The goddess archetype Aphrodite. Sensuality, seduction, aesthetics, and creation.
The goddess archetype Aphrodite. Sensuality, seduction, aesthetics, and creation.
The art of balancing female goddess archetypes in a society obsessed with beauty and youth. Archetype of Aphrodite (Venus)-shadow and light.
Welcome to my 13th post! Covering the fields of psychology, science, art, and history, I have a deep desire to understand the complexity of the human mind and behavior. My posts are free and educational, but if you consider a paid subscription, I will be more than grateful. While I have based this article mostly on my own research and observations, I have used information from a variety of sources for reference, as you will find below. However, please be kind with gaps or shortcomings. Read it at your own pace and enjoy this moment of solitude and self-reflection.
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” C.G.Jung
What is an archetype?
Archetypes in society are recurring symbols, people's typical roles, such as creator, lover, caregiver, rebel, or wise old man, mother, which reflect deep patterns in human behavior and our shared cultural heritage. On a personal level, archetypes can represent a variety of aspects of our personalities, we can embody more then one archetype.
In this post, I'll go over the details of and examples of some female mithological archetypes, as well as the prevalence and overuse of the Aphordite archetype in today's youth-oriented culture. The implications of overuse of this archetype include a rise among young women in body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia, extreme body and face transformations, body and mind dissociation.*1
I'm writing this in hopes of imparting knowledge about women's strength and sexuality to sustain our womanhood. This is also for men to read, since they hold and project an archetypal image of ideal woman in the male psyche (anima), they play a vital role in promoting healthy sexuality while being receptive to women's body enjoyment and feelings of sexual power.
“Ideally, a man’s anima proceeds naturally through these stages as he grows older. In fact, as an archetypal life force, the anima manifests in whatever shape or form is necessary to compensate the dominant conscious attitude.
So long as the anima is unconscious, everything she stands for is projected. Most commonly, because of the initially close tie between the anima and the protective mother-imago, this projection falls on the partner, with predictable results.” Read more
Loveless relationships have historically exchanged sexual access for protection and provision.
It should be remembered that a woman's sexuality is complexly related to her socioeconomic situation, and this in turn influences her sexuality.
In relationships with addiction or domestic violence, women need support and resources to address these issues before addressing their sexual issues.
Is this a Good Girl, an Armored Amazon, a Dutiful Wife, a Seductress, a Ludic girl?
When we overidentify with something, we become limited, rigid and bound. The self is always seeking expansion, movement, and emergence.
A woman's life energy flows through her, as does her sexual energy, as she balances sweetness, play, hope, mystery, idealism, open heart experiences, grounded sensuality, sexual generosity, attunement, progress, passion, and innate sensuality. Nurturing all of the wonderful elements of femininity is how she discovers her own unique sexual nature.
There are many facets to sexuality, and sensuality and eroticism are attributes that women may experience at any age, in relationships or alone.
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What is a Shadow and Shadow work?
Shadows can be both dark and light, and humans' best qualities might be too beautiful or brilliant for others to embrace, bear, or contain. Sometimes we feel that we are taking up too much space; we are too much for others to handle.
Sometimes we hide our beauty, our bodies, and our minds; we stir up envy; we don’t wear high heels to not attract too much attention; we cut our hair; we give up our big dreams.
We are quiet, walk on tiptoes, and look down.
These wonderful traits we are hiding can be denied and transferred into the unconscious, resulting in a "bright shadow,” according to Chelsea Wakefield.
Each person develops a fraction of the archetypal spectrum of human possibility, while the rest remains unconscious.
From an archetypal standpoint, sexuality demonstrates that all people have unfulfilled psychological potential. When people participate in the individuation journey, sexuality is included.
Shadows can also be our darker (not bad), or instictuals, primal desires, or primordial connection to our wild nature.
Content references:
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961), the father of analytical psychology, is the inspiration for this post and the archetypes I will describe. His works, writings, and concepts are profound and enlightening to me. Reading his work, which integrates spirituality, somatics, psychology, and the dream and consciousness realms—including topics like complexes, archetypes, shadows, individuation, synchronicity, anima and animus, the collective unconscious, and more—reading his work is an enriching experience for me.
Podcast: APHRODITE’S SHADOW: Drowning in Beauty
Books: History of Beauty. Umberto Eco
In Search of Aphrodite: Women, Archetypes and Sex Therapy. Chelsea Wakefield
C.J.Jung, Aniela Jaffé : Man and His Symbols.
Women Who Run With the Wolves.Clarissa Pinkola Estés
For much of his life, Jung devoted himself to the study of archetypal patterns, which he saw as manifestations of the human collective unconscious in ancient images, myths, and fairy tales. He sought out archetypes in people's dreams and life narratives and integrated the idea into his psychological theory. Until particular stages of development or environmental demands bring an archetype to life, it may remain latent in the depths of the psyche.
I want to emphasize the importance of feminine archetypes (latent or active in us) and how we can identify them in ourselves and our society.
Archetypes are experienced in the body as energy and emotion. In order to understand an archetype, it must be experienced, and when we actively recognize an archetype, it has the ability to transform the way we think and feel.
An Overview of the Seven Greek Mythological Goddesses as Archetypes
We can all tap into the feminine energy represented by each goddess archetype in her own unique way.
All women carry within them the timeless expressions of the goddess archetypes.
Because our personalities change constantly in response to our surroundings, activities, experiences, and learning, it's possible for you to embody all of these archetypes. Our partners have the power to highlight or diminish different goddess archetypes.
A short description of the seven greek goddess who are the most recurrent in our history, culture and society:
Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, is the "alchemical" goddess who governs a woman's pleasure in love, sexuality, and sensuality. She encourages women to fulfill their sexual desires by taking the initiative to be creative, purposeful, fun, and seductive.
