the negative aspect of a goddess that can take us over: a susceptibility
to fall into Demeter or Persephone depressions, a problem with
Hera’s jealously and mistrust, a temptation to be a promiscuous
Aphrodite, or an unscrupulous Athena or a ruthless Artemis. Life
presents us with repeated opportunities to face what we fear, what
we need to become conscious of, or what we need to master. Each
time we cycle around the spiral path to the place that gives us diffi-
culty, hopefully, we gain more consciousness and can respond more
wisely the next time; until we can finally pass through that nemesis
place at peace and in harmony with our deepest values, and not be
negatively affected at all.
THE END OF THE JOURNEY
What happens at the end of the myth? Eros and Psyche are re-
united, their marriage is honored on Mt. Olympus, and Psyche bears
a daughter named Joy. Atalanta chooses the apples, loses the
footrace, and marries Hippomenes. Ayla journeys across the steppes
of Europe to find others like herself; she ends this part of her saga
in the Valley of Horses, with Jondalar as her mate and with the
smiling promise of acceptance by others. Note that after proving her
courage and competency, the heroine does not go riding off into the
sunset by herself, like the archetypal cowboy hero. Nor is she cast
in the mold of the conquering hero. Union, reunion, and home are
where her journey ends.
The individuation journey—the psychological quest for whole-
ness—ends in the union of opposites; in the inner marriage of
“masculine” and “feminine” aspects of the personality that can be
symbolized by the Eastern image of yin and yang contained within
a circle. Said more abstractly and without assigning gender, the
journey toward wholeness results in having the ability to be both
active and receptive, autonomous and intimate, to work and to love.
These are parts of ourselves that we can come to know through life
experiences, parts that are inherent in all of us. This is the human
potential with which we start.
In the final chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring, the last tempta-
tions to wear the ring were overcome and the ring of
Goddesses in Everywoman