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 a companion to the justice of the Athena, in that it uses the fine detail of a "hunter's eye" to target and achieve one's goals, whatever they may be. In the case of romance, it is identifying only the best of the best males to consider as a mate. It is the "hunting instinct" behind the gift for finding a bargain, obtaining only the best in life, and in love.

It was said that as a girl, she was struck on the ears by Hera, who was enraged at Zeus, whose infidelity produced her with Leto, and she ran into the arms of Zeus to sit in his lap, crying one day. She, alongside her brother Apollo, the patron god of Troy, would side with the Trojans against the Greeks. This is interesting if you consider that Paris is the “ultimate male” mortal figure (in our overall three steps of Sexual Attraction) who “does the steps right” - in that, the three gifts offered to him from Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena compose the three things that women do to appeal to men in that order.

If Artemis is then a champion of the Trojans, then she is also partial to Paris. This makes sense, given that she is a useful complement to Athena, who was one of the original three goddesses to use Paris as the arbiter of their contest with each other. It teaches us that although there is a destruction of many males in her wake, the specific reasons for their demise (symbolizing in today’s everyday life, the rejection and shaming of males who do not measure up in character) are either justifiable reasons, or are pure, regrettable accidents.

Artemis, symbolically, as the virginal huntress, was about hunting for purity and truth, while the virginal warrior of the Athena Instinct was about fighting for the causes of justice and wisdom. In this way, you might say that in everyday life, the Artemis Instinct in women could be considered a forward scout for romantic troubles and reservations about men, and the Athena Instinct would be the power-that-be who could then take over and make a final decision about a man’s worthiness for any future together.

RETURN TO THE FEMININE INSTINCTS

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 which one's cleverness is used in a "win/lose" or destructive motive. It is about the deceitfulness of a partner, burning one's resources while preserving their own.  You might say that the partner with this vice is a master of "smokescreens," which relies on distraction for their own, selfish survival instead of the "we-attitude" of Resilience.

In being unjust as a partner at contributing to achieving a goal, the artificial partner is burdening their partner in collaboration to a goal, being so bent on their personal "survival needs" that they are in reptilian-brained, personal survival mode (which is narcissistic.) People comment at the end of the relationship that, "I felt like I woke up married to a snake," or "the honest person I married was really, a sneak." That is the Artifice of a partner in its usual effect - of such weak personal boundaries, filled with boundary holes, that they lie and deceive in a survivalist mode, rather than having the faith in themselves (or at least the relationship) to comprehend that life cannot be won without the other partner.  They have been called, "a lone wolf" and "only out for themselves," which in the end, can only prove that they don't love themselves enough to allow themselves to rely on a partner for half of the teamwork.

The artificial person uses an Immature Ego Defense, called, "rationalization" to rid themselves of guilt, and a Primitive Ego Defense, called "Denial" to hide their own eyes from their unjust behavior with the excuse, "I needed to survive." - that what is only a wish is somehow an actual reality, when there needs not be a threat. (The Ego Defenses guide us in finding friends and mates who happen to have similar maturity levels.)

It is pathologically narcissistic (or childish thinking) to be artificial, a liar, because we usually want to be its mature version, Resourcefulness, which makes for the "win/win" behavior of teamwork in the face of menacing threats. The survival at hand needs to be that of the couple, not either individual.

The other vice of Resourcefulness as a virtue, is that of moral deficit, called, "Fallowness" or "intellectual laziness,"a "slacker-like" state where a person of basic skill at something, doesn't even bother to help to try for a goal, leaving the more optimistic, resourceful partner, "on their own" or "high and dry" in the face of a challenge to their joint goals.  They are not "pulling their own weight" and are a "free rider" in the relationship.  Which leads to destructive results for the relationship.

Someone who is romantically making use of Artifice is a narcissist, actively wasting resources and taking them away from the achievement of the goals and the dreams of a mate, by trying to save their own skin.

As a vice which makes partnership within relationships fail to get to goals, Artifice is intellectually unattractive. We consider dishonest behavior to be negative in many ways, including in sexual attraction, since it actually depletes the reserves of one's own, or the other partner's masculinity or femininity". To be "played the fool" is shaming, and therefore diminishing of the gender instincts.

RETURN TO CHARACTER COMPATIBILITY