There
was a king who had three daughters, and the youngest , named
Psyche, was so beautiful that Aphrodite,
the goddess of love, grew jealous and began to plan mischief. Aphrodite,
also known as Venus, employed her son, Eros, to pierce Psyche's heart while
she slept. Upon awakening, Psyche would fall in love with the first
person she saw. Aphrodite planned this man to be a dwarf, a donkey,
an ugly monster. Eros thought the plan cruel, but as always,
obeyed his beautiful mother.
Obediently, Eros flew down to the
castle and made himself invisible as he swept into the sleeping Psyche's
chamber. Eros was immediately
enamored by her beauty. He
leaned over her, holding his arrow so as to
delicately scratch her shoulder.
But he must have made some sound, for
she awakened and looked straight
into his eyes, although she could not see him. He was so startled
by her huge brilliant eyes, that his arrow slipped and he pierced his own
hand. He stood there feeling the sweet passion of love spread through
him, confused, growing dizzy with the joy. He had spread love, but
never tasted of its sweetness. And so now, Eros found himself loving
the beautiful Psyche, vowing no harm would ever come to her.
Aphrodite
was furious when she discovered Eros' folly and cast a spell
on the mortal Psyche that would
prevent any suitor from coming near her. A union of a god, such as
Eros, and a mere mortal was not permitted. Psyche's life saddened
and she grew more lonely with no attention.
Meanwhile,
the tempest tossed on Mt. Olympus as Aphrodite and Eros
feuded over the spell she had cast.
Eros, in like, refused to be about his
business of love. Without
love, the world began to crumble and no one
worshipped the beautifiul goddess
of love, Aphrodite, plunging her into
the depths of despair.
At long last, Aphrodite conceded to Eros, and told him he could have the
girl, Psyche. In his joyful state, Eros began again to pierce hearts
and the world sang out again.
Psyche's
father grew restless over her lack of a suitor, one night, in a
dream, Aphrodite comes to the king
and tells him to take her to a
mountain, where she will be met
by her husband. The King is fearful that the husband will be a monster
but he takes her to a mountain and leaves her. Standing on the mountain,
in a dazed state, Psyche hears a breathing murmur, "Fear not, I am Zephyrus,
the west wind, the groom's
messenger. I have come here
to take you home." And so she is carried
away to the most lovely of castles
to await her betrothed.
Each
night, in the darkness, as she sleeps, Eros comes to her and she
knows no greater joy, although
her eyes have never seen him. Soon she
longs to see him. One night,
when Eros has fallen asleep, she slips from
his embrace and finds a candle.
Returning to their love chamber, she holds the candle over him. There,
in the dim wavering light, she sees the god of love sleeping. Her
heart sings at his beauty. As she leans down to kiss him, the wax
from the burning candle falls to his bare shoulder. Eros, awakens
and is angry for her distrust of him. "Yes, I am love itself, and
I cannot live where I am not believed. Farewell, Psyche." Eros
retreats to heal his wound while Psyche wanders endlessly from day to day
in search of her love.
Finally,
Psyche knows of no other way, than to humble herself before
Aphrodite. Aphrodite takes
the poor girls pain and uses it, by demanding
she complete near insurmountable
tasks. Psyche's love for Eros, enables
her to complete each one, until
the last. Aphrodite sends Psyche to the
underworld with a box, supposedly
holding beauty. In route, Psyche is
tempted to open the box, thinking
that were she more beautiful, Eros
would return to her. So she
opens the box and Aphrodite's revenge
escapes in the form of a deadly
languor and drowns Psyche into a
dreamless, deep sleep.
Eros,
now healed, is missing his lovely Psyche and sets out to find her.
It is a difficult matter to keep
love imprisoned. He finds her in the dead of sleep and pierces her
awake with his arrow of love. Having had enough of his mother's torture
and ruthlessness, he flies to Jupiter, god of the gods and implores him
to marry he and Psyche. In his wisdom, Jupiter, not only grants Eros
his wish but likewise bestows Psyche with immortality.
Aphrodite
could not deny her son a goddess as a wife and so all came to a most happy
end. Love and the Soul (for that is what Psyche means) had sought
and, after trials, found each other; and that union could never be broken.
This
is how Psyche, through Eros' office, entered Heaven and gained
immortality. For as Love cannot
dwell in any other place but the Soul,
the Soul cannot enter Heaven, but
through Love. And Lucius Apuleius,
who, as far as it is known, was
the only one to have ever written these
facts, though he himself denies
to have committed them to writing, says
that the child of Eros & Psyche
was named Pleasure (Volupta)..
Eros and Psyche
Gallery
Psyche
Sculptor Unknown
Psyche and Aphrodite's
Gift
William Bougeureau
The Butterfly:
Psyche and Eros
Sculpture by Canova
Psyche and Amor
Gerard
Eros and Psyche:
Flying
Tanger
The Ravishment
of Psyche
Psyche and Eros
Artist Unknown
Love (Eros) Awakes
the Soul (Psyche)
Love resistless in fight, all yield
at a glance of thine eye,
Love who pillowed all night on
a maiden's cheek dost lie...
Over the upland folds thou roam'xt
and the trackless sea
Love the gods captive holds.
Shall mortals not yield to thee?
Soph. Antigone
The Marriage
of Eros and Psyche
Artist Unknown
"Soul, considered collectively,
has the care of all that which is soulless, and it traverses the
whole heaven, appearing sometimes in one form and sometimes in another."
[Socrates]
To read more about Psyche and
Eros please visit http://www.hsa.brown.edu/~maicar//Eros.html
From my very own Guiseppi Armani
Collection:
The First Kiss
Eros and Psyche
Return
to Mythical Magic
Created with Love
`Tai
January 1999