On Wisdom
Athena, Strategy, Weaving, and How They Come Together
The goddess Athena from the Greek mythos has held an enormous amount of power and influence over me all my life. Like Odysseus on his adventures, she has been by my side and at the back of my mind as I’ve thought and made choices every day. Once I became interested in mythology as a possible profession, she became even more prevalent, as the daunting task of turning an interest in mythology into a real career became clear to me. Becoming a professional mythologist is one of the hardest things I’ve ever needed to do, and I required every ounce of Athenian energy that I could muster, every day.
She continues to show me the power and potential as I move through my life and work, even now more than 25 years after I began to realize that I loved mythology enough to try to find a way to make a living at it. She is the goddess of Wisdom, after all, and strategy, and weaving, and it was in the knitting of those concepts together that made my career into what it is today.
Even at the beginning, while I was in graduate school studying mythology and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, I spent the typically 9 hour class days knitting. I found that keeping my hands busy with the repetitive motion of the needles and yarn I was able to absorb the complicated concepts that were being taught to me in those rooms. Athena was with me, even then. Once I got to know her mythos more deeply, I learned that Athena was both a creature of the mind, and of the father. She was birthed from the mind of her father Zeus, after he became threatened by who might be born from his marriage to his first wife Metis, the goddess of wisdom and cunning, traits that she passed on to her daughter. It was prophesied that their second child (a son) would be so powerful that he would overthrow Zeus, so Zeus swallowed Metis whole. This impulse to swallow children that posed a threat came to him from his own father, who did the same, until Zeus overthrew him and rescued his swallowed siblings.
Athena burst out of Zeus’ head at the moment of her birth, fully formed and armored. She held traits of both her parents, and it was in her archetype that the Greeks combined the power of wisdom, strategic thinking, and weaving. Why is weaving included in this list of traits? Why did the Greeks associate weaving with the first two characteristics? Strategy and wisdom always include aspects of weaving, after all. When we think wisely and strategically, we weave together different ideas in a new way, in the magic of creative thinking. If you’re wise, and a strategic thinker, you are also a weaver. There is so much wisdom inherent in that understanding, and it is moments of insight like this that keep me coming back to mythology to be my teacher again and again.
Is Athena a goddess that resonates for you? Do you feel the need for greater levels of wisdom, strategy, and weaving in your life? How might a deeper understanding of these concepts improve your life? Perhaps if you thought more strategically about your relationships you would come to a deeper understanding of what lies beneath ancient sources of conflict and joy in your family, friendships, and romantic life. Could your work life use a dose of Athenian strategic weaving? Understanding and incorporating the archetype of Athena and her characteristics into our lives can bring us a better life on multiple fronts; being good at these things can lead to more money, deeper thought, and a keener mind.
She is by my side as I move through my life and work. If you haven’t yet done so, light a candle and say a prayer to Athena as the smoke rises up to her. She just might have some ideas to weave together for you that will make your journey richer and your path smoothed. It worked for Odysseus, in the end. May it do the same for you.
I remember reading somewhere that knitting helped invent binary and algorithmic patterns, and that's what launched humanity up the J curve in technological advancement.
I think it's also interesting to look at it from the ancient perspective; as you've mentioned before, weaving was something women did in the home to pass the time, socialize, and tell stories via tapestries. Kind of like a holdover from the hunter-gatherer days when we would sit around the communal campfire and tell stories. I think this is part of what ties Athena to weaving; it was a communal behavior in the ancient world, something you did with your peers. And it's something that's indicative of humanity's presence just like pottery and tools. Pair that with stories being told via tapestries woven by women, and you have the wisdom of knowing the past and knowing traditions.
There's also the craftsmanship of weaving! It takes attention to detail and keeping track of many threads at once in order to bring about the larger picture. I've seen a bit of this in researching Brigid, an Irish goddess of fire, healing, and craftsmanship, particularly the forge, and also wisdom. Unfortunately there's not as much known about Irish mythology as there is Greek and Roman, since the pre-Christian Irish didn't write such things down. But I like the similarities and differences between Athena and Brigid, as they show wisdom in different ways. Athena is strategic and cunning, she's the glorious side of war and not the bloodshed and conquest Ares ruled over. Brigid is a fire goddess and her fire fuels creativity, it's the passion for life, and she's the wisdom you earn from perfecting your craft. A novice blacksmith might fear ruining their work at the forge, while an experienced blacksmith would know how to fix it, or failing that, to just start over.
The weaver. And dream weaver come to mind. Pulling on the threads and turning them into something deeper, more intrinsic. Athena has shown up many times throughout my journey. Especially the times when I need to channel some deeper wisdom into a decision I have to make.