The virgin archetype might manifest as that part of a woman that
is secretly or openly a feminist. It may be expressed as an ambition
that women are usually discouraged from pursuing—such as aviator
Amelia Earhart’s desire to fly where no pilot had ever gone before.
Or it may be the woman’s creativity as poet, painter, musician,
making art that grows out of her own experience as a woman—such
as Adrienne Rich’s poetry, Judy Chicago’s paintings, or the ballads
Holly Near writes and sings. Or it may be expressed as a meditative
practice or as midwifery.
Many women join together to create forms that are “of women.”
Women’s conscious-raising groups, goddess worship on mountain-
tops, women’s self-help medical clinics, and quilting bees are expres-
sions of the virgin goddess archetype manifesting through groups
of women.
QUALITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
LIKE SHARPLY FOCUSED LIGHT
Each of the three goddess categories (virgin, vulnerable, alchem-
ical) has a characteristic quality of consciousness. Focused conscious-
ness typifies the virgin goddesses.^2 Women who are like Artemis,
Athena, and Hestia have the ability to concentrate their attention on
what matters to them. They have the capacity to become absorbed
in what they are doing. In the process of being focused, they can
easily exclude everything that is extraneous to the task at hand or
to the long-range goal.
I think of focused consciousness as analagous to a sharply focused,
willfully directed, intense beam of light that illuminates only what
it is focused on, leaving everything outside of its radius in the dark
or in the shadows. It has a spotlight quality. In its most concentrated
form, focused consciousness can even be like a laser beam, so pier-
cing or dissecting in its ability to analyze that it can be incredibly
precise or destructive—depending on the intensity and on what it
is focused.
When a woman can focus on solving a problem or achieving a
goal, uninterrupted by the needs of those around her, not heeding
even her own need for food or sleep, she has a capacity for conscious
focus that leads to accomplishments. She gives whatever she is
working on her “undivided atten-
The Virgin Goddesses: Artemis, Athena, and Hestia