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HERA AND THE ROYAL MARRIAGE

The Mythic Enactment of Our Mating Instinct

from PANTHEON: Archetypal Gods in Daily Life, Iona Miller, 1983

Hera is a variation on the theme of the matriarchal Great Goddess.  The Great Goddess had many lovers and was extremely independent until the arrival of the partriarchal northern culture in the Mediterranean area.  They brought their sky religion with its chief exponenent, Zeus.  This struggle for supremacy is recounted in Reisler's The Chalice and the Blade.

After a 300 year courtship, the fusion of patriarchal and matriarchal cultures was consummated by a hieros gamos or Royal Marriage of Zeus and Hera.  Hera settled into her new role as exemplary wife, giving up her polyandrous lifestyle, but not her personal independence.  She became the pattern for all good married women, whose pasts are forgiven if not almost forgotten.  Hera is therefore the patroness and guardian of the institution of marriage, as well as the legitimate spouse of Zeus.

Her authority over the marriage came from her originally wider interest in the lives of women in general.  She is also associated with certain aspects of fecundity and childbearing, even though her mythical union with Zeus was not characteristically fertile.

She combines both earthy and lunar aspects in her personality, which makes her both practical and soulful.  Hera has a deep shadow nature, and she has the dubious distinction of being the most jealous character in mythology.

It may seem strange to link Hera with the tarot card The Hierophant, but not when certain elements are considered.  The sacredness of marriage is stressed in all the major religions of the world as a means of channeling the instinct of sexual desire, and fulfilling the mating instinct.

The Royal Marriage of Zeus and Hera also symbolizes wholeness of the individual personality.  The Hierophant exemplifies this male-female wholeness.  This prefigures the spiritual marriage of the soul with the celestial Lord, where the human soul is likened to a "bride."

The Hierophant is associated with the astrological sign Taurus, and shares traits with Hera.  In her original cult-forms she was known as the "goddess of the yoke," "rich in oxen" (Taurus being the Bull), who kept sacred herds of cows.  She is "cow-eyed" for her large brown eyes.  As "goddess of the yoke" she prefigures the devotion to the sky principle seen in modern participants in Yoga (which also means "yoking").

On the physical plane, Hera manifests as the mating instinct, childbirth, parthenogenesis, and the flow of adrenaline especially in jealousy.  Emotionally she reflects the dual faces of marriage when perfected or thwarted.  Divorce is the cognitive notion associated with her, while her spiritual myth is the sacred marriage.

As an Olympian, Hera was the daughter of Cronos and Rhea.  She was the sister of Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus.  She was mother of Ares, Arge, Discordia, Eleithyia, Hebe and Hephaistos, and probably Typhon. Hera was famous for her tirades against her husband Zeus because of his philandering.

PHYSICAL FORM

Hera is a goddess distinguished by her great antiquity.  Her name means simply "Lady," and her original consort was known simply as "hero," or Lord.  It is interesting to note that the very first temple at Mt. Olympus was hers.  It dates from the second half of the 7th Century B.C. to 1000 B.C.

She is also the official patroness of the Olympic Games, which were originated by her muscular hero, Herakles (Hercules).  The fact that his twelve labors were in service to her iss shown by his name being derived from her own.

The stories and rites surrounding Hera indicate an instinctual background as the mating instinct.  The antiquity of the goddess shows the instinctual nature of her origin.  This instinct seeks fulfillment of a particular sort which will not be sublimated to other goals.  It has very little to do with lust or sex, per se.  If this instinct is forced to deviate from its goal, it will instead turn negative, as Hera's personality shows.

The wifehood of Hera seeks as her essential mode-of-being the required marital union with her spouse on many levels or dimensions.  She is not concerned merely with his physical fidelity (although it would be nice), or his ability to father children upon her, or be a responsive parent to the children.

