Lammas and the Grain Goddess: Demeter/Ceres, Motherhood, & the First Harvest
What is Lammas or Lughnasadh?
Demeter/Ceres, grain goddess of the harvest.
31 July-1st August. This is the second of the summer festivals in the Celtic and Avalonian wheel of the year. Following the joyous revelry of Summer Solstice/Litha now is the time to celebrate the first bountiful harvest of the grain, the months of backbreaking labour, the anxiety over whether the crops would grow are over and our forebears could once again rejoice and have a break in their toil. It is a sabbath of great relief (as long as the harvest is good), of feasting and corn-dollies of course! To reflect the cycle of the crops from planting the seed, growing the seed to the harvest of the crop this season is all about fertility, pregnancy and birth. In Europe this time of high summer is like the pregnant pause all becomes still, quiet and peaceful giving us a time to sit held in the comfort of the Goddess's womb, held safe to reflect on our journey, to heal our wounds and regenerate before we are reborn, emerging as our next iteration to continue around the wheel.
Grain Goddesses across Cultures
The wheat sheaf — symbol of the first harvest.
Across time and cultures grain has been the staple of survival so there is a myriad of Mother Grain Goddesses, all highly revered often regarded as the highest Goddess in the pantheon. I can't recount all their stories in detail here, but I offer you a quick overview to whet your appetite.
Sif the wife of Thor (the god of thunder) who's long, golden flowing locks reflect the ripe fields of corn flowing in the breeze. Best known due to Loki (the trickster) cutting her hair off as a prank, Thor enraged by this forced Loki to go to the dwarfs so they can make her a golden headpiece to act as her hair until her real hair grows back.
Atira married to the creator god of the Native American Pawnee culture and revered for grounding creation on Earth and for the bounty of the corn. She even had the first asteroid discovered in earths atmosphere named after Her.
Feronia an Etruscan Goddess adopted by the Romans who rather than live in Olympian grandeur inhabited the sacred groves and was Goddess of the first fruit harvests, medicinal herbs, fertility and abundance. On Her feast days slaves could become freedmen, and their freedom was often formally declared in her temples.
Then of course the best-known Demeter/Ceres…
Demeter Mourning for Persephone, Evelyn De Morgan, 1906.
The Mythology of Demeter/Ceres
These days most people think of Demeter as the Mother of Persephone but this is just one chapter in Her story! She is first mentioned as the “bringer of the seasons” in 700BCE and Her shrines can be found across the whole of Greece.
Her story of Her search and bargaining for the return of Her daughter Persephone, where She plunges the world into famine until Persephone's return, is the central tenant of the Eleusinian Mysteries. One of the most profound ceremonies in human history it involved hundreds of pilgrims processing to Eleusis from Athens to take part in the ceremony shrouded in secrecy to enter the Hierophants Hall to receive hidden knowledge and a hope for eternal life or at least a better life.
She is also credited with sharing the knowledge of agriculture with Triptolemus the Prince of Eleusis in gratitude for helping Her hide during Her search for Persephone. He then shared the knowledge across all humanity.
From my pilgrimage to Eleusis.
Last year I was fortunate enough to go on a pilgrimage to Greece and follow the route of the Eleusinain mysteries from Athens to Eleusis. Walking in the ruins of the sacred temples, sitting by the Well of Demeter and touching the rocks of the entrance from which Persephone finally emerged took me on a journey deep within myself. In those moments I was taken back to the deep wounds not only from my life but of my ancestors, I felt the primordial fears of all mothers for the safety of my child from pregnancy, to birth until death and finally I felt the pure joy of rebirth, renewal and transformation as if Demeter Herself had spoken to my soul of the infinite cycle we walk.
This season we should all take time to rejoice in the bounty and abundance we have in our lives, allow Goddess to hold us safely in her womb as we heal and grow and indulge in some soft, warm homemade bread or cake from her gifts.
TAROT READINGS
If Demeter's story of holding on and letting go resonates with you, a personal Tarot reading can help you find where your own thread begins.
TAROT LESSONS
Want to learn to read the cards as Su does — as a tool for travelling inward? Her lessons will show you how…
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