Persephone Devotional review

Edited by Melitta Benu

So I’ve finally finished reading “Queen of the Sacred Way:  A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Persephone“.  Yes this is one of the books in which I am published but really my works are probably the least of them all.  There is some seriously good work in here.  Of all the Bibliotheca Alexandrina devotionals I’ve read (including the one I edited and of which I’m mighty proud), I think this one is the best.  It has given me so much to think about and so much to which I will return.

Minor complaints:  I dislike the front cover, it is so…blah.  And Persephone is so…not.  I hated the splitting up of both the poem by Marian Dalton and the opera by Ann Suter and Geoffery Gibbs.   I found it frustrating to wade through the book so that I could read those pieces together. The excerpt from The Narcissus and the Pomegranate was equally as frustrating with the repeated references to other chapters of the book…which means this book needs to go onto my wishlist.  Well played Ms Suter.  These, all in all, are very minor issues.

It is hard to list which ones I liked, partially because I liked so many of them and partially because I’ve been  reading this over a very extended period of time.  Meetings with the Maiden by John Opsopaus was utterly fascinating to me and I wished, despite its lengths, that there was more of it.  The book excerpt mentioned above was also very interesting and provided plenty food for thought.    There were many poems that I enjoyed but only one was my favorite because it is so timely for me right now:

Prayer to Persephone
by K.S. Roy

I pray to you Persephone
Great Goddess of the Underworld,
Holy One, Knowing One,
Grant me your wise counsel.
Teach me balance and teach me boundaries,
Help me to honor myself and my time,
And to make the best use of both:
To do what I must and to do what I will.
Help me to go about my life,
Fulfilling my various roles,
Dividing myself evenly,
So that none are slighted.
Grant me strength to do what I must,
And the discipline to fulfill my dreams,
So that when I at last stand before you,
I can be proud of a life will lived.