This is the first of six exercises that pertains specifically to Psyche’s four tasks as published in Love and Soul-Making: Searching the Depths of Romantic Love (Shelby, 2022, Chiron Publications).

We will start with an introduction to the story of Psyche and Eros and then consider what this myth is about, and why we even look to myth. The story of Psyche and Eros was originally written in the 2nd century C.E. by Lucius Apuleius in a novel called The Golden Ass. It’s the story of a hero’s journey; however, in the middle of the story there’s the beautiful little tale of Psyche and Eros, which has come to inspire the imagination of many Jungians and, indeed, is probably the birthplace of the model of romantic love in the West. Myths and fairy tales are important as guides for how archetypes interact with each other within the psyche. As such, we can read it as a symbolic dream. Because it’s universal—it comes from the collective unconscious—it doesn’t necessarily apply to any particular culture, it represents an archetypal pattern. We can interpret it both on the personal level and the collective level.

Let’s recap the first task demanded of Psyche by Aphrodite in order for her to win back Eros after she shone the lamplight of consciousness on him and he fled, abandoning her.

In her sorrow, Psyche eventually goes to Aphrodite and pleads and begs for Aphrodite’s help in winning back the love and confidence of Eros. Aphrodite, meaning to destroy the beautiful Psyche still, sends her to complete four impossible tasks, each one designed to kill Psyche so that she cannot achieve her goal of being with the beautiful Eros. The first task that Aphrodite gives to Psyche is to sort and separate a heap of various grains and seeds by dawn. Now, this an impossible task and Psyche realizes it and collapses in tears, hopeless. “Then there appeared an ant, one of those miniature farmers; grasping the size of the problem,” (Apuleius, para. 10). It summoned all the other ants and they take pity on her. They gather and help with the sorting so the task gets completed by morning. (Shelby, 2022, p. 13/14)

Without this essential task of sorting, ordering, and organizing, there is only chaos . . . a pile of seeds. We must discern and differentiate. The ant nature is of the earth, not of the intellect—it is primal and instinctive, quiet and hardworking.

It is also chthonic, belonging to the underworld, which represents the unconscious. This first task may involve the tending and sorting of the inner workings of the pair or the family. It is possible that one learns to manage and protect oneself from the dangers of the inner world or an agitated anima-Psyche; that may include moods, inflations, excesses, vulnerabilities, and what used to be called possessions. Possessions meaning by spiritual or archetypal powers, that grabs hold of ones feeling state. In sorting we can learn to discern and manage feelings, values, timing, and boundaries of the psyche as the sorting ground.

The seeds may include an element of potentiality. Which seed shall grow, which shall be culled? The creatures born of the earth, the ants, are instincts able to order the potentiality of the seeds of the earth. Psyche possess within her an unconscious principle which enables her to select, sift, correlate, and evaluate, and so find her way amid the confusion of the numerous possibilities. For example, when writing, sifting through the topics, paragraphs and words. So many choices to make that it can be overwhelming and paralyzing, yet somehow it magically gets organized into a book. This is the work of the ants sorting the vast number of possible seeds.

The seeds can be perceived as chaotic and an image of the collective unconscious, which represents all of the creative impulses that are not realized by a human being. They are a heap of potentialities. The seeds can’t be sorted with a good mind, the intuition of the hardworking ants that are knowledgeable of the contents in the underworld is required. Learning to evaluate in this way allows us to sort out the wheat from the chaff in the unconscious. Though it looks like chaos to consciousness and can feel utterly overwhelming, the unconscious always contains paradox, therefore it also contains order. The ants represent the unconscious relation to order.

Reflection Questions for the 1st Task

I suggest you meditate and journal on these questions then ideally share your thoughts with a trusted friend or therapist who can hear and witness you; without being harmful or critical. Give yourself a quiet time and place to reflect on these questions.

• What does it mean to sort?
• What are you sorting out in your life right now?
• What tiny details need your attention and require organization?
• What practical matters in your life (home, laundry, groceries, finances, work, creative work) require ordering and structure?
• What is the ant nature?
• What in your inner life requires sorting out at this time?
• What inner fires need tending and how can you tend them?

I hope you will contemplate the ants and meditate on how they are able to assist you in sorting out your life on both the inner and external levels.