“The Unseen One:” Part Two

Exploring the Hades and Persephone Myth

Welcome, this is the second article in a two-part series exploring the wisdom and myth of Pluto. This piece focuses more on Persephone and the significant role she plays in the underworld. I believe that to truly understand the Pluto archetype, we must look to Persephone. If you want to learn more about Hades/Pluto, I invite you to dive into “The Unseen One:” Part One.

Journey Into the Underworld. Digital Art by My Husband.

Let us continue our descent into the underworld. We have met the ruler of this land, “The Unseen One.” But, he is not the only ruler of this place; there is another one we are yet to meet. It is She who holds the wisdom of traversing such a place, for she went from unwilling hostage to Queen and equal ruler of the shadowlands.

To meet Her, we leave the throne of Hades and head back out to the misty landscape. It is here that we will find her, for she moves with the river. In this river are others who have landed in this dark realm and are struggling to find their way.

Many confused souls get out of the river, so lost in the confusion and haze of grief or anger that they wander aimlessly. She finds these lost souls and guides them back to the river with her warm, springtime light. She helps them back into the water and tells them to lean back and let the river take them.

By leaning into the river’s pull, these souls are cleansed and transformed. The water washes away their tears and their agony. It washes away the grime tarnishing their souls and hardening their hearts. As the river moves them, they re-awaken to the burning flame of Divine Light within them. This flame grows brighter and brighter until they are too luminous for a place such as this. And like the phoenix, they rise and break out of the Land of the Dead, and return anew to the Land of the Living.

As we travel along this river, passing shifting shadows and glowing eyes, we notice a light ahead. The light seems to call to us, beckoning us to come closer. As we draw nearer, the light softens into the form of a woman, and we can see her smiling at our approach.

“Welcome,” she says in a voice as lovely as a purple iris, “I’ve been waiting for you. My name is Persephone. Are you ready to hear my story?”

The Myth of Hades and Persephone

On a beautiful springtime day, Persephone and her maidens picked wildflowers in a meadow. They were filled with joy over the crocuses, violets, and wild roses. Persephone wandered further away from the others and noticed a flower unlike any she’d seen before. It was mesmerizing and intoxicatingly lovely. As if in a daze, she went to the flower. As her hand reached down to pluck the soft blossom, the ground opened beneath her.

From the depths rose Hades in his four-horse chariot. He swept her away as she screamed for her mother, Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest and the Earth. But her mother and the maidens were too far away to hear her. Only two knew of her abduction: Hecate, Queen of the Witches, and Helios, the all-seeing Sun God.

At this point, the traditional story veers away from Persephone and Hades and focuses on her mother, Demeter, and her reaction to her missing daughter. The story doesn’t return to Persephone until Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, goes to the underworld to retrieve Persephone. Zeus sent him to bring her back to Demeter, who would kill humanity in her raging grief.

But before she left, Persephone ate a pomegranate seed, a fruit of the underworld. Because she ate the fruit in Hades' domain, she was bound to return. Thus, her return to the above heralded spring and her descent back to the underworld initiated fall. Her mother’s mourning for her daughter brings the depth of winter.

From this point forward, Persephone is considered the Queen of the Underworld, consort to Hades. Because the original story does little to explain how Persephone went from maiden to Queen, many have filled in the gaps with their own interpretations. Now, Persephone is considered an archetype of the Dark Goddess.

Unpacking the Wisdom in The Myth

The myth of Persephone’s adduction is a multi-layered metaphor that expands on Pluto’s archetypal energy. Let’s start with the beginning with Hades abducting Persephone. This clearly represents a misuse of power; and is, therefore, a symbol of Pluto’s shadow side. Pluto misuses masculine power to dominate and control the feminine without her consent.

This is a prevalent dynamic in our world, not only within relationships and cultures but also in nature. We, as a society, have dominated nature (the feminine) and controlled her for our own gain. This dynamic also happens within ourselves. For example, how often do we override our intuition with logic? Control our sensitive, emotional nature to “get shit done?” As a reminder, this energy goes beyond gender: feminine and masculine energies are within every human being.

