Across earth-centred spiritual traditions it is understood that the natural world, including the human body, is a living expression of the sacred feminine principle, sometimes also referred to as the Great Mother archetype. The body is seen as a knowing, animate source of vitality and wisdom—holding memory, instinct, feeling, soul and truth beneath the level of conscious thought. Representing the nurturing, life-giving, embodied and receptive aspects of human existence, the archetypal Great Mother is reflected in mythological figures such as the Greek goddess Demeter, who was known as the goddess Ceres by the Romans. Demeter/Ceres was worshipped as the goddess of agriculture, harvest, abundance, embodiment and fertility. She is often depicted holding bread, grain or the cornucopia—the horn of plenty symbolising the earth’s bounty and richness. However, not only is Demeter/Ceres associated with embodiment, the earth’s fertility and abundance, but she also represents motherly love and attunement. The second part of Demeter’s name—‘meter’—translates to ‘mother’ (Bolen, 1984, p. 168). Demeter’s/Ceres’s most important relationship was with her daughter Persephone/Proserpina, who was taken from her and confined to the underworld. Demeter/Ceres represents the maternal archetype, the Great Mother, who nurtures and nourishes all living beings, embodying unconditional love, care, and emotional and physical sustenance. Those of us who feel a deep, innate connection to Demeter/Ceres tend to have strong maternal and nurturing instincts, which we may embody as ‘mothers’, teachers, guides or carers tending to human and non-human children. We may choose to work in the healing professions, mentoring others as spiritual role models, or perhaps tend to the earth and our gardens, or dedicate our careers to the preservation of the earth’s natural resources.
While Demeter/Ceres cares deeply about other people and the natural world, she also teaches us to first and foremost tend to and nurture ourselves, particularly our bodies, like a loving mother. She supports us in cultivating self-compassion and nurturing self-attunement by encouraging us to see ourselves through the eyes of a loving mother. When we turn inwards and reconnect with Demeter/Ceres within, we recognise and reclaim our innate, internal richness—the abundance within. When Demeter/Ceres graces us with her presence, we remember that we are enough and always have been. Demeter/Ceres supports us in lovingly nurturing our inner world, and tending to our physical bodies as the sacred temples they are. Demeter/Ceres understands that ‘psyche’ and ‘soma’ are one—emotional, mental and physical well-being are intrinsically intertwined: when we tend to our physical bodies, we also nurture our hearts and minds, and vice versa. Similarly, states of emotional and mental imbalance, including suppressed feelings and emotional overwhelm, can give rise to and/or result from physical discomfort and pain.
During times when we are out of touch with the guiding light of Demeter/Ceres, and (sub)-consciously neglect or harm ourselves as a way of surviving adverse external or internal circumstances, Demeter/Ceres speaks to us through our body. She invites us to listen deeply to our body and reconnect with our bodily wisdom. As Alice Miller (2006) wrote, “the body never lies”. Our bodies know. Our bodies know what we need and what is true and right for us. There is truth and wisdom in bodily sensations, visceral knowing and experiences of bodily ‘dis-ease’ (Leder, 2016). Experiences of bodily ‘dis-ease’ (Leder, 2016), including (chronic) fatigue, pain, illness, feelings of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, tend to point to an underlying, internal imbalance—a lack of embodied self-love, nurturing self-attunement and authentic self-expression. When we gradually lose touch with who we are on a deeper level, and venture off the path that was meant for us, by immersing ourselves in relationships, activities and ways of ‘being-with’ ourselves that fail to feed, nurture and sustain us, our soul ‘starves’ and makes herself heard through the physical body. The longer we ignore the gentle whispers of our ‘starving’ soul, the louder she will speak to us through physical pain and discomfort, eventually leading to illness should we continuously fail to respond to her call for re-calibration and re-direction. During times of emotional, mental and physical distress, Demeter/Ceres comes to our aid, if we are willing and able to receive her guidance and support. She reconnects us to the abundance, wisdom and beauty within, teaching us to love ourselves more fully and mother ourselves into healing. Demeter/Ceres guides us in exploring what truly nourishes us and how we can best care for ourselves while honouring the roles, demands and expectations placed upon us in our everyday lives, including our personal and professional relationships. Occasionally, this process may include a descent deep into the well of our psyche. In the ancient Greek/Roman myth, Demeter/Ceres descends into the underworld in search of her lost daughter, Persephone/ Proserpina. Similarly, at times, we need to descend into the depths of our personal shadow to reclaim lost or exiled aspects of ourselves. Those exiled parts tend to be younger versions of ourselves that are in need of a strong internal mother figure—Demeter/Ceres. Becoming a nurturing mother to those younger parts of ourselves that may have survived more than our tender hearts were able to consciously hold, can be a deeply healing process. Demeter/Ceres guides us in lovingly attuning to the parts of ourselves that are hurting and in need of a loving mother. By witnessing our forgotten aspects’ pain with compassion, curiosity and gentleness, we invite them back into belonging, so that they—we—can finally come back home. Under the tutelage of Demeter/Ceres we are being guided to cultivate nurturing, embodied self-attunement and motherly self-love. When we begin to feed our ‘starving’ soul by reclaiming our connection to Demeter/Ceres, the way tends to become open for accelerated physical and emotional healing. Once we are able to receive the sacred messages communicated through physical illness and mental distress, harmony within the delicate ecosystem that comprises psyche and soma is restored, and we can begin to heal.
References
Bolen, J. S. (1984). Goddesses in everywoman: powerful archetypes in women’s lives. Harper & Row.
Leder, D. (2016). The distressed body. University of Chicago Press.
Miller, A. (2006). The body never lies: The lingering effects of hurtful parenting (A. Jenkins, Trans.). W. W. Norton & Company.
