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Eros & Psyche - Heart & Soul
Cupid and Psyche - a timeless tale of true love.
Eros was the Greek god of Love.
His name is the root of words like "erotic", "erotica", and "eroticism". He is also known as the Roman Cupid (Desire) or Amor (Love).
Eros/Cupid/Amor is often portrayed in art with wings (usually bird-like. The Dove was a symbol associated with his mother, Venus.) He usually carries a bow and a quiver of arrows. Sometimes he is shown blindfolded ("love is blind"). Eros is often shown as a putto, a young chubby winged figure. (These are commonly, and mistakenly, called "cherubs".)
Psyche was a mortal Princess, renowned for her great beauty and her name means "breath" or "soul". She became the goddess of the Soul and is often portrayed as a lovely young woman, sometimes with butterfly wings. Sometimes Psyche and Eros/Cupid are shown as putti together.
You will notice in this ancient epic myth elements of more recent western fairytales:
Cinderalla (2 jealous sisters/stepsisters, a punishing mother-in-law/stepmother figure). Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty, as well as other comparisons. This shows the timeless and universal qualities of the tale.
As is usual with ancient myth, there are several versions of the story. This is one version of the tale, told in brief. A link to a "long lersion", translated from a latin text written by the Roman poet Apuleius around 200 A.D can be found at the bottom of the Lens.
This lens is a work in progress- please come back and watch the story of Eros and Psyche unfold!
NEW- Check out the Interactive Links at the bottom!
See Eros & Psyche IN THE STARS!
Image: Here both have wings.
"Rapture of Psyche"
William Bouguereau, 1895
Arrows of Eros - Arrows of Love
The hope is to get the photos to line up in even rows. Alas, try as I might, sometimes they show up 5 to a row, and sometimes 6- no rhyme or reason. I give up trying to outsmart the Flickr picture thumbnails modules.
If you're lucky you'll see the even view.
Eros/ Cupid - God of Love
Unclear Origins
Eros was the god of Love, and the most beautiful boy in all of the pantheon.
Stories about his origins differ. In most cases Venus (Aphrodite) goddess of Love, was named as his mother, but stories vary about who was his father. Venus was married to Vulcan (Haphaestus) the lame blacksmith and god of volcanoes. Unlike Juno (Hera) the goddess of marriage, Venus the goddess of love and beauty was not very faithful and she had many extramarital affairs. Among her best known lovers were Ares, Hermes (Mercury) and Adonis. Ares (god of War) and Hermes (Messenger god) are most often named as being the father.
Another version has it that Penia (Poverty) seduced an inebriated Poros (Plenty or Abundance) at a party in Aphrodite's honor, and that Eros (Love) was born of this union.
Eros appears to be born of either of the merging of Love and Communication, or of Plenty and Poverty. Either way, he sprang from the union, or balancing, of opposing factors:
Love & War
Plenty & Poverty
Marble sculpture
"L'Amour se faisant un arc de la massue d'Hercule" (Eros stringing the bow of Hercules)
Bouchardon, 1750
Housed at the Louvre in Paris
Images of Eros/ Cupid/ Amor
Click the thumbnails for a larger view, photo credits and details
Inside Eros
Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Classic Music Video
"Can't Take My Eyes Off You"
Cupid & Pscyche in Literature - Classic & Modern
Books for a rainy day...
Here are some excellent selections:
Cupid and Psyche: An Adaptation from The Golden Ass of Apuleius (Latin Edition)
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Psyche - Mortal Princess
Image: Psyche, 1842, Wolf Von Hoyer
Psyche was a princess, and the oldest of 3 sisters.
She became renowned far and wide for her great beauty - both physical and beauty of character - and her wit and wisdom.
People actually began to pay tribute to her over Venus. This angered Venus and she decided to punish this mere mortal, Psyche.
Venus commanded her son, Eros, to wait for an ugly man to enter Psyche's view and then strike her with one of his arrows and she would suffer the humiliation of being smitten with love for an exceptionally ugly man. Eros was not prepared for what he saw. As a hideous-looking man approached, Eros crept closer and reached for one of his especially potent arrows. He was now close enough to really see Psyche and, startled by the sight of her enchanting beauty, he instead pricked himself before he could aim his bow. Big OOPS!
