Artemis is the ancient Greek goddess of the Hunt. The Romans’ matching archetype was named Diana, and both names are used for her today. My introduction to Greek mythic archetypes was a workshop by Jean Shinoda Bolen* (all references are at the end) when she was about to publish Goddesses in Everywoman (1984). Gods in Everyman followed.
As a psychologist she presented the possibility that the Goddesses and Gods are a psychology: each person is attracted to one or more of the deities as a personal archetype whose traits need to be cultivated or managed with wisdom. Understanding which archetypes are activated brings clarity to who we are, and to which archetypes other people embody. It also aids the person who is us “to sit at the head of the table,” to use Bolen’s image; the archetype is recognized, honored, fed, and does not control us and our lives.
A Gallery of Goddesses
When teaching this material the most powerful exercise is to have each person lie down on a large piece of butcher paper and their neighbor trace their body on it. Then each person decorates the drawing with symbols of the archetypes they find within themselves. Artemis might have deer antlers and carry a bow. People can be a single archetype or more than one, and then they would identify where in the body each resides. From the goddesses an example would be Athena in the head, Aphrodite in the heart, and from the gods Apollo in the head, Zeus with a thunderbolt in the left hand.
Once decorated we hang the drawings as high on the walls as we can reach, creating a gallery of very large figures surrounding us. Each person stands by their figure in turn, presenting their drawing of their archetypal configuration. I facilitate questions or comments from others in the workshop.
I recommend reading the books and doing this exercise. If brave (like Artemis) hang the drawing in your home and people will ask you about it. I can promise the knowledge you gain will enrich your life.
Diane de Versailles, Musee du Louvre
The various myths about Artemis generally agree on:
- Family. Twins are born of a liaison between Zeus and Leto. Artemis is born first, and she helps Leto with the birth of her brother Apollo.
- Artemis is huntress, archer, virgin.
- A deer is her totem animal.
- She is a goddess of childbirth and midwives, and a protector of children.
- Brother Apollo is God of the Sun cycle.
- Her shrines were everywhere; importantly at Ephesus where her temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (550 BC)*
- She lives with a band of chaste nymphs and young women who if losing their virginity leave her sanctuaries.
Artemis is, like the rest of the Greek pantheon, involved in the Trojan War. She sides with the Trojans against the Greeks because Agamemnon (leader of Greek fleet) kills her sacred deer. His young daughter Iphigenia is required as compensation. In most versions when Iphigenia is led to the altar to be offered as a sacrifice Artemis pities her and takes her away, leaving a deer in her place. This reminds me of the Abraham and Isaac story in Genesis 22:1-19.
Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis*
I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery, own sister to Apollo with the golden sword.
Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earth quakes and the sea also where fishes shoal.
But the goddess with a bold heart turns every way destroying the race of wild beasts: and when she is satisfied and has cheered her heart, this huntress who delights in arrows slackens her supple bow and goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoebus Apollo, to the rich land of Delphi, there to order the lovely dance of the Muses and Graces.
There she hangs up her curved bow and her arrows, and heads and leads the dances, gracefully arrayed, while all there utter their heavenly voice, singing how neat-ankled Leto bare children supreme among the immortals both in thought and in deed.
Hail to you, children of Zeus and rich-haired Leto!
Atalanta is another Greek Virgin goddess of the Hunt. She is a devotee of Artemis. *
George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. “Why does an old maid wear cotton gloves? … Because she has no Kids.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 – 1959.
Stereotype of the Old Maid
I played a card game as a young girl called “Old Maid.”* In the card game the person left holding the single Old Maid card at the end loses. I also heard single unmarried women in their late twenties called or warned by others not to be an “Old Maid.” It meant “get married.” There were women at the university whose goal in their college education was to find a “good husband,” which meant a good provider for the woman who was to stay home and raise the children. This is a stereotype my generation broke apart, but it is being offered to many young women again today.
In some cultures, the expectation is that the last-born daughter will stay single and at home to tend to the elderly parents.
