a collection inspired by
the myth of Persephone,
exploring the ways to interpret the story
and pondering the parallels
between the myth
and the destruction of the environment.
"I don’t know what to think of first
in the list
of all the things that are disappearing: Fishes, birds, trees, flowers, bees,
and languages too."
- Ada Limón
Her disappearance
Forbidden Fruit
To tend to the workings that unfold in the quiet underground of the earth?
Persephone was raised learning how to tend to the plants, how to be in a reciprocal relationship with nature (who raised her, after all), and to be both independent and in community with others.
But she knew there was more - everything was on the surface - visible, in the light, glowing.
What is it like to embody the land?
The Quest
Daughter as Earth
“I am the daughter
of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.”
― Percy Bysshe Shelley
-inspired by Charlene Spretnak's
Lost Goddesses of Ancient Greece
"Baskets full
of crocuses, voilets lilies, roses, amaranth hyacinths - I had
bent
over a strange flower - it was lika a narcissus - a narcissus
never before seen, with a hundred colors, with a hundred stalks;
on it dewdrops sparkled. And I was dazzled there,
bent over as if doubled within myself, as if leaning over a well,
to see my form...
- Ritsos, Yannis, “Persephone.”
She wanted to learn -
what happened beneath the surface?
Where did one go when one dove deep into the unknown places,
beyond the sight of the Sun and Moon.
Was this the sleeping place of the Earth? The spot where our ancestors reside?
The cradle of all seeds, wrapped in a blanket of soil, kissed with water, suspended in darkness before rising up into the light.
Let's go down
deeper
into the metaphor. . .
We are on a quest searching for a solution
for a way back, for Nature, for restoration of life
Pillars of Night
Temple
Wall
In the
Underworld
Goddess of
Seed
She had to know… . .
so she went down…
here’s what she discovered. . .
Let's work together for knowledge.
Let's go down into this hard place together
so that we may rise up into a healed earth.
Let's discover a different way.
There are a thousand ways to interpret
Persephone's story.
I honor them all.
But when I look at her through today's lens
I can't help but see Persephone as Nature,
Hades as Capitalism
Demeter as the World (us), mourning the loss
Hecate as climate scientists, holding a light
up to the situation, illuminating the story for us,
showing us the way.
But Capitalism continues to bargain with us,
offering us seeds of convenience.
"Please stay, just a little bit longer..."
The Earth is pained by the loss of Nature.
Nature is lost from the world,
and the delicate balance of the Earth is upheaved.
Oceans rise. Forests burn. Storms brew.
Plants and animals disappear.
Crops fail. Temperatures break records.
The rivers dry up. The soil is depleted.
People are displaced.
Nature is warmer than normal,
feeling the fires of hell in the winter,
and then the warmth of the sun
when she rises up above ground.
10% of all profits from this collection will be donated to a combination of:
Woman Food + Ag Network:
a non-profit working towards sustainable agriculture
WeDo.org:
supporting women's rights
and the environment
Rachel's Action Network:
uplifting diverse femme environmental politicians
The Soft Meadow
Embodied Nature
