Exoteric and Esoteric

[sdi]

Theopompus​ records that the people who live toward the west believe that the winter is Kronos, the summer Aphrodite, and the spring Persephone, and that they call them by these names and believe that from Kronos and Aphrodite all things have their origin.

(Plutarch, Isis and Osiris LXIX)

---

The season of the ritual is evidence to the truth of these explanations. The rites are performed about the Vernal Equinox, when the fruits of the earth are ceasing to be produced, and day is becoming longer than night, which applies well to Spirits rising higher. (At least, the other equinox is in mythology the time of the Rape of Kore, which is the descent of the souls.)

(Sallustius, On the Gods and the World IV)

---

Cold Kronos is pure intellect (hence the winter solstice holidays—Saturnalia, Christmas—and the symbol of gift-giving). Warm Aphrodite is pure sensuality (hence the summer solstice holidays—Aphrodesia—and the symbol of purification). Persephone is the soul, who descends from intellect into sensuality and back again as the "seasons" shift (hence the equinox holidays as representative of the way down and the way back up).