suasive make her very effective. She’s a dynamic mix of Artemis
and Aphrodite, who easily slips into being a compliant Persephone
with her husband.
Both women are aware that they behave like two different people,
as they shift gears and go from one facet of their personalities to
another; the daily changes are perfectly natural to them. In each
situation they feel that they are being true to themselves—or to the
goddesses that “take turns” being expressed in them.
Knowing about the shifts in their personalities, the “either-or”
choices of psychological type tests confuse or amuse many women,
who are well aware that the answers depend on how they feel.
Whether they describe the reactions of their work self or their private
self, the mother or the artist in them, how they react when they are
by themselves or when they are in a couple, will affect their answers.
The answers and thus the personality profile so often seems to de-
pend on “which goddess” in the woman is taking the test. As one
woman psychologist remarked, “I’m very extraverted at a party,
and its not just a persona or party face I put on, it’s me having a
good time! Yet catch me doing my research and I’m a very different
person.” She’s a bubbling Aphrodite in one setting; extraverted,
emotionally responsive, and sensual. In the other, she’s a careful
Athena, meticulously carrying out a project she has thought through
and now must gather evidence to verify.
When there is one major goddess archetype that dominates a
woman’s personality, her psychological type tests usually conform
to Jungian theory. She will be consistently either extraverted (reacting
directly to outer events and people) or introverted (responding to
inner impressions she has); she will use either thinking (weighing
rational considerations) or feeling (which weighs values) to evaluate
people and situations; and either trust information obtained through
the five senses, or through intuition. Sometimes only one of the four
functions (thinking, feeling, sensation, intuition) is well-developed.
When there are two or more dominant goddess archetypes, a
woman doesn’t necessarily conform to one psychological type. She
may be both introverted and extraverted, depending on the circum-
stances—and the prevailing goddess: an extraverted Artemis or
Demeter may “have the golden
Which Goddess Gets the Golden Apple?