Cupid And Psyche. Chronicles Of Psychotherapy

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

From the stories of my clients: “I could no longer live in such a limbo. You know, this is“they don’t feed and don’t bury.”We“met for four years, and then what?

I waited for him to "mature", "understand", hinting cautiously that I was already 30 and under 40 and it would be good to understand what our plans for the future are. You understand, I don't need all this officialdom for nothing, but I want a child and want to understand how I should build my life.

Well? I put the question bluntly. "I want a baby from you. Are you ready to be with me in this? With us. Just tell me." Said. "Is that why you're spoiling everything again? Are we as bad as we are now?" And it hasn't been calling for a month …

You see, he left, and I seemed to wake up. At first there was a feeling that the whole world lay around me in fragments, like a puzzle. They turned all the pieces out of the box, scattered them, and didn't even give a picture of the total …"

Psyche is the Greek word for soul. And also a butterfly. If the heroine of the story is called Psyche, we assume that big changes, transformations and crisis await her. Will she survive them? Will it pass them and change, or will it perish?

Today we have an affair with a sequel. The myth of Psyche, as a stage in the development of a woman and the awakening of her Anima (inner Woman). Destruction of unconscious relationships - "the time has come, she fell in love" - and awareness of herself, her capabilities. And opportunities for transformation of relations as well. The part of the story that I want to focus on today is what happens to unconscious relationships when they fall apart.

Psyche was the third daughter of the king and the most beautiful princess. She was so beautiful that she was only worshiped, and no one dared to wish her as a wife. It is clear that the tsar's father really wanted to know if his beloved daughter would ever find a husband for herself. He went to the Delphic Oracle. He was a brave man. You know, if you ask the Delphic Oracle for advice, you will have to follow it *.

* So be careful. Do not seek advice until you are truly ready to follow through. Or don't go to psychotherapists, for example. And then how to bite off an apple from the tree of knowledge … And then?

The oracle said that the king should bring his daughter to the top of the mountain and leave her to fate - a spouse not from the human race. So, Psyche dressed as for a funeral, and the subjects of the kingdom plunged into mourning. Surely, the king's father has already tore his hair a hundred times, "Well, why did I just ask?"

However, Psyche was not devoured by a terrible monster. In an amazing way, she was transported to a magical valley with a beautiful palace, where there was everything that her heart desires. Every night her husband came, made love to her, and disappeared before dawn so that she never saw him. Seeing her beloved Psyche was forbidden. The only ban in this heavenly place *.

* Sounds almost like the ideal husband of a long voyage captain, only he also makes love with his wife every night.

This went on for a long time. He is a myth. In some versions, this beautiful dream lasted nearly a hundred years.

Meanwhile, the sisters of Psyche continued to mourn her, considering her dead. And Psyche begged her invisible lover to bring her sisters to meet her. She sobbed, her husband tried to tell her (as some men do) that this is not what she really wants. Psyche was crying again. And he finally agreed, warning that she should not violate their agreement. He told her: "Psyche, you are pregnant. The child you carry under your heart will become a god if you keep my secret. Or become mortal if you break it." After that, he disappeared again, allowing the sisters to visit Psyche.

Sisters would not be sisters if they did not want "the best". And they remind Psyche of the Oracle's prediction. Her spouse must be a creature not of the human race. They are trying to instill in her the idea that he might turn out to be a monster. And Psyche is horrified, "God, what am I doing? What if they are right?" The sisters immediately tell her the way out, "You must take a lamp and a knife. After your spouse falls asleep, get the lamp hidden under the bed and light it. If you married a monster, cut off its head with a knife."

Every symbol is important to us here. Both the lamp and the knife. If you're going to sort out your relationship, you will need both. The first step is to want to shed some light on the situation, for this you need a lamp. It symbolizes your desire to gaze closely at the person with whom you work or live. Or how you feel about yourself in this relationship. So, a lamp is a must.

But what's the use of a lamp if you don't have a knife? It is the determination that will help you get through the situation, end the relationship, breaking the entangling ties. How much is it good to know that you are living in a painful relationship if you do not have the power that the knife symbolizes? The power to go beyond what is prescribed, to cut ties, to end relationships if they have turned into something that disfigures you. And Psyche, full of determination, hides a lamp and a knife under the bed.

You are probably aware that when she illuminated her invisible lover and unknown groom, he turned out to be the god of love, Eros. Or Cupid. Cupid is often portrayed as a plump angel for a reason. A completely immature type who hides his relationship from his mother and lies to her.

Eros broke a promise he made to his mother, Aphrodite. The goddess of love demanded that he punish Psyche. How else? After all, the younger princess was so good that they began to worship her, forgetting about the altars of Aphrodite. People worshiped the earthly girl as a goddess, and Aphrodite planned to take revenge on her. The gods are jealous.

* For us, this means that as soon as you fully identify with love, with your relationships, merge with them, you lose your human appearance, your individuality. You dissolve into them. They consume you. This is Aphrodite's revenge.

In our story, Aphrodite told her son Eros to hit Psyche with an arrow so that she fell victim to love for the most insignificant of people. Such is the negative power of Aphrodite and Eros (the power of love), we can fall in love with someone who will literally destroy us and deprive us of the chance for development. Love is blind. But instead, Eros saw Psyche and fell in love with her himself. He decided to hide his love and organized a romance for himself in secret from his mother.

And everything went fine until Psyche violated their very one-sided "agreement", which in fact simply kept the situation convenient for Eros. "There is no need to change anything. Remain in the dark about the true nature of our agreement." After highlighting the situation, she tore up the contract. The lamp trembled in her hand and a drop of oil fell on Eros's shoulder. He woke up in pain, got angry, accused Psyche that it was she who ruined everything (well, who would doubt it). And then he flapped his wings and was like that.

Exiting an unhealthy relationship often happens this way. But the relationship does not always end there, and the transformation of our heroine is just beginning.

To be continued…