Persephone, Rapunzel, & Sleeping Beauty
archetypal shadow stories of mothers and daughters
If you liked reading this, feel free to click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack 🙏
Time seems to be moving so quickly right now. I’m having a hard time believing it’s mid-September. Yet, here we are. These are the final weeks of summer. Virgo season is slipping away, and the equilibrium of Libra season and the autumn equinox is just a matter of days away.
Honoring Persephone as she departs once again for the Underworld has been a long-standing tradition for me. For several years, I led creative depth work courses around various aspects of the Persephone myth. I’m not doing that this year because I’ll be offering my annual 13 Moons of Samhain creative journey in October, and I have something new planned for November.
However, I don’t want the season to slip away without offering you something meaningful to engage with as we approach the autumn equinox.
To that end, I’m sharing in this week’s missive a portion of the materials offered in one of the modules in my course, Pomegranate Wisdom. I hope you find it thought-provoking and enlightening as it takes you into some of the many layers of Persephone’s myth.
The following come from the section in Pomegranate Wisdom that explores Demeter, the wounded mother
The loss of Persephone takes Demeter on a journey of grief and loss. We’ll be exploring the complicated and often heartbreaking journey of mothers and daughters and the process of separation and individuation that is unique to women.
The (Over) Protective Mother + Fear of Loss
Mothering energy comes in many forms. Both women and men can experience it.
It is most easily seen in the mother's relationship with her child but can be applied to any situation in which you have birthed/created something that you must nurture and for whose growth and protection you are responsible.
This might be a creative work, a book, a painting, or a poem. It may be an organization that you create. It might be a beloved pet.
Here, we will look at this mothering archetype and energy and some of its shadow side through the mother-daughter dyad, but you can feel free to apply it to any situation in your life where it feels relevant and resonates.
The (Over) Protective Mother
Mothers' innate desire to protect their children has a shadow side that comes in the form of the overprotective mother. Perhaps you had one, perhaps you are one.
Part of the backstory of this myth is that when Persephone came of age at fourteen, she had many suitors. Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, just to name a few.
Demeter was distraught over the fact that so many suitors were after her young daughter.
So, she devised a plan to protect her daughter. She gathered her up in her chariot and fled to Sicily. She found a cave and hid Persephone away.
Persephone spent her days there weaving as Athena had taught her. Demeter left drakons (giant, monster serpent-like creatures several millennia older than dragons ) at the entryway to watch over her daughter while she returned to her duties, tending the crops and feeding the world.
This theme echoes its way down through time in the story of Rapunzel, locked away in a tower to protect her from suitors; in Sleeping Beauty, locked in an unnatural sleep, protected by a thick forest of briers and thorns which only a kiss can dispel and in The Lady of Shallot, imprisoned on her island, weaving and only permitted to view life through the reflections in a mirror. Finally, the handsome Sir Lancelot causes her to turn and look at life without her mirror.
Here, we see the overprotective mother locking her child away, denying her the experiences of growing up, trying and failing, testing her "wings," and maturing in love and life. She is meant to be trapped in a "little girl" state of innocence, protected, yes, but never fully living or experiencing life.
The richness of this myth for women deepens when we consider that not only is this a tale of what goes on between mothers and daughters, but it is also an exploration of what goes on within the Self.
How does the overprotective mother part of self keep you from growing, trying, learning, loving, taking risks, developing talents, speaking your truth, asserting your value, fully living life, and becoming all that you can be?
Fear of Loss
Fear of loss is at the heart and root of the Wounded Mother, whose shadow side energy expresses itself as the Over-Protective Mother who cages her daughter to keep her safe but denies her a full and well-lived life.
Activating this shadow archetype has detrimental consequences for our real daughters, but it also plays an important role in our own wounding as mothers, as we face what it means to lose our daughter to growing up, loving, and living as she creates a life of her own.
Now we'll look at how the loss of a daughter triggers the loss of the inner maiden and how that manifests as a loss of Self.
Loss of Daughter, Loss of Self
As your daughter grows (and as you yourself grow, mature, and experience change throughout your life), mourning for the loss of your own Inner Maiden can be triggered.
You may experience it first with the onset of menses and the dawning realization that you are no longer a child. You may experience it again in young adulthood when you graduate from college, get your first “real” job, marry, or find a soulmate or partner.
It may rise again when you have your first child, and it may come painfully back upon the death of your own mother. It may stir when your first grandchild is born.
It may spiral back into your awareness when you turn 50 or 70 or any age that feels like a significant milestone in your life, signaling that you are “no longer young.”
Each of these life events seems to say, “the maiden is gone, she is lost, she is no more,” and then there is grieving.
While you know that you must grow, change, and mature throughout your life, does this necessarily mean that your Inner Maiden must be lost forever?
The myth of Persephone tells you no and shows you the way to restore your Maiden, inviting her to have a part in your life, both outer and inner, in ways that heal and contribute to wholeness.
In the part of the myth that is Demeter’s story, after Persephone is abducted and she has searched but not found her, we find that she disguises herself and hires herself out as a nursemaid. She even tries to bestow the gift of immortality on the infant she cares for. Here we see Demeter desperately seeking a replacement for the daughter (Maiden part of self) she has lost.
The situation doesn't work out so well when the child’s mother walks in one night and discovers Demeter putting her child into the fire (a part of the magical spell that will bring him immortality). She is understandably horrified and enraged, and the magical transformation is never completed.
This confrontation, which foils Demeter’s attempts at regaining what she has lost through substitution, snaps her out of her depression and grief and ignites her goddess powers as she reveals her true identity. She demands a temple be built in her honor (this will become the seat of her mysteries and priestesses), and she resolves to find her daughter and bring her back.
We learn that disguising yourself and substitution is not the answer to the loss of the Maiden within.
You must be true to your authentic self and your true identity, step into your power, and use it on your own behalf.
You must resolve to retrieve your Maiden, though prior attempts to find her have failed, and she seems lost forever.
She is part of you. You need her, and she needs you.
As the Maiden Departs
Autumn Equinox marks Persephone’s return to the Underworld, and it’s a potent time to work with your own stories of the lost maiden, the overprotective mother, and the grieving mother. These may be playing out in your everyday life or happening in your inner life as you grapple with parts of your Self that are lost, needing healing, or working against your desire for greater wholeness in your inner being.
In Persephone’s myth, the wise and older Hecate guides Demeter to the one who can help her find Persephone and retrieve her. As we move into the season of winter, the time of the Crone, I encourage you to lean into that part of yourself that is the Wise Old Woman to find what you need to creatively and gently work to retrieve your inner maiden, escape from the restrictions of an inner overprotective mother or heal the mother wound you carry.
The Myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate is foundational for everyone, but especially for women to explore. What has this short sample of materials offered today brought up for you? How have you experienced an inner overprotective mother or the loss of the maiden?
The comments section is a safe and welcoming space to share your insights and experiences.
Comments and conversation are always appreciated and enjoyed, so feel free to let your voice be heard. I read them all and try to respond to each one.
Thank you for reading Hedge Mystic and participating in this vibrant and growing community of creative, spiritual humans. You are always welcome here, appreciated, and loved.
If you liked reading this, feel free to click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack 🙏
Discussion is encouraged. Leave your reactions and insights in the comments.
I must Find my Maiden. Having Lost my daughter (age 36) to unexpected passing, never having a grandchild and now myself (Virgo) at the age of 74. I must be on my Path. Thank you for waking up my Mind-Self.
Thank you for a wonderful article. So much to digest and use to help me grow. I am an old woman but still growing and your wisdom will help.