the original hero journey
Alas! there is one mythical couple — with correspondents in astrology — that illustrate the happily ever after.
Even more, the word “psyche” means “soul” in Greek language, and you’ll see that her story is one of the most romantic in mythology, a source of inspiration for what we call today ‘hero’s journey’.
Psyche was a beautiful girl renowned for her beauty, so much so that people started revering her. Of course, Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of beauty, didn’t approve of the competition and she sent her son, Cupid (Eros in Greek mythology) to have Psyche stroked by Cupid’s arrow, so that the girl would fall in love with a monster.
Cupid became madly in love with Psyche. With the help of other gods’ intervention, he took the girl to a palace and they lived happily, yet there was a caveat: Psyche could not see her lover in the light, they only met at night, and he told her that if she ever saw him, he would leave. After a while, she sensed that she had become pregnant.
Psyche asked her husband to allow for her sisters to visit, because she missed her family. Envious of her life, Psyche’s sisters convinced the young woman that her lover must be a monster, and that she should finally discover who he was, while he is asleep. Psyche did just that, and she discovered that her lover was Cupid (Eros), and while looking at him, one drop of hot oil poured and woke him up. He departed immediately, hurt by his lover’s breaking the promise of only being with him in the dark.
Psyche went to Venus’ (Aphrodite’s) temple and prayed to the goddess to convince her son to forgive her. Venus told the young woman that she must prove the depth of her love by facing some challenges; not succeeding meant she would never see Cupid again.
The first task, was to sort a large heap of wheat, millet, poppy seed, barley and other seeds, within the same day. Disheartened, Psyche started crying at the face of such an impossible task. An ant heard her and called all the other ants to help her finish the task in time, and so they did.
The second challenge assigned to her was to gather some golden wool from some mythical dangerous sheep. This time as well, she received help in the form of an advice: to wait until the sheep fall asleep and thus take the golden fleece that lay around. Psyche did precisely that and took the golden wool to the goddess, but still Venus didn’t grant Psyche her wishes.
The third challenge given by Venus, was bringing back a glass with water from the river Styx, the river of the Underworld, part of which flowed in the human world on the steep cliffs of a tall mountain. After much difficulty reaching that peak, Psyche found herself unable to reach the water. Zeus’ eagle saw her and helped her, by taking the glass and filling it with water from the Styx and bringing it back to the young woman. Psyche brought the water to Venus, which still wasn’t content, and assigned her another task.
The fourth task given to her was to bring back a bit of beauty possesed by Proserpina (Persephone in Greek mythology), the wife of Pluto and daughter of Ceres, who brought spring to the world, when she left the Underworld to live with her mother, every year. Psyche was again advised in good faith how to arrive in the Underworld safely. Proserpina willingly granted the request, and filled a box with her beauty, which she was taking back to Venus.
But, in an act of curiosity, she opened the box (like Pandora, remember her?), which had nothing material in it, but a spell which put her in a deep sleep.
By this time, Cupid (Eros), ended his grief and decided to look for Psyche. He found her and awakened her; Psyche then gifted the box to Venus, then was taken to Jupiter (Zeus in Greek mythology); Cupid asked Jupiter to protect Psyche from his jealous mother. Jupiter granted his request, and asked the goddess of beauty to never torment Psyche again, and as a reward for her enduring love and her dedication, he offered her ambrosia, the drink of the Gods, which made her immortal, and she became a goddess of the soul. Following this, was the wedding of Cupid (Eros) and Psyche and the birth of their child, which was named Hedone (Voluptas by other accounts) — which later became the goddess of pleasure.
16 Psyche was the name given to one of the asteroids discovered in March 1852 by Annibale de Gasparis, an Italian astronomer. Psyche orbits the sun every 1,830 days (5.01 years). A full rotation on the astrological wheel takes the same time, with an average of 5 months in each sign.
As a synchronicity, NASA is preparing a mission that will explore this asteroid, in October 2023, and a recent title in the space.com website, commenting on the news of the upcoming NASA mission, is titled “NASA’s Psyche mission to a metal world may reveal the mysteries of Earth’s interior”.
Asteroid Cupido (or 763 Cupido) was discovered in 1913 by German astronomer Franz Kaizer; it orbits the sun every 1,230 days (3.37 years). In astrology, the corresponding journey around the astrological wheel takes the same amount of time and an average of 3 months in the same sign.
On the website spacereference.org you can find a beautiful graphic movement representation of the asteroid belt (and of the Solar System, if you zoom in/out), if you are keen on astronomy.
I’m sure for now you already identified many archetypes and themes that have been overused in literature, movies and pop culture, around the ‘hero journey’, which is inspired from Psyche’s journey (story which happens to end with Cupid and Psyche marrying).
Along the millennia, various authors interpreted Psyche’s myth as the journey of the soul in a human life: from a calm setting (the childhood), then a taste of the reward (the initial love nest), then the repeated tests and trials, to prove one’s dedication and strength of character — and finally, the reward, which comes with a full package: the love, the marriage, the child, peace with the tormenter, and the immortality granted by the gods.
Psyche’s symbol is the butterfly: the beautiful creature that emerges from a deep transformation inside the chrysalis — and she became goddess of the soul: the young mortal who gained her immortality.
I’d have to say, this journey of Psyche is not to be taken literally. Everybody has Psyche somewhere in their chart, but my understanding of life so far is that not ALL of us NEED to have the life journey in the Disney formula: falling in love, aiming for marriage, children and a happily ever after.
Each person’s journey is different. The key is to correlate, in your natal chart, the inner longing of your soul, shown in astrology by the North Node with Psyche, which reminds you there are repeated challenges and helpers along the journey, with the Moon, which shows what you need, with your Saturn, which shows in which areas of life the major challenges will be. And of course, we are unique.
As I’m writing this in September 2023, Psyche is at 20 degrees in Scorpio, making this a season potent for deep soul searching and transformation. Use this time wisely, especially if you have anything in your natal chart in Scorpio at 20 to 29 degrees, as Psyche will conjunct in the following weeks your natal factors.
Cupido is in Sagittarius 3 degrees, making the upcoming period one where anything adventurous, foreign, far-far away makes you feel a deep desire; Cupido had an arch and his bows, and he is in the sign of the archer; another synchronicity; use the magnetism of this period with integrity.
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