The seven Greek goddess archetypes — *The Seven Greek Goddess Archetypes.*

The day I stepped into the realm of Greek Goddess archetypes, was when I felt fully seen and accepted as a multifaceted woman. I grew up reading and daydreaming about fairytales and mythology, especially Greek Mythology. So, when I found out that Greek Goddesses represent major Feminine Archetypes that are constantly expressed within us women, I felt as if everything came in full circle. The Seven Greek Goddess Archetypes discussed in this article will open you up to various personas that are alive within women. Some of us can have multiple Feminine Archetypes active within us throughout different phases of our multidimensional lives.

Here are the Feminine Archetypes: Seven Greek Goddess Archetypes that are Alive within the Divine Feminine.

What is a Goddess?

A Goddess is a female deity called by other names such as Celestial Angel, Devi and Divine Feminine. A Goddess is a woman who operates from her absolute natural state of being. She carries her feminine and masculine energies in a soft balance. A Goddess ultimately is a woman who has transcended her shadow realm and lives in deep harmony with who she is at her core.

The word ‘Goddess’ is not new to us. We grow up listening to tales woven around Goddesses. We come across statues and paintings of Goddesses, and we even come to worship certain Goddesses we are drawn to. These Goddesses, with their varying traits and elements they rule over, are a reflection of the many facets of the Divine feminine. The Divine Feminine is multi-dimensional. She has an eternally expanding capacity to spin shadows into streams of light. When she is in her fullness, she is Queen of both heaven and earth. When she is in her fullness, she is in a harmonious inner union where her divinity and her humanity are merged.

When a woman on Earth is inspired by the stories of Goddesses and paintings of their Divine beauty, she is only answering a Sacred invitation to merge her human self with her Divine soul. When a woman starts to see flashes of herself in these ancient Goddesses, she is at the start of a spiritual journey towards her fullness.

What is a Greek Goddess Archetype?

Greek Goddesses and their stories hold many timeless truths, even if they are called myths that people do not take entirely seriously. A Greek Goddess with her story and her specific set of shadows and strengths is a Greek Goddess archetype that is constantly recurring within women in this eternally expanding world. An archetype is an original pattern that is continuously represented and reflected.

The Greek Goddess archetypes that are being explored in this article are a set of dominant archetypes that have been kept alive through human imagination for millennia. These Goddesses are patterns of what has been repeated in the psyche of women for thousands of years.

Each feminine archetype discussed differs from one another with their unique strengths and shadows. The stories that are born of them open us up to familiar worlds if that particular Goddess is active within us or in the women we are closely intertwined with.

The Seven Goddess Archetypes Are:

1. Goddess Persephone, the Maiden Archetype.

2. Goddess Demeter, the Mother Archetype.

3. Goddess Hera, the Queen Archetype.

4. Goddess Aphrodite, the Lover Archetype.

5. Goddess Athena, the Sage Archetype.

6. Goddess Artemis, the Huntress Archetype.

7. Goddess Hestia, the Mystic Archetype.

Goddess Persephone, the Maiden Archetype:

Goddess Persephone, the Maiden archetype, is the youthful beauty. She is the one with a fairytale outlook on life. She is optimistic. She represents potential for new growth as she is also known as Kore, the Spring Goddess. Persephone is the epitome of feminine innocence.

In Greek mythology, Persephone is abducted by Hades, the King of the Underworld. This tale of abduction represents the patriarchal abduction of the feminine. Persephone represents the loss of sense of self of the young maiden at the hands of a patriarchal culture. In Greek mythic tales, Persephone did fall into victimizing herself through her never-ending weeping, which symbolized her powerlessness at the hands of Hades.

However, she eventually activated her divine power as she stepped into her role as the Queen of the Underworld. This part of the famous Greek mythic tale of Persephone represents the empowerment that the Divine Feminine comes into after having gone through painful experiences centred around men. Jasmine from the Disney movie Aladdin is a beautiful example of a Maiden stepping into her power against patriarchal control.

