Persephone’s Power

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2 saatchi-art-artist-henry-shmulevich-painting-e2809chades-and-persephone
Art work~ Persephone and Hades by Henry Shmulevich

Following on from a previous post about the mother wound, and as my focus on relationships continues, this full moon calls me deeper into psyche through the myth of Kore/Persephone and the Eleusinian mysteries.

At the time of the full moon on Friday 18th March, Persephone is at 9 Gemini 0’ 56” and Ceres is at 8 Gemini 49’ 45”; mother and daughter are in tight conjunction just at the time of year- early spring- when the ancient Greeks marked the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, when Persephone leaves Hades and the underworld to be reunited with her mother… but she is changed, she is no longer Kore innocent maiden goddess, she is now Persephone Queen of the Underworld.

What can the Eleusinian mysteries teach us about feminine consciousness today?

Myths are shapeshifters, they meet us where our own consciousness is; they are multi- faceted, offering up many interpretations depending on where we are in our soul’s journey or psychic transformation. Myths cannot be pinned or fixed to one interpretation; each interpretation shows different aspects and angles, all are valid, all are true. Myths move in spirals. Astro mythology (exploring how myths unfold in our own life through our natal birth chart) is a powerful way to dance with the archetypes and meet ourselves at a deeper level.

How is the myth of Persephone speaking to you, or through you?

Discovering where Persephone sits in your own astrology chart can be a key to the mystery. For myself Persephone is 2 degrees from my descendant and 3 degrees from my north node- this points to Persephone as an archetype that is connected with my soul’s journey but… also suggests that I do not- or have not- fully owned this part of myself… until now.

What is it that I am owning? The dark feminine yes, but it also linked with two main themes: Meeting with my animus including the dark animus; and a separation from the maternal cords that have bound me to not my personal mother perse, but the mother wound that has entangled and prohibited me from growing into mature womanhood. With this aspect I am likely to encounter Persephone in others or be attracted to this quality in others even while I overlook my own Persephone and personal power.

A descent to Hades, the unconscious, sheds light on the forces, beliefs, stories, wounds, fears, and ego identifications that allow us to stay trapped, and to a degree powerless, vulnerable, and limited. It is often the case that a daughter will unconsciously remain small or less than in order to appease her mother who is unconsciously angry or resentful at her own unlived life. This powerless state leaves a woman (daughter) open to manipulation because she unconsciously occupies the role of innocent maiden sometimes long after she has arrived at the stage of life where what is required is mature womanhood.

To an extent the collective is guilty of infantilising women.

The other important aspect of the myth is that during her descent Persephone confronts and integrates death… no longer are the summer meadows endlessly blooming with pretty flowers, the hand of death has risen to ensure that the old dies away allowing the new to flourish…the laws of death and rebirth are honoured for the sake of renewal.

The Eleusinian mysteries can be read as a menstrual myth but also as a menopause myth; a first sexual encounter; a meeting with the animus; a confrontation with death; any transition, or rite of passage. It can also be about accepting the darker aspects of human nature both individually and collectively as well as understanding and coming to terms with power and its operations.

Claiming our own power might not look like good girl behaviour!

Individually if we exist, or strive to exist, only in the light we become unbalanced; our darkness is cast to the shadows and projected onto the outside world or onto others leaving us vulnerable to attracting what we don’t own in ourselves.

This full moon is an opportunity to dive into the depths, a soul retrieval, to reclaim the parts of ourselves that have been banished to the underworld which in the case of modern women where we find our treasure and power. Lilith is an excellent guide in this.

It is also a potent time to consider how we- now that we have owned ourselves- go forward in our relationships, particularly those relationships which have been based on an imbalance of power. Will we forever appease others and carry their unowned stuff, or will we finally place it where it belongs? This question is especially relevant when considering our own mother daughter dynamics… bearing in mind that we find mother in many faces.

I am inextricably linked with my mother line, it cannot be otherwise, but I also hold the power to transform the dynamics of my psyche through what Marion Woodman calls “soul making”, to restore my instincts and live directly from my centre and become a woman who is conscious of herself as a living soul.

I transform my psyche and claim my power through bringing my unconscious to light and through meeting and integrating my animus.

Contact me if you would like an astro- counselling consultation to explore this myth in your own chart and explore how it plays out in your life.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Susan

    Wonderful! Your timing is always impeccable! Books fell off my shelf today revealing my long hidden copy of The Pregnant Virgin. My entire chart and life screams Persephone’s myth and you have marvelous insight, thank you.

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