HONORING THE GODDESS :: CERES

As we enter deeper into the Fall Equinox, we turn to ancient teachings and rituals of fertility, peace, and abundance. In ancient cultures, communities turned to the gods and goddesses to bring them through the colder fall and winter months. One such important deity is Ceres. Ceres is a Roman goddess of agriculture, grain, and the love of motherhood. In Latin, crescere "to grow" and through it, the English words create.  It is also thought that ceres derived from the Latin verb gerere, "to bear, bring forth, produce", as Ceres is the goddess of human motherhood and fertility.

As the goddess of the harvest, Ceres taught humans how to grow, preserve, and prepare their yearly harvests, but also how to create human life. She was thought to be responsible for the fertility of the land and of humanity.

Ceres was the mother of Persephone, and she did everything in her power to get her daughter back when she was taken by Pluto to be his wife in the underworld. Ceres and Pluto struck a deal that Persephone would love with Ceres above ground every summer and spring, and she would return to the underworld each fall. That is why the leaves change and die as Fall comes. But with that comes a renewal of spirit and the creation of new life.

Ceres’ symbol is that of a scythe, to tend to the harvest and to demonstrate the fertility of the human female body, as the shape of the blade is curved almost in a circle like that of the womb.

May Ceres bring abundance and fertile ideas and energies to all those who honor her. 

Shop the ring of the Goddess below!