thinking like persephone

In the summer of 2020, Andrea asked Hillary:  “What does Persephone make possible for us to think?” Propelled by this research question, Hillary wandered into the Underworld and back again, on a rich, circuitous journey into the mythic themes of descent, ritual, stillness, seasonality, gender-based power dynamics, mother-daughter relationships, and regenerative time. Guidance bubbled up from a surprising variety of sources: art installations, works of modern ecocriticism, operatic librettos, and ancient descent myths from around the world. In many of these sources, goddesses come back from the Underworld with a clear boon with which to bless the world above: spring, abundance, and the promise of new life. But what could this mean for the Persephone Project? How might interacting with these regenerative tales uncover what boon we needed to offer? 

“Then [Demeter] leaned forward and heard [a] whisper in the warm breeze: ‘Persephone returns! Persephone returns!’”

Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, p. 117