Autumn marks the time of year when Persephone bids her mother Demeter goodbye, and she returns to the Underworld to join her husband Hades–an ancient myth that explains why we have seasons. Annually when Persephone descends into the depths of the Earth and winter comes upon us, she brings with her the seeds of the pomegranate, pictured, a fruit that is currently in season.

In spring, when the Queen of the Underworld returns to the surface with seeds in hand, she brings renewed life and abundance. For the ancient Greeks, many of whom fervently followed the cult of Demeter and Persephone, pomegranates represented fertility, prosperity, abundance, and generosity. Today, in Western literature and art, because of the Persephone myth, the fruit also represents the cycle of life and death.