hey fishbutt - i found something interesting out just now. you know how the romans called persephone “proserpina”? well, they also equated her with another roman goddess - “libera” who was the consort of Liber (who was the counterpart of dionysus). They had a holiday called Liberia, celebrated on March 17

Also, I came across a sentence in a book on Amazon that says that according to lesser known stories, she acts as something a female Christ figure: “…she endures various torments such as hanging for three days on the World Tree in order to redeem the souls who have not enough suffering of their own to deepen their spirits.” I tried finding supporting info about this online unsuccessfully. Also, the Norse god Odin hanged himself from the World Tree, Yggdrasil for nine nights until he died and was reborn with the knowledge of the secrets of the runes. That also reminds me of the Hanged Man card.

Also, have you given any thought to how Dionysus and Demeter both are patrons of plants which are intoxicants? I was reading that Demeter is famous for the poppy also, and wonder what kind of drug cults were associated with them, and whether the Persephone story is also allegorical of entheogenic trips, and shamanic voyages.

Just found a thing that says of Persephone: “Her names means something like ’she who destroys the light.”’

And… have you ever heard of Zagreus, who is supposed to be a child of Zeus and Persephone? The trick is, that’s also another name for Dionysus! He’s also called Sabazios. Whoa, and they also have a paragraph in this about correlating Dionysus with Osiris. Amazing! And Demeter with Isis.

Wait! Do you know who Persephone’s father is? I haven’t seen that. Oh wait, Zeus is her father, but also impregnates her. She also apparently has another child by Zeus and some by Hades. This has the most varied and detailed info I’ve seen on Persephone yet. And also a page from the same place about the cult of Demeter/Kore