Arachne was a talented mortal weaver who challenged Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts, to a weaving contest; this narcissism resulted in her being transformed into a spider by Aphrodite, as punishment. There are many versions of the story's weaving contest, but the usefulness of this feminine instinct rests in its way of balancing ambition versus shedding one's own narcissism - a cautionary tale equivalent to the tale of Narcissus and the Narcissus Instinct in males. It also may represent a Promethean argument with the male gods as well, since Arachne's weaving depicted the abuses of mortals, by Zeus. And so the positive light on the Arachne Instinct in women is that it is also the "rebel's instinct" that can make a woman feel passionate and alive.
Arachne was a shepherd's daughter who began weaving at an early age. She became a great weaver, boasted that her skill was greater than that of Athena, and refused to acknowledge that her skill came, in part at least, from the goddess. Athena took offense and set up a contest between them. Presenting herself as an old lady, she approached the narcissistic girl and warned: "You can never compare to any of the gods. Plead for forgiveness and Athena might spare your soul."
"Ha! I only speak the truth and if Athena thinks otherwise then let her come down and challenge me herself," Arachne replied. Athena removed her disguise and appeared in shimmering glory. The two began their weaving contest. Athena's weaving represented four separate contests between mortals and the gods in which the gods punished mortals for setting themselves as equals of the gods. Arachne's weaving depicted ways that the gods had misled and abused mortals, particularly Zeus, tricking and seducing many women. When Athena saw that Arachne had not only insulted the gods, but done so with a work far more beautiful than Athena's own, she was enraged. She ripped Arachne's work into shreds, and hit her on the head three times.
Terrified and ashamed, Arachne hanged herself. Then Athena said "Live on then, and yet hang, condemned one, but, lest you are careless in future, this same condition is declared, in punishment, against your descendants, to the last generation!" After saying this she sprinkled her with the juice of Hecate's herb, and immediately at the touch of this dark poison, Arachne's hair fell out. With it went her nose and ears, her head shrank to the smallest size, and her whole body became tiny. Her slender fingers stuck to her sides as legs, the rest is belly, from which she still spins a thread, and, as a spider, weaves her ancient web." This showed how goddesses punished mortals who dared to insult them.
A woman aligned with her sisters in the Hestia Instinct can do no wrong, even in the eyes of Zeus, who had faults of his own, but when she is not just a rebel with a cause, but a rebel against even her own sisters and matriarchs, she will be set straight in her ways, by the instinct in other women, for justice in conflict, the Athena Instinct.