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EXPLORATIONS in HUMAN SPIRITUALITY.Pmd Explorations in Edited by Human Spirituality Akbar Husain Publish by Global Vision Publishing House The Persephone Paradigm Today Madeline Nold Prototype of the Myth The myth of the Greek Goddess, Persephone, can be seen as a paradigm for healing and regeneration. One has to symbolically die to be reborn. The Persephone paradigm can be likened to the two sides of a coin: you cannot have one side without the other: life without death, death without life. The Persephone paradigm pertains to the tale of this goddess. According to legend, she was ravished by the god Hades and abducted into his mythological underworld, where she was thought to be dead. Her mother, Demeter, mourned the loss, and in so doing, suffered as though she were in the netherworld as well. Mourning as an Archetypal Tool for Healing Now, let us look into the paradigm of Demeter”s mourning period and her subsequent release from its grasp: Legend holds that long ago in ancient Greece, there was a mother Demeter, who mourned so strongly for her daughter, Persephone, that she sat on a rock and would not move. Some say that the rock covered a deep well, closing off the waters of the well from daylight. Deep inside the earth, Persephone lay with her husband, Hades, Lord of the underworld. Madeline Nold has taught her own personal transformation workshops at the Esalen Institute, Interface, New York Open Center, and other Human Potential institutes. At present, she is Director, Creative Action Associates 172 Explorations in Human Spirituality Persephone was an unwilling bride, having been suddenly abducted while playing in her beautiful garden, and taken away from the light of day for a portion of every year. The grieving mother was so solemn, so unrelenting in her lamentations, that nothing could move her from her despair. Nothing, until eventually, another woman, a comely figure who was almost crone-like in appearance, arrived at the rock upon which this grieving mother goddess resided. The older woman irreverently told ribald stories and randy jokes to the inconsolable goddess. The crone even performed an obscene dance and the daughterless mother laughed. Psychologically, Demeter was jolted from her depression by these antics. According to the fanciful account given above, Demeter had forgotten the joy of living. An older goddess, known as Iambe, or Baubo, resurrected Demeter’s sense of humor. As a cosmic dancer, or comic crone, Baubo also can be seen as having revived the Demeter’s memory of her own sexuality. It is as if the mourner, Demeter, had also given up part of her life force, as a result of the demise of her daughter, Persephone. according to this mythological account of goddesses, just as in our world, the pain of protracted grief exacerbates the loss. For Demeter, remaining in such a severe continuous state of grief over the loss of Persephone, the mother is depicted as being seated on the rock of her sorrow, which was known as “the laughterless rock.” The mockery of the dance of Baubo, eventually drew the mother out of her protracted state of grief and reversed Demeter’s sinking feelings of hopelessness, leading to amusement which distracted her from her suffering. This was an ancient Greek version of what we today call a paradigm shift. It also provided a source of healing and recovery for the mother. In the myth, Persephone dies, but is eventually reborn, again and again, in cycles. The “Persephone paradigm refers to death and rebirth in this context, a theme that is well-known to the world of mythology. Death/ Rebirth also has many symbolic meanings, and it suggests a promise of hope. The Persephone Paradigm Today 173 As mentioned earlier, the site of Demeter’s protracted mourningfor her daughter, Persephone, came to be known as the laughterless rock, her altar to sorrow. However, once having witnessed the obscene antics of Baubo/Iambe, the laughterless rock was no longer a source of consolation to the mother. The rock had closed off the well water from sunlight. It is as if the well, a passage to the underworld, had been sealed by her grieving. One might surmise that once she arose, the rock could be removed and the light of day might aid in restoring the abducted daughter to life. Once the laughterless rock no longer served its purpose, the daughter could then have the possibility of being revived. Sunlight filtered through darkness, the life force through deathlike unconsciousness, humor through fear. Eventually, due to an inventive form of healing, accomplished by the gifted comedian Baubo, Demeter was freed from her grief. She retrieved her daughter from the realm of death where Hades reigned as Persephone’s husband in the misty abyss beneath the earth. The myth was powerful and had its symbolic and ritual counterparts. According to ancient lore, Demeter’s intimate encounter with