PomegranateHoneyFlowersMilkThe first bloomThe last sheaf
Invocation Approach
Tone
Grave tender
Address
ProserpinaQueen of the UnderworldDaughter of Ceres
Relationship
The daughter who comes back and belongs elsewhere
Warning
She married the underworld and does not undo it
Resonance
Those in grief those returning from a descent
Symbols
PomegranateTorchSheafCrownNarcissus
Mythology Summary
Proserpina is the Roman name of the daughter of Ceres, taken by the god of the underworld to be his queen and returned to her mother for part of each year - the Latin form of the Greek Persephone, and the Roman Libera of the Aventine triad under another name. Her altar stood with Dis Pater's in the Tarentum, the field where the secular games were held. Her coming and going is the year's own story of the seed, and in Roman cult she is known chiefly through her mother's grief and the harvest.
Modern Practice
Proserpina is called on at a descent - grief, illness, a season underground - and at the return, and for the dead who are also beloved. Her practice is seasonal and honest: go down when the year goes down, and come back when it comes back.