Persephone: 6 Powerful Ways to Connect With the Goddess of the Underworld
Who is the Goddess Persephone?
There’s something intangibly alluring about Persephone.
From her fairytale-like origins as spring maiden, to her iconic rise as dread Queen of the Underworld.
She is the daughter of the storm god Zeus and the verdant grain goddess Demeter.
Persephone’s other name is Kore ‘Maiden’ which relates to her spring maiden aspect.
You’re probably most familiar with her from the story of her abduction into the underworld and her marriage to the mysterious Hades.
The myth of Persephone’s descent is one of the most well-known stories in western literature.
The origins of the name ‘Persephone’ are lost to time.
The ancient Greeks often referred to her using titles rather than her name.
This is in line with their general fear and aversion to all things underworldy (that’s not a word, but now it is).
There’s also a suggestion from classicists that her name may have pre-Greek roots.
Meaning she may pre-date some of the more familiar Greek gods.
Fast forward to 2023.
Persephone is a goddess that’s frequently being reinvented.
Countless cheesy, and often, terrible romance novels have been written about her.
As well as the viral webcomic Lore Olympus.
(NOT a valid source of deity information I’m afraid).
Is Persephone reaching out to me?
I have no idea!
But the fact that you’re here reading this article probably means you’d like to honour her.
You don’t have to be called by a deity to worship them.
If you want to worship Persephone (or any god), that’s enough of a reason to do so!
How to Connect With Persephone
One of the best ways to grow fulfilling relationships with the gods, is to venerate them within their own cultural context.
Honouring the gods of ancient cultures means acknowledging that they knew best about how to honour and petition the gods.
Honouring Persephone in the way that she was worshipped for generations, increases your chances of building a long-term relationship with her.
Cultural Context Matters
A big part of embracing the ancient Greek cultural context is not imposing your past religious beliefs onto Persephone’s worship.
If you were brought up with a monotheistic religion, you will have internalised some toxic beliefs about deity.
Here are some things to be aware of when connecting to Persephone and other Greek gods:
The myths aren’t literal.
The gods welcome everyone regardless of gender, sexuality or ethnicity.
The gods don’t get angry.
The gods don’t have ‘beef’ with one another.
Below you’ll find how to begin a relationship with Persephone, rooted in the ancient Greek culture she was worshipped in.
persephone summary
Festival: Thesmophoria
Home: Underworld
Parents: Zeus and Demeter
Colours: Black, red, white
Plants: Asphodel, pomegranate, wheat
Symbols: Pomegranate, torch
Traditional Offerings: Barley, frankincense, honey, milk, olive oil, votive offerings, water, wine
Non-Traditional Offerings: Cakes, candles, fruit juice, flowers, honeyed milk, pomegranates
Epithets: Kore ‘Maiden’ Khthonia ‘Of the Earth’ Karpophoros ‘Bringer of Fruit’ Sôteira ‘Saviour’ Megala Thea Great Goddess Hagnê ‘Holy One’ Daeira ‘Knowing One’ Praxidikê ‘Exacter of Justice’
1. Learn About Persephone’s Myths and Epithets
The first step to connecting to Persephone is to read her myths.
Just remember, don’t take the myths literally.
It’s unlikely that the ancient Greeks engaged in mythic literalism and we shouldn’t either.
The myths are stories that reveal insights into the nature of the gods in a more subtle, allegorical way.
Persephone’s most famous myth is her abduction into marriage by king of the underworld, Hades.
But there are other more obscure myths.
For example, the one where Persephone creates humanity out of clay.
Yes, really.
Persephone mythology Resources
Persephone’s Epithets
Epithets are titles or descriptive functions of deities that were used in antiquity.
Some of these epithets are cult titles and some are titles from the poetic tradition.
Epithets help us to understand the full spectrum of a deity and their function in ancient times.
Here are a few of Persephone’s epithets:
Kore ‘Maiden’
Khthonia ‘Of the Earth’
Karpophoros ‘Bringer of Fruit’
Sôteira ‘Saviour’
2. How to Create An Altar to Persephone
Before we talk about altars, I just need to tell you that Persephone in her underworld aspect is considered a kthonic deity.
I mean, technically, she’s a liminal deity.
But that’s getting complicated.
The ancient Greeks worshipped the Kthonic gods differently to the Ouranic gods and kept their rites strictly separate.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!
Just keep any altar to Persephone away from any Ouranic deity altars.
As mixing them together could incur miasma.
Ouranic deities are to be kept pure and not come into contact with death.
In ancient Greece, Kthonic gods were honoured at night, outside with offerings made directly into a pit in the ground.
But feel free to create a separate Persephone altar because not everyone has a garden.
And digging random pits into a park might make you look a bit weird.
‘Sorry, I’m just digging this pit because I need somewhere to bury my offerings to the DREAD QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD…’
If you’re worshipping Persephone in the spring or you’re specifically drawn to her Kore aspect.
Then you can honour her using traditional Ouranic praxis.
But in this post we’re focusing exclusively on her role as Queen of the Underworld.
Thus, we’re only going to be discussing Kthonic rites.
Back to altars!
My Persephone altar isn’t permanent.
It’s only put up in the autumn because that’s the time of year that I feel most connected to her.
Persephone Altar Ideas
Image of Persephone
Offering bowl
Incense burner
Black, red or white candle
Roses
Bees
Pomegranate
3. How To Pray To Persephone
The ancient Greeks would have prayed to Persephone with their hands palm down towards a pit in the earth, with eyes averted.
