ARTEMIS:
Paradoxical Virgin-Priestess-Mother
from Pantheon: Archetypal Gods in Daily Life, Iona Miller, 1983
In the Tarot, Artemis is corresponded with both the Path 'Art' in her huntress
nature, and 'High Priestess' in her solitary role as Virgin-Mother.
In both cases she is associated with the Moon or Lunar Consciousness.
She is Queen of the Night. In Rome she was Diana, in Egypt Isis,
for the Jews Shekinah, in India Shakti, Prakriti and Maya, in Scandinavia
Disa.
Artemis as Virgin-Mother expresses the archetype in its most exalted form,
the Anima Mundi, or soul of the world. Paradoxically, she
is Great Mother and simultaneously Immaculate Virgin, containing the entire
cyclic process of nature and its relationship to time. She transcends
time, living constantly in a co-temporaneous eternal Now.
This goddess is a variation of the Celestial Queen mythical motif, embodying
the deepest mysteries of nature. She represents our oneness with
the universe, our essential "be-ing." That is why her paths up the
Middle Pillar exemplify the Way of experiential discovery of these truths.
Her way is through symbolic and meditational means -- through the senses
and transcendence even beyond the mind, essentially through soul travel.
Her Way is the Middle Way, in tantric philosophy the opening of the Sushumna
channel and the raising of Kundalini toward the Crown.
Union with her is consciousness of primal our existential self, and our
deepest ecological self. Beneath the layer of alienation from nature
which our culture has created lies a deep resource we can tap which is
fundamental wisdom about the unity of life, and our embedding within the
seamless fabric of Cosmos.
In ancient times she was known as Isis, who exemplified her impenetrable
mystery by reiterating that "I am Isis; no man has lifted my veil."
She is bathed in the Light and concealed by it. Thus she alludes
to herself as Solitaire, to her virgin nature, that sense of wholeness
within oneself, which is the Feminine source of wisdom. She is the
secret powers of nature. This wisdom is deep ecology which reveals
the way of living in balance through intuition. She is the dark of
the Void and the natural Light of the Soul--illumination.
This archetype has reverberated down through history as the sublime matriarch
known as the Great Mother. She is the possibility of bringing creative
ideas to birth, to manifestation. She contemplates the possibility
of various manifestations. The matriarchies of ancient times reflected
societies intimately in touch with seasonal cycles and natural rhythms.
We all yearn for "the mother." For some, this yearning takes a regressive
self-destructive turn, which seeks a return to the unconscious oblivion
of primal unity through drugs or insanity...in most cases certainly not
a conscious choice.
The Great Mother is the All-Merciful one, who understands everything and
forgives everything. In our fantasies at least, she always acts for
the best, living only for others. The goddess embodies our idealizations,
our cosmic projections of the universe as mothering womb. The narcissistic
personality wants her to exist only for him. And, of course, her
great love is never truly understood. If we transmute our personalistic
dependency on this archetype to a higher octave, we can access the spiritual
dimension of this mystery.
Artemis is the goddess which represents the moon in its crescent phase.
The crescent shape of the waxing moon symbolizes increasing power, the
'horns' represent growth and fertility. Her chief attribute is that
she is a virgin, complete within herself. Likewise, the mystic remains
chaste or virginal in the sense of never being swayed by the events of
life to give up spiritual aspiration--all other loves are secondary to
this dedication, this spiritual vow. This is the root of the notion
of souls as the "brides" or consorts of God. Her growth is seen as
the potential of fulfillment and fertility through fantasy or "fertile
imagination."
There are two distinct forms of the goddess operating at different octaves,
so to speak. As the High Priestess, Artemis as Virgin Mother is the
mediator of the highest mystical experiences. She is the way to true
initiation. In mystical meditation we become receptive to divine
grace. Her path reaches through and beyond the great Void, the Abyss,
to the highest unitive states of consciousness. Mystical experience
connects self-actualization with god-realization. She is the link
between the archetypal and formative worlds, the matrix of eternal patterns
with unique manifestations.
