Psyche

= PSYCHE =



Identity
Psyche is the goddess of soul. She is known to the mortal wife of Eros turned to a goddess with a disapproving mother-in-law.

Psyche's story is a story of personal growth, hard work, thriving, and no matter how bad experiences are, they help us grow and mature. Her story is compared to a butterfly emerging from its dark cocoon

The Tale of of Amour/Eros and Psyche
Psyche was a mortal with uncomparable beauty. She was often courted by both mortal men and gods, but she was not interested in love at all. This offended Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and so she sent her son, Eros/Cupid, to strike her with his arrow so that she will fall madly in love with the next man she sees no matter how wretched, unsuitable, or unappealing he might be.

However, Fates, the three goddesses in charge of destiny, had other plans for Psyche. Just as Eros was about to shoot Psyche with his arrow, he tripped and pricked himself. This led to an uncontrollable desire of Eros for Psyche. Not wanting his mother to find out about his blunder, he took Psyche and hid her in his palace in the mountains where they wed.

To be sure that his secret remained one, he only visited Psyche at night, so she couldn't see his face. He made her promise never to look at his face, but her curiosity only grew stronger. One night, as Eros was sleeping, she lit an oil lamp and looked at his face. Her fears that she had married a monster immediately passed, and she was deeply in love with him. But, she accidentally spilled a drop of oil on his shoulder resulting in his waking up. Eros, who was angered and felt betrayed, left at once.

Psyche felt lonely and decided to beg from Aphrodite for the return of Eros, but Aphrodite took advantage of the situation and made it extremely hard for her, giving her four tasks, each harder than the previous one. Her first task was to sort a room full of assorted grains by dawn. The ants felt sorry for her and helped her finish the task well before the deadline.

Psyche's second task was to bring back Golden fleece from the ram that had already eliminated all of its previous hunters. A reed, however, whispered for her to wait until the ram slept before going out into the field to collect its Golden fleece that had clung to the trees.

For the third task, Aphrodite gave Psyche a jar and demanded that she fill it up with water from the waterfall on the high cliff of River Styx, the entrance to the Underworld. But an eagle helped her, took the jar, and filled it up for her.

At a last desperation attempt of Aphrodite to get rid of Psyche, she told Psyche to go into the Underworld and retrieve a box of sleeping potion from Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. However, Persephone didn't make it easy for Psyche. When Psyche finally got the box, she was deeply exhausted and took some of the potion to sleep. Eros found her sleeping and tried to wake her. When he failed to do so, he rubbed off the potion from her eyes and returned it to the box for sending to his mother.

Eros was fed up with his mother's interference in his life and sought help from Zeus who turned Psyche into a goddess from the advice of Athena. Their marriage was legitimized and received the blessings from the gods, even Aphrodite, who eventually approved of Psyche.



Words from Psyche: 1. n.) "a medium;" 1873 (adj.) "of or pertaining to the human soul" (earlier //psychical,// 1642), from Gk. //psykhikos// "of the soul, spirit, or mind," from //psykhe-// "soul, mind" (see //**psyche**//). Meaning "characterized by psychic gifts"

2. Psychology- the study of the human mind

3) Psychic- someone who claims to see the future

4) Psychedelia (Oxford) - music, culture, or art based on the experiences produced by psychedelicdrugs.

5) Psychiatrist - a doctor specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness

6) Psychedelic - relating to or denoting drugs that produce hallucinations

http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_Psyche.htm http://bdevries.umwblogs.org/files/2008/07/eros_psyche_by_blackeri.jpg http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=psychic http://1800sunstar.com/zzC1LUV/zholydays/saints-angels/gfx-graphics/famous-paintings/bouguereau-lamour-et-psyche-enfants-598x1000.jpg the Dictionary in the Mac