than impulsive. Since the woman who resembles Athena shares her
attributes, she too is neither a victim of others nor of her own emo-
tions. Her problems arise from her own character traits, from wearing
the “aegis and armor” psychologically. One-sided development may
cut her off from aspects of herself that need to grow.
IDENTIFYING WITH ATHENA
To live “as Athena” means to live in one’s head and to act purpose-
fully in the world. A woman who does so leads a one-sided exist-
ence—she lives for her work. Although she enjoys the companionship
of others, she lacks emotional intensity, erotic attraction, intimacy,
passion, or ecstasy. She is also spared the deep despair and suffering
that may follow bonding with others or needing them. Exclusive
identification with rational Athena cuts a woman off from the full
range and intensity of human emotion. Her feelings are well modu-
lated by Athena, limited to the middle range. Thus she cuts herself
off from empathizing with anyone else’s deep feelings, from being
affected by art or music that expresses intense feelings, and from
being moved by mystical experience.
Living in her head, the Athena woman misses the experience of
being fully in her body. She knows little about sensuality and about
what it feels like to push her body to its limits. Athena keeps a wo-
man “above” the instinctual level, so she does not feel the full
strength of maternal, sexual, or procreative instincts.
To grow beyond Athena, a woman needs to develop other aspects
of herself. She can do so gradually, if she realizes that Athena limits
her and if she is receptive to the perspectives of others. When people
talk of emotions and experiences that are deeply meaningful to them
and unknown to her, she needs to make an effort to imagine what
they are talking about. She needs to recognize that her demands for
proof and her skepticism distance her from others and from her as-
yet undeveloped potential for spiritual or emotional depth.
An Athena woman sometimes grows beyond Athena unexpectedly
or traumatically, under the pressure of circumstances that flood her
with feelings from the unconscious. For
Goddesses in Everywoman