An Interesting Trio of Roman Garden Goddesses

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Last year I had went to visit my sister up in New England and we went to this place that had three old goddess statues displayed in the center of a large garden area. I thought they were lovely and managed to get some really nice pictures with my phone of each one.

I guess one could say I felt "drawn" to them even though i had no idea who they were at the time. But i printed them out and framed them for my spiritual altar, and after doing a little research on the photos i learned that these are Roman Goddess statues depicting Flora the Goddess of Spring & Flowers, Ceres (Greek equivalent Demeter) the Goddess of Grains & The Harvests, and Pomona the Goddess of Fruit & Orchards.

They make up an interesting trio of nature deities for sure, and they're apparently popular not just over in Europe and in the New England area i was in but even here in the Deep South of all places there is a secret society fraternity house of sorts known as The Grange (or The Patrons of Husbandry) that pays tribute to these matrons of agriculture, and it was started right after the American Civil War ended with the South's crushing defeat. It's supposed to be like a Free Masons type club of rural farmers but some Christian types think the place practices occult Pagan worship.


https://www.maplewoodgrange.org/grange-history.html

https://www.apocalypse-confidential.com ... husbandry/

Being a polytheist and occult dabbler myself, it doesnt really matter to me either way. But I find the very idea of a trio of goddess responsible for teaching humanity to grow, harvest, cultivate, and feed itself to be fascinating. And it would make total sense that they would have a place in the deep rural southern states where you get a lot of farmers, gardeners, and people living off the land like my great grandmother did.

Also apparently in Ancient Greece while Demeter was mostly regarded as an earth mother who fed humanity with the harvests, she also had a darker, more Cthonic aspect known as "Black Demeter" (Demeter Melaina). This lesser known aspect of the Queen of the Harvests focused on the great famine she brought to the world when her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades. She literally brought starvation and death to the world from the soil itself until her daughter was returmed to her for half the year in which case the joy she felt would ressurect the crops to feed humanity.

She posessed the power over life, death, and ressurection itself. And she was linked to both the upper world and the Underworld through her connections to Hades after he married her daughter.

I read somewhere that there were ancient mystery cults dedicated to her worship that believed humanity could conquer death itself through her worship, not unlike the Christian worship centered around the ressurection of Jesus who they believed would grant their souls eternal life after death, if they accepted him as their messiah.


Anyways I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm seriously considering going down the Neopagan path of honoring Flora, Ceres/Demeter, and Pomona on my personal altar. I've also been taking an interest in growing many flowers around my hard, and ive even startes growing some fruits and tomatoes from discarded seeds i got from old Walmart produce my Mon was planning to throw away. Things like cherry tomatoes etc.

Here are the three statues i saw that inspired me to persue a spiritual path in gardening and nature.





Flora



Ceres



Pomona

Oh and I even thought of the most fitting RWS tarot cards to represent each goddess in my own personal rituals.

Ceres as "The Empress" card. The highest ranking of the three Goddesses being one of the original 12 Olympians. She sits next to a field of grains in a lush landscape wearing a maternal gown adorned with pomogranite fruit embroidry (the same fruit Hades tricked her daughter Persephone into eating so she could never truly leave the Underworld).



Flora as the "Queen of Wands", holding a large sunflower overlooking empty barren soil mounds before they are to be tilted to grow and harvest for Spring Planting.



Pomona as the "Queen of Pentacles", sitting on a throne surrounded by trees and vines producing fruit and flowers.



And all three Goddesses celebrating with goblets of wine in a toast to a successful year of gardening as they are surrounded by the fruits of their labors in the "Three of Cups".