THREAD : THE ATHENIAN ARCHETYPE

This thread is part of my serie about goddesses archetypes within women, following the work of Jungian analyst J.S Bolen.
You can find the first thread on the Artemisian Archetype here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1335979539319705602

Like Artemis and Hestia, Athena is a virgin goddess.These 3 goddesses personify the independant, active, nonrelationship aspects of women's psychology. Artemis and Athena are outward and achievement oriented archetypes, whereas Hestia is inwardly focused.

The VG aspect is that part of a woman that is unowned by or "unpenetrated" by a man - that is untouched by her need for a man or need to be validated by him, that exists entirely separated from him. It refers to a virginal psychology, not a physical, literal virginity.

ATHENA THE ARCHETYPE : Goddess of Wisdow

As Goddess of Wisdow, she was known for her winning strategies and practical solutions. As an archetype, she's the pattern followed by logical women, who are ruled by their heads rather than their hearts.

ATHENA THE ARCHETYPE : Virginity

Like Artemis and Hestia, she is motivated by her own priorities, but she differs from them in that she is the virgin goddess who researches the company of men. She enjoys being in the midst of male action and power.

The VG element helps her to avoid emotional or sexual entanglements with men with whom she works closely. She can be companion, colleague or confidante of men without developing erotic feelings or emotional intimacy.

ATHENA THE ARCHETYPE : The strategist

Her wisdow is that of the general deploying forces or of the business magnate outmaneuvering competition. The Athenian woman thrives in business, academic, scientific, military or political arenas. For example, she can be a woman [...]

[...] with a master's degree in business administration who, allied with a powerful mentor, is making her way up the corporate ladder.

Diplomacy - which involves strategy, power, and deceptive maneuvers - is a realm in which the Athenian woman shines.

ATHENA THE ARCHETYPE : The craftswoman

As Goddess of Crafts, Athena was involved with making things that were both useful and esthetically pleasing. She was most noted for her skills as a weaver, in which hands and mind must work together.

ATHENA THE ARCHETYPE : The father's daughter

Athena represents the woman who naturally gravitates toward powerful men who have authority, responsibility and power - men who fit the patriarchal archetype of the "boss man". This archetype predisposes women to mentor relationships.

The father's daughter quality may make her a defender of patriarchal rights and values, which emphasize tradition and the legitimacy of male power. She usually supports the statu quo and accepts the established norms as guidelines of behavior. She is usually a conservative.

ATHENA THE ARCHETYPE : The armored woman

Athena arrived on the Olympian scene in splendid golden armor : being "armored" is an Athenian trait. Intellectual defenses keep such a woman from feeling pain - both her own or that of others. She remains impervious to feelings.

ATHENA THE WOMAN : Youth

An Athenian child shares the capacity for concentration of an Artemisian child, to which she adds a decidedly intellectual bent. For example, at 3 Athena may be a self-taught reader. The Athena girl is curious, seeks info, wants to know how things work.

To develop fully her natural tendancies, an Athena daughter, as her mythological archetype, must grow up with a Zeus-like father : successful and proud that she "takes after him".
Problems arise when they have Zeus fathers who are too busy to notice them, or when they [...]

[...] expect them to behave like traditional ladies. When an Athena woman has a father who is very unlike Zeus (business failure, alcoholic...) her development is usually handicapped. She may not aspire to reach goals she could have fulfilled, or feel "like an imposter" [...]

[...] who will be found out if she pursues them.

Unless their mothers are Athenian women, most mothers feel unappreciated and completely disconnected from their Athenian daughters. As a result of their differences, the Athena child may treat her mother as an incompetent.

ATHENA THE WOMAN : Adolescence and young adulthood

They are the ones who learn how to fix things, those in computer classes who immediately and eagerly catch on to how the machines work. They also are the girls who learn about the stock market, who save and invest.

Very often, an Athenian girl thinks that "most girls are silly or dumb" and expresses much the same attitude that preadolescent boys seem to have.

She may excel at sewing, weaving or needle-point, and share those interests with her mother or "traditional minded" girls.

She, more than they, enjoy the challenge of making a pattern and developing a skill, and is not usually motivated by being able to make doll clothes or pretty things for herself. She takes pleasure in the workmanship of what results, and favoritizes practicality.

She is not usually a problematic teenager, when many others are. Screaming or tearful scenes are notably absent.

Introverted Athenas spend their high school days with boys who are their intellectual equals ; they may enroll in chess clubs or compete in the science field.

Extroverted Athenas are socially aware : they use their powers of observation, noting what to wear, or what social alliances they should maintain. They comment on their ability to compete socially and be popular and yet not be emotionally "that invested".

Most Athenas want to go to college and plan ahead : if their parents don't have the financial means, they will find a way to go regardless, excelling at school in order to obtain a scolarship or financial aid.

ATHENA THE WOMAN : Work

The Athenian woman intends to make something of herself and works hard toward that end. She doesn't wait to be rescued through marriage.

If she marries and runs a household, she is an efficient manager, with an organized system that works.

She can be a superb teacher, who explains things clearly and well. If the subject requires precise information, she is likely to have mastered it. The Athena teacher is also one of the most demanding : she is one of those "no excuses" teachers, who doesn't fall for sad stories.

She can also be a craftsbusiness owner or an able researcher in an academic field. She tends to be good at maths and science, and may go into business, law, engineering or medicine - traditionally male professions, where she is comfortable being one of the few women there.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH WOMEN : Distant or dismissed

An Athenia woman lacks women friends, a pattern that may have been noticed around puberty, when all topics usually discussed with girlfriends as teenagers were foreign to unromantic, skeptical, rationalist observers such as Athena.