Both The High Priestess and Art lie on the vertical axis of the Tree of
Life. This vertical axis, known as the Middle Pillar, represents
the quickest, most equilibrated Path to mystical attainment. Artemis
inhabits the extreme middle position, where the "medium" and the "amazon"
represents poles of a single archetype. She is equivalent to the
alchemical Anima Mundi, or World Soul. She bridges our perceptions
of the world by stimulating the imaginative faculty.
Only a particular facet of woman plays this role of mediator (or medium)
to man concerning the mysteries of his own psyche. There are very
few women of this inspiratrix type. That woman has a role to play
which is inherent in her nature. It is not necessarily the role of
sharing his intellectual interests or providing his meals on time.
It is also not becoming the mother of his children nor even being his sexual
partner.
The Artemisian role is to be a mediator to all of creative inspirations,
a channel where the riches of the unconscious can flow more easily than
if she were not present. For women, she inspires also, from a depth
beyond that of the "masculine" ego consciousness.
It takes a high degree of focused consciousness in a woman for her to be
able to observe what she is in fact doing instinctively -- to realize the
effect she has on others. It is vitally important for a woman who is handling
these images from the collective unconscious to have a strong ego to withstand
the regressive pull of the unconscious. If she does not, she herself
may be lost in the maze of the transcendent imagination, attaching to and
promoting illusory information causing confusion to herself and those around
her (sorceress apprentice syndrome).
The mediumistic woman is an initiator. If she becomes devoted to
a religious creed or spiritual science, she will put herself in its service.
Alternatively, she may find herself expressing the spirit of an epoch.
In every event, the spiritual woman is mediating archetypal images to consciousness.
PHYSICAL FORM
Biologically, Artemis might be seen as corresponding with the endocrine
functions of the pituitary and pineal glands. As a master gland,
controlling the others, the function of this gland is to regulate sex,
reproductive cycles, and lactation. It also secretes serotonin, an
important "trigger" to the diverse states of consciousness. Serotonin interacts
with noradrenalin in the "pain-pleasure" cycle mediated by neurotransmitters
in the brain.
Artemis is that element which allows images or visions from these altered
states to be brought back into a daily context. She may be imagined
in the symbolic relationship between the pituitary and pineal glands.
Her "magickal son" is the light-sensitive pineal body or "Third Eye.
This gland is implicated in the production of endogenous MDA, dubbed the
Spirit Molecule (Strassman); it is responsible for the intrinsic perception
of Light. This third eye is also implicated in the raising of Kundalini,
the serpent power, responsible for awakening inner sight or in-sight.
The mediumistic Artemis is archetypally the wise old woman of menopausal
age--the crone. With lowered estrogen levels and an increase in proportion
of testosterone, she experience a more masculine development of consciousness.
She is released from the reproductive cycle to be more spiritually productive.
As such, she becomes more androgynous in her sex hormone chemistry.
EMOTIONAL IMAGE
Experientially, Artemis symbolizes Lunar-consciousness--that diffuse kind
of awareness that works with reflection and is nonlinear rather than using
direct logic or analysis. It is a consciousness that notices similarities
and unifies, rather than separating and fragmenting. This state of
mind manifests as a deep ecological connection with the universe, a merging
of the environmental self and the transpersonal self.
Modern women have reflected the split in consciousness fantasized in our
contemporary work-a-day world. With society emphasizing the superiority
of logical (or masculine) forms of consciousness, women experience a tension.
The tension is between the opposites of feminine thoughts and its values,
and the more dominant paternal style. Artemis reminds us of the values
of the "natural mind," or being-in-soul and thereby suffused with spirit.
Artemis is the connection which mediates between the personal and collective
aspects of life, between actualities and the beyond. She bridges
the individual conscious horizon and the primordial realm of the imaginal
with its images, ideas, figures, emotions, and beliefs.
The feelings which are developed through this "soul-making" are more impersonal.
There is a detailed sensitivity to the specific worth of psychic contents
and attitudes. She keeps women in touch with the innermost core of
their being, and does the same for mystical man. Artemis can act
as a soul-guide for men through the anima, his feminine component. She
relates him to the Superconscious, like a muse. If a woman can live
up to the promptings of her masculine side, she can become a very spiritualized
and developed person by balancing the opposites within.
