The Character Style of a Goddess is a way of categorizing her standard traits, qualities, and attributes including both her strengths and weaknesses in order to get a clear picture of who she is and how she meets and interacts with the world around her. We can often see some of these traits in ourselves. We may also have a blind spot for other traits within ourselves. We have our own unique versions of the traits of every goddess, yet me may not have a positive relationship with them.
For example, I can relate very much with Athena’s intellectual pursuits having studied Math, Chemistry and Computer Science in college. At the time, I did not know that I was cut off from my feminine side nor that I had trouble connecting deeply with women. I thought I just had trouble finding the ‘right’ women that I could trust. It wasn’t until later that I started honoring and connecting with my own feminine essence and found the value and necessity of deep connections with other women in my life.
Athena may not be as much of a feminine goddess as many others, but the wisdom we can gain from Athena is something we can’t get from any other Greek Goddess. Athena is wise both from her intellectual wisdom and her innate or inner wisdom. This month, we are focusing on her inner wisdom. However if you are drawn to focus on the aspects of her intellectual wisdom, feel free to follow your own wisdom and journey in that endeavor.
Athena’s Strengths
Her qualities include an ability to plan, organize and execute with precision. She can take a strategic view and or a practical view and plan actions that will achieve tangible results. She is rational in her thinking and often stands by her choices with persistent determination. Though it appears she uses her intellect over instinct, right choice and decisive decision must be rooted in intuition.
She holds strict boundaries with others, choosing celibacy over intimacy primarily as her interests lie mostly in protection, championing, and problem solving.
She is not perfect and can lose her temper at times and the consequences are not pretty. She does have the ability to right her wrongs and sometimes choses to do so.
Athena shows up in the women who are drawn to and have close relationships with powerful men. There must be a balance of power and a two way loyalty for the relationship to work. The men are often highly successful and powerful, much like her father Zeus.
Athena shows up in the women who strive for excellence in their intellectual pursuits. The woman who is well spoken, well educated and well balanced. The woman who may experience life in moderation and with general levelheadedness.
Athena shows up in women as the curiosity to see how things work, fix things, and problem solve.
The Shadow of Athena
Athena’s shadow side is that she is disconnected from her emotional and feminine self and therefore has difficulty sustaining deep connections with others.
She can be intimidating to other women and men, especially those she doesn’t see as measuring up to her high expectations.
She can be too intellectual and never let herself feel passion or any other non practical emotion. Because she has the tendency to not be in touch with her emotions, they may burst out when least expected, often as rage.
She can be too focused on getting her task done and attaining her high level of competence so she brushes off and misses out on real connection with others. She leans towards meeting the world from a focused, get-things-done perspective and misses out on the go-with-the-flow aspects of life.
Athena was never a child, thus she has limited to zero ability to play, be silly, or just be without doing.
Since she did not have a mother, she is generally disconnected from her own maternal and/or feminine instincts as a woman. She may have few women friends and not really see the importance of having women in her life. She tends put all her trust and faith in concrete ideas and actions rather than the more nebulous realm of feeling, intuition and/or emotion.
Call on Athena
Call on Athena to help you in your business; when diplomacy is needed; when you need to get tasks done; to assist you in finishing your education; or writing that thesis.
Call on Athena when you are crafting new ideas or creative projects especially ones that include weaving, tapestry, or other functional craft item.
Call on Athena to connect you with your inner wisdom when you need to make decisive clear decisions or actions that will get the results you desire.
Call on Athena when you are searching for the healing modalities that best fit you and your condition.
Now that you know a little about Athena’s unique way of being, what parts of her character style show up in your own life?
