ARCHIVES

narrative writing & arts

 

GLOSSARY

PSYCHE

Evocation of butterflies. Odilon Redon. 1911. The Detroit Institute of Arts. The ancients Greeks originally depicted the soul or spirit as a stick figure with wings. Psyche is also the Greek word for both soul and butterfly. The butterfly as a symbol of the human spirit and its potential for transformation originated from that source. The Greek myth of Psyche and Eros (Cupid) is a mythological metaphor for the feminine journey toward consciousness.