The myth of Persephone has always struck a cord with me. I don't know if I was drawn to the tragedy or the darkness or the classic story of loss of innocence. The myth itself is often repeated in some form in many different cultures, but the one I am most familiar with is the Greek myth. As I remember it Persephone (a maiden flower goddess) is the daughter of Demeter (the goddess of the harvest) and is out picking flowers with her maidens when one day Hades (god of the underworld) abducts her (aka rapes her) and takes her to the underworld to be his queen. Demeter is so upset by this she goes to Zeus (the king of the gods) to plead with him. He says there is nothing he can do it is out of his jurisdiction. She in return refuses to let anything grow until her daughter is returned to her. Zeus then has no choice but to appeal to Hades and demand Persephone's return. Persephone while in the underworld refused to eat anything, but finally after being convinced by Hades, ate a few pomegranate seeds. Because she ate the food of the dead she then could not leave the underworld forever but spends half the year with her mother and the other half in the underworld with Hades her husband.
There is also a much older Sumerian underworld myth revolving around the goddess Ishtar. This story involves her going to the underworld in order to save her lover Tammuz. She must go through 7 gateways each one removing a layer of clothing. Finally she meets her sister Ereshkigal (Irkalla?) who curses her with a plague and covers her in mud and feathers. While Ishtar (who is the goddess of love and fertility) is in the underworld, all fertility stops and the father of the gods and goddesses sends a sexless creature to free Ishtar. Ishtar receives the water of life and returns.
I am not sure about how accurate this version is, there may be other versions but the journey to the underworld and back is a common motif in many myths and legends. I wonder if there is a connection to the dance of the 7 veils attributed to Salome, and if maybe the story of Salome is a form of retelling an older myth. It also reminds me of Orpheus and Eurydice, a Greek underworld myth where Orpheus goes to the underworld to bring back his wife Eurydice who died having fallen into a pit of vipers. Because of his beautiful music he is able to convinceHades and Persephone to allow him safe passage back with Eurydice, on the condition that he not look back for any reason. But of course as all great tragedies go, at the last minute he hears something or feels something and turns around just to lose her forever.
The Osiris and Isis is another underworld story, and one that inspired many other stories that go on today. That may be for another day though.
