Lisa Marie Rankin [00:00:00]:

Hello, beautiful souls. In today's episode, I want to talk about love. One of my favorite subjects. Not just the mushy I feel so good love, but the love that calls you to action and inspires you to become the next best version of yourself. Real love doesn't just make you happy, it transforms you. It brings out your best. And it also brings out the wounded parts, like the inner child that still needs validation, or the suspicious woman who just can't let it go. Or it brings up these parts so that we can heal them.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:00:32]:

But most of all, love reminds us of the divinity within ourselves and within others. So that's what the myth I'll share with you today is all about. It's the story of Psyche and Eros. An ancient tale, yet one that still mirrors our own journey of awakening through love. So let's dive in. Welcome to the Goddess School Podcast, a space for women who want to reclaim their story a awaken their archetypal power and live mythically. I'm Lisa Marie Rankine, author, teacher and your mythic guide. I help women step beyond self help and into soul work by weaving together Jungian psychology, storytelling, ritual and feminine wisdom traditions.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:01:16]:

In each episode, you'll find personal reflections, mythic frameworks and soul stirring conversations designed to help you re enchant your everyday life and become the heroine of your next chapter. This isn't about fixing yourself. It's about becoming the woman you are meant to be. The veil is parting. The ship is setting sail. Let's begin. Hello beautiful listeners, and welcome back to the Goddess School Podcast. I am going to begin today's episode by sharing the tale of Psyche and Eros.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:01:54]:

This is an ancient tale of love, but I think you're going to see that it is still very applicable today. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful human princess named Psyche. She was so radiant, so gorgeous, that people began to worship her instead of the goddess Aphrodite, the goddess of love. So altars once dedicated to Aphrodite now overflowed with offerings to the mortal. Now, as you can imagine, this enraged Aphrodite. She did not take it well. So she devised a plan to destroy Psyche. First, you need to understand that Psyche was so beautiful, it almost made her unapproachable.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:02:36]:

You know those types of people. Though she was admired by many men, she was never approached, so no mortal dared to claim her hand in marriage. Her parents were desperate to see her wed, so they sought the guidance of an oracle who delivered a chilling prophecy. One crafted by Aphrodite herself. The oracle told Psyche's parents, dress her in mourning clothes and set her upon a lovely mountain. Psyche is to wed not a mortal man, but a monster feared even by the gods. Her family was heartbroken. Nevertheless, they obeyed.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:03:15]:

Aphrodite summoned her son, Eros. Some of you might know him as Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with the vile monster who had come to claim her. However, when Eros saw Psyche, he was so struck by her beauty that he accidentally pricked himself with one of his own arrows and he fell deeply, deeply in love with her. Errors couldn't possibly leave Psyche to be devoured by this vile monster. So instead, he had his friend, the West Wind, carry her to his magnificent palace of golden crystal. Invisible servants attended to her every need. At night, Eris came to her bed. He was tender and kind, but he always remained unseen.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:03:58]:

He warned her never to try to look upon him, for it would destroy their happiness. For a time, Psyche lived in bliss. She was surrounded by beauty, love, and all the luxuries that a woman could ask for. But soon enough, curiosity crept in, and so did doubt. Her jealous sisters, who she invited to show her her palace, poisoned Psyche's mind with suspicion. They asked her, what if your lover truly is a monster, hiding his face because he's too terrible to see? One night, unable to resist, Psyche lit an oil lamp while her lover slept. She leaned over to see him, and instead of a monster, she beheld the most beautiful of all beings. It was Eros himself, the God of love.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:04:49]:

He was radiant and divine. In awe, she accidentally let a drop of hot oil fall upon his shoulder. So he woke, startled, but also very hurt and betrayed. He vanished, leaving Psyche all alone. In despair, Psyche wandered the earth, searching for him. She prayed to the gods, but no one would help. Finally, she had to go back to Aphrodite herself. And Psyche begged for mercy.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:05:14]:

She begged for Eros to come back. The goddess, still furious, set Psyche a series of impossible trials that were meant to break her. So Psyche was tasked with sorting a mountain of seeds, fetching golden fleece for murderous rams, filling a crystal flax with water from the River Styx, and descending into the underworld to fetch a box of Persephone's beauty balm for Aphrodite. And this one was the most perilous TAS task of all. Each trial tested Psyche's endurance, her humility and her discernment. She succeeded. She got a little help as well, too. But on the last task, curiosity tempted her.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:05:56]:

