EP 52: Persephone's Gift

The goddess Persephone was queen of the Underworld. To the amazement of the other divinities, she became the wisest of them all. On rare occasions she would invite humans to visit her in that dark place.

In this episode we recount her visit with Parmenides, the pre-Socratic philosopher who influenced modern thought.

If you love this podcast, you'll also enjoy Garner's audible novel about the gods, Homo Divinitas, now available on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

Transcript

EPISODE 52: PERSEPHONE’S GIFT

OUR LAST EPISODE FOCUSED ON THE QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD, THE DIVINE PERSEPHONE. 

BOTH SHE & HER MOTHER HAVE OUTSIZED IMPORTANCE TO MORTALS BECAUSE OF THE GIFTS THEY GAVE US.

YOU’LL RECALL THAT PERSEPHONE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF ZEUS AND DEMETER, AND HAD BEEN DRAGGED TO THAT DARK PLACE BY HADES TO BECOME HIS WIFE. 

THAT WAS QUITE THE FAMILY SAGA. 

HADES WAS ZEUS' BROTHER & THE TWO WERE IN CAHOOTS WHEN HE SNATCHED PERSEPHONE FROM A FIELD OF FLOWERS & THREW HER INTO HIS CHARIOT, 

AT FIRST NO ONE KNEW WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER. DEMETER, HER MOTHER,  WAS INCONSOLABLE. IN HER GRIEF SHE THREATENED TO MAKE ALL CROPS DIE.

EVENTUALLY PERSEPHONE WAS FOUND & A COMPROMISE WAS REACHED REGARDING HER STATUS. 

SHE REMAINED HADES’ WIFE, BUT COULD RETURN TO EARTH FOR THREE SEASONS OF THE YEAR.  IN TIME, SHE ACCLIMATED TO HER GLOOMY HOME. 

THERE, AS HADES' STAND-IN, SHE WELCOMED THE DEAD, ONE-BY-ONE, AS THEY WERE FERRIED ACROSS THE RIVER STYX, 

MOREOVER, SHE GAINED AN UNEXPECTED ABILITY TO PENETRATE THE DEEPEST WISDOM OF THE UNIVERSE. TO THE SURPRISE OF THE OTHER DIVINITIES, SHE BECAME EXTRAORDINARILY WISE.

I’LL NOTE THAT WE DON’T TYPICALLY THINK OF WISDOM WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE GREEK GODS. 

WE FOCUS ON THEIR POWERS & THEIR FOIBLES WITH EACH OTHER & WITH MORTALS. THEIR EXPLOITS HAVE BECOME A FORM OF “ENTERTAINMENT” FOR US, HAVEN’T THEY?

BUT THE GODS ARE MULTI-FACETED. FOR INSTANCE, PERSEPHONE’S MOTHER DEMETER, IN GRATITUDE FOR HER DAUGHTER’S RETURN, GAVE MORTALS THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES TO EASE THEIR FEAR OF DEATH. 

PERSEPHONE FOLLOWED WITH HER OWN GIFT: THE KNOWLEDGE TO UNDERSTAND LIFE. THESE ARE IMMENSE PRESENTS FROM SUPPOSEDLY LIGHTWEIGHT CHARACTERS.

TODAY WE’LL EXPLORE PERSEPHONE’S GIFT.  IT WAS GIVEN FREELY, BUT THE RECIPIENT HAD TO GO TO THE UNDERWORLD TO GET IT. 

THAT JOURNEY REQUIRED AN INVITATION FROM THE GODDESS. THE PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHER PARMENIDES, RECEIVING ONE, TOOK HER UP ON HER OFFER.

WHILE WE THINK OF HIM AS THE FATHER OF LOGIC, HE WAS, IN FACT, A PRIEST ATONE OF APOLLO'S TEMPLES.

IT WAS PLATO WHO LATER MISCONSTRUED HIM FOR HIS OWN PURPOSES.

PARMENIDES WAS ACTUALLY A KEEN STUDENT OF THE WISDOM THAT ONLY A DARK DIVINITY LIKE PERSEPHONE COULD IMPART.

UNFORTUNATELY FOR MORTALS, THOUGH, WHAT HE LEARNED AT PERSEPHONE’S KNEE WAS LOST FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

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THIS IS EPISODE 52 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. WE HAVE LISTENERS FROM 173 COUNTRIES ... SO WELCOME TO EVERYONE, WHEREVER YOU ARE.

