Taurus Myth of the Month:Persephone, the abun-dance between shadow and light

One of our favorite mythical narratives is the story of Persephone.

Initially, we debated among ourselves whether to place the mythological story of Persephone in the Taurus or the Scorpio month.

The myth (as Persephone herself) has one foot in both archetypes—you could argue for a placement in either Astro-month.

Each of the 12 astrological archetypes is most potent and powerful when integrated with its complementary principle—always the sign directly across from it on the Zodiac wheel (180° apart). In this case:
The most evolved Taurus will always include fully-resolved Scorpio—and the same goes the other way around.

Taurus and Scorpio nourish each other. The best Taurus contents a fully integrated Scorpio and vice versa.

So having one foot firmly planted in Scorpio and one equally safely placed in Taurus creates a win-win for both archetypes on the same axis.

At the end of this day, we’ve decided to land the Persephone myth right here in Taurus, as this myth clarifies the very premise for any form of Taurus abundance.

The Myth of Persephone

Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and fertility, and Zeus, the “God over all Gods”, as he likes to title himself.

She begins her life, as many of us, as a youthful, innocent goddess of spring and vegetation. In this “incarnation” she is known as Kore—Greek for “maiden.”

While picking flowers in a meadow, without a care in the world, Kore is abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. As bad guys have a tendency to do, he falls in love with her innocent beauty and takes her to be his queen.

Demeter, her mum, is naturally concerned about this liason, and furiously searches the earth for her daughter. In her grief, she causes crops to wither. As the Goddess in charge of the flora and fauna department, she has the power to do that. With disastrous results: The earth grows barren, famine spreads across the land, humanity is threatened.

After a while, even Zeus, usually somewhat aloof in his Olympic mindset, realises things are getting out of hand down there, on the terrestrial plane. It is high time for an intervention, as one would say in the therapy room.

Thus, he sends Hermes—his ever so clever messenger-trickster god—to negotiate with Hades.

Mercury (the archetype formerly known as Hermes in Greek mythology), stylish as “hell”: wings on the feet and his hat, symbols for being bewinged in both movements and thoughts.

Hermes cuts a deal with Hades to release her. But before she can leave, Hades invites the girl to a farewell snack. He serves her one of the local specialities, six pomegranate seeds. But alas, as Kore still isn’t that street smart in the ways of the underworld, she doesn´t know that eating food in the realm of Hades has certain consequences, namely that it binds a soul to the underworld. A binding contract!

So there we go: as Persephone ate the seeds, it’s a done deal. She cannot fully return to the living world.

At the end of this dark day (a natural setting of the underworld), a compromise is struck: She will spend part of the year in the underworld with Hades, and the rest with her mother Demeter on Earth. When she’s with home with mom, it is spring and summer.When she returns to husband Hades, autumn and winter rule on Mother Earth.

Symbolic Interpretation of the Myth

Ha! What a flipping genius Taurus–Scorpio myth.

Of course, like all myths and dreams, there are a variety of layers of meaning.

The first “remember to remember” principle when reading mythology (or your dreams—or in fact, the dream we call our life, with all the situations and settings the river of life floats our way) is this:

We are all the parts.

We are the naive girl who wants to stay forever in her bubble of life, imagining the world as “a meadow of spring flowers”—each one just waiting to be picked for our delight.
In that version of life, shadows don’t exist. They aren’t part of the field of vision, not woven into the script.

And yet, we also carry within us the seed of Inner Persephone—the part of us capable of becoming the queen of the underworld, a sovereign master(ess) of our own shadow material.

The meaning of the myths is to remind us of those parts within ourselves.

The myth also tells us  something about the underlying laws of material growth and fertility—central themes of the Taurus principle.

We often think (or rather: hope) that the way to abundance is to go directly toward it. If I only visualize and affirm it enough, it will come to me, no problem.

But that’s Kore-thinking—the green girl (or boy, or neither—this is not gender-specific)
with no real understanding of life’s duality, and no experience of the power and laws of the shadows. That kind of naïveté doesn’t last long.Not in ancient Greece. Not in the 21st century. Life’s laws will catch up with us.We can’t deny the shadow.
Every in-breath needs an out-breath.

The myth’s timeless wisdom says it clearly: There is no great myth without a journey through the underworld.It’s a necessity. It cannot be avoided.But here’s the good news (not that there’s any bad one): The underworld journey has enormous potential.After all, Hades literally means wealth.

Golden Takeaways:

1.Both in biological and human nature, death and rebirth are a natural and necessary cycle of a whole.Without the decay, without Persephone’s half-year as the queen of the underworld, there would be absolutely no blooming, no fertility on the surface of life. *

2.Any (Taurus) abundance — that beauty that the Taurus month (April 20 – May 20) models in the natural world — must be built on the decay of Scorpio (October 23 – November 21).
All attempts to build manifestation on the illusion of eternal spring (without winter and fall) will eventually fail-fall. ** Any paper tower of materialism will collapse without thorough shadow work. That is non-negotiable, as it is built on the most central law of life: the law of polarity/duality.

3.Psychologically and spiritually speaking, a strong (Taurus) self-worth must stand on the shoulders of successful internal (Scorpio) shadow work. The material from the underworld (Scorpio) needs to be recognized and integrated as the only long-term solution to creating a sustainable muscle of self-esteem.

4.Thus, we all need to consciously choose to shed our own Kore-naiveté-skin if we want a truly abundant life and become the mature Persephone, the queen, a symbol of sovereignty, of our own underworld.

5.Light and shadow are two sides of the same coin. There is a constant flux between the under- and overworld, light and shadows, summer and winter.To try to desperately hold on to “light-only” will force the shadows forth (one of the reasons why so many “light and love” communities often explode in passive-aggressive shadows and intrigues).

6.Creating abundance — a favorite among self-optimalisers — is only sustainable by surrendering to the letting go principle (Scorpio), and thus making room for new growth (Taurus).The alchemy of transformation (Scorpio) creates the fertile grounds for new growth.

All this reminds me of one of my favorite poems by the mystical poet, William Blake:

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.

* See also this month´s article on composting as a natural premise for fertile growth.
** That’s why the fall is called “the fall”. The so-called wake-up fall. Haha.