please, does what she is told, and wears what is chosen for her.
An oversolicitous mother compounds little Persephone’s own
tendency to be cautious and compliant, if from infancy she treats
her daughter like a fragile doll in need of protection and supervision.
When she is more concerned that her little girl may fall and hurt
herself than delighted when her daughter takes her first wobbly
steps, she is sending the first of many similar messages that equates
trying something new and thus difficult with risk and worry. When
she chides her daughter for trying something on her own, saying,
“You should have asked me first,” her message really is “Wait for
me to help.” Stay dependent is the unspoken admonition.
Chances are that a young Persephone is an introverted child, who
appears cautious by nature because she prefers to observe first and
join in later. She’d rather watch from the sidelines until she knows
what is going on and what the rules are, instead of plunging in and
learning firsthand, as a more extraverted child would do. She needs
to imagine herself doing something before she decides whether she
wants to participate. But her mother often misinterprets her natural
introversion as timidness. By pushing her to do something before
she is ready, a well-intentioned, extraverted mother often does not
allow her Persephone daughter time to discover what her own
preferences are. Pressured to “Make up your mind!” a young
Persephone is likely to do what will please the other person, rather
than resist; thus she learns to be passive.
In contrast, with support to do so, a young Persephone can also
learn to trust her inward way of knowing what she wants to do. She
gradually learns to trust her innately receptive style and becomes
confident of her ability to make decisions in her own way and in her
own time. Her preferences are subjectively arrived at, and they are
right for her; yet she cannot state her reasons because she senses
what to do inwardly and cannot explain herself logically.
PARENTS
A Persephone daughter is often “a Mommy’s little girl,” fixed in
a Demeter-Persephone pattern with her mother. This type of mother
often treats her daughter like an extension of
Goddesses in Everywoman