Reviews

Rewire Me

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live in ancient

Greece? In a culture flourishing with art, music, political experiments

and philosophy? In a time of decadent free-flowing celebrations, the very

definition of euphoria, with cults and rituals of sacrifice to a pantheon

of gods and goddesses revered for their very wisdom?

The Eleusinian Mysteries

If you were an ancient Athenian, you may have tried to score some of that

esoteric wisdom by partaking in the Eleusinian Mysteries, a nine-day

initiation shrouded in secrecy. First learning about, and then joining in

on the rites, notes Carol Pearson, a scholar of depth psychology and

archetypes, in Persephone Rising: Awakening the Heroine Within, you’d

likely encounter the Mysteries through a story “of the grain goddess,

Demeter: how her daughter was abducted, how a famine ensued because of

Demeter’s grief, how her daughter returned and then traveled back and

forth between the Upper World and the Underworld, and how this

mother-daughter team created the Mysteries. You could be encouraged to

identify with Persephone, trusting that the world is a safe place and

that, even in death, a cosmic motherly presence is always with you…Her

story also would affirm that winter always would lead to spring, that

famines can be averted and abundance restored, that sorrows will not last

forever, and that you can learn the secrets of attaining a happy and

prosperous life.”

Gathering with upward of 2,000 people, you’d be baptized, join a

processional walk of over 14 miles to Demeter’s temple in Eleusis, and

fast and dance with wild abandon. You’d then enter a place of darkness

where, some scholars believe, you’d commemorate a sacred story in a

choreographed dance and a bright light would momentarily blind you. You’d

finish your initiation by emerging into the light of day feeling “as if

you had died and been reborn, so death no longer held terrors for you.”

The archetypes cast shadows

Pearson says that although we may not be aware of it, today the

archetypes of ancient gods and goddesses live on. “The shadow sides of

all the archetypes,” Pearson explains, “reveal a desire to take over the

lives of mortals, expecting them to dedicate their lives to expressing

the archetype’s goals. This is one of the reasons that women are so

exhausted today. Demeter wants us to be the perfect mother and to care

for everyone around us who needs help. Zeus wants us to be wildly

successful and wealthy. Persephone wants us to be soulful and deep,

connected with the mysteries of the universe. And Dionysus expects us to

be experiencing and fostering ecstasy all the time….If we are unaware

of archetypes in us, they can possess us in their more negative forms;

recognizing them reinforces free will.”

Pearson says Arianna Huffington revealed such a fate in her book Thrive:

The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of

Well-Being,Wisdom, and Wonder. Huffington, she says, “internalized an

attitude from the culture around her that working around the clock in the

service of money and power was evidence of being a successful and

admirable person. But when she did this for too long, it led to a

physical collapse. She then extrapolated from her experience to warn

other overworked people of the impending tragic outcome of a

counterproductive story. The problem she exposes is a cultural

out-of-control Zeus archetype, not balanced by Demeter, Persephone, or

Dionysus.”

Directing your inner theater company

Pearson explains that, “Most of us have archetypes that are the stars of

our show, but if we let ourselves become one-dimensional, we become

walking stereotypes of an archetype in its counterproductive form (as

above with Zeus). People under the influence of Demeter can burn out if

they cannot stop doing for others as long as anyone needs anything-and

there will always be someone in need.”

Awakening to the heroine’s path

Persephone Rising features narratives of each of the four archetypes.

Pearson says that “the Eleusinian Mysteries narratives can help you

awaken and develop aspects of your psyche essential to the heroine’s

path…Living these four stories, even vicariously by reading them,

activates these inner psychological resources…. and enables you to

avoid the paralysis that strikes when the ego, heart, soul, and body are

tugging at you from so many different directions that you cannot find a

way to move forward.”

The toolbox of exercises throughout the narratives are aimed at helping

readers take control of their lives by integrating or balancing qualities

of the archetypes, and protect themselves “from internalizing limiting or

harmful narratives, to craft narratives that highlight what is real and

meaningful in life, and to reframe stories to transform attitudes and

situations.”

Crafting your happy ending

The Eleusinian rites were the self-help movement of their time, Pearson

notes, and always promised happy endings. Persephone Rising leads readers

down the processional path of the ancients into a modern initiation where

the power to change reveals we can all awaken the heroine within.

Learn more at rewireme.com