Persephone - Greek Goddess of Beauty and Plenty (Venus in Libra) Copper
- Description
Persephone
The Greek Goddess of the Underworld, Beauty, Abundance and Nature
Venus in Libra, Moon in Capricorn
"But since there was in the seeds cast into the earth a certain power, which the Sun in passing round to the lower hemisphere drags down at the time of the winter solstice, Kore is the seminal power, and Pluto the Sun passing under the earth, and traversing the unseen world at the time of the winter solstice; and he is said to carry off Kore, who, while hidden beneath the earth, is lamented by her mother Demeter." -Porphyry of Tyre, On Images
Persephone (or Kore, the Maiden), the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was the wife of Hades (Pluto) and Queen of the Underworld. She presided over the dead, nature, fertility, and like her close companion Hecate, was a liminal goddess who held authority in both the Heavens and Underworld. Persephone was at the center of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous and secret rites of ancient Greece.
Her abduction by Hades in the field represented the sign of Virgo (the Maiden) before the autumn equinox, when the Sun’s light begins to be overtaken by darkness in Libra, a sign ruled by Venus. According to Porphyry, the winter solstice in Capricorn is Hades or Pluto in his realm.
The grief of her mother Demeter represents the six months of darkness of autumn and winter, when she accompanied her husband in the Underworld. The warmth and growth of spring and summer is Demeter’s happiness when reunited with her daughter in the world above.
According to Porphyry,
"Kore bears symbols of the production of the plants which grow above the earth in the crops: and Dionysus has horns in common with Kore, and is of female form, indicating the union of male and female forces in the generation of the hard-shelled fruits."
Persephone the Spring Witch (George Wilson, 1880)
In the three centuries after Alexander was crowned Pharoah and the Ptolemies ruled Egypt, Persephone was equated with the goddess Isis, and her husband Hades became known as Serapis.
Porphyry explains,
"Demeter has the same meaning among the Greeks as Isis among the Egyptians, and Kore and Dionysus among the Greeks the same as Isis and Osiris among the Egyptians. Isis is that which nourishes and raises up the fruits of the earth." (On Images)
Venus, like Persephone, is visible as both the morning and evening star throughout the year. The seven pomegranate seeds that she ate, binding her to Hades, is often seen in Venus imagery as a girl holding a piece of fruit. Likewise, a sheaf of wheat or the Cornucopia (Horn of Plenty) represents wealth and a bountiful harvest, gifts of the Underworld. She represents all the positive traits of Venus.
"The star of Aphrodite (Venus) they observed as tending to fertility, being the cause of desire and offspring, and represented it as a woman because of generation, and as beautiful, because it is also the evening star." - Porphyry, On Images
Psyche Obtaining the Elixir of Beauty from Proserpine (Charles-Joseph Natoire, 1741)
ASTROLOGICAL FACTORS
“Let the ensoulment of chthonic and nocturnal gods take place with Selene (Moon), Aphrodite (Venus) and Zeus (Jupiter) in harmonious aspects and Kronos (Saturn) in harmony with them."For gods...of the earth, the autumn.."
"The power productive of corn-crops, which is Demeter, they associate with her, as producing power in her. The Moon is also a supporter of Kore. They set Dionysus also beside her, both on account of their growth of horns, and because of the region of clouds lying beneath the underworld."
Venus, as the morning star, rises in 16 Libra in her hour, where Persephone takes her form of Queen of the Underworld in the autumn season. The Moon is in 8 Capricorn, the Triplicity of Venus and the Moon, in the Imum Coeli, the throne of the Underworld. The Moon makes a wide sextile to Mars in 24 Scorpio and receives him in Capricorn, representing her husband Hades. Venus makes a wide square to Jupiter in Cancer in the Midheaven, representing her father Zeus with mutual reception by Triplicity.
Hephaestion of Thebes placed considerable emphasis on the Triplicity rulers much like Dorotheus of Sidon five centuries before him. The Moon and significator must not apply to a square or opposition with a malefic. The Luminary of Sect should ideally make applying aspects to benefics and/or their Triplicity rulers whenever possible. At a minimum, the Triplicity rulers of the significator’s sign should not be severely afflicted.
How They Were Made
Sterling silver, lapis lazuli, and copper, all Venus materials, were engraved with the image of Persephone holding a sheaf of wheat and a pomegranate. Silver is an excellent choice for practically every type of talisman, partly because of its reflective qualities. I chose lapis lazuli not only for its beauty but because of its strong likeness to the sky. Its unique shades of blue, combined with pyrite flecks of gold and silver, bear a strong resemblance to the Sun’s rays and the stars.
Images were engraved by hand, modeled on classical Greek and Roman images of Kore / Persephone. The name Kore is engraved in Koine Greek. They were suffumigated with frankincense and Venus incense made from a recipe in Liber Razielis.
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October 27, 2025 , 06:00 - 06:30 AM