Persephone is the curious princess who knows she is destined for more but does not know how to go about it. She is the girl who waits for her prince to come and rescue her. Rapunzel from Tangled and Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, are perfect examples of this Maiden trait. Persephone’s shadow aspects can be the naïve curiosity that can lead her towards unsafe circumstances. If she hasn’t cultivated intuition and self-awareness, she can be easily taken advantage of.

In Greek mythology, Persephone’s mother was Demeter. If a Persephone girl ends up with a traditional Demeter mother, she can develop passivity and indecisiveness due to being constantly sheltered growing up. The Maiden is also the too-sweet woman who tends to walk on eggshells and please others to maintain harmony.

However, when Persephone is forced to mature after walking through heavy life events, she transforms herself into a powerful Queen of the spiritual realm. She taps into her endless reservoir of intuition and creative powers.

A Persephone woman’s major lesson is to learn to stand up for herself to avoid being pushed towards what others think is best for her. When Persephone learns to set boundaries and trusts her intuition, she blossoms into the wise flower she is. Allowing herself to feel rage and stand her ground when her boundaries are being belittled is another way for her to transmute her shadows.

Persephone is naturally gifted with receptivity and adaptability, which are traditional Divine Feminine traits. When she couples those naturally feminine traits with her newly nurtured ability to trust herself and stand her ground, she transcends into the multifaceted Divine woman she was always meant to be.

Goddess Demeter, the Mother Archetype:

Goddess Demeter, the Mother archetype, is the bountiful, generous, nurturing aspect of the Divine Feminine. She is the one with a strong maternal instinct. She loves to give in endless ways as her inner fulfilment comes to her through being able to provide for her loved ones. Her nurturing abilities are not just limited to physicality, such as home-cooked meals and nursing loved ones back to health, but they also extend towards emotional and spiritual realms as well.

Generosity is natural to her as she provides in abundance. Demeter, the Goddess in Greek mythology, was the Goddess of harvest. She ruled over the fertility of the Earth. She sustained mankind with the rich bounty of the Earth. Demeter represents the facet of the Divine Feminine that is fertile and full of life.

A Demeter woman is someone with a strong desire to be a mother. Nurturing others makes her feel alive. Even if she is not a mother to a child, she tends to find ways to take on the mother role in friendships, sibling relationships and even romantic relationships. These types of relationships can turn into unhealthy dynamics for her, as she can be taken advantage of by her limitless generosity.

Demeter's archetype is susceptible to falling into depression if she is not met with ample opportunities to wield her instinct to nurture. A shadow aspect of the Mother archetype is her constant search in the external to fill her inner cup. Her satisfaction comes from a job well done at taking care of someone. She thrives in spaces where it is clear that she is needed.

However, when she finds herself in circumstances or phases of life where she is no longer needed, grief and depression can find her easily. For a woman dominant in the Demeter archetype, it can be painful if she is not a mother.

The Mother archetype also tends to form unhealthy attachments towards those she takes care of. Due to her sense of worth being tied to her capacity to provide and nurture, she can feel lost and abandoned if she is no longer needed and appreciated.

The Divine Feminine is a natural giver, just like Mother Earth. She is the lioness who protects her cubs with absolute fierceness. However, mastering the art of giving with no strong attachments is something she is here to do. Another lesson for her is to master the art of nurturing herself first and foremost, so her cup is full to provide in abundance. Otherwise, she will find herself being constantly drained of her life force, which can manifest into physical health issues as well. Therefore, the Mother archetype needs to mother herself first and pour into her own cup before she takes on the role of the giver.

A Demeter woman is here to learn to say no and place strong boundaries to avoid being taken advantage of by others who do not appreciate her generosity fully. Letting go of any guilt that keeps her tied to being a constant giver, even if it takes her out of her alignment, is something for her to start implementing. Creating spaces for herself to exist without having to be needed by someone else and prioritizing her own relaxation is important to keep her life force energy eternally flowing through her.

