The Marriage of Cupid & Psyche

as a Calendar of the Moon

Richard Denner

dPress 2004 Sebastopol

Cover collage by the author

Library of Congress Control Number: 2004096722

Psyche is the youngest, most beautiful daughter of a king and queen. Psyche’s beauty rivals that of Venus, and Venus, feeling dissed, orders her son, Cupid, to wound the princess with one of his arrows. “Make Psyche fall in love with the vilest of men or the most wretched of beasts,” she commands.

Cupid spies on Psyche, but as he attempts to shoot her, he cuts himself with the tip of his arrow and so falls in love with this mortal himself. The next thing you know, Psyche’s suitors have mysteriously disappeared.

Venus puts a curse on the kingdom because no one is worshiping at her altar. The parents consult Apollo’s oracle, with the result that Psyche is to be sacrificed to Apollo. Apollo owes one to Cupid and sets up the escape. Psyche is left on a cliff to await being devoured by a python. She is whisked away by the wind god, Zephyrus.

She wanders, and with the aid of Pan, she discovers Castle Wonderful. Once she occupies the castle, spirits assist her. Draw her bath. Do her nails. Brew tea. She’s disoriented and expects the worse, but she’s told by the spirits to relax and to expect her host after dark. Cupid arrives, and although she can’t see him, she can feel his downy body and strong wings. She’s not sure what he is, but she enjoys him and their lovemaking. He comes to her night after night.

After a time, she complains that she is bored during the day. There is only so much to see and only so much primping she can do. She misses her two sisters. Cupid reluctantly complies with her wish for them to visit. They have been married off to old kings, and although they are comfortable, there is something missing in their lives. They look around Psyche’s digs, not fully comprehending where they are, but blown away at how their sister has lucked out. They’re gaga and jealous. They tell Psyche she is married to a monster and that she should hide a dagger and a candle under their bed, and when her husband is asleep to light the candle and plunge the dagger into his heart.

Psyche is naive. She has doubts, and that night, after her sisters have gone, and after her husband is satisfied and asleep, she lights the candle and holds it over her husband’s reclining body. Here’s an embellishment by Bulfinch that I like. The candle is so excited by Cupid’s beauty that its wax splatters on his skin. He awakes, and as he flies off he says, “Love cannot live with Suspicion!”

Psyche wanders on a barren plain in search of Cupid. She comes upon Ceres’s temple, which she finds in disorder. She puts the hoes and rakes in nice, neat stacks, and she is rolling the hoses into loops, when she is stopped by the goddess and told to cease and desist. She is instructed to take her problem directly to Venus, and with trepidation, Psyche does as she is told.

She is received by Venus and given an interrogation definitely prohibited by the Geneva Convention. After nearly drowning on a water board and then fouling her gown after being given a hefty dose of Castor Oil, she is assigned a set of impossible tasks. Number one. She has to separate a pile of mixed seeds for Venus’s parrot because this bird likes his pistachios neat. Psyche knows the task is absurd. She sits down and has a good cry.

The elementals take pity on her. Fire, air, earth and water all come into play in the four tasks. While Psyche mopes, the ants sort the different seeds into piles. When Venus returns and sees the fine work of the ants, she can’t believe her eyes, and she gives Psyche a thrashing and feeds her some moldy pizza.

Task number two. Get some Golden Fleece. Psyche despairs when she sees the ferocious rams in the field across a raging river. So, she cries and thinks that maybe she’ll drown herself. The river hears her, and the reeds tell her to go downstream where there are some rocks she can cross on, and for her to pick the fleece she needs from the thorn bushes. Psyche does so, and when she returns with an armload of fleece, Venus is angry and gives her a good Dutch rubbing.

Task number three. Get water from the source of the River Styx, the river of death. The river issues forth from a cliff face and is protected by multi-headed serpents protruding from the cliff walls, their necks capable of covering all directions of approach. Psyche is aided by an eagle, which flies between the serpents and returns with a small jar of the river water. Bamboo splinters under the fingernails, this time.

Fourth and final task. Venus demands, “Get me a drop of beauty, enough to last a day.” Psyche is given a box and sent to Proserpine, Goddess of the Underworld. Psyche freaks and decides to commit suicide, an even better solution than crying. She climbs up a tower and is about to jump off, when the tower speaks to her. Psyche discovers a hidden staircase, which she descends, and is given a vial of the potion she requires.

However, and this is where Psyche shines, before she returns the box to Venus, she considers her haggard condition, and knows that if Cupid were to see her in her present state, he wouldn’t love her. So, she opens the vial, and a deep sleep overcomes her.

Cupid helps her recover with a kiss, and she completes her task. Cupid intercedes with Jupiter, reminding the dude of the many times he has been helped to score. Psyche is received into heaven. Drinks ambrosia. Is given a nice apartment. And Venus dances at the wedding.

And just to round things out, Psyche gives birth to a baby girl named Bliss.

Outline of the story

An esoteric outline of the story of Cupid & Psyche follows, utilizing the Major Trumps of the Tarot & the following numerological system: 1=beginning, 2=balance, 3=expansion, 4=realization, 5=change, 6=harmony, 7=uncertainty, 8=activity, 9=wisdom.