I'M YOUR HOST, MYTHOLOGIST PATRICK GARNER. 

TO KEEP THESE PODCASTS FREE FROM COMMERCIAL SPONSORS, I INVITE YOU TO BUY MY FOUR NOVELS ABOUT THESE ANCIENT GODS IN THE MODEN WORLD. 

YOU DON’T THINK THEIR STORIES STOPPED 2,400 YEARS AGO, DO YOU? 

MY BOOKS ARE STAND-ALONE NOVELS OR CAN BE READ AS A SERIES CALLED THE NAXOS QUARTET. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM. YOU CAN ALSO FIND THEM ON AMAZON BY TYPING “NAXOS QUARTET PATRICK GARNER.” … THANKS — 

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BOTH PERSEPHONE, THE GODDESS, & PARMENIDES, THE PHILOSOPHER, HAVE LONG FASCINATED HUMANS.

BUT THERE'S SO LITTLE WE REALLY KNOW. WOULDN'T IT BE MARVELOUS IF WE HAD VIDEO OF THE TWO IN THEIR DAILY LIFE?

IMAGINE SEEING PERSEPHONE DRESSED IN A SIMPLE GOWN, SITTING IN DARK SHADOWS, HER BLACK EYES MISSING NOTHING, HER IMMENSE TRANQUILITY STARTLING TO OBSERVE.

AND IF WE COULD VIEW PARMENIDES AS HE WENT ABOUT HIS WORK, I SUSPECT WE WOULD BE SIMILARLY IMPRESSED BY HIS DEMEANOR.

TODAY ALL WE HAVE TO DEPICT THEM ARE SCATTERED STATUES. BUT, WE DO HAVE FRAGMENTS OF A LONG POEM WRITTEN BY PARMENIDES. 

IN IT HE DESCRIBES HIS VISIT WITH THE GODDESS.

THE POEM STANDS AS THE ONLY WRITTEN ACCOUNT OF A LIVING HUMAN DESCENDING TO THE UNDERWORLD & RETURNING TO DESCRIBE WHAT OCCURRED.

AND AT THIS POINT I WANT TO GIVE THANKS TO PARMENIDES' PREMIER TRANSLATOR, A CLASSICS SCHOLAR NAMED PETER KINGSLEY.

IN 2003 KINGSLEY PUBLISHED A BOOK CALLED "REALITY." HE TELLS THE STORY OF PARMENIDES, EMPEDOCLES & OTHER EARLY THINKERS WHO LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION

SO, I'M INDEBTED TO KINGSLEY FOR MUCH OF WHAT YOU'LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE. 

NOW, LET'S BEGIN. THE YEAR IS APPROXIMATELY 520 B.C. AND WE'RE IN SOUTHERN ITALY IN THE GREEK COLONY OF ELEA …

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I MENTIONED IN THE LAST EPISODE THAT PARMENIDES PRACTICED A FORM OF MEDITATION CALLED INCUBATION. 

TO MEDITATE HE WOULD LAY IN A CAVE, SOMETIMES FOR DAYS, IN A STATE BETWEEN CONSCIOUSNESS & SLEEP.

DURING THOSE PERIODS HE FOUND HIMSELF CAPABLE OF MOVING THROUGH TIME & SPACE.

HE COULD TRAVEL THE SKIES & PIERCE THE UNDERWORLD. NO REALM SEEMED HIDDEN FROM HIS GAZE.

THAT’S WHEN HE RECEIVED A STARTLING INVITATION: THE DARK GODDESS PERSEPHONE BECKONED HIM TO VISIT. HE WAS NOT THE FIRST — HE FOLLOWED HERACLES AND ORPHEUS — BUT HE WAS THE FIRST TO WRITE ABOUT IT.

THE PURPOSE OF HER REQUEST WAS UNCLEAR. HE WAS SIMPLY TO APPEAR. 

PARMENIDES HARDLY THOUGHT THIS WAS STRANGE. THE GREEKS ACCEPTED THAT, AT TIMES, HUMANS WERE TAPPED BY THE GODS.

THOSE WHO WERE WERE CONSIDERED BLESSED. SO HE ACCEPTED, FULLY AWARE THAT HE MIGHT NOT RETURN. WHY? THE GODDESS LIVED IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD.

