Ahoy, everyone. I know most of you are wondering what ahoy is and why it is the first word of my first write up this month. Don’t mind me, personally, hello is becoming cliché. The series hasn’t ended yet and trust me, I’m back with a bang. Do you want to know why words like psychology and psychiatry received breath and came into existence? Stay tuned, read and enjoy.
“ PSYCHE-THE GORGEOUS MAIDEN
Psyche was a woman gifted with extreme beauty and grace, one of the mortal women whose love and sacrifice for her beloved God Eros earned her immortality.
Psyche became, as the Greek word “psyche” implies, the deity of soul. To modern days, the myth of Psyche symbolizes a self-search and personal growth through learning, losing, and saving the real love.
Living her ordinary life, Psyche became famous because of her beauty that the whole world rushed to see.
Being jealous due to men’s admiration for Psyche, Goddess Aphrodite asked her son, the powerful master of love, Eros, to poison men’s souls to kill off their desire for Psyche. But Eros also fell in love with Psyche and was completely mesmerized by her beauty.
Despite all the men coming her way, Psyche stayed unmarried, but she wanted to marry the man she would love. Her parents became so desperate because of their daughter’s destiny and had no choice but to ask for an oracle, hoping that they would manage to solve the mystery and give a husband to their daughter.
Eros guided Apollo to give the oracle that Psyche would marry an ugly beast whose face she would never be able to see, and he would wait for her at the top of the mountain.
Eros And Psyche
It was not what Psyche’s parents were hoping for; on the contrary, they were completely devastated, as their daughter was not supposed to have such as fate, but they decided to go on and arranged the wedding of their beloved daughter with the beast.
After the wedding, Psyche was able to be with her husband only at night. His tenderness and the enormous love he showed to her made Psyche happy and fulfilled beyond her expectations and dreams. She talked about her happiness with her sisters and confined in them how sad she was she couldn’t see his face.
Hence, the jealous sisters persuaded Psyche that her lover is not only an ugly beast but also a monster who would eventually kill her, so she should kill him first to save herself.
With the oil lamp and knife in her hands, Psyche one night was ready for murder, but when she enlightened the face of her beast-husband she saw the beautiful God Eros. Caught by surprise, she spilt the oil on his face. Eros woke up and flew away telling Psyche that she betrayed him and ruined their relationship so that they could never be united again.
Psyche started searching for her lost love and finally was suggested to beg Aphrodite, who imprisoned Eros in the Palace, to see him. Aphrodite gave her three impossible tasks to accomplish to prove her love.
Driven by her desire to reunite with Eros, she was fearless. After accomplishing the first two tasks, Psyche had to go to the Hades (Underworld) and bring the box with the elixir of beauty to Aphrodite, who ordered her not to open the box. Instead of the elixir, there was Morpheus (the god of sleep and dreams) hiding in the box and since the curious Psyche opened it, she fell asleep.
Eros found out what happened, ran away from the Palace, and begged Zeus to save his Psyche. Amazed by their love, Zeus went even further – he made Psyche immortal so that two lovers could be together forever.
Finally, a story not ending in tragedy. Love is allowed to conquer and reign in peace. Well, if I’ve learned something from Psyche, it is the fuel that keeps determination and diligence on track. That burning desire helped reunite her with her one and only love. Sadly, this might be the last one in the series. But let’s hope for the best. Thank you all for reading. Again, I’m saying bye!
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