Cupid and Psyche – a Platonic tale explored (1)

Cupid and Psyche – a Platonic tale explored

In the second century AD, Apuleius, a Platonic philosopher, retold the myth of Cupid and Psyche in the course of his novel, ‘The Golden Ass.’ We will read passages from the myth, and explore the clear parallels between the trials of Psyche as she loses and regains her union with Cupid (or Eros), and our own experience of descent and ascent as souls “exiled from the orb of light” as understood by the Platonic tradition.

We’re taking two sessions to explore the delightful story and its insights – in the first we’ll look at the double descent of Psyche at the end of which she is left to wander across the material world in search of her divine lover. In the second one we’ll summarize the first session before we begin, so those who missed it can pick up the threads of the story. This second half concerns Psyche’s re-ascent and her trials and initiations which lead to the reunion with her lover.