MERMAID GODDESS/ a figurative ceramic sculpture/ NOTES ON MERMAID MYTHOLOGY/ The Astral Waters/ The Mermaids of Silver and the Mermaids of Gold

                                                     Mermaid Goddess

                                                     1999
                                                     by Eric Whollem
                                                     oxides on white clay
                                                     Collection of the artist
                                                     11 1/4"
                                                                                              Photo copyright by the artist

A Kore of the Sea
MERMAID MYTHOLOGY

This sculpture incorporates bas relief images of
seahorses and dolphins. Many ancient Goddesses
were mermaids: Atargatis, Amphitrite, Derceto,
etc. Many Goddesses have been associated with the
dolphins. Demeter, the Great Mother, was such a
dolphin Goddess. Amphitrite, a wife of Poseidon,
whose name translates as Triton of the Waters, was
a dolphin mermaid.

Though it is little recognized, Persephone may have
been a mermaid. Persephone, from the Eleusinian
mysteries, was depicted fish-tailed  in a sculpture
left by Greek Colonists on the coast of Southern Italy.
Barbara Vivino related this story to me, having seen
it.

Thus we can interpret the "Descent of Persphone"
into the Abysos, as the descent of Persephone in her
mermaid form. Thus is explained the watery element
of the River Styx, the subterranean river: it was the
vehicle of the soul of Persephone, the Initiate.