I was recently reminded of the myth of Eros and Psyche and while delving into its many online discussions, I realized that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner (and on Friday or Venus’s day at that). Now is a truly fitting time to contemplate this beautiful story.

I highly recommend reading multiple versions of the myth that originally appeared in Apuleius’s “Metamorphosis or The Golden Ass”. The main character Lucius is turned into a donkey and experiences many misfortunes, once of which includes finding himself within the company of robbers who have kidnapped a noble maiden named Charite. An old woman attempts to comfort Charite by reciting the myth of “Cupid and Psyche.” Not only does the myth mirror the plights of Charite, but it also acts as a microcosm of Lucius’s overall transformation from human to beast to spiritual devotee.

The Rule of Three to the Wholeness of Four

Before I analyze the plot, I’d like to bring to attention the numerical symbols within the story.

Psyche is the third born daughter, which emphasizes the stage before wholeness or the quaternity (4). Many fairytales and myths contain triplicities or triads, such as the 3 Bears in Goldilocks, Cinderella and her 2 evil stepsisters, the 3 wishes granted by the genie in Aladdin, and Rumpelstiltskin’s 3 guesses. Three represents beginnings, middles, and ending, or past, present, and future. It represents birth, life, and death as well as heaven, hell, and earth. In Jungian terms, there are 3 stages of individuation (shadow, animus/anima, and the Self) as well as 3 components of the psyche (the ego, personal unconscious, and collective unconscious). 

In this myth, we focus on three main characters: Psyche, Eros, and Aphrodite. There are 3 Goddesses (Aphrodite, Demeter, and Hera). 

Yet 3 must become 4 as wholeness must be integrated.

Four represents completion in perpetuity; the 4 seasons, 4 cardinal directions, 4 elements, even the 4 cognitive functions. Aphrodite gives Psyche 4 impossible tasks. Psyche can only complete her mission by taking 2 cakes and 2 coins into the Underworld to make contact with the 4th Goddess, Persephone. Psyche gives birth to a daughter Volupta, creating the 4th character. 

Working to propel the story is the number 2, which represents duality. 2 evil sisters compel Psyche to betray her husband. 2 versions of Eros and Aphrodite exist (the beastly Eros and refined Eros and the Common Aphrodite and Celestial Aphrodite). Psyche imbibes 2 godly substances (Persephone’s beauty and ambrosia). 2 unintentional pricks of Eros’s arrows instigate the story’s deepest dramas. 

Duality must be overcome in order for earthly completion to transcend into divine wholeness.

Psyche: Isolated and Earthly Beauty

Psyche was born the third of three sisters, all of whom are pleasing. Yet Psyche’s beauty rivaled that of Aphrodite, and soon crowds of worshippers follow her through the streets and throw garlands at her feet. She is revered as the earthy emanation of Aphrodite, who reigned from the sea.

This symbolizes two modes or archetypes of “femininity.” Aphrodite represents the very oceanic, primal feminine archetype. She is the primal ooze, the carnal urge, the drive for fertility and pairing. Aphrodite represents the all containing, all consuming Great Mother in this story. 

Psyche is of the earth, she is mortal. Her mode of femininity can be better related to by humans, unlike the Godly power of Aphrodite. Psyche symbolizes the tender human soul in search of transcendence and divine love. Her earthliness and mortality endow her with the unique opportunity to unite with the Divine and find completion within herself.

Despite Psyche’s awe-inspiring beauty that elevates her above Aphrodite, Psyche remains isolated, unwanted, and without a suitor. Her beauty bars her from relatedness and human interaction, as it aggrandizes her to a Godly level. 

Fearing for her future, Psyche’s parents consulted an Oracle who confirmed that Psyche would be wed on a mountain crag to a terrible, winged beast. Her impending marriage was a death sentence.

Psyche’s overidentification with an extreme trait (Beauty) represents the ego’s desire to cling to and hide behind an impersonal quality or archetypal force. Untouchable beauty is as isolating as perfection and purity. At this stage, Psyche exists as an unravished bride, a virgin who remains untouched by life. Her funeral-marriage represents the need for the virgin consciousness to die in order for true union and relatedness to occur. 

Psyche agrees to her fate, which angry and envious Aphrodite has already planned to manipulate. Incensed with the neglect of her own temples due to the growing fascination with Psyche, Aphrodite charges her son Eros with the task of shooting his arrow so that Psyche falls in love with the most hideous and wretched of men. Eros was known for his wicked ways and disregard for social order; his arrows were responsible for shameful acts and ruined marriages. At this point, Eros exists as a winged beast. Convinced that the act will be completed, Aphrodite retires to her oceanic home, where the sea creatures and nymphs revere her completely.

