Embracing Persephone

Autumn Equinox: Longing and Descent

I got the idea for this post from fellow Substacker Stephanie Raffelock, who can be found at Creative Eldering. In a recent post, titled A Ritualization of the Persephone Myth, she discusses the ancient Greek Persephone myth and how people can apply this story to create their own mythology. 

First, at a brief glance, here’s the Persephone story: 

Demeter was the harvest goddess whose daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the Underworld.

Demeter was so devastated by Persephone’s kidnapping, that the Earth’s crops no longer thrived. The distraught mom appealed to Zeus, the head of all the gods, to help get her daughter back. Seeing what happened to the crops, Zeus reached out to Hades to return Persephone.

Zeus and Hades compromised: Persephone would spend six months in the Underworld, also named Hades, and she would return to Earth the other six months of the year. During the six months that Persephone was returned to her mom Demeter, the Earth was fruitful and filled with new growth. When Persephone returned to the Underworld, however, plants would stop growing.

Note: Hades is not the same as hell in the Christian Bible. 

In her Substack post, Stephanie shares her insight on the Persephone myth:

“Many scholars say that this myth was used to explain the seasons.  But at closer look, it’s not just about the seasons of the earth, it’s about the yearly seasons of our life.  A time to gather the loves and losses of the year.”  

Stephanie encourages us to personalize the Persephone story in order to create our own mythology, which she discusses in detail in her post.  

The following brief discussion centers around the application of the Persephone myth — the descent — to my own life around the September 22 Autumn Equinox. I will also have a post applying the Persephone myth to my own purposes for the winter solstice, which occurs on December 21.

Autumn Equinox: Longing and Descent

The overarching question I ask myself is, what do I long for, and in what way(s) do I descend into “Hades”?

I long for peace, which often seems elusive. 

This doesn’t mean I want a problem-free life; such a life doesn’t exist. But upheavals throw me into the underworld of unease. Like when almost all my doctors retired within months of each other, including my oncologist. For a breast cancer survivor, this is a huge setback. 

My self-confidence as a patient has waned as of late, probably because I don’t have my doctors all in a row. I long for a day where my mind will chillax a bit more. But for now, I have descended into figurative Hades.

My desire to create paintings has also waned. In fact, I almost didn’t produce any artwork this week, thanks to an overwrought mind. But I forced myself to sit down at the canvas and rework the sunset over the ocean, which depicts a calm descent into night. It’s a peaceful portrait of a seascape. 

I added depth to the overall painting, made the sky colors more intense, and framed the top corners with purplish clouds that signal sunset’s inevitable exit. I framed the bottom of the canvas with small cliff-like rock-like structures. I added subtle reflections from the waning sun onto the ocean.

However, the seascape won’t be too calm for long, as I have plans to add a bit of turbulence to the water. I want waves crashing down on the rocky structures. This change of focus makes me understand that life is both calm and turbulent. Sometimes all I see are the uncharted depths of night and dark water. 

But there is also light.