Deborah Lipp

Because most of us learn Greek mythology in school, we think we know these gods quite well, but studying the Greek gods in a Pagan context can reveal a great deal that we didn’t know.

In case you don’t know the story: Persephone, the maiden daughter of Demeter, is abducted by Hades while picking flowers. Demeter, queen of the grain, refuses to allow the crops to grow unless her daughter is returned to her. Zeus, brother to both Demeter and Hades, as well as father of Persephone, brokers the return of Persephone, but discovers that she has eaten pomegranate seeds while in Hell. Therefore, she belongs in Hell, but the grain must grow. So Zeus confines her to hell for one month in each year per seed eaten (variously 3 months or 6 months). This story, with much greater complexity, is the basis of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Persephone is both Spring Maiden and Queen of Hell. The Pagan tradition Feraferia (written about extensively in Drawing Down the Moon), primarily worships Kore, the Maiden face of Persephone, but most Pagans are interested equally or primarily in her descent into Hell.

Make no mistake that Persephone is Queen of Hell. The story as we learned it in school paints her as maiden and victim, but the reality of Greek religious life was that she ruled the Underworld. Consider: In myths of visits to Hades (Orpheus, Psyche, and Herakles come to mind), Persephone is present there, without regard to the time of year.

Some stories refer to the “rape” of Persephone. There are those who insist that the word is used in the old-fashioned sense of “abduction,” not the more modern usage of “sexual violation.” Some people, though, believe that Persephone was sexually violated by Hades, and question whether this myth is a good thing to include in a modern Pagan cosmology. There are survivors of rape and/or sexual abuse who use Persephone as a patron deity; “she’s been where I’ve been, and she is transformed and risen.” Others reject her because they reject the very paradigm that includes sexual violence.

I believe Persephone was abducted and not raped. Hades cannot even force her to eat the food of the dead; only hope that she will do so voluntarily (which she does). If he cannot force-feed her, can he really force her sexually? I don’t think so. Surely if something in this story is a metaphor for sexual intercourse, eating is more apt than being carried off in a chariot. In eating pomegranate seeds, Persephone is choosing Hades as her husband and lover.

Persephone is Winter and Spring, Death and Rebirth, Daughter and Queen. She is life cycle and duality and passion. Hail Persephone!