In the northern hemisphere, tonight’s sunset marks the beginning of the Celtic season of Samhain.

During this window between Samhain/All Hallow’s Eve and Christmas/Solstice/Midwinter, the veil between the worlds is thin and our ancestors are more accessible to us. It is also the beginning of the dark half of the year, a time to become more intimate with the hidden, mysterious and “shadow” aspects of ourselves.

In the West, our egos tend to avoid the dark. We long for the perennial spring and summer. But we can’t have light without darkness, and as writer Annie Dillard reminds us, “You don’t have to sit in the dark. However, if you want to see the stars, darkness is necessary.”

Like all aspects of duality, light and dark are two sides of the same coin. The experiences that shatter our egos are also the situations that lead us (if we allow it) directly to our heart’s truest desires. It is only by resisting some aspects of our experience and clinging to others that we create suffering for ourselves.

You may have heard the story of Persephone, one of the goddesses of ancient Greece. According to Greek mythology, Persephone was the queen of the underworld. I grew up knowing that Persephone became queen after Hades kidnapped her and took her to the underworld. Interestingly, as an adult I learned a different version.

In the earliest telling of the Persephone story, she is picking flowers in a beautiful field one day when she hears the mournful cries of the dead emerging from a cleft in the earth. Her heart opens to compassion and she feels compelled to answer her call.

Although she is young and afraid to leave the realm of perpetual light and pleasure where her Mother Demeter rules, Persephone faces her fear, surrenders her innocence, and enters the unknown with open eyes. And it is only in the Underworld, where she faces the cries of lonely and confused souls amid the cold and darkness, that she finds her power and becomes a Queen in her own right.

What does the story of Persephone tell us about creating more of what we want? Paradoxically, when we stay in the world we know and push the feelings, ideas, and experiences that make us uncomfortable underground, our power is limited.

When we are willing to go where our soul takes us, particularly when we are armed with compassion, then we become Kings and Queens. We are Masters and Ladies of the Universe. And because there is nowhere we are not willing to go, everything becomes possible.

You can choose which Persephone you’d like to be: the one mindfully walking towards the Underworld, or the one kicking and screaming, too distraught to see where she’s going.

Life will take you to the Underworld, there is no doubt about that. If you go in willingly, resolving that while you’re there you might as well learn something, you’ll likely remember the exit. It is when you deny that the Underworld exists, or spend all your energy avoiding it, that you are abducted. When you are taken to the underworld without your consent, it is much more difficult to find your way out.

I was dealing with an invitation from Underworld in a Samhain season when I wrote this poem:

Prayer to Persephone on the eve of Samhain
I’m not afraid to say goodbye
at the time of greening,
growth time,
harvest time.
This year, Persephone, let me join your descent.

open the hidden door
to the very belly of the earth
and let me slide in.
lift the veil from my eyes
and reveal to me the Other World.

Lead me through the fairy kingdom:
The shimmering, shimmering, subtle world of enchantment.
I’m not afraid.

Take me even further
In the dark.
Whisper sweet words in Charon’s ear
And silence the growls of Cerberus
so that i can come
to the silent place
the waiting place
winter place.

I’m not afraid, Persephone.

but lend me your strength
when the lady of death greets me
with an icy kiss
and grant me your courage
when the soft sweet pool of nothingness
wrap me up

remember me persephone
that winter will come
if I love her or not
and that she brings gifts for those
who are willing to receive it.

because the candle does not do magic
in a warm sunny room,
and the souls of the departed cannot come to visit those
that does not recognize death.

Take me with you, Persephone.
I’m not afraid.

just promise me
I can come back with you
In spring.
copyright 1999 Kimberly V. Schneider

I send you wishes for “conscious” adventures in the Underworld this season of Samhain!

Peace of enlightenment that can only happen in the dark for you,

kimberly schneider
The Demonstration Expert