I’m almost finished test prints for a series of butterfly prints called Ψυχή, or Psyche in English.    Psyche was a Greek Goddess depicted in ancient mosaics with butterfly wings and often in the company of her husband Eros.    The Greek word  Ψυχή, or Psyche as it is known, is a word with a lot of weight.     It means the human mind or soul or spirit.

According to Wikipedia   “The basic meaning of the Greek word ψυχή (psūchê) was “life”. Derived meanings included “spirit”, “ghost”, and ultimately “self”, “conscious personality”

“In psychology, the psyche is the totality of the human mind, conscious, and unconscious. Psychology is the scientific or objective study of the psyche. The word has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older texts”

In Greek mythology, Ψυχή or Psyche was a young girl so  beautiful  that she caused Aphrodite’s wroth and envy.  She  sent her son Eros (cupid) , the god of love, to do his worst with one of his arrows to make her fall in love with the most base, worthless person as punishment.   However, things didn’t work out the way she planned  because Eros fell in love with Psyche and carried her away to his secret palace where he would visit her at night.  He never revealed his true identity and asked Psyche never to look upon his face.  Urged on by her sisters she took a quick peep at him one night while he was asleep ….. and betrayed him.

I won’t tell you the rest of the story because there are much better places than here to read it but this is just one of many Greek myths that make fascinating reading.    A good place to start is    THEOI  GREEK MYTHOLOGY-EXPLORING MYTHOLOGY IN CLASSICAL LITERATURE AND ART        I will add more good sites as I find them.

Ψυχή according to   el.wiktionary.org     can also mean – generosity, kindness,  bravery and courage.   All that meaning in a tiny little winged insect.

So, here is my screen print of Psyche as a butterfly…it’s long and narrow because it is for the sides and bottom of a circular bag for headphones.