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| Finding my ability to transform from pain to beauty led me to research more on the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. The Butterfly functions on a 3-dimensional level. The 3-dimensions represented by Gadon's theory of the trinity; Maiden, Mother, Crone or my theory of the trinity as Ego, Body and Soul. The butterfly can go where the caterpillar can not. Psyche means both butterfly and Soul in Greek. The Swiss psychologist, C.G. Jung, taught that the human mind or psyche is complex. Complexes are the focal point of psychic life. He divided the unconscious into two parts, the personal and the collective. "Whereas the personal unconscious consists for the most part of complexes, the content of the collective unconscious is made up of archetypes." | |||||||||||||
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The archetypal story of Psyche which consists of found love, lost and found again between the ego, body and soul was inspired by the butterfly's powers of transformations. Psyche (representing soul) was the most beautiful (beauty representing ego) daughter of a mortal king and queen. | ||||||||||||
| Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty, was so jealous that she sent her son Eros, God of love, (love representing body) to punish her. She commissioned him to pierce Psyche with one of his arrows and forcing her to fall in love with the first Horrific man she sees. Eros Flew down to find Psyche asleep on the riverbank and did as his mother asked but felt so guilty that he pierced himself as well and scattered healing drops all over Psyche. Psyche recovered but from that day on no man had asked for her hand in marriage. | |||||||||||||
| Psyche's parents were worried for her and asked the Oracle at Delphi to explain the problem. The Oracle told them that Psyche was to marry an immortal monster who waited for her on the mountain. So Psyche decided to take the journey (representing the pathway to the soul) to meet her fate. Her husband finally goes to her and whispers in a sweet gentle voice, "I am a god but I want you to love me as a husband." Psyche accepted this and lived with him there for a long time. |  |
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| Psyche started to miss her sisters and requested that they come for a visit. But the sisters were so jealous that they convinced her that her husband was the monster the Oracle said he was and that Psyche should light a lamp to see him and kill him with a dagger.
That night Psyche did just that but as she sneaked a peek at her husband a drop of oil from the lamp had fallen onto his chest, which startled him awake. She recognized him as Eros. Eros was so upset with her suspicion and told Psyche to go back to her sisters. Eros left Psyche to roam the Earth looking for her lost love. She came across the temple of Demeter and performed an act of kindness by placing Demeter's sheaves of corn in order. An attempt to show Psyche is humbled by her loss. Demeter was please with this and informed Psyche she is suffering form the anger and jealousy of Aphrodite. |
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| Psyche went to the Goddess of Beauty and asked what must she do to find her love again. Aphrodite gave Psyche a series of tests to perform. Her first test was to separate grains into similar piles, which filled a room and it had to be completed by midnight. She thought of how difficult this task was until she received help and assistance from her friends, the ants. Her final test for her to accomplish was that Psyche had to travel to the underworld and ask Persephone to fill a box with beauty for Aphrodite. | |||||||||||||
| Upon Psyche's return, she was so worried about her own beauty and was afraid her husband would not recognize her anymore, she decided to open the box but the sleep of death came out of the box and Psyche dropped where she was. All this time Eros was missing his wife and found Psyche lying on the ground. He pierced her with his arrow again to bring her back to life. Her love had come to save her. Eros went to Zeus to tell him of their story and Zeus was filled with compassion. Zeus gave Psyche a drink of Heavenly Ambrosia to become immortal so that she and Eros will never be apart again. | |||||||||||||
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| As Psyche, the most beautiful of mortals, sleeps among the flowers, she dreams of beholding the perfect face of Eros, her lover. Having found true love in each other, they float down the river of life forever. www.leanintree.com | |||||||||||||
| Psyche as a Goddess shows us how to get back on the pathway to the soul. With her series of tests, she had to experience the Beauty of her Soul to acknowledge it exists. To deny the Soul is to deny every good thing that emanates from it, including creativity, self-determination, responsibility, morality, reason and a value of life itself. | |||||||||||||
| By denying the Soul creates a chaotic dimensional system "the butterfly effect", which can only exist in all natural complex systems. When Psyche found her soul, she found her greatest love again. Now she is transformed as the butterfly to experience all of life on a 3-dimensional level; Ego, Body and Soul co-existing in peace and harmony among the heavens. |  |
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by Gailya Sunfly |
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| 1. Draw a butterfly on cardboard. 2.Color it or paint it. 3.Cut it into pieces like a puzzle. 4.Put it back together. 5.Use puzzle glue so that the pieces will never be separated again. Tools you will need: 6. A small dark comfortable room symbolizing a chrysalis. |
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Join a School |
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http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/psyche.html |
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