~Demeter~

Demeter is the Greek Goddess of the Seasons and Agriculture (because she is the goddess of seasons she is also a earth goddess). She is the mother of Persephone, the goddess of the Underworld and Spring. Many know her as "Mother Earth" or "Mother Nature".

Demeter is the daughter of Cronos and Rhea. She is the sister of Zeus, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, and Hera. Zeus and Poseidon both sired two children each off of Demeter. Persephone and Zagreus (no idea who he is) were Zeus and Despoina and Arion were Poseidon's child. If you haven't noticed there is a bad case of inbreeding with the greeks...

Out of all of children Demeter mothered with her lover's or consorts only two or three are very well known. Anyone who knows about greek mythology knows about Persephone and her abduction, but not every one knows about the origins of the Horse.

According to the greeks Poseidon came to Demeter wanting to have sex with her. Demeter changed into a horse and ran. Poseidon, being a male, also changed into a horse to chase her, but with her being on land she had the advantage. So he chased her towards the ocean where she would be trapped.

So...anyway that union caused a child and because they did it in the form of a horse, the child was born with a steed. The child's name was Despoina and the steed's name was Arion. That is how the horse was created according to the greeks. And that is why the horse is sometimes considered an animal of the water and why Poseidon was often seen with horses in the water. I certainly like that version a lot more than the one where God just put them all animals down on earth. Sorry to all Christians and Catholics I just insulted.

The story about Persephone is longer than the pervious tale and holds more importance to the Greeks.

It was said that Hades was the consort of Persephone. Zeus grew tired of Demeter killing the earth with her sadness and forced Hades to return Persephone(because Demeter was the Goddess of Seasons she could kill the earth by having a never ending winter). Persephone was returned to Demeter making Demeter happy again.

But Hades who was said to have loved Persephone, stole her back when she was in the field playing with the nymphs (Demeter later turned them into Sirens for not helping to protect her). It was told that the earth opened up and she fell into the Underworld.

Life came to a standstill as Demeter searched for her daughter, a never ending winter came over the earth. The people started praying to any god that would listen to them, begging they stop the never ending winter. Zeus finally heard them and sent Hermes down to the Underworld to force Hades to let Persephone go home. But as I said earlier Hades was said to be in love with the Goddess of Spring and had her eat six pomegranate seeds (the number varies in different versions).

So Hermes brought Persephone to Demeter and all was well except for the pomegranate seeds. The six pomegranate seed Hades had made her eat (depending on the version she had eaten them by accident, not knowing what they would do. The other version is that she wanted to eat them for she knew the affects, that the one I like) made her come back to the Underworld six months a year.

So every year she comes back during spring and leaves in the fall. That is why flowers grow in spring and summer, why everything starts dying in the fall, and why the earth dies in the winter. But because Persephone ate the six pomegranate seed she could not stay the whole year. That is also why you will often see Persephone holding a pomegranate in her hand in all the paintings of her.