Nakshatras and the Seven Feminine Archetypes
7 Feminine archetypes
Though I don’t like putting people into boxes, I love using tools that enable understanding them, understanding myself, and the relationships that could stem from it or the potential of each individual. And the 7 feminine archetypes theory is one of those tools I love 💖
There are 7 feminine archetypes or goddesses:
The Lover, represented by Aphrodite or Venus, which is sensual, magnetic, passionate, creative and oriented toward pleasure, beauty, art, and desire, with a deep need for both freedom and connection.
The Sage, represented by Athena or Nike, which is wise, analytical, intelligent, emotionally objective, strategic and driven by knowledge, truth, purpose, victory and understanding.
The Mystic, represented by Hestia or Vesta, which is intuitive, calm, peaceful, affable, introverted, spiritual, creative, soulful, mesmerising and attuned to the unseen and the sacred.
The Queen, represented by Hera or Juno, which is regal, charismatic, elegant, loyal, and naturally commanding of respect and devotion but also very devoted to her partner which she turns into a king.
The Huntress, represented by Artemis or Diana, which is independent, focused, ambitious, athletic or dynamic, courageous and driven by purpose and achievement.
The Mother, represented by Demeter or Ceres, which is nurturing, sweet, loving, compassionate, protective, responsible and deeply devoted to those she loves.
The Maiden, represented by Persephone or Proserpina, which is playful, curious, innocent, youthful, free-spirited, sometimes rebellious, and full of wonder and transformative energy.
I could also add the Crone but it’s more a life a phase every women go though in the last part of their lives whereas the 7 other archetypes are more constant and present early on. But one could argue that we all are Maidens in the early stage of life beside having other archetypes being present.
So we all have a bit of those 7 archetypes within us, one or two, sometimes three, are more present than the others. Usually most women tap in their Lover archetype as a primary or secondary. It is quite rare to not have the Lover in the first two, and if not, working to make the Lover a secondary is quite important to balance the primary and tap in your feminine energy and also lover energy.
However, in rare cases, some women are almost entirely dominated by the Lover archetype, with the others being much lower. This creates an imbalance, which isn’t as problematic as struggling to tap into the Lover archetype, but it can make a woman excessively focused on love, pleasure, passion and attraction and lack rationality or decision making ability or even struggle to harness the masculine energy which is quite important too to create balance. Elizabeth Taylor is a great example of this, like the first one to come to mind though she isn’t the only one. Her passionate and magnetic energy was undeniable, but it also led her to marry eight times and sometimes not chose the right person for her as she was more focused on falling in love and living passionately which hindered her decision making abilities.
In Vedic, we can find some equivalent of those goddesses.
Those are all my personal interpretations, so to take with a grain of stardust ❀
For Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty and desire, we have Lakshmi, goddess of love, beauty and prosperity, ruling over Venus/Shukra, but also Rati, goddess of love, lust, passion and pleasure.
For Athena, goddess of war, wisdom and weaving, we have Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, wisdom and arts and crafts, ruling over Jupiter/Guru and sometimes Mercury/Budha depending on the tradition, but imo Jupiter makes more sense for both goddesses.
For Hestia, goddess of home and hearth, the sacred, family and the state, we have Griha Lakshimi, goddess of the sacred hearth, or Annapurna, a manifestation of Parvati associated with home and food.
For Hera, goddess of marriage, women, family and who is the queen of gods and goddesses, we have Sati, goddess of marriage, and Parvati, in her queenly state who is the more regal reincarnation of Sati, and goddess of fertility, marital felicity, spouse and power, ruling over the Moon/Chandra.
For Artemis, goddess of hunting, moon, chastity, childbirth, wilderness and nature, we have Matangi, huntress goddess of the forests, the wild and the arts, ruling over the Sun/Surya or Mercury/Budha in certain traditions. Whereas interestingly Artemis is ruling over the Moon.
For Demeter, goddess of motherhood, fertility, harvest and agriculture, we have Parvati, in her motherly state who is the mother goddess and goddess of motherhood, both nurturing, mature and devoted and associated to food and abundance, and Bhumi Devi, goddess of Earth and mother of Sita just like Demeter is the mother of Persephone.
For Persephone, goddess of spring, transformation and queen of the underworld, we have Sita, goddess of beauty and devotion, whose story echoes the story of Persephone by being abducted to another realm and then coming back to her mother, the Earth, for a new cycle starting with spring. But we also have Kali, goddess of transformation, death and rebirth.
So with that, some of these archetypes and goddesses already evoke certain nakshatras quite naturally, and looking for their Vedic equivalents can give us some clues.
At first glance, I can see Bharani for the transformative aspect of the Maiden and Persephone, Rohini for the Lover’s sensual, creative and magnetic nature, Purva Phalguni, ruled by Venus, for Aphrodite’s link to pleasure, romance, seduction and luxury, Vishakha, ruled by Jupiter, for the Sage’s determination and drive but also for the Huntress’ ambition and goal oriented nature, Swati for the Mystic independent, free and soulful self, and so on...
Beyond nakshatras, personally I resonate the most with the Lover first then the Sage, and I could argue I sometimes have a strong third which varied depending on the phase in life and wasn’t constant like the first two. So I still relate to the others to a certain extent and in certain aspects of my life but not as strongly as the Lover or the Sage which are always there and quite balanced with each other if not alternating in more intense periods.
And each combination of those archetypes creates a certain balance between feminine and masculine energy, or yin and yang energy as for now I don’t have a better wording though it doesn’t mean that some women are masculine and some are more feminine.
It’s the wording we use culturally but I might need to think of a better one if it triggers certain people..
To me, with having both the Lover and the Sage, it’s like having both feminine or masculine energy working together, or just as much yin and yang with maybe a touch more yin as Lover comes first.
Anyways, as you can see, I’ve started noticing some patterns between certain nakshatras, certain placements and these archetypes and I’m looking more into it to see if something can be made out of it in a useful and inspiring way. I think there can be certain templates or blueprints emerging from it to learn from and to succeed in any area of life as women.
In the meantime, which archetype resonates with you the most ? 🌸
Goddess to goddess,
Mina
