PATTERNS OF BEING AND BEHAVING
Each of the three vulnerable goddesses has within her mythology
a happy or fulfilled phase; a phase during which she was victimized,
suffered, and was symptomatic; and a phase of restoration or
transformation. Each represents a stage in a woman’s life through
which she may pass quickly or in which she may stay for a while.
A woman who discovers that she is like Hera, Demeter, or
Persephone can learn more about herself, about her strengths, sus-
ceptibilities, and negative potentialities, by understanding the par-
allels between herself and these archetypal goddesses. If she can
learn to predict her own problems, she can save herself some suffer-
ing. For example, a Hera woman can avoid a lot of grief by not al-
lowing herself to be propelled unwisely and prematurely into mar-
riage. She needs to learn how to judge a man’s character and capacity
to love before she marries, because her fate will be determined by
her husband. Similarly, a Demeter woman must be clear under what
circumstances she would become pregnant and must take precau-
tions before then, because the goddess in her—felt as a compelling
maternal instinct—has no concern for the consequences. And a young
Persephone woman would do well to move away from home for
college or work, so that she has a chance to grow beyond being a
compliant mother’s daughter.
GROWING BEYOND THE
VULNERABLE GODDESSES
While the vulnerable goddesses do not personify qualities that
lead to achievement, the woman in whom these archetypes live may
grow beyond them. She may discover either her Athena or Artemis
qualities, or she may find that competence and competition in the
world come through development of what feels to her like the
“masculine” part of herself. And she may explore the spiritual and
sensual dimensions associated with Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth,
and with Aphrodite, Goddess of Love.
The next three chapters delve into the mythology and
The Vulnerable Goddesses: Hera, Demeter, and Persephone