As a result, Athenian women don't feel like "sisters under the skin" with other women. They neither feel themselves akin to traditional women, nor to feminists, whom they may superficially resemble if they are career women. Thus, "Sisterhood" is a foreign concept to most of them.

Moreover she is often angry at the woman who complains about men. She may blame the female victim for provoking what happened. More typically, like the goddess herself in the myth of Arachne, she is incensed that a woman would make public an action that subjects men to criticism.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH MEN : "Only heroes need apply"

The Athenian woman gravitates toward successful men. She has a canny ability to spot winners. She is attracted to power, either seeking it herself - often with the help of a successful older male mentor - or more [...]

[...] traditionally as a companion, wife, executive secretary or ally of an ambitious an able man. For an Athenian woman, "tender-hearted", "neurotic" or "sensitive" are adjectives to describe "losers". When it comes to men, only heroes need apply.

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Sexuality

An Athena woman lives in her mind and is often out of touch with her body. She condisers the body a utilitarian part of herself, of which she is unaware until it gets sick or hurt. Typically, she is not a sensual woman, nor is she flirtatious.

She likes men as friends or mentors rather than as lovers.

With Athenian women, sex is "a part of the agreement" or a calculated act. In either case, once she makes up her mind to be sexually active, she usually learns how to make love skillfully.

She often stays celibate for long periods in her adult life, while she focuses her efforts on her career. If she is a devoted executive secretary or an administrative assistant to a chosen great man, she may stay a celibate "office wife".

Contrary to what might be expected (given her patriarchal loyalties, affinity for heroes and lack of sisterly feelings), Athena is well represented among lesbians. The lesbian Athena has a tendency to have a partner cast in the same mold as herself: professional, high achievers.

In their relationship, lesbian Athena women seek companionship and loyalty rather than passion. Sex between them may dwindle to nothing, and they are likely to keep the homosexual nature of their relationship secret from others. Such relationships are often long-lasting.

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Marriage

When they did not have opportunities to succeed in careers, most Athena women made "good marriages". They married hard-working, achievement-oriented men whom they respected. Their marriages are companionable partnerships, not passionate unions.

They may be their husbands' allies in business or their "social assets", their right-hand women whose role is to maintain social alliances.

The communication between Athena and her husband is excellent regarding events, but almost non-existent when it comes to feelings.

In contrast with Herian women (women who have Hera, wife of Zeus, as an archetype), Athenian women are practically impervious to sexual jealousy. They usually give and expect loyalty, which they may noy equate with sexual fidelity as long as the marriage itself isn't threatened.

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Children

She is the opposite of a Demeter "Earth Mother", who instinctively seeks to be a mother, loves to hold babies, and wishes they would never grow up. An Athenian woman, in contrast, would just "rent a womb" whenever that option becomes possible.

She would use surrogate mothers, hire housekeepers and nannies to take care of her children.

She shines if she has competitive, extraverted, intellectually curious sons. She's apt to reinforce stereotypical male behavior, early giving her sons the "strong men don't cry" message.

Athena mothers also do well with daughters who are like them, the independant ones who share their mothers' logical approach to things.

They find difficult to deal with children who are easily moved by feeling. They expect them to be "good soldiers" who do what is expected.

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Middle years

She often finds the middle years to be the best part of her life. In midlife, she usually takes time to assess her situation, reconsidering all options, and then making a fairly orderly transition to the next phase.

Howevern midlife can unexpectedly turn into a crisis. Emotional chaos may intrude on her orderly life. Often her husband's crisis initiates hers. The companionable marriage, which has been a successful alliance for both, may now be unsatisfactory for him.

He may now feel the lack of passion and fall for another woman. If the Athenian woman stays true to her nature, her response will be to cope sensibly. However, at midlife other goddesses are more easily activated, and for the first time in her life she may react unpredictably.

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Later years

She changes very little over the decades. As an older woman, she is often a supporter of traditional institutions, most likely fairly conservative ones. In her later years, she becomes a respected pillar of the community.

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Psychological difficulties

Lack of emotional intensity;
The "Medusa effect" (being intimidating to others to the point of taking away their spontaneity, vitality or creativity);
Lack of morality, "Might is right" mentality;

THE ATHENIAN WOMAN : Ways to grow

When she realizes how all-consuming her work is and feels a need for more balance, the Athenian woman must turn inward and rely on crafts. In fact, all the crafts offer Athenian women an inner balance to an outer-world focus.

The goddess Athena was never a child and was born as an adult : to get in touch with her emotional side, the Athenian woman may need to discover in herself the child she never was, a child who can be confused or delighted by something new.

She needs to approach life as if she were a wide-eyed child : when someone is speaking about something she has not experienced, an Athena woman must learn to listen and to imagine as best she can both the scene and the feelings being described.

In mythology, the goddess Athena was also a motherless daughter who took pride in having only one parent: her father Zeus. She was unaware of her mother Metis, whom Zeus has swallowed.

In real life, an Athena woman often has depreciated her own mother. In order to grow, [...]

[...] she needs to discover her mother's strengths, often before she can value any similarities to her mother in herself. It is helpful for an Athenian woman to learn about matriarchal feminine values, which were held before Greek mythology took its present form, and which [...]

were swallowed up by the patriarchal culture that came after. Her intellectual curiosity can lead the Athenian woman to get interested in it, and then she may begin to think differently about her own mother and other women, and then about herself.

END OF THREAD

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