Tending Hestia's Flame: Circumambulating the Sacred Feminine

摘要

Hestia was the ancient goddess of the hearth, the one who presided over the religious center of the household. It was here that offerings were made at the beginning and end of the family meal, and where the other household divinities were honored. She sanctified the interior of the home and the purity of the lineage of the patriarchal clan. As the circle of Greek identity grew, eternal fires sacred to Hestia burned at the center of ancient cities, including Rome, where Hestia was known as Vesta. From a psychological perspective, Hestia personifies the religious function of the psyche—especially the forms that turn inward and protect a sacred center. An examination of the archetypal aspects of Hestia's myth sheds light on how the instinct for the sacred found expression during antiquity, and how these energies continue to live in the archetypal psyche.