Psyche’s Wedding Death March

Psyche walks up the foretold mountain. Her parents and the entire town mourn for her. Psyche admonishes them, telling them that they should have mourned for her when the world celebrated her as a Goddess, as that is when she truly died. We see this terrible juxtaposition of Psyche being revered and elevated as beauty incarnate and losing her humanity. Then we see her at the mountain top, left to her deadly bridge-groom.

Eros comes to deliver his fateful blow, yet upon glimpsing Psyche’s incredible beauty, he accidentally pricks himself and falls in love with her.

Eros (desire) has unintentionally disobeyed Aphrodite, who is functioning as the Terrible Mother. The Terrible Mother, a tyrant, wishes to contain and control all of her creations, smothering them and preventing their individual development. Like the strongest of instincts and unconscious motivations, Aphrodite represents the ancient drive of possessiveness, jealousy, and control. By awakening a desire to unite with Psyche, Eros has diverted this strong, mindless instinct and has taken the first step towards escaping the influence of his mother.

Meanwhile, Psyche stands at the cliff awaiting her fate. Yet instead of meeting with a beast, she is whisked away by the gentlest wind and finds herself in a beautiful meadow before an opulent, welcoming estate. Psyche is enchanted by its masterful craftsmanship and luxury, which seduces her closer and emboldens her to cross its threshold. A voice beckons her in and she is invited to bathe and dine at her leisure. 

Psyche has accepted her fate and has mourned on the precipice. Like any impactful life transition, the dissolution or Death of the old life must occur. This is especially true for marriages, where the former life of independence and freedom must be sacrificed for a more cooperative and harmonious union to thrive. After this acceptance, Psyche is whisked away by the Zephyr, which symbolizes the Spring, new beginnings, and transformation. 

As night falls, Psyche retires to her bed and is met with soft whispers in the dark.. Her new husband enters the bed and consummates their bond. He leaves before morning. Every night he visits, ravishes her, then departs.

Psyche is introduced to love and romance in an idealized manner. Headless voices instruct and comfort her, and she relishes her equally headless lover in the blissful darkness of ignorance. The lover cannot be separated from fantasy as the lover is not yet seen as a person, an individual. Psyche still cannot relate to another on a personal level; her interactions are limited to the instinctual, archetypal realm. Her lover is a seductive whisper, a caress, a warm body without an identity. 

Many young or inexperienced lovers elevate this stage onto a pedestal. The lover and the thrill of romance are empty screens that ideals can be projected onto. Though thrilling and all-encompassing, this stage cannot last.

Meanwhile, Psyche’s family believes her to be dead. Her parents have aged suddenly, and her sisters wish to find any trace of her. Psyche’s husband warns her that night that if she should hear her sisters cry from the mountain top, she should not answer back or even look their way unless she welcomes pain and ruin. This caused Psyche to weep all day as she felt already dead, imprisoned in her castle with no one to speak to, and knowing her family mourned for her. Eros gives in to her sadness and tells her that she may speak to her sisters and give them gifts, but she must not heed their advice, especially if they were to urge her to seek out his appearance. He threatens to leave her if she tries, but ultimately blesses her with the power to order the Zephyr. 

Psyche’s family mourns for the death of the innocent child. What loving parent does not, at some level, experience a sense of loss and heartbreak once their child matures enough to open itself up to love and union? 

On an individual level, love can be quite isolating. The feelings are almost impossible to articulate and the absence of the lover only exaggerates that felt seclusion. One yearns for a sense of familiarity to ground them in this suspended state.

Psyche’s Sisters and Eros’s Warning

Psyche hears her sisters’ cries and calls out to them. She orders the Zephyr to bring them gently to her home and invites them in and tells them of her new life with a supposed young man. Her sisters marvel at the opulence and Godliness. By the time they leave, they are consumed by envy. 

The sisters make a plan to corrupt Psyche and bring ruin to her home. They see her as undeserving and unfit for her blessings, and compare their decrepit and cold husbands with Psyche’s tender and loving spouse. 

Here, Psyche’s sisters represent the shadow or repressed thoughts, feelings, and desires. Psyche, like any lover, has doubts about love and even their own worthiness. They also represent the collective shadow that can possess even the most seemingly well-meaning friends or family. 

