The Ascension

Persephone myth continued

I said in my post Embracing Persephone that I would revisit the Persephone myth and continue to make it my own story. This is that post.

Like my initial post on the topic, this was inspired by Stephanie Raffelock’s discussion and prompts regarding the Persephone mythology in her wonderfully informative essay, A Ritualization of the Persephone Myth. To review my brief summary of the Persephone story, click here.

Now to pick up where the story leaves off. After spending time in the Underworld, Persephone ascends back to Earth.

According to Stephanie, “The ascension begins on Saturday, December 21^st, marked by the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. The Persephone ascension has to do with recognition and reclamation. Recognition is owning the answers that are already in you. Recognition is owning that your life is a sacred journey. Recognition often times leads to repair.”

“Reclamation is reclaiming what you may have let languish – your art, writing, creativity, inner work, but most especially that artistic aspect of self.”

Of her many prompts in that Substack post, I chose to write on the following:

What does ascending mean to you?

My ascension is to re-recognize and reclaim my mental and physical health. To do this, I need to get enough sleep, go to the gym more often, and eat well. No, these aren’t New Year’s resolutions. I recalibrate my goals throughout any given year.

Part of reclaiming my health is to remind myself that art is a sacred part of my self-care. In fact, it is my salvation.

Sometimes creating art is off my radar, especially recently; I’ve been going through rough times lately. When one’s mental state is not up to par, it is so difficult to sit down at the canvas and create art. And, I hate to admit, until yesterday, I’ve let my mental state run away from creation.

Until recently, I have not been digging down enough in the art trenches.

But Stephanie’s question about what ascension looks like reminded me to reclaim my power – the ability to create art in spite of adversity.

I have begun to ascend from my emotional dark place, but it doesn’t help that tomorrow is the shortest day of the year. What I hate most about winter is not the cold, not the snow, but the short days. Luckily, little by little, after December 21, the days start becoming longer. That, too, is my salvation.

So I finally got my butt in gear and reworked Oliver’s portrait:

I realized that his face in the previous draft was slightly at an incorrect angle, making it difficult to get the painting where I wanted it to be. I’m finally happy with placement, and I agree with Nancy Stordahl that the darker Viridian Green works nicely as the background, so I redid the background after all. And I like it as it is so far. I’m making progress. Yes, the painting needs work, but I have patience to help guide me.

After everything dries, the fur is going to fly – literally. This is where I will get Oliver’s gorgeous fur to take shape and get floofy on canvas – a reminder that art is fun. Art is key to my self-care. And this fact makes my art practice sacred.