Myth and Archetypes

The Virgin Bride

One of my favourite legends of all times is the ancient Greek myth of Psyche and Eros. The mortal soul, Psyche, is saved from certain death by love, Eros. However, the liaison cannot last because Psyche is afraid of life and has a dependent personality.

The lovers reunification is conditional on Psyche growing in consciousness; before that can occur she has to face and overcome her fear. Throughout that journey various aspects of Psyche's being or her archetypical patterns of behaviour (princess, virgin, parent/adult, oracle, goddess) impede progress and  illustrate the interplay between shadow and light or true and false. Although they remain unnamed the child, saboteur, victim and prostitute aspect of Psyche are in full flow. 

The story begins, as with all royal events, in the palace of the king and queen. Psyche’s two older sisters have been married off, and are settled in their own domains. Psyche, the youngest and most gracious of the royal princesses was worshipped from far and wide for her breath-taking beauty. A hint of mystery surrounds her and lends to the enchantment. But alas for all that adoration, a suitable suitor has not yet been found for the young princess, much to the concern of the king and queen.

The adulation heaped on the young beauty infuriates Aphrodite, the time-honoured Goddess of Love whose immense beauty had in the past caused unbridled rivalry among potential suitors and often led to war.  Nowadays Aphrodite’s temple stands empty as the people’s devotion turn to the younger nascent goddess.

Aphrodite is consumed with rage that her exalted position is being usurped by this young upstart. She consults the Oracle and conspires to sabotage her rival. Observe here how the old established order manipulates a source of knowledge and wisdom for its own ends.

Meanwhile the king, in despair about his adored daughter’s unmarried status, and suspecting that the family had incurred the wrath of the gods, consults the Oracle. He is unaware that the Oracle is in league with Aphrodite, and Psyche’s fate has already been sealed.

The Oracle’s response to the king’s offering in return for good counsel on the matter of facilitating his daughter in finding a husband is devastating. The Oracle informs the king that his beloved Psyche is to marry Death, the ugliest most hideous monster in the land.

On Death Mountain

The Oracle tells the king that Psyche must be clothed in appropriate attire and taken to the nearest mountain top where she must be chained to a rock to await her bridegroom. Marriage and death are to be merged into a single rite of passage, a journey into the unknown.

 Certain that they have no choice in the matter, Psyche’s parents, siblings and courtiers accompany her to the appointed place, where she is left to be ravished by a monster. In effect the young princess is abandoned to her fate. Petrified at the horror of her impending doom, Psyche begins to lose the balance of her mind.  

Guarding against any possibility that Psyche might not go completely insane from the intensity of her fear at the thought of marrying Death, the Goddess of Love instructs her son Eros to pierce Psyche with one of his arrows. This will guarantee that she falls in love with Death and remain in the underworld for all time. Eros follows his mother’s instructions and flies off to do her bidding. 

When Eros sees Psyche on Death Mountain he is transfixed by her beauty and in his confusion pricks his own finger and falls instantly in love with her. Inflamed with passion Eros transports Psyche, who is by now in a state of comatose, to a dwelling place in a paradise garden and marries her.

The young princess is blinded by the dazzling light of the God of Love; she is able to discern very little of the good fortune which has befallen her. All Psyche knows is that she is not after all the bride of Death; instead she lives in paradise with a god and has every possible thing that she could ever desire, or does she...?