Your Goddess Archetype is Psyche

Goddesses and Personal Archetypes

Archetypes are inner images that embody universal characteristics and experiences. They are responsible for the persistent themes we see surfacing in our own lives. Myths and fairy tales, many artistic images, and many of the characters we encounter in our dreams are expressions of these archetypes. As inner guides that exist in your personality, the goddess archetypes influence how you behave, how you think and feel, and how you relate to others. Since the goddess stories that are passed on in the mythology of human cultures embody the expression of female character, they provide us with a rich and fascinating way to gain access to the personal archetypes that are active in our lives.

How to Use Your Personal Goddess Type:

The interpretation of your goddess quiz begins on the next page. Each section starts with a brief guide to understanding the information, followed by your personal results. Before you begin to study it, take a few minutes to review a few basic concepts that will help you use the goddess report to:

• Understand/accept yourself as the unique goddess you are meant to be.

• Learn how to use the guide on the goddess path to personal fulfillment.

The results of your goddess assessment can be used in several different ways. One is to treat your report simply as interesting reading to be enjoyed. As the 100-year-old woman answered, ‘ Sure, Sonny, I believe in horoscopes. At my age I believe in anything that makes life more interesting!’ Have fun with the report. Use it, and information available at the website, as an entrance to the fascinating world of mythology and personality type. Learn to recognize patterns of behavior among your family, friends, and coworkers while you gain a better picture of your own strengths, abilities, and vulnerabilities.

A second approach is to use your results to learn to relax and accept yourself for who you really are. Recognizing the strength and beauty of your own personal goddess type can be a deeply empowering experience. If your goddess type is not one that is valued highly by society, your sense of self-esteem will almost certainly have been threatened. Take comfort from learning about the richness of your goddess type and realize that, even if it seems you are often ‘marching to the beat of a different drummer’, you share your type with many others and don’t have to try to force yourself into the mold of a more socially acceptable type. You are not alone.

The third approach is to use the report as a guide on your path to personal growth. It can help you see and understand the underlying reasons for the patterns of your life. Each goddess type has both strengths and weaknesses. Knowing about your goddess type, you can capitalize upon those strengths (and guard against the weaknesses) while you begin to work on your underdeveloped traits. The more you function within your inherent goddess type, the stronger and more confident you will become, the more control you have over your life, and the better prepared you are to make the choices that create the life you want. You can enlist the help of other, less well-developed goddess types, thereby enlarging your repertoire of attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. You will be less rigid and more flexible, better able to meet the wide variety of challenges and demands that your life may present. Your report highlights ways you can assist this process of ‘becoming’.

Your Personal Goddess Type:

Her Story and Her Symbols

Each one of us is born with an inherent temperament that predisposes us to develop as one of a number of goddess types. These ‘goddess gifts’ reveal themselves at an early age and remain fairly constant throughout our lives. They influence how you learn and think, how you decide and act, who you select as friends and mates, even where your talents lie, in short, everything that makes you unique and guides the direction of your life. This gift, your personal goddess type, is your favored, most trusted style in dealing with the outer world.

Psyche

Goddess of the Soul and Personal Growth

Talk about mother-in-law problems, not to mention having a ‘mama’s boy’ for a husband! You’d be hard pressed to come up with a story that tops Psyche’s. Strictly speaking, Psyche wasn’t a natural-born goddess . . . she got there by ‘marrying up’. She started out as a mortal, one of exquisite grace and beauty. Fervently courted by numerous mortal men as well as gods, she truly wasn’t interested in romance and she wasn’t just playing hard to get! This offended Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who decided to bring her down a notch by sending her son Eros, the god of love, to shoot Psyche with one of his magical arrows tipped in an aphrodisiac that would make her fall hopelessly in love with the first man she saw, no matter how wretched, unsuitable, or unappealing he might be. But as the fates would have it, just as he had Psyche lined up in his sights, Eros stumbled and accidentally pricked himself with the arrow and, instead, fell madly in love with Psyche himself. Reluctant to face mama with the news of what had happened, he whisked Psyche off to his palatial hideaway in the mountains for a quick wedding and lengthy honeymoon.Because he was afraid that he might be recognized and word of his bumbling might get back to Aphrodite, Eros visited Psyche only after dark and made her swear she would never look at him. She was beginning to love him deeply and growing more curious each day about her beloved’s features. Psyche decided to take just a quick peek while he lay sleeping, but a drop of hot oil from her lamp accidentally spilled on his shoulder, waking him . . . but not before she saw that he was more beautiful than any many she’d ever imagined. Another version of the story, probably the original version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’, was that she was persuaded by her sisters, who were jealous of her good fortune in marrying into such wealth, to stab him as he slept since he surely must be a ‘monster’ to be so fearful of her seeing him, and that he awoke to find her poised over him, knife in hand.) Regardless, Eros was upset by her lack of trust and her betrayal and flew back home to mother and made a full confession. Psyche missed him enormously. Abandoned and bereft, she decided to go and humble herself before Aphrodite, begging for her blessing on the marriage and for the return of her husband. Aphrodite, however, saw this as her opportunity to take her revenge. She demanded that Psyche complete four tasks, each of them more frightening and difficult than the previous, if she were to prove herself worthy of marriage to her son. First, Psyche was to spend the night in a room filled with assorted grains and to have them all sorted and bagged by daybreak. Realizing the enormity of the task, Psyche huddled in the corner weeping, when an army of ants took pity on her and came to her aid, getting the job done for her well in advance of the deadline. Next she was ordered to bring back Golden Fleece belonging to a fearsome ram that had already killed several heroes who had tried to acquire his fleece. Terrified that she too would be crushed, she took the advice of a nearby reed that whispered to her to wait until nightfall when the ram slept before entering the field and to gather the fleece that had fallen off the ram and clung to the branches of the blackthorn trees. For her third task, Aphrodite gave Psyche a crystal jar and demanded she return with water taken from a waterfall positioned on a high cliff on the River Styx, the entrance to the underworld. In the depths of despair when she arrived and saw the tremendous danger involved, she was amazed when an eagle, circling above her, swept down for the jar and flew off to the waterfall to fill it for her. Her last task, the most frightening, was to descend into the underworld, the kingdom of the dead, and to return with a box of sleeping potion from Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld, all the while ignoring the pleas for help from all the unfortunate that she encountered. This task was her longest and hardest-she succeeded, but was so exhausted by the effort that she took some of the potion for herself. Finding Psyche in a deep sleep and unable to arouse her, Eros rubbed the potion from her eyes and returned it to the box which he sent on to his mother. Deciding, finally, that he’d had quite enough of his mother’s meddling in his affairs, and that he truly loved Psyche, he humbled himself and sought expert advice to save their marriage. He flew to Zeus, who upon Athena’s advice, made Psyche immortal (a goddess in her own right). Their marriage, legitimized by the king of the gods, was now restored. Even Aphrodite had to admit they made a fine couple and gave them her blessing. The myths of Psyche exemplify a woman’s search for authentic personal growth. Like the symbol of the butterfly emerging into the light from its dark cocoon, Psyche’s story reminds us that the integration of our experiences, however sad or frightening they may be, matures and transforms us.

