Archetypal relationships: Hestia & Hermes

Hermes

Mythology

Hermes was the trickster. He was a young god who saw nothing wrong with lying and stealing, if it amused him. As the messenger god, he symbolized quick movement, agile thinking, and facile words. He was the god of luck and the unexpected. He was the god of travelers and thieves. He was the only god who could travel to Hades, the realm of the dead. This showed that the depths of the unconscious are accessible only by those who don't take themselves too seriously. That the messenger of the gods was a trickster suggests that one should be wary of divine messages.

Emotional Control System

Playing, fun, joy, and humor enable individuals to communicate emotions and forge social bonds. Recreation reduces stress and renews our creative abilities.

Life Purpose

A Hermes man's life purpose is to perceive the world as other people see it, and to help others perceive the world as he sees it. E.g., Ronald Reagan was a successful actor, portraying how various characters perceived their world. He later became the "Great Communicator"-helping Americans see the world as he saw it.

Shadow

As actors, Hermes men can deceive. Often a Hermes man pretends to be a Zeus man-e.g., Ronald Reagan playing the role of President. Hermes men can't make commitments. They see both sides of every issue-and can't settle on one.

Under Stress

Under stress, Hermes becomes Athena. Put the screws on The X-Files' Fox Mulder and he spins out conspiracy theories, with strategies worked out until doomsday.

When Safe

When safe, a Hermes man becomes Hestia. Traveling men sometimes stop and smell the roses.

Sex

A Hermes man charms his way into a woman's life-and then disappears as suddenly. He delights women with his here-and-now energy. The relationship goes well if the woman doesn't expect commitment. But beware of Hermes the god of thieves-he can take advantage of a woman who trusts him.

Hestia

Mythology

Hestia was the goddess of home, hearth, and garden. The Romans knew Hestia as Vesta.

Emotional Control System

Hestia energy is about "nest-building." Lack of Hestia energy results in feeling homeless, rootless, or impermanent, as if you're living in hotel rooms.

Life Purpose

A Hestia woman's life purpose is to make a beautiful, happy home. Instead of a home, she may make her church beautiful, and make church social groups happy. Or she may be "den mother" of her workplace, the person to whom customers and other employees gravitate as the center of the organization.

Shadow

A Hestia woman's goal is a happy home, not a happy husband or children. If these goals are congruous, all is well. But if the husband's happiness requires a spiritual quest to Tibet, don't expect a Hestia woman to go with him. A Hestia woman may lack ambitions outside her home. She may even be agoraphobic (unable to leave her home). Hestia women are melodramatic-melancholy plus drama, or creative but unhappy. They're natural novelists. Their inner dramas are more interesting than books, movies, or the real world.

Under Stress

Under stress, Hestia women become Athena. They're ideal planners. They imagine "worst case" scenarios and strategize to prevent these possible futures.

When Safe

When safe, Hestia women become Aphrodite. They become charming and attractive hostesses when entertaining in their beautiful homes.

Sex

She likes sex. A Hestia woman will accommodate her husband, and will enjoy a null sex warm experience.

Hermes-Hestia Marriage

A Hermes-Hestia marriages channels joy and playfulness into a home. A couple that successfully uses this energy makes a happy home-a place they can retreat to when tired, which restores them to go out into the world again. A Hermes father enjoys childcare if he gets to entertain the children.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Relationships/Hermes-Hestia

Art, craft, and creation

I was thinking about Athena and her love of crafts (like weaving, but anything practical and beautiful is ok with her.) And then I thought about how different Athenian crafts are from Aphroditian art.

Art, which is from Aphrodite, is an ecstatic act of self expression. This is also different from Hephaestus's act of creation. Hephaestus is like the wizard in that Walt Disney movie (or just about any wizard) who takes the elements of the universe and focuses them and, with his skill and his will, creates something new. "Art" is, in it's act, also a creation but you're creating yourself, drawing from deep within you to express what's down there. In Hephaestus creation there is no confusion - he's the master, here. And both of these are different from Athena, who neither creates something never before seen, nor does she get lost in self expression, although the act of crafting can be a meditative, ego suppressing activity; something always thinking, always on the go, hip deep in the world Athena can really use. Athena can find the meditative act of crafting a way to center and refresh herself between bouts of activity.

