psyche

shortly after i corralled my thoughts on persephone, i came across the story of psyche. i think it was a day or two later. things work out like that for me, i write about something, or start contemplating a topic and suddenly the world opens up and shows me all it's hidden treasures.

so i read a book that said, do not identify too closely with persephone. she is the queen of the underworld and you must not stay there (or die essentially), which struck me as sound advice.

a bit more i learned about persephone, she was kidnapped, and it was a narcissus (aka daffodil) flower, dark red enough to almost be black, out in a field that drew her attention (it would have caught mine, too). she was with her mother, demeter, the first time she saw it. she returned to it late that night as she couldn't forget it, and the full moon shone on it, illuminating it.

she bent to smell it when the ground rent and a chariot of horses, i believe they were firey, came to carry her away. to the underworld. she ate only six pomegranate seeds while in the underworld, and stays a month for each seed she et.

and ultimately zeus did play a part in releasing her, with the caveat that she must not have eaten in the underworld. but hecate is the goddess who helped demeter find her lost child. hecate is a type of crone, essential to unity.

psyche, though, now her story is quite different. she also encounters persephone, but it is at the end of a long series of trials which she cannot possibly accomplish with out divine help. eros, her beloved (aka cupid), sends the help she needs. with each successive task aphrodite (aka venus) is certain psyche will fail and not marry eros (aphrodite's son).

with each task, psyche wants to kill herself. overwhelmed by the seeming insurmountable odds. i understand this. despair hits her and without intervention, she would not be able to accomplish any task. she simply lacks the ability to navigate the stormy trials.

all ends well. she does not eat from persephone's table while in the underworld, she appeases charon, the boatman of the underworld, and crosses styx. she feeds cerberus the three headed dog which guards the gates. she does not expend energies on tasks other than her assigned, which requires great wisdom and discernment.

she emerges triumphant, yet falls into a deadly slumber for not heeding aphrodite's full counsel. eros, ultimately saves her, and then they are married in the big fat greek wedding of the ages. zeus makes her immortal, giving her the nectar of the gods. and badabing all ends well.

yes, psyche it is.

what does all this mean to me, i'm still figuring out. but mythology is a love i've long neglected and i'm glad to have it back again. much to read, much to write, i must away.

peace.