Seeing the Invisible: An Intimate Encounter with Hades

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the image of the hidden, the invisible, and the unknown through an encounter with the mythic figures of Kore/Persephone, Demeter, Hekate, Hades, and Zeus in the Homeric “Hymn to Demeter.” This art-based research project culminated in an expressive arts video that engages the living images and subsequently provides an example of Jung’s statement from The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, “The most we can do is to dream the myth onward and give it a modern dress.” I utilized the Soul Story process, a method I previously co-developed with a partner, which includes (1) opening with a prompting or question to explore; (2) selecting props and attire for the mythical figures present; (3) engaging in the world in a form of active imagination that uses movement, emotional expressions, and the landscape to animate and embody the figures; (4) having a witness film the process while it unfolds; and (5) making a final video that reveals a story about the interactions. The Soul Story process allowed me to engage with a form of symbolic play that brought the main mythical figures found in the Persephone and Hades myth to life. In the end, this project offers a practical approach for how one might creatively enter inside a myth and embody the living images through a dramatic enactment with one’s imagination that moves the psyche into a more conscious relationship with the figures.