Of Dark and Light

Let me tell you the myth of the Greek goddess, Persephone, with a little bit of my own personal journey mixed in. If I have a goal in this, which I do, it’s the hope that I can convince you to embrace what’s hidden in the depths of your own internal hellscape, own your power there, and then bring your new found wisdom back to the light as the seeds of new beginnings.

This is a bit of a longer post. So, get cozy. Tuck it. And enjoy.

Persephone

Maiden of Spring. Goddess of the the Dead.

It’s Greek mythology, there’s tons of interpretations of this myth out there. This is my own conglomerated summary of the many versions I’ve read, with maybe a touch of my own interpretive twist.

Persephone is the maiden daughter of Demeter and Zeus. At the start of our story, she lives on Mount Olympus with her parents. The love between Persephone and her mother, Demeter, (the goddess of grain and agriculture) is the fertilizer for the fruits of the earth, and all of humanity lives with perpetual abundance from the crops of their love.

Hades, the god of the hell, watches from the shadows as Persephone picks flowers from her mother’s fields on Earth - when one day, he is struck by Aphrodite’s love arrow. Overcome, Hades abducts Persephone, and carries her off to hell to become his wife and queen.

(it’s Greek mythology, you didn’t expect this to be all rainbows and wine, did you?).

Afraid, having never experienced hardship or separation, Persephone longs for the fields, the light, and her mother’s embrace. She does not know the way back to Olympus, and Hades cannot take her there himself. As the many months pass without the return of her daughter, Demeter withdraws her gifts of fertility from humanity; the plants wither and go dormant and a famine sweeps across the land. Suffering and death soon follows, and there are more souls entering the underworld than ever before. The road becomes crowded; souls become lost as hell's gate is overwhelmed. Persephone is lonely, so she begins to wait for the souls of the dead at the entrance to the underworld. She guides them in. She listens to their stories. She helps them find a new home. She begins to institute order so no soul will become lost again. And she comes to find purpose. She takes upon herself the role of Queen of the Underworld. In gratitude, Hades gives her seven pomegranate seeds to eat as a gift.

The search for Persephone never ceased, but having traversed all of Olympus and the earthly plane, Zeus sends Hermes, the messenger god who can travel between realms, to search for Persephone in hell. When he finds her, he is shocked to see a radiant Queen instead of the naive and withered maiden he knew and expected. He encourages her to return to heaven, but she does not want to abandon the dead as the souls may become lost again. She has found purpose here. Hermes tells her that if she does not return, her mother may never be able to make food for the people again. If she does not return, all of humanity may soon die before their time, hell truly will be overwhelmed, and life will cease. There is no purpose to death if there is no life. Persephone remembers her own love of life and the fields, and she agrees to go with Hermes to Olympus.

Demeter is overjoyed at the return of her daughter, but upon arriving to Olympus, Zeus asks Persephone if she had eaten anything while in hell - for nothing that has been tainted by this darkness can reside in heaven. She tells him of the pomegranate seeds, but she also tells him of the stories she’s learned from the dead. "Loss provides the contrasting edges to the light of love, and in so, the picture of life is defined. I have seen the value of life, for I have seen its absence. Hell is not a place I fear. If I must return, I will do so gladly, and I know the pathway."

Zeus wishes for his family to be whole. He wishes for humanity to live and die, for in this brevity of time, there is gratitude and reverence for life. He forms a compromise - Persephone will live in Olympus for half of the year and in Hell for the other half. In heaven, she will tend the fields with her mother to provide life-giving food for humanity. In hell, she will care for the dead. Upon her seasonal pilgrimage to hell, she will carry comforting light from heaven to hell for the dead to see by, and upon her return to Olympus, she will carry the seeds of wisdom she finds in hell to sow the fields of the earth.

Thus is the cycle of life and death and the creation of the four seasons. Her decent marks the start of fall and harvest. And her return - the start of spring.

Lessons from Myth

This myth has so many wise and useful elements.

Some are a little in-your-face obvious - because it is a classic coming-of-age heroine's journey, of course:

The power of purpose.
The power of love, and love lost, and love found again.
The essential cycle of creation and destruction, and life and death.
What isn't dealt with, backlogs. When we we lean in and embrace chaos, space clears and flow resume.
When we're in hell, and isolating, we wither. When we let others into our world, we heal and find home together.
That we can't un-eat wisdom. It transforms us at our core.

The artist romantic in me could go on and on, and I could easily write a blog about each of these lessons, but then, I'd be dropping a whole book into your lap at that point. For the sake of this piece, I want to highlight a few less obvious elements:

The freedom that follows conscious choice, and the blessing of knowing the pathway.
That light and dark are both needed for a whole, beautiful picture.
And, the importance of returning to the light.

Awareness allows Conscious Choice.

In this, we own our power. We own our story.

Sometimes we naively pick flowers and ignore what’s lurking the the shadows - until it bites us in the ass and drags us off into our own proverbial hell. (I have sooooo been here.)

Sometimes we get lost in the darkness. We succumb to (or even relish in) our own hell, and we lose sight of living life. (And I've definitely been here, as you'll read below.)

Greater wholeness and maturity follows the ability to see what's around you - to know, own, be, and honor your whole self in connection with whatever happen in the environment.