Rather, she is driven by a compulsive necessity to be perfected through conjugal union.  The instinct for a multi-level intimate relationship is natural and Hera is behind it.  She wants to know the ins and outs of her spouse, not just share space and lives.  Their union must be intimate at the  physical, emotional, psychological or intellectual, and spiritual levels to be whole.

Curiously, like many ancient historical "royal couples," Hera and Zeus are both siblings and mates.  This royal marriage was literalized in ancient Egypt, through sibling consorts for the pharoah.  This symbolism of brother/sister love represents the restoration of bisexual totality.  It is a psychological resolution of original brother/sister duality.  They are aspects of the same essence.  Their re-union is expressed in an alchemical verse:

White-skinned lady, lovingly joined to her ruddy-limbed husband,
Wrapped in each other's arms in the bliss of connubial union,
Merge and dissolve as they come to the goal of perfection:
They that were two are made one, as though of one body
.

On a more practical level, Hera cannot abide having a "token spouse" or an official husband who periodically checks in while he carries on his life elsewhere.  His proximity and commitment to her are critical.  She embodies the desire for the archetypal hieros gamos, or sacred marriage, which occurs between male and female on the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual planes of experience.

Even while dating, Hera is  always looking for a potential spouse.  Hera feels essentially incomplete without a partner.  Marriage to her means fulfillment and satisfaction.  In contrast the Amazon likes the "thrill of the chase," while Aphroditee seeks immediate physical gratification, and Athena companionship or perhaps a useful business alliance.  Though their essence is Feminine, these forces operate in and motivate both men and women.

As wife, Hera wants to share her spouse's day-to-day activities.  You bet she wants to stay abreast of the business dealings.  Why, what if he should die, and she needs to take charge of the estate?  If another archetypal priority supercedes the Hera drive, she may avoid being prepared for such contingencies, yet be fully able to take the reins of command.

Hera would probably prefer to have Zeus all to herself if her secret wish were known, but then  how could he be Zeus in such a context?  If she got her wish, imagine how they would quarrel under such close confinement.  Each are accustomed to maintaining many outside interests.  Besides, in any setting, Zeus cannot bring her to fulfillment as long as he carries her own unlived masculinity or animus.

Hera wishes to experience depth of relationship with Zeus.  To really do that, she needs to develop a relationship with her own animus, but that may seem too abstract.  Inner work may not come naturally to her, but therapy may become her refuge if she becomes a dissatisfied wife.  To her, marriage is no abstract institution.

She does not wish Zeus to assert his independence from wedlock with her.  She doesn't even wish him to turn inward on his own resources, as she probably needs to do.  If he follows his own inner feminine voice and becomes too introverted, she feels thwarted in her fulfillment since he may become emotionally alienated or unavailable.

He can turn inward, toward his daughter Athena, his brainchild with all the bright ideas.  Hera can also be jealous of her spouse's attention to real children, parents, job, hobbies or other relationships.  This reaction veils an underlying fear of abandonment.

The fact is that Hera and Zeus are mutually dependent on one another for the fulfillment of this basic drive, the mating instinct.  Depending on the basic emotional adjustment of the personalities in the relationship, this will manifest as negative co-dependence, positive inter-dependence, or a combination of these partnering patterns.

Marriage requires active istening, not just to the partner, but to one's deep self -- to one's Hera nature.  Problems in marriage reflect voices from the unconscious which need to be heard.  Marital problems are a product of the needs, emotional baggage, and inner conflicts each of the partners bring to the relationship.

But these very problems, which crop up in the marriage arena, reflect unconscious forces which have the potential for bringing each partner to wholeness, the inner marriage within oneself.  It means integrating the other side of the personality so its energies can be used in constructive ways.  It is the marriage of the conscious personality and the anima or animus.

This is the daily confrontation of married life, getting up and going to bed together, merely being in one another's presence.  It is transformative; it is a yoga or "yoking" of individuals in mututal service to their union.  Marriage itself can be a spiritual path, or approached from a spiritual perspective.

