Speaker 1: Roses are red, violets are blue. What you think you
Speaker 1: know is a lie. But I'm about to give you
Speaker 1: the truth.
Speaker 2: The disclaimer to the Fair season Karen's out there, Oh
Speaker 2: dare you? All guests on the show do not reflect
Speaker 2: the opinions of the host. The purpose of the show
Speaker 2: is to have interesting conversations, stretch our minds and grow
Speaker 2: not what we want. If you are looking for an
Speaker 2: echo chamber. If you were listener Discrestion's advised, did you
Speaker 2: talk about extreme?
Speaker 3: What is happening and what is up?
Speaker 1: Hold out your glass because we're about to feel the
Speaker 1: Join us.
Speaker 4: As we travel and explore the vast unknown. It's a
Speaker 4: hero's journey with dragons to slay damsels, to save innumerable
Speaker 4: treasures to hoard.
Speaker 2: Is hi?
Speaker 4: You know, look at it from a different perspective, different perspective.
Speaker 3: Hey, what is happening and what is up?
Speaker 1: Hold out your glass because I am about to feel
Speaker 1: it up. Welcome to the Prometheus Lins Podcast, the place
Speaker 1: where the conversations are always enlightening. I'm your host, Doc Brown,
Speaker 1: and here we like to use the allegory of the
Speaker 1: Prometheus lens to take a second look at everything. Hey,
Speaker 1: if you're new to the channel, Welcome to the hero's journey.
Speaker 1: Be sure and hit that light button, hit that subscribe button,
Speaker 1: and flick that bell so you don't miss out on
Speaker 1: a single adventure. May be sure and drop us a comment,
Speaker 1: a rating, and share this with your friends and your
Speaker 1: family on social media. These are great things to help
Speaker 1: spread the fire. And hey, speaking of social media, be
Speaker 1: sure and check out all my social medias down below
Speaker 1: and their various platforms for daily knowledge nuggets. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: if you hadn't heard, my new book, The Epic of
Speaker 1: Esau is now out and on Amazon. If you've not
Speaker 1: done so, head on over and grab your copy. And
Speaker 1: if you've done so already, thank you. It's had amazing
Speaker 1: response already, guys. I'm just so thankful. Hey, it's already
Speaker 1: a best selling new release with over one hundred copies
Speaker 1: sold within the first two weeks. Thank you, guys, from
Speaker 1: the bottom of my heart. And hey, be sure to
Speaker 1: give me a five star reading on Amazon because that
Speaker 1: helps push it to new readers. But now Valentine's Day
Speaker 1: is upon us, ladies and gentlemen. It's the time of love, flowers, candy,
Speaker 1: and empty wallets. It's no secret how This holiday is
Speaker 1: highly commercialized, and during this time, a twenty dollars dozen
Speaker 1: of roses magically becomes a hundred. The tradition that we
Speaker 1: know is Valentine's Day made its way into the New
Speaker 1: World with Hallmark mass producing cards in nineteen nineteen. And ladies,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to spoil your day, but today we're
Speaker 1: going to take a dive into the dark roots of
Speaker 1: this holiday. This is a festival with dark pagan roots.
Speaker 1: We'll explore this holiday and the gods behind them. But
Speaker 1: without further delay, my prometheanites, let's go steal some fire.
Speaker 1: The most common imagery associated with this holiday is the cute, little, chubby,
Speaker 1: diapered baby with wings, known as Cupid, who flies around
Speaker 1: shooting his arrows of love not only at humanity, but
Speaker 1: to the gods themselves. He is a cherub them. For
Speaker 1: those unfamiliar with the biblical texts, cherub them are not
Speaker 1: chubby little babies with wings. From the Book of Genesis,
Speaker 1: we know Cherubim were placed at the east of Eden
Speaker 1: to guard the way into Eden and the Tree of life.
Speaker 1: We get a good description of these guys from Ezekiel one.