It is gracefully choosing and embracing our paths, even when they are sometimes out of our control. Like Persephone choosing to greet the dead and hear their stories, there is wisdom to be found in suffering, but we can only access that wisdom when we step forward to listen to our pain. The other option is to wait on the sidelines, wither, feel lost, and watch on as things pile up.

What isn't dealt with, backlogs. When we we lean in and embrace chaos, space clears and flow resume.

When it’s time to look hell in the eye, you know and gracefully walk that path.

When it’s time to bask in the light, you know and gracefully walk that path.

But a different problem is being stuck on the road between them (or not even knowing where the road is or how to get on it), unable to move, as Heaven seems out of reach and you resist hell's beckoning.

You have to know where the road is and how to follow it - and then you have to choose to do so. This takes practice, and skill, and yes, a high degree of self-awareness, but the version of yourself that you'll find through this kind of wholeness you'll find is so, so worth it.

You can start by sharing your story with a friend. Or you may need support from a mental health professional.

When we're in hell, and isolating, we wither. When we let others into our world, we heal and find home together.

If you need help finding your road, let's connect.

Light and dark are both valuable elements of a whole life

There's a term in art that describes how light or dark a color is. The more variance on this scale between colors in a picture is what gives the piece dimension, and imo, makes it interesting to look at. That term is "value." Appropriate, right? It is the presence of light and dark that gives art, and life, "value" and meaning.

There is life in light. There is wisdom in darkness. Both are essential to the whole self and the whole life.

But, have you ever turned up the contrast super high on an image? It looks a harsh to the eye, and it becomes unpleasant to experience. There's a perfect spot somewhere on that slider where light and dark bring value by blending across each other seamlessly.

There is wisdom to be found in our sufferings, yes, but only in the context of the light of life does this wisdom give meaning. We have to remember to blend.

Returning to Light

Every element of wisdom that I've outlined here is something I've had to learn. To embrace my dark side and aaalllll the pains I've experienced. To love them, welcome them in, see them as valuable, and in some ways, to let the lessons of my own journey be the fertile soil of the gift I can give to others. But this last element is the one I only recently had the real, visceral experience of.

When in darkness, you have to return to the light at some point.

Probably seems a little obvious. But as I said above, when deep within darkness, it's easy to get lost and to lose sight of the light.

Meeting your wounds and understanding them can feel fulfilling. Healing and integrating our darkness is so important and meaningful and purposeful and an essential part of growth. But if you don't have great self-roots and great support, and you aren't careful, this can shift from productive healing to faux-fillment, or even harm. There have been times when I've been super lost, and I've let it consume me, and in some ways, it felt right at the time. But there's a term in the pysch world called "rumination," and it seems to be a leading factor in the development of depression. It's essentially what it sounds like - ruminating on or replaying an idea or event over and over without resolution or completion.

There is wisdom to be found in our sufferings, yes, but only in the context of the light of life does this wisdom give meaning. We have to remember to blend.

To complete the cycle of healing, to let the wisdom of sufferings give value, we have to remember to return our wounds, wisdoms, and darkness to the light.

This lesson hit home for me about six months ago. I had been going through a lot of painful upheaval and transformation. I committed to doing the work to move with and through my own internal hellscape. It was worth it, but I did stumble near the finish line.

I went from embracing, hearing, and healing the parts of me that felt like "I was incapable" and that the pain of recent loss and upheaval was "inescapable" to buying into those stories and believing them. That fine line is the difference between fulfilling, meaningful, conscious work and being lost in the dark. I had lost sight of the light, and the most important part of the process - the return.

The magic turn-around came with my version of Hermes who come into the depths with me, respected but didn't believe the story as the whole of my truth, and helped me remember my own light. For me, it was a teacher, with a simple exercise that prompted me to debate my "I'm in capable" story like a lawyer in court - I literally wrote a list of counter-evidence. That counter-evidence was simply a few of my accomplishments (you can't be incapable if you've accomplished something), and this had the positive snowball effect of reminding me just how much I can do and how awesome that is and how much fun it can be.

That little exercise was like a jolt of light. But the greater value was that it helped me remember the road back. I knew the steps, I followed the road, and I bought the wisdom of my darkness back as seeds for my next evolution.

An important story for today

Today is the winter solstice. In the northern hemisphere, where I live, it is the darkest day of the year.

If you're unfamiliar with what a solstice means, the winter solstice is the day of the year when the northern hemisphere of the planet reaches its furthest tilt away from the sun (the reverse for the southern hemisphere) - giving us the fewest hours of sunlight and the most hours of darkness in a single day.

It's a time where we can feel quiet, reserved, down - or reverent, if you're a little mystical like me. In the pagan traditions, the approaching solstice symbolizes a call to go deep within, to find the mysteries of the dark, and return them to light. Because tomorrow, the planet starts tilting back towards the sun and its light.

I felt it was the perfect day to tell this story.

Choose to embrace the light and dark

with equal respect and gratitude.

together they create value.

Make visiting your darkness a revered pilgrimage.

Hear and learn the wise lessons of your dark parts.

Help your wounded parts find healing and home.

And return to the light.

When you need support embracing your dark or your light, let's connect.

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