The High Priestess and the Myth of Persephone

The High Priestess is one of my favorite cards and another of my signifier cards.  I also love the connection with the card and the Greek myth of Persephone.  On the card, there is a kind of tapestry behind the priestess, and on that tapestry are pomegrantes.  Those are a symbol and are sacred to Persephone.  In the myth Persephone eats the seed of a pomegrante and it then becomes her duty to return to the underworld every year.  The myth is really interesting and one of my favorites of Greek mythology.

The myth:  Persephone, also called Kore (meaing maiden/virgin) is the daughter of the almighty god Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of harvest and considered "mother nature" at times. Persephone is the goddess of spring and helps her mother tend to nature and gardens.  Persephone is kidnapped and raped by Hades, the god of the underworld, after Zeus already told Hades that he is not allowed to be with Persephone.  Demeter is so upset that her daughter is missing and isn't taking care of her plants.  Zeus goes to speak to Hades to convince him to let Persephone go.  There is a deal made that she can go free as long as she hasn't eaten from the garden of the underworld.  Hades tricks Persephone into eating a pomegrante and the seed.  Then she becomes bound to the underworld.  Persephone is allowed to leave the underworld during the beginning of spring and must return to her new husband and the underworld at the end of the harvest season.  The myth carries a metaphor using nature.  Persephone springs up from the underworld like a flower or plant during the growing season, but she wilts and "dies" like a plant as she goes back to the underworld around winter.  The myth is a story of a virgin being stripped of her innocence, but she clings to her loyalty and love for nature. 

As mentioned before, I am working on my new book.  I am writing a poem for each tarot card.  I will also incorporate a reading and layout in poem form.  The book will have personal connections too.  My vision is that it becomes an intimate guide to tarot cards.  I want people to connect with the cards and the characters.  I will post most of the poems I write in their roughest form.  The edits and other parts of the book will remain a secret until it is finished.  But I want to keep some of my readers involved in the process. 

The High Priestess by Jenn Carbaugh

Sitting before the gate of mystery, a woman is all that separates dark from light. 

She is the divide. 

She is a lunar figure and the triple goddess. 

She is the container of knowledge, intuition, and fertility. 

Her duty is to guide the thoughts that are yet to be processed. 

She keeps serenity. 

Allow her to give life the balance it so needs. 

She provides the light for the tunnel of guidance. 

I am her.  She is me.  Call us Persephone.