Speaker 1: They each had four faces and four wings, and from
Speaker 1: the accountant revelation we see that these guys are thrown
Speaker 1: guardians with four faces that are the four cardinal points
Speaker 1: of the Babylonian Mazarath. Ezekiel twenty eight says that Satan
Speaker 1: was an anointed guardian Cherub. It wasn't until classical antiquity
Speaker 1: that these guys morphed into the cute, little winged babies
Speaker 1: that we see today. Cupid is the counterpart to the
Speaker 1: Greek god of love Eros. Various legends and stories surround
Speaker 1: this god's parents. Some say that his parents were Nix
Speaker 1: and Erebus. Nix is the goddess and representation of knight
Speaker 1: and the offspring of Chaos. Erebus was a representation of darkness,
Speaker 1: also the offspring of chaos. He's also referred to as
Speaker 1: the underworld and sometimes used as a synonym for Tartarus itself.
Speaker 1: Some say his parents for Aphrodite and Ares, and others
Speaker 1: say Aphrodite and Zeus. But according to Aristophanes and his
Speaker 1: orphic hymn, in the beginning was only Chaos, the dark
Speaker 1: knight at Tartarus. These two primordial entities made it and
Speaker 1: burst Eros, the god of love. Eros himself mated with
Speaker 1: dark chaos and hatched forth the human race. Eros is
Speaker 1: not only the god of love, but also of lust
Speaker 1: and sex. The name Cupid we use today comes from
Speaker 1: the Latin, which means desire. According to Hesiod, he was
Speaker 1: the first born of the gods. Not only that he
Speaker 1: claimed to be the mightiest of the gods, and that
Speaker 1: he will died influence over the gods themselves. And is
Speaker 1: it not I said today that love conquers all. It's
Speaker 1: often overlooked, but the major role Eros played in many
Speaker 1: of the famous Greek legends and epix was very important.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't forget that the arrow of arrows that struck Medea,
Speaker 1: infecting her with such passion for the Greek hero Jason.
Speaker 1: Without the help of this great sorceress, Jason would have
Speaker 1: failed in his quest for the Golden Fleece. The same
Speaker 1: goes for Odysseus in the Odyssey. Athena kept saving him,
Speaker 1: but it was because of Arros. Arros made Athena fall
Speaker 1: in love with Odysseus. Love was the driving force behind
Speaker 1: many of our favorite epics and stories, and the Dionysica.
Speaker 1: Aros pierces Dionysus with the arrow, driving him madly in
Speaker 1: love for Aura, but the god of Love wasn't immune
Speaker 1: to love himself. He falls in love with a human
Speaker 1: woman named Psyche. Symbolically, this is the marriage of Love
Speaker 1: and the human Psyche. In this story, his mother is Afrodite,
Speaker 1: and Afrodite becomes jealous of the beauty of a human
Speaker 1: girl named Psyche. Psyche was so beautiful that people made
Speaker 1: the bold claim that she was even more beautiful than
Speaker 1: Afrodite herself. Psyche's blessing was also her biggest curse. She
Speaker 1: was so beautiful that no man dare approach her, as
Speaker 1: every man thought her to be unattainable. All of her
Speaker 1: sisters found love and husband's while she was left alone.
Speaker 1: With all the attention Psyche was getting, people turned away
Speaker 1: from Afrodite and her temple was left empty. In a rage,
Speaker 1: she commanded her son Eros to go down and shoot
Speaker 1: her with one of his arrows, forcing her to fall
Speaker 1: in love with the first man she saw. Thus she
Speaker 1: would pursue him. With Psyche married, everyone returned back to
Speaker 1: the temples of Aphrodite once more. Aros goes down to
Speaker 1: earth to obey his mother's wishes, but one look at
Speaker 1: the beautiful Psyche. Eros, the god of love was smitten.
Speaker 1: IROs spent many days watching Psyche and noticed her depression.
Speaker 1: Every day she cried of loneliness and longed for a
Speaker 1: husband like her sister's. Her father, the king, also worried
Speaker 1: for his daughter and went to the seers at Delphi
Speaker 1: to seek the help of Apollo. Apollo tells the king
Speaker 1: his daughter is destined to marry not a man, but
Speaker 1: a beast, a winged serpent, something more terrible than they
Speaker 1: could ever imagine. So let's take a quick time out. Okay,
Speaker 1: did you guys catch that a winged serpent immediately? That
Speaker 1: should send out some alarms in your head. I mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier that Satan the Nakash was described as a cherub them.
