As I was listening, to Dr. Conforti speak, I was looking around at the art pieces I have decorating my bedroom. Most of the images are of the the maternal feminine and the archetype of the priestess. Some of the images are about union of male and female, sacred female sexuality, and the stages of a woman's life. Several of the images are nude, a peculiarity that is often pointed out to me by uncomfortable observers visiting my home. During 2013, I mourned these images, as I felt out of water, that I had left the mantle of priestess behind. Tonight, however, I realized that I couldn't put these images away because I have, and still am living the story of the Persephone myth. My raven tattoos and collections of ravens, augury, mirrors, trance work, priestessing, and leading ritual, all of these things are aspects of Persephone.
I have had a deep connection with the spirits of the dead and otherworldly things my whole life. I was obsessed with Halloween as a kid. Edgar Allen Poe was my favorite poet. Lewis Carroll, my favorite author. I have often drawn mirrors, spirals, dreaming of falling, all these things aspects of the underworld journey. My personal astrology and transits scream Persephone. My personal relationships too- my father was a strong benefic, like Jupiter or Zeus. My romantic relationships were controlling possessions and involved violence, rape, and coercion. Now, I have gone back into the sun, knowing I will forever be returning to the delve into the depth of the ancestors, the dead, the dying, and the grieving. I will forever be fascinating in the plumbing the depths, falling through the rabbit hole.
Based on my life, my age, my experiences, I may always wind up being whole unto myself as well. I may not wind up with a traditional long term relationship or children. I may fulfill the mother archetype by creating the therapeutic container and being the generative mother in that way. The work of therapist, guide, and mentor is important, worthwhile work as well. Once Persephone becomes queen, she has power of her own. She is no longer defined by her relationship to her powerful mother Demeter. She is no longer the abducted kore, captured by the dark Lord of the Underworld either. She is a Goddess and queen in her own right.
I too, no longer have the earthly presence of my mother as support and guide. I guided her over the River Styx, much as she guided me into this world and into adulthood.
On my own I make the next descent. I am ready and willing and attend to this work by my own volition and by my own power.
Blessings on the path ahead.
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