Hestia is different from Athena in that she's not making something, she's maintaining it. If Athena weaves the cloth and sews the dress, it's Hestia who's cleaning and ironing it and repairing any tears.

I see them like this: Hephaestus comes up with the cool idea to create a loom - Wouldn't it be AWESOME if you could make this machine that could make it a jillion times easier to weave than by laboriously threading the yarn by hand? Athena sees Hephaestus's loom and loves it - it's so practical! While she's weaving, Aphrodite is buzzing around, telling her to use this kind of silk, in that color, turning Athena's practical cloth into a sensuous luxury fit for a queen. Hestia stays in the background, making sure everyone has tea, and learning from Hephaestus how to keep the loom in working order for Athena.

Hestia in myth

From Wikipedia

In Greek mythology Hestia (Roman Vesta), first daughter of Cronus and Rhea (Ancient Greek "hearth" or "fireside"), is the virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official sanctuary. With the establishment of a new colony, flame from Hestia's public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement. She sat on a plain wooden throne with a white woolen cushion and did not trouble to choose an emblem for herself.

In Roman mythology, her more specifically civic approximate equivalent was Vesta, who personified the public hearth, and whose cult of the ever-burning hearth bound Romans together in the form of an extended family. At some primitive level her name means "home and hearth," the oikos, the household and its inhabitants. "An early form of the temple is the hearth house; the early temples at Dreros and Prinias on Crete are of this type as indeed is the temple of Apollo at Delphi which always had its inner hestia" Among classical Greeks the altar was always in the open air with no roof but the sky, and that of the oracle at Delphi was the shrine of the Goddess before it was assumed by Apollo. The Mycenaean great hall, such as the hall of Odysseus at Ithaca was a megaron, with a central hearth fire.

The hearth fire of a Greek or a Roman household was not allowed to go out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed, accompanied by impressive rituals of completion, purification and renewal. Compare the rituals and connotations of an eternal flame and of sanctuary lamps. At the more developed level of the polis, Hestia symbolizes the alliance between the colonies and their mother cities.

Homeric hymn to Hestia

Hestia figures in few myths: she did not roam nor did she have any adventures. The Homeric hymn To Hestia is consequently brief, simply an invocation of five lines, a prelude:

Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the all-wise: draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.

In the hymn, Hestia is located in ancient Delphi (rather than at the hearth of Zeus on Mount Olympus), which was considered the central hearth of all the Hellenes. In classical Greek art, Hestia was depicted as a woman modestly cloaked in a head veil.

Account from Ovid

In his account of the Fasti of the Roman year, Ovid twice recounted an anecdote of Priapus's foiled attempt on a sleeping nymph: once he told it of the nymph Lotis and then again, calling it a "very playful little tale", he retold it of Vesta, the Roman equivalent of Hestia. In the anecdote, after a great feast, when the immortals were all either passed out drunk or asleep, Priapus—who had grotesquely large genitalia—spied Lotis/Vesta and was filled with lust for her. He quietly approached the nymph, but the braying of an ass awoke her just in time. She screamed at the sight and Priapus ran away.

Hestia as an Olympian

Hestia is one of the three great goddesses of the first Olympian generation, along with Demeter and Hera. She was described as both the oldest and youngest of the three daughters of Rhea and Cronus, sister to three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, in that she was the first to be swallowed by Cronus and the last to be disgorged. Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians, Hestia gave up her seat in favor of newcomer Dionysus to tend to the sacred fire on Mount Olympus. However, there is no ancient source for this claim. As Karl Kerenyi observes, "there is no story of Hestia's ever having taken a husband or ever having been removed from her fixed abode." Every family hearth was her altar. Of the Olympian gods, Hestia has the fewest exploits "since the hearth is immovable, Hestia is unable to take part even in the procession of the gods, let alone the other antics of the Olympians," Burkert remarks. Sometimes this is assumed to be due to her passive, non-confrontational nature. This nature is illustrated by her giving up her seat in the Olympian twelve to prevent conflict. She is considered to be the first-born of Rhea and Cronus; this is evidenced by the fact that in Greek (and later Roman) culture ritual offerings to all gods began with a small offering to Hestia; the phrase "Hestia comes first" from ancient Greek culture denotes this.

