April 23, 2003, 2:00 p.m.
It can mean {many things}, but for me it translates to "Beloved Soul". There is a person in my life who's ultimate goal involves seeing a collar on my neck with a small silver plate at the front, delicately engraved with "carus anima". While he chose this because he cares deeply for me, beyond just D/s, it also carries a special meaning for myself, and my avatar.
As some people might have gathered from Mint's {description}, she is somewhat inhuman. Her character is slightly based on the Greek legend of Galatea and Pygmalion.Pygmalion was a young sculptor of Cyprus so talented that his fame reached Olympus and Aphrodite herself came to pose for him. He was inspired by the beautiful goddess and carved a masterpiece, a statue so beautiful he fell in love with it as though it were living. He could not work or eat or sleep -- he just sat in his studio looking at the marble girl. "If I can't have her," he said, finally, to himself, "I don't want anything. I shall jump off the cliff into the ocean, and die before nightfall." Aphrodite heard him. She appeared and said: "I have come to help you. What do you want?"
"Her," said Pygmalion, pointing to the statue. "Nothing else, only her."
"Highly irregular," said the goddess. "But I admire your taste; she looks like me. Put your hand in hers..."
Pygmalion took the statue's hand and kissed its lips. Immediately the cold marble flushed into life. A rosy girl stood there on the pediment; her hair, yellow as daffodils, hung to mid-thigh. "Her name is Galatea," said Aphrodite. "Be happy..." In gratitude, the sculptor spent the rest of his life making images of Aphrodite for her temples all over the world.
While the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion is rather romantic, the avatar of Mint is not identical. Her flesh is still pale, resembling the marble it might have been carved from. Her eyes are awash with vibrant green, thirsty for knowledge. The idea is simply that she is not complete. She is searching for that last piece to bring her fully alive to the world. Through submission, she offers her patience, humility and desire to learn and listen.
"Carus anima" is an appropriate term for someone who is walking a path towards completion. Have I already set a goal of wearing the collar some day? No. Will I even get there? I don't know. This is my search to see if I have something so wholly encompassing of my being to offer to another person. Who I am is precious to me, but it is also cherished by another. I am not altering who I am to fit some cookie-cutter stereotype. I am practicing submission, the process of relinquishing control to another. This does not change me, but instead, reveals more of who I truly am to another. In that regard, it is appropriate that someone else decided on the phrase.
