Hestia – Our "Rest and Recharge" Archetype

Our Hestia Archetype – The “Power Behind the Throne”

It might seem a little confusing.

In Unveiling: The Inner Journey, I write about six core power archetypes. But lately, I’ve been referring to eight. What’s going on? Where did these two “extras” come from?

And more to the point, how important are they?

Well, what my research showed – fully disclosed in Unveiling – is that we have six core power archetypes. These are the ones that we have to master – in order to be on top of our “life gamee.”

But what was not so clear when I was writing Unveiling – and what has become more clear since then – is that we have two more power archetypes. These are ones that we typically don’t have to learn. They come to us naturally and innately. What is more significant is that they provide us with two essential “rest and recharge” modes. They’re the means by which humans (men and women both) naturally “regroup and refresh.” I call these two modes Hestia and the Green Man. Today’s post discusses our Hestia mode.

Do you remember watching the movie Hannibal? A bit of a grisly tale, to be sure. But there is one telling scene in this movie. Clarice, the young FBI agent, runs afoul of the FBI “system.”

Clarice is suspended from active duty, pending an official “investigation” into her performance. She returns home, suddenly divested of the two most potent symbols by which she defines herself – her official FBI badge, and her (phallic-identifying) weapon.

This is a horribly challenging moment for Clarice. For about ten years, this young woman has defined herself through her Amazon role. The badge and weapon were not only “tools of the trade.” They gave her identity. Now, her core identity has been taken from her, and her future is in jeopardy.

The next scene in the movie is telling. We see Clarice cleaning out her kitchen cupboards, glass of scotch close at hand.

Under stress, Clarice does what many of us do to get a “clear head.” She enters into her Hestia mode.

Who – or what – is Hestia?

In goddess mythology, Hestia is goddess of hearth and home. But more than that, she is often our portal to one of our most necessary modes; our inner High Priestess.

Clotilde Dusoulier, author of the lovely cookbook Chocolate and Zucchini, is quoted describing her mental process while trimming green beans for a salad:

My fingers busy themselves instinctively – much like those of people wh knit without looking – while I let my mind wander, thinking about therest of the menu, plans for the weekend and whether I should cut my hair.” [Food and Wine, January, 2007, p. 58]

The Hestia mode is not exclusive to women. Men use this mode – they need it – just as much as women do.

Think of the character Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the hit TV series NCIS. What does he do to unwind from stress? He builds a boat in his basement. Without power tools. That’s a man in his Hestia mode.

And to quote another of our favorite characters, Hierophant classic Mr. Miyagi, instructing his young protege in the Karate Kid, “Wax on, wax off.”

More on Hestia in a future blogposting.

5 thoughts on “Hestia – Our "Rest and Recharge" Archetype

  1. Epolenep

    Hi Alay’nya, I’m the Sílvia whom you answered a comment on Living in Season (http://livinginseason.blogspot.com/2010/10/personality-type-and-time.html) but I write you from the profile I now use…

    I want to thank you for the great, interesting comment, it’s really good and also amazing to find that you can really guess how I am!

    And when I came to your great blog I found something really beautiful: I’m also doing my work on archetypes and goddesses, and I’m specially inspired by Hestia. What I’m doing is a series of self-portraits of me as all the goddesses, together with my feelings and experiences and poems and musics for each of them…

    In spite of being in Catalan, my mother tongue, I hope you come and visit my blogs (translators are not perfect, but they can help :-)):

    The general one: sendersalbosc.blogspot.com (which means Paths in the Forest)

    The goddesses project: senderdelesdeesses.blogspot.com (which means The Path of the Goddesses)

    I’m always happy to discover these connections, and I’m of course coming to visit you blog often.

    I read you soon!

    Reply
  2. Alay'nya

    Hi, Epolenep – How lovely to hear from you!

    I was indeed impressed by the work that you described in a comment on the “Living in Seasons” blog. And the series you describe – casting yourself into each of the “goddess” modes – how interesting!

    As you do this, do you find yourself pulling out and expressing different aspects of your personality? I’d like to know more.

    Will look at your blog.

    And thank you for visiting me and leaving a comment!

    yours – Alay’nya

    Reply
  3. Epolenep

    Alay’nya, good to read from you…

    Well, before reading about goddesses I had started a series of posts with the tag “Mes in Me” (this title is English but “mes” sounds like “more” in Catalan. It sounds also to me like “mess” :-), on which I tried to show through self-portraits or writings a particular aspect of my-self.

    After discovering that I had two self-portraits playing with the idea of appearing as a madonna (not religious, of course, but a bit creepy or ironic) I went straight to the idea of the goddesses in every woman, and I swallowed the book. It was and still is really inspiring in this moment of my life, and I’m still slowly digesting all that information and all the creative ideas that arise from the very concept…

    My approach to every goddess is to focus on what She touches in me, and according to this I write something and look for music or other references to match. I’m now working on Hera, and it’s being hard as She is the most strange to me. In this sense it’s a kind of homework to help me balance all the mes in me

    Well, I really like to be here!
    Thanks for your interest and for the wonderful info in your blog…

    Yours,
    Epolenep

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Hestia – When A Woman’s Work is Never Done | Unveiling: The Inner Journey

  5. Pingback: Your Hestia Archetype: The High Value of Puttering | Unveiling: The Inner Journey

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