Seeing Artemis Naked
Part of Artemis mythology is what happens to a man named Actaeon who views the Virgin naked. The myth has many versions, but these are the common elements:*
- Actaeon is a hunter who views Artemis bathing naked
- He is transformed into a deer and hunted
- A pack of hunting dogs tears him to pieces
Viewing a Virgin is part of the pornography trade, and sex with a Virgin can be costly. Young girls whose families can’t afford their care throughout the world are sold into the sex trade to feed this stereotype. In high school and college I knew men who marked their belts each time they broke a girl’s hymen.* Some fierce part of myself aligns to the idea of a “pack of dogs” tearing pornographers and sex traders to pieces. They would defend themselves as just providing for a market, and the buyers are the ones to prosecute. I think I prefer men looking at porn to their sexually dominating another person. I read romance novels and some of them are clearly female pornography.
Today we witness many women standing up to the sexual stereotypes of incest and rape, coming forward with information about the “sex trade” as well as personal abuse. They are very brave, especially with people with immense power being the accused Actaeons.
The Indomitable Spirit
Jean Shinoda Bolin also published Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman in 2014.
Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman
Bolen, Jean Shinoda
Conari Press, 2014 M09 1 – 272 páginas
Indomitable means can’t be dominated, tamed, subdued. These young women will not be victims in any situation or relationship. They hunt oppressors.
“This is grit, the passion and persistence to go the distance, to survive, and to succeed. Dr. Bolen paints a vivid picture of Artemis women in current media, including Princess Merida from the animated film Brave and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games… and those of real-life women ….
Shinoda Bolen’s Artemis archetype includes women who hunt for justice and peace and defend the planet.
Raising Artemis
I recently have watched three Netflix shows with Artemis archetypes, featuring how they were raised and how they are in the world as teens and young women:
- Enola Holmes* About Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes 14-year-old sister. There are two movies (#3 forthcoming) based on a series of books by Nancy Springer who seems something of an Artemis type herself.*
- Wednesday* Season Two beginning Dec 2025, is the story of a very independent daughter of the Addams family who bravely hunts the answer to several related mysteries while attending the same academy as did her mother.
- Extraordinary Attorney Woo* Total of three seasons – is the story of an autistic attorney hired on first year probation by a major law firm. We learn about savant autism from the heroine and how she is viewed by her sympathetic and non-sympathetic peers. Watching will also give you an education on whales.
Camp Fire Girls practiced their archery skills at Camp Delight, 1949, Indiana Historical Society
Historically two organizations in the United States were and are involved in providing young girls with woodland experiences. They are:
- Campfire Girls (1910)*: Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multiracial organization for girls. Today it is an inclusive national youth development nonprofit that serves all young people.
- Girl Scouts (1912)*: Juliette Gordon Low—also known widely by her nickname, “Daisy”—started Girl Scouts in 1912 in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia. The first troop was made up of 18 girls who all shared a sense of curiosity and a belief that they could do anything.
“At a time when women in the United States couldn’t yet vote and were expected to stick to strict social norms, encouraging girls to embrace their unique strengths and create their own opportunities was game-changing.”
Choosing an Artemis Life
I believe many young women in today’s world carry an Artemis archetype and may be confused by a culture that worships the sexy stereotype of Aphrodite. It would be very helpful for them to know instead that many young women are similar to them. And to know that many older women Artemis live their lives as fruitful hunters, even when unable to access a woodland environment.
I know older women who have lived an Artemis life. All are content in themselves to hike, garden, preserve rivers and forests, tutor or coach young women, and in all ways model an independent female spirit. I know three women who have chosen an Artemis life after the death of an equal mate in a long, loving marriage.
If you embody an Artemis archetype it would be very good to share with us how you were raised and how you are living in this culture now. What would be helpful for us to know? For those of you who live with an Artemis archetype in a partner, team member or friend, what have you learned about living with Artemis?
Share your Thoughts in the Comments
Putting your reflections bravely in the comments section of the blog enriches us all; if you email them, I can add include them in an addendum to a later blog this year.
Also please send this content along to other readers who might benefit from these thoughts and/or expand them with their experience.
References
- Jean Shinoda Bolen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Shinoda_Bolen
- Temple at Ephesus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World
- Homeric Hymn to Artemis: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D27
- Atalanta myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atalanta
- Old Maid card game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_maid_(card_game)
- Actaeon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actaeon
- Hymen: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22718-hymen
- Enola Holmes https://www.netflix.com/cr-en/title/81231974
- Nancy Springer, Author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Springer
- Extraordinary Attorney Woo: https://www.netflix.com/cr-en/title/81518991
- Campfire Girls: https://campfire.org/about/
- Girl Scouts: https://www.girlscouts.org/en/discover/about-us/history.html
Leave A Comment