Speaker 3: This word in.
Speaker 1: Hebrew can mean serpent, but can also mean the shining one,
Speaker 1: the one who practices divination. John refers to him as
Speaker 1: that ancient twisting serpent. Now remember, Scripture tells us he
Speaker 1: runs around portraying himself as an angel of light, and
Speaker 1: according to the Book of Enoch, the fallen angels became
Speaker 1: subject to the Nakash. So this Greek mythos is aligning
Speaker 1: with Scripture here. So yes, Eros can even inflict lust
Speaker 1: on the gods themselves moving right along. In our story,
Speaker 1: Apollo tells the king that he must take his daughter
Speaker 1: to a high mountain, say his goodbyes, and leave her
Speaker 1: there for her husband to collect her. There was great
Speaker 1: sadness in mourning from the family. They prepared for a
Speaker 1: few funeral instead of a joyous wedding. They led her
Speaker 1: to a high place, said their goodbyes, and left Psyche
Speaker 1: to her fate. Brought to tears and sadness, Psyche cried
Speaker 1: herself to sleep. It was at this time that zephyrs,
Speaker 1: the western wind, picked her up and whisked her away
Speaker 1: into the air to meet her fate. When she woke,
Speaker 1: she found herself in a peaceful grove, and in the
Speaker 1: distance was a large, beautiful palace filled with the finest
Speaker 1: things in life. It was what she imagined heaven would
Speaker 1: be like. Sweet music filled the place, and for once
Speaker 1: she felt happy. A soft, tender voice tells her this
Speaker 1: house is for you. Do not be afraid. The voice
Speaker 1: of her husband spoke to her throughout the day, but
Speaker 1: didn't reveal himself to her. She hoped that when the
Speaker 1: night came that he would come to her, and he
Speaker 1: did under the cover of night. She couldn't see him,
Speaker 1: but she could feel him against her, and she knew
Speaker 1: that he was no monster, but the love that she
Speaker 1: had long awaited for. Every night they would make passionate
Speaker 1: love together, but come the morning, she would always wake
Speaker 1: up alone, only hearing the voice of her husband throughout
Speaker 1: the day. After a time, although happy, she began to
Speaker 1: miss her family. That night, she requested that her family
Speaker 1: come to visit her in her new home. Aros, the
Speaker 1: god of love, couldn't refuse, but he did have one
Speaker 1: request to not let her sisters influence her.
Speaker 3: At the arrival of.
Speaker 1: Her sisters, they were awe struck at the beauty of
Speaker 1: their sister's new beautiful home, and as Psyche showed them
Speaker 1: around the palace and talked about how sweet her new
Speaker 1: husband was, their happy quickly turned to jealousy. The sisters
Speaker 1: began to sow seeds of doubt. They began to question
Speaker 1: her on why she has yet to see her husband,
Speaker 1: and then they reminded her of Apollo's prophecy that she
Speaker 1: was destined to marry a monster. But the more they talked,
Speaker 1: their questions and seeds took root. The sisters left, and
Speaker 1: Psyche began to question her situation and her new husband.
Speaker 1: She decided that that night, while her husband slept, she
Speaker 1: would light a candle and gaze upon him, and just
Speaker 1: in case he was a monster, she'd have a dagger
Speaker 1: to slay him. That night, after they had made love
Speaker 1: and Arrows fell asleep, she lit her candle and grabbed
Speaker 1: her dagger. As the lights exposed her husband on the bed,
Speaker 1: she seen right away he was no monster. He was
Speaker 1: the most handsome and beautiful man that she had ever seen,
Speaker 1: and it was at this time point that she realized
Speaker 1: who her husband was. He was Eros, the God of love.
Speaker 1: She stared in amazement and admiration at his beauty, but
Speaker 1: her gaze lasted too long. Leaning down over him with
Speaker 1: the candle, the hot wax fell and hit Arrow in
Speaker 1: the chest, burning him, waking him up in a rage.
