MYTHOLOGY  Mythological examples are more basic - the goddess or heroine may not have companions or even a particular goal, but she does go "underground" and has an adversary and/or dark lover. Persephone Persephone, or Kore ("maiden") is the Greek goddess of renewal, and the Queen of the Underworld. While picking flowers with her friends as a young woman, she was kidnapped by Hades and brought to the Underworld. Her mother Demeter petitioned the other gods to intervene and let her go. But because Persephone foolishly ate the pomegranate seeds she was offered, she must stay as Hades' queen for part of the year. When she returns to the earth above each year, the spring comes with her. from the Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene Ariadne Ariadne was the princess in King Minos' famous Labyrinth on Crete; she essentially lived within the Otherworld. She helped Theseus solve the Labyrinth and kill her monstrous brother the Minotaur, and in turn he took her with him on his ship. However, he abandoned her on an island, where she was found and married by the god Dionysos. Some versions of this legend, though, say that Ariadne already belonged to the god and betrayed him with Theseus, and so he had her killed in the end. by J.W. Waterhouse Inanna Inanna is a powerful goddess in Sumerian religion. Her most famous myth centers around her journey to the Underworld (for unclear reasons). First she had to pass through seven gates, leaving jewelry and garments at each until she was naked. Then she faced her sister, the dark goddess Ereshkigal, who killed her and hung her on a hook for three days. She was saved by the god Enki, but could not return to the earth unless someone took her place in death. Finally, she chose her husband Dumuzi, and was freed. While Inanna was in the Underworld, the earth ceased to be fruitful, as in the Persephone myth. from an ancient seal Nerthus Nerthus is a very ancient Norse earth goddess, an aspect of whom became the more well-known Freya. She is married, in some sources, to Odin, leader of the ghostly Wild Hunt. In some versions, she leads a hunt herself, but in others she is the target of the hunt (as one of the birch goddesses, or "wood-wives"), chased and torn apart for the sake of the land's fertility. Odin is her lover and her annual killer, as well as her psychopomp, leading her to the realms of death in the winter, and returning her to the earth in the summer. 19th century image of Freya Return to Girls Underground