Eros was now smitten with Psyche beyond control, but he did have enough wits about him to know that the only way he could be with Psyche was in secret. He was very aware of his mother's wrath, but he was determined to be with Psyche and he had to be covert with both his desire and in executing his plan.
Though praised for her beauty by all, no one had yet approached Psyche for marriage. As the eldest of their three daughters, this concerned her parents the King and Queen.
Her parents sought the kingdom's oracle and received a strange message, and an even stranger command.
Psyche would never marry a mortal man, but was destined to be with a monster that "even the gods feared". She was to be dressed in clothes for mourning and left atop a mountain. Little did they know that it was actually Eros disguised as the oracle that delivered this cryptic message.
Fearing the wrath of the gods, her Parents obeyed the command, dressed her in the clothes of a mourner and took Psyche to the mountain top to await her fate. Zephyr (or Zephyrus), the West Wind, appeared and carried Psyche away.
And I Love Him
The famous Beatles tune covered by the talented Esther Phillips in 1966
Introduced by John Lennon who co-wrote the song with Paul McCartney and originally performed the song with Ringo Star and George Harrison as The Beatles.
Images of Psyche
Click on Thumbnails for a full view of the image, photo credits & details
Wolf von Hoyer, 1842
Swept Away
Image: Psyche Carried Away by Zephyrus, 1800, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon/ the Louvre
Zephyr transported Psyche to a beautiful palace. Here she heard a calm and gentle male voice instruct her to eat dinner, have her bath and go to sleep in her new bed.Exhausted from her long journey and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She was awakened in the night by the same loving voice that had welcomed her earlier, but was warned not to light a lamp or to seek to see the face of her host. They spend the night together in tender conversation and loving embrace, but when Psyche awoke the next morning, her companion was already gone.
Months went by in the beautiful palace, and though Psyche adored her night-time companion and lived a more-than-comfortable life, her days were very lonely. And there was still so much that she didn't know about him. Not his name, not his face, not from whence he came.
Over and again she begged her mystery man to allow her sisters to come for a visit. Not wanting to see his dearest love miserable, he finally gave in to her pleas.
Cupid & Psyche Artwork
Romantic artwork, classical and modern compliment any decor
Beautiful images on canvas or in sculpture
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Shadows of Doubt
Image: Psyche surprend L'Amour endormi, 1768, Louis Jean Francois LaGrenee
The sisters arrived and were impressed with Psyche's luxurious new home, but they were wary when they could not meet the "man of the house". They were also jealous by nature and started to plant doubt in the mind of their sister. "Oh, what if he is some hideous monster, like the oracle said?"Finally her sisters' badgering wore Psyche down. She must know who this man is. One night, after her lover is asleep, she carefully lights an oil lamp and walks quietly over to the bed. The light on his face reveals the stunning god of Love. Psyche is so startled that she spills hot oil from the lamp onto his shoulder and Eros is awakened.
Not only will his mother, Venus, now find out about his secret affair and betrayal of her command, but Eros is hurt by the oil as well as by Psyche's mistrust and he immediately leaves her for Mt. Olympus for healing his wounds.
Love cannot abide where there is no trust...
The palace vanishes around her. She is devastated and forlorn. She returns home with her sisters.
The Most Beautiful Girl
Charlie Rich "The Silver Fox", 1973
Charlie Rich, Wikipedia
Charlie Rich, Official Website
Image: Pan comforts a despondent Psyche. "Pan and Psyche", Sir Edward Burne-Jones (Mid 1800's)
Trials of Psyche
Image: "Psyche at the Throne of Venus",1883, Edward Matthew Hale
Venus sets forth a number of tests for Pscyhe to endure.Coming soon-
Stay Tuned!
(But keep scrolling down, there is still more to see!)
*
"Cupid Finding Psyche", Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, mid to late 1800's
Image: Antonio Canova, 1787,
Butterfly Calendars
Beautiful Butterflies for your Wall, Desk, Pocket or Planner!
