The Myth of Persephone’s Descent has been used as an allegory to psychological descent throughout the centuries. In fact, I was reflecting on this Myth obsessively while I was going through a descent like this myself. I was imagining Persephone as the impersonation of the braver parts of me that would openly embrace darkness and accept the unfairness that lingers around us, and from this she would grow.

In my version of the myth, during her journey to the underworld she encounters a few different monsters, all of them ostracised and all of them with tragic stories. She’d listened to them and in return only give them compassion, however repulsive they would originally seem. After, this journey she was also able to find compassion for herself and see the ghost of her childhood as one of these tragic monsters.

On a less allegorical level, this piece reflects my struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and specifically the Real Event, False Memory and Moral Scrupulosity subtypes.

It is a Gothic tale of compassion and finding beauty even in the ugliest or darkest thing.