Poet and independent scholar Charles Stein is the author of eleven books of poetry including The Hat Rack Tree (Station Hill Press) and the forthcoming From Mimir's Head. His examination of the poet Charles Olson's use of C.G. Jung, The Secret of Black Chrysanthemum, is a classical study of that poet's work. Stein edited Being = Space x Action: Searches for Freedom of Mind in Art and Mathematics and Mysticism for North Atlantic Books. He holds a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. in ancient Greek from Columbia University. He lives in Barrytown, New York, with classical guitarist Megan Hastie.

Persephone Unveiled reveals the goddess in all her guises, as the daughter of Demeter; the Queen of the Underworld; the archetypal female healer; and as a central figure in the Eleusinian Mysteries, where celebrants experienced sacred visions through secret rituals fueled by an LSD-like substance. The author examines the known details about the psychoactive agent and explores the Mysteries' influence on, and relationship to, early Christianity. Guided meditations, using active imagination techniques, help readers summon an experience with the goddess.