Psyche’s Symbols

 

General:

 

Waterfall, crescent moon (waning), grain, eye, three stars (representing body/life/soul), perfumed oil, pottery jars

 

 

Animals:

 

Butterfly, eagle, sheep and ram, mice, ants, fish

 

 

Plants:

 

Willow, flowering almond, ivy, blackthorn, reeds sweet alyssum, lily of the valley, water lily, figs,melons

 

 

Perfume/Scents:

 

Floral scents, almond, lily of the valley, mulberry

 

 

Gems and Metals:

 

Crystals of all types, amethyst, obsidian, moonstone,tourmaline, rose quartz, platinum

 

Colors:

 

 

Black, light blue, blue, purple, silver, sea green

The Psyche Archetype

Every woman’s personality is actually influenced by numerous different goddesses (traits that exist in her personality, or roles that function in her life). One goddess, however, predominates. It is this goddess, your personal goddess type, that is detailed in this report because she represents the core part of your personality that establishes your identity and most influences how you express it to the outer world. Think of it as your own personal ‘comfort zone’ your personal goddess type represents your basic, in-born core, the way you ‘really’ are. When you are functioning within the boundaries of your goddess type, you feel ‘at home with yourself’. Anxieties will be dissolved, priorities clearer, and you will feel energized, resilient, and capable. If your circumstances are well matched to your goddess type, your normal coping mechanisms will work well, and you will feel a sense of control over your destiny.

Psyche Characteristics

A Psyche woman may present a calm, pleasant face to the world, but she is anything but distant. Just as her legend portrays, she is one of the most passionate of the goddesses, willing to go to the ends of the earth because she cares so deeply and intensely about a very special person or cause. As one of the most self-confident of all the goddesses, Psyche did not simply give up when faced with adversity but followed her unerring sense of what might be possible to achieve and faced the challenges set before her.

Psyches have rich inner lives so she tends to be reserved and spends much of her time ‘inside her own head’ she may be hard to get to know. Sometimes this characteristic may leave her feeling isolated from others. Even though her low level of emotional expression sometimes makes her seem distant and unresponsive, she is usually almost overly sensitive to signs of rejection from those she cares about.

Sustained by a rich inner life, most Psyches are rather self-contained, self-assured, and independent. Psyches usually behave in a very self-restrained manner with strangers, letting them take the initiative. Although their first impression may be that you are emotionless, when your interest becomes triggered you become quite animated and passionate as the conversation progresses. However, Psyches are not likely to participate in a conversation on a subject that doesn’t interest them, although they always give others the chance to say whatever they want. It’s just that Psyches would rather stay silent on subjects they have no interest in. As a rule a Psyche is not quick to reject the ideas and proposals of others, preferring to think them through first.

Psyches rarely demonstrate intense emotions. A Psyche is not even quick to share her innermost thoughts and feelings with others, except for those she knows well and trusts. She is not a social butterfly and tends to look for a few close friends who understand and appreciate her special nature. These deep friendships are very important to her even though she may not disclose much about herself. Even her closest friends are occasionally surprised when she displays a new side of her personality that they haven’t seen. It’s not that she’s inconsistent; it’s just that she has a very complex personality that sometimes puzzles even her.

Above all else, a Psyche seeks unity and wholeness in her life. Her body and intellect, her emotions and will, must all be consistent for her to feel comfortable with herself. She values harmony and may go to considerable lengths to avoid being in a situation of constant conflict. She is highly sensitive to the feelings of others and enjoys pleasing those she cares about. However, she does not find it easy to be physically demonstrative and may not express her positive feelings verbally, instead communicating her interest and affection indirectly. She has a strong capacity for sympathy and adaptability in her relationships and is generally easy to get along with. Psyches tend to be compliant in most everyday matters, even preferring that others make the decisions. But any violation of one of her important values (which can take the form of ideals she holds sacred) and she will dig in and refuse to budge. A Psyche knows her bottom line and will not betray it.

Psyches don’t always ‘fit in’ easily with others. They usually are very open-minded and have interests that may seem a little ‘bizarre’ to others (e.g., the supernatural or occult, extrasensory phenomena, the metaphysical, and spiritual). Like your Psyche sisters, you probably have an interesting, unusual, perhaps even eccentric, lifestyle and are somewhat idiosyncratic and rather indifferent to criticism. In short, you ‘march to the beat of a different drummer’.

If you dress like most Psyches, your clothes are not particularly striking or stylish. Most Psyches don’t like to call attention to themselves and usually stick to simple, comfortable clothes, often wearing the same styles for quite a while. In other ways you are also not very demanding-on an everyday basis you require only a minimum degree of comfort and may even forget to eat when you’re involved in something interesting. Actually, you are rather indifferent to food and its presentation and are happy with it as long as it is fresh, no matter how simply it is prepared.

You are self-confident and rely on your strong will to accomplish your goals, which are usually clear and well-defined. Decision-making and contingency planning come easily to you. You can hardly rest until you have things settled, with a backup plan in place. You are also a bit of a perfectionist, always trying to make things better. Your self-confidence which is communicated to others as there being a certain ‘definiteness’ about you, can easily be mistaken as arrogance . . . but you actually do know what you know and what you care about. And you push others to work as diligently as you do yourself.

An expert innovator and decision-maker, a Psyche is usually a valuable employee in an organizational setting. Psyches have the capacity to work in positions that require solitude and intense concentration. A Psyche usually enjoys brainstorming, problem-solving and developing innovative solutions, translating theory into practice. Although not terribly impressed by authority for authority’s sake, she is nonetheless a loyal employee and diligent worker who is always generous with praise and recognition for her coworkers and the employees that she supervises.

Given her ability to tolerate and enjoy solitude, many Psyches choose to be homemakers. But however a Psyche chooses to commit her talents, she will usually be successful. After all, she has great enthusiasm, insight, originality, and a depth of concentration that is unique.

