The Eleusinian
Mysteries:
Healing and
Transformation
Kore, Demeter &
Persephone
"Demeter is the maternal archetype. she
represents maternal instinct fulfilled through pregnancy or through
providing physical, psychological, or spiritual nourishment to
others.
The goddess Persephone, whom the Romans
called Proserpina or Cora, is best known through the Homeric "Hymn to
Demeter", which describes her abduction by Hades. She was worshipped
in two ways, as Maiden or Kore (which means young girl), and as Queen
of the Underworld. The Kore was a slender beautiful young goddess,
associated with symbols of fertility-pomegranate, grain, and corn, as
well as the narcissus, the flower that lured her. As Queen of the
Underworld, Persephone is a mature goddess who reigns over the dead
souls, guides the living who visit the underworld, and claims for
herself what she wants.
The Kore was the "name-less" maiden; she
represents the young girl who does not know "who she is" and is as
yet unaware of her desires or strengths. Persephone the Queen and
Guide of the Underworld represents the ability to move back and forth
between the ego-based reality of the "real" world and the unconscious
or archetypal reality of the psyche. When the Persephone archetype is
active, it is possible ... to mediate between the two levels and to
integrate both into her (his) personality.
Symbolically, the Underworld can represent
deeper layers of the psyche, a place where memories and feelings have
been "buried" (the personal unconscious) and where images, patterns,
instincts, and feelings that are archetypal and shared by humanity
are found (the collective unconscious)."