Pluto
In the Greek mythology, Pluto, the Hades, stands for the power of completion and transformation. He removes everything that prevents us from being ourselves. Pluto, the Lord of Death, completely concludes old things. He always grabs us when we are too much in love with ourselves. In such phases, we exclude the world of others too much. The Other- or Underworld is Pluto’s kingdom. All seeds of the future are kept there for us. Everything unlived, repressed and oppressed, but also all our hidden gifts and talents are there at our disposal. Therefore, Pluto is called the “giver of wealth”. When we enter his kingdom, we have access to tremendous plenitude.
However, very few go into Pluto’s kingdom voluntarily. They are afraid to encounter what they have avoided and suppressed. But Pluto cannot be repressed. He remains effective, whether we like it or not. As soon as we live too much in our own world, inevitably, we face a life crisis. This is described in the Persephone myth. Once the girl Kore played in a meadow. Hades/Pluto asked Zeus/Jupiter if he could have Kore as his wife. The Father of the Gods did not refuse. Then Mother Earth made a daffodil, the flower of self-love, grow. Bewitched by the scent of the flower, the Virgin Kore wanted to pick it. A hole opened in the ground and Hades/Pluto came out with his horse-drawn cart. He grabbed the screaming girl, tore her into the Underworld and took her as his wife. So Kore became the underworld Goddess Persephone, “who beats the grain”. Those who know how to separate chaff from wheat also know what they have to finish.
Kore’s mother Demeter wanted her lost daughter back. When it was denied to her, she forbade the plants to grow and the animals to reproduce. Everything became infertile, just as everything becomes infertile with us if we do not end old things and hold on to them too long. Zeus/Jupiter understood. He sent Hermes/Mercury to Hades/Pluto to let Kore return to Earth. The Underworld God agreed, but first he gave pomegranate seeds to his wife – the symbol of lifelong covenant of marriage. Thus, Kore was forever bound to the realm of the underworld. Two thirds of the year she was allowed to live above the Earth and one third of the year under the Earth.
Each change is followed by a phase of fertility, growth and harvest. Persephone then threshes the sheaves again. She decides which seeds are fertile for the future and which is only chaff that may terminate. This crisis is often a painful process. At the same time, it initiates a metamorphosis and ensures that we can be more ourselves again. It integrates us into the earlier strange world of others, the Other World. Thus we recognize previously unseen parts of ourselves and are able to live them.
Pluto’s second known love story is that of Orpheus and Eurydice – if one may call the first one with Persephone as such. It shows Pluto’s connection to the heart. Orpheus was a gifted singer. He had the voice of the heart and could appease everything – Gods, people, even the hearts of the wildest animals. One day, when his wife Eurydice escaped from an admirer, she accidentally entered into a snake’s nest and died. In his grief, Orpheus followed the advice of the Gods and nymphs to descend into the Underworld. There he played his lyre and sang. Even Hades/Pluto and Persephone melted away. They allowed him to bring Eurydice, the righteous one, back to sunlight. However, he was not allowed to turn around to her on the way up. As soon as Orpheus no longer could hear his wife’s footsteps, he disobeyed the commandment of the Underworld and his wife remained forever there.
If we lose love, we have looked the other way and ignored things and so we admitted a rival. But we are able to win love back, if we allow things having been repressed and oppressed to approach us again and if we completely trust the voice of the heart. Then we only have to follow the voice of the heart, to proceed and to trust that justice and the related right things follow and become visible.
Orpheus was a follower of Hecate, the Goddess of transformation. She is the conscience that knows at all times what the right thing is. She was also the one who guided Persephone in the realm of the Underworld with enlightening torches. Hecate Krataiis is the Mighty One, the Lady of the Universe. She stands for the old and experienced spirit that sees everything with new eyes – free of evaluation and fear. She is also considered the Mother of Scylla. Scylla is the one who takes what does not belong to you. He who is not afraid of necessary losses and has complete trust, his conscience has also the power of love. Is there anything that you wanted to follow wholeheartedly, but dropped it in a careless moment? If you feel that it is the right thing for you, then trust the voice of your heart, follow it and do not look back any more.
…will be continued
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