Hestia’s round hearth with a sacred fire at the center is in the
shape of a mandala, an image that is used in meditation and that is
a symbol of wholeness or totality. Of mandala symbolism, Jung
wrote:
Their basic motif is the premonition of a center of personality,
a kind of central point within the psyche, to which everything
is related, by which everything is arranged, and which is itself
a source of energy. The energy of the central point is manifested
in the almost irresistible compulsion and urge to become what
one is, just as every organism is driven to assume the form that
is characteristic of its nature, no matter what the circumstances.
This center is not felt or thought of as the ego, but, if one may
so express it, as the self.^5
The Self is what we experience inwardly when we feel a relation-
ship to oneness that connects us to the essence of everything outside
of us. At this spiritual level, “connecting” and “detachment” are,
paradoxically, the same. When we feel ourselves in touch with an
inner source of warmth and light (metaphorically, warmed and illu-
minated by a spiritual fire), this “fire” warms those we love in our
households and keeps us in touch with others who are far away.
Hestia’s sacred fire was found on the family hearth and within
temples. The goddess and the fire were one, linking families with
families, city-states with colonies. Hestia was the spiritual connecting
link among them all. When this archetype provides spiritual center-
ing and connectedness with others, it is an expression of the Self.
HESTIA AND HERMES: ARCHETYPAL DUALITY
The pillar and circle-shaped ring have come to represent male and
female principles. In ancient Greece, the pillar was the “herm” that
stood outside the door of the home representing Hermes, while the
round hearth inside symbolized Hestia. In India and other parts of
the East, pillar and circle are “mated.” The upright phallic lingam
penetrates the female yoni or ring, which lies over it as in a child’s
ring-toss
Goddesses in Everywoman