0 – The Fool – Moving forward on faith

1 – Magus – Access to power – The eclipse of Venus by a mortal, Venus calls Cupid –beginning

New Moon Phase

2 – Priestess – Hidden issues – Parents consult Apollo’s oracle, Apollo & Cupid confer – balance

3 – Empress – Potential birth – Psyche left on rock, aided by Zephyrus – expansion

4 – Emperor – Exertion of will – Psyche wanders & finds Ceres’s castle, aided by Pan – realization

5 – High Priest – Traditional search for meaning – Occupies castle, attended by spirits – change

  Crescent Moon Phase

6 – The Lovers – Testing, choice – Cupid charges her not to look upon his features – harmony

7 – The Chariot – Initiation & mastery of opposites – Psyche begs to see her sisters – activity

8 – Justice – Karmic retribution, an unfinished lesson – Sisters instill suspicion – uncertainity

First Quarter Moon Phase

9 – The Hermit – Separation from others – Psyche beholds her lover & wounds him – wisdom

10 – The Wheel – All things must pass – Psyche tells the sisters her tale, sisters fall – beginning  

11 – Strength – Lower nature brought into harmony w/ higher – Psyche wanders in search of Cupid – balance

12 – The Hanged Man – Enlightenment thru limitation, listening to inner voices – Psyche attempts to put Ceres’s temple into order – expansion

Gibbous Moon Phase

13 – Death – Transformation, regeneration, prepare for rebirth – Punished by Venus – realization

14 – Temperance — Moderation, compromise, integration – Ants sort grains into piles  — change

15 – The Devil – A challenge to weakness — Venus angry, throws Psyche in dungeon —harmony        Full Moon

16 – The Tower – A breakup of crystallized patterns— Psyche despairs of getting the Golden Fleece — uncertainty

17 – The Star – Clarity, insight – Psyche aided by the river — activity

18 – The Moon — Venus angry, Psyche tortured — wisdom

Disseminating  Moon Phase

19 – The Sun – Psyche gets water from River Styx, aided by eagle – beginning

20 – Judgement – Psyche aided by an eagle — balance

21 – The World – Psyche returns to an angry Venus – expansion

  0 – The Fool, the process of transformation – to get a vial of beauty — realization

Last Quarter Moon Phase

23 – Psyche goes to the tower to commit suicide – change

24 – Descent into Underground – harmony

25 – Returns, opens box, falls into deep sleep – uncertainty

26 – Psyche recovered by Cupid‘s kiss and completes task – activity

27 – Cupid intercedes with Jupiter — wisdom

Balsamic Moon Phase

28 – Psyche received into Olympus, she drinks Ambrosia —–beginning

29 – Birth of Bliss, Pleasure, Joy — balance

  0 – A new cycle and, hopefully, the gods are the wiser

While the outer narrative reveals an arch-typical conflict between the gods and a mortal, Psyche’s inner story moves from initial innocence to wisdom. Psyche’s adventure concerns her evolution from the earth plane to the plane of heaven, the transmutation of a mortal into a goddess. This is reflected in the Journey of the Fool & in the Zodiac.

The Kore. This maiden’s journey begins once her beauty becomes a challenge to Venus and the involvement of Cupid. In terms of a calendar of the moon this is the New Moon phase, a beginning ripe with uncertainty. The triple goddess is made up of the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. The Mother. The body of the story details Psyche’s gaining experience, her tests and achievements. As for the part of The Crone, Psyche completes her tasks and is immortalized.

The story of The Marriage of Cupid & Psyche illustrates that success comes from realizing your unique achievements, that you can make do with what you’ve got (Aries). First thing you learn is the need to make concrete sense of your individuality and to seek supports, even if it means pulling yourself up by your bootstraps (Taurus). Evaluation and assimilation of ideas, then, and the ability to communicate these ideas to others (Gemini). Stability is a must. Happiness requires a feeling for home and roots (Cancer). Emotional energies overflow into the environment (Leo). “I love you, but I kill you, but I’ll love you forever,” that sort of thing. The cycle reaches its apex when Psyche tries to put Ceres’s temple into order. Her original impulse is toward self-improvement and hard work (Virgo), but she gets knocked about.

The four tasks are opportunities to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Here, she learns to rely on others (Libra). This is the point of the Full Moon. Then, the yoga of managing her energy in order to accomplish the tasks at hand (Scorpio). This is the beginning of the Disseminating Moon phase.

In the Disseminating Moon phase, happiness is sought by deep study and by crisis and reorientation (Sagittarius), and in the Last Quarter phase, Psyche shows she’s got gumption and can get her man (Capricorn). After missing her opportunity for an extreme makeover, she gets a clue that there are larger issues (Aquarius). Finally, in the Balsamic Moon phase, all fruits and final products are realized. This is where karma dissolves. This is where Psyche attains the rainbow body (Pices).

The Marriage of Cupid & Psyche as a Calendar of the Moon

“Get me a drop of beauty, enough to last a day!”

Bibliography

Apuleius, Lucius. Golden Ass of Apuleius, translated  

     by Robert Graves. Pocket Library, NY, 1954.

Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch’s Mythology, Avenel       

     Books, New York, 1959.

Pond, David & Lucy. The Metaphysical Handbook,  

     Reflecting Pond Publications, Port Ludlow, 1984.

Rudhyar, Dane. The Lunation Cycle, Shambala,

     Berkeley & London, 1971.

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