Demeter’s biggest lesson is to find fulfilment within, instead of through service to others. If she continues the cycle of searching for fulfilment externally, she can develop unhealthy attachments towards those she takes care of and eventually become controlling. She might even start to believe that she knows what’s best for her loved ones despite their protests against her plans for them.

Mother Gothel in Tangled, the Disney movie, is a perfect example of the way she steered Rapunzel away from her heart’s truest desires by convincing her that she knows what’s best for her (of course, Mother Gothel had an ulterior motive to keep Rapunzel close). Queen Elinor, Merida’s mother in the Pixar movie Brave, is another perfect example of a Demeter mother. She was convinced that she knew what was best for her daughter despite Merida’s strong protests.

For the Feminine archetype who loves to give, to blossom into a healthy giver, she must let go of the strong attachments she has formed towards her loved ones. Her life’s biggest lesson is letting go. It is to realize that she is forever worthy, despite the presence or absence of people to take care of.

Once she steps into her wholeness by considering her own self to be her source of fulfilment, she blooms into a grounded, wise Divine Feminine. She stops craving external appreciation and becomes her own source of appreciation. The lesson for the Mother archetype is to realize that she is worthy because she exists, despite her being a mother or not.

Goddess Hera, the Queen/Wife Archetype:

Hera, also called the Queen of Heaven, is known to be the Goddess of Marriage. Goddess Hera, the Queen archetype, is an elegant beauty who cares about status and how she is perceived in the worldly world. Her desire to be well-respected eventually becomes a deep desire to be partnered up with a well-respected man, through Sacred Marriage. She is drawn towards powerful, high-status men, as Goddess Hera herself was said to be drawn to Zeus, the ruler of all gods and humans in Greek mythology.

The Queen archetype represents a woman’s yearning to be a wife. Just like a Demeter woman might feel unfulfilled without children, a Hera woman tends to feel unfulfilled without a powerful partner by her side. She is the Divine Feminine who is fulfilled by her role as a devoted wife. To Hera, marriage is a Sacred portal. She is the girl who grows up dreaming of being a beautiful bride dressed in white. She is the girl who gets into relationships in school with the intention of marriage on her mind.

Hera, the Queen/ Wife. — Goddess Hera, the Queen Archetype.

Her devotion towards her husband or her partner, whom she is planning to get married to, can often make her oblivious to red flags. The Queen archetype tends to be the woman who stays by her man’s side despite his shortcomings as a devoted husband. A shadow aspect of Hera is her excessive importance in being in a partnership, even if she is not being respected or treated well.

A woman with the Queen Archetype tends to limit herself to the role of the wife by withholding other forms of fulfilment from herself. In her world, her husband comes first. She even goes to the lengths of making him the god of her universe.

In Greek mythology, Hera’s husband Zeus put her through never-ending pain by disrespecting the Sacredness of their marriage. Hera still stood by his side and directed her pain and jealousy towards the other women, instead of unleashing her rage at her husband. She kept choosing her marriage over her own sanity.

Therefore, a woman of the Queen archetype is here to learn not to fall into the pattern of making her partnership her sole source of fulfilment. Exploring who she is outside of marriage or long-term romantic relationships is vital for her spiritual evolution. Tending to her alignment in ways that are not rooted in marriage and realizing that she is more than just a dutiful wife is important for a Hera woman to arrive at her wholeness. She is a Queen, whether she is partnered up with a powerful man or not.

If a Hera woman is insecure, she can easily jump into assumptions that can end up destroying the marriage. Her jealousy and possessiveness can eventually become a threat to her own happiness and peace of mind. Her challenge is to cultivate security and safety in herself, to avoid fully depending on external factors such as her Sacred marriage and her husband to feel secure.

For the Divine Feminine who deeply desires to experience Divine Union, getting to know who she is and what fulfils her besides Sacred marriage, before she gets into a partnership, is important. For a Hera woman to stay grounded and secure in herself despite the state of her marriage, she must first realize that she has a reservoir of inner strength to draw from, which is independent of her husband.

When she realizes that she is whole despite her marriage status, she increases her capacity to stay emotionally regulated, without giving in to jealousy and rage. If she can channel her inner emotions into goals outside of her husband, she blossoms into a powerful Feminine archetype who can tap into inner fulfilment through her own magic.

