You know the story of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, who is kidnapped by Hades, god of the Underworld. Mad with grief, Demeter, goddess of harvest and crops, causes a famine until her daughter is returned to her. However, since Persephone has eaten a pomegranate seed while in the Underworld she must return each year to spend a third of the year with Hades.
That’s the common version of the myth. I prefer an earlier version. Seeing the confused spirits of the dead haunting the world of the living, Persephone, feeling great compassion, chooses to enter the Underworld and become its Queen. She helps the spirits adjust and offers them pomegranate seeds, the food of the Underworld. Demeter doesn’t want her to go, but Persephone knows her calling.
Persephone’s quandary is one that creatives, especially women, deal with daily. The quandary of Underworld versus Overworld. Or, in creative terms, the quandary of waking life versus that of the imagination:
- Whose needs and desires do I listen to? Persephone must have felt torn between the needs of the spirits and the love and need of her mother. Like her, you are torn as well, feeling the pull of the story you want to write, or that creative project your fingers are itching to get and the needs of your child who wants you to bake cupcakes for the school party, or your mom who complains because you haven’t talked to her in a while, or your husband who wants a little alone time.
- What if I can’t make both happy? Persephone answered the call of her spirit, but she must have wondered if her mother would be so hurt, so angry, that their relationship would never be as close and loving again. Sometimes the constant choosing between worlds is too frequent and too painful, so you ask, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just be one or the other…artist or mom, writer or lawyer?” But deep inside you know that in that surrender, a part of you dies.
- Will I want to return? Will I be able to? Being Queen of the Underworld must have challenged and drawn on the deepest parts of Persephone—her compassion, her commitment, her belief in herself, just as your creative work challenges and draws on the deepest parts of you. The creative journey can be so deep, so dark, or even so meaningful that return to the surface seems unlikely if not impossible. Sometimes the Underworld can feel like the only world.
But Persephone, being the Queen that she is, role models a way out of the quandary…
She is clear about her roles. She does not deny her role as daughter or Queen of the Underworld. She knows she is meant to be both…and more.
She doesn’t allow herself to be falsely pushed into an either/or position. She looks, instead, for the both/and answer, weaving together her roles with balance—not an exact division—but a balance that serves her heart and soul.
She acknowledges the cycles within and without. Like the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth, Persephone understands that everything has a rhythm and that when she attunes to and flows with those rhythms, she serves her purpose and her heart.
She has anchors, not burdens, in both worlds. Persephone descends into the Underworld knowing that her mother is in the world above loving her and waiting for her return. Demeter is Persephone’s anchor in that reality. The spirits and Hades are Persephone’s anchors to the Underworld, loving her and needing her, waiting for her return. Anchors are valuable and necessary. They prevent aimless drifting.
So, while the snow falls and Demeter mourns the absence of her daughter, Persephone reminds you that the creative life is meant to be an ongoing journey between the worlds, one that flows with the rhythms and cycles of life, and is anchored by the work we love, and the people who greet us with joy when we return.
What is your quandary?
If you’d like some help with your quandary, a guide into the Underworld of your creativity, or someone to help you weave your roles into a balanced fabric, then email me at paula@diviningthemuse.com to set up a time to talk.