She is the "patron saint" of the meditative, philosophical, or deeply religious
personality. Artemis mediates wisdom by urging participation in the
realm of mythical perception. These metaphors of perception are always
images. She stirs up the imagination to quest, chase, and muse.
She inspires the interpenetration of soul and intellect. Mystical
experience is remembering ourselves, most perfectly. In self-realization
there is blissful merging of the personal consciousness with the Universal.
As a medium, Artemis is psychic, like an ancient sibyl or pythia, because
her intuitive faculties are strong. Her subjective experience of
time is discontinuous. She has the ability to experience possibilities
as being more real than the present moment. She glimpses the future
and manipulates the present toward that vision.
The importance of the present depends on its effect in the realization
of a specific future. An experience is important if it suggests or
fulfills visionary sight. Time is not as important to her as the
bright picture of possible futures, from which to draw inspiration.
As a moon goddess, Artemis symbolizes the instinctual nature which works
through emotional reactions. But the High Priestess represents a
spiritualization, purification, and refinement of the powers of the instinctual
nature. The instinctual movement is toward the spirit in ourselves--the
mystic quest. The great feminine principle in all of us is receptivity.
In this sense we are each our own Holy Grail.
Our irrational, changeable nature is expressed as emotional moods.
Moods may be destructive but if understood can lead to a better and more
productive life. Understanding and dealing with the rhythms of nature,
knowing how to live with them, and deal with them is essentially feminine.
Both sexes can become aware of polarities within themselves and understand
their behavior and functions so they can be channeled toward higher spiritual
aims.
INTELLECTUAL IDEA
The High Priestess is an inner experience. She is intuition and inspiration
and kindred experiences. These come from a hidden, inner world an
the aspirant must be receptive to their whisperings and visionary states.
If a person loses this ability for receptivity, remaining enmeshed in the
veils of the conscious, egoistic mind and the material world, then She
cannot be realized. We must learn to be quiet and meditate so that
the light shines through her influences. At the last moment we must
give up our aspiration, becoming receptive and quiescent, so the Light
makes its way through us.
The feminine aspect of nature brings forth a child through the mystery
of birth. This child may not be human, but the result of a creative conception
-- a brain-child. It may be the result of a moment of genius -- a
poem, painting, idea or discovery. The "child" is incubated in the
silent womb of the goddess, protected until the moment of emergence.
First comes a union of opposites, then a period of quietude and gestation,
nurturing and withdrawal. This process is enacted ritualistically
in sex magick and other tantric rites. It gives birth to genius,
the result, the child.
When an individual has undergone to required initiations, or gained a proper
relationship to the feminine principle, Self mediates the flood of imagery
from the unconscious. Artemis gives it value and meaning from her
perspective the the High Priestess of inspiration.
This is the highest incarnation of the feminine principle in its function
of spirit, or divine knowledge. In Christianity, this role is filled
by the Blessed Virgin mary, in Gnostic sects by Sophia, in Qabala by Shekinah,
in Tantra by Shakti. She is an inner daemon whose acquaintance brings
awareness of the ultimate reality of our own natures.
She bestows an experience of immortality by lifting us from the daily time
frame into a sacred realm of metaphorical perception. This adds a
sacred dimension to life's events.
The moon goddess, in her crescent phase, is Virgin in the psychological
sense of the world. In ancient times, the virgin was distinguished
by the fact that she was not dependent on what others thought. She
was no slave to conventional behavior. Rather, she was motivated
by contact with her core Self, the well-spring of her being.
Being true to herself, the Artemesian woman feels no need to capture, posses,
or conciliate a husband. Even in marriage the role she plays expresses
her own fierce individuality. She bears her divinity in her own right,
not as merely counterpart to man.
Virginity is an inner attitude which may seem unconventional, but it is
traditional since it is concerned with gaining a right relationship to
the goddess. There is nothing new about love of solitude, emotional
self-sufficiency, sexual and personal independence. Its values come
from our deep interior processes, not external dictates. Motives
are misplaced if the only result is development of a headstrong egocentricity.