Goddess Aphrodite, the Lover Archetype:

Goddess Aphrodite, the Lover archetype is the Goddess of Love and Beauty. She is the woman with the magnetic aura. The one with the irresistible charm. A common misconception is that her attractiveness comes from her physical beauty. While she can of course be blessed with a beautiful outer appearance, her magnetism comes from her radiant energy.

When the Divine Feminine is tapped into her sensuality and lives in the present by romanticizing each moment, she has activated Goddess Aphrodite. The Goddess Aphrodite archetype works with intense, passionate forces to turn them into creative products. She is the one who gives birth to whole new worlds through ideas that find her.

The Lover archetype is also the Divine Feminine force that drives two people to fall in love and create new life. She is a powerful creator. She is the one who breathes life into her visions with such ease and passion. An Aphrodite woman is in touch with her body, her senses. When she creates, she is engrossed in the creative process by taking in the whole experience through her senses.

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was a secure goddess who was never vulnerable to patriarchal control. She fell in love and enjoyed the company of men without ever being taken advantage of. She stands alone because she was never hurt by men the way Persephone, Demeter and Hera were and also because of her secure entanglement with men, unlike Artemis, Athena and Hestia, who did not emotionally entangle with men.

This feminine archetype can be misunderstood by a traditional society. Her sensuality might be frowned upon,n and her zest for life can be judged by a society that is hyper-masculinized and operates in survival mode. If her Divine Feminine sensuality is not welcome, a woman with the Aphrodite archetype can end up trying to suppress her magnetic sensuality. This abandonment of her true self can make her feel fragmented.

A shadow aspect of the Lover archetype is her impulsive nature, which can drive her towards making choices before she has the time to assess the consequences. She tends to act on whims and intuitive nudges that might not be entirely understood by those around her. This might make a woman with the Aphrodite archetype seem as if she is inconsiderate, even though it is seldom intentional.

The Divine Feminine with the Aphrodite archetype activated in her must work on cultivating an inner, grounded nature. Her challenge is to learn to process her emotions before she acts on them. If she regulates her intense feelings, a never-ending stream of creative energy can become available to her, so she can step into the fullness of her creative power.

For the Lover archetype, it’s best to practice mindfulness and take action after coming into alignment with who she is instead of taking action from a place of emotional turmoil. Her powerful, passionate nature can be fully harnessed into creative outcomes if she learns to channel it at the perfect time and intensity.

When the Divine Feminine, who is full of creative energy,y learns how to master her energy, she becomes a woman who knows how to wield her chaos within whatever structure she pleases. When she masters her own energy, she becomes a balanced culmination of yin and yang who knows how to stay grounded in what matters to her the most.

Goddess Artemis, the Huntress Archetype:

Goddess Artemis, the Huntress archetype, is the Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, the moon and childbirth. She is the independent, wild facet of the Divine Feminine. Goddess Artemis is one of the virgin goddesses who never formed deep emotional entanglements with men. She is the goddess who lived a life separated from men.

According to Greek mythology, she adventured in the wilderness with her nymph sisters by her side. A woman who is dominant in the Huntress archetype is usually self-reliant and does not need anyone external to feel whole. She is goal-oriented and highly focused like an archer who has her eye on the target. Chasing goals excites her.

Goddess Artemis feels at home in nature. She feels at home in the wilderness. She is the Divine Feminine who finds solace in her own solitude and depth. She is also a fierce protector of women, children and her loved ones. The fierceness of the Divine Feminine is activated in a woman when the Huntress Archetype is alive in her. Princess Merida from the Disney movie Brave and Moana (who is another Disney princess) are perfect examples of the Huntress Archetype.

The Huntress can be emotionally distant from her loved ones. She can find it uncomfortable to be vulnerable. She often can find herself wanting to run away from intimacy. Due to this, a woman who embodies the Huntress Archetype tends to be on the move physically or emotionally. This fierce Divine Feminine can come off as cold and stubborn due to her emotional avoidance, even when she has no intentions of being perceived that way. She tends to be stubborn, especially when it comes to goals and causes that are important to her.