Once again, she opened Persephone's box, hoping to Take just a little of that divine beauty for herself and really, who could blame her, right? But instead she found the sleep of death within. She collapsed, lifeless. Moved by love, Eros flew to her. He wiped the deadly sleep from her eyes, put it back in the box and carried her to Olympus. There he pleaded with Zeus to let them be together. The king of the gods agreed and granted Psyche immortality. And they were wed. Psyche became the goddess of soul.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:06:32]:

Even Aphrodite was appeased, for her son's marriage had restored the balance between love and soul. We can also think of that as love awakens the sou soul Beautiful myth. Right, before we go any further, just take a moment to pause, like what stirred in you as you listen to that? What were the feelings that came up in your body? Myths aren't just old stories. They're maps of our unconscious. They offer us a mirror into the parts of ourselves that we can't always see, so the parts that aren't part of our conscious mind. In the story of Psyche and erosion, love acts as the catalyst that awakens the soul. Through love, not isolation, not endless self work, Psyche becomes curious, conscious, and ultimately divine. She gets in touch with her own divinity.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:07:23]:

I think it's important to note, and if you've been with me for some time, you know, I've been talking a lot about the shadow side of self help culture, of therapy, of this endless healing loop. And I think this story really gets to the heart. Part of what I've been trying to illuminate for many is that Psyche doesn't evolve by sitting alone in a cave or reading another self help book. She evolves through relationship, through trials, through love. She evolves by becoming an active co creator of her life, or we could say by getting in the game. Psyche's love for arrows really propels her through all of what's to come. So these impossible tasks set to her by Aphrodite so that she can refine her strength, her discernment, and really her soul. And if you think about it, that is what love does.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:08:19]:

Love is just not this ooey gooey feeling, but it's there to get us out of our comfort zone and awaken us into consciousness. In our culture, we often talk about independence, sovereignty and being single, doing things your own way. And sure, there's probably a place for that, but it's often placed above relationship, above connection, which I think is amiss. We tell ourselves that love is optional or nice to have. But I want you to consider for a moment, what if love is actually the key, it's actually the key to your personal development. It is the key to your spiritual growth. It's the alchemical fire, again, that's going to move us out of our comfort zone or out of this sense of sleepwalking through life and help us expand our consciousness. I believe that we need relationships to evolve because we can't do it alone.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:09:15]:

We need mirrors. We need to see how we interact with others. And I know this to be true because I lived it myself. So I want to share a little bit about my backstory in love and why. I feel that love is really the catalyst that helps to awaken and helps to heal us so that we can become the next best version of ourselves. Now, for most of my life, if I didn't have a man in my life, I was actually fine. I was confident, I was content. I wasn't anxious, insecure or needy.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:09:47]:

However, when there was a man in my life, that is, when my inner child would come along, I would feel abandonment. Whether I was worthy or not. It really triggered a lot of anxiety. Now, I could have stuck with the status quo and stayed single and in my comfort zone, but the desire for a relationship really forced me to explore a new way of being in the world. When I first met my partner, and this was about 10 years ago, I look back and I was a completely different person. I was often guarded, suspicious, and insecure because many of my relationships didn't work out. In this relationship, it did have a few stops and starts that really, it did wreak havoc on my nervous system. And while my mind wanted me to hang up the towel and to say, this isn't going to work, it's too stressful, it's not right.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:10:38]:

My heart implored me to try again. It's. And I am so glad that I did because we were about to celebrate eight years together. And honestly, I couldn't be more delighted. The relationship feeds my soul and inspires me to be a better woman. Now, I didn't hail and move on from inner child or anxious attachment before I got in the relationship. I did it while I was in the relationship. It was my desire for this relationship, for the love that I felt for towards this man, that allowed me to push past the discomfort, soothe my inner child, and find a new way of being in the relationship.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:11:18]:

