Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   Today’s post is about the power of using Goddess Archetypes in your life!   I will be looking at Jean Shinoda Bolen’s Goddesses in Everywoman archetypes by aligning them with Celtic Goddesses to deepen our work with Celtic Venusian and Faery Queen Energies.    Without further ado, let’s look at the Goddess Archetypes!

Athena: THE MORRIGAN

~This alignment was a rather easy one for me to come up with, as The Morrigan is the Irish War Goddess, and Athena is the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare.   The Morrigan holds an intense amount of Wisdom, especially through her nature as a Goddess of Prophecy, and it is she who will determine the outcome of war.   All of this makes me feel very strongly that the Warrior Goddess Archetype is most definitely aligned with the Great Irish War Goddess, the Morrigan!

Artemis: MORGAN LE FAY

~This alignment was a bit interesting to come up with, as Morgan le Fay is an Enchantress and Sorceress who rules the Isle of Avalon, and Artemis is a Goddess of the Moon and a Huntress.   However, Morgan le Fay and Artemis both hold an energy of Wildness and hold connections to midwifery, with Artemis being a midwife to her Mother (when her mother was birthing her brother) and Morgan le Fay being a midwife of Death!   This Huntress Archetype energy of Morgan le Fay is Morgan as she rules over the Sisterhood of Avalon, and also as she rules over the Val Sans Retour.   Morgan le Fay leads the Sisterhood much like Artemis rules over a group of Nymphs, adding a deeper context to this alignment!  

Hestia: BRIGID

~This alignment worked out so well when I first thought of it, as Brigid is a Goddess of Eternal Flame, with her Priestesses tending her Eternal Flame, just like the Vestal Virgins tended the Eternal Flame of Vesta (Vesta is the Roman equivalent of Hestia).    Hestia is deeply tied to the home and hearth, and this Archetype is commonly called the Mystic Archetype.   With Brigid’s rulership over so many aspects of magick and protection, ruling over Eternal Flames, Holy Wells, Poetry, and Smiths, we can see that she is truly very much a Mystic!

Hera: RHIANNON

~This alignment may seem very strange at first glance, as Hera and Rhiannon do not seem very similar.   However, I chose this alignment with Rhiannon being considered an ultimate Queen Goddess, with her name literally meaning ‘Divine Great Queen’, which aligns well with the Queen Archetype, which is represented by Hera!   The Queen Archetype is one of true Sovereignty and blessing the sovereignty of the King’s rule, which we see with Rhiannon’s story countless times from her marriage to Pwyll to her connection with White Horses.

Demeter: MELUSINE

~This is another alignment that may seem a bit odd, as Melusine is such a multi-layered Goddess, and Demeter is often only remembered for her Motherhood (although Demeter is also much more complex as a Goddess of the Harvest).   I chose this alignment because Melusine is the Mother of ten sons in her legend, which shows her fertility and nature as a Mother Goddess, even with all of her complexity!   The endlessly fertile nature and even Melusine’s nature as the Builder Faery are things that certainly align her deeply with the Mother Archetype.   I also chose to align her with the Mother Archetype over the others, as even though she (like all of the Faery Queens) holds aspects of each of the archetypes, because as I built my class, The Melusine Mysteries, she nurtured me with a Motherly Love the entire time!   

Persephone: BLODEUWEDD

~This was a very easy alignment for me to make, as Blodeuwedd definitely possesses much Maiden energy.   Even more so, Blodeuwedd also has her own Otherworldly (or Underworldly) energy with her Owl form, which is also true of Persephone as the Queen of the Underworld!   Blodeuwedd first enters her legend when she dances into being, having been called forth from the Otherworld into physical form by the magicians Math and Gwydion.   Her form is a body made of Flowers, making her quite literally the Flower Bride when she married Lleu Llaw Gyffes!   The sweetness of the Flowers and the innocence with which Blodeuwedd entered her marriage is peak Maiden behavior, but she would later gain her Sovereignty by falling in love and later becoming the Owl, just as Persephone found Sovereignty as the Queen of the Underworld, ruling over the dead.   This type of complex Maiden Archetype definitely fits with Blodeuwedd extraordinarily well!

Aphrodite: GWENHWYFAR

~This final alignment was a very easy and obvious one for me; in fact, it was the first one I thought of when I decided to look into a Faery Queen Archetype System.    Clearly, Gwenhwyfar (or Guinevere, as she is most commonly discussed) is possibly the most obvious example of a Celtic Venusian Faery Queen, often best remembered for her nature as a Lover and for her Beauty, which definitely aligned well with the Aphrodite Archetype!   Gwenhwyfar is the Faery Queen who made the marriage to Arthur on behalf of the land to bless his rule, but she was still able to choose her lovers, even if she was harshly judged for it.   This certainly brings to mind Aphrodite being forced to marry Hephaestus but still taking other lovers, most notably Ares, and being caught in a net with him by her husband in order to humiliate her!   Another aspect of the Lover Goddess Archetype and Alchemical Goddess Archetype we see very present in Gwenhwyfar’s story is that she is a muse; she inspires the love and triumph of many of the Knights of the Roundtable.   They will do many things out of deep devotion to her, just like the Lover Archetype can inspire artists and creatives (being a Creatrix herself), Gwenhwyfar inspires great acts of devotion and success on Quests and in Jousts!    

~I hope you have enjoyed this look at the power of Goddess Archetypes.   Which archetypes do you feel the most drawn to?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is an artwork of Greek Goddess Archetypes.   I found the art on https://www.udemy.com/course/greek-goddesses-archetypes-discover-the-goddess-within/.

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries 

Further Reading

• Goddesses in Everywoman by Jean Shinoda Bolen
• The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
• Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
• Melusine by Jean d’Arras
• Encyclopedia of Spirits by Judika Illes