YET PARMENIDES, LIKE HIS PHILOSOPHER CONTEMPORARIES, BELIEVED THAT ONE HAD TO BE WILLING TO DIE IN ORDER TO LEARN HOW TO FULLY LIVE..

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HE WENT DOWN TO SEE PERSEPHONE, & HE CAME BACK.

HERE'S WHAT HE WROTE UPON HIS RETURN. HE DESCRIBES THE VERY BEGINNING OF HIS JOURNEY TO THE UNDERWORLD, SAYING,

THE HORSES THAT CARRY ME IN A CHARIOT 

AS FAR AS LONGING CAN REACH RODE ON.

 THEY CAME & FETCHED ME ONTO THE LEGENDARY

ROAD OF THE DIVINITY THAT CARRIES THE MAN WHO KNOWS

THROUGH THE VAST & DARK UNKNOWN.

RIGHT FROM THE START HE DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS THE MAN WHO KNOWS. HERE HE IS ACKNOWLEDGING THAT, THROUGH INCUBATION, HE SEES MORE THAN OTHERS.

HE ALSO USES THE PHRASE, AS FAR AS LONGING CAN REACH, BY WHICH HE ACKNOWLEDGES HIS INTENSE YEARNING TO LEARN FROM THE GODDESS HERSELF.

THE HORSES TAKE HIM ON A ROAD THAT WINDS DOWN INTO THE UNDERWORLD, INTO WHAT HE DESCRIBES AS THE VAST & DARK UNKNOWN.

HE GOES ON WITH HIS DESCRIPTION, WRITING,

YOUNG WOMEN LED THE WAY ... GIRLS, DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN

WHO HAD LEFT THE MANSIONS OF NIGHT THE LIGHT

& PUSHED BACK THE VEILS FROM THEIR FACES WITH THEIR HANDS.

THESE GIRLS ARE DAUGHTERS OF HELIOS, THE SUN GOD. THEY, LIKE PERSEPHONE, ARE DIVINE. 

SO THAT HE IS NOT MISTAKEN ABOUT THEIR IDENTITY, THEY LEAVE THEIR HOMES ON THE EDGE OF THE COSMOS TO GUIDE HIM, & PULL BACK THEIR VEILS SO HE KNOWS WHO THEY ARE.

WHAT DO THE TRAVELERS ENCOUNTER ALONG THE ROAD? — A MASSIVE GATE WHICH IS GUARDED BY THE GODDESS OF JUSTICE. 

UPON SEEING PARMENIDES & THE GIRLS, THIS FIERCE GODDESS OF RIGHT & WRONG LOCKS THE GATE TO BLOCK THEM. BUT HER ACTION HARDLY STOPS THE ENTOURAGE.

PARMENIDES WRITES,

WITH SOFT, SEDUCTIVE WORDS THE GIRLS CUNNINGLY PERSUADED HER

TO PUSH BACK IMMEDIATELY, JUST FOR THEM, 

THE BAR THAT BOLTS THE GATE. AND THE GATE FLEW OPEN

& STRAIGHT THROUGH & ON 

THE GIRLS HELD FAST THEIR COURSE FOR THE CHARIOT & HORSES

STRAIGHT DOWN THE ROAD.

THUS HE EXPLAINS THAT, WITH GUILE & SWEETNESS, THESE DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN GET THE GATES TO OPEN.

THEY TRAVEL FARTHER INTO THE DARKNESS. 

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SUDDENLY HE FINDS HIMSELF BEFORE PERSEPHONE. HE WASTES NO TIME IN DESCRIBING HER APPEARANCE. INSTEAD, HE SAYS,

AND THE GODDESS WELCOMED ME KINDLY, & TOOK

MY RIGHT HAND IN HERS, & SPOKE THESE WORDS:

"WELCOME YOUNG MAN, PARTNERED BY IMMORTAL CHARIOTEERS.

IT WAS NO HARD FATE THAT SENT YOU TRAVELING THIS ROAD

SO FAR AWAY FROM THE BEATEN PATH OF HUMANS—" 

ANY ANCIENT GREEK WOULD KNOW THIS POEM’S REFERENCE TO "HARD FATE" MEANT DEATH… THAT THE TRIP TO THE UNDERWORLD WAS THE FINAL DESTINATION. REASSURINGLY, SHE AFFIRMS THAT HE IS STILL ALIVE.

