Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and goddess of spring, fertility and vegetation. She becomes much more than that after she decides to marry Hades after she falls in love with him. Homer describes her as the formidable, majestic queen of the Underworld, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. On one of his very rare trips above the ground, Hades saw Persephone and instantly fell in love. After what he consulted his brother Zeus, who had previously promised him a choice of his daughters in marriage. Despite knowing that Demeter would never give her blessing for her beloved daughter Persephone to marry the god of the Underworld, he still agreed for Hades to have Persephone’s hand in marriage. Thus, Zeus and Hades orchestrated the kidnapping of Persephone, and the very next day when she and her mother Demeter ascended upon the Earth, Hades opened up a chasm from the Underworld and snatched her on his black chariot driven by his black horses before she even had the chance to scream, taking her back into his realm. After that famine came because Demeter was driven to madness due to the disappearance of her beloved daughter, and Zeus promised to give Persephone back to her mother, is she would but leave the Underworld of her own free will. During her time in the Underworld, Hades had beautiful gardens built for Persephone, and she was treated with respect and compassion and she saw a side to Hades that none other ever saw. And, naturally she fell in love with him. Hades agreed to what Zeus proposed, and he prepared a chariot for Persephone to go above the ground, but in his heart he dreaded the possibility of her leaving him if given the choice, and so he had given her one last gift – a pomegranate. Due to the laws of the Underworld – if a living ate food from the Underworld – they were bound to the Underworld, and she ate six pomegranate seeds. Thus the pomegranate came to be known as the fruit of the Dead. When Persephone was asked where she wanted to live she said to Zeus and Demeter that she wishes to stay in the Underworld with her husband, Hades. Since Demeter could not come to peace with Persephone’s decision, it was decided by Zeus that Persephone will spend a portion of the year with her husband, in the Underworld, and a portion of the year with her mother, above the ground. Many believe that the seasons of the year are explained by this occurrence between the gods. Persephone’s energy is for true love, for making firm choices that are in your best interest, for equality, for gardening, for all things that grow and die. She has a unique duality to her – she is both fair and beautiful, made for loving and gentleness, but also she is the venerable Queen of the Underworld who rules side by side with Hades and exerts punishment upon the cursed dead. If you are in love with true love, a romantic in your heart, a gentle soul that needs that sharp edge in order to be taken seriously, then Persephone’s energy is for you.