Speaker 1: Feeling betrayed, Aros gets to his feet and proclaims to Psyche,
Speaker 1: love cannot live without trust, and he flies away. Psyche
Speaker 1: was devastated. The entire day was void of her husband's voice.
Speaker 1: She hoped that he would returned during the night, but
Speaker 1: he did not. Several days passed like this, Psyche crying
Speaker 1: herself to sleep. One day in desperation, she goes to
Speaker 1: the temple of Aphrodite. As she knew she was the
Speaker 1: mother of Eros, she would beg her new mother in
Speaker 1: law for help and gain the forgiveness of her husband.
Speaker 1: Psyche was unaware of the past jealousy of the goddess
Speaker 1: and her plot against her and to torture her. Aphrodite
Speaker 1: agreed to help gain the forgiveness of her son, but
Speaker 1: to earn her help, she had to complete a set
Speaker 1: of labors, and unbeknownst to her, these were impossible labors.
Speaker 1: Psyche desperately pledges her allegiance to her and says she
Speaker 1: will do whatever she asks. Her first task, she sends
Speaker 1: her to a mount of seeds, wheats, poppies, and various
Speaker 1: other small objects, telling her she must separate everything into
Speaker 1: individual mounds before nightfall. This was an impossible task. Psyche
Speaker 1: tried at first, but quickly realized she couldn't complete this task,
Speaker 1: and then she collapsed to the ground in tearful sorrow.
Speaker 1: At this time, a colony of ants comes up and
Speaker 1: starts grabbing items and starts separating them into PaaS for her.
Speaker 1: With the help of the ants, she completes this task
Speaker 1: Aphrodittti returns enraged. Unknown to Psyche, Eros had come to
Speaker 1: his mother with his broken heart that night, and she
Speaker 1: tricked him and threw him into captivity so he couldn't
Speaker 1: return to Psyche. Each task given to her from the
Speaker 1: Goddess grew harder and harder without fail. Psyche completed each
Speaker 1: task with supernatural aid. She is saved from violent sheep
Speaker 1: by talking reed, spared the journey to a dragon infested
Speaker 1: waterfall by an eagle. Each completed task, Psyche's hope grew,
Speaker 1: and the Goddess's anger did too. Finally, one task remained.
Speaker 1: Aphrodite told Psyche she must go into Hades itself. She
Speaker 1: gave her a box and told her that she must
Speaker 1: meet with the Queen of Hades Persephone. That she must
Speaker 1: convince her to part with some of her beauty and
Speaker 1: place it into the box and return to the land
Speaker 1: of Living with it, and she was commanded not to
Speaker 1: open the box. She makes it past the hounds of Hell,
Speaker 1: pays the fairy man, and makes it to the queen.
Speaker 1: After hearing of her journey, she decides to help in
Speaker 1: her quest. She parts with some of her beauty and
Speaker 1: Psyche makes it back to the land of the living.
Speaker 1: But like Pandora, her curiosity would not let her leave
Speaker 1: the box unopened.
Speaker 3: She thought that if she took just a.
Speaker 1: Little bit of the beauty for herself after that he
Speaker 1: wouldn't know, and then Eros would definitely forgive her if
Speaker 1: she was even more beautiful than before. She opens the
Speaker 1: box and the curse comes out of the box, causing
Speaker 1: a de sleep of death to fall over her. Meanwhile, Eros,
Speaker 1: getting word of her death, manages to break free from
Speaker 1: his mother's prison, and he finds his love dead on
Speaker 1: the ground. He picks her up in his arms and
Speaker 1: uses all of his godly powers to remove the deep
Speaker 1: sleep of death and put it back into the box.
Speaker 1: When Psyche awakes, she's back in her palace in her
Speaker 1: own bed, Eros beside her, and Aphrodite at the foot
Speaker 1: of the bed, holding the box with its contents inside.
