mother Goddess” is perhaps best known as the mother of Persephone. The goddess of crops, plants, and fertility…specifically wheat, and corn. It is from her name that our modern “cereal” is derived. In the tarot, Ceres is “The Empress” and thus connected to Venus, for the purposes of this investigation I will primarily focus on her importance to the natural world of agriculture and animals. However, this rabbit hole is deep, and there will be occasion to invoke other aspects of Ceres.

We actually know little about the Cerealia (there is an Autumnal festival to her as well), but what we do know I will wait and go into in Part III for reasons which will become clear then. [It is also important to note that the Eleusinian Mysteries are directly related to Ceres (and although I will not go into them here, I know that Jake Kotze’s “Brave New World Order” and Synkronos23 will hopefully be all over this angle)]

By looking at the story of Persephone, we gain a central portrait of Ceres as the grieving mother, hell bent on the return of her child. In her October 11^th, 2006 article entitled “The Archetype of Ceres Pt. I” (found here) Lynn Hayes from Astrological Musings gives us an insightful account of the Goddess. I will refer to Lynn’s exceptional musings on Ceres throughout, as she seems to be well versed, and writing vigorously about this topic herself. [Lynn also writes in great detail about the dwarf planet Ceres, and the astrological/planetary associations to the Goddess Ceres]

“Ceres, the mother and provider is both heartbroken and angered by the loss of her child in the Persephone story. We see children at the forefront of all of these events. The duel nature of Ceres shows us what she is capable of… Like all divine personages of the Greek and Roman pantheon, Ceres has a dual nature. She is the "greatest cause of joy" in the giving of the grain, but can also cause deprivation, starvation and hunger. Her wrath was legendary: after the abduction of her daughter, she turned the attending handmaidens into the bird-shaped Sirens. She was the goddess of more than grain; she presided over fruits, seeds and most vegetables as well. Because agriculture formed the wealth of the society, she is also associated with abundance and the gifts of the gods. When a villager did not offer her hospitality during her visit to the town, she burned down his house with him in it. Those who did welcome her into their home received abundant gifts.”

This duel nature of Ceres is at the heart of our story, as we shall see. There are no less than 10 stories that document the wrath of Ceres (Demeter).

ASKALABOS: A man of Argos (in Southern Greece) who was transformed into a spotted gecko by Demeter as punishment for mocking the goddess' ravenous drinking of meal as she rested during the search for her daughter.

ASKALAPHOS: An Underworld Daimon who was transformed by Demeter into a lizard or screech-owl as punishment for reporting to Haides that her daughter had tasted the fruit of the pomegranate.

KOLONTAS: A man Argos (in Southern Greece) who was burnt up within his house as punishment for driving Demeter away when she sought his hospitality in the search for her daughter.

MINTHE: An Underworld Nymph who was loved by the god Haides but abandoned when he fell in love with Persephone. When she complained to be superior to the goddess and that she would win back the heart of the god, Demeter was furious and transformed her into a mint plant.

POSEIDON: Demeter brought famine to the earth after Poseidon raped her in the form of a horse, while she was searching for her daughter Persephone.

SEIRENES, THE: Aitolian Nymphai and handmaidens of Persephone who were transformed into bird-like monsters by Demeter as punishment for refusing to help in the search for their mistress. According to some, the transformation was a blessing, bestowed upon the Seirenes at their own request.

ZEUS: The King of the Gods felt the wrath of Demeter when he gave her daughter Persephone away to Haides. In retaliation she brought deadly starvation to the race of man, threatening to destroy them, if her daughter were not returned.

ERYSIKHTHON, TRIOPAS, or AITHON: A King of one of the Thessalian kingdoms (in Northern Greece) who was inflicted with unquenchable hunger as punishment for having felled the Dryad-inhabited oaks of Demeter's sacred grove.

KARNABON: A King of the Getai of Thrake (North of Greece) who slew the flying serpents which drew the chariot of Demeter's hero Triptolemos. As punishment the goddess sent another pair of the beasts to destroy him. He was then placed amongst the stars as Ophiokhos (the Serpent-Holder).

LYNKOS: A King of Skythia who was transformed by Demeter into a lynx when he tried to kill her prophet Triptolemos.

PYRRHOS: An historical Macedonian general who was killed during an attack on the city of Argos by a woman throwing a roof-tile. His death occurred outside the temple of Demeter, and the locals claimed it was the goddess who threw the deadly tile.

Could it be that what we are experiencing is the Wrath of Ceres? Or are the global elite using Ceres to unleash it’s own wrath upon us, the people of the Earth?

What I discovered next was that there are some 15 towns and cities across the globe with the name Ceres. The most striking of these was Ceres, VA. and Ceres, OK. Both located less than 100 miles from (yup, you guessed it) Blacksburg and Oklahoma City. Other global locations include: Argentina, Cuba, France, Brazil, Scotland, Australia, Mexico, Italy, and South Africa…with the remainder all being located in the United States in: Iowa, New York, Washington, and a VERY interesting Ceres in California (I will take a closer look here in Part III as well). It comes as no surprise that farming and agriculture are central to all of these locations.

Virginia (The Virgin) in particular seems to hold Ceres in fairly high regard as she is pictured on the reverse of the state seal along side Libertas, and Aeternitas in a triple representation of the goddess. For more on this premise see Mark Leclair’s article entitled The Three Faces of Eve.

The End of Part I

sources:

http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/DemeterWrath.html#Famine