Mythology has been a vital part of my life, teaching me through its many archetypical characters and story motifs. One particular myth, Demeter and Persephone, has been a touchstone for me because it is a story of healing between a mother and daughter. It has influenced my creative endeavors from writing about it extensively to creating a Spring Equinox Celebration for many years in which actors in elaborate masks and costumes re-enacted the myth as a performance piece in a beautiful jungle setting in Maui.
Demeter and Persephone is an ancient Greek myth telling of the mother-daughter relationship of two goddesses, Demeter the Goddess of Grain & Harvest and her daughter, Persephone, who in the story becomes the Goddess of the Underworld ruling alongside Hades, God of the Underworld. In the pre-patriarchal version of the myth (brought to the public again in the book “Lost Goddesses of Early Greece” by Green Party activist & feminist Charlene Spretnak.
Persephone decides to journey to the Underworld to help lost souls who wander there, helpless and afraid. Once Persephone leaves, Demeter, full of grief and sadness over the loss of her daughter, begins to wander the earth, disguising herself as a mortal. Eventually, she takes on the role of nanny to a Queen and King’s son. In an effort to bring immortality to the couples’ baby son, Demeter holds his feet to the burning fire each evening to effect his transformation. Before she can complete her task, however, the Queen comes in and sees what must have been a frightening sight of an old woman waving her baby’s feet back and forth over the blazing fire and she grabs him from Demeter, causing her to reveal herself as one of the twelve immortals of Mt. Olympus.
“Your son would have become an Immortal, reigning as one of the many Gods of Mt. Olympus,” Demeter tells the Queen, “but now he will remain a mortal because of your interference.” She demands they build a temple in her honor where she retreats to contemplate who she is and what her next steps will be in a life without her beloved daughter.
Eventually mother and daughter are re-united in the spring, the time of re-birth of all nature and everything begins to bloom again, giving cause for much happiness and laughter. But like any journey of transformation, making something new that wasn’t there before, it has been an extremely difficult process, requiring patience and looking within for answers.
In writing as in any creative project, patience and perseverance are required; it means showing up, again and again, butt in the chair, facing the computer screen or blank piece of paper. Holding ourselves accountable to finish our book, article or poem; completing our painting or course in learning how to speak a new language, requires keeping our Feet to the Fire to ensure that the transformation of our writing or creative project evolves from a thing lacking form and substance to become something beautiful. This creative effort, a transformative process, feels like nothing short of becoming an Immortal!
What has been your Feet to the Fire experience? Do you have a writing group or coach to help you stay the course—who will help you keep your Feet to the Fire?