nymity. They often are taken for granted, and aren’t newsworthy
or famous personalities.
TEMPLE HEARTHKEEPER
The Hestia archetype thrives in religious communities, especially
those that cultivate silence. Contemplative Catholic orders and
Eastern religions whose spiritual practice is based on meditation
provide good settings for Hestia women.
Vestal virgins and nuns share Hestia’s archetypal pattern. Young
women who enter convents give up their previous identities. Their
first names are changed, and their last names are no longer used.
They dress alike, strive to be selfless, live celibate lives, and dedicate
those lives to religious service.
As Eastern religions attract more Westerners, women who embody
Hestia can be found in ashrams as well as in convents. Both discip-
lines place a primary inward focus on prayer or meditation. They
place a secondary focus on community maintenance (or housekeep-
ing), which is done with the attitude that this task, too, is a form of
worship.
Most temple Hestias are also anonymous women who unobtrus-
ively participate in the daily spiritual and housekeeping rituals of
their religious communities. Noteworthy women members of these
communities combine Hestia with other strong archetypes. For ex-
ample, the mystic St. Teresa of Avila, noted for her ecstatic writings,
combined an aspect of Aphrodite with Hestia. Nobel Peace Prize
recipient Mother Teresa seems a combination of maternal Demeter
and Hestia. Mother superiors who are spiritually motivated, effective
administrators usually have strong Athena traits in addition to
Hestia.
The home and temple aspects of Hestia come together when reli-
gious rituals are observed at home. Hestia could be glimpsed, for
example, in watching a Jewish woman prepare for the Seder dinner.
As she set the table, she was engrossed in sacred work, a ritual cere-
mony every bit as significant as the silent interchange between altar
boy and priest during a Catholic mass.
THE WISE OLD WOMAN
As elder sister of the first-generation Olympians and maiden aunt
of the second generation, Hestia occupied the
Goddesses in Everywoman