death empowered her to reign as the goddess of the Eleusinian mystery cult, through which she was thought to conduct symbolic death-rebirth experiences for those who chose to participate in that ritual. It was an initiation that mirrored the descent and return of Persephone. Although, the myth serves as an explanation for the seasonal cycles, especially winter and spring, mirroring Persephone’s journey, it also serves another vital purpose. It reminds those who feel trapped in an endless underworld of sorrow or unhappiness, that new life eventually soars forth with the promising breath of renewal. Persephone had been plucked from her garden and seemingly died, but sought to return to the land of the living where she once presided over her lush garden domain, lavishly bestowing abundance. In the myth, Persephone must periodically return to the world of Hades, but she is always born again and the life stream continues. 174 Explorations in Human Spirituality The Persephone paradigm provides us with hope, and a heavy dose of reality. It celebrates life’s inevitable rhythms and the continual promise of its reproductive genius. Without life, there cannot be death and without the demise of valued aspects of life, conception of new life would have no polarity upon which to balance. Polarities exist within the embryonic beginnings of all that exists. Underneath the seemingly sterile soil below dwell the seeds of the garden of Persephone. The allure of the mythic descent has fascinated the mystic from time immemorial, from inscriptions recorded on cave walls to the abundance of literary history which we have inherited with great sacred and profane. The Persephone paradigm furnishes us with a simple structure for a journey to the fathomless depths of consciousness. Although, her own story was fairly simple, Persephone’s relationship to her mother, Demeter, was of a more humanlike and complex nature. Together, they were known as the “twin goddesses,” or the “dual goddess.” Whereas Demeter was prominent in earlier times and was most exalted during the time of the Eleusinian mysteries, her daughter Persephone became prominent in later times. Relevance of the Goddess’ Descent Motif Now, let us explore the descent of the goddess and the meanings that can be gleaned from examining excerpts from ancient texts, which are intermittently elucidated by modem theory. We shall begin our mythic journey into the conundrum of the Persephone Paradigm. Expounded in mythic fashion, the tale of the two goddesses which follows, invites us to share in their myth in a lyrical fashion. Stressing the motif of regeneration associated with the death of the goddess, we can see her as an alter-ego, or her story as a symbolic representation or allegory of restoration. Goddess myths often represent a symbolic descent into our unconscious world of impulses, desires, and repressed memories. Seen from this perspective, if gods and goddesses can die and be reborn, we, too, can reemerge from our sorrows in newer and unexpected ways. The Persephone Paradigm Today 175 Background to the KoreMotif and the Goddess’ role of the Reluctant Bride Persephone was a Kore, which in Greek means maiden, but not necessarily virgin. Persephone was an innocent Kore, pure of heart, half-child, half-woman. Persephone is an aspect of the primordial maiden, the archetypal Kore. She was the daughter of her mother’s unwilling liason with Poseidon. Both were associated with the reluctant bride theme, but Persephone’s abduction was known as a rape, whereas the other goddesses who carried this archetype were not always described with such a violent connotation. Persephone’s association with rape can be likened to the rape of the harvest, and with an enforced subjugation to an underground chamber of death, the realm of Hades. Persephone is completely passive. She was picking flowers when she was raped by the Lord of the Dead, notes an interpreter of the myth. It was determined from relics of the Persephone cult, that she was worshipped in the most serious manner as the Queen of the Dead, and that the rape of the bride was an allegory of death (Jung & Kerényi, 1963, pp. 108B109). It has been said that the rape and abduction of Persephone by Hades was a convenient mythological contrivance to serve as an explanation for the occurrence of the seasons. Attentive to the symbolic importance of Persephone as an archetypal figure, Jung and Kerényi comment, “Here, then is our Persephone: a creature standing unsubdued on a pinnacle of life and there meeting her fate, a fate that means death in fulfillment and dominion in death” (p. 109). She belongs to her husband, Hades, to whom she was given by Zeus. This symbolism is further elucidated by the analogy of the strange equation of marriage and death, the bridal chamber and the grave, where the brutal ravisher is the god of death himself (p.
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