I don't have specific comparative sources for you, but the comparisons I have read in the past have been to other myths about goddesses descending to the underworld and returning.
The best known of these is the Sumerian myth of the Descent of Inanna. Samuel Noah Kramer was (I believe) the first scholar to translate it into English. I just did a search and found translations and summaries of it online. I recommend reading at least part of a translation in order to get an experience of Sumerian poetic style.
Gardner wrote that he did not know the source or how old it is. One of my teachers has a theory that it, or its earlier source, is a Neoplatonic allegory about the soul's journey.
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branchandroot
Re: Daily Heathen Prayers and Question on Persephone Myth Comparative Work
Date: 2023-08-14 04:37 pm (UTC)The best known of these is the Sumerian myth of the Descent of Inanna. Samuel Noah Kramer was (I believe) the first scholar to translate it into English. I just did a search and found translations and summaries of it online. I recommend reading at least part of a translation in order to get an experience of Sumerian poetic style.
There is a Wiccan myth of this kind, first published in Witchcraft Today by Gerald B. Gardner in 1954. Here is a good link to the text with some explanatory notes https://www.ceisiwrserith.com/wicca/legendofthedescent.htm
Gardner wrote that he did not know the source or how old it is. One of my teachers has a theory that it, or its earlier source, is a Neoplatonic allegory about the soul's journey.