Immediately after their birth, Cronus swallowed Hestia and her siblings except for the last and youngest, Zeus, who later rescued them and led them in a war against Cronus and the other Titans. Hestia, the eldest daughter "became their youngest child, since she was the first to be devoured by their father and the last to be yielded up again" — the clearest possible example of mythic inversion, a paradox that is noted in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (ca 700 BCE): "She was the first-born child of wily Cronus — and youngest too."

Poseidon, and Apollo of the younger generation, each aspired to court Hestia, but the goddess was unmoved by Aphrodite's works and swore on the head of Zeus to retain her virginity. The Homeric hymns, like all early Greek literature, reinforce the supremacy of Zeus, and Hestia's oath taken upon the head of Zeus is an example of surety. A measure of the goddess's ancient primacy — "queenly maid... among all mortal men she is chief of the goddesses," in the words of the Homeric hymn — is that she was owed the first as well as the last sacrifice at every ceremonial assembly of Hellenes, a pious duty related by the mythographers as the gift of Zeus, as if it had been his to bestow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hestia

The Hestia archetype: a deeper look

From Goddess Power

Possesses an introverted temperament and is focused on her inner, spiritual world. Hestia is an archetype of inner centeredness. She was known to be mild mannered, upstanding, charitable, as well as a protector. She is the least known of the Olympian goddesses primarily because she never takes part in any disputes or wars. She minds her own business amidst a family of goddesses and gods who engage in ‘high drama’. Similarly to Athena and Artemis she resists the amorous advances of men, therefore, placing her in the ‘virgin’ goddess category. Her energy is impersonal and detached. Her awareness is focused. Different than Persephone who seeks to please others, Hestia’s focus is for herself. She is grounded and her life has meaning. Unlike Athena & Artemis, Hestia did not venture out to explore the world or wilderness; she remained inside, contained within the hearth. The goddess, Hestia did not take a partner. A Hestia-type woman, today, may prefer to live a more solitary life or live within a community of like-minded, spiritual ‘sisters.'

The ancient Olympian Goddesses - a deeper look

Goddess of the hearth--she symbolized the household fire--the flame burning in the hearth. The hearth in each home was the central place around which family members gathered. When a family member left their home to begin a new family, a parcel of fire was taken from the family home to begin the new home fire--symbolizing the continuity of family through the perpetual flame. Each town center also had its communal hearth where the public fire was maintained. The fire of the hestia, meaning hearth, was also used in sacrifices, and, therefore, taking on a sacred character to its citizens. Hestia is an archetype of inner centeredness/inner wisdom

Psychologically, Hestia belongs to the category of ‘virgin’ goddess. She is independent, autonomous and, focused on her inner spiritual world, she is not seeking a relationship with a man to complete her. Her energy is impersonal and detached. Her awareness is focused.

    * To the Romans she was known as Vesta
    * Hestia was a fire divinity
    * Hestia was the first born of the second generation of Olympian goddesses and gods - her parents were Cronos (god of Earth & Time) and Rhea
    * Hestia was swallowed by her father, Cronos, at birth.
    * Hestia’s province was that of protecting the home, family and also the city
    * She was believed to dwell in the inner part of every house and to preside over all sacrifices - her presence made both home and temple hearths holy
    * A perpetually burning flame were features of her sanctuary - Hestia’s presence was felt in the living flame at the center of the home, temple and city
    * Temples of Hestia were characterized by their circular form, embracing the notion of centricity in the earth as well as the universe - her symbol is the Circle
    * Hestia was nearly raped by a lesser known divinity at a festival--he was unsuccessful
    * Hestia’s dignity and her rights as the eldest were recognized; however, she took little advantage of her position and played a very minor role in Olympian drama
    * Both the gods Poseidon and Apollo requested her hand in marriage - she turned them down
    * Hestia turned to her brother, Zeus, in order to put an end to the unwanted male attention toward her--she vowed to remain a virgin for ever--Zeus accepted her vow
    * Hestia was not represented in human form neither by sculptors nor painters
    * Instead of marriage, Hestia was offered a seat in the midst of the celestial dwelling-place and receives the richest part of sacrifices
    * Hestia is visualized as a stately yet not intimidating figure; she is pretty yet not beautiful.
    * She is kindly yet distant - she possesses the ability to love impartially
    * Her demeanor is modest and gentle
    * She is self-sufficient and self-directed - inner focused