Eros tells Psyche of her sisters’ ill wishes and warns her again not to seek out his face. He reveals to her that she is pregnant and that her child may be born Divine as long as she obeys his wishes. Psyche marvels at her growing womb and begs her husband to allow her to see her sisters again, assuring him that his appearance will remain a secret to her.

Eros demands obedience through ignorance. He promises the continuation of their paradise so long as Psyche does not question him, does not look close enough to truly observe him. He does not want the responsibility of true intimacy. He warns Psyche against her sisters, who are in a position to give her insight. Eros wants to control his image and the relationship’s narrative. Only a weak relationship requires the shield of blind acceptance. Here, Eros functions as the immature drive to keep a relationship at the level of convenient fantasy. Their relationship, like their liminal offspring, is still at the gestational stage.

Psyche’s sisters hurriedly fling themselves off the cliffs again, and the Zephyr reluctantly brings them to Psyche. They luxuriate in her generosity once more and begin to ask about her husband. Psyche forgets her former lie and tells them her husband is a merchant and slightly old. When the Zephyr whisks the sisters away, they remark at her inconsistencies and conclude that she can only be married to a God. They want nothing more than to prevent the birth of her Divine child and conspire to separate her from her riches and husband.

The shadows of doubt and jealousy cannot accept the fantasy of a Divine love. The sisters, with their mortal, mundane consciousness and familiarity with the realistic sides of life, are the shadowy, unlived sides of femininity that urge the naive and idealistic Psyche to evolve in consciousness. The sisters are right in their assessment that Psyche truly does not know her husband and lives within an unreliable fantasy, yet their discernment is also tainted with jealousy and greed. Many lovers, especially women, have encountered this critical sister energy when sharing the details of their relationship only to be met with skepticism and a judgment. Like all shadow figures, the sisters simultaneously push Psyche to develop while welcoming her undoing.

During their next visit, the sisters approach Psyche with feigned tears and tell her that she must be married to a terrible serpentine monster, or else she would have seen him. They warn her that once she gives birth to the child, the monster will devour her. Filled with fear, Psyche allows herself to believe her sisters and accepts their plan. She is to sharpen a double bladed sword and keep it under her cushion. An oil lamp must be prepared and kept beneath a cover. After her husband falls asleep, she must raise the light and behead him. The sisters promise they will be at her side when she finishes the deed.

Psyche is left alone and in her torment, the vengeful Furies keep her company and drive the chaotic tides of her heart and mind. She loved her tender husband but hated the unseen beast. She is torn apart, emboldened, then filled with despair, yet anger and frantic desperation lead her to prepare the knife and lamp.

Psyche experiences the painful questioning of her relationship. Alone, she is tormented by the pleasures and pains brought by her partner. The dizzying despair that comes from evaluating a relationship, especially during the early stages, can rival the violence of a riptide. Yet Psyche ventures forth to use the light of illumination and the blade of dissection in hopes of knowing her lover truly. 

Psyche’s Betrayal and Awakening

Emboldened not by strength or bravery, yet moved by fate, Psyche unveils the lamp and raises the blade. Yet when the light touches her husband, even the blade recoils from her hand is regretful. Eros’s beauty mesmerizes her, and her doubts are instantly relieved at this glorious sight. She sees his arrows at the foot of the bed, and in curiosity and overzealousness pricks herself on the tip. She falls in love with Love even more deeply and begins to kiss him passionately. The lamp, remarked as a servant of Love as it revealed his true beauty, betrays them in what could be jealousy or lust, as a drop of its hot oil scalds Eros’s right shoulder. The God awakens, realizes his wife’s betrayal, and flies away.

The double-bladed knife jumps from Psyche’s hand, as violent dissection can never progress or support the understanding of a lover. The lamp illuminates without fragmenting and reveals without separating. This illumination allows Psyche to witness her lover fully, unharmed. Yet Psyche cuts herself along another blade- the tip of Eros’s arrow. There is indeed a piercing nature to Love, but it is best left to a single point of entry for its spirit to infuse, rather than a debilitating laceration.

Eros’s arrow has deepend Psyche’s love for Love, which she approaches unthinkingly and without abandon. Yet this zealousness causes harm, as the lamp’s oil burns her object of affection. Love is pursued without regard for the lover; Psyche falls for the phenomenon instead of focusing on the figure. She had ventured to know and understand her lover, but is met instead with the world-shattering experience of “falling in love.”

