An Underworld Rite: A Pagan Re-enactment of Persephone's Descent into the Underworld

Ritual provides an etiquette of relating to, thinking through, and emotionally responding to events and experiences that are otherwise difficult to deal with. Rituals work through embodied performances that are bound up with cultures of cognitive and somatic knowing. Ritual experiences allow participants to develop life-enhancing responses to some of the central challenges of contemporary life. This is illustrated here in a detailed account of a contemporary Pagan ritual re-enactment of Persephone's descent into the underworld. The ritual is long, theatrical, and emotionally intense, involving about 80 people who are part of an Australian Pagan festival.