Speaker 1: Her mission was now complete. Eros petitioned Zeus that Psyche
Speaker 1: would be made of God so they could always be
Speaker 1: together and death shall never separate them again. Zeus ruled
Speaker 1: in their favor, but also ruled that Afrodite was to
Speaker 1: never interfere in their love again. Psyche was then given
Speaker 1: the Ambrosia, the drink of the gods, thus turning her
Speaker 1: he immortal. Psyche convinces Eros to forgive his mother and
Speaker 1: that they all lived happily ever after. The story reminds
Speaker 1: us once again of that famous line, Love conquers all. Now,
Speaker 1: with the background of the god associated with this holiday
Speaker 1: that we call Valentine's out of the way, let's take
Speaker 1: a look at the history of this holiday. We need
Speaker 1: look no further than to ancient Rome. We can trace
Speaker 1: the beginnings of this holiday to the ancient Roman festival
Speaker 1: of luper Kalia, and this was celebrated February the thirteenth
Speaker 1: through the fifteenth and this was a fertility festival dedicated
Speaker 1: to fawnas the wild Man, the fertility and agricultural god.
Speaker 3: This is a subject that I dive.
Speaker 1: In pretty deep in my newly released book, The Epic
Speaker 1: of Esau, The Birthright and Seed War. In that book,
Speaker 1: I deep dive into Esau. That's the question, could Esau
Speaker 1: be in what we call today a bigfoot? And in
Speaker 1: that book I take a deep dive into the wild
Speaker 1: man throughout history and mythos. And in that book there's
Speaker 1: a lengthy section about faunas he was a wild man
Speaker 1: of the woods covered in hair like Esau was described
Speaker 1: fawnas was closely associated with Rome's founders, the twins Romulus
Speaker 1: and Remus. The Leupra Kai, which was the name of
Speaker 1: the priests who overseen these festivities, would go to a
Speaker 1: sacred cave. Something about caves when we talk about these
Speaker 1: wild men and Nephelum giants, they seemed to really like
Speaker 1: their caves, and this cave was said to have been
Speaker 1: the place Romulus and Remus were cared for as infants
Speaker 1: by the she wolf or Lupa. There they would sacrifice
Speaker 1: a goat for futility and a dog for purification. I
Speaker 1: talk about this fascination with goats of these wild men
Speaker 1: in my book, and the Bible calls them harry goat demons.
Speaker 1: In the Book of Isaiah talks about how they dance
Speaker 1: in the wilderness and also in desolate cities, and once
Speaker 1: they make their sacrifices to start this festival, they would
Speaker 1: remove the goat's fur and cut them into strips and
Speaker 1: soak them in the blood from the sacrifice. They would
Speaker 1: then drink and drug themselves into a frenzy to invite
Speaker 1: the gods within them to be possessed. They would then
Speaker 1: remove their clothes and parade through the streets of Rome.
Speaker 1: They would then take these blood soak strips and beat
Speaker 1: the women of the town with these blood soaked garments. So, men,
Speaker 1: this Valentine's Day, forget the flowers, the cards, the candy.
Speaker 1: Just come home drunk, take off your belts, soak them
Speaker 1: in blood and start making some body art on you partners.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm joking, joking. I do not condone domestic
Speaker 1: violence on the show, But isn't that while though, I mean,
Speaker 1: think of that, this is the original practices of this holiday,
Speaker 1: and they didn't have to chase these women either. They
Speaker 1: would crowd the street, line up and beg to be
Speaker 1: hit with these blood soak strips. They believed if they
Speaker 1: were hit by these that their wound would be blessed
Speaker 1: with fertility, and also their crops for the coming year
Speaker 1: would be blessed.
Speaker 3: Also.
Speaker 1: These festivities also included a matchmaking lottery. All the unmarried
Speaker 1: women of the town would have their names put into
Speaker 1: a large jar or an urn. Then the town's bachelors
Speaker 1: would come in and draw names one at a time.
