Love & Relationships
Through Softening, honesty and courage to be seen as we are.
Psyche and Eros
Psyche was a mortal woman whose beauty became so renowned that people began abandoning the temples of Aphrodite to worship her instead. Aphrodite, furious at being overshadowed, sent her son Eros to make Psyche fall in love with a monstrous creature.
But when Eros saw Psyche, he was so startled by her radiance that he accidentally pricked himself with his own arrow — and fell deeply in love with her.
Meanwhile, Psyche’s father, troubled by a prophecy that she would marry a “fearsome beast,” brought her to a mountaintop to meet her fate. Instead of a monster, a gentle wind carried her to a hidden palace. There, an unseen husband visited her each night, speaking tenderly but insisting she never look upon his face.
For a time, Psyche was content. But her sisters visited and planted seeds of doubt:
“What if he is a monster? What if he plans to devour you?”
Fear took root. One night, Psyche lit a lamp to see him. In the glow, she saw not a monster but Eros — the god of love himself. Startled, she spilled hot oil on his shoulder. Wounded and betrayed, Eros fled.
Heartbroken, Psyche wandered the earth searching for him. She begged Aphrodite for help, but the goddess, still jealous, set her a series of impossible tasks:
Sorting a mountain of mixed seeds in one night
• Fetching golden wool from violent rams
• Collecting water from a deadly river guarded by serpents
• Descending into the underworld to retrieve a box of beauty from Persephone
Each task should have killed her. Yet Psyche persisted. Ants helped her sort the seeds. A reed whispered how to gather wool safely. An eagle carried the water for her. Even in the underworld, she stayed steady.
But on her return, Psyche opened the box of beauty, hoping to make herself worthy of Eros. Instead, she fell into a deathlike sleep.
Eros, healed and longing for her, found her, revived her, and pleaded with Zeus to intervene. Moved by Psyche’s devotion, Zeus granted her immortality. Psyche and Eros were reunited — not in secrecy, but in truth.
Her name, Psyche, means both soul and breath.
Her story is the journey of the soul learning to love without fear.
Insights
Perception
• Psyche’s perception was distorted by fear and comparison.
• She saw danger where there was devotion because she inherited others’ insecurities.
Belief
• She believed she was unworthy of divine love unless she proved herself.
• This belief drove her into unnecessary suffering.
Attention
• Her attention drifted toward threat rather than trust.
• She focused on what could go wrong instead of what was true.
Conditioning
• Conditioned by a culture that prized beauty and obedience, she internalised the idea that love must be earned through hardship.
Healing Wisdom
Healing is not about returning to the past — it is about becoming someone who can hold love with clarity rather than fear. Psyche’s trials represent the inner work of integrating doubt, shadow, and self-trust.
Modern Day Parallel
This myth mirrors the experience of many today:
• People sabotage relationships because past wounds distort perception.
• They believe love is conditional or fragile.
• Their attention gravitates toward threat, not safety.
• Their conditioning tells them they must perform to be worthy.
Healing now, as then, is the reclamation of inner authority, the ability to see clearly and love without fear.