In Greek mythology, Persephone is the harbinger of spring and goddess of the soul. Her story is about beauty, renewal and the mysteries of rebirth.
She was born to Demeter, goddess of the Harvest, and Zeus, father to Athena and Aphrodite, king of the Olympian gods. Persephone was a delightful, radiant child beloved by her parents and adored by her sisters.
As she became a young woman, Hades, the god of the Underworld, fell in love with her. He asked Zeus for permission to marry her but Zeus knew that Demeter would never agree. Zeus colluded with Hades in the abduction of Persephone as she picked flowers in a meadow, and Hades made her queen of the Underworld.
Hades, god-king of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone. He asked Zeus for permission to marry his daughter. However, because Zeus knew that her mother would never allow the union, he colluded with Hades in the abduction of Persephone as she picked flowers in a meadow.
She became queen of the Underworld. 
Demeter was distraught at her daughter’s disappearance and furious when she discovered Zeus’s deception. In her wrath, she withdrew her blessings of abundance. The earth became infertile and no crops or fruit would grow. Famine threatened the people and Zeus agreed to arrange Persephone’s return.
In the meantime, Persephone had grown to love Hades. He, though stern, was strong, loyal and just. She enjoyed being his queen and welcoming their visitors to the Underworld. However, she missed her mother and family.
Zeus ordered Persephone to be returned on the condition that she had not consumed anything in the Underworld. Persephone, who had eaten nothing up to that point, was unaware of the bargain that had been struck between her father and her husband. She chose to eat four pomegranate seeds from Hades’ garden. This act caused her awakening yet bound her to the Underworld.
Hades and Demeter came to the agreement that Persephone would stay in the Underworld for one third of the year, due to the four seeds she’d eaten, and return to live on the earth for the remaining eight months.
So, when Persephone stays in the Underworld, Demeter’s sadness means that the earth is cold and barren and we know this as winter. When Persephone walks the earth again, each year, her mother is happy and the sunlight returns with all the blessings of spring.
Persephone represents both the innocent maiden as well as the mature woman. When she returns, as Queen of Hades, she embodies power, maturity and wisdom.
Our endeavours are inspired and illuminated by the universal, feminine energies embodied by Persephone and Demeter. Our achievements are balanced and manifested by the sacred masculine energies embodied by Zeus and Hades. In merging our feminine and masculine energies within our own being, we become whole like the natural cycle of the seasons.
When Persephone chose to eat the pomegranate seeds, she chose to examine the dark aspects of her soul. The legend is about our humanity and our divinity. Climbing back down into the underworld, every year, is about the integration of the dark and the light. It is about quickening consciousness. It is the ascension journey of a soul from the old energies into the new energies.
For us, who read these words, it is the time of the harvest and the start of a new cycle where our magnificence shines.
The pomegranate tree is the tree of the underworld, the Koran’s tree of paradise and, in some traditions, the tree of life. In Jewish custom, the pomegranate is said to have 613 seeds representing the 613 commandments in the Torah. In Latin, the word ‘pomegranate’ is pomum granatum meaning ‘apple of many seeds.’
The inner structure of the fruit has inspired art and design since biblical times. The crown-like calyx is associated with the crown worn by royalty.
The pomegranate is a symbol of fertility, and has been used in folk medicine for centuries in India and the Middle East. Its skin and bark were used by the ancients for medicinal purposes but only the seeds are edible.
The seeds, containing the tree’s essence of regeneration and fertility, are surrounded by scarlet pulp filled with juice. Each edible, jewel-like unit, set in a cream membrane, is called an aril. Crimson pomegranate wine is refreshing and full of vigour.
