Taboo

[sdi]

Persephone's name, we are told, was taboo; this is why she is usually referred to as ἡ Κόρη "the Maiden" or ἡ Δέσποινα "Milady" or the like. But this makes no sense. In the Demeter myth, Persephone is you: her generic name is because there are as many Persephones as there are initiates. And if I'm right in synthesizing the Isis myth with Empedocles, and if Persephone/Nephthys is, in fact, the dread queen of the dead, then she is nonetheless the nurse of Horus (that is, you) and one of those who supports and aids you on your upward way.

Death is no evil; indeed, it is the gift which Zeus, in his infinite pity, bequeaths to us. Why fear that which is good? Is it because we do not wish to be rid of our illusions?