Speaker 1: The name they drew would be their partners for the
Speaker 1: rest of the year. These matches often ended in marriage,
Speaker 1: as they believed that these were heavenly inspired matches by Eros,
Speaker 1: the god of Love himself. Emperor Claudius the Second he
Speaker 1: he killed two men by the name of Valentine on
Speaker 1: February fourteenth in different years during the third century. Some
Speaker 1: believe these gentlemen is where we draw the names for
Speaker 1: our modern holiday. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic
Speaker 1: Church when they declared this day Valentine's Day. When Christianity
Speaker 1: took over Rome, an Emperor Constantine converted. They took many
Speaker 1: of the pagan holidays and christianized them to convert more people.
Speaker 1: This way, they could hold on to some of their
Speaker 1: traditions that they were familiar with and practice for years.
Speaker 1: Christmas is another one of these holidays. In ancient Rome,
Speaker 1: this was known as Saturnalia. Valentine's Day comes later after
Speaker 1: Constantine in the fifth century. The Catholic Church honors three
Speaker 1: martyrs with the name Valentine. One of these men served
Speaker 1: as a priest during the third century. In Rome, Claudius
Speaker 1: the second said that single men made better soldiers and
Speaker 1: issued a decree that outlawed marriage for young men. This
Speaker 1: Valentine defied the orders of the emperor and secretly married
Speaker 1: young couples. Valentine was captured and put into prison, and
Speaker 1: there it is said that he fell in love with
Speaker 1: the warden's daughter, and just before his execution, he wrote
Speaker 1: her a love letter and left it in his cell
Speaker 1: and he signed it from your Valentine, a phrase often
Speaker 1: using cards and letters to this day. Pope joe Assis,
Speaker 1: the first in the fifth century, was the one who
Speaker 1: combined who combined Saint Valentine's Day with luper Kelia to
Speaker 1: get more converts. Around the same time, people celebrated Golatin's Day,
Speaker 1: and Galatin meant lover of women. Over the years, the
Speaker 1: holidays softened through the help of Chaucer and Shape through
Speaker 1: their romance writings, and began to grow in popularity. During
Speaker 1: this time, it was said to be the height of
Speaker 1: bird mating season, thus being the height of romance. Geoffrey
Speaker 1: Saucer was the first to write about how this day
Speaker 1: should be a romantic celebration in his thirteen seventy five
Speaker 1: poem all right, guys, you got the background info on
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day, the god that is associated with it, and
Speaker 1: now it's time for the Prometheus perspective. Ladies, I told
Speaker 1: you in the beginning, I'm not trying to spoil your day.
Speaker 1: I may spoil this particular day, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: improve the quality of your lives today. Men, listen up.
Speaker 1: Boycott Valentine's Day, not because it has pagan roots. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you go back far enough, everything has pagan roots.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm not a.
Speaker 1: Legalistic pharisee like that. Boycott this day to save your
Speaker 1: hard earned dough and stop paying five times the normal
Speaker 1: amount of things just because of the day that you
Speaker 1: buy it. You are following other sheep into the slaughterhouse
Speaker 1: and fattening the wallets of people whose wallet is already
Speaker 1: so fat they got back problem from sitting lopsided. Now
Speaker 1: the ladier, like Doc, you said you weren't going to
Speaker 1: ruin our day and that you were going to improve.
Speaker 3: The quality of our lives. How does this help us? Well,
Speaker 3: here it is fell us.
Speaker 1: Now, with all that money that you just saved, you're
Speaker 1: going to reinvest those funds back into flowers, cards, candy
Speaker 1: and weekend getaways. The only difference is now you're going
Speaker 1: to plan five days throughout the year to do the
Speaker 1: same thing you did on Valentine's Day. It will cost
Speaker 1: you no extra money, and your lady will feel special
Speaker 1: throughout the year.
Speaker 3: You're welcome.
Speaker 1: The overall modern message of Valentine's Day, I can get
Speaker 1: down with. Show your love and appreciation for your fellow
Speaker 1: man and one man. You know, this is something even
Speaker 1: Jesus true importance too. He said, love fulfills the law,
Speaker 1: and his two greatest commandments were love the Lord with
Speaker 1: all your heart, love your neighbor like you love yourself.
Speaker 1: And hey, I love you, my Promethean kites. And until
Speaker 1: next time, torch is high, guys.
Speaker 3: One thing