Challenges facing Hestia

          o The majority of modern-day women are missing sufficient Hestia archetype within them. As an archetype of inner centeredness/wisdom, Hestia archetype does not exhibit reactionary behavior. This archetype is not interested in being out in the world--rather, self-contained within herself
          o Hestia archetype flourishes in a spiritual community - particularly meditative
          o Hestia shares her archetype with vestal virgins and nuns who give up their personal identity/their names and strive toward self-less-ness -- a life dedicated to service
          o Possible difficulties for a Hestia-type woman in today’s world - presenting herself as a ‘non-entity’, in other words--she has no desire to stand out, and not as a result of her own family or cultural conditioning, rather, by her own conscious choice.
          o Hestia type lacks assertiveness - she will not speak up - she is out of place in this modern, fast-paced, competitive world
          o Hestia type needs to develop an effective ‘persona’ - a social adaptation aiding her in interacting and in getting along in the world when circumstances require
          o Hestia type, due to her introverted nature, tends to be undemonstrative with her feelings toward others even though she may care for them
          o Hestia’s caring is impersonal, detached - her challenge may be to let those close to her know that she cares
          o Hestia types appear to lack outer ambition - she is a home-body and tends to the hearth/the needs of the home

Hestia’s dark side

          o Hestia appears to be the only goddess without an apparent dark side - she avoided the drama of her ‘family’ - refused to get ‘in-the-middle’ of their issues, remains calm, grounded, centered, and maintains focus on her own personal meaning
          o One way of thinking of Hestia’s dark side-- if we think, metaphorically-- her resisting the advances made on her by both Apollo (god of Sun = intellect, logical reasoning) and Poseidon (god of Sea = the unconscious, emotion) - If Hestia is seduced by these aspects:
                + seduced by the need for logical reasoning, she will feel compelled to dismiss her keen intuition because she is unable to ‘logically explain herself’.
                + Seduced by the unconscious, she runs the risk of becoming overwhelmed with psychic influences and/or emotional situations that keep her off balance.

 Hestia’s wound

          o In modern societies, particularly in the United States, modern woman has forfeited, for a variety of reasons, the prerogative of tending home and hearth--maintaining the home fire.
          o Hestia’s wound is more about the fact that she has little place to exist in this society with the current social values on consumerism--‘having more’, ‘gotta-have-it’ - which requires increased work hours to enable increased spending, therefore, creating increasingly frantic lifestyle as a result
          o Modern women who are less assertive and less intellectual often feel, inwardly, second-rate in our fast-paced, competitive society. A woman exhibiting a quiet presence, following her own internal (rather than externally exhibited) spirituality is, at best, misunderstood and viewed “quirky”, or a “loner”
          o Hestia experiences her wound when she is measured and judged by others’ outer-focused, tangible standards of success, accomplishment, or marital status.

