Daily Angel Oracle card: Persephone, from the Goddesses And Sirens Oracle Card deck, by Stacey Demarco, artwork by Jimmy Manton

Persephone: “Cycles”

“It is time for a change, and it will be positive. Respect your own natural cycles. Be mindful of seasonal changes and go with the flow taking these into account in your diet and activity level.”

“The god Zeus and his brother Hades, god of the underworld, were discussing Hades’s marriage. It seemed that the Hades, eligible in most respects, wanted a queen for himself. Persephone was the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Demeter – the goddess of agriculture – and seemed a fine choice. Zeus promised the hand of Persephone to Hades, and both men were pleased. Unfortunately, Zeus forgot his promise and neglected to inform any of the women! Hades became impatient waiting and decided to take Persephone.

One bright day, as Persephone was enjoying the sunshine outdoors with her handmaidens, she came upon a particularly stunning narcissus flower. As she picked it, she heard a great rumbling. Hades arose from the ground and seized her. Persephone struggled, but Hades overpowered her and took her down to the underworld.

Only the goddess Hekate and the sun god Helios heart her screams. Hekate told Demeter what she had heard. Being a devoted and loving mother, Demeter frantically searched for her daughter but to no avail. As she could think of nothing else besides her daughter, she began to neglect her role of grain giver and earth mother, and so the fields began to die.

Soon the people began to starve, and they cried to Zeus to save them. Helios told Demeter of Hade’s act, and Zeus was forced to demand that Hades return Persephone.

In the underworld, meanwhile, Persephone missed the world above but had begun to like Hades a little, so when he kindly offered her a pomegranate to eat, she accepted it. She had consumed six seeds of the glossy, ruby-red fruit when Zeus’s demand reached them. According to the Fates, if food or drink is consumed in the underworld, one must remain there, so it seemed Persephone would have to stay in the world of shadows. Zeus, however, came up with a compromise: Persephone would spend six months with Hades and six months above with Demeter.

As Persephone leaves the darkness, the goddess Hekate meets her, flaming torches in hand, and guides her back to the blue sky and her mother. Demeter, in her joy, resumes her work with the fields. Life again appears on earth. However, every six months, when Persephone returns to Hades, Demeter grieves and leaves the world barren.

This is a story of cycles, of how things naturally progress and change. In ancient Greece, when a young woman was married, she left home and joined the family of her husband. Her parents and siblings were both sad and happy and the bride often went through a period of adjustment. Although she lost her identity and freedom as a maiden, the bride became queen of her new home.

This story also illustrates how the seasons change, how the earth and its fruits die in the winter only to be reborn in the spring, flourish in the summer and be harvested in the autumn. Change and transition is everywhere, and constant. The natural cycles are something to be mindful of, connect with, and enjoy if we are to gain the most from our year.

Should the lovely Persephone grace your life, it is to remind you that cycles are natural. There are times to feel introverted and extroverted, energetic and restful, happy and sad – none of these is better than the other. There was a time you were a baby, a time you were a child, a time you will grow older – each with its own joys and challenges. Take the time to connect with your own personal cycles and you can expect to reap many benefits, particularly physical ones. Do not expect yourself to be happy just because others are, or ready for the same steps at the same time. Let your body and mind experience your life naturally and without expectation based on someone else’s cycles. Pressuring yourself or others to want the same things at the same time isn’t healthy or respectful of your true self.”

If This Card Comes To You As Challenger: “Resisting natural growth or cycles is not useful to developing a smooth and happy life. It is a natural part of life to grow up and to transform in our minds and bodies, and sometimes that can be a scary process. Additionally, there may be times when we do not want to accept the changes that need to be made, even if they are inevitable, and we may be angry and upset about them. Sometimes we face changes to our family situations, where we live, our relationships, or our schools that we do not like and cannot control, yet we must adapt to them the best way possible. We can learn resilience and be creative with our solutions.”

Symbolism: “Pomegranate, crown, robed woman carrying a sheath of wheat, spring, seeds, flowers”*

~by Stacey Demarco, artwork by Jimmy Manton

It’s natural to go through a grieving process when you have to give something up to make space for something new. Honour this time. Honour your feelings, let them flow through you, this is part of your journey into authenticity. You can’t stuff your emotions anymore and expect it not to have a lasting effect on your body, mind and spirit. You cannot pretend any longer that you don’t care, you don’t get hurt or you aren’t worth more than this. You are worth much more. But you have to accept the lesson first.

What, or who, do you need to release in order to move forward. And if you have been courageous enough to do this, give yourself time to process it. Heal. It takes a little time, it is a natural cycle. Do not let the fear of feeling the emotions allow you to refuse to experience them in all they have to offer you. Feel into it. Then bless and release with gratitude for the lesson learned. This is only a small part of something so much better you will not believe it. Until you make space for it and invite it in. Open mind and open heart.

Anything is possible now as you step into a brand new cycle in your life. There has been a cycle from 2008 to now that has come to an end. Bless, release and welcome in the new with open arms and open mind. This is going to be the beginning of something very special.

Persephone’s message to us is that sometimes we have to delve right into the darkness in order to find the light.

Namaste

Dee

~Archangel Oracle

*Goddesses And Sirens Oracle Card deck, by Stacey Demarco, artwork by Jimmy Manton