When the relentless search of our modern selves for an idealized partner ends, when the heat of the honeymoon also ends - we can turn our attention toward discovering our spiritual connections.  Much of the drive to find fulfillment in the outer world is more properly channeled into this inner exploration.  When we find our inner mate, the pressures of our spouses to fulfill this role are relieved.

Having meaningful interaction and true intimacy requires renewed concern for the "now."  The sacred marriage always takes place "now."  There is no emotional reliance on a golden honeymoon past nor escape to an idealized future when "surely everything will be better."  Intimacy means being present, loving and authentic with one's life partner.

The sacred marriage is an arena for individuation of the partners through the mutual give-and-take of everyday life.  The sacred marriage is no final act but requires periodic renewal.  This cyclic renewal is intrinsic to the Hera cult.  She was symbolically purified and renewed her commitment to Zeus in recurrent wedding ceremonies.  So, when modern couples choose to renew their marriage vows, say on an anniversary, they follow Hera's lead.

These multiple weddings indicate a return to the condition of unconscious, original identity -- both identify with the common center and revolve around the marriage.  At the time of the wedding, Zeus and Hera are turly one through the process of identification or participation mystique.  But, inevitably, another crisis situation creates a critical atmosphere, but it is a necessary prelude to conscious realizations.  And the cycle goes on.

EMOTIONAL IMAGE

The emotional dynamics of Hera revolve around being perfected or thwarted in her mission.  When she is thwarted she becomes essentially animus-possesed and rages violently against her "persecutors."  She becomes overidentified with her own masculine agressive side, and paradoxically rejects her own feminine identity.  She may be the victim of a negative mother-complex, and too one-sided.  If she persists in harboring hostile attitudes, it is very difficult for her husband to return to their former intimacy.

Hera hates emotional competition, and her toleration of extraneous affairs can damage her essential self by eating away at her good natured side.  Hera's jealously is extreme enough to be called pathological, which is why, in myth, we find her "giving birth" to a variety of monstrosities.  Hera is this archetypal form of jealousy of the spouse's attention.  To feel this feeling is form of merging with the goddess -- an epiphany.  But it may feel more like being possessed by a demon, we commonly call the "green-eyed monster."

On the positive side, Hera embodies the feminine portion of the transpersonal authority, which derives it value from historical antecedents that predate her marriage to Zeus -- to the power of the coupling and reproductive urge -- to the Self.  Inner contact with this archetype for a woman is a deep experience of the core of her being.  To be in harmony with herself, she must serve this inner dynamism, as so much more than a baby-making machines.  Men often glimpse this awesome power around the births of their children, when bonding hormones cause the family to pull together.

We can view our  modern worship of Hera as giving her our attention.  A neurotic, juvenile, or under-developed man has to come to terms with the authoritarian aspects of the mother-complex.  A man involved in developing his "feminine" side has to serve Hera over and against the self-centered patriarchal principle, listening to his heart as well as his head.

This is generally a stage in the psychic life of men whose quest for the Self culminates in the "puer/senex" reunion -- a maturing which expresses itself through " masculine symbolism.  The mature man of any age, in touch with the deep values of spousal intimacy becomes Hera's "hero" -- potentially for life.

The fulfillment and whoeness of Zeus and Hera consists of a dynadic relationship.  "Being a couple" is her big deal!  They are two-in-one, contained and joyfully for the most part contained in their relationship, unless possessiveness flairs up.  If they become estranged emotionally, she  may repress the direct expression of her sexuality, projecting onto Zeus the fulfillment of her repressed desires.  He manifests it through an affair -- through seeking that from which he has been cut off elsewhere.  It may simply be emotional alienation or a sexual affair.  Psychologically, the "other woman," so despised, represents the unknown, unlived aspects of Hera's own being.

