Meta-Story

[qos]

I may have found a meta-story that provides both comfort and meaning, and which helps me focus on my efforts and goals in this world rather than diverting my energy into escapism.

Cupid and Psyche

I've never resonated with the story before, although I've felt a strong connection to other "monster/hidden bridegroom" stories like Beauty and the Beast and East of the Sun, West of the Moon. But I was listening to Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki's CD course Your Unseen Power last week, and she brought up the story during one of the segments.

Suddenly the story of a bridegroom with a hidden face (sorry, can't elaborate if you don't already understand that comment), losing him, and needing to wander and strive for years alone on the earth, exiled from happiness and bound to complete certain tasks before reunion is possible, felt very close to home.

I've downloaded a free copy of "The Golden Ass" onto my Kindle to study, as well as some other versions of the story. I'll be working with it for a few weeks to see what comes of it. I'm looking forward to it. It's been a long time since I've had a story to work with as part of my spiritual path.

Comments

[queenofhalves]

i love c.s. lewis' telling of that story, till we have faces.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Would you share a bit about why you love it?

People have recommended it to me since my teens, but I've never liked it much. I've been asked to read it again after I've studied the original, and then reflect on what I do and don't like. It will be interesting to see if my feelings change.

[queenofhalves]

i don't know. i first read it at about 12 and i've always found it compelling. the portrayal of the goddess ungit has always spoken to me deeply -- the relationships i have with certain deities are still colored by those images.

it may not be the origin myth at all, but rather the character of orual that hooked me. it's definitely the first part of the book that works for me most -- to me, it about the fraught relationships between human beings and deities, always half-understood. it reminds me of the book of job. the redemption of the second half has always struck me as weaker; in fact, i tend to half-forget it. there's also something going on with orual's ugliness and her covered face -- don't her subjects begin to imagine that she hides her face because she is dangerously beautiful? -- and the nature of ungit/aphrodite. there's a deep mystery hinted at there.

wikipedia makes this interesting claim: "In his pre-Christian days, Lewis would imagine the story with Orual 'in the right and the gods in the wrong.'"

the wikipedia entry on the novel also connects cupid and psyche with beauty and the beast, which is very interesting, particularly considering some modern retellings where the beast remains a beast even after his redemption...

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

C&P definitely belongs to the class of stories about invisible and/or beastly husbands, which is an interesting study in itself -- not to mention a myth I've consciously participated in the past.

Thanks for the elaboration. I'll be re-reading Til We Have Faces and will be posting my thoughts and reflections when I do.

Although I'd rather go re-read Angela Carter's re-writes of beastly husband stories. I love her fairy tales. . .

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to read "The Golden Ass". Since I now have a Kindle, I popped over and grabbed it!

Cupid and Psyche is a wonderful story (I like it anyways), although "wonderful" is perhaps a poor word? Anyways, it is very well-fitted for you and I'm interested to hear what comes of this.