Goddess Artemis (worrior) personifies the archetype of the powerful, protective, sisterly, lightning-fast, punitive, and passionately competitive female. Both the moon goddess and the huntress are aspects of her.
When a woman prioritizes finding a spouse over her duties as a student, worker, or mother, she is exhibiting traits associated with the goddess Hera, the wife, who is connected with marriage.
The goddess Athena represents the strong-willed, self-assured woman who can rise above her emotions and get things done; she is linked with craft and wisdom and represents intellectuals and carriers.
Hestia, the nurturer goddess of the home and temple, is centered within, gives tranquility and solace, and grants favor to individuals who reside in solitude.
As a result of her mother Demeter's stealing, young Persephone ascended to the position of queen of Hades. Being vulnerable with one's inner world, open to the influence of others, and having a pure heart are all qualities that she embodies.
Demeter (mother) personifies the maternal archetype as a nurturer who ensures the material, emotional, and spiritual well of her children.
Aphrodite—Archetype
The Aphrodite archetype guides women's pleasures of love, procreation, playfulness, beauty, sexuality, and sensuality. She encourages women to be creative forces who engage in serious artistic endeavors. She is the only goddess among all who is not vulnerable, and she chooses her suitors as she sees fit.
The genuine Aphrodite archetype has the advantage of developing charm, also known as sex appeal, regardless of physical attractiveness. Women who naturally embody this archetype are usually playful, joyful and creative.
All kinds of women with Aphrodite traits draw others via their seductive warmth and implicit sexuality.
The one side Aphrodite archetype.
In today's youth-beauty-obsessed society, we've embraced mimicking Aphrodite's commercial sexy side, striving to be the perfect, seductively desired object woman without integrating the genuine Aphrodite that is latent or active in all of us.
Throughout society's history, there has been a dominant female archetype; in 1930 and 1940, the prevalent archetype was Hera, the dutiful wife. The rise of the new archetype Aphrodite has had an upsurge as we began to value outlooks, the flood of images, pornography promoted a certain type of being sexy, fitness industry, and a new archetype has emerged without prompting us to consider what we are attempting to embody, whether it is healthy or sustainable.
We go to great lengths to have it all and appear carefree, but the truth is that when we identify too strongly with one archetype, even if it is a wonderful seductive one, it can and will overpower us.
In this case, we are promoting sensual Aphrodite everywhere, and the consequence is that women are developing eating disorders like at no other time in history before; body image distortion, as well as face and body transformations, are being considered as self-care and empowering methods to stay as young as possible, as the ultimate goal of a woman's life.
Future generations of young girls will inherit this transformative phenomenon, which bears little to no connection to female empowerment, liberation, and real sexual integration.
What I mean is that if you base your identity solely on one archetype, whether popular or not, you rely on your feedback to live your life, and as Aphrodite ages, we will see a different side of those women who received their attention, love, and validation solely based on their outlook and sexiness.
We must look inward if we are to maintain our outlook and cultivate values that will mature and help us move forward while also making us feel safe. Taking care of our bodies and outlook is a wonderful thing to do—nice hair, nails, cute shoes—but when we make those our priorities for getting attention, we are not free; we are cought up, slowly drowning in beauty.
Feeling sexy is a second-order behavior; you must experience it before you can easily exhibit it. When new neural paths are unlocked, new connections are formed, and a new world emerges.
”With embedded norms with relevance to society of how one should look, overwhelming pressure is put on girls to conform, which in turn affects their self-esteem when they do or do not meet these norms [8]. Adolescent and young women (16–24) who are at the age of self-discovery have formed their perceptions of beauty images that are usually unattainable based on societal influences [9]. Research shows that there is an association between the social environment and the behaviors, feelings, and thoughts of individuals. These thoughts are usually passed on from parents, peers, and overt messages that encourage the “appearance culture” [10].
More often than not, a woman's struggles to put herself out there are rooted in self-limiting scripts, unconscious decisions made early in life, and an inner cast of characters at conflict with her Aphrodite self.
Aphrodite light can shine bright upon you when you learn to play, create and enjoy parts of your life and stay in your power.
“Forget a New Sexual Position … Let's Try a New Archetypal Position!”*
Every different archetypal orientation a woman inhabits will provoke a different response in her partner.
She is not necessarily acting differently; rather, she is being different.
As a woman discovers her own inner fire, she wishes to share it in a meaningful exchange with a partner.
If she has previously been an Anima Woman, the embodiment of someone else's ideal, she now wishes to be recognized for who she truly is.
She wants to assert her own erotic identity, and she wants it met with presence and passion. A woman's desire to experience the depth dimension of a sexual and emotional relationship often grows in midlife.
She may discover that her partner is uninterested in being with a "awakened woman." The balance of power can begin to shift, causing serious issues.
Women who discover their Aphrodite energy are passionately awakened throughout their lives.
A woman may need to shift her archetypal approach to a more courageous intensity at times; she may benefit from nurturing or becoming more playful.
We can have it all, we are creative beings.
We can be and feel sexy, we are sexual beings, we can have fun, we can wear make-up or not, we can be interested in our beauty and sensuality, and we can have control over our lives, but there is a cost if we are unaware of how we use this power and our sexuality. If young girls do not have other women to look up to, they may miss out on learning how to honor and love their unique beauty and body.
We are currently experiencing the most exciting period in the history of our gender, where we have the freedom to pursue a wide range of lives, partners, and goals. We have the freedom to experience any kind of fantasy and bring it to fruition. We have reached a time when we have the ability to do and be anything we desire.
We are here, ladies!
A part of us are here, and I am happy to be living now and writing this post. Feeling free to express my sexuality, thoughts and my blond long hair.
Can you feel the joy of living free in your life?
