Demeter   2006

Vintage suitcase, used ceramic bust, Styrofoam, silk flowers, twine, moss, used wood table, paint, candle, metal, twigs, plastic.

 

Demeter (Detail)

 

Traveling Shrines — Demeter

Susan Hazard

Demeter

 

Demeter, the Greek and Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility is another continuing face of the earliest earth mother. The Homeric hymn to Demeter- “the lovely haired and august goddess…”- endows the powerful yet gracious figure with respect and appreciation. The earliest goddess figures were often for worship and use by the agrarian societies. The pre-Christian religions were predominately goddess centered, and fertility goddesses were especially revered in their capacity to ensure human survival through their intercession for successful crops and procreation. Demeter was originally worshipped in shrines found in caves or grottoes, with water – as from all underground sources life flowed. Remarkably, but not surprisingly, the majority of shrines to the Virgin Mary in the Republic of Ireland are placed in rock grottoes or caves, usually with water at the feet or nearby. This similarity of images and their placement seem to be a historical connection of the Mother Earth Goddess to Demeter, to the Christian Virgin Mary.

Demeter, the traveling shrine, is a return to the practice of spreading “the word” in a pre-internal combustion engine society.

· The shrine, composed of a suitcase and decorated wheeled conveyance, can be conveniently moved from village to village, accepting and acknowledging tribute to the mother earth goddess for the continued successful harvest necessary for the continuance of life.

· The clamshell-closing suitcase, suitable for protecting its precious imagery, is painted gold to further enhance its value. The candle holder on the front of the wheeled conveyance is to illuminate the pilgrim’s path; the candle on the lid of the suitcase is to hold the eternal flame of knowledge, shining from the background as if lighting the darkness of ignorance as the shrine passes.

· The original ceramic bust was probably created to portray a young Mary, before she gave birth to Jesus. (The Virgin Mary is usually robed in heavenly blue robes.) She has been garlanded in red poppies, symbolic of sleep and healing; one of the most potent symbols of Demeter. The poppies are gathered in abundance around Demeter, portraying healing sleep, harbinger of the burgeoning spring renewal of life. (Poignantly, I always am reminded of the fields of Flanders, the red poppies blooming for healing and eternal sleep for soldiers lost in the ghastly carnage of World War I.)

· The gray stones surrounding Demeter’s head are representative of the grotto, the underground cave where the well spring of life flows.

· The water is the essence of life, and the vessel is a reminder of organized religion often considered “vessel” of womanhood.

· Under the frilled red petals of the poppies are pink eggs, shrouded in mystery yet potent with burgeoning life.

· The pomegranate is of reference to Demeter’s story with her daughter, Persephone. (After hapless Persephone, plucking flowers in her mother’s spring field of flowers, was kidnapped by a lonely Hades, and whisked off to the Underworld, Demeter plunged the world into the dying darkness of winter until the more sympathetic powerful gods were able to arrange a deal to have the missing daughter returned, but Persephone had succumbed to hunger and at Hades’ urging partaken of a few pomegranate seeds while in the wedding bower – hungry, you know - ensuring her return to Hades for a number of months each year, much to Demeter’s dismay; hence, winter!) 

· The snake is another symbol of the goddess, for wisdom (as the two snakes on the medical caduceus – symbolizing the primal power to heal or harm.)

· The wheeled conveyance was once a nightstand table – reference to the dark aspect of the grotto or cave, and healing aspect of the night.

· The moss, meaning maternal in flower meanings, is bound to the legs of the conveyance, as the role of motherhood is bound to the goddesses being.

This traveling shrine, moved from community to church to wayside chapel or crossroads, is a reminder to return to the beginning of beliefs, truths, myths, and legends - what is taken for fact.  Travel backwards in time through the written words and find the beginning point of departure to the journey that has led you here today.