Stuck By Cupid’s Arrow

Love at first sight may be attributed to Cupid love. The name Cupid itself was derived from the Latin word “Cupido,” meaning love, passion, desires, yearnings, wanting or longing. Cupid is the most famous of Valentine symbols and everybody knows that boy armed with bow and arrows, and piercing hearts . He is known as a mischievous, winged child armed with bow and arrows. The arrows signify desires and emotions of love, and Cupid aims those arrows at Gods and Humans, causing them to fall deeply in love. Cupid has always played a role in the celebrations of love and lovers. In ancient Greece he was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. To the Roman’s he was Cupid, and his mother was Venus.

Sounds like a Mythological tale?

Well, Cupid just happens to be a part of one of the great love stories from Classical Mythology. Cupid, the Roman God of love was the son of Venus the Roman Goddess of love and Mercury, the Roman messenger God. He is believed to carry two types of bows in his quiver. The ones made of gold represent true love whereas the ones with lead tips stood for wanton lust. This makes him the God of both romantic as well as erotic love. Cupid is generally believed to have ignited romance in unsuspecting hearts. But the result of his actions didn’t bring pleasure at all instances. He is also known to have struck love between odd couples and then enjoyed watching them work out the situation. However, Cupid himself gets trapped in the game of mismatches which is evident with his love story, and just who is this great lover that he pricked with his love arrow?

There was a beautiful princess named Psyche means “butterfly” and also means “soul”. In many ways, what Psyche goes through is symbolic of the path of each woman’s soul in life. Psyche was so adored by the people that they began to forget about Venus. Venus grew so jealous of this that she sent her son Cupid on a mission to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man alive. But upon seeing Psyche, Cupid was so overcome by her beauty that he dropped his arrow on his foot and fell passionately in love with her. He visited Psyche every night and the couple became lovers. There was one condition, however, that Psyche was not allowed to see Cupid. She was forbidden to look upon him.

One night, Psyche’s curiosity overpowered her so she took a peek at Cupid as he slept. But he soon awoke to catch Psyche looking at him and he left her because he feared his mother’s wrath should she discover their affair. Psyche spent years searching the world for Cupid with a broken heart until finally Jupiter granted her immortality so that she could remain with Cupid forever. The couple eventually had a daughter, Voluptas (Pleasure) and Nyx (Night) and they lived happily in their castle. Despite the antiquity of Cupid – God of love and beauty, he is still known by human beings as one that ignites love and passion in mortals. He has become synonymous with Valentine’s day and is commonly represented as shooting arrows at hearts of individuals.

Ironically, the origin of Valentine’s Day comes from the life and death of a Christian martyr, Saint Valentine a Roman who was killed for his faith on February 14, 269 A.D. He had refused to worship pagan gods, and some stories say he was a priest who would marry young lovers in secret because they did not have parental permission. Prior to his death, Valentine continued to minister in prison by witnessing to his prison guards. One of the guards was a good man who had adopted a blind girl. He asked Valentine if his God could help his daughter. Valentine prayed and the girl was given her sight. The guard and his whole family, 46 people, believed in Jesus and were baptized. When the Emperor heard about this he was furious that Valentine was still making converts even in prison, so he sentenced Valentine to death.

Also, Valentine is associated with love because he fell in love with the daughter of his jailer, and would pass notes to her. The tradition of sending love notes grows out of a letter written by St. Valentine to his jailer’s daughter on the eve of his execution. The young Christian wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it, “From your Valentine.” The first valentine was really a Christian witness. On the contrary, instead of us remembering the content of the original Valentine’s card which was a message of unconditional devotion to Christ, we participate in a custom of sending cards to people we love. In Italy, St Valentine’s Day became the traditional day to be engaged. Young Romans would spend Valentine’s day gathered together in gardens to listen to romantic poetry and music. Also, around the world, Valentine’s day is celebrated, I’m sure you’ll notice all of the hearts, the flowers, the chocolates, the plush toys, the greeting cards, the special lingerie, and the romantic getaway packages being advertised and offered in the stores.

Statistics shows that people find true love when they least expect it. Have you ever experienced a warm passion? Feelings of contentment that is unexplainable? unconditional love? not lust or imaginary desires, I’m talking about agape love. If so, there is a 100% chance that you’ve being stuck by Cupid’s arrow, the ones made of gold, which represent true love. Some may call it, finding their soul mates. Whatever it may be, It’s an experience that one out of a million people may encounter, once in their life time . Facts or fiction? You decide.