Hera wants to be in the presence of her beloved, because she derives her fulfillment through involvement.  She always expects a deeper commitment from her spouse than she will ever get, however.  The intense involvement is always pleasant.  Zeus and Hera are the types who figure, at least subconsciously, that "negative attention is better than no attention" in their exchanges.

Hera is first and foremost the duriful wife of Zeus.  We might call her the wife of the CEO of Mt. Olympus.  She is as potent of a directing force as he is.  But in an patriarchal society her powers tend to appear in negative fors.  Managerial ability can become an exaggerated urge to control or have power over those closest at hand, when there is no wider power-base for her to exercise her dominion in.  The family generally resents this power-struggle and tends to react against it with rebelliousness, sneakiness, or rage.

Zeus is notoriously promiscuous, and Hera directs a great deal of animosity at Zeus and his mortal and immortal paramours.  Often they represent a different way of life to him, his "paths not taken."  Even if they possess him sexually, they never "own" him, or his fidelity. They are merely chapters in his book of life, which continues to revolve around the family.

Hera can be both jealous (internal) and vindictive (external).  She must have been kept pretty busy by Zeus' philandering.  She must have been in a perpetual tizzy, always insecure, because the number of his liasons is legendary.  But Zeus has no immunity against the onslaughts of Hera!  The masculine principle, as prepresented by Zeus, is far from omnipotent when challenged by his powerful consort's contrary principle.  Most of the time she has the powerful backup of societal mores and the law to back her up.  Driven too far, she can harm him socially and financially and even with his children.

Hera is repeatedly the victim of her own powerful emotions.  The volcanic quality of her animus (inner masculinity) is embodied in Hephaistos, her lame son.  This issue of parthenogenesis was conceived without a literal father, from her jealous brooding.  As such, he came to rule volcanic activity, both physical and emotional.  When moody, Hera is capable of veritable explosions of strong emotions.

Hera is outspoken and she has a judgemental, scolding tongue.  But she is not always overt in her attacks.  Despite her moral indignation at the behavior of others, she is more than willing to manipulate the feelings of others to suit her own needs and desires.

The Hera personality is seen in the grande dame type of woman.  She is given to largesse or charitable qactivities.  She has an aristocratic aura which assumes a right to commande, both activities and attention.

She is born-to-order and scarcely questions this destiny as anything other than her rightful position in life.  She may express herself through becoming a patron of the arts, or an administrator, (for example, a Dean of Women, or Board Member).

As the result of her strong social concerns, she pays special attention to keeping herself attractive.  She is always fashionable and publically appropriate.  She has a strong sense of honor and duty.  Hera prefers to grapple with concrete details, rather than muse on intellectual theories or abstractions.  This can be valuable in coordinating an estate where there is always much to be done.  Even though she is a bit eccentric, her innate feel for social awareness allows her to integrate and maintain acceptance by those of all social levels.  Her mores will invariably reflect those of her surrounding culture.

Some keywords for Hera include: argumentative, aristocratic, competence, clinging, conflict, devoted, duty, emotional blackmail, fidelity, frustration, intrusive, manipulation, opinionated, revenge, shrewd, tenacious, touch, vengeful, volcanic.

What's New with My Subject?


INTELLECTUAL IDEA

A notion in our modern society which has a great dynamic effect on the domain of Hera is the concept of divorce.  Easy divorce has not been an option, historically speaking.  It is basically a new phenomenon.  We are so casual in modern society that relationships are considered "disposable" or re-cyclable through serial relationships.  With a 50% divorce rate for baby-boomers, and a 70% divorce rate for Gen-X, we have quickie "no-fault" do-it-yourself divorce.

Since the state of mind of the spouses is not identical coming in to the marriage, there are usually differences in the adjustment to marriage.  Differences in tempo, maturity, and in the depfree of spiritual development are typically causes of difficulty, according to Jung.  One partner is generally more psychologically complex then the other.  This partner is frequently capable of much faster spiritual growth, but may be erratic; we can't be creative and conventional at the same time.

