A Retelling of the Persephone Myth, by a Persephone

After the chaos of the time of the titans when all was crashing elements but before there were seasons and a balance to them, there was once a time of only bounty and brightness in the middle world where mankind lived. This was maintained by the Earth Goddess, Demeter and the Nymphs, Dryads and Naiads and all the Nature Spirits and Fae who helped make the world bright and gay and fertile. There was no season of rest, so Demeter worked the world all year round and if sometimes she grew weary there was always her daughter to brighten her mood and inspire her to return to making the world a fruitful place.

Demeter's daughter (by Zeus), was Kore (which means maiden). She would walk with her mother as she sang up the green and brought her grace to the crops and plants the people cultivated as well as the wild copses. Kore was especially loving of and loved alike by the Spirits and Fae who aided her mother and often she would play with them, listening to their songs and laughter. She grew up adoring and treasuring all the beautiful aspects of the natural world and she especially loved to gather flowers and herbs with which to weave wreathes of love and laughter that she would share with the families who came to thank her Mother for their bounty. Kore was bright and beautiful and she glowed with a generous loving spirit. Demeter was careful to never let her precious daughter stray too far, a ribbon from her garments tied gently to one of Kore's ankles, kept them tethered at all times...

Meanwhile in the Underworld, there was at this time, no such brightness. Hades, the God of the Afterlife and Keeper of the Dead, who was Guardian of the Underworld, was very much alone. Hades' days and nights were as one, long, cold and solitary existence. Often times, he would watch the world of the living from below, envying the bright fullness of love and companionship he saw shared among those who dwelled in the middle world and wishing that he too could experience it. Hades looked at his home and the land of the Dead and felt sorrow that there was so little brightness here and even those who had lived a good life came to a place of cold and dull existence. But this was how it was. There could be no Life in Death. So Hades yearned and was filled with longing, but could do nothing for himself or the residents of his domain.

As it happened though, Hades was Kore's uncle and so, he knew her from infancy and watched as she grew from a small innocent thing to become a vivacious girl. Somehow her carefree nature could bring a smile from him even in his darkest moods and as time passed, he began to watch her, most, of all those who walked the land of the living. He saw her generosity in how much she loved to share the love and laughter she was filled with and an idea began to form within his mind. Kore, was as yet, unbound to any domain on her own, she was of the Land of the Living because she was Demeter's daughter but as she was not yet of age, her own purpose and divine duty had not been named.

Knowing Kore was unbetrothed, Hades went to Zeus and spoke with him of Kore and betrothal. Zeus, loving his brother, agreed that she was a good choice but that Demeter would never willingly part with Kore and so long as the ribbon bound them she could not be taken. Yet, Zeus said, if Hades was able to find a way to take the girl for his wife, he would not interfere. So, ever patient, Hades watched and he waited.

Now it came to be that as Kore was coming of age, she began to wish to walk her own way. She loved Demeter dearly and enjoyed helping with her mother's work but often the Spirits and Fae would run off to play, beyond where the ribbon that bound Kore would allow. Kore began to view the ribbon no longer as a welcome line of security to her mother and instead as something that held her back. Demeter, aware of this, would kiss her daughter's brow and tell her how precious she was and how, the ribbon was for her own good. Mostly, Kore accepted this yet some small part of her did begin to resent the ribbon's hold.

So it was, one day as Kore was gathering herbs and flowers for her wreathes in a meadow, she came upon a beautiful blossom she had never seen before. Intrueged, she made to pick it but Demeter's ribbon drew short, keeping her just out of reach. With one hesitant and furtive glance in the direction she knew her mother was, Kore reached down and undid the knot...

In the very moment that ribbon unfurled from her ankle, the ground beneath Kore's feet rumbled, cracked, and split apart, revealing the elegant and terrible figure of her uncle, Hades. On his chariot he burst forth and with a cold quickness no living could claim, he snatched his niece from the meadow and drew her down into the realm of the grave.

Some distance away, Demeter had been going about her work. She knew the knot came undone though she did not know how or why. In a panic she hurried to the place where the ribbon end lay, empty and curled in the meadow. There was no sign of her daughter...

Demeter began to weep and call for Kore but there was no reply. So the Earth Goddess cried and cried and the rains came and with them, floods and drowned crops. But still Kore did not return. Demeter asked the other Gods and Goddesses, certain someone must know something, yet none could or would say where Kore had gone. When she came at last to Zeus, he told her where their daughter was but also that he would not interfere. With this, Demeter's sorrow turned to cold anger and forsaking her work, she put aside the raiments of her divine nature and took upon herself the countenance of a mortal woman.

