Demeter
(Ceres)

Demeter, the second daughter of Cronus and Rhea, is the Bestower of Seasons, the Bringer of Splendid Gifts, the mother who sets sorrowfully apart from the gods of Olympus, watching the never-ending cycle of birth and death. For four months out of every year, while Persepone, her daughter, lives with her husband, Hades, in the underworld, the fruit of the earth is frozen in death. Only when Persephone is released is the wrath of Demeter appeased, and only then does she allow the earth to bring forth its abundance.

Demeter and Persephone are the two great goddesses of the earth, linked together in the mysteries of birth, death, and rebirth. Demeter's great temple was at Eleusis, near Athens, where the abduction of Persephone by Hades was said to have taken place. Here Demeter dictated the rites by which she was to be worshipped, and so here the Eleusinian Mystery cult began its development. Its greatest festival took place within nine days of September, commemorating not only the harvest, but also the abduction of Persephone and the days during which Demeter searched the earth for her lost daughter.

Although sorrow appears to be the dominant characteristic of Demeter's motherhood, it is not all sorrowful. Every death brings hope of rebirth, every parting hope of reunion. Thus, Cicero said of the Eleusinian cult, "Nothing is higher than these mysteries. They have sweetened our characters and softened our customs; they have made us pass from the condition of savages to true humanity. They have not only shown us the way to live joyfully, but they have taught us how to die with a better hope" (quoted by Edith Hamilton).

Because Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest, she is also the mother of Plutus, the personification of wealth:

Demeter, shining goddess, joined in love
With Iasion the hero, on the rich
Island of Crete; they lay on fallow land
Which had been plowed three times, and she gave birth
To Ploutos, splendid god who travels far
Over the land, and on the sea's broad back;
And everyone who meets or touches him
Grows wealthy, for great riches come from him.
-- Hesiod, Theogony (trans. Dorothea Wender)

Plutus is the god of merchants and pirates, but the honest man would be wealthy must first offer the sweat of his brow as a libation to Demeter:

To sow your seed
Go naked; strip to plough and strip to reap,
If you would harvest all Demeter's yield
In season. Thus each crop will come in turn,
And later, you will not be found in need,
And forced to beg from other men, and get
No help.
-- Hesiod, Works and Days (trans. Dorothea Wender)