I met Elyse for the first time about 3 years ago. Aside from that first meeting, we rarely encountered one another, but seemed to have a bit of a connection. One day, a couple years later, Elyse reached out to me to see if I would be up for the challenge of capturing her in a unique way. Ummm…YES! I present to you, Persephone:
"Persephone, goddess of spring, is not the helpless maiden you hear of in the common version of her myth.
Her 'fall' into the Underworld was not a kidnapping, but the next step
in her evolution,
in her growth,
in her empowerment.
The maiden who had mastered the light of life, within and without, was ready master the
shadows,
death,
rebirth.
For she had always contained darkness.
She could no longer deny it.
So she decided to master it.
In the Underworld,
she learned how to not only face her shadows,
but own them,
work with them,
love them.
And while others had always preferred she stay innocent and childlike forever,
Hades loved her for her darkness, not despite it.
And for it, he made her Queen of all shadows, Queen of the Underworld.
Without giving up anything that made her goddess of spring.
Her journey is your journey.
To maturity.
To self love.
To sovereignty.
To step out of denial out of shame,
into the light that shines no matter how dark the night,
into acceptance,
into allness,
into self-love."
-Sabrina Lynn, Rewilding for Women
glennon doyle