Your Personal Characteristics

Psyches tend to be quiet, low-key, and often disengaged from the social ‘flurries’ that go on in the world around you. You prefer the company of a few close friends or an intimate to a loud and lively party or to interacting with a wide circle of friends. It’s not necessarily that you’re unfriendly or shy; you simply need less social stimulation than other types. You generally prefer to be alone because you find yourself easily overwhelmed by large or noisy crowds, your energy being depleted by such social situations. Although some may mistake your independence and reserve as aloofness, you actually need time on your own to recharge your emotional ‘batteries’ and to restore your energy.

The goddess Psyche seemed quite content to live and work without needing a lot of companionship or excitement in her
life. Your responses on the quiz indicate that, while you may be friendlier than the typical Psyche, you are still
well within the average range for all individuals.

Psyches usually find the company of others somewhat draining. They don’t enjoy the company of others and the
excitement of crowds as much as extroverted types do. Psyches typically need a fair bit of privacy and time for
themselves. Your quiz indicates that you are somewhat more outgoing than most Psyches since your level of
gregariousness is average.

Like your goddess Psyche, you have a rather unconventional soul. Although at times you may seesaw between adhering to
the traditional and the unorthodox, the practical and the idealistic, you are by nature imaginative, creative, and
somewhat individualistic.

Tolerant and broadminded, you have considerable impact on the people you encounter, even though you seldom may
recognize it. Your tendency to be freedom-loving and somewhat independent leads you to insist upon living your own
life as you see fit, even if that means ignoring convention.

You, like Psyche, are someone whose ‘heart rules her head’, for you have good access to your feelings and find it
relatively easy to express them openly Sometimes you do so even though it would be wiser not to. Though it may leave
you vulnerable on occasion, wearing your heart on your sleeve usually makes others feel comfortable in talking to
you about their feelings and in sharing confidences with you.

Like Psyche, your needs are fairly simple, and you are not usually difficult to please. You have a moderately strong
desire for stability and peace. Although you may enjoy occasional travel or the adventure of new experiences, you do
not require them to feel fulfilled like Psyche did. Instead, you are comfortable with familiarity and routine and do
not find them intrinsically boring, consequently you are not compelled to seek thrills or adventure at every turn.

Like Psyche, your levels of excitement- and thrill-seeking are average, indicating you have neither a tendency
toward either high or low levels of risk-taking behavior.

Unlike your goddess Psyche, you are not particularly prone to challenging authority, convention, or traditional
values. But neither do you insist on the security and stability brought by strict conformity to tradition that is
noticed in other goddess types. You are about average in the extent to which you experience ambiguity, chaos, and
disorder as stressful.

Many of the legends of Psyche recount stories that demonstrate her conscientiousness, her wisdom, and caution. Highly
conscientious, Psyche was able to avoid danger and to achieve success through her purposeful planning and her
persistence. Like her, you tend to avoid impulsive behavior that would diminish your effectiveness and subject you
to undesirable consequences.

This ability to foresee the likely outcomes of your behavior is a hallmark of intelligence. Your ability to
contemplate long-range goals, to plan and organize routes to these goals, and your willingness to persist in your
efforts even when you’d rather be doing something else, is one of you goddess gifts. . . one that gives you the
ability to successfully undertake projects that require organized effort in sequenced steps or stages. Others
probably regard you as being intelligent and reliable.

On the negative side, some women of the Psyche type can become compulsive perfectionists and workaholics who set high
(sometimes unrealistically high) standards of performance for them and others. Furthermore, Psyche types like you
are sometimes so focused on their goals that they find it difficult to relax, not to mention play. Acting
spontaneously and impulsively when you are playing can be fun. Others usually see spontaneous people as colorful,
wacky, and fun to be with. Give yourself permission to act in a carefree and careless manner every once in a
while-at least no one will accuse you of being stuffy or boring.

In her myths Psyche is usually depicted as someone who is moderately confident in her ability to accomplish her
goals, someone who believes she has the common sense, the drive, and the self-control to overcome the obstacles in
her path. Your level of confidence in your ability to succeed is higher than hers.

You are well organized and like to live according to routines and schedules, your attention keenly focused on what
you have to accomplish. But short of spontaneity, sometimes you may be so bound up in your lists of ‘Things To Do’
that you overlook valuable opportunities to enrich your life.

Psyche was known for having a sense of duty and moral obligation that was moderate, neither remarkably high nor low.
Unlike her, your sense of obligation is fairly high. You reliably honor your commitments and do not find contracts,
rules and regulations overly confining.

The goddess Psyche was seldom impulsive. Your level of impulsiveness is low, like hers. You usually take your time
before speaking or making decisions, considering your alternatives and carefully weighing the consequences of your
actions. Impulses are not inherently bad; acting on our impulses can be an effective response in situations
requiring snap decisions. Additionally, acting spontaneously and impulsively makes play possible. People who are
impulsive are often seen as being colorful, exciting, and fun. Nonetheless, excessive impulsivity can lead to
trouble. Examples include using illicit drugs that eventually destroy one’s health, responding with an insult during
an argument leading to the destruction of an important relationship, or excessive socializing that results in being
fired from one’s job. Psyche usually thought things through carefully before she sprang into action. She was
deliberate and cautious when making decisions. Like Psyche, you tend to take your time before deciding and seldom do
or say the first thing that comes to mind without deliberating your alternatives and their probable consequences.

How A Psyche’s Mind Works

Your goddess type is largely determined by the neurological hard-wiring you received at birth. It governs the way you think and learn. Unfortunately, most of us have been exposed to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ educational system that fails to take into account that not everyone has the same style of learning. Understanding how you think and learn best can help you be more productive at work or in school.

A Psyche thinks in broad terms, is forward-looking, and progressive. They have a natural facility for thinking in symbols and abstractions and may greatly be moved by music and the visual and performing arts as well as the raw beauty of nature. Undisturbed by complexity, ambiguity, or subtlety, they tend to enjoy novelty, variety, and change. They usually have several different “projects” underway at the same time, though you may leave some of them incomplete when they abandon them for newer interests.

Sometimes Psyches form an opinion of a person or situation without much factual knowledge, and their intuition is often correct. It may be hard to explain to others but intangible forces seem just as real to them as anything in the concrete world. They are quick to sense the possibilities in any given situation and are more likely to focus on them that on any of the specific details of “what-actually-is” that others observe. They tend to have restless minds and a thirst for mental stimulation, preferring to see the “big picture” and what it might mean rather than discovering how all the little pieces fit together. This “broad-stroke” approach can become a bit sloppy at times, so in some situations it’s a good idea to have a co-worker one can rely upon to handle any details that require technical precision.

Your level of creativity and imagination is fairly high. Like Psyche you are blessed with the capacity to imagine
the possibilities. Your quiz reveals that you are oriented both to facts and fantasy. You are also able to use your
imagination, and keen sense of what is possible, to create a richer, more interesting world.