The spouse who is grounded in a positive relationship to the parents can generally adapt etter.  They are not hindered by a deep-seated unconscious tie to the parents as divine, god-like beings.  They have successfully emancipated and therefore are more mature.  They come into marriage as adults rather than "adult children."

A complex nature has many facets, and this personality may seek to realize many of them as symbolized by the impulsive promiscuity of Zeus.  Versatility and spontaneity may have a certain charm, but it can mask an underlying impulsiveness.

Jung alleged that a woma's spiritual life is contained in her relationship to her husband.  Conversely, a man is contained emotionally in his wife, according to his notion.  This may have been a more accurate observation in day of more traditional gender models, but now there is more diversity of roles.  Alternative lifestyles are engaged in by many spiritually-oriented persons with commitments outside or beyond the Dyad.  For example, a woman devotee of a spiritual Master obviously is not wholly contained spiritually by her husband.

Likewise, he does not contain her entire spiritual animus projection.  She sees it in all her relations with significant others.  And a man involved in intensive social action such as counseling or other people-helping professions has a vigorous emotional life outside the home.

These divided loyalties are actually healtier than the all-or-nothing proposition of having no essential obligations or binding interests outside of the marriage.  Nevertheless, the simpler spouse has the advantage of undividedness.  The other spouse may envy this condition, feeling outside the marriage.  This can become problematical, since it awakens longing for that particular bliss of onepointedness.

Maybe the spouse begins to fantasize it can be found in another lover.  Hera has radar for such impulses, and her insecurities are painfully aroused.  The specter of rivals begins to appear on the horizon, and jealous suspicion begins to mount.

Driven inward by disappointment, the spouse may become desperate or violent, exploding in a spasm of rage and manipulative tactics.  Forced to turn inward, the individual may be lucky enough to find an inner self-sufficiency which was latent potential all along.

As the possibilities of inner integration become more apparent to both spouses, they have the possibility of achieving the experience of an undivided self.  This is a quantum leap in consciousness which is equivalent to a metamorphosis.  This stage cannot come without confrontation of the anima/animus.  The constant animosity depicted in the Zeus-Hera configuration has a telos or goal.

Every phase of life has its particular psychological goals as well as physical changes.  One can always hope to be surprised in marriage by having one's own complexities answered by a corresponding diversity.

But progress may also be arrested at any stage of development with no further breakthroughs.  Things get stuck; there is a "stale-mate."  Consider the divorce rate.  Individual capacities for adjustment very.  Remember, Hera remarries Zeus over and over again.  You might think they are trying to get it right.  Is the third marriage the charm?

There is pathology associated with this archetype including tragedy, yearning, jealousy, vindictiveness, and shrewishness.  In the extreme it may lead to homicide.  Hera is shrewd.  This behavior, though inherent in her nature, is motivated by the attitude and behavior of her roaming spouse, Zeus.

It is purely reactionary, based on her compulsive, overwhelming need.  He never seems to settle down, content with the domestic routines.  When he persecutes her, through neglect or his affairs, she is distraught.  She reacts so strongly that she even becomes self-defeating and self-destructive.

In her negative phase, Hera is posssessed by her animus reactions.  In myth she gave reactionary birth to many monster children, conceived by herself in the lonely brooding of rejection.  She projected this rejection by Zeus into the form of her own son, Hephaistos.  He is born of the primal Virgin-Mother.  His borth as a separate entity means she lost the possibility of developing her own deeply introverted creative process.  If she could only have gotten a meaningful job.  She winds up rejecting her son as Zeus rejected her, passing on her rejection and abandonment issues inter-generationally.

With Prometheus, another son, she gave birth to her rebellious opposition to the dominion of Zeus, meaning she expelled her ability to gain in ego-consciousness.  Prometheus later has his own rebellious acts and conflicts with Zeus, carrying on the family pattern.

