Within the theme of October, and all things Halloween, it seems necessary to write about myths.
A myth is a story which usually includes a god, Demi-god or supernatural being to explain something.
Myths exist as part of history across all cultures.
Myth of Eros and Psyche
Eros and Psyche create a love story that exists for eternity.
The story goes, Psyche was a human girl blessed with incredible beauty.
Every man she met fell in love with her.
The goddess of love, Aphrodite was jealous of her beauty and sent her son Eros to put a curse on her.
Instead Eros fell in love with her too.
Still without a husband, Psyche’s parents asked an oracle for her true love to come and bring her a husband.
Aphrodite cursed her to fall in love with a beast, whose face she could never see.
The love between Psyche and her husband the beast, was true and pure.
As she was only to be with him at night, one day, Psyche’s sisters convinced her that the beast was a monster and had ill intentions.
Psyche went to her husband that night with an oil lamp and a knife, when she approached him, she saw his face, spilled the oil lamp and revealed that the beast was actually the God Eros.
He ran away and said they would never be together again.
Longing for her true love, Psyche wandered trying to find him and bring him back.
Aphrodite saw this as an opportunity to lure Psyche to her demise.
She planned three impossible tasks for her.
When Psyche failed at them, Eros found out and went to Zeus for help, who then, after seeing the true love between Eros and Psyche, made Psyche immortal so they could spend eternity together.
Lessons within the Myth
I see many lessons within this myth.
First I see the correlation between this story and the story of Beauty and the Beast.
The realization that love is deeper than appearances.
Love is beyond the surface of who we are physically.
Second, I see a relationship to the story of Snow White, where the step-mother’s jealousy leads to cursing Snow White and her eternal sleeping until her true love’s kiss.
These stories are meant to teach us lessons through the imagery, metaphor and other literary devices.
I chose this myth because it is short and somewhat easy to summarize.
This story got told to show the strength of the bond between lovers when the connection is more than appliances, in modern language, psychic connection.
Third, the name of the woman Psyche is now used as a common term for the soul, or mental capacities.
the human soul, mind, or spirit.
definition of psyche
This changes the meaning of the myth, in that there is more symbolism in the meaning behind what happens to Psyche in the story.
The manipulation of her by Aphrodite, and the human-like characteristic of jealousy.
These traits bring Aphrodite down to the level of the evil step mother in Snow White, and allows the myth to bring relatability to us as humans.
Remember…
I am writing my summary of this myth, read the full article I summarized here.
Soul mates exist across cultures, but the ancient greeks, saw love as finding your other half and I believe that this story sets the tone for what real psychic love is.
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Blessings,
With love and light,
Stay true stay weird,
~~ Kristina