True to your nature as an Psyche, you are open-minded to new and unusual ideas and like to play with ideas and
debate intellectual issues. You probably enjoy riddles, puzzles and brainteasers. Like her, your level of ability
and comfort in thinking abstractly is high.

Psyche’s self-discipline or will power was easily recognized in her myths. Like hers, your level of self-discipline
is high. You are able to overcome any reluctance to begin a task (even a disagreeable one) and to stay on track
despite distractions. You seem to find it easy to persist at difficult or unpleasant tasks, seeing them through to
completion.

Psyche women are motivated by self-actualization and have a strong tendency to focus on the personal and subjective.
The humanities are naturally of great interest to them. Relationships and interactions with others, as well as
exploration of the self, are the major focus of their lives. Seeking to promote human potential and growth, they
strive for ideal interpersonal relationships and excellent communication skills. Psyches thrive on personal
attention, so it is not surprising that they learn best when the learning environment is both personal and friendly.

A Psyche does well in a classroom setting that is democratic, providing considerable opportunity for group
participation and interest. She learns best from the discussion method, small group projects, and teaching
techniques that allow her to exercise her imagination, e.g. role-playing, analysis of fiction and poetry, dramatic
presentations. Harmonious personal relationships with her teachers and classmates also enhance her learning
experience.

Positive feedback from her instructor is a powerful motivator for her classroom performance, allowing her to perform
quite well in areas such as business and science that often do not focus on the insightful or imaginative topics
that naturally attract her. She will, however, not flourish in learning environments in which she is subject to much
criticism, for she will tend to become somewhat confused, unmotivated, and even uncooperative. A democratic,
cooperative environment offers a Psyche the opportunity for personal involvement that she needs to excel.

Psyche At Work

Just as your inborn goddess type impacts the way you think and learn, it also greatly influences your life at work.
When your goddess-given strengths and patterns of behavior have become habitual, certain jobs or careers will be
more ‘natural’ for you. When your job allows you to capitalize on your goddess type, it is interesting and
energizing, almost fun. So if you’re about to enter the job market, use you knowledge of your goddess type as a
guide to selecting an ideal position that is a good match for your goddess type.

None of this means you can’t be happy in other fields. Lots of other factors influence job satisfaction, your boss
and coworkers, the pay, the dress code, for example. Most people manage to adapt, to develop and strengthen their
less developed skills and interests when working in a job, unless other factors introduce too many problems in the
setting.

Finally, if you aren’t satisfied at work or don’t feel you’re very effective, you can use what you learn about your
goddess’ strengths to examine the match between your goddess type and your current job and career.

Psyche women are usually not found at either extreme, but you are high in your quest for achievement. Those with a
drive to be recognized as successful often have a strong sense of direction in their lives and strive hard to
achieve excellence in their chosen pursuits. Taken to the extremes, high achievement seeking may result in an
individual who is too single-minded and obsessed with her work. At the other extreme, an individual who is content
to get by with only a minimal amount of work, even if it means being seen by others as lazy. Your level of
achievement striving is high.

 

Psyche at work tends to be:

 

Analytical 

Idealistic

A’People-Person’

Independent

Articulate

Peace-loving

Caring, Empathetic

Original

Cautious

Sensitive

Creative

Thoughtful

Deliberate

Visionary

 

Like Psyche, you are usually attracted to what is new and different. The fact that something is unproven isn’t likely to put you off. Simply taking someone else’s good idea and making it work isn’t your style. You’d rather do the creating and leave the mundane chore of working out the details (or following the procedures manual) to someone else. As a Psyche your interest dissipates once a task becomes repetitive or routine . . . after all, a Psyche prefers a challenge!

You are an innovator in your approach. Your strength lies in the very way you can make intuitive leaps, instinctively sensing what might work best in a given situation. You may sometimes err when success depends on detailed factual data or on accuracy. For you, by nature, are seeing the ‘big picture’, not the little details.

A Psyche woman is usually well organized and likely to be a bit lost without her list of ‘Things To Do’. Very aware of time, you value punctuality and tend to be very productive, planning your work schedule down to 15-minute time slots to get the most done. With a tendency to be a ‘workaholic’, you’ve probably accumulated more annual leave time than you’re ever likely to use.

You work more effectively when you’re allowed to work on one project at a time, seeing it through to completion. You like for your work environment to be fairly predictable. You probably try to maintain a tidy workspace (or at least have a system that helps you find your ‘stuff’ even if it is all in a pile!)

You work better when you have clearly defined goals and systems already worked out.

As a Psyche you rarely procrastinate and feel comfortable making decisions fairly quickly. You will be happiest in jobs that give you a lot of control over how you go about getting your work done.

Your warm, friendly approach and sensitivity to the feelings of others often inspires others to look to you for guidance and support. You often engage in small talk and tend to be very diplomatic, although not very assertive. Others may think your ‘welcome mat’ is always out and sometimes distract you from completing important tasks.

A Psyche does not flourish in a work environment that is full of conflict, arguments, and confrontation. It is important to your job satisfaction that your work be personally meaningful for you, allowing you to help others in an environment of cooperation and support.

You don’t mind working at a rapid pace, moving quickly from one task to another. Your ideal job would give you ample privacy and ‘quiet time’ to think things through.

Having to talk a lot, to explain your ideas to others before you’ve had a chance to carefully think them out is not a comfortable thing for a Psyche. You would prefer to work at a steady pace, not being interrupted by having to switch back and forth between tasks.

 

Psyche Women Often Find Careers in These Fields Rewarding:

Alcohol/drug counselor

Librarian

Architect

Marketer

Art teacher

Media specialist

Artist

Mental health counselor

Career counselor

Merchandise designer

Dietitian/nutritionist

Novelist

Drama teacher

Nurse

Editor/art director

Playwright

Educational consultant

Poet

Educational consultant

Psychologist

Entertainer 

Psychotherapist

Environmental lawyer

Religious Education

Graphics designer

Researcher

Human resources manager

Social worker

Interpreter/translator

Special education teacher

Job analyst

Speech pathologist

Journalist

Therapist (health care)

 

Psyche’s Relationships

When we encounter people whose god or goddess type matches our own, people who have similar traits, we are usually attracted to them and often make them a part of our social circle. This is not surprising for they tend to think like you, have similar interests, treat you as you treat others, and are easy for you to communicate with. You feel comfortable and energized when you are with them. When you spend much time with someone of an opposite type, you may feel drained of energy if it becomes a struggle to find common ground. Other types truly see the world through different eyes and approach life from a very different perspective. Depending on the situation in which you find yourselves, you may be able to recognize your differences and essentially ‘agree to disagree’.

