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 [Read more...] about Arachne Instinct

The Ares Instinct of masculinity is the instinctual/reflex system of the male reptilian brain that just loves a challenge, competition with other men, and the pleasure of winning for winning’s sake. With every ambition to overcome a challenge - at battle in the worlds of career and love, which to men are literally Darwin’s survival, and reproduction - men feel a jolt of life-affirming energy called masculinity. As with [Read more...] about Ares Instinct

The Ariadne Instinct in the female wants to belong to a cause with meaning and purpose, and to contribute and be honored for what she, uniquely, among all women—is the only one who could do what she does.
Daughter of King Minos who terrified the Athenians with the Minotaur and his Labyrinth, Ariadne falls in love with the Athenian hero, Theseus and helps him kill the Minotaur with her slender, [Read more...] about Ariadne Instinct

Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo – making her a rather “intellectual” goddess, the “Renaissance Woman” to Apollo’s “Renaissance Man” – the goddess of feminine accuracy and discriminating judgment of the world around us (and of the qualities in a man.) Her judgement ability made her a perfect complement to the drive for justice in Athena.  The Artemis Instinct is then [Read more...] about Artemis Instinct

Like intellectual Usurpation ("bossy behavior") or physical Tyranny, which are vices about bullying someone, or conniving to selfishly take their resources (like time or energy), or actual possessions (like money) at the cost of their joint success, like its reference virtue, Artifice involves cleverness, but "clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others."  It is a character "vice of excess of Resourcefulness" in [Read more...] about Artifice