Persephone, Chaos, and Hope

Persephone Returns to Life

    Persephone, a beautiful and innocent young woman, is kidnapped by Hades and taken to his kingdom in the underworld. Her mother, Demeter, searches the world for her and in the rage of her grief, turns the earth into a wintery wasteland. Demeter is Earth Mother, after all, and has the power to make everything stop growing. She turns the world cold, icebound, and infertile. Plants and trees lose their leaves and fruits, creatures starve, all is lost.  Meanwhile, Persephone is trapped in the world of darkness and suffering. The underworld is a place of mystery, dark and forbidding. It is not the equivalent of the hell concept where bad people go to be punished. It is simply a place of darkness, suffering, and mystery. No one knows why suffering happens, it just does. In Greek mythology this world is entered through a cave or crevice in rocky terrain. It is under the visible world.
     Hades taunts Persephone that she might one day return to the upperworld and her mother if, and it is a big IF, she does not eat a certain fruit.  But Persephone breaks open the pomegranate and her fate is sealed. However, bright young thing as she is, Persephone strikes a bargain with Hades. He agrees to let her return to the earth, but she is required to descend willingly to his underworld for a portion of each year. When Persephone emerges from Hades, it is said that flowers appear in her every footstep. Demeter’s rage and sorrow are healed and the world returns to fertility and beauty. But every year, Persephone descends again and winter returns until the spring, when the young Goddess steps out from the underworld.

      It’s quite a story, eh? And full of symbolism and metaphor. We think of Demeter and Persephone as Greek goddesses, but they are far older even than ancient Greece. I believe this myth is indicative of humankind’s need to explain the inexplicable tides of the seasons and of times of death, chaos, and fear.  

     I am grateful to author and activist Charlene Spretnak for reconstructing the mythology for new understanding in our times. Her book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths has been important to my thinking. There is more about Dr. Sprenak in a footnote. * In short, Dr. Spretnak helps us see the big picture.

    As I write, we are in the heat of summer where I live; flowers are prolific, the trees are leafy and full, young animals born in springtime are maturing, food crops are coming to harvest. But the world feels cold and terrifying. It is risky even to breathe as the clouds of coronavirus pandemic and Saharan dust roll across the world. It is terrifying for humans with dark skin to survive the violence of white “supremacy”. Other marginalized groups, including immigrants, lesbians, gays, transsexuals, those who speak out for justice, and more are under attack in one way or another. Democracy is under serious threat. And that is just in our part of North America. Enough! Surely I don’t need to list – again – the nightmares of this particular time.

     I turn to Persephone. There she is, kidnapped and imprisoned where all hope is lost. But is it?  Forbidden to eat the pomegranate, Persephone discerns that there must be something special about the fruit; otherwise, why would Hades forbid it?  The pomegranate, rich and red as the lining of a woman’s womb, is full of seeds. Seeds are promise – every seed, no matter how tiny, holds life. Spretnak’s re-visioning of the myth, holds another kind of promise. In her version, Persephone is compassionate with her sister and brother souls trapped in the underworld. She eases their suffering by blessing them, one soul at a time, with the rich blood-like fluid that bathes the pomegranate seeds. She strikes her deal with Hades by offering to return each year and resume the healing and blessing of suffering souls. And so Hades lets her leave, trusting her promise.

     May I be like Persephone. When  I am trapped by circumstances (pandemic, poor health, financial stress, injustice), may I realize that I am not trapped after all: I just haven’t discovered the way out.  When I am in pain in body, mind, or soul, may I look around and find others I can help. No matter what, I can be present. I can listen to Black writers and teachers and friends; I can offer the comfort of my caring if nothing else. And usually, if I listen well enough, I find more ways to bring comfort to those who suffer. (As my mother said a thousand and two times: "If you are feeling sorry for yourself, do something for someone else.")

     I think, too, of Hades trust in Persephone’s word – integrity matters. This wild time is an excellent opportunity to watch myself, to be sure my actions match my talk. To invest my time and money where I say I care.  To keep my promises to myself and to others.

     It looks like “just” a story, this old myth. It seems to be fairly simple. Winter turns to springtime. Persephone always returns. But, lo and behold, it is more. The myth from centuries ago and from a culture we know very little about, comes a reminder to watch for opportunities to serve, to look for the ways out of impossible situations, to hold fast to truth and integrity.

I wish you the blessings Persephone brings.

Ebony, our feral neighbor in the Esperanza (which means hope)

* Charlene Spretnak's anthology The Politics of Women’s Spirituality provided new perspectives about the connection between political and spiritual understanding that holds true today. These books date from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Her subsequent work focuses on other connections: The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art; an exploration of recent discoveries about dynamic relatedness, Relational Reality; and Missing Mary: The ReEmergence of the Queen of Heaven in the Modern Church.