The combative Ares was the embodiment of hr bloodthirsty rage, her egotism, and her jealousy.  Ares' warlike nature is an instinct which has wreaked havoc on mankind.  Finally, Hera goes really psychotic and expels the monster Typhon.  As this reptilian Godzilla-like beast, she goes through a radical regression to the most primitive level, bursts all fetters and runs amok.  With no limit to her destructive capabilities, who knows what damage she might do.

At this point, the only hope is mitigation or litigation.  Perhaps it is time for another purification and transformation through a renewal of the sacred aspect of marriage.  But this can only happen when empathy and intimacy are re-established.  In the Argive legends, Hera was known as "goddess of the yoke," and the meaning of yoga is "yoking" or "union."  In this sense, marriage is a yoga, an arena for spiritual development.  On the positive side, Hera was also the Mother of the Charites (Faith, Hope and Love), which expresses the root of her affinity for charitable work.

Those identified too strongly with their persona as wife need to tap the deep resources of the animus.  No one can be reduced to their role, such as merely wife, mother, breadwinner, etc.  When Hera types marry philanderers or liars they inevitably become frustrated and embittered.  Even so, guilt or duty or other archetypally-driven feelings may prevent or delay them from leaving a bad marriage.

She represses her natural response.  She may sublimate her rage in manual or mental work, rather than allowing herself to truly feel the energy and transmute it.  If abandoned, she may have trouble believing that the loss is permanent.  She believes in the fantasy of his return and eventual reconciliation.  This denial prevents grieving and blocks her process of recovery and moving on.

SPIRITUAL MYTH

For Hera marriage is a spiritual event which is only the beginning of her lifelong goal.  She gets married in church or temple, not in Las Vegas or by the Justice of the Peace.  It is consecration, dedication, and consummation -- a eucharistic act.

The main spiritual content of Hera reveolves around the hieros gamos, or sacred marriage.  On a personal level this means the reuniting of spirit, soul and body.  It indicates a full knowledge of both the heights (Zeus) and depths (Hera) of one's character.  When the hieros gamos is consummated in our daily lives, it means that we have learned to apply our insights in practice -- to move from concept to experience.

When Jung speaks about the royal marriage, he tells us that the queen symbolizes the body, the king stands for the spirit, and the soul unites the two.  Therefore, our psyche is a half physical and half spiritual substance.

When king and queen (animus/anima) are united, they form a magical hermaproditic being which is a union of opposite energies.  We need to be related to another individual, according to Jung to experience the full depth of our own psyche.

From an internal perspective, spiritual marriage is an inner experience which is not necessarily projected onto another individual.  In the royal marriage of the soul with the Self, the projections of anima and animus have been returned to their proper level in the unconscious.  We do not make our mate carry an essentially religious function for us anymore.

The King and Queen are united, or conjoined, synthesizing the opposites.  But this cannot happen until we master the problem of unconscious desirousness.  When the opposites to be united are the masculine consciousness (of our day worl), and the feminine unconscious (the night world), the union is termed the Royal Marriage.  This royal marriage is a transcendent symbol of the Self, and embodies the psychic totality of personal wholeness.

These statements need not be confused with erroneous notions concerning the so-called "soul mate."  Each individual has a complete soul, and is a divine spark.  But when we choose to cast our lot with a life-mate there is a synergetic effect which transcends the qualities of the individuals involved, bringing a portion of the divine into manifestation.

It is not that a long-lost mate is rediscovered after separation on a higher plane.  Rather, that two compatible souls commit themselves to furthering the development of loving compassion in one another.  From the archetypal perspective, the whole object of marriage is to reach God.  Thus marriage is seen as a creative process of love where two souls care for one another in a reciprocal manner, furthering mututal spiritual aims.

Therefore, the Royal Marriage of Zeus and Hera means self-actualization within the boundaries provided by the institution of marriage.  Our partners are no longer required to live our own unlived potential.

