ABSTRACT
I think I know why the tale of Demeter and Persephone resonates so strongly today. Not only is it about mothers and daughters (one of the few in our culture), but it is also about reunion coming from darkness. Figuratively, the reunion joins together what has been split apart in the psyche. On this deeper level the tale is about cultivating the symbolic dark that for a period of time has been made inaccessible to daytime knowing. Recall the story. While out playing in the field one day, Persephone is suddenly raped by the king of the Underworld, Hades. Her screams ring out for help. Demeter, grief stricken, searches for her daughter in vain for many days and vows to withdraw her grain bounty from earth. A deal is struck: Hades will return Persephone to her mother if Persephone does not eat any food in the Underworld. But before letting Persephone go, Hades slips her a pomegranate seed, thus ensuring her return to the dark realm every winter.