The Huntress does not suppress her anger and is used to expressing her feminine rage. However, if her anger is intense, she can end up losing control and damaging what is around her. She tends to have a hard time staying grounded and present when she is overwhelmed and angry. Her shadow side can be her inability to stop as she pushes her limits, due to her goal-oriented, stubborn nature.

The Huntress archetype is here to cultivate inner yin-yang balance by softening into her feminine traits, such as receptivity and flexibility. Her challenge is to focus more on grounding herself amidst her rushed nature and practice taking moments for herself where she is not on the hunt to achieve a goal.

It is important for the Divine Feminine who has Goddess Artemis active within her to be open to unwinding her tight beliefs. Being able to let go of the ideology that everything is black and white and being more forgiving to those around her who do not share similar values as her is her path towards spiritual evolution.

Her goals can be achieved far more rapidly if she harnesses the powerful universal forces that are always available to her by softening into her feminine traits. For the Huntress archetype to form deeper bonds, she can open up her energy to her loved ones and let them in. She needs to realize that she does not have to carry the burdens of the world alone and that she is allowed to relax. She is loved regardless of her achievements.

It is essential for the Divine Feminine, who is intertwined with Goddess Artemis to lean into the fact that she is safe and that she can put her guard down to be taken care of. Once she softens into her worth that is not tied to her goals, she becomes a powerful Goddess who knows how to switch between her goal-oriented, highly focused self and her relaxed self who trusts that she is always provided for.

Goddess Athena, the Sage archetype:

Goddess Athena, The Sage archetype is the Goddess of wisdom, war and crafts. She is a warrior goddess who exudes regalness. She is one of the virgin goddesses who dedicated herself to chastity and celibacy.

However, unlike Goddess Artemis who separated herself from men, Goddess Athena included herself in the world of men. According to Greek Mythology, she is the only daughter of Zeus who was trusted with his thunderbolt and aegis.

A woman who has the Sage archetype activated in her is strategic. She is an excellent planner and an executor. According to Greek mythology, she acted as an ally of heroic men by becoming an advocate for warriors. She is also the facet of the Divine Feminine who thrives in civilized environments, as Goddess Athena was the protector of cities.

A woman who has invited Goddess Athena holds a high mental capacity that is needed in various tasks she tends to keep up with all at once. She is the diamond who does not crumble under pressure, as the Sage Archetype does not easily give in to her emotions. She can stay calm during high-pressure moments and take action without having emotions influence her.

She is the woman who is realistic when she sees the world as it is. She is the sensible woman who does not easily make space for whimsies, magic or anything in the unseen world. A woman with Goddess Athena activated in her is a strategic thinker who tends to be in spaces of business and academics, where her mind is greatly valued.

The Sage Archetype is often active among women who are into organized aesthetics and practical crafts. This type of woman has the patience and the foresight to bring her vision into exquisite motion in efficient ways.

The shadow side of the Divine Feminine, who is highly intellectual, can be her inability to give her mind a rest. Her mind tends to be switched on even when she is supposed to be relaxing. She also might have a hard time separating her work life from her personal life because her mind does not know when to stop analyzing and calculating. She can also find herself caught up in power games that do not serve her emotional well-being.

It’s best for the Divine Feminine, who is intertwined with Goddess Athena to focus on relaxing her mind. This can look like engaging in a monotonous activity that also allows her to infuse her creativity into it, such as crocheting or weaving. She is here to learn that life can only be fully enjoyed if she merges her body with her mind. This is because Athena women tend to be disconnected from their bodies due to their highly active minds.

The Sage Archetype’s challenge is to open herself up to the magic that can only be experienced by processing her emotions and feeling her bodily sensations. She needs to make space to play, laugh, cry and be loved. The Divine Feminine who steps into her healthy Sage archetype is a woman who merges the power of her mind and her sensuality to fuel her visions and dreams.