Try to learn more and use your understanding about different god and goddess types, remembering that even though they differ, each type has its unique strengths and beauty. After all, it is the incredible diversity that makes life so colorful!

You approach your relationships as if they were an art form, and like Psyche, are very skilled in this area since you possess both a high sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others as well as a genuine concern for their well being. Others see you as an agreeable, cooperative, and nice person for this is the face you choose to show to the world . . . even though there is much more to you than this. Because of your harmonious disposition you usually get along easily with others and have a pleasant, agreeable manner that most find appealing.

You usually take a friendly, cooperative approach rather than a forceful ‘we-should-do-it-like this’ position.
You’re more likely to use your charm in an understated, non-combative fashion to try to reach your objectives. But
if all else fails and you’ve just been pushed-too-far, you are perfectly capable of being assertive since your quiz
reveals that your assertiveness level is average.

Psyche was not one of the goddesses who were well known for being altruistic, always helping others in times of
need. Unlike her, you find helping other people genuinely rewarding and have a strong need to be of service to
others. For you, helping others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than sacrifice. Your level of altruism is high.

Psyche was not noted for her agreeableness, her preference for participating in group efforts, or her desire to
avoid conflict or confrontation at all costs. Unlike her, you are concerned with getting along well with others and
have a pleasing, agreeable manner that others find appealing. You tend to use tact and charm, rather than strategy,
to accomplish your goals. Rather unlike your personal goddess type Psyche, you place the highest value on
cooperation and the avoidance of conflict and greatly dislike any kind of confrontation. Much of the time you seem
perfectly willing to deny your own needs in order to get along with others. Your ability to tolerate confrontations
is average. You are usually cooperative, but you do not automatically abandon your own needs and interests just to
avoid a confrontation. In other words, you are not a ‘push-over’.

Priding yourself on your ability to judge objectively, you are more concerned with impartial justice, truth, and
fairness. Like Psyche had to do, you have learned to not be affected strongly by the suffering of others. It is not
that you are uncompassionate, but that you do not, as a rule, vicariously experience the pain of others as readily
as do some other goddess types. This average level of tender-mindedness can be more helpful than high levels in
situations that require tough decisions or objectivity.

Psyche As a Child

What you were like as a child and the messages you received from your parents have undoubtedly influenced your development, for better or worse. Lucky for you if your family enjoyed and encouraged you to develop naturally as the Psyche that you are -chances are you felt good about yourself and got a big head start in developing all your Psyche strengths.

Sometimes, however, having ‘too much’ family support can cause a problem. When parents give their little goddess unlimited approval for the traits of her natural goddess type to the exclusion of helping her develop the helpful traits of the other goddesses that exist as potential in her personality, she can grow up too one-sided. Take, for example, the young Artemis who is a natural athlete and fierce competitor. While her parents are busy applauding her for all her trophies and carting her to competitions, they may forget to similarly encourage her to keep up with her assignments and she fails to sufficiently develop her intellectual skills.

Also unfortunate is the girl whose goddess type meets with her parents’ disapproval. Their opposition won’t change her inborn type; it just leaves her feeling bad about herself for being who she is, feeling inauthentic if she tries to conform to their expectations by pretending to be ‘the other girl’ that she sensed they would have preferred, or even making her rebellious.

Usually a Psyche baby is the one who can be completely absorbed for long periods of time, playing quietly with her own fingers and toes, already perfectly content exploring the fascinating world of the self. As a Psyche child you were undoubtedly unique-creative, imaginative, and somewhat ‘off in a world of your own’. You needed to spend a lot of time by yourself playing, thinking, and dreaming.

You could be incredibly single-minded and were probably already a bit of a perfectionist. Most Psyche’s seem to have a strong internal sense of ‘how things ought to be’ and can get very frustrated when they can’t achieve that internal image of perfection. ‘Please, I’d rather do it myself’ might have been your motto. Somewhat reserved, you didn’t always immediately fit into a group and were usually happier watching from the sidelines until you felt ready to join in the action.

As a Psyche your tendency to take everything very personally may have made your teen years seem like a roller coaster ride. Caught up in your own world of ideas and imagination, others may have thought of you as socially awkward or even a bit bizarre. Hopefully you were lucky enough to run into enough classmates and teachers who saw your uniqueness and valued your original ideas.

Remember that your parents, like most, probably assumed that you, their child, were pretty much like them. All parents have a different view of the ‘right way’ to rear a child, one that reflects their own god or goddess type.

Psyche As a Parent

Armed with your new understanding of how the goddess types work, you will not be surprised to hear that one other factor, the goddess or god-type of your child, will play a big part in how well you will fare in your role as a parent. Bear in mind that, whichever little gods or goddesses reside in your pantheon, the wise goddess avoids trying to reshape them and allows them to grow into their true goddess-given selves with her understanding and support.

As a mother, Psyche is fiercely devoted to her children and their physical and emotional well-being. Except for the times she herself is under great stress and has become rather self-absorbed, she a great friend to her child. She is understanding, but firm with discipline. Supporting her children’s creativity and originality, a Psyche mother allows her children to become the individuals they were meant to be.

A mother whose predominant archetype is Psyche usually excels at helping her children get in touch with their feelings and helps them to deal constructively with them. Some Psyche mothers seem to be emotionally connected in a powerful way to their children . . . sometimes over-involved with the child in a way that reveals a lack of interpersonal boundaries. She has an ability to understand them that is almost psychic in nature. This can create a dependency that serves neither mother nor child.

Psyche and Her Mates

Is there one perfect match for your goddess type? Some types may be naturally better suited than others. After all, the more similar two types are, the more they understand each other . . . the more values and interests they have in common, the easier they can communicate, and the less work they have to do to get along. They may, however, have to make an extra effort to stay interesting to each other.

But what about opposites? Opposites may attract, but too often they don’t manage to stay together. When a person from a very different type comes into a romantic relationship with you, you may find yourself drawn to them because you are intrigued by their difference. (Sometimes this may be a sign that they have a quality or strength you admire that isn’t a part of your goddess type and that you need to develop in your self.) Too soon the magical courtship stage is over and you begin to notice that the differences between you are less appealing, maybe even a source of annoyance and conflict. Perhaps you start seeing signs that there isn’t good chemistry between you, or that you need to pull back and not invest so much of yourself. If you think there is enough positive about the relationship and can thoughtfully examine the differences objectively, you may decide to live with the differences between you. Sometimes, though, the differences are just too great to overcome or do not justify the amount of energy it takes to maintain the relationship. If you choose not to deal with the differences, it is wise to move on and find other mates who are more compatible with your goddess type.