Sometimes they would bang upon the earth to get an underworld deity’s attention.
To pray to Persephone, simply stand or sit before your altar or offering pit with palms lowered towards the floor. Then say your prayer.
For example:
Hear me, Persephone! Saviour, Holy One, Queen of the Underworld. Or whatever name it most pleases you to be called.
Come from your place in the Underworld.
I have created an altar for you and I would like to feel your presence in my life, may this offering of incense please you.
Unfortunately, Persephone doesn’t have a Homeric Hymn...
But she does have a surviving Orphic Hymn!
What’s nice is we can incorporate these into our veneration of the Greek gods.
I like to give a physical offering and then recite a hymn, but you definitely don’t have to recite one every time you make an offering.
Orphic Hymn to persephone
Daughter of Zeus, almighty and divine,
Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:
Only-begotten, Pluto’s honoured wife,
O venerable Goddess, source of life:
'Tis thine in earth’s profundities to dwell,
Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:
Jove's holy offspring, of a beauteous mien,
Fatal, with lovely locks, infernal queen:
Source of the furies, whose blest frame proceeds
From Zeus’s ineffable and secret seeds:
Mother of Bacchus, Sonorous, divine,
And many-formed, the parent of the vine:
The dancing Hours attend thee, essence bright,
All-ruling virgin, bearing heavenly light:
Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind,
Alone desired by those of mortal kind.
O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight,
Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:
Whose holy form in budding fruits we view,
Earth's vigorous offspring of a various hue:
Espoused in Autumn: life and death alone
To wretched mortals from thy power is known:
For thine the task according to thy will,
Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase
Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;
Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life
With blest abundance, free from noisy strife;
Last in extreme old age the prey of Death,
Dismiss we willing to the realms beneath,
To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains
Where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto reigns.
4. How To Give Offerings To Persephone
All Pagan traditions were built on the concept of giving offerings to deities or spirits.
They did this to create reciprocity between the petitioner and the gods.
The ancient Greek word for this was: Kharis.
In order to build kharis between yourself and Persephone. It’s best to make regular offerings in the same way the ancient Greeks did.
If you’re unable to make physical offerings because REASONS. Then try devotional action-based offerings.
Offerings to Persephone should be given whole and poured directly into a pit in the ground.
Offerings made to Kthonic deities should not be consumed.
Nothing terrible is going to happen if you do accidentally take a nibble, but it’s ritually taboo.
Offerings
Grains
Honey
Milk
Olive oil
Wine
Devotional acts
How to Give offerings
Giving Kthonic offerings is a very simple process:
After darkness has fallen, wash your hands.
Go outside and direct palms towards the ground. Avert your eyes and whisper your prayer aloud.
Pour out a libation of honey mixed with oat milk.
Keep your eyes averted and spend a few minutes in quiet contemplation.
How Do You Dispose of Offerings?
If you can’t place your offering directly into a pit in the ground, you have some other options:
Pour libations down the sink.
Compost any food offerings (or use the bin and invest in a composter later).
Avoid leaving food or material offerings outside because, littering.
How Often Should You Give Offerings?
The answer is as often as you want to.
You don’t have to do it every day.
You can choose a specific day of the week to make offerings or even specific times during the year.
5. How to Communicate With Persephone
We can communicate with the gods in several ways. Historically, these would have been through:
Prayer
Offerings
Divination
Signs
Theurgy
As I’ve been whittering on about for most of this post, we can utilise what the ancients did for (hopefully) similarly successful results.
Divination
Divination was super popular in ancient Greece.
We can use it today to (maybe) recieve a message from Persephone.
To connect with Persephone through divination follow these steps:
Wash you hands.
Ask your question out loud in the form of a prayer.
Make an offering.
Shuffle the deck.
Interpret the cards and spend some time journalling about their meaning.
I’ve had a lot more success with this kind of practice by using decks that resonate with the energy of the deity I’m attempting to commune with.
That’s just a fancy way of saying that the deck’s art reminds me of the deity.
Personally, I feel like Tarot of Vampyres screams Persephone.
It’s all gothic romance and pretty people.
Signs
My personal experience with signs is that they’re reasonably uncommon and they tend to really leap out at you as significant within the moment.
It’s like an instant inner knowing or epiphany.
A video about Persephone popping up in your YouTube recommended feed isn’t the mysterious powers of Mount Olympos.
It’s just Google doing its thing.
If you’d like to ask Persephone for a sign you certainly can.
Wash your hands, make an offering, say your prayer and ask for a sign.
If you don’t receive one, don’t sweat it!
My advice?
Don’t get hung up on signs and don’t ask for them very often.
That way lies madness and sweaty palms.
MEDITATION
You can pray to Persephone during meditation and see if you receive any intuitive insights.
You can also perform a pathworking to meet Persephone in her domain.
Don’t worry if you don’t see or hear anything right away.
This sort of stuff isn’t instant.
It takes quite a bit of dedicated practise!
6. Devotional Acts to Connect With Persephone
While tradition is a useful roadmap…
Like, the view can get boring sometimes.
Following the road trip analogy… modern devotionals to the gods are all the fun stop offs along the way!
Below, you’ll find a few modern devotionals to the Queen of the Underworld.
Play Music
You can play modern music as an offering to the gods.
I’ve linked some songs that give me all the Queen of the Underworld vibes.
You can play these as offerings to Persephone, or just listen to them as a way to connect with her energy.