Working with the goddess archetype can be a profound framework for shadow and integration work.
“They are living psychological patterns that exist within our personal and collective unconscious.”
Ignoring them can mean parts of us become fragmented or forgotten. When this happens it’s possible to experience the shadow aspect of the archetype, that comes from the wound that can be expressed through self-sabotage, anxiety, judgement of others and/or self, or feeling unfulfilled.
Carl Jung viewed archetypes as inherited psychic structures. The forgotten parts of ourselves that are often banished to the shadow.
Archetypal healing is the process of bringing these shadow elements into conscious awareness. So if we were to map out the conscious vs unconscious split we could look at how they manifest.
Dominant archetype (conscious): this will be one that you actively identify yourself as, or a persona that’s become dominant in order to survive/navigate a situation. This sits in your conscious awareness.
Non-dominant archetype (unconscious): this will be the energy aspect of the archetype you’ve repressed due to societal conditioning or personal trauma. It often sits just out of our conscious reach like a blind spot.
Do you need vulnerability, strength or alchemy?
You can actively call on and call in the Goddess energy to help you through a transition or for integration work. First, identify where the gaps are, what energy do you need to bring in more of and for what purpose?
Vulnerable Goddesses: Hera, Demeter, Persephone - they focused on relationship and connection.
Strength Goddesses: Artemis, Athena, Hestia - focused on independence and self-reliance.
Alchemical Goddesses: Aphrodite, Hekate, Kali, Oshun, Isis: they focused on transmuting energy, shifting it from one state of energy to another in order to heal, create wholeness, love, transition the dark etc.
Calling ‘you’ back in
There will have been a reason you’ve suppressed an element of yourself. It might not have felt safe or appropriate, or you may have been worried about judgement, being accepted and fitting in. Whatever it is, find that reason, don’t cast judgement towards yourself, apply only compassion and understanding to it. Feel into your reasons from the most loving place possible. Honour her, that version of you that you pushed out or shut down, and welcome her back in.
The path to wholeness
The path you walk isn’t going to be an easy straight road. You already know this, but once it becomes clear that you may have consciously or not, caused fragmentation and have been subjected to external experiences that dominates in separation and division, it’s easy to see how this happens. It’s never about blame, guilt or fault. It’s an experience you’ve had and with awareness you can call yourself back home - to the self, to your soul essence and divine spark.
The energetic codes of the Goddess and the divine feminine
We can use the deities that came before us as the archetype, but the real work is to realise that the energetic signature or codes of that deity already lies within you, just expressing itself through a different form - you. As we move into the divine feminine we are remembering. We are anchoring the light and the codes, we are stepping into our sacred roles as gatekeepers and star-holders. The wisdom that rises through us is gnostic, it comes from a place of knowing. You can step into these energies to reclaim the forgotten parts of the self, of the soul and move inwards as another layer and level emerges through you. You are here, you are remembering and you are needed.