But if you’re already deeply invested in such a relationship, or if you simply like a challenge, much can be gained in a mating of opposites. Rather than unintentionally turning your differences into a source of frustration and dissatisfaction, you can learn to celebrate them. Unfortunately, the tendency is to instinctively follow the path of the Pygmalion archetype. In this legend the sculptor Pygmalion, unable to love any of the women he met, carved a statue . . . a perfect and beautiful image of his ‘ideal woman’. Over the course of his labors he grew madly in love with her, but fell into despair because, as a lifeless statue, she could not love him in return.

Like Pygmalion, we (in ways subtle, and not so subtle) try to make our partners change, to become more like us. Chipping away at our loves and marriages with constant tension, criticism, and complaints, we try to pull our partners out of their own god- or goddess- types. Such efforts are destined to fail. Even if it could be successful, it would extinguish their personality, leaving them as lifeless and cold as a statue. Although Aphrodite took pity on the poor sculptor and brought his statue to life in the legend, we must make our own miracles . . . by understanding our differences and seeing them not as problems but as incredible opportunities to breathe life into our own relationships.

This section will guide you to a general understanding of how your goddess archetype exerts a profound influence on the course of your love life. Perhaps the most important aspect of this report is the recognition that the very same differences that attract a woman and her mate to each other can also be the cause of most of the conflict between them, and that it is how these differences are handled that really matters.

Being married, or in a committed relationship, has great significance for you. Finding the right person to share your life with, and maintaining that relationship, is very important for you are not an independent loner; being part of a couple seems natural to you.

Casual, superficial relationships don’t interest a Psyche at all. You are cautious and serious about love and desire a deep, genuine, lasting love, a spiritual connection. You are old-fashioned about courtship and love, and will remain faithful to your loved one in good times and in bad.

The Psyche’s normal ability to sense the negative aspects of other people leads her to be cautious in awarding her trust, much like Psyche’s needing to check Eros out carefully to be sure he wasn’t a monster. However, for many Psyches, this caution seems to desert them when it comes to romance. Psyches tend to idealize their partners and their relationships, getting quickly involved and feeling that this is ‘the right one’. She is always very surprised when, inevitably, she has to face the fact that her partner has flaws or that the relationship doesn’t measure up to her ideal standard of what love is ‘supposed to be’. Even when she realizes the partner isn’t right for her, she can have great difficulty ending the relationship unless there is another partner waiting in the wings. Her basic dislike for conflict makes it hard for her to reject someone even when it’s obviously in her best interest. And when a relationship does end with no new relationship on the horizon to replace it, she is apt to enter into an extended period of mourning. It’s not so much that she hates being alone as it is that she retreats inward, obsessing, and blaming herself for the failed relationship.

Although a Psyche’s love usually runs very deep, her expressions of affection will often be rather subtle and light, sometimes even playful. Her reluctance to discuss her emotions in depths extends to her partnerships as well . . . the partner of a Psyche may not receive a lot of verbal assurance of her love.

A Psyche is always devoted to her partner, but she may not always respond positively to sexual and physical approaches. She will be physically demonstrative at times, but these are the times of her choosing, when her mood is right. And she especially won’t be in the mood when a recent argument is still in her mind.

A Psyche can be a supportive partner who encourages her mate to have dreams and to work hard to make them come to fruition. She frequent has a wealth of excellent suggestions to help her partner reach their goals.

Psyches usually need a home that is well kept because she is greatly bothered by clutter. Consequently she tends to do more than her fair share of the everyday chores and can come to resent the inequity, wishing her partner would pitch in and help. But above all else a Psyche needs harmony, and she will work hard to see that it is present in her home. She is usually easy going and a pleasant partner. Continuous conflict or complaints are very destructive of her spirit.

Visit the reference section at www.goddessgift.com to find valuable resources that will help you ‘love the one you’re with’, getting past the ancient conflicts and behavior patterns that have the power to destroy relationships. Learn to appreciate, even honor, each other’s complementary, but differing, ways of being. By developing insight into the ways the god and goddess archetypes interact, you can learn how to make your differences complement one another as intensely as they might otherwise clash.

Psyche Under Stress

Your goddess type impacts every aspect of your life, including your health and sense of well-being. In fact, recent research suggests a direct link between personality and illness. Your goddess type represents the orderly arrangement of your personality that helps you deal with life. If your life is highly compatible with your goddess type, all is well. If, however, your circumstances force you to function largely outside your personal type, you will view your life from a negative perspective and experience stress and emotional discomfort. Our thoughts and emotions are deeply intertwined. Negative thoughts provoke negative feelings that rob the body of the energy it needs to remain in healthy balance, leaving us susceptible to illness.

Consider this example: Amy’s goddess type is one that finds it very difficult to say ‘no’ to anyone. Consequently, she is always trying to do too much and is frequently behind schedule. Missing deadlines and being late for appointments causes her to feel guilty, so every time she is late creates additional stress for her. That stress results in a negative chemical reaction in her body, which, if continued over a long period of time, can ‘wear down’ her body’s natural defenses, leaving her accident prone and vulnerable to infections and a number of other stress-related illnesses.

Another body of fascinating research suggests that each personality type is linked to its own specific areas of vulnerability, or ‘weak sites’, within the body . . . an Achilles’ heel, so to speak. It is thought that these particular areas may be more sensitive to stress-related chemical imbalance.

This section will help you identify:

• Typical ways your type functions under stress

• Characteristic negative thoughts (fears and anxieties) that produce stress

• Vulnerable areas of the body and major health issues for your goddess type

• Behavior patterns that may put you ‘at risk of developing a specific health problem

Conflict within a Psyche woman’s relationships, especially her closest ones, is highly stressful for her. Her quiet personality and pleasant nature makes her particularly vulnerable to being hurt. Most Psyches have a tendency to avoid conflict at any cost, even it requires suppressing their own needs and feelings. A major source of stress in a Psyche’s life is her ongoing struggle with her fear that she may be unlovable and the resulting willingness to accept responsibility for the faults and problems of others.

A Psyche woman can lose her objectivity if she gets too emotionally involved with others, especially those ‘needy’ types who take advantage of her. It often helps for a Psyche woman to ‘sort out the seeds’, as the goddess had to do, to figure out which are her problems and which really need to be ‘given back’ to their rightful owners. Since a woman with Psyche characteristics is frequently agreeable and cooperative, she often has adopted the beliefs and values of others as her own — just as the goddess Psyche took on her sisters’ worry that her husband was really a ‘monster’.

