Cicero - Self Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition_Part 01

170 SELF-INITIATION INTO THE GoLDEN DAWN TRAOmON
Persephone
god. Zeus persuaded Hades to release the young Kore, but
tempted her to eat some pomegranate seeds first, which made
their union indissoluble. Tosettle the matter, Zeus decided that
Persephone would live with her husband in the Underworld for
one-third of the year and spend the other two-thirds with her
mother. Thus for part of the year, when Persephone joined
Hades, the Earth became cold, sorrowful and unproductive, but
when she returned in the Spring, the Earth resumed its warmth
along with its mantle of flowering plants and fertile crops.
Persephone is portrayed as maiden crowned and enthroned.
She sometimes carries an ear of com or a pomegranate.
Other Western Earth deities include numerous Celtic fertility
goddesses or matres-Mother goddesses:
DANU or DANA: The companion of Bile.The descendants of Danu called themselves
Tuatha De Dannan ("people of the goddess Dana" or "The children of Don").
Nerthus
SECTION 7: Divination and Geomancy
BRIGIT: Celtic goddess of the seasons.
Brigit's celebration Imbolc, a great festival
of pagan purification, takes place on
February 1st.(Incidentally,with the coming
of Christianity, the goddess Brigit
was transformed into a patron saint.)
Teutonic fertility goddesses include
GEFJON, "the Giver" or "the Donor,"
and NERTHUS, the productive Earth
Mother. Nerthus is pictured driving a
chariot pulled by heifers.
EPONA: A Celtic goddess who was the
protectress of horses, Epona also presided
over the fertility of the soil.e
• • People who have no experience with Tarot and other forms of div-
• •
ination often think that these practices are little more than superstition
and folklore.The truth is that those who study and practice div-
• ination believe that all things in the universe are divine. Nothing takes
• place in a divine universe by chance or coincidence. Nothing that
exists within a divine universe is without meaning or significance.
The word divination is based on a Latin word which means "the faculty
of foreseeing." The word comes from the Latin word for "divine power," or "of
the gods." This indicates that the true meaning of the word divination is "to
make divine."