“Why Must Holy Places Always be Dark Places?” Til We Have Faces (fanart)

I recently reread my favorite book, Til We Have Faces, the Cupid and Psyche retelling by C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidson. It’s a beautifully written novel that plays with themes of abjection, beauty and ugliness (physical, spiritual, subjetctive),possessiveness and grappling with the unknown and divine. It’s fascinating to read, especially if you’re familiar with Lewis’ more straightforwardly Christian works like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy. TWHF is very pagan and ambivalent, interested more in sketching out the feel of a fictitious ancient culture and the ways in which the heroine moves through her life. Myths and gods are real and present in the story, but the line between the ineffable and the rational is not always clear.

In the end of the book, there is what one might be able to see as a “conversion” of sorts that one could interpret through a Christian lens, specifically Lewis’ view of pagan beliefs as being imperfect reflections through which the “true” divine is revealed. However, I strongly feel that, like the rough holy stone that represents a goddess in the story, Til We Have Faces has many faces to view as its own. To rebel against, accuse, or love a god or the gods, is an action that always reveals the feelings and motivations of one’s self as much as it does that of a divine presence.