Deeply fearful of being unworthy or unlovable, she is very aware that others can use these vulnerabilities against her. When conflicts and disharmony occur, her emotions may overwhelm her, leading her to indulge in fantasies (which are sometimes wildly inaccurate) about herself or the relationship. She often struggles with self-pity, self-doubt, or even self-condemnation. In a state of inner confusion, she redoubles her efforts to obtain the reassurance or approval of others to alleviate these feelings. Sometimes this only perpetuates her feelings of personal inadequacy by casting her into codependent relationships. Finding it difficult to balance her need to be able to depend upon others while taking full responsibility for her own choices, a Psyche may find herself nurturing negative feelings (including jealousy) about others. To interrupt the vicious cycle, a Persephone can consciously refrain from indulging in fantasy and start examining herself more objectively during times when her life is particularly stressful.

Feelings of powerlessness may leave her depressed. Her first response to an overwhelming stressor is usually to withdraw, to become immobilized and unable to respond until the situation improves. She feels fragmented and lost; and often says, ‘I don’t feel like my real self’ or ‘Something is missing’. It is not unusual for physical symptoms and minor illnesses to appear when she has been under stress for a while.

The most vulnerable areas of a Psyche’s body include her respiratory system, neck, chest shoulders, and upper back. Muscular tension, headaches, asthma and bronchitis, allergies, hormonal imbalances and eating disorders are health issues commonly affecting women who are Psyche types.

Situations most likely to trigger a Psyche’s level of stress are those that evoke:

• the fear others will recognize and use their vulnerabilities against them

• fear of not being loved

• resentment from holding onto past hurts and angers

• frustration over finding it hard to face important issues and make decisions

Major stressors that arise in the lives of a Psyche are often related to her:

• suppressing her own feelings and not be able to express them

• willingness to accept the responsibility and blame herself for everything that occurs, and

• willingness to accept the responsibility and blame herself for everything that occurs, and

• tendency to be single-minded and focused on her relationships while questioning whether or not she is worthy of being loved.

Psyche’s Personal Goddess Path

While your goddess type is the strongest, most developed, preferred, and ‘natural’ to you, you potentially have aspects (or traits) of all the goddesses in your personality. They are willing to come to your rescue if needed. As your life unfolds over time, you will be presented with different challenges that are not in your goddess’ ‘area of expertise’, challenges that another goddess would be better equipped to handle. You can recognize when this occurs because you may feel drained of energy, ‘mentally fuzzy’, and less sure of your ability to cope. Your life may feel out of control, or you may even have a strong sense of being ‘numbed’ or detached from what is going on around you. Here is where those other goddesses can come to your rescue.

Psyche’s Allies

Your allies are the goddesses Demeter and Rhiannon. Already present in your personality, they can be called into play to help you adapt and grow. Which goddess is active at any given time depends on a combination of factors that interact-how many (and which) goddesses are in your repertoire and your predisposition to use them. The situation you find yourself coping with and the roles it calls forth in you, even your hormones, and your stage of life are also important factors.

Think of your life as an improvisational play with several actresses in the cast, each with different roles. One actress (your personal goddess type) will play the lead and be on-stage most of the time since she is your strongest, most experienced performer. However, the others will be called on-stage occasionally when the play takes a direction that calls for their ‘special’ skills or attributes.

You can also activate a goddess archetype intentionally, by consciously focusing on her (through study, meditations, rituals) or by ‘doing’ those activities with which she is associated, such as taking a college course to ‘activate’ the logical Athena. All you need do is honor her and consciously invite her presence – a process called ‘invoking’ a goddess. This section identifies the other goddesses in your makeup and some of the ways you can summon, or invoke, these goddesses in your life-to solicit their aid during times of crisis or to strengthen their impact and increase your psychological flexibility.

Like Psyche, your ally Demeter was in touch with her emotions, able to examine herself and to understand her motives. As the most selfless, and most nurturing of the goddesses, it must have been very difficult for Demeter to stand her ground against Zeus, refusing to provide the harvest until her daughter was restored to her. As an ally, Demeter can help you surmount the feelings of self-doubt that sometimes engulf you. And she can assist you in learning not to feel so guilty when you disappoint others or when you expect too much from yourself. If you are one of the many Psyches who are so reserved that they seldom speak out about their ideas and feel your ideas are often underestimated by others, (or if you only feel comfortable expressing positive opinions and adhere to the old saying that ‘If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything.’) you may need to seek Demeter’s help in developing your assertiveness.

Psyches are often filled with longing for something they sense is missing in themselves, or in their relationships. Once Rhiannon’s presence is activated, a Psyche develops an ability to stand back, taking things less personally, and finding she can view her life more objectively. By coming to a better understanding of cause and effect, and learning to calm herself when she feels she is facing a crisis, she is better able to achieve the harmony, the unity of mind and spirit, she so desires.

To develop a healthy balance you need to integrate characteristics of each of the goddesses into your life. By so doing, you can recognize needs you’ve left unfulfilled. Then by attending to those needs, you can become happier and more self-confident. Visit the website again (www.goddessgift.com) to learn more about the different goddesses and to learn specific ways to strengthen their presence in your life.

Recognizing Your ‘Missing Goddess’

Just as your goddess type is dominant in your makeup, there is also one specific goddess that will be the weakest in you. Aphrodite is your missing goddess. Recognizing this goddess, and honoring her presence, is critical to your well-being because, if she remains neglected, she is apt to appear at the most unexpected time to create havoc in your life.

Most of us have witnessed, at one time or another, an acquaintance who, in the face of some seemingly trivial irritation, explodes into a tirade, ready to ‘take the skin off’ the offender. Normally a sweet-natured, compliant and somewhat self-effacing type, she pays for ignoring her missing goddess (in this case one who is more demanding or judgmental than her own goddess type). Had she acknowledged these needs within herself and developed a few simple assertiveness skills, she would have been spared this embarrassment.

You’ve probably encountered the motif of the ‘uninvited guest’ that appears in many fairy tales and legends. Usually the story begins with a celebration to which everyone in the kingdom is invited, everyone that is except for one certain person (often a witch or a troll who is disliked because they seem ugly or evil). This uninvited guest, understandably miffed at having been excluded, invariably shows up anyway and places a terrible curse on the hosts, the infant who is being christened, or even on the entire kingdom! The terms ‘uninvited guest’ or ‘missing goddess’ refer to the neglected or rejected side of our selves we’ve forced out of our conscious awareness. In Jungian psychology, these disowned aspects of the self, forced to reside in the darkness of the unconscious mind, are called the ‘shadow’. It is the part of our self that we feel least comfortable with and have rejected as not being a part of ‘who we really are’.

The goddess Aphrodite is your missing goddess, the goddess least represented in your personality. This suggests that you do not find it natural, or easy, to embody or demonstrate many of Aphrodite’s traits, especially her assertiveness, her extroverted social skills and her appreciation for the sensual things in life.