So while the standard narrative might be, you need to take time to heal yourself before getting into a relationship, I really don't buy that relationships give us this prima materia, the grist from the mill, the substance we need to Transform love in all its forms. I've been talking about romantic relationships, but I really believe it could be love for a child, A parent, a friend is what calls us into our wholeness. And we see this through myths, across cultures and traditions. There's Shiva and Shakti, Adam and Eve, and we have psyche and eras. Myths point to a universal truth. And this truth is we evolve together. Love is the catalyst. It's also important to note that when Psyche lights the candle, she sees that Eros is not a wicked monster, but he's the God of love himself.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:12:12]:

Relationship experts often say we fall out of love when we finally see that our partners are messy, fallible humans. But actually we fall out of love when we stop seeing them as divine beings. Psyche and Eros. This story shows us that love creates the ultimate shift in consciousness. I like to think of it as a feminine awakenment. And consciousness expands when we desire something more than the comfort of the status quo. Desire propels us forward to accomplish complex tasks and become that next best version of ourselves. Now, sometimes, if you are on a personal growth or a spiritual development path, you might think that desire is something to be avoided, that you should be cultivating this peaceful state of equanimity.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:13:00]:

But desire is magnetism. It's shakti. It's what's going to get you out of bed in the morning. It's your desire to connect with the divine, to be the best version of yourself. Now, some might argue that desire and love are not the same. And for sure there can be differences. I'm sure we've all experienced desire without love. Yet desire can lead to love.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:13:25]:

I desire to have children, and now I love them with all my heart. I desired my partner, and now I love the good and the challenging times of our relationship. Relationships can be a portal into an expanded consciousness. Now, of course, not all relationships, and I have been in many that felt like I was reliving the same relationship over and over again. And I think many of us see that we have these repetitive relationship patterns. So if you keep saying to yourself, why do I keep dating the same type of people? It's likely that you're in more of a sleepwalk, shocking state, and you need to get out of that. But the right ones will offer you a portal into this new way of being. And here's how the first way is Love calls us into challenge.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:14:14]:

When Psyche loses arrows, she's forced to confront both her own power and potential. Love doesn't protect her from the fire. It leads her directly into it. We grow through our challenges, from that opportunity to see that we are strong, that we are discerning, and that we are resilient. Every meaningful relationship does this. It asks us to stretch, to face what we've avoided, and to become even more of who we are. The second way is love demands our evolution. The trials Aphrodite sets aren't punishments, although they may seem that way.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:14:50]:

They're initiations. Each one hones Psyche's patience, strength, humility, and faith. In modern terms, love asks us to do uncomfortable things and go to the places that we might not want to go. And the third way is love reveals our divinity. In the end, Psyche becomes immortal. The soul has known love's longing, loss and labor and becomes capable of divine union. Through love, Psyche remembers what she always was, sacred, eternal, and luminous. So love isn't just an emotion.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:15:24]:

It's an alchemical process through which we evolve. Love initiates the soul into consciousness. So today consider how has love influenced you now? Even the relationships that didn't work out often teach us something about ourselves, our patterns, our desires, and how we want to engage in the world. So I really consider you to spend some time thinking about the love in your life and how it may have expanded your consciousness again in some. Sometimes it can close our consciousness. So we want to be aware of that and how love got you to be the next best version of yourself. If this story stirred something in you, then I invite you to join me in this month's masterclass for my paid Substack subscribers. And it's only $7 a month.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:16:17]:

We're going to dive deeper into the myth of Psyche and errors and explore how Aphrodite's task map right onto our modern lives. These trials are very symbolic of the trials that every women must go through to evolve. You can learn more about this masterclass with the link in my show notes. Until next time, remember, love isn't here to keep you comfortable. It's here to wake you up. Thank you for listening. If you like this podcast, please take a moment to rate and review so that we can lift the veil for other women who want to step into their most mythic life. Until next time, thank you for joining me for this episode of the Goddess School podcast.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:17:02]:

I hope it sparked your imagination and expanded your vision for what's possible. If you're ready to explore these concepts more deeply, reclaim your personal myth and live with greater creativity and enchantment, I invite you to join me. Inside enlivened my divine Feminine Mystery School of and sacred community where we bring these teachings to life through ritual, story coaching and of course, real world action. You can find the link to learn more in the show notes. And remember, the Goddess isn't a deity outside of yourself. She's an aspect of your highest self. You are the Goddess. Until next time, Sam.