Narcissus

Narcissus Duet, Mikell Youell Worley, 8 1/2” x 11"

Narcissus poeticus

Gender: Feminine
Element: Water
​Planet: Venus​

The narcissus, often called the poet’s daffodil, has a shorter trumpet than the daffodil. It is often white, though comes in a variety of colors. There are 50 species with thousands of variations world wide!

Narcissus and Echo, a Greek Tragedy

The narcissus is named after Narcissus, the mortal son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. ​Narcissus was admittedly a good looking guy, and it was rumored that every nymph in the village, especially Echo, was hopelessly in love with him. 

Echo was known to be garrulous and often kept people detained with her long stories and endless chatter. She delighted in having the last word. Zeus, considered the most powerful and intelligent god at the time, decided to use her gift of gab to his advantage and ordered her to keep his wife Hera distracted while he frolicked, among other things, with the other nymphs. Hera eventually realized his plan, and instead of getting angry with Zeus, she became furious with Echo. That never made sense to me. 

Anyway, Hera put a curse on Echo so that she would never again be able to speak unless spoken to, and would only be able to repeat the end of people's sentences. This made any amorous conversation with Narcissus difficult. Their conversations were strained and redundant, and he became increasingly agitated when she repeated everything he said back to him. His rejection broke her heart, and she eventually wasted away into nothing more than the whisper of an echo. 

The other nymphs were furious at his callousness and wanted revenge. They ensured that when he saw his image, he would fall madly in love with himself. The next time he knelt down to get a drink from the pond, he saw his reflection in the water and fell hopelessly in love. He was unable to move or to stop staring at his reflection and eventually died. 

As far as I know, Zeus didn’t suffer any consequences.