So Happy Together
The Turtles, 1967
Images: Cupid/ Eros & Psyche Together
Click the thumbnails for a larger view. Click on thumbnails for details & photo credits
Images of Eros/ Cupid & Psyche from all over the world.
The Romance of Eros and Psyche
Eros and Psyche in the Arts
Bring the romance home!
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byLovers Links - Eros/Cupid & Psyche Elsewhere on the 'Net
- Images of Cupid and Psyche
- An exhaustive compilation of images and artwork spanning over 2000 years!
- Ode to Psyche
- Poem by John Keats
(1795-1821) - Psyche and Cupidon
- The long version from "The Golden Ass" - Latin Epic 2nd Century A.D. by Apuleius.
Eros/ Cupid/ Amor & Psyche in Art
Art History
Great Love Songs by Great Recording Artists
Timeless Classics - They don't make 'em like this anymore!
If you enjoyed the music here, you can have YOUR VERY OWN COPY to listen to ALL OF THE TIME!
Great music to rediscover or for a new generation to discover for the first time!
Love in the Stars
Well, asteroids really. Image: Asteroid Eros, NASA
Pictured: NEO ("Near Earth Asteroid") ErosRight: Still photo
Left: Complex and erratic (or is that erotic?) rotation. Nice dancing, loverboy!
Between the countless chunks of rock and other things floating around in space, and our human urge to name things we find, we've ended up with acutal ASTEROIDS named after our Mythic Couple.
The fun part is that there are a couple of places to see them, in a virtual sense, on the web. The super-nifty links are below and in the next module (you can vote for the one where you had the most fun in the next section).
Here's the scoop!
Handy-Dandy Asteroids List:
(Name=#)
Psyche= 16
Eros= 433
Cupido= 763
Amor= 1221
JPL Orbial Simulator
This is just way too cool! It gives you a picture of the orbit of the object in the context of our solar system. It is INTERACTIVE too- tilt up/down, spin right/left, zoom in/out, watch it go forward or backward in time! You can even run it to your date of birth to see what the solar system looked like that day.
This will pop up on EROS. To see OTHERS, scroll to the very BOTTOM and enter the the Asteroid NAME OR NUMBER.
"My Astro", Astrodienst Website
Now, for those of you wanting a PERSONAL SKY MAP (Astrology chart) for the day you (or your sweetie) were born check out this site from Astrodienst to generate a FREE chart.
Bear with me here, this will take a few steps.
Click on the link and it will take you to the "My Astro" page. If you are already a registered member, then your login info will show up. If not you may choose to be a Guest User or a Registered User. (Both are free, the difference being the Guest User only stores 4 charts where the Registered User can store many, many more.)
You will need to ENTER the BIRTH DATA.
Click on CONTINUE.
Now you are at the Horoscope Selection page. Go to the bottom right and click on EXTENDED CHART SELECTION.
Go the the VERY BOTTOM of this page to ADDITIONAL OBJECTS.
Plug the ASTEROID NUMBERS into the data field.
Now click "Click here to show the chart" blue bar.
Presto! There is your chart PLUS the Asteroids.
ADD another person top & right.
Love, Hearts & Angels
2009 Calendars, Planners, Dairies
Romantic and Divine.
Cupid
Sam Cooke 1961
Stars in Your Eyes
Asteroids Galore!
Well, more like asteroids & planets.
Links for both sides of the brain.
Check them out.
Cast your vote.
Play around and then rate them (up or down) with the arrows on the list!
Astrodienst Astrology - Free Sky Maps of When You Were Born
Go on. You know you're curious! See the standard p more...1 point
JPL Orbital Simulator - Astronomy
Cal-Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<b more...0 points
...and Love on Your Lips
Sweets and Treats, Ready Made and Recipes too
Chocolate Cupid Doll
An adorable, edible sculpture of Cupid in pure chocolate!
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 12/16/2009) 
Lady Fortunes® Sweetheart StampsTM- Cupid and Psyche Edition 2007
Almost too pretty to eat! Beautiful cookies look like large postage stamps with images of Cupid and Psyche. A truly unique way to say "I love you".
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: (as of 12/16/2009)
Assorted 16 Box With Gold Oval Cupid Handmade Tin Box
Elegant Handmade Tin with an Oval Cupid on top and filled with gourmet chocolate bon bons. A classic gift for your Amour!
