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We are currently in the month of February, so we have an excellent opportunity to talk
a little bit about Valentineís Day.
There are many different stories as to why and how this day of celebration started, but
just like so many stories that are very, very old, nobody can really PROVE exactly what
happened. And the truth of the matter is, that no matter how it may have started, it
has grown into a day that people all over the world celebrate with different traditions
in many different ways. The purpose of Valentineís Day is to celebrate love and friendship.
So, instead of telling you how this celebration of love ended up being called ìValentineís
Day,î Iím going to tell you the story of Cupid and Psyche.
You may, or may not, understand that many of the celebrations throughout the Wheel of
Year started out as something much different than what YOU celebrate today. And, really,
thatís all right. Do you celebrate your birthday the same way each and every year, or do you
change the way you celebrate each year? If youíre 16, youíre probably not celebrating
your birthday the same way you did when you were 8 or even 3. Everything changes all the
time, and Valentineís Day is no exception.
When you think of Cupid, you probably think of some cute little angel boy flying around
shooting arrows into people that make them fall in love with each other. But thatís
not the way he was thought of a time long time ago. No, he was a full grown man and
very mischievious. Weíre going to call it that: mischievious. He was, in fact, quite
different, always tricking people, and stirring up trouble and doing things he shouldnít.
He would use his arrows to trick people into falling in love with each other, whether they
were already married or not, and sometimes he even caused people to hate each other.
Oh yes, Cupid was once known as someone very different than what you probably think of
him today.
His motherís name was Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. When you think of the Goddess of
Love, you probably get a very warm feeling and may even think of how it feels when your
own mother hugs you and makes everything right with the world. Well, love is a funny thing,
and is something that some people search for all their lives. Some are even quite jealous
of those who have love in their lives, when they do not. Aphrodite is all of these things
and many more. One thing she has long been known for is being jealous.
Which brings us to Psyche. She was a mortal woman. A human. Like me. Like your mother,
and like many others you know. But she was beautiful. Think of the most beautiful woman
you know. Maybe youíve seen one on TV or in the movies thatís really, really gorgeous.
Well, she was even more beautiful than anyone you can possibly imagine. But she wasnít
so very happy, Iím sorry to say. Because she was SO beautiful, people were
afraid to approach her or talk to her. They thought they might not be good enough to talk
to her. Which is really, honestly, quite sad. The way someone looks should not tell us how
we treat each other. But that IS what happened.
Pysche had two older sisters who were not as beautiful as she was, but were both married
and mostly happy in their lives. You wouldnít think they would have any reason to be jealous
of their younger sister ñ after all, they already had everything they could wish for!
Pyscheís parents though, worried about what to do for their youngest daughter. It might
have been different if she was happy being alone, but she wasnít. She wanted a husband
because she was lonely and because she was so very tired of being alone with nobody to
talk to at all.
There was a small problem though. Because Psyche was so beautiful, people began to call
her Aphrodite and they worshipped her instead of the Goddess. When Aphrodite heard what
was happening, she became very angry indeed. She called her son, Cupid, to her side and
ordered him to make Psyche fall in love with a man who was not only ugly in appearance,
but was also a mean man. A dirty man, who rarely bathed and who spent his money on things
he didnít need, so he was always broke. In other words: a loser.
Cupid didnít really like his mother telling him what to do, but didnít like having her
nag him either, so he went to see what was happening with Psyche and decided he would
make his own decision what to do with her.
In the meantime, Psycheís father was terribly unhappy, because he was worried the Gods were
upset with him, so he went to an oracle ñ or priest ñ of the God Apollo for advice.
The oracle told the father that he must prepare Psyche for her funeral instead of for a wedding,
as she would never marry a mortal, or human, man. Instead, the oracle said, she would marry
a fierce snake-like monster with wings and a poisonous dart. The man loved his youngest
daughter very much, but he was afraid of the Gods, so he did what the oracle told him,
abandoning Psyche on a huge boulder, at the top of a mountain.
Psyche told her mother and father not to cry, because she was not afraid. She told them
she was looking forward to meeting her new, wonderful husband. Of course, weíll never
know whether she really was afraid or not, but thatís the way this story goes.
Before long, the West Wind gently pulled Psyche her from the loney rock, where she sat all
alone, and transported her to a beautiful wooded area where she finds an enchanted palace.
Although she can hear friendly voices, she never sees anyone at all. Still, everything
she needs is provided for her night and day. Every night she is visited by a man who she
can feel and hear and talk with, but who she never sees. She falls deeply in love with
the man and soon gets used to her very unusual life. Although he spends every night with
her, heís always gone when the morning comes.
Of course, we know this man is Cupid, donít we? What we donít know ñ and what we will
never find out ñ is why Cupid didnít want Psyche to see him.
When her older sisters found out about the wonderful life Psyche was living, they were
very unhappy indeed. Instead of being happy for her, and enjoying their own lives, they
were terribly, terribly jealous. When they paid their sister a visit, they convinced
her that her huband was a terrible beast ñ just like the oracle had told their father,
and that during the day, when he was gone, he was doing terrible things. The sisters
told Psyche that he was just waiting for her to have a baby, so he could eat the child
and then he would eat her too. They told her that she must kill the man who was really
a beast and gave her a dagger to do the deed. They told her not to look ñ to just kill
him as he slept.
