Who is the Goddess Hestia?
The Goddess of the Home, the Hearth, and in my world, the Goddess of Centeredness, Hestia is a lesser-known but incredibly important goddess and archetype.
Known to the Ancient Greeks as Hestia and the Romans as Vesta, Hestia was more present in their everyday lives and rituals than she was in myths.
Many women have heard of the more prominent Greek Goddesses like Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite, but as a quiet and somewhat elusive goddess, Hestia remains unknown to many.
In my spiritual work, Hestia is the goddess I introduce my clients to when they are feeling off-balance, out-of-sorts, and looking externally for saving, validation, and approval.
Hestia represents an aspect of the mature feminine, the woman who knows who she is, what she stands for, and she doesn’t need to post about it on social media.
Psychologically, she is an archetype that most women would do well to cultivate.
So in today’s post, we’re going to dive deep into:
Who Hestia is and her function in the lives of the Ancient Greeks and Romans
Hestia’s archetypal significance & how she shows up in the modern woman
How to cultivate a deeper relationship with Hestia to bring more peace & centering to your life
Let’s get started…
A Brief Herstory of Hestia
Hestia (or Vesta to the Romans), is one of the older goddesses.
She is the first-born child of Rhea and Cronos, making her the oldest sibling of the first-generation Olympians.
Hestia, along with her other siblings Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hades were swallowed by their father Cronos, who feared being overthrown by one of his children.
When Zeus was born, Rhea tricked Cronos by giving him a rock in a swaddling blanket, which he swallowed believing it was his son. Zeus was able to free his siblings from their father’s stomach and overcome Cronos before taking his spot as the most powerful god on Mt. Olympus.
Hestia maintained a spot on Mt. Olympus for many years, but was always in the background.
She was not showy or flashy like her siblings and when things became too crowded, she gladly relinquished her spot to Dionysus.
Who is Hestia: An Overview
Hestia is the Goddess of the Home and the Hearth, more specifically the fire that was present in the hearth.
Many temples were devoted to Hestia and both her temples and her hearths had a round shape.
In Rome, a group of young, often high-born women became chosen as the Vestal Virgins, the priestesses-in-training who tended to the sacred fires of Vesta which kept the city alight.
Hestia (or Vesta) was known as a Virgin Goddess, along with Artemis and Athena.
These goddesses are so named because they never married, didn’t have children, and they generally weren’t concerned with romance.
They were also never victimized or taken advantage of, as many of the Vulnerable Goddesses (to use Jean Shinoda Bolen’s terminology) were.
The reason why Hestia is a lesser-known goddess is because she did not play much of a role in the great mythologies. She was not known amongst the great heroes, the tragedies and triumphs, or the antics of her siblings.
Instead, Hestia played a vital role in the everyday lives of the Greco-Roman people.
All meals and feasts began with a toast or offering to Hestia.
All infants and new members of the family circled around her hearth to symbolize their entrance into the family.
And her sacred flames were tended to with great care.
In my mind, this is how Hestia became more a contemplative, inner force, a mindset if you will.
While she began as the representation of a family’s focal point or gathering point, she also started to symbolize the inner fire that we turn to when we need to remember what’s really important.
Hestia as an Archetype
As an archetype, Hestia represents the calm, wise, centered, mature, inward-focused woman. She does not concern herself with external matters, because she’s too busy tending to her own inner flame.
Hestian women find themselves drawn to topics like spirituality, religion, mythology, and philosophy. They enjoy spending time alone and are drawn to solo, inward, contemplative pursuits.
Women with a strong inner Hestia are not loud, flashy, and begging for attention. In fact, they might be considered “boring” to those who are drawn to people with strong, loud personalities, but this could actually be further from the truth.
While Hestia might not have the most friends or followers on Instagram, or even follow a path that seems “normal” to others, she has a rich inner life.
She is deep, thoughtful, loyal, and is likely to spend much of her time thinking about more esoteric topics.
In the modern woman, Hestia might look quiet, reserved, and shy. She much prefers a small intimate dinner party over a night on the town.
As such, women with a dominant Hestia archetype may struggle to find friends and connect with others, particularly in their youth.
As they get older, they might cultivate a small, but close inner circle, and they often opt-out of what is traditionally expected (e.g. not participating in social media, climbing the corporate ladder, or working to keep up with the Joneses).
If there was a cultural movement or lifestyle that described Hestia, it would be the slow living or soft living movement.
Hestia as the Goddess of Centeredness
I once had a mentor who gave an example comparing “the kid at the front of the class who raises their hand to answer every questions vs the kid at the back of the class who knows all the answers, but doesn’t have to prove it.” This is how I feel about Hestia.
Hestia doesn’t need to prove herself. She is who she is and she’s okay with it, thank-you-very-much.
I believe that her association with fire isn’t just about an external hearth or gathering place for a family, but it’s about that internal flame where we go to connect with our souls.
Jungian psychiatrist Jean Shinoda Bolen describes Hestia as a woman’s spiritual core, helping us access a “sense of intactness and wholeness.”
I think most modern women would do well to cultivate or activate their inner Hestia.
While most of us have other archetypes active within us, Hestia is a balm to the wounded psyche that comes from living in this truly crazy world.
In my work as a therapist and a coach, I’ve observed that women with a Hestia deficiency:
Are less psychologically resilient and more prone to mental health issues
Struggle to sit still and be with themselves
Constantly scroll social media looking for a hit
Busy themselves with trying to achieve to prove their worth (a wounded Athena archetype)
Go from relationship to relationship trying to fill a void (a wounded Hera)
It’s not that I’m proposing that all women give up their lifestyles, academic or professional pursuits, and close relationships to go live in the woods and devote themselves to spirituality, but I do believe that psychologically women would do well to embrace more slowness, learn that rest isn’t laziness, and remember that their worth doesn’t come from how much they achieve.
All right my loves, that’s it for today. If this type of content speaks to you, be sure to check out my free Persephone & Women’s Mental Health Masterclass to dive deeper into using goddess archetypes along your healing journey!