The trouble with Cupid

[Eldros]

We usually think of Cupid as this playful little messenger of love, like an angel of the heart, running around with his arrows.
But what if Cupid is actually a bit of a troublemaker?
What if Cupid got bored of bringing people together and started having a little fun?
What if he aimed his arrows at people who can’t stand each other -- rivals, enemies, two people who’d rather stay far away from each other - and suddenly find themselves drawn together?
Maybe Cupid doesn’t actually make anyone fall in love. Maybe his arrow just opens a door and reveals what was hiding underneath all that resistance.
Because when it comes to love, Cupid might just have a pretty wicked sense of humor....

 

[Frater M.M.]

A couple of old stories I couldn't quite remember that I had to look up:

[1] Apollo and Daphne: Apollo takes the mickey out of Cupid for playing with a bow, so Cupid trolls Apollo by shooting him with a golden arrow and Daphne with a leaden one i.e. gold one causes overwhelming desire and lead one creates aversion to love.

[2] Medea and Jason: Hera and Athena persuade Aphrodite to get Eros to shoot Medea so she'll fancy Jason and help him and override her own loyalty, judgement, self-interest, etc.

 

[ewiz]

So we're writing more fan-fiction today?

What if cupid wasn't a baby shooting arrows, and instead he was a seagull who shits on you. Then we can discuss how to interpret the stains as love omens.

 

[Eldros]

So we're writing more fan-fiction today?

What if cupid wasn't a baby shooting arrows, and instead he was a seagull who shits on you. Then we can discuss how to interpret the stains as love omens.

“More fan-fiction?” Coming from someone who just invented an entire seagull-based Cupid mythology…
Now I’m starting to wonder if you’re jealous or if this is just Cupid posting from his second account.
Either way, I’m flattered by the level of engagement.

 

[Frater M.M.]

We usually think of Cupid as this playful little messenger of love, like an angel of the heart, running around with his arrows.

Yeah, this is a very diluted/sanitised Hallmark Cupid picture of what he's like and his role in ye olden days.

Digging around some more, there is PGM IV.1716–1870, “The Sword of Dardanos.” So practitioner sends Eros to the target (woman) so her psyche is turned towards him and she experiences love/passion etc. You have ritual imagery like Eros burning Psyche and another showing their erotic union. It's viewed as coercive love magic i.e. overcoming resistance, bringing target to submission of desire. It even gives a rite for gaining a magical assistant (a winged Eros) who you can send to the target's house to influence her and her dreams.

There’s another PGM rite, PGM XII.14–95, where the magician constructs a wax Eros holding a bow and arrow, alongside a figure of Psyche. Eros is consecrated as a kind of magical assistant (paredros) and can send dreams, cause sleeplessness, etc.

I'm not a recon as such, so don't know how modern-day Hellenists would view Eros (def. not as Hallmark Cupid, I'd imagine) and how much autonomy they'd grant him especially as a prankster. There's def. old stories of him acting like a mischievous little s---