Goddess Hestia, the Mystic Archetype:

Goddess Hestia, the Mystic archetype, is the Goddess of the Hearth and the Home. Her energy is warm and has a vibration of holiness in it. She is a presence that is felt spiritually. She is one of the virgin goddesses who, according to Greek Mythology, refused the hands of God Apollo and God Persephone and withdrew from the world of men, into the temple.

When the Mystic Archetype is present in the Divine Feminine, she tends to be internally harmonized. She does her tasks and household activities in a meditative manner. She can tap into an inner state of peace in whatever it is she is doing. The woman who is intertwined with Goddess Hestia moves devotionally, by making each act an act of prayer.

She seldom gives in to the worldly rush. She does not allow herself to be controlled by schedules and clocks.

Goddess Hestia represents the inner sanctuary that is always available to the Divine Feminine. Going inward to find harmony comes naturally to her. When the Divine Feminine does not honour the Mystic Archetype, it can be reflected through her reactive, rushed nature.

A woman who has the Mystic Archetype activated in her is a woman who barely cares about the worldly world. Her solace comes from the spiritual world, which is much more real to her than the physical reality. She can be perceived as introverted because she loves to be in her own energy with beautiful worlds alive in her imagination.

The biggest shadow of the Mystic Archetype is her microscopic capacity to keep up with the physical world. The external world can overstimulate her and make her feel drained. Her unhasty energy is often disharmonized with the fast-paced outer world, which limits her from being able to participate in worldly matters.

A woman influenced by Goddess Hestia has to develop adaptability to harmonize with whatever environment she is in to avoid being overwhelmed. Being able to stay grounded in chaos will expand her capacity to face anything.

Her shadow side is that she often does not cultivate her yang, which can easily make her lose her balance if she is in uncharted territory. Developing her yang by practising assertiveness and solidity is something for her to lean into. Only when she activates her yang can she fully enjoy the depth of her yin by being able to melt into the safe structure of her yang, no matter where she is. Once she learns to be adaptable, she can stay centred within her inner sanctuary regardless of the worldliness of her environment.

The Mystic Archetype is a rare gem that sees beyond the illusory world. Instead of searching for validation in the external world, she finds validation within her intuition. She needs to keep nurturing her intuitive abilities without allowing the world to doubt her.

Once she merges the power of her inner world with stability and adaptability, she becomes the epitome of the Divine Feminine. She must remember to always trust her inner hunches despite what she is told by the outer world. A woman who invites Goddess Hestia represents a powerful facet of the Divine Feminine, where she is always able to tap into her inner tranquillity by melting into her own harmonious energy.

The Divine Feminine Archetype Invitation.

Stepping into the realm of Divine Feminine Archetypes is a beautiful initiation for many of us women. By learning about the Greek Goddesses and the Greek mythology woven around them, we are given the gift of seeing and understanding ourselves through these goddesses. A book to read if you want to learn more about these archetypes is ‘Goddesses in Everywoman’ by Jean Shinoda Bolen.

The 7 Goddess Archetypes Ebook — *The 7 Goddess Archetypes*

The Greek Goddess Archetypes not only add magic to the patterns of a woman’s psyche, but they also invite women to embrace their shadow side for it to be transmuted. To merge the Divinity and the humanity within a woman, she must integrate her darkness.

By learning about the Feminine archetypes that are eternally alive within us women and by knowing that these Goddess archetypes can be invited and activated whenever we need them, we can step into a vast reservoir of grounded, feminine power.

My latest ebook, ‘The 7 Goddess Archetypes,’ is for you if you want to go deeper into your archetype and transcend specific shadows.

The Greek Goddesses are alive in all the women around you, too. The archetype I relate to the most is the Maiden. I see so much of myself in Goddess Persephone. I’d love to know which goddess archetype you relate to the most in the comments below! If you loved seeing a glimpse of the goddesses within you through this article, share this with the beautiful women in your life, too.

Feminine Archetypes: Seven Greek Goddess Archetypes That Are Alive Within the Divine Feminine.