and satisfaction or will result in pain and rage depends on the
quality of the marriage and on the man’s fidelity.
When her instinctual drive is unmet, getting a man is a Hera wo-
man’s chief preoccupation and not having a mate her main source
of grief. While she seeks her mate, she is often engaged in school or
work, has friends, and goes places—all the while hoping to find a
husband.
Once married, a Hera woman often constricts her life and conforms
to her role and to her husband’s interests. If he needs her economic
support while he finishes school, she will go to work. If he wants a
full-time wife, she will quit her job or not complete her education.
If she also works, she’s willing to relocate if he wants to move. Often
she does not maintain friendships made before marriage and interests
that she had prior to meeting her husband.
A man who marries a Hera woman may find that after the wed-
ding she no longer is the woman he married. Before she constricted
herself to fit the role of wife, she had broader interests. Even pre-
marital sex may have been much better. The change in sexuality is
not uncommon and may date to the wedding night. The influence
of all the other goddesses may dramatically diminish when a Hera
woman marries.
Hera women also bloom after marriage. The radiant bride becomes
the happy wife. If her husband is a devoted Zeus who loves her, the
marriage will be a deeply meaningful center of her life. Other god-
dess aspects may find expression, although always secondary to her
role as wife.
Whether or not a Hera woman restricts her activities after marriage
and limits her role to being Hera depends on the strength of the ar-
chetype, on how well developed other facets of her personality were
before marriage, and on the support or lack thereof her husband
gives her to grow beyond Hera. Possessive and jealous husbands
who expect their wives to conform to their demands act in concert
with the Hera archetype to reduce a woman to being only Hera.
DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATIONS
When a woman identifies with Hera, she often assumes that she
and her husband will be transformed by marriage, unconsciously
expecting her husband to become Zeus Teleios,
Hera: Goddess of Marriage, Commitment Maker and Wife