Athena Archetype: 10 benefits and how to work with it

The Athena Archetype is a powerful archetype for those who seek more wisdom and intelligence in everyday life and want the strength to face challenges. Athena is the Greek Goddess of wisdom, war, and also justice. Ancienter studies suggest that she was also closely associated as a Goddess of weaving and craftsmanship, indicating a very creative side. Even so, Athena also exhibits questionable behavior and has episodes where she is driven by anger and jealousy.

So, what is the archetype of Athena? How to use the Athena Archetype in your life? What are the main characteristics of this archetype’s light and dark side?

In this article, I will explore all about the Athena Archetype and show you how to properly work with it in your life. I will make analogies with episodes of Athena’s story that we know from Greek Mythology to make everything very clear. So, if you’re looking for an archetype to help you gain more wisdom and promote justice in general, you’ve come to the right place!

Who is Athena: A summary for understanding the Athena Archetype

In order to understand the Athena Archetype clearly, we need to know better who Goddess Athena is. I wrote an article here at Santuário Lunar explaining the story of Athena in Greek Mythology. I suggest you read on later to get the details. Here, I will present a summary that will serve as a basis for us to understand her archetype and how this archetype for intelligence will influence your life after you start working with it.

Firstly, we have two versions of Athena. The first is the daughter of Pallas, a giant. Thus, she has the epithet Pallas Athena. The second version of the Goddess shows her as being the daughter of Zeus and Metis. This second version is the most popular and best known. However, regardless of the version and birth of Athena, she is always portrayed as a Goddess of wisdom, justice, and also of war.

Athena’s stories are marked by disputes and competitions. Even though she was the wisest of all Greek Goddesses and displayed a lot of intelligence and wisdom, Athena could not bear to be challenged and felt that she had to prove her superiority in myriad tests and challenges. Because of this, there are many conflicts and tumult in the history of this Goddess and these conflicts usually end in death or punishments that she caused her opponents to suffer.

The most important conflicts to understand the Athena Archetype are 3:

• Athena punishes Medusa and then orders her to be killed;
• Athena loses a challenge to Arachne and punishes her for eternity;
• Athena does not win the trial of Paris and joins in the Trojan war.

In the first case, Athena and Medusa have an argument. There are many different versions of this argument, but the end is always the same. As a form of punishment, Athena turns Medusa, a woman, into the monster we know with snakes on its head. Because of this, Medusa becomes dangerous and needs to be killed. It is Athena who creates the strategy that leads Perseus to kill Medusa.

In the second case, Athena and Arachne start weaving to see who weaves better and faster. There are also different versions of the challenge, but in all of them, Arachne is the winner. Athena gets angry, destroys the work and turns Arachne into a spider to weave for eternity.

In the latter case, which is gigantic, Athena bribes Paris to win the golden apple thrown by Eris between her, Hera, and Aphrodite. However, Paris chooses Aphrodite as deserving of the apple. After that, the Trojan War begins and Athena teams up with Hera to wreak havoc.

On the positive side, it is Athena who provides the first Olive Tree and becomes the guardian of the city of Athens, the largest city-state at the time. This victory is the result of a challenge against Poseidon to see who would offer the best gift to the people of that city. As guardian of the city, everything was dedicated to her. The coins were minted with her face on one side and an owl, one of the main symbols of Athena and her power animal, on the other. The Goddess Athena was responsible for much prosperity and helped, through her wisdom, intelligence, and acumen with war strategies, Athens to grow and win many battles.

What does the athena archetype do?

The Athena Archetype can be understood as the greatest archetype for the intelligence of all. This archetype makes you improve your thinking and see the world with a new point of view, a more rational and logical one. With the Athena Archetype, you begin to perceive opportunities in every situation in your life, you begin to understand everything in a clearer and more objective way, and, finally, you become a great strategist, using your wisdom in the best possible way.

How so?

Many people simply act on impulse. Among the characteristics of an impulsive person, we find the one that refers to making decisions based on emotion and not on reason or paying little or no attention to right and wrong tending to treat people badly without thinking about the consequence. The Athena Archetype makes the person have greater control over reason and can leave emotions in the background, making wise and accurate decisions in personal and professional life.

However, as I said above, the Athena Archetype also has its shadow side. Among the characteristics of this shadow side is the one that makes the person arrogant to the point of thinking they know it all and like to prove their superiority to others. What this behavior actually hides is that the rational aspect ends up being below the emotional one. In this way, the person can become impulsive as well by not knowing how to deal with the Athena archetype correctly.

Athena Archetypes: Light vs Shadow aspects

Now I will explain in detail the Athena Archetype light and shadow aspects. It is very important that you carefully read the characteristics of each side before activating the Athena archetype. Once you activate this archetype for intelligence, you will enter a fairly rapid transformation in your life.