I highlighted this part of the myth because I believe the trauma of this dynamic is loud not only in the collective but also for many of us. As such, when working with the Sacred, Evolved side of Pluto and Persephone, I believe we can heal and reclaim parts of ourselves. In particular, the innocence lost when we experience this dynamic.

I also want to highlight that this part of the story represents what it feels like when we are thrust into the underworld without conscious choice. For instance, this can happen when we experience death (whether a physical death or an ego/identity death), heartbreak, loss of a career or home, or any major change or challenge in life. It can feel like life grabs us by the ankles and drags us, kicking and screaming, into the depths of our shadow, into the chasm of our pain.

So, how do we navigate these times? According to the myth, Persephone went through an intense initiation. She went from maiden to Queen. As a maiden with an extremely protective and sheltering mother, she only experienced the spring of life. However, life isn’t just one season.

By being dragged into the underworld, Persephone realized there was much more to life than she initially thought or knew. There is grief to this, for there is a loss of innocence. She is no longer a carefree maiden in a meadow of wildflowers. Now, she’s in the belly of the underworld, and she has to learn who she is in this realm.

Her mother isn’t there to rescue her. She must learn that she is much stronger and more capable than she realized. All this time, a power dwelled within her, but it wasn’t until she faced her fears, her nightmare of reality, that she realized she possessed this power.

By owning the power and strength within her, Persephone becomes a woman. She represents an initiation into womanhood; stepping into one’s inner feminine strength and power. As such, she teaches us that underworld journeys can serve as an initiation. Unfortunately, life’s hardships can be our most profound initiations. That said, not all initiations occur through hardship. We can be equally transformed through love.

The Dance Between the Dark Masculine and the Dark Feminine

To me, Persephone represents how we can navigate underworld journeys through the archetype of the Sacred Dark Feminine. If Pluto, as the Dark Masculine archetype, represents the gift of bringing our consciousness to the unconscious, what does Persephone, as the Sacred Dark Feminine, represent?

The feminine represents the flow of life. Masculine is formless, and feminine is form. Feminine energy is emotions, intuition, receptivity, love, sensitivity, and nurturement. The feminine is Mother Earth, the weather that comes and goes, the life that springs forth from the dust and returns to dust. The masculine is the atmosphere; that which holds the container for the feminine.

The ‘Dark’ feminine refers to feminine attributes that have been repressed, suppressed, and hidden in the subconscious. Persephone is considered a Dark Goddess, as she is the Queen of the Underworld. To me, she represents what it entails to rise from the ashes of our past selves.

Persephone, as a spring maiden, is also significant, for this symbolizes hope, renewal, and new life.

Persephone personifies hope and renewal in a world full of death. She is a metaphor for the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, illustrating that death is not permanent but an initiation into the next phase of existence. For Persephone, this was an initiation from maiden to Queen, from child to woman.

It’s also important to remember that she doesn’t remain in the underworld: she returns to the Earth. And in her return, she brings spring. In this, she shows how we can be both Queen of the Underworld and an innocent, child-like maiden. This, of course, comes back to the cycle of life. We aren’t meant to stay in the dark but are meant to see the light of life and all the beauty it holds.

My own experience of working with the energy of Persephone was about remembering my power and strength in suffering and confusion. On my desk is a note I wrote myself that says, “You are Divine Light. Open your heart to the flow of Love.” That’s what calling upon the feminine during an underworld journey is like. It is to open to the flow of love—the flow of life—and let it move you.

We can become stuck in our suffering, and the feminine reminds us to move. Move the emotions, move the energy. Allow the river of life to flow through you; let love flow through you.