Psyche holds on to his ankle, dangling about the clouds. She falls in exhaustion, and her husband speaks to her from a cypress tree. He reveals his disobedience to his Mother, and how he managed to prick himself while gazing upon her despite being the most skillful archer. He laments at his foolishness then states his vengeance against Psyche’s sisters. His only punishment for Psyche is his departure.

Psyche watches him fly away in despair and once she can no longer see him, attempts to throw herself in the river. The river, fearing Eros who can make even water burn, saves her and places her gently in the flowery bank. Pan, the God of the wild, happened to be nearby as he caressed Echo while teaching her a myriad of songs. He pities Psyche and gently tells her to dry her tears and seek Eros’s blessing, for she is suffering from Love.

Like many young lovers, when the rush of “being in love” is gone and the vain grasps onto the God-like phenomenon can no longer be upheld, a great depression sets in. Life seems empty and bland. Yet the river, which symbolizes the flow of life, guides Psyche onwards. Pan, the half God of wild nature, comforts Psyche and tells her to seek Eros’s blessings. He understands the pains of Psyche’s love well, as he loves Echo unrequitedly. 

Psyche goes on her way and reaches her brother in law’s home. Psyche announces to one sister that Eros has banished her from his bed but wishes to marry that sister in holy matrimony. The sister, consumed by envy and passion, lies to her husband and boards a ship to the cliff’s edge. She throws herself off the cliff, expecting the Zephyr to bring her to Eros. Instead, her body landed along the jagged rocks. Psyche visits her other sister, who bears the same fate.

Not only a satisfying turn of justice, the self-imposed deaths of the sisters highlights the self-destructive nature of an overly critical and calculating consciousness and how it cannot “marry” the true experience of Love. 

Psyche continues to wander in search of Eros, who has returned to his mother’s home to heal from his wound. A seabird seeks out Aphrodite and tells her that Eros heals from his troubles at her home and that the world reproaches her household. With Aphrodite and Eros retired, the world lacked charm and delight, with marriage degraded to only a chafing bond. The bird continues to speak ill of Eros and reveals his union with Psyche. This enrages Aphrodite, who emerges from the ocean and returns home to find her son in pain. She admonishes him fiercely, blaming him for his misbehaviors, including supplying his step-father Mars with an endless stream of lovers to her embarrassment.

When the archetypal forces of Aphrodite and Eros recede from conscious life, the world loses its radiance and beauty. Not to be shunned, these powerful forces are necessary to enrich life and enable fruitful partnerships, yet their experiences must be tempered.

Aphrodite contemplates seeking out Moderation, who can shave Eros’s golden hair and trim his wings, unstring his bow, and break his arrows. In her anger, she meets Hera and Demeter, who defend Eros as he is made in Aphrodite’s image.  

Meanwhile, Psyche wanders in search of Eros. She tends to Demeter’s shrine and implores the Goddess for help. Demeter pities Psyche but does not wish to anger Aphrodite. At the temple of Hera, Psyche meets the same fate and concludes that she must seek Aphrodite herself.

Aphrodite, great Terrible Mother and wrathful Beauty, understands that only Moderation can humble Eros and disarm him. Aphrodite and Psyche both seek the help of Demeter and Hera, who defend Eros and he is indeed her son and creation. Matters of love and romance cannot be delegated to motherly Demeter or dutiful Hera, as their level of awareness fixates on more established familial bonds and responsibilities.

Aphrodite also searches for Psyche. She rides the beautiful chariot crafted by her husband, which is pulled by 4 white doves. She seeks her sibling Hermes’ help in finding Psyche. Aphrodite promises 7 kisses with an 8th more passionate to whoever can find the mortal girl. 

The merciful and peaceful white doves guide Aphrodite’s descent to Earth, where she can call upon the God of communication in order to seek out and relate to Psyche, albeit in a cruel and domineering way. The gentler, more unifying aspects of Aphrodite must be conjured for any productive contact to occur.

Faced with the inevitability of her situation, Psyche approaches Aphrodite’s abode. Her mother-in-law yanks her by the hair and laughs cruelly at her. She proclaims that Psyche’s marriage is illegitimate, as it took place in a villa without witness or parental consent. Aphrodite then beats Psyche’s head, rips her hair, and shreds her clothes. Finally, she remarks that Psyche is so hideous that she may only attract a lover by industriousness. 

