Goddesses Persephone and Demeter

​The Mindful Soul Center Podcast: Minisode No. 9

[Season 3, Episode 21​]

​The Mindful Soul Center's #podcast (formerly Conscious Life Space's Conversations) Minisode to kick off Season three of our podcast we discuss two powerful #goddesses#Persephone and Demeter and some takeaways from the myth of the abduction of Persephone. You can listen or watch the episode on this page below and you can also read the transcript on this page. Before we get to our discussion of these powerful goddesses and their development, we also discuss the new magazine Mindful Soul Center, a bi-monthly with six issues each year, what's coming up on the podcast and the change from Conscious Life Space to the Mindful Soul Center.

The Mindful Soul Center Podcast Title Card for Season 3 Minisode 9, Episode 21

Listen to episode 21 of The Mindful Soul Center Podcast


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The Transcript:

00:00    [music]

00:09    Welcome to the mindful soul center podcast. My name is Amy Adams. I'm your host and the broadcaster of this podcast.

00:22    [music]

​What's coming up on the podcast this season and the name change.

​00:27    first of all, I just want to thank you for joining me here and sharing in this experience. We're kicking off season three today with a minisode. And before we start our minisode, we'll be reviewing some of the changes and talk a little bit about the podcast and a new magazine and how conscious life space, uh, became the mindful soul center.

00:56    This podcast, it was formerly known as conscious life spaces conversations. And in this season the name has changed and all of the other, the 20 other episodes will still remain available and accessible on our website and on various podcast platforms. Every other episode of our podcast is, uh, we have a mini-sode and then we have an interview and I have some great interviews, um, in the can, so to speak is like, I think that's like the old style production lingo, but, um, they are waiting to go through the editing process and get to you. I'm really excited because we're covering topics about ritual and yoga and also, uh, EMDR, which is a method for healing. We're going to be talking about some money mindset and some other, um, uh, women's health. So we have a lot of really great things lined up, so I'm very excited to be sharing them with you, today's topic is going to be about two powerful goddesses and it's really just, it's, I'm not going to retell their story, I'm going to tell a little bit about the story, but really what the lessons that I think that we can learn from them.

02:12    Um, it's Persephone and her mother Demeter, I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

​The Magazine

02:19    I don't know Greek, a new magazine launched, it's called mindful soul center and that is a bimonthly magazine. There'll be six issues per year. They'll come out about a week before the start of the new month. So our next issue will come out the last part of November and it's for the December and January. A time period. You can find some interesting articles if you want to read about certain topics. There's, we have some regular features. We have something called self care corner, which is by Daja Osborne of DejaDrewit. She makes these beautiful cards for inspiration to help women and other people on their journey of personal development. So she has self care cards and personal power and she's sharing with us each issue some kind of guidance for us. And we're really excited about that because her artwork is incredibly beautiful. The messages are inspirational and it reminds us that we need to take care of ourselves.

03:22    It is just a way that when we take care of ourselves that we can show up and be available to help others. And then we also have Charity Collier who is our, uh, the meditation teacher who is doing the mindful living course and some other courses as well. She shares an article each time. It's a brief article about meditation and something we can learn about it. In addition to that, we also have the yoga diaries and this is a feature by Christine Boyd Miller. It's really her struggles about her yoga journey because there are some, uh, obstacles and then there are some successes. So she's going to share with us her experiences because a lot of us are going through different things on our journey. And so I'm really excited to have her share and uh, her experiences with us each issue. And then we also have Dr Brooklyn Storme.

04:20    She is, has her doctorate in psychology and she's going to share a something with us, each issue on mindset. In addition to those articles, we will have other people, um, sharing with us their expertise and of course we will be having people sharing their expertise on the podcast. Um, and so I will invite you to go and to read the uh, premier edition of mindful soul center magazine. It is on the homepage. There is also a magazine page because that's where we will, uh, have all of the issues that this magazine is free. This magazine is free for you to read online. Now if you want to have a hard copy or read it on your computer when you're offline and uh, you can pay for a downloadable issue, it's $4 and 50 cents, uh, per issue. Or you can order an annual subscription, which is $18 and you'll automatically get them.

05:21    Now what you get, if you subscribe to the magazine, you will get a PDF printable version. You will also get a MP3 meditation because that's something that I'm super excited about in our magazine. We are going to have each edition a 10 to 15 minute meditation. Sometimes there'll be guided meditations, sometimes they'll just be music meditations and there'll be different techniques and maybe focus on different things. Our premiere edition has a meditation, which is called integration. And this meditation uses an eight D sound effect, which is, um, I don't know if any of you have done any kind of virtual reality kinds of exercises where you, so you're in immersed in the experience. So when you wear headphones for this and when you're listening, it's, uh, it gives you more of a feeling of being in a space and experience the music from a different, uh, from all around you.

06:22    So, um, you really need to listen to it. All you have to do is go to the particular page, the index. You can, in the a table of contents, you can simply click on any of the titles and it'll bring you right to the page and the magazine. It's very easy to use. So you just, there is a button you can click and listen. So, but, uh, if you buy the magazine, you can actually download the MP3 and have it on any device. So, um, you'll get that. And you also, we have something which is a printable worksheets or you can actually, there are also fillable PDFs. Now it within the, uh, online edition. You cannot, uh, fill them in because it's, you know, one general magazine that we can have everybody filling them in. But you can get those for free without even buying the magazine. Um, when you subscribe to our newsletter and we will, um, be giving them to all of our subscribers every month. Every time a new issue comes out, you'll get them in your, uh, along with the newsletter, you'll get a link to the download where you can get them.

