Table Of Content
Goddesses in
Everywoman
Powerful Archetypes in Women’s
Lives
Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.
To my mother, Megumi Yamaguchi Shinoda, M.D.,
who was determined to help me grow up—as she hadn’t—
feeling that I was fortunate to be a girl,
and could do whatever I aspired to as a woman.
From the seed grows a root, then a sprout; from the sprout, the
seedling leaves; from the leaves, the stem; around the stem, the
branches; at the top, the flower…. We cannot say that the seed causes
the growth, nor that the soil does. We can say that the potentialities
for growth lie within the seed, in mysterious life forces, which, when
properly fostered, take on certain forms.
M. C. Richards, Centering in
Pottery, Poetry and the Person
Contents
Epigraph iii
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by Gloria Steinem xi
Introduction to the Twentieth-Anniversary Edition xv
Introduction There Are Goddesses in Everywoman 1
1. Goddesses as Inner Images 13
2. Activating the Goddesses 25
3. The Virgin Goddesses: Artemis, Athena, and Hestia 35
4. Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt and Moon, Competitor
and Sister 46
5. Athena: Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts, Strategist and
Father’s Daughter 75
6. Hestia: Goddess of the Hearth and Temple, Wise Woman
and Maiden Aunt 107
7. The Vulnerable Goddesses: Hera, Demeter, and
Persephone 132
8. Hera: Goddess of Marriage, Commitment Maker and
Wife 139
9. Demeter: Goddess of Grain, Nurturer and Mother 168
10. Persephone: The Maiden and Queen of the Underworld,
Receptive Woman and Mother’s Daughter 197
11. The Alchemical Goddess 224
12. Aphrodite: Goddess of Love and Beauty, Creative
Woman and Lover 233
13. Which Goddess Gets the Golden Apple? 263
14. The Heroine in Everywoman 278
Appendix Who’s Who in Greek Mythology 297
Cast of Characters (list describing the gods and
goddesses) 297
Goddess Chart (summary in chart form) 301
Notes 303
Bibliography 313
Index 321
About the Author
Praise
Other Books by Jean Shinoda Bolen
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Acknowledgments
Every chapter in this book has many unnamed contributors—pa-
tients, friends, colleagues—who exemplified aspects of each goddess
archetype, or provided insights into them. Most descriptions are
therefore composites of many women, known to me under many
circumstances; especially through twenty years of psychiatric prac-
tice. It is a privilege to be trusted by people who reveal their depths
to me, enabling me to better understand their psychology and
through them, the psychology of others, including myself. My pa-
tients are my best teachers. To all of them, thank you.
I have been blessed and burdened by many editors, each of whom
added to the development of this book and to my growth as a writer
during the three years that I worked on the manuscript: editorial
direction and comment came from Kirsten Grimstad, Kim Chernin,
Marilyn Landau, Jeremy Tarcher, Stephanie Bernstein, and Linda
Purrington, to whom I turned for copyediting. And in the midst of
their differing perspectives, I also learned to trust my own voice and
vision, which was a lesson in itself and led to a change in publishers.
In this, Kim Chernin’s encouragement was especially valuable.
My thanks go also to Nancy Berry, who worked skillfully and
swiftly at the typewriter and computer whenever I called on her for
help; to my literary agents, John Brockman and Katinka Matson,
who added their expert perspective to a difficult “book birthing”
process; and to my publisher, Clayton
ix
Goddesses in Everywoman
Carlson at Harper & Row, who through his intuition and personal
regard for my first book, The Tao of Psychology, had faith in me and
in Goddesses in Everywoman.
My family have been stalwart supporters as I labored on this book
in their midst. Long ago, I decided that if I were to write, I would
do it without withdrawing from them or closing a door between us.
I would be available and present, at the same time that I would need
their consideration. My husband, Jim, and my children, Melody and
Andy, have been with me all the way on this project. In addition to
emotional support, Jim has from time to time lent his professional
eye as an editor to my writing, encouraging me to trust my own in-
stincts, to leave in examples and images that evoke feelings.
And my heartfelt thanks to many people whose support to finish
Goddesses in Everywoman came at synchronistic times—whenever I
was discouraged and needed to be reminded that this book could
be helpful to others. My task was to persevere until the book was
finished. Once published, I knew that it would have a life of its own
and would find whomever it is supposed to reach.
x
Foreword
I would like to invite you into this book, especially if you are one
of those readers who might be, as I was, resistant to its theme. After
all, how can mythological goddesses from a patriarchal past help
us to analyze our current realities or reach an egalitarian future?
Just as we are most likely to buy books recommended by trusted
friends, my inspiration to read this manuscript came from knowing
its author.
I met Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen when she was organizing Psychiat-
rists for ERA, a group of women and men inside the American
Psychiatric Association whose professional experience had led them
to believe that equal treatment under the law was crucial to women’s
mental health. They therefore supported the passage of the Equal
Rights Amendment.
All groups are the result of many energies, but Jean was clearly
an effective and inspired organizer of this one. She not only envi-
sioned such a group and sparked the imagination of her colleagues;
she also followed through on the procedural detail of forging a co-
hesive, national organization out of busy and disparate people. In
that process, she took care to bridge generational, racial, and profes-
sional differences, to research accurate, relevant information, and
to leave even the most resistant adversary with dignity and some
new understanding.
Watching Jean in action left no doubt that she was a practical, ex-
pert organizer in the here and now; a gentle revolutionary whose
healing calm and accepting spirit were testimony
xi