YET THE GODDESS CONFIRMS THAT PARMENIDES HAS ENTERED A WORLD FAR AWAY FROM MORTALS.

THEN SHE SETS GREETINGS ASIDE & GETS RIGHT TO THE POINT, SAYING,

"I WILL DO THE TALKING, & IT'S UP TO YOU

TO CARRY AWAY MY WORDS ONCE YOU HEAR THEM.

WHAT I WILL TELL YOU IS WHICH ROADS OF INQUIRY

& WHICH ROADS ALONE, EXIST FOR THINKING."

AFTER ADMONISHING HIM TO AVOID DEAD ENDS & IDLE QUESTIONS, SHE GOES ON TO SAY,

"WHAT EXISTS FOR THINKING — & BEING — ARE ONE & THE SAME."

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LET'S PAUSE A MOMENT. THIS ENCOUNTER TOOK PLACE OVER 2,500 YEARS AGO. THE GODDESS STATES WITHOUT AMBIGUITY THAT,

"WHAT EXISTS FOR THINKING, & BEING, ARE ONE & THE SAME."

PARMENIDES IS OFTEN CALLED THE FATHER OF PHILOSOPHY. YET WHEN I FIRST READ THIS, PHRASE I THOUGHT OF ANOTHER MAN WHO IS CALLED THE MODERN FATHER OF PHILOSOPHY.

YOU SEE, IN 1637, RENE DESCARTES, THE FRENCH PHILOSOPHER & MATHEMATICIAN, WROTE, "COGITO, ERGO SUM."

TRANSLATED FROM LATIN, COGITO MEANS, I THINK, & ERGO SUM MEANS, THEREFORE I AM … I THINK, THEREFORE I AM.

TWO THOUSAND YEARS EARLIER, THE GODDESS SAYS TO PARMENIDES,

THINKING & BEING ARE ONE & THE SAME.

IN OTHER WORDS, TO THINK, ONE MUST BE. ONLY THOSE WHO EXIST CAN THINK … DESCARTES MAY AS WELL HAVE BEEN CHANNELING THE GODDESS: I THINK, THEREFORE I AM.

THE GODDESS THEN CONTINUES TO ADDRESS PARMENIDES, BUT LESS DIRECTLY & IN THE MANNER OF APOLLO’S ORACLE AT DELPHI, THE PYTHIA.  

SHE OFTEN SPOKE IN RIDDLES. PERSEPHONE SAYS, 

"WHAT EXISTS FOR SAYING & FOR THINKING MUST BE.

FOR IT EXISTS FOR IT TO BE; BUT NOTHING DOES NOT EXIST.

YOU PONDER THAT!"

WHAT SHE’S SAYING IS THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NOTHING, SO THERE IS NO REASON TO WASTE TIME THINKING ABOUT WHAT ISN’T.

MODERN PSYCHOLOGY CALLS THIS IDEA “PROVING A NEGATIVE.”

PERSEPHONE DEMANDS THAT PARMENIDES FOCUS ON WHAT IS, 

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SHE THEN DISCUSSES THE PAST & THE FUTURE, BIRTH & DEATH, CREATION & DESTRUCTION, EMPHASIZING THAT THESE DO NOT EXIST — THAT THEY ARE NOTHING. 

SPEAKING ABOUT THE PAST & THE FUTURE, THE GODDESS ASKS

"HOW COULD IT BE THAT BEING COULD BE AT SOME LATER TIME?

HOW COULD IT COME INTO BEING?

FOR IF IT MAY COME TO BE, IT IS NOT NOW." 

WHILE THIS MAY SOUND LIKE A RIDDLE, SHE SIMPLY MEANS THAT PARMENIDES WILL BECOME LOST IF HE SPENDS TIME THINKING OF THE PAST OR THE FUTURE.

EXISTENCE, SHE SAYS, IS TIMELESS & UNIFORM. IT IS AT THIS MOMENT. WHAT IS NOT IS NOT REAL. HER POINT IS THAT YOU MUST BE HERE NOW.

AS AN ASIDE, A HARVARD PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR, WHO CALLED HIMSELF RAM DAS, WROTE A BOOK A HALF CENTURY AGO WITH THE SAME TITLE. TO MAKE THE SAME POINT.

