Throughout human history, recurring stories and themes pop up around the world, crossing borders of both language and culture. Though they can vary from tales of a great flood to how the world came to be, the most common and easily-identifiable is the Hero’s Journey. Outlined by Joseph Campbell, the Hero’s Journey is the story of a great person travelling to a strange, otherworldly place (literal or metaphorical,) facing a fearsome enemy, and returning to the “normal” world having gained wisdom and experience. The most famous of these tales, like The Odyssey or the Epic of Gilgamesh, have masculine heroes, defined by traits like bravery, strength, or fearlessness. However, two famous stories of a descent into a literal and metaphorical underworld
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Most of the Greek shamanistic tradition relates to oracles, specifically the Oracle at Delphi, who display similar shamanistic traits of communicating with the spirits and gods via altered states of consciousness. That said, this story also relates to themes of spiritual communication and healing, but with a slight twist. This spiritual descent is forced upon Persephone instead of being a willing choice, like Inanna, perhaps being an extension of the idea of evil spirits toying with people. Then, just as she is about to escape, Persephone is permanently bound to the Underworld by eating the pomegranate. The Underworld punishes her for taking from it and thus becomes a part of the Underworld herself. Not only that, but the theme of healing is less about righteous justice against an uncaring spouse, and more of a loving mother who wants her daughter back, or “mourning as a tool for healing” as Madeline Nold puts it (Nold 171). In this story it’s Demeter’s refusal to keep the Earth’s balance that forces Hades to return Persephone: the world literally can’t be returned to normal until things are set right in the spiritual realm. The fact that there are two goddesses in this story, who can be read as the delicate and feminine versus strong, maternal and earthy aspects of Inanna, compound these comparisons. In short, the shamanistic connection between
Most of the Greek shamanistic tradition relates to oracles, specifically the Oracle at Delphi, who display similar shamanistic traits of communicating with the spirits and gods via altered states of consciousness. That said, this story also relates to themes of spiritual communication and healing, but with a slight twist. This spiritual descent is forced upon Persephone instead of being a willing choice, like Inanna, perhaps being an extension of the idea of evil spirits toying with people. Then, just as she is about to escape, Persephone is permanently bound to the Underworld by eating the pomegranate. The Underworld punishes her for taking from it and thus becomes a part of the Underworld herself. Not only that, but the theme of healing is less about righteous justice against an uncaring spouse, and more of a loving mother who wants her daughter back, or “mourning as a tool for healing” as Madeline Nold puts it (Nold 171). In this story it’s Demeter’s refusal to keep the Earth’s balance that forces Hades to return Persephone: the world literally can’t be returned to normal until things are set right in the spiritual realm. The fact that there are two goddesses in this story, who can be read as the delicate and feminine versus strong, maternal and earthy aspects of Inanna, compound these comparisons. In short, the shamanistic connection between