SPIRITUAL MYTH
Like Hermes as Logos is the Voice of the Light (The Magus), Artemis is
the Soul of the Light (The High Priestess). Her favorite incarnation
in Jungian literature is the Black Madonna, so beautifully delineated by
Marion Woodman in various sources.
This archetype is the source of worldwide legends of Virgin-Mothers.
In recent years there has been a neo-pagan revival of the cult of the Goddess,
yet She has always been with us. Her worship survives in the cult
of the Blessed Virgin mary, Kali, and a multitude of other sacred names.
This feminine receptivity is the path of the mystic in relation to the
Divine. Artemis joins the mythical to the causal, a path from self-realization
to God-realization. On the path of the High Priestess, we learn to
untie the knot between the mind and the soul, through meditation.
Artemis, as the High Priestess, is the bridge across the Abyss of the transcendent
imagination. Without her as guide, the soul's immeasurable depths
yawn wide, threatening to swallow us in the Void. We only perceive
personifications of gods and goddesses through the anima-bridge of imagination.
She mediates between the known and the unknown, she mystifies and insists
upon uncertainties. As archetype of psychic consciousness, Artemis
bridges awareness of our unconsciousness. She reflects a reality
of ambiguity, indecision, and uncertainty. She reminds us of the
"dark" side of life, the rhythms and oscillations of life..
The Artemesian woman maintains and serves psychological faith. She
is convinced that psyche and its fantasies are as real as matter and nature,
as real as spirit. She has the ability to convey this experience
to others. Artemis, as anima, transforms events which are impersonal
and only natural reactions or only spiritual ideas into psychic experiences.
Consciousness arising from soul derives from images of myth manifesting
in dreams, fantasies, and life patterns. In "soul-making," to be
conscious means that we are aware of these fantasies which underlie and
motivate daily life. This "fantasy world" is not separate from "reality."
In myth, the Virgin is associated primarily with her son. This son
is conceived through her relationship to Spirit. She is frequently
the Mother of God. He is born through virgin-birth (parthenogenesis).
He is the magickal child, the son who is symbolically the sun. Spirit
will be reborn whenever we are in touch with soul. The son represents
the woman's development of masculine, or solar consciousness. Together
they represent the fulfillment that wholeness implies. Their relationship
suggests we illuminate imagination with intellect, and refreshen intellect
with fantasy.
DIALOGUE WITH ARTEMIS
We seek contact with our internal sense of wholeness, independence, and
psychological well-being. We seek this through balancing our masculine
and feminine potentials within ourselves. Contact Artemis as the
midwife of your psychological rebirth to greater awareness.
Also seek Artemis as the psychic Wise Woman, who we can ask for nourishing
counsel, as well as creative inspiration. Approach her with awe and
reverence. Sit quietly, breathing deeply until you are very relaxed
and in the twilight imagery state. Clear your mind of the day's activities
and contemplate some exalted aspect of the archetypal Feminine, such as
Mary, Sophia, or Shekinah. Feel her warmth embrace you as you move
in and around her imagery. She move in you and you move within her
cosmic imaginal body.
You may be too awestruck to speak, but you can begin a dialogue in true
humility. She may speak, or merely make her comforting presence known.
She leaves an aura of purification or cleanliness. Record any images,
impressions, events, or conversations you experience with her essence.
Then return to stillness. Record your feelings about this profound
encounter with the Virgin-Priestess-Mother. Seek her comforting arms
time and again, especially when you feel "wounded" or in need of spiritual
nourishment.
Waxing Moon Meditation: Ground and center. Visualize a silver
crescent moon, curving to the right. She is the power of beginning,
of growth and generation. She is wild and untamed, like ideas and
plans before they are tempered by reality. She is the blank page,
the unplowed field. Feel your own hidden possibilities and latent
potentials -- your power to begin and grow. She her as a silver-haired
girl running freely through the forest under the slim moon. She is
Virgin, eternally unpenetrated, belonging to no one but herself.
Call her "Virgin" and feel her power within you.
