The Spring Goddess

摘要

The constellation Virgo is sometimes identified with Persephone, the beautiful daughter of the harvest goddess Demeter. In one version of her myth, Persephone was spirited away by Hades to make her his queen of the underworld. Demeter was distraught, and in her sorrow she abandoned her stewardship of the fruits of the Earth. Cruel winter reigned, crops failed, and famine loomed nigh. Zeus, king of the gods, thought to return Persephone to her mother, but he was too late. Having taken food in the underworld, Persephone could not live permanently in world above, so a compromise was reached. Persephone would spend part of every year in each world. When we see her constellation in the sky, she is with her mother in the world above, and the Earth is green and growing. When Persephone returns to the underworld, her mother lapses into sadness, and the Earth grows cold and barren.