Hestia’s gifts

          o Hestia type woman is able to enjoy her solitude - not just ‘here’ and ‘there’ whenever she can ‘grab a moment’ - but, truly enjoying her own being, consistently - she is not interested in ‘keeping busy’ - she does not enjoy ‘background noise’ to keep her company
          o Hestia exhibited an inner strength which rendered Aphrodite unsuccessful in seducing or persuading any love/eros desire in Hestia - Hestia has strength to resist all that takes her away from her own center
          o Hestia offers the gift of ritual-making, a powerful, affirming psychological method of honoring

Hestia’s personality

          o As a child & adolescent:
                + Hestia child tends to be quiet, compliant; however, on her own she enjoys self-directed play, exhibiting the beginnings of her own self-sufficiency
                + Hestia child may simply withdraw to her room in the midst of difficulty in her family life
                + She may feel isolated and alienated in her family because she feels so different from them - and, she is different
                + She may be labeled as ‘shy’ by others, however, this is an example of other people misunderstanding her true nature
                + As a teen she tends to steer clear of the social dramas of her peers. She may be perceived as a non-participant on the periphery of school life and activities, or, she may have one or two friends who share her more introverted, sensitive nature

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          o As an adult woman:
                + In our modern culture, Hestia archetype is not predominant for the majority of women. Most women have other goddess archetypes predominant, yet some women may have hints of Hestia in their make-up. Other women may wish to cultivate Hestia qualities within themselves
                + Hestia type woman has a quiet, inner presence. She is detached in her relation to others, and she is unattached to any need for possessions, outcomes, status or power. She is free from the bind to external circumstances as her attachment to an identity is unimportant
                + Hestia types seek quiet tranquility
                + Hestia type is drawn to incorporating ritual, to meditation and to other reflective spiritual practices into her daily life
                + Hestia type focuses on her own inner experience/feelings - she is inwardly connected
                + Hestia type is keenly in touch with and connected to her personal values - with this knowledge, she lives her life by choosing that which is personally meaningful to her. She does not lose her center by pleasing others in ways that gratify ego/seeking acceptance
                + Hestia, as keeper of the hearth, goes about her tasks in a calm, centered, focused manner - whether she is sweeping or doing laundry, she is fully engaged, focusing on her task at hand--like a meditation--and not at all concerned about the clock or what she will be doing next. She experiences a timeless calm in the midst of her immediate tasks
                + Hestia types are ‘background’ women--she doesn’t stand out; she appears anonymous. However, her presence is felt by others creating an atmosphere of tranquil order
                + Meaning is a key point in a Hestia woman’s life - what she does, who she is with reflect the meaning she holds of value
                + Hestia type is not drawn into gossip and she isn’t interested in intellectual discourse
                + Hestia type is a good listener, she shows compassion in her detached manner
                + Because Hestia type appears to lack the driving outer ambition of her Athena and Artemis sisters, and since she doesn’t value power as her Hera sister, she may more than likely have a traditional, uninspiring job. She may feel unclear regarding her career direction.
                + Sexuality is not of key importance in a primarily Hestia type woman; however, she enjoys the experience when it occurs
                + A Hestia type who is married may appear to be in a traditional wife role, however, a truly Hestia woman maintains her inner autonomy and does not require a man in order to feel emotionally fulfilled
                + A woman in whom Hestia archetype predominates is often a single woman who lives differently from the conventions of society. Her family or married friends who subscribe to “normal” lives may ‘pity’ her aloneness. However, it is often the unconscious fear of alone-ness--loneliness within the individual that creates the presumption that the Hestia woman is unhappy or piteable.
                + A Hestia woman has cultivated a rich inner life and, therefore, has faced the challenge of human aloneness.
                + A Hestia woman has cultivated positive aspects of the ‘Recluse’--an independent and creative woman, she craves solitude which offers her the sacred space in which she makes contact with her deepest self--the place where she meets spirit.

 http://goddess-power.com/hestia.htm

Exploring the archetypes: Hestia

This series of posts is going to be both collections of all information about a particular archetype in one place as well as an ongoing exploration of the archetype, it's mythological history, relations with other archetypes, whatever comes up.


Hestia in Myth: a synopsis

HESTIA was the virgin goddess of the hearth (both private and municipal) and the home. As the goddess of the family hearth she also presided over the cooking of bread and the preparation of the family meal. Hestia was also the goddess of the sacrificial flame and received a share of every sacrifice to the gods. The cooking of the communal feast of sacrificial meat was naturally a part of her domain.