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BY NOW YOU CAN SEE THAT PERSEPHONE’S FOCUS IS ON REALITY.  SHE WARNS PARMENIDES AGAINST BEING FOOLED BY THE WORLD OF SPECULATION, DELUSION & APPEARANCES.

SHE CAUTIONS THAT MEN HAVE INVENTED NAMES FOR EVERYTHING, WHICH CREATES THE ILLUSION THAT EVERYTHING  IS SEPARATE. 

SHE TELLS HIM ALL THINGS ARE ONE. NOTHING IS SEPARATE.

IN HER WORDS,

"EVERY SINGLE NAME THAT MORTALS HAVE INVENTED,

CONVINCED THEY ARE ALL TRUE, ARE TRAPS: BIRTH & DEATH,

EXISTENCE, NON-EXISTENCE … NONE OF THESE EXIST ALONE."

SHE SAYS THESE WORDS, ALL WORDS, ARE DISTRACTIONS. SHE WARNS HIM THAT SENSORY PERCEPTIONS ARE FALSE & DECEITFUL. 

SHE EMPHASIZES THAT HE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO BE SEDUCED BY WHAT HE HEARS & SEES. THESE THINGS MAY BE COLORED BY HUMAN INTERPRETATION & ERRORS.

SHE RETURNS TO HER INSISTENCE THAT NOTHING CHANGES. EVERYTHING SIMPLY IS. WHAT APPEARS IN THE WORLD TO BE MOVING IS NOT: ALL IS MOTIONLESS, YET ALIVE.

SHE SAYS,

"THERE IS NOTHING ELSE & THERE WILL BE NOTHING ELSE

APART FROM BEING, BECAUSE FATE HAS BOUND IT TO BE

AS IT IS — WHOLE & UNMOVING."

SHE’S SAYING THAT EVERY MOMENT IS FINITE & WHEN ONE IS AWARE OF IT, THERE IS NO MOVEMENT …

THAT REALIZATION OPENS THE MIND TO COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING. THIS UNDERSTANDING IS THE BASIS FOR LIVING LIFE FULLY.

PERSEPHONE SAYS SHE BROUGHT PARMENIDES TO THE LAND OF THE DEAD SO THAT HE MIGHT RETURN TO THE LIVING WITH THIS PROFOUND MESSAGE.

PARMENIDES, IF HE UNDERSTANDS HER WORDS, IS NOT TO FALL INTO A SIMILAR TRAP. HE IS TO RETURN TO THE LIVING TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF DESIRE & LONGING — ALL OF WHICH, SHE SAYS, LEAD TO EMPTINESS.

IN SHORT, SHE’S A NO-NONSENSE DIVINITY. SHE TELLS HIM WHAT IS TRUE. ONE OF THE WORDS SHE USES IS ALETHEIA, WHICH IN GREEK MEANS TRUTH & REALITY & FREEDOM.

REALITY, SHE SAYS, IS A STATE IN WHICH ALL IS ONE. CHANGE IS IMPOSSIBLE. WHAT EXISTS EXISTS IN THIS INSTANT. NOTHING ELSE IS TRUE. NOTHING ELSE EXISTS …

UNFORTUNATELY, WE ONLY HAVE FRAGMENTS OF PARMENIDES’ POEM & EVEN WORSE, WE NOW KNOW THAT THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE WAS ALTERED OVER TIME. 

SCHOLAR  PETER KINGSLEY’S RETRANSLATION OF THE ORIGINAL GREEK CORRECTED CENTURIES OF CREEPING ERRORS & MISINTERPRETATIONS.

THE GODDESS’ MESSAGE HAD BEEN CHANGED BIT BY BIT, SCHOLAR BY SCHOLAR, UNTIL IT NO LONGER MADE SENSE.

… AS A CONSEQUENCE, THE MOST IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE IN HUMAN HISTORY WAS LOST IN PLAIN SIGHT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS …

ANOTHER THING STRUCK ME WHILE I WAS READING HER ADVICE TO PARMENIDES. IT MIRRORS THE DISCOVERY BY THE BUDDHA IN INDIA LONG AGO. 

ABOUT 500 B.C. AT THE MOMENT OF HIS ENLIGHTENMENT, HE REALIZED THAT ATTACHMENT & AVERSION CAUSE HUMAN SUFFERING.

WHAT THE BUDDHA CALLED ATTACHMENT IS IDENTICAL TO WHAT THE GODDESS CALLED DESIRE. ASTONISHINGLY, BOTH THE BUDDHA & THE GODDESS SAW THE SAME TRUTH. 

