While Proserpine (Persephone) attends to her duties as queen of the Underworld, her mother, agricultural goddess Ceres (Demeter) presides over the sleeping earth in winter.
Below in the cool, shadow-lined depths of the underworld, Persephone listens to the concerns of the ghosts and tends to the gardens of asphodels and pomegranate trees she cultivates to the delight of her husband, Hades. Meanwhile above, Demeter plants corn and grain seeds and teaches people agricultural skills as she waits for her daughter’s return as queen of spring. Both mother and daughter plan for the Eleusinian mysteries as the presiding deities over the sacred ritual that celebrates the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
Eventually that’s how the goddesses worked out their schedules. The initial separation between mother and daughter was a tragedy that brought the first winter to earth when Demeter mourned the abduction of Persephone to the Underworld.
The story of the grain goddess and her lost daughter is one of profound loss and sorrow that evolves into a higher spiritual wisdom. As she matured, Persephone was rather glad to have her own realm where she could be a leader. Demeter realized it was good to have time to herself and to travel the world. When the goddesses reunite to guide the Eleusinian mysteries, the seekers of insight at the ritual benefit from the knowledge of two goddesses who evolved beyond their initial roles into guides to an ultimate wisdom.
Further Reading:
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Metamorphoses by Ovid
http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph5.htm
https://uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html
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