2011-05-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

The Emergence of Spring and Summer

Many readers will know the myth involving the earth goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. In this ancient story, young Persephone is "kidnapped" by Hades, the king of the underworld. Demeter is mad with grief over the loss of her beloved daughter. With Persephone trapped in the underworld, spring cannot occur and the earth becomes barren. A "deal" is finally made between the Demeter and Hades by which Persephone lives in the underworld part of the year, and comes back above for the other part -- thus allowing for the seasons of death and regeneration.

Many years ago I took a mask workshop in which each participant was asked to "take on" the role of one of the characters of this myth. In particular, we were instructed to choose a character with whom we found it difficult to identify. I was young then, and it was easiest for me to identify with the daughter Persephone. The mother Demeter was less similar, yet like me she was a woman who was very much attached to living things. That left Hades, the king of the underworld. I chose to be him for a while. I put on a mask that reminded me of darkness and death, went out onto the mask maker's property, and began to learn about myself. As I did this work, the importance of the underworld became more and more evident. After all, there could be no true appreciation of the bounties of spring and summer were it not for the decline of autumn into winter. The underworld was where shadows dwelled -- shadows that lived inside people, even if they didn't want to own them. Again, there was no real light without the possibility also of darkness. Finally, I thought, Persephone had started out as a "nice" girl, but one who was somewhat dorky and naive before she met me. After spending time in the underworld, she became a much more complex human being -- capable of living in darkness as well as light, appreciative of the many facets of reality. In fact, she came to have an appreciation of the underworld, and felt some sadness at leaving my domain each year.

Back in the role of an ordinary human being and many years later, I do appreciate the beautiful flowers in their full glory visible all over my neighborhood, vibrant greens of every type of leaf, fiddleheads unfurling into great ferns. I walk forward into spring and summer with gladness for the longer hours of sunlight, and wamer air against my skin. Yet, like Persephone, I have experienced a darker time and place that had its value, too. I note in myself a sense of bittersweetness for the lost winter even while welcoming the warm light.

Ruth Q. Leibowitz, Ph.D.