Here we must remember that this myth exists within another story. The old woman reciting “Eros and Psyche” to Charitie does so to respond to the questionable legitimacy of Charite’s own marital qualms. Beyond that, we can see the destructively rigid standards that the Terrible Mother archetype uses the measure Psyche. Brides with unrelenting mother-in-laws can surely relate. 

Psyche’s First Task

Aphrodite conjures millet, lentils, barley, wheat, poppy seeds, and beans and throws them into a heaping pile. She orders Psyche to sort through them before nightfall and leaves for a wedding feast. Psyche cries at this impossible task, but is greeted by an ant who takes pity on her. Soon, an army of ants come to her aid and sort the pile of seeds.

Though cruel, Aphrodite does challenge Psyche to evolve, mature, and prove her worth beyond mere beauty. Psyche must sort through seeds, which represent a myriad of potentials. To mature is to discern and choose between seemingly endless possibilities. Psyche is aided by ants, who represent a highly organized and enduringly laborious nature. This type of consciousness or mode of being is crucial to marriage, which often leaves the responsibilities of daily sorting and ordering to the woman. Psyche must call upon inner industriousness in order not to be overwhelmed by excessive choice. 

Aphrodite returns, and blames Eros’s help for the completion of the impossible task. She throws Psyche a crust of bread and leaves. Eros, still wounded, rests in a separate room. The two lovers spend another night apart beneath Aphrodite’s roof.

Though seemingly distant and out of commission, Eros still sends assistance to Psyche. Eros acts as the Animus, allowing contact between the conscious aspects and the untapped, unconscious qualities. Eros allows Psyche to access the ants, the industrious traits that had laid dormant until conjured by maturation and challenges.

Psyche’s Second Task

The next morning, Aphrodite gives Psyche a new task. She enlists Psyche to procure the golden fleece of the deadly sheep that graze by the river. Psyche leaves, not to fulfill the task, but to throw herself once again into the river. A nearby reed speaks to her, telling her not to pollute the sacred waters with a pitiful act. Instead, the reed warns her not to approach the sheep during the day, who soak up the sun’s torturous heat and take out the anger on passers-by. Instead, she must wait until the sheep find respite under the trees in the afternoon. With their tempers cooled, Psyche can explore the nearby woods where their golden fleece clings to bent branches. Psyche collects the golden fleece and brings it to Aphrodite, who proclaims her success is not of her own doing. 

Psyche again attempts to throw herself in the river, yet is saved by a reed, which brings back the figure of Pan along the riverbanks. The nymph Syrinx turned herself into a reed to escape Pan’s advances, and the sound of the wind running through her mesmerized the goat God. Psyche is aided by a water-dwelling plant that transmutes wind into song. The reed represents an intuitive, earthly wisdom that allows Psyche to maneuver the fiery rams. It is this cool, observant discernment that allows Psyche to avoid directly facing the heated, aggressive expressions of masculinity in order to collect remnants of the soft, golden fleece as the sheep relax in the afternoon. Psyche need not pull the wool directly from their flesh; her most successful approach is indirect. This is often the best way to maneuver around the pure masculine or logos principle; facing it head-on instigates a destructive battle whereas relating to it from the side allows it to surrender its softness.

Psyche’s Third Task

To test Psyche’s courage and intelligence, Aphrodite tasks her with filling a glass vial with the frozen liquid from black fount that resides on a steep mountain peak. This is the same water that feeds the river Styx.

Psyche climbed the mountain peak, which was lined with jagged rock walls and guarded by fiery serpents. Even the waters told Psyche to heed her life. Yet a nearby eagle of Zeus took pity on Psyche and remembered his loyalty to Eros. The eagle approached the waters in the name of Venus, who allowed him to fill the vial.

A divine creature of Zeus allows Psyche to extract these otherworldly waters. The unconscious may be contacted, but to do so safely requires only small doses facilitated by the wide perspective afforded by the Jupiterian (expansive) eagle. The crystal vessel allowed for the black water to be observed without being touched.

To attempt to steal the water directly implies death, yet Aphrodite’s blessing allows the eagle to act as a mediator. Expansion and deeper perspective for the continuation of life allows for productive contact with the Unconscious. Without a nobler motivation and broad sightedness, contact with the Unconscious results in destruction, akin to an underdeveloped brain exposed to powerful psychedelics. 