So pay close attention to the characteristics and observe their manifestation in your life.

Athena Archetype Light aspect

The Athena Archetype is the best archetype for intelligence there is. It is related to wisdom, insight, making the right decisions, willpower, justice, and even everyday wars and battles. See below 10 characteristics of the light aspect of the Athena Archetype for you to attract into your life:

1. Increase your understanding;
2. Increase your intelligence;
3. Become a quick-thinking person;
4. Become a strategist, always knowing what to do and when to do it;
5. Make the right decisions;
6. Promote justice for yourself and others;
7. Inspiring and leading people;
8. Favor reason over emotion;
9. Have strength and courage to face any kind of situation;
10. Have creativity and diverse skills.

According to the story of the Goddess Athena in Greek Mythology, we see these 10 characteristics in her very clearly and directly. For example, when she disputed with Poseidon who would dominate the city of Athens, she had total foresight to make the best decisions and offer what was best for the people of that region. There didn’t need to be a direct conflict between her and Poseidon. It was pure intelligence!

In another episode, Athena visits Hephaestus, the Blacksmith God, to have him make new weapons for her. Hephaestus ends up messing things up and tries to abuse Athena. It turns out that she is quick-thinking and also has a lot of strength (both physical and mental), so she simply manages to dodge Hephaestus’ onslaught and remain untouched.

Another reference that points out how smart and wise Athena is is her birth. Athena was born from the head of Zeus. She was born an adult, armed and ready to face anything. Precisely because of this, Zeus considered her his mentor. So whenever Zeus needed strategies or help in making decisions, it was Athena who helped him.

Athena Archetype Shadow aspect

The shadow aspect of the Athena Archetype needs to be observed after you activate Athena in your life. You know those people who think they know everything and therefore feel superior to others? This is the way the Athena Archetype for intelligence may lead your life if you allow it.

See below 10 characteristics of the shadow aspect of the Athena Archetype and make sure that none of these characteristics overshadow the characteristics of the light side:

1. Become extremely arrogant;
2. Become an intolerable person;
3. Enjoy humiliating and punishing other people;
4. Think you are better than others and promote injustice;
5. Use the resources you have to cause conflicts between people;
6. Use your influence to manipulate and deceive others;
7. Let reason take over to the point where you forget about yourself;
8. Become possessive;
9. Become spiteful;
10. Become vengeful.

These shadow aspects of the Athena Archetype are also clearly seen in the stories of Athena and in episodes told in Greek Mythology.

Even being the most intelligent Goddess of all, Athena could be guided by her vanity and arrogance. In those moments, she thought she was superior to others and started punishing each one of her rivals. I’ve already mentioned some of them above, but let’s review them here. Athena scolded Arachne for doing a better job than hers; then she cursed Medusa, turned her into a monster, and created the perfect strategy for her to be killed; Athena even played a role in the Trojan War by bribing Paris to win the golden apple, lost the judgment, and participated in the war.

In these episodes, we see well how the shadow side manifests itself. It blinds the person and makes them believe they are always right precisely because they have a lot of intelligence. Contradictory, but that’s how it works.

Therefore, when activating the Athena Archetype, carefully observe the manifestation of the shadow aspect and take the necessary actions so that it does not suppress the light ones.

How to activate the Athena Archetype?

To properly activate the Athena archetype in your life, simply follow the steps below. I will describe in detail what you must do! Take advantage of the archetype for intelligence in your life!

Which Archetype should I use with Athena’s?

I suggest using an archetype that helps balance the rational and emotional sides more strongly. Once the shadow side of Athena tends to bring out a certain emotional lack of control and uses reason to “attack”, archetypes capable of bringing balance, calm, and clarity are indicated.

Among the Greek Goddesses, we have some archetypes that can help in this aspect. Try using Athena Archetype with the archetype of Metis, her mother. Metis is the Goddess of prudence, virtues, and also protection. In a way, Meis is able to protect you from yourself. You may need this protection.

In other pantheons, you can use the Isis archetype which also brings wisdom and helps to strengthen the spirit. The Goddess Isis is the main Egyptian Goddess. She has great magical power capable of creating anything she desires and overcoming difficulties. In this way, she can help prevent Athena’s shadow from taking control of everything.

What does Athena attract?

Athena attracts wisdom, quick thinking, and cunning above all else. Along with that, she also brings justice to you and others, as well as bringing strength and courage to face whatever it takes.

Once you activate the Athena Archetype in your life, you start to see everything in a different way. Your thinking becomes faster and you gain more cunning in decision-making processes.

Use the Oracle of Athena to get some insights during the activation of her archetype.