Also called Deo, Demeter Thesmophoros, Demeter Chloe, the Grain Mother.
Their story
When her daughter Persephone was carried off to the underworld, Demeter searched the earth with torches and, in her grief, let nothing grow. At Eleusis she nursed a royal child and taught the people her rites. When Persephone was returned for part of each year, the fields bloomed again.
Their day
Saturday. In modern practice, some give Demeter Saturday, the day of her father Kronos, who was honoured at harvest with the Kronia.
Best times to give to them
- the Thesmophoria in autumn
- the Eleusinian Mysteries in September
- sowing and harvest time
- when baking bread
What they like being given
- barley or wheat
- freshly baked bread
- honey
- fruit and first fruits of the harvest
- poppies
- a drink of barley water with mint, echoing the kykeon
How to honour them
- Bake bread and set aside the first piece for Demeter.
- Grow something, even herbs on a windowsill, in her honour.
- Give food to a food bank as an offering to the goddess who feeds us.
- Mark the harvest with thanks for the food on your table.
How they can help you
- abundance and nourishment
- motherhood and parenting
- grief and separation
- patience through hard seasons
- gardening and growing
Symbols
- wheat ears
- torch
- poppy
- sickle
- cornucopia
Festivals
- Mabon Autumn equinox, around 22 September
- Thesmophoria The 11th to 13th of the Athenian month Pyanepsion, usually late October or early November
Herbs linked with them
- Poppy Papaver rhoeas
More Greek goddesses
- Hera Queen of heaven and guardian of marriage
- Athena Grey-eyed goddess of wisdom and craft
- Artemis Lady of wild things and the hunt
- Aphrodite Foam-born goddess of love and beauty
- Hestia Goddess of the hearth and the home fire
- Persephone Queen of the underworld and the returning spring
- Hecate Keeper of crossroads and keys
- Selene The moon herself, driving her silver chariot