Through withdrawl of projection onto the partner, we actualize our own potential.  Thus we find meaning in "the battle of the sexes."  We discover our own madness, as well as our own unique spirit.  This creates an increased sense of interiority which might be viewed as a thalamus or bridal chamber, a sacred place where opposites merge.


DIALOGUE WITH HERA

Through dialoguing with Hera, we can learn about our unconscious attitudes toward marriage or bonding with a spouse.  She can show us how we subconsciously are feeling toward our spouse or the institution of marriage at any given time.

In active imagination shee may appear as jealous, bitchy, vindictive, frustrated or argrumentative, depending on how the primary relationship is going.  AT least, when you agree to dialogue with her, sshe get Her voice, at last.  She might appear as the elgant bride, or celestial queen.  If you have lot a loved one for whom you still grieve, she may appear as Hera Chera, who has lost her mate.

She can also inform us about our individuation process when she is seen as the Soul-as-Queen and her husband Zeus-the-King is Spirit.  Watch your dreams for images of weddings and nuptial festivals.  It is better for you to be a participating onlooker at these events rather than the bride or groom.

Imagining oneself as the King or Queen without the proper protection from archetypal identification is probably grandiose fantasy, rather than true transformative process work.  This would mean your ego or personality is too strongly identified with these powerful archetypes, and this means being in a state of possession or compulsive dominance of your life by the archetype.  As an observer you can appreciate the Royal Marriage taking place in your psyche with better results in daily life.

If you are dating, and are really looking for a potential spouse, or if you are engaged and fantasize continually about your impending marriage, you can bet Hera is at work in your.  For Hera, the accent is one the marriage itself, where a goddess such as Demeter primarily seeks a father for her children.

If you are single and considering marriage, ask Hera in dialogue just what type of spouse will fulfill her requirements for a multidimensional relationship.  But remember, with Hera there will always be something that is not quite right, some fatal flaw to spoil the nuptial bliss.  Remember, Hera was the most jealous woman in Greek mythology.

As Hera about her feelings concerning all the aspects sof your relationship which include physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual bonding.  If your physical relationship is off you might want her to summon help from Aphrodite, if your spouse won't talk to you about meaningful issues of the day, perhaps Athen a could help.

Gods and goddesses do not exist in vacuums or isolation.  Once you are familiar with the basic cast of players, your inner dramas can have dynamic interaction of several archetypes.  They can dialogue with one another as well as you.  But be careful -- don't amass too  much power in one place all at once or you may find yourself overwhelmed and unable to integrate the results of the exercise.

If you have ever been divorced, dialogue with Hera concerning this event.  She can inform you about subconscious currents which brought the downfall of the marriage.  You may have known the conscious reasons for your split, but there may be many unresolved personal issues which fed into it which remain to be explored with her help.

HERA IN YOUR LIFE

1.  Despite current curcumstances, at this point in your life, which do you prefer most -- to be married or single?  If you are single, do you find yourself continually "sizing up" eligible members of the opposite sex as potential mates?

REFERENCES

Zeus and Hera, Karl Kerenyi
"Hera: Bound and Unbound," Murray Stein in Spring
The Meaning of Aphrodite, Paul Friedrich
Goddesses in Every Woman, Jean Shinoda Bolen
The Goddess, Christine Downing
Marriage: Dead or Alive, Adolph Guggenburl-Craig
"Marriage as a Psychological Relationship," C.G. Jung (Collected Works)
The Glory of Hera: Greek Mythology and the Greek Family, Philip Slater
Smart Women, Foolish Choices, Cornell Cowan and Melvyn Kinder
Jealousy, Nancy Friday
On the Way to the Wedding, Linda Leonard
Supermarriage: Overcoming the Predictable Crises of Married Life
"Individuation through Marriage," Verda Heisler, Psychological Perspectives, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1970