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: (as of 12/16/2009)
The New InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook
Making food is making love! More than just recipes for the table, this includes recipes for massage oils, seasonal dishes, and meals to appeal to every astrological sign and every stage of a relationship, from first date to golden anniversary. There's even a list of resources on subjects ranging from further reading on aphrodisiacs to locating aromatherapy candles. Just reading Intercourses is a sensual experience--imagine what eating from it will be!
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/16/2009)
Myths, Fables & Fairy Tales - Beautifully Illustrated by Kuniko Y. Craft
Available at Amazon.com
As one of the most widely respected and well known fantasy artists in the world today, Kinuko Y. Craft considers herself first and foremost a storyteller. She brings a strong narrative sensibility to her illustrations, allowing the images to tell the intimate tale that lies behind the words. Known for her passionate love of fine art and a deep knowledge of art history, Kinukos work has graced the covers of many well known fantasy authors, opera posters, fairy tale books and national magazines. Her original works reside in both museum and private collections.
Beautiful books to be cherished at any age!
Rapunzel (Caldecott Medal Book)
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Amazon Price: $12.23 (as of 12/16/2009)
List Price: $17.99
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
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Amazon Price: $12.23 (as of 12/16/2009)
List Price: $17.99
Love Notes - Kiss & Tell Guestbook
Please leave your "love notes" here!
Before you go-
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PLEASE NOTE:
Comments with links to dating/singles/adult sites, etc. will NOT be posted.
Only logged in Squidoo members may post here now.
This used to be "open posting", but I had to change the settings after some attempted inappropriate posts by non-members. Sorry they had to spoil the fun for the rest of the nice non-member folks out there wanting to sign the guest book! Thank You.
Thanks for visiting!
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- Jewelsofawe Jewelsofawe Aug 14, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
- Great lens!
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- Elee Elee Mar 16, 2008 @ 2:18 am
- This is an awesome lens! The pictures are beautiful and the stories are well written. I actually stayed on here and read through it!
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Feb 23, 2008 @ 9:57 am
- A Fairy Tale Wolf was checking out your lens about Eros and Psyche and liked it so well that he is sending you a virtual cup of coffee to hang on your wall.
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- Music-Resource Music-Resource Feb 18, 2008 @ 8:12 pm
- Hi Julia, Great Eros and Psyche lens. I appreciate the hard work on the copy and I Love the pics. ~Music Resource~
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- Christopher_Scott Christopher_Scott Feb 14, 2008 @ 8:09 am
- This is a great lens. I love it!
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My One And Only Love
Words & Lyrics: Guy Wood and Robert Mellin, 1952 - As Recorded by Sting, 1995
Click the Comments link to see the lyrics at YouTube.
More Great Music
From Amazon.com
16 Most Requested Songs
The best available Sam Cooke compilation
Review by "pspa"
"Now that The Man and His Music has gone out of print, this is, to the best of my knowledge, the ONLY compilation that has Chain Gang, Wonderful World, Cupid and Another Saturday Night, which are in my opinion the four best songs of the masterful Sam Cooke, one of the great musical talents of the sixties who combined r and b, soul, gospel and rock into a unique style all his own. For some reason most Cooke compilations exclude one or more of these great great tunes, and in fact I don't think Another Saturday Night is available anywhere else. Excellent sound too."
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $16.97 (as of 12/16/2009)
My Funny Valentine: Sting at the Movies
Best Movie Tunes you Never Heard
Review by Teodore J. Gage "Cig2Cigars"
"Admittedly I'm a big Sting fan but this CD exceeded my expectations. His original compositions are great and his covers, particularly Michel LeGrand's Windmills of Your Mind (a favorite song) bring something absolutely unique to each song. A lot of music you can't get on any other Sting CD."
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $52.99 (as of 12/16/2009)
What did YOU most enjoy about this lens?
This poll is just for me, but if you enjoyed this lens, before you go please show your love in the stars above! (That's the rating that counts with the Squidoo community!)
Thanks!
Wings of Love
Image: "Rapture of Psyche", 1895, Bouguereau
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