In this way Demeter wandered, disguised, living as a mortal as she searched every corner of the earth for her bright blessed daughter. Days turned to weeks, weeks passed into months and the land grew cold and barren. As time passed, even Zeus came to realise they must see an end to this, for without their harvest the people were not bringing proper tribute to the temples. So Zeus sent Hermes to tell his brother (Dear Hades I regret to inform you...) that he would simply have to give his precious young bride back to her mother and find another wife.

However, in the time since Hades had snatched Kore from the surface, both she and the underworld had changed. She had been afraid at first, the way she had been grabbed and carried down to the Underworld was alarming. But this was her uncle. He was known to her, she had love for him and the adventurous spirit of youth. Fear gave way to curiosity though she did remain wary and when Hades offered her food and drink she would not partake. Kore knew not to eat in the land of the dead lest she be forced to dwell there forevermore.

So Hades bade Kore allow him to show her his domain, share his wishes with her and as they spent time together she began to see him in a new way.  As she explored the land of the dead, felt the cold darkness and dullness of the lifeless plain and listened to her uncle's request for her to bring her lightness and love to it (and to him) it caught at her own heart in a way that sharing her wreaths with the living, who had so much already, never had before.

Kore was overwhelmed and her emotions welled forth as tears, falling from her to the ground below and where she wept, the asphodel bloomed and the fields formed where the heroes and those who had lived good lives could come to be at peace and feel the brightness and comfort of her love. Hades was pleased by this but worried by her tears and took her to see the crystals and stones buried deep in the ground. He offered to share all his treasures with her and she was truly fascinated by the beauty of the gemstones and ores. But still she would not eat.

So when Hermes came to beseech Hades to return Kore, he found them at odds. Hades begging and wooing Kore to stay and she, wishing to fulfill his requests but also unwilling to give up the promise of seeing her mother and the living world once more. Her mother's distress was heavy upon Kore's heart and Hades had to acknowledge the need to see the earth returned to life. He would let her return to Demeter and the Underworld would once more be without the light and love she had brought. Neither were happy with this.

Seeing the sorrow in both at this, Hermes came up with a plan. As he waited with Kore on the shore of the Styx for Charon's boat to come and carry them across, Hermes plucked a pomegranite from a tree growing on the shore. Pomegranites were the only trees that grew in the land of the dead and their seeds were like the gemstones there, translucent and beautiful.

As Kore watched, he broke it open, baring the red tempting seeds and offered them to her. They were so beautiful and she dearly wanted to try them so Kore asked if it was all right to eat these or if doing so would keep her there. Hermes only smiled as reply and held them still before her. They were on the shores of the Styx, arguably in the borderland between domains and Hermes was here to bring her to her mother. Surely, he would not be offering them to her if there was any danger that ingesting them would force her to stay... and it was only she and Hermes there. Who was to know?

So she did. Six seeds.

They tasted like a dream and Hermes kept smiling that small secret smile as Charon came and over the river they rowed. When the boat came to rest on the shores of the land of the living where Demeter waited, Kore found she could not put her foot upon it and then she knew Hermes had tricked her into the very temptation she had avoided all her time with Hades. Demeter wailed and Kore paled but Hermes now played his hand, offering then (for he had been given the right to cut a deal by Zeus in order to retrieve Demeter's daughter) a compromise. Demeter could have her daughter back if she agreed, for every seed Kore had eaten, she would return and remain with Hades. With reluctance, Demeter agreed and as Kore stepped ashore to go with her mother, though she could not say aloud, her look bore her thanks for Hermes to see.

In six months time she returned to Hades and they wed, as only god and goddess can, by their own power vested and Kore, took a new name in honour of her discovered Sacred Duty and became Persephone. 'the one who brings the light'

Now Earth has Seasons so Demeter has a time for Rest and Renewal, Persephone has her own Divine Purpose and Hades, has Love and Laughter.

When Persephone goes to dwell in the Underworld as Queen with Hades, Demeter mourns and slows the earth, brings the cold and the frost and the death of the crops. So in Autumn, we harvest and gather in our bounty to make the most of it during Winter while Demeter Sleeps. Spring brings the swell of Persephone's emotions, her fresh tears falling to bring the blossoms up from the earth and the buds out on the trees and in Summer Persephone walks with her mother, Demeter is fulfilled and is brought to life, sharing her grace once more as her daughter walks with her, singing up the green.

This is my myth. I was born to the name Persephone and have read as many versions of the myth as I have gotten my hands on. I am sure I will read many more. I am not attempting to rewrite a historically accurate rendition of the story as it was told long ago but instead to share what it means to me. Like the Equinox, to me, it is about Balance and at this time of year (Mabon) especially it is about recognising the need for the fallow time and being grateful and thankful for our bounty.

Blessed Be,
   Persephone