Beauty Redeemed: A Spring Equinox Chronicle, is based on two different stories that aren’t necessarily fairytales. The main story my second book is based on is the Greek myth Hades and Persephone. Even though Greek myths are often filled with faulty systems/hierarchy, I’ve found it fascinating in studying some of the myths how they actually pull elements from the Bible and just put their own twists on them, but the base stories are sometimes pretty biblical. My background in theater was greatly influenced by my high school teacher and my college professor who both emphasized the importance of story and found a way to find the deeper story within secular pieces. From that, I’ve developed an attuned sense to finding the beauty and deeper truths in stories of many kinds that people may not generally see at first and that is what has majorly fueled my writing. Whether I’m writing stories like The Solstice Chronicles where I incorporate Biblical or spiritual elements into a fairytale story, or blogging, I am always finding and pulling out the reflections of Biblical truths in stories and I love sharing that with people and opening a new world for them by giving them a new lens with which to see the stories that make up our world.
When I started thinking about my next book in the midst of finishing Beauty Restored, some Hades/Persephone fan art started popping up in my Pinterest feed. I really liked the contrast between darkness and light and the more I started digging into the story, the more I liked it as a basis for my spring story.
Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of nature. The story goes that in a rare time when Hades left his underworld of death and dying souls, and came above the earth, he saw the beautiful Persephone and fell instantly in love with her. Wanting to take her as his wife, Hades conspired with his brother Zeus to kidnap her. A bright yellow narcissus flower was planted in a field near where Persephone was playing with some of her water nymph friends and was used to lure her away from her friends. When Persephone went to pull the flower from the ground, a giant chasm formed and Hades galloped in on his dark chariot and kidnapped the weakened Persephone and took her to the underworld to make her his wife. Persephone’s mother, Demeter, went mad trying to find her beloved daughter and when she finally found out that she had been taken to the underworld by Hades, she begged Zeus to let her come back to live among the living. He agreed that Persephone could come back for 6 months but would have to live with Hades in the underworld for the rest of the year. Before Persephone left the underworld, she ate the seeds of a pomegranate, which to eat the fruit of one’s captor meant you would have to return to the country of your captor and live there, so Persephone was doomed to return to the underworld 4 months out of the year. It is said that whenever Persephone returns to the earth, her mother causes the earth to bloom and grow because she is overjoyed to have her daughter back, signifying the start of spring. When Persephone returns to the underworld, Demeter closes up and neglects her duties, bringing winter.
There was a lot in this story that acted as a good basis and foundation for my spring equinox tale. The obvious correlation between winter and spring was something that worked really well for this second book. Some other correlations in the story of Hades and Persephone really stood out to me though. In Beauty Redeemed, Julianna, the main character, is the Princess of Light. She is a daughter of the Spring realm so she is a part of what brings new life and rebirth to not only her realm but the other realms as well. For believers, spring is a very special time for us because it’s the time we remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ who brought the ultimate rebirth for everyone who believes in the redeeming power of His blood. Ever since Luscian, the Lord of Darkness first saw Julianna’s sunrise-colored orb in the Great Mage’s globe room, he has had a unexplainable draw to her. He sees her potential for darkness but more than that, he’s drawn to her beauty and wants her beauty and light in his realm of darkness. It is Luscian’s main goal during Beauty Redeemed to get Julianna into his realm of darkness by the Spring equinox when the veil between the realms is the thinnest. Because Luscian is tied to the Dark Realm, he can’t leave the realm for long periods of time so he has to have to his servants and those who have sold their souls to him do his work for him, and he is unable to just bring anyone into the Dark realm. People must enter the Dark Realm of their own free will. Luscian has one of his dark knights planted within the Spring realm who is working to get Julianna into the Dark realm. Luscian works hard to wear Julianna down and make her believe that her ties to darkness are too great for her to be a child of light and princess of the Spring realm, and when she’s at that point of complete exhaustion and doubt in herself and who she should be, Luscian lures her into the Dark Realm with a bright yellow, glowing flower. Julianna is miserable in the Dark Realm and wishes more than anything she could go home, but knows that she can’t. Luscian forces her to drink the pomegranate juice which ties her permanently to the Dark Realm. Only an act of sacrificial love and a covering of blood can grant passage to someone and allow them to leave the Dark Realm. Julianna’s rescue comes from an unexpected source, but the sacrifice of one person gives her the freedom she longed for and she is returned to her family and realm. Luscian can’t stand to think he’s lost his hold on her and the Spring realm so he works it out to bring Julianna back to his realm. Julianna is faced with the war between believing the lies Lusican continues to spew over her and the words of the Mage’s Son when she stands at the line of the veil between the realms. Only the blood that covers the line between the realms from a previous sacrifice is strong enough to give her permanent freedom from her darkness and the Dark Realm. As Julianna is reminded of the power of redemption that is the heart of the Spring realm, she takes the hand of the Mage’s Son and steps into the light of her freedom. She and the Spring realm are Redeemed.
You can see the strong similarities between my story of Beauty Redeemed and the story of Hades and Persephone and both stories are reflections of the greater story of our redemption in Christ’s love and sacrifice on the cross. Satan lures us into darkness on a regular basis. We are living in a spiritual war and Satan knows he’s already lost, so he wants to take as many souls with him as he can. He is tied to the realm of darkness and eternal death and separation from God. He fills our minds with lies that we are born to darkness. We are not worthy to be children of light. No one can redeem us. No one can save us. Our lives are tied to the dark realm. He lures us in with beautiful things that we desire. He promises false power and satisfaction in attaining that power. He twists our minds and breaks our souls and makes us believe that this is our fate. We come to that point of total exhaustion and confusion and give into his dark lies, stepping over the line into the realm of darkness. Luckily for us, we don’t have to stay in that realm. There was One who came before us who willingly gave His life on a cross, experiencing total separation from His Father in Heaven, and bearing every sin on His perfect body as He laid His life down and paid the ultimate price that only He could pay. When He died, they laid His body in the ground, but He wasn’t just dead. He marched into Hell and Satan thought he had won at last, but to Satan’s chagrin, Jesus marched out of his realm of darkness three days later. Death had been conquered. Darkness was overcome. Jesus’ death and resurrection broke the chains that bind us to Satan and his world of darkness. Because of that sacrifice that tore the veil that separated us from God and covered the lines between death and life, every person in the earth–past, present, and future–has the opportunity to be children of Light.
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14
I pray as you read Beauty Redeemed, you will be encouraged and know that you don’t have to live trapped in the darkness. Christ provided a way to have eternal life and light in Him and everyone has a chance to be a part of that kingdom. We are all born in darkness, but we all have the choice to be born again and become of children of light.
May you find the Beauty of Redemption within your story.
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 