game. There pillar and circle merged, while the Greek and Roman
kept these same two symbols of Hermes and Hestia related but apart.
To further emphasize this separation, Hestia is a virgin goddess who
will never be penetrated, as well as the oldest Olympian. She is a
maiden aunt of Hermes, who was thought of as the youngest
Olympian—a most unlikely union.
From Greek times on, Western cultures have emphasized duality,
a splitting or differentiation between masculine and feminine, mind
and body, logos and eros, active and receptive, which then all became
superior and inferior values, respectively. When Hestia and Hermes
were both honored in households and temples, Hestian feminine
values were, if anything, the more important—she received the
highest honors. At that time, there was a complementary duality.
Hestia has since then been devalued and forgotten. Her sacred fires
are no longer tended, and what she represented is no longer honored.
When Hestia’s feminine values are forgotten and dishonored, the
importance of inner sanctuary—going inward to find meaning and
peace—and of family as sanctuary and source of warmth is dimin-
ished or lost. In addition, the sense of an underlying relatedness to
others disappears, as does the need for citizens of a city, country, or
the Earth to be linked together by a common spiritual bond.
HESTIA AND HERMES: MYSTICALLY RELATED
At a mystical level, the archetypes of Hestia and Hermes are re-
lated through the image of sacred fire at the center. Hermes-Mercury
was the alchemical spirit Mercurius, who was envisioned as element-
al fire. Such fire was considered the source of mystical knowledge,
symbolically located at the center of the Earth.
Hestia and Hermes represent archetypal ideas of spirit and soul.
Hermes is the spirit that sets the soul on fire. In this context, Hermes
is like the wind that blows over smoldering coals at the center of a
hearth, causing them to blaze up. In the same way, ideas can ignite
deep feelings, or words can make conscious what has so far been
inarticulately known, illuminating what has been dimly perceived.
Hestia: I Goddess of the Hearth and Temple, Wise Woman and