Myth

A myth is a story, a spiritual story that holds up a mirror to some larger truth. It does this by using archetypes to illuminate the point being made. Since things spiritual are not typically measurable by scientific means we tend to state they have little value or are not “true”. So we tend to approach myths as art, or fiction and disregard the lessons that they are supposed to teach us as being not relevant or meaningless in the ‘real’ world. I do not believe this attitude is helpful nor do I think that the people of today do not hunger for something more spiritual in their lives. So I am going to use the story of Persephone and try to show how the truths in this story can help benefit us. I am not using this myth because it is better or more relevant. I am using it because I am more familiar with it than others. The story goes as follows…

Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone was such a beautiful young woman that everyone loved her, even Hades wanted her for himself. One day, when she was collecting flowers on the plain of Enna, the earth suddenly opened and Hades rose up from the gap and abducted her. None but Zeus, and the all-seeing sun, Helios, had noticed it. Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the earth, looking for her daughter until Helios revealed what had happened. Demeter was so angry that she withdrew herself in loneliness, and the earth ceased to be fertile. Knowing this could not continue much longer, Zeus sent Hermes down to Hades to make him release Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before she went back he gave Persephone a pomegranate (or the seeds of a pomegranate, according to some sources). When she later ate of it, it bound her to underworld forever and she had to stay there one-third of the year. The other months she stayed with her mother. When Persephone was in Hades, Demeter refused to let anything grow and winter began. This myth is a symbol of the budding and dying of nature. In the Eleusinian mysteries, this happening was celebrated in honor of Demeter and Persephone, who was known in this cult as Kore.

The Romans called her Proserpine.

Her names means something like "she who destroys the light."

Now we should examine this myth and what it actually is trying to tell us. Despite the obvious this is how winter began theme which is why the modern scientific mind tends to discard the Myth out of hand, there are some very interesting themes that if examined can help a person grow spiritually. First Hades abducts Persephone. This is a comment on how some attachments including that of love can be unhealthy. The love Demeter has for her daughter is also destructive because it is not controlled. So control of ones emotions is a theme here. Mythos will not tell you how to do something but it will point out what you should do to grow. Next Demeter’s rage causing destruction is a theme. Coping with anger is a serious issue and there are methods for doing so but allowing it to take over can be very destructive. Again the theme is self control. The next is an eating of a pomegranate causing Persephone to have to return to the underworld. This exploration of the underworld or deaths attachment to us here is curious. It tells us since Persephone can return to the living world over and over again that we too can have a resurrection of spirit within us. It also tells us that the recurrence of spiritual death within us is also possible but not necessarily permanent. We too can return back to health over and over should we choose to do so. So the main theme here is actually renewal. People can grow anew and renew themselves just as the seasons can come around and new growths begin.

As you can see here the obvious story of how spring began is not actually the point of the myth. Myths are to help a person grow in spirit by showing meta states of being through metaphor and entertaining stories. They need to be entertaining because that is what makes them memorable.