Want to listen to a few of my favorite plant stories? Here are some excerpts from a podcast I recorded with Liv Albert & Michaela Pangowish from Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! We had a rollickin’ good time.
The Mysteries were a celebration of the reunion of Demeter (goddess of the harvest) and Persephone (her daughter). Participants were sworn to secrecy about the details of the festival, but we DO have some info on the kykeon, the mysterious and (probably) hallucinogenic beverage that fueled the event.
The Kykeon
The Chaste Tree
Today the chaste tree is a pretty garden plant, but in ancient Greece it was sacred to the goddess Hera and used in rituals by the Spartans. The plant was a symbol of both chastity and fertility.
Women weren’t allowed to drink wine in Ancient Greece, except for the Maenads. They were followers of Dionysus (god of wine) and were strong and fierce, feared by most men.
The Maenads
This clip is from an interview with Joanne Shaw on her podcast Down the Garden Path.
The Narcissus
Most of us consider the narcissus to be a bright and lovely harbinger of spring. But in Greek mythology it was often associated with death and sorrow.
And here’s a short video from an interview about Mythic Plants. If you read the novel Circe, you might remember the story of the plant called Moly. Is that a real plant? (I think so!)