Grain, Wheat

Grain (and other cereals) is associated with life, death, and resurrection; the cycle of humanity, of entire generations, which is particularly elaborated in Greek customs and beliefs. It is planted in the earth, grows from the earth, and is harvested, only to grow again the next year, and so on. It is probably this association that underlies the image of death as a man with a scythe.

The cultivated earth and humanity’s diligence that makes the grain grow, and her transformation of it into bread, is an expression of the civilized human culture. But she cannot do this alone; she must rely on and appease the “spirit of the grain” (as Frazer puts it), the plant's inherent life force that gives the cereal its magical quality.

“The harvest is the reward for the first part of the year, so since time immemorial, the miraculous child has been symbolized by wheat.” (Visions, p. 63.) Wheat is almost the essence of vegetation, and “since vegetation is a symbol of human spiritual qualities ... wheat symbolizes [resurrection].” (Ibid., p. 341.)

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