Most Psyches have a tendency to idealize relationships, especially their romantic ones, and find it very difficult to disengage, to be the rejecting one, even when they are aware that the relationship is not meeting their needs. Additionally, the mourning that is apt to follow a Psyche’s rejection tends to be painful and protracted. Aphrodite can help you learn to extricate yourself from these situations with greater finesse, and certainly less agonizing over your personal responsibility for the failure of the relationship.

A Psyche who has neglected to develop her Aphrodite archetype can allow her emotions to overwhelm her, leading to self-indulgence, either by increasingly retreating to a fantasy world or by a sensual decadence that may be expressed as uninhibited eating, drinking, etc. Aphrodite will help you examine and accept your sensual needs, helping you put them under your conscious control.

Goddess of romance and passion, of fashion, beauty and art, Aphrodite has captivated the hearts of poets and painters for centuries. Known for her numerous affairs of the heart, as well as her willingness to help others find the love they seek, her stories reveal the extent of her power. Aphrodite’s irresistible touch can transform the lives of contemporary Psyches, just as she did for Psyche in the myths. Both playful and sophisticated, Aphrodite makes our world a livelier place. Read her story Aphrodite@www.goddessgift.com. Make it a point to remember her and honor her regularly. Practice her strengths. She would like to become one of your allies, so welcome her into your life.

Approaching the Triple Goddess

Before the Titans and the Olympians (the gods and goddesses with their very human-like traits and personalities) appeared in Greek mythology, and long before the 5,000 year reign of male deities, people recognized a Triple Goddess who symbolized the three faces of the original Great Goddess. Often depicted in association with the changing phases of the moon, the Triple Goddess moves between her many roles with the changing seasons of her life. In Greek mythology her three faces are described as the:

Maiden/Virgin            Skilled,self-defining, achieving, and focused

Mother/Matriarch       Relationship-oriented,nurturing, loving, generous

Wisewoman/Crone     Contemplative, spiritual, compassionate, able to laugh, an agent of transformative change in society

In Native American mythology the Triple Goddess was represented by the benevolent Changing Woman who could change back and forth from an infant to a young or old woman at will. She reminds us that a full life is rooted in our own nature as well as the seasons of our particular stage of life. Although recent social changes such as our ability to control the timing of childbearing have loosened the ties of the various stages to a woman’s chronological age, it is still common for most women to develop psychologically following this age-old sequence.

The major developmental task of the young woman, in her maiden stage, typically is to claim and embrace her own personal goddess and to fully develop and strengthen the character of her personal goddess type. Having done so, at mid-life (the phase of the mother/matron), her personal growth is enhanced by nurturing the presence and the strengths of the other goddesses who have remained less developed in her personality. With her primary goddess now strong and experienced, she can now afford to attend to the areas of her life she has heretofore neglected. And in the third phase of her life, generally occurring when she is postmenopausal, she reaches the stage of the wisewoman or crone. Her task at this stage is to pull back some from the more external and active involvement of her earlier years, to integrate all that she has learned, and to draw inward, finding her own voice and purpose. She emerges more spontaneous and less restrained by convention, more contemplative, more compassionate and self-accepting. She can be quite outspoken, in touch with her anger on behalf of herself and others. She is fully capable of forcing social changes that are needed. Using the wisdom she has gained, she now is able to weave her unique perspective into a tapestry that is a full expression of the sacred feminine.

Ways to Grow

Your journey toward completeness will require that, above all else, you remain steadfast to your true nature, working to nurture, and if necessary rebuild, your self-esteem which is vulnerable to the challenge of living in a society which undervalues the quiet, spiritual strengths of your archetype. While remaining true to your inner self, you need to call upon the other goddesses as allies to help you expand your repertoire of social skills and to develop the assertiveness to deal successfully in the outer world.

Other recommendations:

• Desiring to be accepted by others, some Psyches adapt themselves so much to the expectations of others that they lose touch with what they are really feeling in a situation. It is important that you resist being a “people pleaser” at the expense of discovering your own core beliefs and values.

• Most Psyches are so in touch with their own feelings, that they can be misled by them. Hesitating to make a decision until they understand their feelings completely (especially the negative ones), can sometimes be a mistake. Many Psyche women need to learn to pay less attention to their feelings, especially those that make them feel bad about themselves.

• Developing self-discipline is important for Psyches and can take many forms–getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and adopting a routine have strengthening effects. Obviously excessive alcohol, drugs, sleep, and sexual experiences are not healthy means of coping with stress.

• Try to avoid lengthy conversations with yourself, especially if they involve negative, resentful, or excessively romantic imaginings.  These internal conversations are often not very reality-based and are, at best, only rehearsals for what might happen.   Instead spend time imagining your life and relationships as you want them to be and start to live these dreams.

• Psyches often feel that they haven’t “got it together” yet and consequently put off doing things that will benefit them. You may feel that you’re not ready yet to take on a challenge, but you can only build your confidence if you are accomplishing things and having positive experiences.  So start small, but commit yourself to doing something that will bring out the best in you.

• Commit yourself to productive, meaningful activities that will create an opportunity for you to discover yourself and your talents. Don’t put off doing things until you’re in the right mood. Psyches are actually happiest when they are working, testing their potential, and realizing their strengths. . . so it is important that they not wait for inspiration, but get out in the real world to “find themselves”.

Closing the Circle: Finding Completion on the Goddess Path

Even before the appearance of the Triple Goddess, humankind recognized the existence of a ‘Oneness’, a creator, a ‘giver of life’, a spiritual presence who was complete, in and of herself. She was known by many names, among them the Great Goddess, Ishtar, Gaia (Mother Earth). All powerful, she was life energy itself, and a goddess unafraid to venture into the underworld, the symbol for the soul. She reminds us that we must ground ourselves in the reality of our nature and incorporate all sides of ourselves, whether they be light and pleasant or dark and wrathful. She demanded that we connect to the inner wisdom inside our selves and that we manifest that wisdom in the world.

A Final Note

Although in contemporary times we are more likely to speak of mental health, self-actualization, or even spiritual enlightenment, the quest remains the same – growth that leads to personal authenticity. Recognizing and nurturing your goddesses within is a good beginning. As you continue on the goddess path in your quest for a meaningful life, we at Goddessgift wish you good luck and . . . well, Goddess-speed!

We wish to gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Dr. John A. Johnson for allowing the use of comments he authored concerning the description of personality traits measured by the IPIP items contained in the goddess quiz, and to Steven E. Brenner who authored the original IPIP analysis program on which our program is based..