The Artemis Archetype

Why We Need It More Than Ever

Back in 2016, my book on The Artemis Archetype, co-edited with Dr. Eileen Harney, was published.

A few years prior, I had researched the Greek goddesses and created a panel for the NeMLA conference. The outpouring of proposals led me to create a seminar panel, which we then turned into an anthology of essays on the manifestations of the archetype in popular fiction, film, and television. After the conference, Dr. Harney (a panelist I chose to be co-editor) and I put a book together, soliciting more essays from others in academia. In the end, we each wrote 2 additional essays for the book, and the end result is something I’m incredibly proud of. I created a college course that utilized the text and taught hundreds of students about the power of goddess archetypes in their lives. It was a very rewarding experience.

But flash forward to now; it has been a few years since I taught this material in any more than a workshop, and yet, I’m struck by two things: (1) how much I’m seeing people around me manifesting the traits of the archetype and (2) how much others could find their lives somewhat improved if they began to manifest the traits.

So what are the characteristics of the Artemis archetype? Here are some central ones that I’ve learned from the research of Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen, Christine Downing, and others, plus my own understanding from years of working with it:

1. Goal-focused. Able to concentrate and focus on a single goal at a time.

2. Introverted. Enjoys solitude and actually craves alone time.

3. Protectress. Strong defender and protector of others, particularly women and children.

4. Egalitarian. Might be single by choice, but if in a relationship, it’s an equal partnership.

5. Activist. Believes in causes, especially those that support women and marginalized people.

When the recent Supreme Court destruction of Roe v. Wade occurred, everyone around me was in a panic. Many still are. But in the midst of that chaos, I noticed something. On social media, I saw many posting about how this was the signal—that it was through this terrible travesty of an attack against bodily autonomy that people were going to begin to rise—that the Goddess was going to rise. I’ve seen various goddesses mentioned in this conversation. Kali. Medusa. The Morrigan. I subscribe to that energy, for sure. But one goddess I’ve not seen “rise” yet into conversation is Artemis, and she should be.

Looking over those traits of her archetype above, it’s easy to see why she should be a part of the conversation. We should study her. Learn about her. Journal about her and our connection to her. Look for manifestations of her in our popular culture—in our book, we found her in tons of places in fiction, film, and television. When we “see” her in characters we have grown to love, we find it easier to visualize how to bring her power into our own way of approaching ourselves and the world.

We hypothesized that we found far more examples of her archetype in fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian literature than we did in stories about “real” life, because we felt that even writers and directors couldn’t find examples of her in the modern world. We hypothesized that patriarchal societies only attempt to squelch the power of those who manifest her traits, so she only appeared in invented, imaginative worlds.

Except, that doesn’t HAVE to be true, if we work to change it. There are lots of examples of REAL Artemis archetypes in the world around us. They may not be starring in movies or Netflix series, or the protagonist of a book series that everyone is reading, but they are right next to us, in school, at work, around our dinner tables. They are sometimes our kids or the kids we watch over who are still little but have that fire and fierceness in them. They are sometimes US, and we don’t even know it yet, because we don’t have a name for what we aspire to be.

If you identify with a few of those ideals above, or even all of them, then you are either manifesting the Artemis archetype now, or you are being called to.

And when the goddess calls…

Take Heed.