Why We Named Her Persephone: Lessons in Feminine Duality & Fortitude
so, why did we name our signature work pant after this greek goddess?
as a symbol, persephone epitomizes feminine duality & fortitude. her story is burdened with suffering and abduction, yet her fortitude and venerability defines heroism for endo-warriors everywhere.
she rules as the queen of the underworld for half the year in winter and as a fertility goddess in the spring. her return to hades in the winter brings the death of vegetation, the halting of growth. her annual return to living amongst mortals blooms flora and renews the harvest.
this cyclical power embodies the gift of womanhood: life, birth and renewal are made possible in our wombs, yet within this power resides the inevitable end: death and impermanence.
with endometriosis, you learn to live between your own version of duality. At times you can exist happily within the fleeting moments free of pain, but much like the cyclical nature of the seasons, you can always expect for the chronic pain to come back.
the spring - with its brief, blooming abundance - a symbol of the hope we must have to endure a lifetime of unrelenting pain.
the winter - again with its transient, arid impermanence - an allegory for the all-encompassing struggles that come with an endometriosis diagnosis.
we may not have control over endometriosis - how bad it hurts, how severe the diagnosis is - but we do have the opportunity to fucking own it. to rule over it, like persephone. to take charge of our own personal hells and reign as the queens we must be to simply survive our fates.
this embodies - epitomizes - fierce femininity; the power of continuous juxtaposition between life and death.
and again, rebirth.