What is the story of Athena and Arachne? How do I understand Greek mythology?
Far too often, modern Magickal people look too hard for what a myth might mean without exploring what it might mean for them, and then missing the lessons it may offer.
Today, we’re unpacking the story of Athena and Arachne…
Athena gets a bad rap, and some might say for good reason! Although supposedly a Goddess of wisdom, she really let a bruised ego get the best of her! It’s a wild myth…but what does it MEAN???
While unpacking a myth’s cultural context is helpful to understanding the myth, a timeless myth doesn’t only serve to help people understand a past culture. The role of the myth is to continue to teach lessons, even thousands of years after it was first told or penned.
As the myth goes…
Arachne, a shepherd’s daughter, was also a talented weaver—so talented that she was known to have boasted that she was better at weaving than even Athena, herself. Athena, offended when hearing about this boast, put on a disguise and appeared before Arachne herself, essentially tricking her into making the boast again. Athena then revealed herself and challenged Arachne to a public weaving contest. At the end of the contest, Athena ripped the girl’s work to shreds and struck her on the head three times. Some telling say it was because Arachne’s work was better than Athena’s, other tellings say it was because the tapestries Arachne wove depicted the abuses and follies of the Gods. Either way, Arachne was so humiliated that she fled and took her life by hanging.
After seeing what Arachne had done, Athena was moved by pity, shame, or both, and transformed the girl into a spider so that she would live on and continue her weaving for all time.
Öèôðîâàÿ ðåïðîäóêöèÿ íàõîäèòñÿ â èíòåðíåò-ìóçåå Gallerix.ru
This myth has many interpretations.
It is sometimes thought to be a statement about a tyrannical government. It is also thought to be a warning against bragging. But no matter how you take the story, it shows a variety of very human experiences:
- A powerful force “punching down” at a less-powerful presence.
- The complications that can arise when someone over-estimates their own abilities.
- A warning against letting a bruised ego causing you to act in an unkind way.
- How some mistakes cannot be unmade, but perhaps they can be recalibrated in a positive way (such as what Athena did to Arachne after the weaving contest).
Very often, modern Magickal people look too hard for what the myth might mean without exploring what it might mean for them, and unpacking what lessons it may offer.
If you’d like to go further with this one, try these reflection questions/journaling prompts…
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