mother, as her children have grown she is likely to have taken on
projects to which she can devote more time as the children need her
less.
However, midlife for an Athena woman can unexpectedly turn
into a crisis. Emotional chaos may intrude on her orderly life. She
may find herself in the midst of a midlife marital crisis, which can
shake her equanimity and expose her to deeper feelings. Often her
husband’s crisis instigates hers. The companionable marriage, which
has been a successful alliance for both, may now be unsatisfactory
for him. He may now feel the lack of passion in his marriage, and
may feel himself drawn to another woman who stirs him romantic-
ally and erotically. If his wife stays true to her Athena nature, her
response will be to cope sensibly. However, at midlife other god-
desses are more easily activated, and for the first time in her life she
may react unpredictably.
Menopause is not a cause for Athena to grieve, because she never
defined herself as primarily a mother. Nor are youth or beauty es-
sential for an Athena woman’s self-esteem, which is based on her
intelligence, competence, and often indispensability. Hence growing
older is not a loss for most Athena women. On the contrary, because
she is more powerful, useful, or influential in her middle years than
as a young adult, her confidence and well-being may even be en-
hanced during these years, when other women are anxious about
looking older and becoming less desirable.
LATER YEARS
The Athena woman changes very little over the decades. She re-
mains throughout life an energetic, practical woman who pitches
in—first at home and work, and then often as a volunteer in the
community. She is often a supporter of traditional institutions, most
likely fairly conservative ones. The married Athena woman of the
middle and upper classes is the backbone of volunteer charities and
churches. She helps to run hospital auxiliaries, United Way charities,
and the Red Cross, becoming more prominent as she gets older.
When her children grow up and move away, an Athena woman
does not mourn an empty nest. Now she has time for
Goddesses in Everywoman