Persephone Archetype: Sexual healing, empowerment, and wholeness
Persephone, goddess and queen of the underworld, is an archetype that represents the duality of our human experience, our path towards wholeness, and recovery from trauma.
Persephone’s story is one of loss, transformation, empowerment, and deep healing. Persephone started her journey as a young maiden. She was protected and loved by her mother, the goddess Demeter. She loved to feel the sun on her skin and feel connected to nature. She often picked flowers in the beautiful meadow. One day, she went to pick a beautiful Narcissus flower. Suddenly, the Earth opened up and Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, erupted through and abducted her. Persephone was brought from the warmth and aliveness of the earth, the sun, and her mother’s safety to the deep, dark underworld.
This underworld journey can represent our experience of trauma, loss, grief, or betrayal- when we have felt lost, alone, and disconnected from our vitality, purpose, sensuality, and joy. This has been termed the dark night of the soul, which can lead to both crisis and despair and transformation and growth.
Persephone and her mother Demeter both grew into their power through this dark night of the soul. Demeter, goddess of the harvest and agriculture, searched tirelessly for her daughter. She looked for Persephone for nine days, until she discovered what happened. Throughout these nine days, she neglected her duties of agriculture. The gods and mortals were already beginning to feel her sorrow and her strength. Once she discovered that her beloved daughter Persephone was taken, and that this was approved of by Zeus and other Greek gods, she became furious. She stopped all the plants, grains, and crops from growing. She refused to allow growth until her daughter was returned to her.
Persephone had her own journey of stepping into her power. While in the underworld, she ate six pomegranate seeds, a decision that would tether her to there forever. The rule was that any food consumed in the underworld keeps the person there. Some versions of her myth say that this decision to eat the pomegranate seeds was from Persephone’s own empowerment, that she embraced her role as queen of the underworld and chose to do this. Other versions state that she was tricked into eating them. Either way, this represents that trauma, grief, and loss change us. We often want to just go back to the way things were before. To what life was like, relationships were like, sex was like before the trauma, before the loss, before our dark night of the soul. In searching to go back, however, we can lose sight of the present. We lose the belief that we can still find joy, sensuality, pleasure, purpose, and meaning in the here and now because of what we have been through. When we try to push away our pain, our anger, and our experiences, we often are left feeling fragmented and disconnected. Through honoring all the parts of ourselves, we can find wholeness, healing, and new levels of embodiment, joy, and pleasure.
Due to Demeter and Persephone’s bond and strength, Persephone is eventually returned to her mother Demeter. Because Persephone ate the six pomegranate seeds, she would spend six months out of the year- spring and summer- on earth with her mother, and six months out of the year- autumn and winter- in the underworld. For half the year, Persephone will hold the joy of being with her mother, of the warm sun against her skin, of life and lightness and the flowers. The other half is where she honors her power, the queen part of herself, her depth, her wisdom, and meaning. She found wholeness through pain and she learned to embrace all the parts of herself. Persephone, as an archetype, embodies all the positive qualities of a queen; she is empowered, compassionate, just, and strong. She helped many souls cross over in the underworld and would be an instrumental ally to other goddesses in their own myths.
Persephone’s myth can be a guide for many aspects of healing including sexual healing. Sexuality can be an experience of duality; particularly if we have had trauma, experienced shame, or felt disempowered. Sex can be orgasmic, healing, joyful, and connecting. It can also be painful, disconnected, and triggering. Persephone shows us that we can hold space for both of these experiences. She also teaches us that, no matter what we have been through, we can have wholeness, we can have joy, we can have pleasure, and we can feel empowered.
Here are some questions to help you connect with the Persephone archetype. You can reflect on these questions, journal, or use them in your mindfulness practice.
What parts of Persephone’s story resonate for me?
Do I feel more connected to the maiden aspect of Persephone’s story or the underworld/queen aspect?
What would help me to feel more whole? How can I honor all aspects of yourself?
Are there any parts of myself that I have been pushing away?
What would help me to feel more empowered sexually? More empowered in my body?
What are my boundaries? At work? In relationships? Around sex?
What brings me joy, pleasure, and connects me with my vitality?
There are so many layers to the Persephone archetype and to archetypal exploration in general. Depending on where you are in your life, you might resonate with one aspect of Persephone more than others. Connect with curiosity and compassion as you explore. Persephone is here to show you that all the parts of you are valid- they deserve to be explored, welcomed, and honored. This is the journey of wholeness, of healing, and of authentic, full living.