Who is the Goddess Athena?
Athena is one of the most famous goddesses of the Greek Pantheon.
She is wise, cunning, and fierce.
Known for her prowess in battle, support of many Greek heroes, and her namesake city (Athens), Athena is a strong goddess and strong archetype in the psyche of many women.
In this post we are going to explore:
The mythology surrounding Athena
Her archetypal significance
How Athena shows up in the modern woman
How to connect more deeply to your inner Athena
If you are a strong, independent woman with a mind for logic and a “take no prisoners” attitude, then it is likely that Athena is one of the goddesses active within you…
The Mythology of Athena
Athena is an interesting goddess with a unique origin story.
Although there is a version of her story in which she is said to be the daughter of Zeus and a nymph named Metis, the most popular version is that she sprang, fully grown, from the forehead of her Father.
What’s fascinating is that right there, in only a few words, we have the essence of her archetype. But we’ll get to that later.
Athena is known as the Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts and she was by far Zeus’s favorite child.
She is the goddess of logic, strategy, and she is known for her prowess in battle. She is a key player in many of the major Greek Myths, as she was often the protectress of many heroes.
Known by her fierce grey eyes (reminiscent of an owl’s), she was not a goddess you wanted to cross. Those who offended Athena often paid for it with their lives.
In addition to her connection to wisdom and war, Athena is also the goddess of craftsmen such as weavers, goldsmiths, potters, and dressmakers.
When I lived in Athens, I heard a theory from my professors that while many believe the city was named for her, she might have actually been named for the city.
Her predominant symbol is the owl, though she is also associated with olive branches/leaves, intertwined snakes, and her armor. It’s also worth noting that Athena is the only goddess in the Greek Pantheon to wear armor.
Athena’s Archetypal Significance
Athena’s origin story reveals much about who she is as an archetypal figure and her springing forth from the forehead of Zeus represents several things.
The first is that the lack of a true mother figure signifies that she is her father’s daughter through and through.
Women who have a strong Athena archetype active within their psyches will find that the apple doesn’t fall far from the Father tree.
They often have a strong desire to please their fathers, taking up activities, sports, or careers that their fathers find respectful or dignified.
While they can be daddy’s girls, this isn’t always the case. Many women who grow up with Narcissistic-type fathers find themselves embodying Athena in order to earn the love, respect, and attention of their dads.
Those who are dominated by an Athena archetype may also find that they have little to no relationship with their mothers and their moms are almost absent in the narrative of their lives.
Unless their mothers have a strong Athena or Artemis aspect in themselves, the Athena daughter may carry resentment or disdain for her mother, who she perceives as weak.
The second important thing to note is that she was born from Zeus’s forehead, which represents Athena’s association with wisdom and intellectual pursuits.
She is concerned with reason, logic, and strategy. Emotions have no place in Athena’s world and her decisions are driven by her head rather than her heart.
These two characteristics lead us to a third very important thing to note about Athena as an archetype: While Athena is a female goddess, her energy is masculine not feminine.
She is all about doing, pushing, striving, and forcing. She lives in her head, not her body, and logic comes easier to her than emotions.
Although this can be adaptive in a patriarchal society, the woman who has other active archetypes will eventually find herself feeling burned out or disenchanted by life.
The only way to heal this is through cultivating more balance through the feminine principle.
Athena in the Modern Woman
What I find so fascinating is how many women have been brought up to be Athena, only to discover (typically in her 30s or 40s) that she has other goddess archetypes active within her.
From the time they are young, Athena women tend to excel in school and academics. They are the ones who spend more time studying than they do trying to get the attention of boys, and this pattern often persists through adulthood.
Athena-dominated women tend to go to university and go on to higher education to get master’s degrees and doctorates. Their focus, persistence, and penchant for strategy makes them an asset in the boardroom and the courtroom alike.
They often spend the early part of their lives studying, only to spend the first part of their adulthoods climbing the corporate ladder.
While this might be sufficient for a woman who doesn’t have a strong presence of other goddess archetypes active within her, those who have a strong relational goddess such as an active Hera, Demeter, or Aphrodite tend to struggle as these goddesses battle it out in her psyche.
This tends to show up as feeling conflicted and having to choose between a career and a husband (Hera), a career and children (Demeter), or a successful career that isn’t actually her soul’s passion and leaves her feeling dry and resentful (Aphrodite).
The modern Athena woman also has difficulty connecting to her emotions.
While logic and strategy come easily to her, dropping from her brain into her body does not.
This can manifest as difficulty knowing how she’s feeling and how to express herself.
It also makes for more challenging relationships, because she often won’t take into account the other’s feelings, instead preferring the more rational and dispassionate (and potentially cold) path.
In my work as an eating disorder therapist, I often encountered many Athena women who struggled with Anorexia. They were brilliant at school and at work, but deeply terrified of connecting to themselves below the neck.
How to Connect to Athena
If you feel a kinship with the Goddess Athena, then it’s important to identify any other archetypes that are active within you.
If you have a strong desire for an intimate relationship, children, or passionate love and creativity, know that Athena may interfere with those desires, tempting you to put your career, salary, and success above everything else.
Having Athena active in your psyche is a wonderful thing, because she will give you an edge that is incredibly useful in the masculine-energy paradigm in which we live. However, this may not be completely satisfying if other aspects of life call to you.
In order to appease your inner Athena, know when and where it is appropriate for her to come out and play.
Embrace your Athena at school, at work, and during times that call for logic, reason, and strategy, but develop a rapport with her so that she knows which areas of your life are her domain and which are not.
Transition rituals are particularly helpful for the Athena woman.
This is where you do something to signify that the work day is over and you are passing the baton to another goddess. I often recommend taking a shower, dimming the lights, and changing out of your work clothes into something more comfortable or sensual.
And finally, if you’ve found that one of the other more emotional archetypes is taking over your life, you may need to enhance the presence of your inner Athena.
This is where you can connect to the energy of the Owl: Wise, observant, and calculating.
The owl takes in all of the information around her before she acts. She is not impulsive and knows the value of consideration before reacting quickly.
If you feel like something has been awakened inside of you and you are ready to explore the Goddess Archetypes that live within you, learn more about the Archetypal Activation Session and how it can help you catalyze deeper healing, joy, and meaning in your life…
