Zeus' fearless eagle: A powerful, creative guide to shadow work

Psyche's gift to the anxious: how to use your imagination to calm your fearful mind

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If you struggle with anxiety, doubt, fear, overwhelm or emotional paralysis, or if you're interested in what can be learnt from myth and archetypal symbolism to improve our mental health and resilience, then this is for you.

This article is part of a short series exploring the empowering lessons of the myth of Psyche and Eros. If you want a more detailed rendition of that story, check out the first piece in the series. But you don't need to do that because I'm going to tell you everything you need to know.

The myth of Psyche and Eros – a summary

So here's where we're at: Psyche (a mortal woman) finds herself thrown in a dungeon by the goddess Aphrodite and set four impossible tasks in order to regain her freedom. In terms of archetypal symbology and Jungian psychology, these tasks can be understood as representations of four deepening stages of individuation – the process by which we differentiate ourselves from our parents and family, and from conditioned rules and expectations, in order to become who we actually are.

Against all odds, Psyche succeeded in the first two tasks thanks to help from an army of friendly ants and a river reed momentarily possessed by a minor god. Aphrodite, who's setting these tasks and does not want Psyche to succeed, is getting increasingly vexed by all this, so she decides to go big with the next task:

Psyche is told to fill a crystal flask with water from the river Styx – a dark and dangerous river at the top of a craggy mountain, guarded by fierce snake-like dragons. The River Styx divides the land of the living from the Underworld, the land of the dead.

So Psyche climbs the slope, utterly hopeless, and stands, paralysed by the fear of this terrible scene: "the waters seemed to themselves likewise saying, Away, away, what wilt thou doe? flie, flie, or else thou wilt be slaine."

In that moment, a magnificent bird descends from the sky – an eagle sent by Zeus – and it tells Psyche there's no way a mortal woman could get close to these waters that the gods themselves are afraid of. But the eagle can. With its ability to fly over the heads of the dragons and swoop down to secure the water quickly and safely, Zeus' eagle claims the prize and Psyche succeeds once again.

The feminine/masculine continuum

On the surface, this task might seem similar to the previous one, in which Psyche was sent to collect a tuft of golden wool from the fearsome and dangerous golden-fleeced sheep. But in other ways, it's the opposite. Or, at least, at the opposite end of one continuum. The sheep – strong, aggressive and competitive – represent repressed masculine energies. The river Styx, with its deep, dark, fearsome waters represents the feminine shadow.

A quick reminder that the terms masculine and feminine are not the same as male and female. No matter our gender, we all have both masculine and feminine aspects of self. I'll say more about this in another article at some point because it's fascinating, but in brief, the reason certain traits are considered either masculine or feminine is that the associations are deeply embedded in (I think) all known cultures, mythologies, philosophical and religious traditions, dating back thousands of years. No matter where you're looking, you'll find that on the one side, masculinity is linked with the sky, the sun, daytime, fire, dryness, and also conscious thought, assertiveness and outwardness, while femininity is associated with the earth or underworld, the moon, nighttime, water, moisture, fertility, and also emotion, creativity, unconscious thought, introspection and inwardness. Crucially, neither grouping is superior – both ends of this continuum require the other in order to exist and have meaning, and they play off one another.

Think of the famous yin yang symbol from Taoism, where the dark and light sides twist into one another and there is a little drop of each at the centre of its counterpart. This symbol represents a lot, but we could sum it up with words like harmony, unity and balance – these things being the ultimate goal in Taoism, leading (or so the theory goes) to enlightenment.

Symbolism and meaning

So, while the second of Psyche's tasks was about confronting the masculine shadow, the third is about facing the deeper, darker feminine shadow. In Jungian psychology, the river Styx, as the border between the land of the living and the land of the dead, represents the border between conscious and unconscious. Its water stands for the great water of life – of creativity, cycles and regeneration. To capture this water, as Psyche is tasked to do, is to capture primal energies and shape them through your own personality. Put simply, to live life as yourself – your whole, authentic self – rather than just going through the motions and being what the world expects you to be.

This is a difficult thing to do, to say the least. What's required for Psyche to succeed in this test is for her to begin the creative act of birthing a new version of self, which necessitates the death of the old version of self. That's why it's so hard. In order to make any change, we always have to let go of something. And that is fundamentally frightening.

To kick a habit – such as smoking, drinking or overeating – means letting go of a coping mechanism.

To overcome a fear or phobia – no matter how limiting – means the death of who you once were and the end of something you once thought necessary for safety.

To grow, simply, is to relinquish or at least move beyond the fear of change.

So, in particular, the shadow content that Psyche must face here is that associated with fear. Psyche’s task can be seen as a journey into these emotional depths, where she must gather and bring back the "waters" of understanding and insight, transforming unconscious fears into conscious awareness. Her success represents the ability to face the most paralysing aspects of the psyche without being overcome.