Now, remember ñ when Psyche was growing up, people didnít talk to her, because she was
so beautiful. Everyone treated her more like she was a thing, an object, than a person,
so she didnít understand that people could lie and be cruel. Psyche was always honest
because she never learned to lie, so she thought her sisters were telling her the truth and
trying to protect her.
That night, when Cupid fell asleep, Psyche did as her sisters told her. But he had been
a wonderful husband, so she couldnít bring herself to kill him as he slept without at
least looking first, to make sure he was a beast. So she lit an oil lamp so she could
see her husband. Iím guessing she was hoping her sisters were wrong. When she saw him,
she was overwhelmed with excitement and happiness because not only was he NOT a monster, but
he was gorgeous. She gasped and stepped back one step, only to have one of cupidís arrows
graze her leg. Now she was even more in love with the God than she was before. But when
the arrow cut her, she jiggled the oil lamp she was holding and it burned Cupid on his
shoulder.
He woke up and was very, very angry that Psyche had done exactly what heíd asked her NOT
to do! He told her then, that heíd injured himself with one of his own arrows and had
fallen madly in love with her, but would not stay with her if he could not trust her. So
he left her and went back to his mother, Aphrodite, who laughed at him, saying ìSee? I told you
humans were no good!î
Ahhhh .... but Psyche was well and truly in love with her husband, and not just because
of his arrow. And so she searched for him. Her story is really quite a long one, but
what I will tell you, is that after many trials, she found herself in front of Aphrodite. She
begged the Goddess of Love for another chance and Aphrodite agreed ñ but only because she
knew she would make it impossible for Psyche to do all the things she set out for her.
There were four challenges Aphrodite gave Psyche to do to win her favor if she was ever
to see Cupid again. Cupid, for his part, was still recovering from the oil lamp burn and
his broken heart at being betrayed by Psyche. The first task was that Psyche was to do was
to separate a huge ñ weíre talking HUGE - pile of wheat, millet, poppyseed, chickpeas,
lentils, and beans in a very short amount of time. An ant took pity on her. Angry with
Aphroditeís behavior, the ant called hundreds of other ants and got the job done very quickly.
The next day, Aphrodite showed the girl a flock of golden sheep in the distance, commanding
her to bring her back a tuft (That means ìA little bitî) of the golden wool. These sheep,
though, were not like the one you might think of when you picture a sheep in your mind.
No, these were wild beasts, with sharp horns and hooves who would have trampled and sckewered
her! When she arrived there, a green reed in the river explained to Psyche how and when
to gather the wool so the sheep wouldnít harm her, so she was able to complete the
second task.
Aphrodite was furious with Psyche, because she was doing the impossible and accused her
of getting help from Cupid.
The third task Aphrodite gave to Pscyhe was to get a small jug of water from the River
Styx, an icy-cold stream way, way, WAAAY up in the mountains. It was a terrible task that
no human could hope to do. There were giant snakes guarding the entrance and the water
itself had the power of speech, telling her to ìStay away! Stay away!î Zeusí highest
bird, a golden eagle, helped her to gather the water because Cupid had once helped him.
And so Psyche completed three of the four tasks. Do you think this was good enough for
Aphrodite? Probably not, heh? Instead of being pleased, she was even MORE furious!! She was
so mad!
This time, she sent Psyche to Hades with a box to gather a small supply of beauty cream
from Persephone. She was told NOT to look in the box over and over and over again. Pscyche
knew there was no way whatsoever that she could do what was commanded of her, so instead
went to the top of a very tall tower, to throw herself off and end her life. She knew there
was no way she could do this task that Aphrodite set for her.
The tower, though, told her not to end her life and then told her how to find the entry
to the Underworld, how to get around the many obstacles that would be in her path ñ and
yes, there were many obstacles Aphrodite put in her path - and how to treat the Queen of
the Underworld, Persephone. There were all tricks to everything.
All these, Psyche did just as she was told. She got the beauty cream and was headed back
to Aphrodite when she simply couldnít resist her curiosity any longer. She opened the box.
Instead of beauty cream, the only thing in the box was the Sleep of Hades. And so did
Psyche fall to the ground in a deep, eternal sleep.
Oh no! Isnít that a terrible ending to a Valentineís Day story? What does that have
to do with love? Well ñ itís NOT the end. Nor should YOU think the end of your story
has come ñ no matter how broken hearted you may be in life ñ remember to keep going until
you HAVE your happy ending.
Cupid arrived on the scene, because he had finally healed and HAD to find his lovely
wife, no matter what had happened between them. He took her to Olympus where he convinced
Zeus, the King of the Gods, that his love was true. And so did Zeus give Psyche ambrosia,
making her a Goddess.
Aphrodite and Cupid and Psyche eventually mended all the hurt feelings between them,
and Psyche gave birth to a daughter by the name of Pleasure.
And so ends our story of Cupid and Psyche. Happy Cupidís Day!