Persephone and Demeter Powerful Goddesses

Let's get onto Persephone or Proserpina or Kore, and her mother Demeter.

07:36    [music],

07:39    ​Persephone, she is the goddess of spring time, flowers and vegetation, and she also is the queen of the underworld and her mother Demeter is the goddess of the harvests. And both of them come into to focus in a story which is called the abduction of Persephone. Persephone is sad. She is distraught. Her life changed in a moment to one that she could not have ever imagined to a life that she did not consciously choose. She was a young maiden content and not interested in the expectations of others. Her rebuff of the other gods who pursued her actually kind of got her into some kind of trouble. It put her in a precarious position. This is the story of the abduction of Persephone daughter of Demeter and Zeus, her descent into her own inner world where she will come to face darkness begins when she is seized by Hades, Zeus's brother, and the King of the underworld.

08:45    For the first time she fathoms what it is to be alone without friends or her family. The darkness is upon her even though Hades constructs illusory worlds with fields of flowers in the underworld to appease her, she is forced to explore the depths of the unknown. She is processing this and is at a standstill. She must come to know herself so she can accept what is in the moment and move forward Persephone can occupy her time, hoping that things will change and do nothing or she can ask for what she desires. She can spend time staying in denial or a state of apathy or deep sadness or ultimately she can choose to embrace what is and work with it. Change has taken place and the darkness is acknowledged and worked with and even embraced. She moves eventually from her life as a maiden or princess to that of a queen.

09:46    She has fully become a woman when her mother, Demeter Demeter Demeter Demeter. Demeter, when her mother Demeter learns of the abduction, she's distraught and beside herself. She searches for her with Hecate, the goddess of the crossroads who had heard Persephone scream but did not to see where she was taken. The two women ask Helio's the sun God who observes everything where she was taken. He tells them. Meanwhile, Demeter has neglected her duties of caring for the earth. Everything is dying all around her as her pain and feelings of helplessness are extraordinarily intense. Demeter confronts Zeus who admits he has arranged this union of Hades and Persephone. She pleads with him to know avail. She lets her fury and wrath towards Zeus and the gods forthwith and continues to to neglect her duties. No sacrifices or worship of him will happen as long as humans are in dire straits.

10:56    Now the earth is barren and infertile like a woman who has passed through menopause to become the crone Demeter. Now, knowing where her daughter is does everything in her power to get her back. She has come to this time of separation from her child. In the end she is reunited with her for part of the year. She confronts immense sadness and undesirable change, but there is a resolution. Everything changes. This is merely a summary of the myth in many ways to acquaint you with Persephone and Demeter and to reflect on our inevitable and continuous cycle of death and rebirth from one state of being to another. In this tale, each woman completes a cycle of descent, search and Ascension traversing the path of darkness. They transform from deep sorrow to joy. There is so much more to these tales including a lot of things that are really not okay on so many levels with this story including things like kidnapping, obsession, sexual assault, incest, and the overall patriarchy. Yet, Persephone overcomes her challenges, the sadness, apathy, dismay and injustice. In the end, she is both the goddess of the springtime, flowers and vegetation and the queen of the underworld. Her mother too, as an aging goddess does not lose her power. She claims it

12:37    [music]

12:40    at the end of the summer like many times in our own lives, darkness comes and with it, so does the bountiful harvest. I'm going to share a few of my takeaways from it. There's actually a lot more of in such a detailed in depth story and I do have in the recommend section a place. Um, I recommend a podcast on gods and goddesses that actually does have an episode on this uh, tale. So it's worth definitely listening to

13:14    First lesson, when you refuse to make a choice or take a decision, it may be made for you. This is how we surrender our power and give it to others. Second lesson, no one is coming to save you. It's up to you to face the darkness. Find the glimmer, the glint of light and follow it. The third lesson is for all the women here. You will be the maiden who transforms into the mother and as the mother, you may give life to something other than a human. You might even care for other human beings. You might care for other beings in general that are of a variety, but you may even just give birth to something else. Whatever you give birth to know that you are whole and never diminished by biological circumstance or choice. In the end, if you live long enough and experience enough life, you will become the crone.

14:26    I would love for you to share your takeaway from the mother and daughter or goddesses story. And I'd like to know what goddesses you would like to see featured here because I really love, um, mythology can be so powerful and so interesting. I mean, there's so many layers to all of this. These are a reflection of life, of the human experience. I would love to hear from you. So please send me an email at hello@themindfulsoulcenter.com. You know, send me your suggestions, topic ideas, send your own stories and I'd love to share some of them on the podcast as well in the minisodes. Um, next time we will have an interview, that I'm going to be sharing with you, which I'm very excited about. And so, uh, stay tuned, subscribe so that you can get notified and automatic downloads, however you do that on your various platforms, whichever one you like. You can find us on Spotify, iHeart radio, Apple podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher and FM player and radio public as well. So thank you for joining me here today, and I'm looking forward to a fruitful season with lots of expert interviews and, uh, exploring various topics. Until next time,

16:00    [music]

Music in this episode includes:

  • ​​​God Fury by Anno Dominii Beats
  • Birds by Silent Partner
  • Cast of Pods by Doug Maxwell

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