History and mythology
The mythology dedicated to the Greek gods and goddesses we are describing is a reflection of historical events. This is a patriarchal mythology that exalts Zeus and heroes. It is based on the clash of people who professed faith in the maternal principle, with the invaders who worshiped warlike gods and created religious cults based on the masculine principle.
Maria Jimbutas, professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and an expert in European mythology, writes about the so-called "Old Europe" - the first European civilization. According to scientists, the culture of Old Europe was formed at least five (and possibly twenty-five) thousand years before the emergence of patriarchal religions. This matriarchal, sedentary and peaceful culture was associated with land, sea and the cult of the Great Goddess. The information collected bit by bit during archaeological excavations shows that the society of Old Europe did not know property and social stratification, and equality reigned in it. Old Europe was destroyed by the invasion of semi-nomadic hierarchically organized Indo-European tribes from the north and east.
The invaders were militant people of patriarchal morals, indifferent to art. They treated with contempt the more culturally developed indigenous population enslaved by them, professing the cult of the Great Goddess, known by many names, for example, Astarta, Ishtar, Inanna, Nut, Isis.
She was worshiped as a life-giving feminine principle, deeply connected with nature and fertility, responsible for both creative and destructive manifestations of the power of life. The snake, dove, tree and moon are sacred symbols of the Great Goddess. According to the mythological historian Robert Graves, before the advent of patriarchal religions, the Great Goddess was believed to be immortal, immutable and omnipotent.
The Great Goddess was overthrown from the throne in the course of successive waves of Indo-European invasions. Reputable researchers date the beginning of these waves between 4500 and 2400. BC. The goddesses did not disappear completely, but entered the cults of the invaders in secondary roles.
The invaders imposed their patriarchal culture and their militant religious cult on the conquered population. The Great Goddess in her various incarnations began to play the subordinate role of the wife of the gods who were worshiped by the conquerors. The powers that originally belonged to the female deity were alienated and transferred to the male deity. For the first time, the theme of rape appeared in myths; myths arose in which male heroes killed snakes - a symbol of the Great Goddess. The attributes of the Great Goddess were shared among many goddesses. The mythologist Jane Harrison notes that the Great Goddess, as in a broken mirror, was reflected in many lesser goddesses: Hera received the rite of sacred marriage, Demeter - the mysteries, Athena - the snake, Aphrodite - the dove, Artemis - the function of the mistress of the wild.
According to Merlin Stone, author of When God Was a Woman, the final overthrow of the Great Goddess came later, with the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The male deity took over the dominant position. The female goddesses gradually receded into the background; women in society followed suit. Stone notes: "We are surprised to discover to what extent the suppression of women's rituals was actually a suppression of women's rights."
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Historical goddesses and archetypes
The Great Goddess was worshiped as the Creator and Destroyer responsible for fertility and cataclysms. The Great Goddess still exists as an archetype in the collective unconscious.
The archetype of the Great Goddess is inherent in the power that the Great Goddess herself possessed at the time when she was actually worshiped. And therefore, of all the archetypes, it is this one that is able to exert the most powerful effect. This archetype is capable of causing irrational fears and distorting ideas about reality. The Greek goddesses were not as powerful as the Great Goddess. They are more specialized. Each of them had their own sphere of influence, and their powers have certain limits. In women's souls, the Greek goddesses are also not as powerful as the Great Goddess; their ability to emotionally suppress and distort the perception of the surrounding reality is much weaker.
Of the seven Greek goddesses representing the main, most common archetypal patterns of female behavior, the most influential are Aphrodite, Demeter and Hera. They are much more closely associated with the Great Goddess than the other four goddesses. Aphrodite is a weakened version of the Great Goddess in her hypostasis of the goddess of fertility. Demeter is a small copy of the Great Goddess as Mother. Hera is just an echo of the Great Goddess as the Sovereign of Heaven. However, as we will see in the following chapters, although each of them is "smaller" than the Great Goddess, together they represent those forces in the soul of a woman that become irresistible when asked to do them justice.
Women who are affected by any of these three goddesses must learn to resist, as blindly following the commands of Aphrodite, Demeter or Hera can adversely affect their lives. Like the goddesses of ancient Greece themselves, their archetypes do not serve the interests and relationships of mortal women. Archetypes exist outside of time, they do not care about a woman's life or her needs.
Three of the remaining four archetypes - Artemis, Athena, and Persephone - are daughter goddesses. They are removed from the Great Goddess for another generation. Accordingly, as archetypes, they do not have the same absorbing power as Aphrodite, Demeter and Hera, and mainly affect character traits.
Hestia, the oldest, wisest, and most revered goddess of all, shunned power entirely. She represents the spiritual aspect of life that should be honored by every woman.
Greek goddesses and modern women
Greek goddesses are female images that have lived in the human imagination for many millennia. They personify women's aspirations, they embody behavioral patterns that historically were not allowed for women.
The Greek goddesses, like us, lived in a patriarchal society. The male gods ruled over the earth, sky, ocean and the underworld. Each goddess has adapted to this state of affairs in her own way - some by separating from men, some by joining men, some by withdrawing into oneself. Goddesses who valued patriarchal relationships were vulnerable and relatively weak compared to male gods who dominated the community and could deny them their desires. Thus, the Greek goddesses embody the life models of women in patriarchal culture.
Based on materials from the book: Jin Shinoda Bolen. “Goddesses in every woman. The main archetypes in life."