Among the 12 deities of Olympus is the Greek goddess Demeter, goddess of agriculture, harvest, fertility and abundance. Daughter of Cronos (god of time) and Rhea (Greek archetype of motherhood), Demeter is the one who brought agriculture to the earthly world and taught humans to sow, cultivate and harvest grain and cereals.ornamental that is always composed of several fruits and flowers).

Demeter, a name originating from the Greek "Δήμητρα", meaning "Mother Earth" or "Mother Goddess", has an equivalent goddess in Roman mythology, in which she is called Ceres. In the Roman version, besides the goddess Ceres being the holder of the cycle of life and death, she is also considered the goddess of sacred law and is strongly celebrated in fertility rites, exclusive among women. For both Romans andFor the Greeks, this mythological figure represents the "gateway to the mysterious feminine".

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Because she is considered to be the most generous Greek goddess in all of Olympus, Demeter is attributed negative traits of passivity and submissiveness, which explains why this goddess has been the target of so much suffering and tragic melancholy in several mythical events. Among them, we can highlight the main one: the abduction of her daughter, Persephone, by Demeter's own brother, Hades.

After having intimate relations with the Greek god Zeus, Demeter gave birth to Persephone, goddess of herbs, flowers, fruits and perfumes. One day, while picking flowers and sowing fruit, the beautiful Persephone was spotted by Hades, the god of the dead, who, overcome by an uncontrollable desire to marry her, kidnapped her and imprisoned her in the underworld.

Because of this, and deeply shocked by the disappearance of her daughter, the goddess Demeter sank into a deep sadness, to the point of making the entire land of the planet infertile, preventing crops of any kind to grow, and instituted an endless winter in the world. As a result, countless human beings began to die of malnutrition and cold, and the gods of Olympus also stopped receivingsacrifices, since there were no more bountiful offerings that could be offered to them.

An agreement was then made between Hades and Demeter, in order to solve the problems that the Greek goddess' sadness was causing the world, and so as not to awaken the fury of the god of the dead. It was established that the coveted Persephone would spend two parts of the year with her mother, Demeter, and the other two parts of the year with Hades, her abductor. Thus, spring and summer were made on Earth, seasons in which thethe goddess of fertility rejoiced to be at her daughter's side; and winter and autumn, seasons in which Demeter turned to suffering and longing for Persephone, who would be in hell.

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Although the problems with her firstborn daughter have been solved, Demeter's dramas do not end there. The goddess still had sufferings with two other children, Orion and Despina, the fruit of a violence against her; and she also had to deal with the murder of Iasion, the true love of her life.

According to the myth, Poseidon, god of the seas and one of the three main Olympian gods, could not resist the charms of Demeter, his sister, and began to pursue her, driven by a tremendous desire to have an intimate relationship with her. Frightened and disinterested, the goddess transformed herself into a mare and hid in the harvest fields to escape Poseidon's bonds. Having discovered theIn the guise of Demeter, the god of the seas made himself into a horse and abused the goddess, and thus were born the god of horses, Arion, and the goddess of winter, Despina.

Disgusted with the abuse she suffered, Demeter fled from Olympus and left the land barren again, preventing crops and decimating the mortal population once more. Some time later, however, missing her family and especially her children, the goddess decided to sow forgiveness and return to her home.fecundate and prosper.

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When she loved truly and unhindered for the first time, Demeter thought she had found complete happiness and redemption, but that feeling, unfortunately, was short-lived. The love of her life, Iasion, was a mortal and was killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus, Persephone's father, who was jealous of the fertility goddess' love satisfaction.

The archetype of the goddess Demeter is that of the maternal instinct, which symbolizes true mother's love, unconditional. In addition, she is extremely generous and altruistic and does not measure efforts when it comes to helping and giving of herself to others, as we can see from her actions in the most painful mythical events that have befallen her, always giving up her pains in favor of the well being of others, like every good motheralso does.

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The supposed passivity and vulnerability initially attributed to this goddess unfolds, in fact, into generosity and resilience. Besides entertaining and amusing us, we see that mythology and the Greek goddesses have a lot to teach us, even if it is between the lines of the myths.