Psyche’s Final Task 

Psyche gives Aphrodite the water, but this does not satisfy the Goddess. Aphrodite tells her to take this vial and go to the Underworld to ask Persephone for a drop of her beauty, enough to last a day. Aphrodite requires it as her beauty has been drained while caring for her son.

Psyche finds the task impossible, as she is being sent to the Underworld. She climbs a high tower in hopes of throwing herself off of it, but the tower dissuades her. It tells her of the path to the Underworld and back. Psyche must carry a barley cake in each hand for the dog and two coins in her mouth for passage from the ferryman. She must not help the driver who has dropped wood, nor the drowning man, nor the old weaver, as she would lose her barley cake by extending her hand. For this reason, the boat man must take the coin directly from her mouth. She must decline rest and feast from Persephone and accept only bread. Finally, she must retrieve the drop of beauty and return without looking into the box or thinking too much about this gift of Divine Beauty.

The tower represents a human structure, which allows Psyche the foresight and structure needed to maneuver the underworld. It is human culture and tradition that allows for contact with these aspects in a safe way through spiritual or religious practice. Note that the tower is the 4th assistant and the only unnatural figure compared to the three first nature helpers (ant, reed, and eagle). 

Psyche is instructed to withhold help, as these distractions were sent by Aphrodite to thwart her path. The Terrible Mother wishes for the lifeforce to be dispersed and recycled within her, but Psyche’s focus on her task at hand propels her individuation and independence from the mother Goddess. 

Psyche must refuse the feast offered by Persephone, whose own story parallels Psyche’s. Persephone’s beauty led her to be captured by Hades, the God of the Underworld. The outstanding beauty and naivety of both figures thrust them into the arms of a deathly bride-groom.

Psyche descends safely into the Underworld, paying her fees and retrieving the box. Yet once she reaches the safety of the light, curiosity overtakes her. She cannot resist having a tiny bit of the beauty herself, if only to please her husband. Psyche opens the jar.

Yet there was no beauty within, only Deathly sleep. The slumber overcame her instantly, and she fell motionless.

Again, Psyche experiences a sort of death. Perhaps the death is brought by her need for Beauty, which initially isolated and entrapped her to her fate. Or perhaps deathly slumber is indeed the beauty offered by chtonic Persephone, which allows for rest and rejuvenation akin to winter.

Eros, with his scar now healed, flies down to Psyche and returns the sleep to the jar and awakens her. He sends Psyche to finish her last task. Eros, aware of his mother’s tyrannical ways, flies to Zeus and kneels before him. Zeus admonishes Eros for all of his troubles, but agrees to help him due to his inherent nature. Zeus also requests an outstandingly beautiful woman for repayment.

Zeus calls a meeting of the Gods and provides Psyche with ambrosia so that she may be immortal and marry Eros rightfully. A daughter named Pleasure was born from their union. 

Psyche is awakened from her sleep and immortalized; she leaves the state of deathly slumber and becomes Divine. She is able to bear a Divine child. Psyche has integrated discernment, intuition, knowledge, and strength and reunites once and for all with Eros, who has transcended his mother’s grasp. Psyche has found Divine Love.

Together, Psyche and Eros have created Pleasure, the euphoric joy that stems from the union of Divine Love and the Soul (Psyche). 

Eros and Psyche: A Broader Perspective

“Eros and Psyche” maps the jagged terrain of wholeness and the evolution of a fragmented virginal (untouched) consciousness into unity through challenges that awaken the necessary capabilities. 

Through a Jungian lens, Eros acts as Psyche’s animus and assists her through her tasks indirectly. He allows her to access aspects of her Unconscious and even guides her to the Collective Unconscious. He relates to her first as an animalistic, primal lover, then a husband who limits her to the marriage bed. He becomes a man of words and power through his guidance across the abyss. Finally he meets her in Divine union, and their love begets a spiritual Pleasure. 

From a lover’s perspective, the tale acts as a guide to maneuvering the thralls of marriage and relating. From the horrors and challenges of a Terrible Mother mother-in-law, the deaths of former selves, the honeymoon heights of fantasy, and the slow but sure progress towards relating and seeing the beloved clearly through the balance of the self. 

In context, “Eros and Psyche” mirror Lucius’s journey from degraded human, base animal, to devotee of Isis. It also inversely mirrors Charite’s story of an arguably illegitimate marriage and suffering through mortal love. I suppose the myth emphasizes the purifying and eternal qualities of Divine Love, whereas Charite’s cruel fate highlights the limits and pains of pursuing only mortal love.