of women, how much more profound might be the activating and
calling forth of an archetype within her?
Finally, there is no instruction to stereotype or limit ourselves to
one goddess or even several. Together, they make up the full circle
of human qualities. Indeed, each of these arose from the fragmenta-
tion of the one goddess, Great Goddess, the whole female human
being who once lived in prepatriarchal times—at least in religion
and imagination. Perhaps then, as now, imagining wholeness was
the first step to realizing it.
At a minimum, these archetypal goddesses are a useful shorthand
for describing and thus analyzing many behavior patterns and per-
sonality traits. At a maximum, they are ways of envisioning and
thus calling up needed strengths and qualities within ourselves. As
Alice Walker, the poet and novelist, makes so movingly clear in The
Color Purple, we imagine god and endow her or him with the qualities
we need to survive and grow.
The highest value of this book lies in the moments of recognition
it provides. The author labels them as moments of “Aha!”: that in-
sightful second when we understand and internalize; when we re-
cognize what we ourselves have experienced, feel trust because of
that truth, and then are taken one step further to an understanding
of, “Yes, that’s why.”
Each reader will learn something different and that “Aha!” must
be our own. For me, the first came from reading of Artemis, who
bonded with other women and who rescued her mother while
wishing not to be like her. I felt recognition, as well as pride at being
cited as an example of this archetype that is rare in a patriarchal so-
ciety. But I also knew I had not developed the fearlessness of conflict
or the real autonomy of Artemis. Persephone mirrors feelings most
of us experience as teenagers. Her strength or weakness was another
“Aha!”: that familiar ability to wait for someone else’s image and
expectations to be projected onto us, whether a particular man’s or
that of society; that “trying on” of many identities. So were the
constant reading and habit of living inside her head that are typical
of Athena; the diffuse and receptive consciousness of Hera, Demeter,
and Persephone; and Aphrodite’s valuing of intensity and spon-
taneity over permanence in relationships and in creative work.
Other goddesses are instructive for qualities that we lack
xiiiForeword