Demeter — Grief, Withholding, Abundance Restored

When Persephone is taken, Demeter's grief stops all growth — the earth becomes barren, humanity starves. The gods are forced to negotiate. Hex 23 (Splitting Apart) is the famine: the mountain's base eroding, the fertile order collapsing into yin. Hex 46 (Pushing Upward) is the return of growth when the daughter returns: earth over wood, the plant rising from below. Demeter's power is not creation but its withdrawal — she does not destroy the harvest; she refuses to produce it. The I-Ching understands this power. Hex 23's yin lines do not attack the remaining yang; they simply replace it.

Cross-Tradition Resonances