In this paper, the story of Demeter and Persephone is related to bulimia and the myth is regarded as presenting physical enactments of unconscious phantasies. These phantasies, which can oscillate in a terrifying way, are of cannibalistic engulfment and fusion and are seen to relate to an early failure in maternal containment and consequent difficulties in separation-individuation. Anxieties over sexuality and more adult feminine identifications are seen as being overlaid on this unsafe ground.