image: Wikimedia commons (link).
This February 14th, you could hardly give yourself a better Valentine's Day gift than to read (even if for the thousandth time) the ancient story of Eros and Psyche and to meditate on its meaning with regard to our relationship with our invisible, divine, indestructible -- but often elusive -- Self.
I have written on this theme and on the story of Eros and Psyche before, such as in these previous posts:
I also gave a presentation which featured the importance of this story at the 2019 Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge: that talk can be viewed in its entirety for $15 USD by visiting the website of that conference, where you can find pay-per-view videos of all the presentations from that special weekend. The CPAK organizers have posted a segment of my presentation on YouTube, which you can find here.
Our most complete source for this ancient myth is preserved in the text known as the Metamorphoses written by Apuleius (c. AD 124 - c. AD 170), which is not to be confused with the more famous Metamorphoses of Ovid (43 BC - c. AD 17). That text by Apuleius is more commonly referred to as The Golden Tale of the Ass, or more commonly as simply The Golden Ass.
I am partial to the 1960 translation by the prolific writer and scholar Jack Lindsay (1900 - 1990), which I like to think captures the rollicking humor and the esoteric power of the original by Apuleius. I well remember our outstanding teacher of Latin in the seventh grade reading to the class the wild story of the witches and the funeral guard, which takes place rather early in the adventures of The Golden Ass.
The story of Eros and Psyche (or, as Apuleius calls it -- since Apuleius lived under the Roman Empire -- the story of Cupid and Psyche) occupies a central place in The Golden Ass, which is itself a powerful esoteric tale of the human condition and the soul's entanglement in a body of flesh, and thus this myth must be seen as absolutely central to everything that Apuleius is exploring in his masterpiece.
The myth of Eros and Psyche deserves to be read in its entirety -- so if you don't already have access to the text of Apuleius, I would recommend you give it as a gift to yourself and add it to your library, if at all possible! But the most important thing to understand about this ancient tale is that -- in common with many other ancient myths involving for example a set of twins, one of whom is divine and the other mortal -- the two main characters in the story should not be understood as two different individuals!
Rather, this ancient myth is illustrating -- in a most memorable and moving manner -- the relationship between our doubting, second-guessing, frightened and impressionable egoic mind (which, through the insights of Dr. Richard Schwartz and Internal Family Systems therapy, can actually be understood to itself be plural, composed of numerous parts) and the indestructible Self to whom we all have access, but from whom we almost invariably become estranged during the exigencies of this life, generally during childhood, to the point that we generally don't even believe that this immortal higher Self even exists at all.
In the ancient myth of Eros and Psyche, this condition is dramatically illustrated by the lack of trust exhibited by Psyche, when she finally gives in to the persuasions of her two jealous sisters and takes an oil lamp to look upon her previously-invisible lover, who turns out to be none other than the god Eros himself!
Her doubts and lack of trust, however, drive Eros away, and through this action, Psyche loses access to her divine lover. She then goes through an agonizing search for the lost god -- which mirrors a pattern found in other ancient myth, including that found in the Isis and Osiris cycle of ancient Egypt -- culminating in a visit to the Underworld to beg for help from the goddess Persephone.
Through her own lack of trust, and her doubts in her adequacy and worth, Psyche opens the box given to her by Queen Persephone -- which she has been strictly warned not to open (very similar to the story of Pandora, in fact), and is overcome by death.
However, the god Eros sees Psyche from his vantage point, soaring high above the earth, and he swoops down to revive her with the kiss of love.
All of these elements of the ancient myth have profound implications for our own situation in this incarnate life -- and for our own relationship with Self.
I am convinced that the ancient myths have as one of their most central themes the recovery of Self. This Valentine's Day, those ancient myths stand ready to point our way towards the love and trust of Self that we have almost invariably lost.
image: Wikimedia commons (link).