AND HE, LIKE PERSEPHONE, SAID THAT THERE WERE POINTLESS QUESTIONS, THAT SEEKERS MUST NOT BE DISTRACTED BY WORDS & CONCEPTS.

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PARMENIDES RETURNED TO HIS HOME, TO ELEA. THERE, HE RECORDED HIS VISIT TO PERSEPHONE. 

AS TEACHERS IN THOSE DAYS DID, HE ATTRACTED STUDENTS. HE PASSED HER WISDOM ON TO THOSE WHO WOULD LISTEN. 

AFTER HIS DEATH, PLATO RECAST HIM AS THE THE FIRST GREEK LOGICIAN OR RATIONALIST. WHY? PARMENIDES, AS A MESSENGER OF APOLLO & PERSEPHONE, WAS A DIRECT THREAT TO PLATO & SOCRATES. 

THEY WERE PURVEYORS OF THE NEW DEDUCTIVE REASONING, & PARMENIDES CLEARLY DEALT IN THE OLD FLASHES OF INSIGHT FROM THE GODS. 

PLATO’S REWRITE OF HIS LIFE IN HIS DIALOG CALLED “PARMENIDES” SAID, IN ESSENCE, , "FORGET THE SUPPOSED WISDOM OF SOME GODDESS. 

“HE NEVER MET HER. WHAT HE RELATES IN HIS POEM IS NO MORE THAN AN ALLEGORY."

AS THE YEARS PASSED PLATO & HIS STUDENTS BECAME MORE STRIDENT. THEY BEGAN TO OPENLY MOCK THE GODS, PERSEPHONE, LIKE MANY OF THE GREEK DIVINITIES, RETREATED. 

SHE KNEW THAT HER WISDOM, HOWEVER PURE, HAD BEEN MISCHARACTERIZED & REJECTED. HUMANS WERE NO LONGER INVITED TO THE UNDERWORLD.

AS WE CLOSE THIS PODCAST, LISTENERS MAY BE TROUBLED TO REALIZE THAT THE LIFE-CHANGING GIFTS FROM DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE ARE LITTLE KNOWN TODAY. 

DEMETER’S ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES WERE PERFORMED FOR A OVER A THOUSAND YEARS UNTIL THEY WERE BANNED BY CHRISTIANS & LOST. 

THOSE RITES WERE SO SECRET THAT PARTICIPANTS VOWED NEVER TO DISCUSS THEM, SO THERE ARE NO WRITTEN RECORDS. 

PERSEPHONE’S DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE WAS SHARED, BUT THEN CHANGED BY PLATO & LATER MISINTERPRETED IN POOR TRANSLATIONS.

IT’S A BIT LIIKE GETTING A BIG INHERITANCE & SQUANDERING THE FUNDS, ISN’T IT?. THE GIVER GAVE IT IN GOOD FAITH, & WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARD DOESN’T DIMINISH THE MAGNITUDE OF GIFT.

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JOIN ME ... FOR A FUTURE EPISODE OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY.

AND VISIT Patrick-Garner-Books-dot-com. THE WEBSITE IS ALL ABOUT THIS PODCAST ... & ABOUT MY NOVELS.

THE BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. THEIR THEME IS THAT THE GREEK GODS NEVER LEFT. AS I ALWAYS SAY, THEY'RE HERE, NOW.

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BY THE WAY, IF YOU HAVE YOUNGSTERS IN YOUR LIFE, THERE'S A NEW CHILDREN'S BOOK THAT SHOULD BE ON YOUR BOOKSHELF.

IT'S CALLED READ-ALOUD STORIES FOR YOUNG LISTENERS, BY D.K. GARNER. THERE ARE NO GREEK GODS, BUT ANIMALS — ALWAYS PART OF GREEK LIFE — PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THESE CHARMING STORIES. 

THEY TALK WITH THE CHILDREN AT THE MOMENT A LITTLE HELP IS NEEDED, EVERYONE CAN ENJOY THE STORIES OF U-TURN THE CROW, ELI THE DOG, WINKY THE HORSE, NOT-GEORGE THE BUNNY & ROOTY THE ROOSTER.

VISIT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.  AND THANKS FOR LISTENING ... 

THIS IS YOUR HOST, PATRICK GARNER