Psyche goddess biography of alberta

It was then that Psyche learned that the invisible person was her new husband. He visited only at night, forbidding her to look upon his face or learn his name, saying that it was better for her to love him as an equal than to see him as something godly. Psyche's first weeks within the palace were filled with pleasures, and although she feared him at first, she eventually came to fall in love with the invisible man and soon fell pregnant.

During the day, however, she became lonely, only looking forward to nighttime when her husband would visit. Eventually, she asked to see her sisters who, in her absence, had assumed her death and had been in mourning. Cupid eventually permitted her to invite her family to the palace, instructing Zephyrus to carry the sisters to the palace where they would be reunited.

At first, Psyche lied about who her husband was, claiming he was a hunter. In anger and jealousy, they recalled the Oracle's words and claimed that Psyche's husband was not a kind man but in fact a monster, and that she should approach him in his sleep and kill him. Psyche, although doubtful, was eventually swayed by her sisters' words and looked upon Cupid while he was sleeping, sneaking into his room with an oil lamp and a knife.

As Psyche shone the light on her husband's face, she realized that he was a god and reprimanded herself for her foolishness. However, as she shifted, a small drop of hot oil fell onto Cupid' shoulder, awakening him. Betrayed by his wife's actions, Cupid took off in flight to be attended to by his mother, due to his burns from the oil lamp.

As he disappeared, so did the palace, and Psyche found herself in a field near where her sisters lived. Distraught, Psyche told her sisters of what happened and they pretended to be saddened for her. Instead, the sisters were plotting to convince Cupid to take one of them to be his wife. The two traveled to the peak and jumped, thinking Zephyrus would catch them and take them to the palace as he did the last time.

Zephyrus, however, knowing what was truly in their hearts, ignored them and the two sisters fell to their deaths. Demeter , the goddess of agriculture, pitied the girl and told her to go to Aphrodite and beg for forgiveness. When the girl came and begged for forgiveness, the angry goddess had Psyche whipped and tortured. Afterward, she was given barrels of grains, barley, wheat, beans, and poppy seeds [ 15 ] mixed together to sort through and was ordered to have them sorted by evening.

Psyche broke down in despair, but ants sent by Demeter witnessed the exchange and took pity on the girl, instructing her colony to help sort the grain. Aphrodite, surprised and enraged to see that the task had been completed, gave Psyche a new task. This time, she was ordered to approach a pack of rams known for being violent and shear their golden fleece to bring back to the goddess.

Rather than be killed by these rams, Psyche planned on drowning herself in the river near the pack. As she prepared to do so, the river god Potamoi spoke and said, "Psyche, tried by much suffering, do not pollute my holy waters with your pitiable death. Psyche listened to the river god and waited until it got cooler before she was able to safely shear the fleece off the backs of the rams.

Once that task had been completed, Aphrodite gave Psyche her third task: gather the black waters from the River Styx in a crystal cup the goddess had given her. Arriving near the river, Psyche once again began to despair, for getting to the river itself meant climbing up a treacherous cliff and risking her life. This time, it was Zeus who took pity on the girl and sent his eagle to retrieve the water for her in the crystal cup, thus successfully completing the third task.

For her fourth and final task, Psyche was given a golden box and ordered to travel to the Underworld to retrieve a bit of beauty possessed by Persephone , goddess of spring, and queen of the Underworld. Psyche, believing this last task was impossible, once again decided to take her own life. She climbed a tall tower and prepared to jump, but the tower spoke and instructed Psyche to go to the border of Sparta where she could find a passageway to the Underworld.

However, on her way back to give Aphrodite the box, curiosity once again overcame her and she opened it. Instead of finding a sample of beauty, she found a cloud of darkness that put her in a deep sleep. By this point in the story, Cupid had fully healed from his injury and took flight to find his love. When he found Psyche, he gently awoke her with an arrow and took the box to Aphrodite before going in search of Zeus to plead his case.

Zeus arranged an assembly, sending Hermes , the messenger god, to gather the gods together. At this assembly, Zeus warned Aphrodite not to ever bring harm to Psyche again before handing the girl the drink of the gods, ambrosia , which granted her immortality. Psyche might have continued to have enjoyed without interruption this state of happiness, if she had attended to the advice of her beloved, never to give way to her curiosity, or to inquire who he was.

But her jealous sisters made her believe that in the darkness of night she was embracing some hideous monster, and accordingly once, while Amor was asleep, she approached him with a lamp, and, to her amazement, she beheld the most handsome and lovely of the gods. In her excitement of joy and fear, a drop of hot oil fell from her lamp upon his shoulder.

This awoke Amor, who censured her for her mistrust, and escaped. Psyche's peace was now gone all at once, and after having attempted in vain to throw herself into a river, she wandered about from temple to temple, inquiring after her beloved, and at length came to the palace of Venus. There her real sufferings began, for Venus retained her, treated her as a slave, and imposed upon her the hardest and most humiliating labors.

Psyche would have perished under the weight of her sufferings, had not Amor, who still loved her in secret, invisibly comforted and assisted her in her labors. With his aid she at last succeeded in overcoming the jealousy and hatred of Venus; she became immortal, and was united with him for ever.

Psyche goddess biography of alberta

The most commonly retold version says that Eros left Psyche after sparing her, leaving her to live a life of loneliness. Despite her immense beauty, no one dared to ask her hand in marriage. Men admired her from afar, leaving her no available consorts. Pair that with the departure of her jealous sisters, and Psyche was a lonely princess. So, he went to the Oracle of Delphi for advice.

The Oracle of Delphi, also known as Pythia, was the high priestess at the temple of Apollo. Apollo spoke through the Oracle of Delphi, telling him that Psyche was to marry a beast that scared even the gods. He instructed the King to dress her up in funeral clothes, take her to the tallest rock spire, and leave her to her fate. After waiting for the beast to take her, Psyche grew fearful and decided to take her own life.

She leapt from the spire to her doom. But instead of dying, she was rescued. Zephyrus , an Anemoi and Greek lord of the West Wind, stopped her fall. He used his mighty wind to send her to the palace of Eros. However, she was not aware of her surroundings. Left in darkness, Psyche waited for someone to return. Eros saw her waiting in the darkness.

Instead of unveiling his identity, he told Psyche that she should never attempt to see him or learn his name. If you want a full overview, you can check out this detailed list with all Greek Gods , which gives detailed insights on each god and their place in Greek myths. Hi, I'm Cedric Ferris. I got into mythology because of my all-time favorite game "Age of Mythology.

Come with me on this trip into the magical and the mythical stuff! Learn about Nerites, a minor sea god in Greek myths. Known for his beauty, Nerites was changed into a sea creature by the gods. Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, is known for causing conflicts and chaos in mythology. Nefertem, the Egyptian god of vegetation and perfume, son of Sekhmet and Ptah, is a symbol of ancient Egyptian mythology.

Explore the intriguing tales of Hedylogos, the Greek god recognized for his skill in sweet-talking. Discover more about his role among the Erotes. Discover the role of Zelos, a spirit from Greek mythology representing dedication and rivalry. Explore his place among other divine beings. Skip to content. Key Points: Psyche means soul in Greek.

She started as a very beautiful mortal woman. Eros, the god of love, fell for her. Aphrodite made Psyche go through hard tests. Psyche completed tasks that helped her grow. Table of Contents. Previous Previous.