situation, she is an introverted hearth-keeping Hestia for whom “still
waters run deep.” This shifting explains the difficulty that a many-
sided woman has determining what Jungian type she is. Or she may
be keenly aware of aesthetic details (which Aphrodite influences)
and not notice that the stove is still on or the gas gauge reads nearly
empty (details that Athena would not miss). The prevailing “god-
dess” explains how one function (in this case, sensation) can para-
doxically be both highly developed and unconscious (see Chapter
14, “Which Goddess gets the Golden Apple?”).
Second, from clinical observation, I have realized that the power
of a goddess archetype to overwhelm a woman’s ego and cause
psychiatric symptoms parallels the power attributed to that goddess
historically—diminishing in influence from the Great Goddess of
ancient Europe through stages to the Greek goddesses, who were
daughter or maiden goddesses (see Chapter 1, “Goddesses as Inner
Images”).
While this book advances theory and provides information helpful
to therapists, it is written for everyone who wants to understand
women better—especially those women who are closest, dearest, or
most mystifying to them—and for women to discover the goddesses
within themselves.
There Are Goddesses in Everywoman