Does the history of the symbol of psychology contain something mythological and a curious evolution of the term?Psi? (?) does not dispense any originality. At first, this twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet ended up being transliterated by the Romans to form the word psyche, which meant butterfly and later evolved into breeze, breath, mood and, ultimately, “soul”.
Anyone who studies psychology remembers the day when they arrived at university, the printing of this symbol appeared almost everywhere Books, faculty tables, briefing notes?The curious of this science also know how to recognize it, to the point that it is already part of the culture of symbols so common in different disciplines, how philosophy and its acquaintance?(?).
The origin of the word psychology is in the fusion of two Greek words: ????And?????.
Now, sometimes we stick to iconography without going any further, besides, we sometimes take for granted some small urban legends that slightly distort the magic of our origins, so it is very common to hear that the symbol of psychology (?) He’s a pitchfort, the devil’s pitchfort: no more, no less.
This false theory has its roots in a time when mental illness was considered an evil evil, riots that responded to supernatural influences, spells and witchcraft, where man could not help man, everything was then in the hands of the church and, of course, fires. . Nothing further from reality. Now let’s see what the true origin of the symbol of psychology is.
In Ancient Greek, the word psyche, as we indicated at the beginning, meant butterfly. Did this insect also symbolize the breath of life, a breath of wind, a life breeze?Slowly and also influenced by the Roman Empire, this word ended up symbolizing the human soul, an idea in which human life force or he?Ka?of Egyptian culture.
The Greeks and the Romans used to maintain a very concrete view of people’s souls. In your beliefs, when someone died, that sigh, which the Egyptians also spoke of, emerged like a breath of fresh air. Butterfly. Similarly, in this image, there was nothing terrifying, nothing to regret or fear, for the butterfly was a being representing light, change, hope?
So the history of the symbol of psychology took the term psyche to later unify it with? Is it Logy? (???? ?????). In this way, and with time, the “science of the soul” no longer exists etymologically to become the “science of the mind”, to be the symbol “maximum representation”.
In Greek mythology, the word? Psyche means something more than butterfly, soul or spirit. Psyche is a goddess, a beautiful creature with butterfly wings who lived one of the most beautiful loves, which was immortalized by Apuleyus in his Metamorphosis (The Golden Donkey).
The story tells the story of the three daughters of the king of Anatolia, there was a truly special, so delicate, seductive and joyful that the goddess Aphrodite he he he was desperate to see her rival in the young woman. Jealousy was so desperate that he did not hesitate to send his son Eros (Cupid) to throw one of his arrows at him, so that the young Psyche would fall abandoned by the meanest, ugliest and cruelest man in all of Anatolia.
However, something unexpected happened on the part of Aphrodite, it was his son Eros who fell abandoned by Psyche. The young god, without being able to resist, decided to go to the girl’s room every night to conquer her and make her her own. And so it was. This is how Psyche falls madly in love with a stranger who visited her every night in the dark, so that she could not see her face, a god who wanted to preserve her identity, so as not to end this magical idyll.
However, something has happened. When Psyche told his sisters about this relationship, they advised him not to continue if he could not see the face of his mysterious lover. The young lady did that. Taking advantage of Eros sleeping in his bed, he approached a lamp to light it, when she did this, Aphrodite’s son came out full of anger at Psyche’s audacity.
Sad, discouraged and repentant, the daughter of the king of Anatolia goes to Aphrodite for help, the mother of Eros then saw the opportunity to take revenge on her, to eliminate from the world a woman who competed in beauty before the goddess herself. He offered four tests, four jobs that, if passed, could render Eros’ forgiveness and affection. Now these jobs consisted of traveling the underworld, confronting Cerberus, traveling with Charon and then Hades to go to Persephone and then question him. something of her beauty, which she kept in a small box.
However, against all odds, the intelligent Psyche proved to be not only beauty, but also intelligence, courage and determination; However, just when she managed to overcome all difficulties and get Persephone’s box, the girl sinned out of curiosity and vanity. She decided to open it to see the content and take some of that beauty, it was at this point that she fell into a trap: the dream of the internship, but a familiar hand removed the curse from her eyes, a familiar skin comforted her. she and a hopeful face returned her joy: it was Eros who, having forgiven him, came to her aid.
The end of this magical couple could not be happier, Aphrodite freed he himself from the envy of her son’s beloved and danced at her wedding, Zeus, for her part, decided to make Psique immortal, this beautiful and courageous woman who, with her butterfly wings, also represents the symbol of ???.