Other Books by Jean Shinoda Bolen
The Tao of Psychology
Goddesses in Everywoman
Gods in Everyman
Ring of Power
Crossing to Avalon
Close to the Bone
The Millionth Circle
Goddesses in Older Women
Crones Don't Whine
Urgent Message From Mother
Like a Tree
Moving Toward the Millionth Circle
First published in 2014 by Conari Press, an imprint of
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
Copyright © 2014 by Jean Shinoda Bolen
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.
“Preface” by Anita Barrows, from RILKE'S BOOK OF HOURS: LOVE POEMS TO GOD by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, translation copyright © 1996 by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. Used by permission of Riverhead books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
ISBN: 978-1-57324-591-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.
Cover design by Jim Warner
Cover photograph: Artemis the Huntress (oil on panel), Fontainebleau School, (16th century) / Louvre, Paris, France / The Bridgeman Art Library
Interior by Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro and Trajan Pro
Printed in the United States of America
EBM
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For women and girls who identify with Artemis.
For girls who admire Artemis in others
and find this archetype is their growing edge.
For women in whom Artemis may be a late-blooming archetype.
For all who discover the indomitable spirit in themselves.
Or has loved it in someone else.
Contents
Introduction: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman
2. Atalanta, Artemis, Mother Bear
4. The Hunt of the Calydon Boar
6. The Footrace and the Three Golden Apples
7. Virgin Goddess Archetype: Artemis, Athena, Hestia
8. Goddesses of the Moon: Artemis/Selene/Hecate
Introduction
The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman
(Latin in + domitare: to tame; incapable of being subdued or tamed)
Indomitable spirit is an attribute in women who have Artemis as an active archetype. In mythology, Artemis is the Greek Goddess of the Hunt and Moon, known as Diana to the Romans. She was the first-born twin sister to Apollo the God of the Sun. As goddess of the hunt, she roamed the wilderness, armed with a bow and quiver of arrows, accompanied by her hunting dogs, either alone or with her chosen nymph companions. Artemis came to the rescue of her mother, was the protector of pre-pubescent girls and young animals. Pregnant women prayed to her to relieve them from pain. (Artemisia—the herb that bears her name, is used by midwives for this). She reacted swiftly to help those under her protection and to punish those who would harm them or disrespect her. Artemis is an archetypal predisposition toward egalitarian-brotherly relationships with men, a sense of sisterhood with women, the ability to aim for a distant target or rise to a challenge, and a preference to be in nature rather than cities.
Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman is a coming-full-circle book. I go back to the story of Atalanta that led me to write Goddesses in Everywoman: A New Psychology of Women, a book that initially became an unexpected best-seller, then a classic, celebrated by the publication of its thirtieth anniversary edition in 2014. It began as an entirely different book about two paths of feminine development with the working title Pathways to Wholeness. It was based on Greek myths about Psyche and Atalanta, two mortal women, one identified with Aphrodite, the other with Artemis.
In Jungian literature, the myth of Psyche is the model for the psychological development of the feminine psyche. While it does apply to many women, to say that this was the pattern for all women did not ring true for me. Psyche was the mortal woman who offended Aphrodite. Pregnant and abandoned by her lover, she tries to drown herself and finds she cannot. She then is given four tasks to complete and is initially overwhelmed by each task. Symbolic helpers then come to her rescue (each represents an inner resource that she did not know she has) and as the tasks are done, she grows psychologically. I wanted to find another myth that would apply to women who took on challenges, ventured into new fields, defined themselves, and who entered occupations and professions that had traditionally been male stronghold—women who were at ease with men as friends and equals. I found Atalanta.