Remember that you are a spark of the Divine: you are so much more than the challenge you face or the identities you carry. That doesn’t mean they aren’t hard, but it is a reminder of hope. The brilliant light within each of us speaks of renewal and faith and serves as a reminder that we are not walking this road alone. The Great Spirit is with us and guiding us even in this, even amid dense shadows and toxic purging.

To survive the underworld, and become the ruler of our shadow selves (so they may not be the ruler of us), we must tap into the energy of the Sacred Feminine and the energy of spring; of renewal, hope, and trust. We must also tap into the wisdom of the Sacred Masculine: our conscious awareness that shines a light on our pain. The masculine directs the flow of the feminine. Shine the light on the wound and call upon the flow of life and love to cleanse and heal the wound.

We need both. I think that’s why Hades dragged Persephone into the underworld. I would like to believe he knew that he needed her feminine energy. He needed her love for life and her beauty to balance the energy of the underworld. He needed her for the souls of the underworld so that they may find hope and guidance into their next life. The Divine is not complete as He but comes into fullness with She.

And, I would like to believe that Persephone chose to eat the pomegranate seed and that she wasn’t tricked into returning. Rather, she found renewed purpose as the Queen of the Underworld. No longer could she return to the Earth as solely the innocent maiden she was before. Now she returns to the Earth with the wisdom of transformation and a greater understanding of the cycles of life.

There is also hope in this, for it is a reminder that there is a season for everything. It is the wisdom of: this too, shall pass. Embodying this wisdom, we are less likely to “get stuck” in the underworld. We are less likely to live our lives playing the victim, which is an act of continuously giving our power away (ouch, I know, I’ve been there too).

Of course, one is truly a victim in certain situations, but that’s not what I’m referring to here. I’m referring to when we start to identify as a victim, but are no longer, truly, a victim. And in doing so, we give our power away to others or past versions of ourselves.

Persephone could have maintained the identity of an abducted maiden, but instead chose to step into her title as Queen. In doing so, she reclaimed her power.

This circles us back to Pluto’s wisdom, which is reclaiming and owning one’s power. To me, Persephone is so intricately linked with Hades that to discuss one, you have to discuss the other. As such, Pluto symbolizes not only the wisdom of the Dark Masculine but also the wisdom of the Dark Feminine. Specifically, how these energies work together in Sacred Union to liberate us from our shadows and initiate inner transformation.

Working with Pluto and Persephone

We can call upon these energies whenever we are struggling with a past wound, a pattern we would like to change, or when we are suffering in an underworld experience. We can call upon Pluto, and ask,

“What am I meant to see?”

“Show me what is hidden in the shadows that I am ready to see.”

“What am I being initiated into? And what do I need to let go of, or lay to rest, to be reborn?”

We can call upon the Divine Love of the Feminine and pray to be moved by Her Sacred energy. We can pray for our hearts to open and for Sacred Light to cleanse our spirits. If you would like guidance on working with Divine Healing Light, I provided a written guided meditation in this article.

There are many ways to initiate an underworld journey, commonly known as shadow work. In whatever way you wish to embark on such as journey, I encourage you to seek a guide. That guide may be a physical human leading you on an embodied underworld journey, or it may be one of your spirit guides. A guide serves as an anchor and can help you not get lost or distracted in the underworld.

Lastly, if you wish to meditate on your underworld, it’s important to set a sacred space and intention for it. Call in your guides, angels, or helping spirits, and ask them to protect you and enclose the circle around with your pure light. Set an intention (in your own way and words of course) that focuses on, “May that which is revealed to me be in my highest good.” Having a sacred intention is helpful when we get scared or off track, as it helps us trust in the Divine unfolding of things.

With that, we have come to the end of our exploration of “The Unseen One.” Of course, there is so much more that we could unravel and dive into, as this is just one layer of the Mysteries amongst the thousands (upon thousands and thousands) of them. I hope that these words have touched something within you and served you in some way.

May we all remember the Divine light shining within us when we walk through the underworld.

With Mystic Love,

Rhianna