December 23rd, 2012

I had a most interesting day today. This morning, I read some more out of Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, by Michael Jordan, a wonderful text that I checked out from the library. If anyone has an interest in various pantheons and the relationships between religions, ancient and modern, I'd look for this one. After work, my dad and brother went shopping with me to get presents for my mom. My dad is a rather frustrating individual to shop with, but in the end we got some nice gifts that I think my mom will really like. We also bought a pomegranate, seeing as no-one in my family but me had ever had one. It was quite an adventure trying to get all the little aerols out of the waxy pith, but we got there eventually, and man, were they tasty little things!

~~~~~~~~~~

The pomegranate is common in folklore and mythology. In Greek legend, it was seeds from Hades' pomegranate that Persephone ate, forcing her to live in the underworld several months out of the year. In Egypt, on the other hand, it was a symbol of abundance and prosperity. It is a fruit connected with the Goddess in general, and with the High Priestess card in the Tarot. It is likewise associated with intuition and with the cycle of life, death, and rebirth - it was often pictured with the Greek goddess Hera. Even in monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - the pomegranate is seen as "the fruit of paradise" or of the promised land. In Persia and India, the fruit is a symbol of fertility. Enjoy a pomegranate any time of year, although perhaps most appropriately at Samhain, to get in touch with the above described energies. Pomegranates have health benefits as well, destroying those evil "free radical" ions that can do nasty things to your body.