In myth Hestia was the first born child of Kronos and Rhea who was swallowed by her father at birth. Zeus later forced the old Titan to disgorge Hestia and her siblings. As the first to be swallowed she was also the last to be disgorged, and so was named as both the eldest and youngest of the six Kronides. When the gods Apollo and Poseidon sought for her hand in marriage, Hestia refused and asked Zeus to let her remain an eternal virgin. He agreed and she took her place at his royal hearth.

Hestia was depicted in Athenian vase painting as a modestly veiled woman sometimes holding a flowered branch (of a chaste tree ?). In classical sculpture she was also veiled, with a kettle as her attribute.

http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Hestia.html



From the Library of Halexandria

Another virgin goddess, like Artemis and Athena, but having an adaptation mode of withdrawing from men, becoming anonymous in appearance and alone.  Hestia focused, instead, on the inner subjective experience, totally absorbed when she meditated, sought quiet tranquillity, solitude, found keeping house a meaningful activity (kairos time -- participating in time) or even a form of worship, above and out of intrigues and rivalries, avoided being caught up in the passions of the moment, never elated or devastated, wise, detached and connected, centered, quiet, unobtrusive, warm, peaceful, self-sufficient, the original “old soul”, lacked ambition and drive, did not value power or recognition, viewed sex as a nice, warm experience, nonorgasmic, “still waters run deep,” rejected the intellectual and emotional forces that might pull her away from her center.

http://www.halexandria.org/dward373.htm 


Tarot Correspondences

Each archetype has two corresponding Tarot cards: one from the Minor Arcana, which shows the archetype at it's healthiest - it's the way we can manifest their power and energy. The corresponding card from the Major Arcana, on the other hand, is the divine gift of the spiritual realm that they're seeking to manifest through us.

Page of Pentacles

The Page of Pentacles is the most responsible of the Pages, a trait which is shared by all the Pentacles court cards because of their Earth nature. A Page of Pentacles is generally young of body but old of mind. She is a diligent worker and an efficient manager, who uses common sense more than intuition and does things by the book rather than taking risks. Despite this, however, she is always open to new ideas and isn't as rigidly dogmatic as the rest of the Pentacles court cards. She sees the opportunities that are inherent in every situation and she finds the best ways to exploit them based on the resources at her disposal. The Page of Pentacles takes great pleasure in the world, and she will try to preserve its beauty just as she will preserve the old ways of thinking and doing things.

The Page of Pentacles within each of us is a good energy to call upon when we must manage a team or handle a big responsibility. Gather your resources and use them wisely, because only through such wisdom can success be achieved. When this energy is strong within you, you will often develop a passion for learning and absorbing new ideas. Apply knowledge with enthusiasm, think practically in all situations, and you cannot fail.

Temperance (XIV)

The process of reconstruction and harmonization is shown by the card called Temperance, to modify or strengthen by adding a new component to an existing substance or mixture. All applications of Temperance share the common theme of moderation and balance, culminating in the creation of a centered and well-rounded being. The red-on-white symbology first shown in the Magician also appears on this card - the temperance of desire (red) with purity (white) is one of the most fundamental manifestations of this card, as is the reverse (purity with desire). The angel wears a white robe and has red wings. Purity of heart and mind gives you a solid base to fall back upon, but only through the desire for personal growth can you ever develop. The angel's white robes give her her basic form, but only through the control of her red wings comes her ability to fly.

Before you can achieve harmony in your relationships with the people around you, you must make peace with yourself. Inner imbalances can often manifest in the physical world if they are not attended to, whether or not the imbalance is a negative one. Balance is best achieved through turning to the Inner Voice for guidance.

http://www.ata-tarot.com/resource/cards/index.html


Other Hestia posts

The Hestia archetype: a deeper look
Hestia in myth
Archetypal relationships: Hestia and Hermes
Musings on Hestia


Again, much of the above descriptions comes from The American Tarot Association, Goddess Power, The Library of Halexandria and from Wikipedia pages on the various tarot cards. All credit goes to them for their brilliant explorations of the archetypes and tarot cards. Make sure you check them out yourself and get their wisdom first hand (links are over there to the right.)