The return of strength of being, and joyful emergence/appearance of the long awaited lost beloved one (however that may be expressed), that is celebrated at Spring Equinox, has required first the descent, the journey to the underworld. Such a journey to the Great Below, has been required for the wisdom and joy of this Moment. So, traditionally the rites in PaGaian Cosmology Spring Equinox ceremony include the enactment by each participant, of taking the journey, with lantern, and perhaps poppies and sheaves of wheat, as Persephone does in the story we tell. The rest of the group waits, like Demeter, for their return to the circle: we usually play Jennifer Berezan’s ReTURNING music, while we wait.

Each participant journeys to contemplate and remember something of what it has taken, what is the nature of the compost that has gifted us with this emergence, and wisdom gained; and it may include more than the personal.

In ancient times in what is now Greece, Spring Equinox ceremony was part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and it was known as the Lesser Mysteries. The Greater Eleusinian Mysteries, when Persephone descended, were celebrated at the time of Autumn Equinox: the connection was thus understood.

It is always a balance of grief and joy.

Glenys Livingstone 2025

REFERENCES:

Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. The Year of the Goddess. Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1990.

Livingstone, Glenys. A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her within PaGaian Sacred Ceremony. Bergen: Girl God Books, 2023.