Full Moon Meditation: Ground and center, and visualize a round full
moon. She is the Mother, the power of fruition shining brightly.
She nourishes what the New Moon has begun. She her open arms, her
full breasts, her womb burgeoning with life. Feel your own fertility,
the power to nurture, to give, and manifest what is possible. She
is the sexual woman; her pleasure in union is the moving force that sustains
all life. Feel the power in your own pleasure, in orgasm. Her
color is the red of blood, which is life. Call her "Mother" and feel
your own ability to love.
Waning Moon Meditation: Ground and center. Visualize a waning
moon's crescent, curving to the left, surrounded by a black sky.
She is the Old Woman, the Crone who has passed menopause, in tough with
the power of ending, of death. She is the High Priestess, the Reverend
Mother mentor. All things must end to fulfill their beginnings.
The grain that was planted must be cut down. The blank page is destroyed
to write the work. Life feeds on death and death leads on to life.
In that knowledge lies wisdom. The Wise Woman carries the indefinite
age of infinity, of an eternal quality, of one in touch with the timeless
realm. Her memories stretch back into deep time, cosmic time. Feel
your own age, the wisdom of evolution stored in every cell of your body.
Know your own power to end, to say good-bye, to lose as well as gain, to
destroy what is stagnant and decayed. See the Priestess cloaked in
black under the waning moon and feel her power in your own death.
ARTEMIS IN YOUR LIFE
1. Describe your relationships with your grandmothers.
2. How do you express your mystical, or androgynous nature?
3. Have you ever had the experience of being a midwife either for
a physical birth (human or animal), or as a spiritual midwife for someone's
psychological rebirth? If you have had a personal rebirth experience
can you identify how this archetypal power influenced that event?
4. When you were young did you form a strong attachment to a wise
older woman, one associated with psychic or spiritual power, perhaps?
How did she figure in any personal choices or transformations you underwent
at this time, (for example, did she provide nourishment, encouragement,
support, counseling, etc.)?
5. Transpersonal aspects of the Virgin include meditation and spiritual
midwifery. Do these, or other aspects of Artemis have an important
place in your life. Are you anyone's spiritual mentor or advisor?
6. Did (does) your mother embody any Artemisian qualities, such as
intuitive or psychic tendencies, exceptional independence for a woman of
her generation, or goal-oriented, single-pointed behavior?
7. How do you see Artemis affecting your behavior, feelings, thoughts,
and belief system?
8. Have you ever had an inner vision of a female wisdom figure?
Explain the life circumstances surrounding this event.
9. Describe your closest experience of the mystery of birth, either
your children's birth or one at which you were present. Describe
your feelings, especially any glimpse into another state of consciousness
than "normal" reality.
10. What is your attitude toward Mother Nature and deep ecology --
the environment, plant and animal life, vegetarianism, conservation, nuclear
waste, etc.?
11. Artemis is also responsible for bringing creative ideas to birth.
Have you ever had an idea or project that seemed to be "born" in some preternatural
manner, and take on a life of its own?
12. Have you ever noticed the cycles of the moon having an effect
on your overall well-being or moods. Do you ever notice, in particular
the Full Moon or New Moon? You may want to watch your feelings over
a lunar month and see how they fluctuate.
13. What are your beliefs concerning the soul and its immortality,
resurrection, karma, and reincarnation?
14. How do you feel you could express the feminine archetype of "receptivity"
more effectively in your daily life and in your spiritual path? What
does spiritual "surrender" mean to you?
REFERENCES
Goddesses in Every Woman, Jean Shinoda Bolin
The Goddess Within, J. and R. Woolger
Anima, James Hillman
Woman's Mysteries, M. Esther Harding
Knowing Woman, Irene de Castellejo
The Moon and the Virgin, Nor Hall
Facing the Gods, James Hillman, ed.
The Meaning of Aphrodite, Paul Friedrich
The Virgin Archetype, John Layard
The Goddess, Christine Downing
Alone of All Her Sex, Marina Warner
Dragonflies 1980, "The Net of Artemis"
File Created: 3/1/02 Last Updated:
3/16/02