EP028_EN_Autonoe – coping with the pain of loss

Autonoe is a natural satellite of the planet Jupiter, orbiting the planet in a retrograde direction.Autonoe is a Theban princess and the mother of Actaeon. One day, her son saw Artemis naked, and for this he was transformed into a stag and killed by his own dogs, which did not recognize him.Devastated by the loss, Autonoe falls into deep despair.Autonoe embodies a profoundly human psychological experience: trauma, loss, and the shattering of relational identity bonds.Traumatic grief causes a sense of guilt without a clear cause and a total feeling of helplessness in the face of suffering. Although she survives the loss, Autonoe is no longer able to rebuild a sense of meaning.When we are touched by such traumatic events, we must distinguish between:- what is not within our power, namely the natural course of events;- what is within our power: our response.The initial response to grief may be to express pain openly; then, once mourning has been honored, it becomes necessary to rediscover meaning in everyday life, living in a way that honors the memory of the deceased through our actions.