Psyche's Knife

Psyche's Knife examines the myth of Eros and Psyche as a metaphor for the development of soul in the psychology of women, explicating the tropes of love and power as depicted by Psyche's use of a knife in attempting to learn the identity of her lover. Nelson examines the metaphor of the knife from all angles-alchemical, sacrificial, lunar, phallic-and delves into the mythology and imagery of women and knives, connecting our deep past to our present lives and our possibilities for the future. Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson is core faculty and dissertation policy director at Pacifica Graduate Institute near Santa Barbara, California, where she has been teaching since 2002. She is coauthor of The Art of Inquiry (2005), which expresses many key ideas about research and the creative process centered on the living psyche. Her research interests focus on mythologies of feminine power, cultural expressions of the shadow, and somatic psychology. A professional writer and editor for thirty years, she is also a lifelong athlete, a certified massage therapist, and an avid student of the Tarot, runes, and archetypal astrology.