The meaning of Zeus' eagle

So how does she do this? The eagle's ability to soar at a height and to use its keen eye to target the water and retrieve it safely is key. Had Psyche just waded into the waters herself, she would surely have met her end. And while, in reality, fearful shadow content is unlikely to do us that kind of harm directly, it can overcome us. We can lose ourselves in our fears. We can drown in them, if we're not careful. So the eagle motif in this myth reminds us of a few important necessities for this kind of work:

1. The need for connection

First, connection – to ourselves, to others, to a higher spiritual power, or whatever makes sense to us. Notice that, unlike in the second task, where the river god guided Psyche to take the right course, here the eagle actually does the job for her. And, yes, we're seeing the eagle as an aspect of Psyche's self, but the difference in the nature of help given is striking, and it underscores the importance of connection when facing the darkest aspects of the unconscious – it reminds us that it's okay to ask for help.

2. Objectivity and space

Second, this passage speaks to the importance of taking an objective perspective when dealing with intense negative emotion. In modern psychology, this is known as self-distancing: the act of creating space when considering feelings like fear and shame, as opposed to trying to understand them from the inside (while immersed in them), which is much more likely to leave us paralysed and hopeless.

Facing fear

So, how can we actually use any of this? Having just talked about the dangers of rushing into shadow work alone, I'm not going to direct you into some deep and difficult process here. But we can use a bit of our own creativity to take a very small and safe step in approaching the emotion of fear.

The reason myth, metaphor and all kinds of narrative are so important in therapy is that the symbolism gets through to us so much better than logic, reason and stats. The mind is geared up to learn through story, and we've always done it.

Mini-process: using symbolism to approach your fears

So, what if you were to create symbols or scenes to represent your own emotions? This is done often, and in many different ways, in various forms of therapy because it helps people to safely get a handle on feelings like fear. Symbols and metaphors help us to observe our emotions from a distance – just as the eagle did – and to get curious about them, rather than feeling sucked into their depths.

Mini-process: using symbolism to approach your fears

1. Identify a (manageable, unintimidating) fear

So, if you feel comfortable, I invite you to think of something that makes you nervous – but not terrified; let's keep it manageable. Think of something that gives you the jitters like public speaking, dating or exams. Just make sure you feel okay with thinking about it before you continue.

2. Question the experience of that fear

Then, when you have it, see what comes up as I ask these questions:

- What label would you assign to this emotion?

When you think about the object of your fear, what would you call the emotion it evokes? What's the best word for it? It could just be "fear", but it might also be "nervousness", "anxiety", "unease", "timidity", "apprehension", etc.

Studies show that labeling our emotions reduces their intensity. Just as the miller's daughter discovered in Rumpelstiltskin, to name something threatening or controlling is to take away some of its power.

So, take a moment to find the term that fits your fear best. Again, pause the video if you need to.

• Where, in your body (or around it), does it reside?

And then, as you tune into that emotion, consider this question: if it lived in a particular part of your body (or outside your body, if that makes more sense to you), where would it live? Chest, stomach, head, heart, or elsewhere? Go with whatever comes to mind.

• If it had a shape, what would that be?

Now, if that feelings had a shape, what would that be? Is it spherical, jagged, lumpy?

• If it had a colour, what would that be?

• Is it heavy or light?

• Is it warm or cool?

• Does it move or is it still?

3. Observe your symbol from a distance

Whatever you now have in mind – whether it's a super clear image of this thing, or whether it's only a vague sense – just imagine that you can take that emotion and hold it, in your hands, in front of you.

If you don't want to touch it, you can imagine that it's floating in the space ahead of you: close enough to observe, but far enough away that you don't have to feel it right now.

And then, finally, as you observe your symbol, remind yourself of this important thing: that all emotions are valid, natural, helpful and important, no matter how difficult they can sometimes feel. What's more, all emotions have something to offer if we accept and integrate them rather than try to fight them off.

Just as Psyche brought back the "waters" of understanding and insight, by transforming unconscious fears into conscious awareness, you can learn something important from this little drop of the shadow, too.

So, I'll leave you with one final question. You don't need an answer right away, but you might be surprised by how easily it comes. Either way, just allow yourself to get curious about this:

If that emotion had some kind of gift to offer, what would that be?

If this emotion that you're now observing were actually here to give you some kind of gift – a message or reminder of something important, perhaps, or the gift of something like courage, motivation, or perspective – if that emotion were showing up for a positive purpose, what would its gift be?

For Psyche, the gift was the chance to awaken a whole new version of who she was – a stronger, more integrated self – which is what we'll be exploring in the next and final article in this little series. I'll see you there.

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Thank you for reading!

We’re Hazel (ex boxer, therapist and author) and Ellie (ex psychology science writer). We left our jobs to build an interactive narrative app for self-awareness and emotion regulation (Betwixt), which you can try on Android here and on iOS here.

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