and “trashed” by Artemis women who went on a rampage after
such consciousness-raising sessions.
In the myth of the Calydon Boar, the same Atalanta who raced
Hippomenes faced the charging boar with a spear in her hand. The
boar had already gored and killed many famous male heroes who
had tried to bring it down. Its hide was tougher than armor. Now
it was up to her: either stop the beast or be destroyed. She waited
until the boar was almost on her, took careful aim, and then threw
the spear through an eye (its only vulnerable spot) to hit the mark.
The destructive rage of an Artemis woman can only be stopped
by what Atalanta did. The Artemis woman must confront her own
destructiveness directly. She must see it as an aspect of herself that
she must stop before it consumes her and devastates her relation-
ships.
It takes courage to confront the inner boar, for doing so means
that the woman must see how much damage she has done to herself
and others. She can no longer feel righteous and powerful. Humility
is the lesson that returns her humanity—she becomes all too aware
that she, too, is a flawed human woman, not an avenging goddess.
INACCESSIBILITY
Artemis has been called “the Far-Distant Artemis.”^10 Emotional
distance is a characteristic of an Artemis woman, who is so focused
on her own aims and undistracted that she fails to notice the feelings
of others around her. As a consequence of her inattentiveness, people
who care about her feel insignificant and excluded, and become hurt
or angry at her.
Again, she must achieve conscious awareness before she can
change. Here, an Artemis woman needs to hear and heed what
others say. They in turn would do best to wait until she isn’t concen-
trating on a pet project and can turn her focus on them. (If they bring
it up at the time when she is engrossed in what she is doing, friction
is inevitable, unless the Artemis woman is already aware of what
she does and appreciates the reminder that she’s doing it again.)
Artemis was a “now you see her, now you don’t” goddess, who
could literally disappear into the forest, much as wild animals can
sometimes be seen
Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt and Moon, Competitor and Sister