The Golden Ass

by Apulieus

Originally titled

Metamorphoses

Aplieus' novel is a maze of scabrous magical-erotic stories, triggered by the curiositas of young Lucian, who is fascinated by magic and who wants to become a witch himself, especially after seeing Pamphile, a high-flying witch, turn into a bird. He has an affair with pretty Photis, Pamphile's assistant-servant, who picks the wrong ointment and metamporphoses Lucian into an ass - not a bird.

Later, another young girl named Charite is kidnapped by bear-pirates just before her wedding night. It is to this desolate young woman that an old witch (the pirates' servant!) tells de story of Eros and Psyche. Lucian sees and listens to it all, having also been kidnapped by the pirates, but as an ass, of course!

Etcetera : it is all 'real' magic: witchcraft, erotic insights, metamorphoses, esoteric initiations, heartbreak, lots of pirates and thieves, and quite a few murders.

To my surprise, I had a truly great time reading The Golden Ass of Apuleius: The Liberation of the Feminine in Man, by Marie Louise von Franz, and I highly recommend it. She rivals Anna Griève in her insights into fairy tales! Both use what I call "Jungian algebra" to make their points: variations on the binary 'algorithms' of masculine and femenine (or possitive and negative mother, and father complexes).

Which, of course, can be fun, with a 'shamanic' pinch of salt.

Jungian gossip had given me the impression that von Franz was mainly a stern, blue-stocking, 'mother superior'. I found her "savvy" in this book! I did meet her at the Eranos Conferences, by which time she was a very old lady with a formidable sparkling gaze - not unlike how I imagine Apulieus' narratrice of the Eros and Psyche story... (check the ladies in the image above!)

Reading Apuleius' novel, like with most classics, depends very much on the translation you come accross. Let us know if you find a good one.

The Myth of Eros and Psyche

As told in The Golden Ass, by Apulieus

Two (or three) lectures by Anna Griève.

The first lecture will be a tandem telling (and often contradictory!) of the story, by Anna Griève and Enrique Pardo, with some contextualization of the novel.

The second and possible third lectures will be Anna Griève's interpretative reading of the myth of Eros and Psyche.

The main bibliographic recommendations are:

- Marie Louise von Franz (see above).
- James Hillman: The Myth of Analysis, but also: Re-visioning Psychology.
- Erich Neumann : Amor and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine: A Commentary on the Tale by Apuleius.

Psyché

Psyché/Anima//Soul

Une histoire culturelle

Psyche is her Greek name. Anima, her Latin name. Seele, Soul - her Germanic name. An overview of their cultural history.

Possibly the greatest revolution in voice and singing was the emergeance of Soul Music: Eros and Psyche at last get to sing and dance together - thanks to the Afro-American "crossover" from Protestantism ("Negro Spirituals"). Malérargues played a part in this revolution, back in the 17th and 18th century !

Our reference book is James Hillman's Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion. I consult it like a pagan bible.

Hillman's article "Peaks and Vales" on the differentiation between Spirit and Soul.

Check   Arte Program: The Power of Soul.

Heartbreak

Coeur Brisé

Panel talk with Linda Wise, Anna Griève, Kaya Anderson, Amy Rome and Enrique Pardo, to discuss the recent publication of two volumes by Ginette Paris under the title Heartbreak.

"The psychosomatic pain of heartbreak and mourning shows neurobiological evidence of stress similar to being submitted to torture. With time, the intensity of the pain may lessen, yet it is false to think that time heals all wounds! Many live the rest of their life with a captive heart, alone in the emotional desert of psychic numbness."   Read more

HEARTBREAK /  Mourning, Loss.
Detach or Die  (Volume one)
The Brain in Love (volume two)

We have three copies (two volumes) you can look at in Malérargues. You can also order through internet.

Ginette Paris, Canadiansocial psychologist , teaches Depth Psychology at the Pacifica Institute, in California. She is a close friend and collaborator of the festival since its inception.

She is the author of foundational books in archetypal psychology, especially on Aphrodite (see below), and on Artemis, in a militant book, The Sacrament of Abortion: she had to change the title, having received death threats from so-called Pro Life anti-abortion persons.

The importance of jealousy in an anthropology of singing - as understood in the voice philosophy of Roy Hart - following in this Alfred Wolfsohn.

Are not songs to a huge degree mostly about Eros - and of these, a high proportion about jealousy, loss and unrequited love?

A nice piece of advice from the arch-idealists of the sixties, Crosy, Still, Nash and Young : "If can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with"

See the lecture   "Roy Hart: a philosophy and a model of teaching - some reflections after forty years".

Italian scholar Giulia Sissa has recently published La gelosia: Una passione inconfessabile (Jealousy: and unspeakable passion.) "In antiquity erotic jealousy was anger: an aristocratic emotion, worthy of heros, warriors and gods. In modern times, jealousy has become a messy defeat, too embarrassing to admit, and politically incorrect."   Check Marie France Asia (!)

Check also the blog post: An Othello Alarum, on An Othello Thing / Sean Lewis and Claire Campbell - a review commented by Enrique Pardo.

A beautiful stepmother and beautiful stepdaughter.

In French, the strange step is replaced by belle - so we get bellemère and bellefille.

Related themes: Initiation, rivalries and femenine sadomasochism. Aphrodite, Eros, Psyche, and pornography.

Ginette Paris, author of HEARTBREAK (see above) is a scholar of Aphrodite. Maybe, due to her surname, a destined priestess of the Goddess who won the proverbial and, to many, (in)famous Choice of Paris - which started the Trojan war! Her two mythological books are highly recommended: Pagan Meditations and Pagan Grace. One of Aphrodite's assets is to have the ultimate ladies-in-waiting: the Three Graces. In Apulieus, Aphrodite is also the mother of Eros - and Paris (Ginette) makes much of it, including a defence of baby-talk amongst lovers!

James Hillman has a chapter on the realtionship between Psyche (Anima) and Aphrodite in his book on Anima (see above)