Offering to Persephone/Kore and the Blessing of the Tools

At this time in Ancient Greece, they celebrate Anthesphoria, the Festival of Flowers. It is now that Persephone returns from the Underworld to walk with her mother, Demeter, Goddess of Grain and the Earth’s Fertility. She is known in the Middle World as the Kore, the Maiden of the Spring Time, and as she walks among us, green begins to appear once more upon the land at each place where her feet have touched the ground. It is only after her return that Demeter will allow the sleeping greenery to come to full wakefulness.

Call to Kore

Kore, Daughter of the Sky Father, Zeus and the Earth Goddess of Growing Things, Demeter; Beloved Queen of the Underworld! The time is come for you to resume your reign as Maiden of the Spring! The world has wept and all went cold and barren in your time of absence. You return now, to your sacred gardens, reminding us that loss is inevitable, but sorrow is temporary. As you walk upon the earth once more and flowers fall from your feet, we are reminded that all things have cycles—life and death and rebirth are an integral piece of order in the cosmos. The time of rebirth has come!

Beloved Kore, Mighty Queen! Accept our offerings! Esto!” (Offer wine)

Blessing of the Tools

During this awakening of the Earth, we see the flowers peeking their heads bravely above the ground, greeting our Lady of the Spring as she passes by. These first flowers awakened by the magic of the Goddess are now used to spread that magic to the gardens ‘round our hearths. By Kore’s charge, we place these flowers upon the tools of the trade.  We water them with the blessings of the Kindreds, given to us in exchange for our piety and right action. May they be blessed by her hands. May they be blessed by her mother’s hands. May they bless the hands that hold them. May the work completed through these tools come to full fruition in their time.

So say we all!