Advice from Goddess Athena – How to Find Your Passion

Goddess Athena is back with advice on how to find your passion!

If you’ve read my previous articles, you’d know that Goddess Athena and I have a special relationship. We talk to each other. During those conversations, I ask her advice about matters that trouble my fellow mortals.  

For those of you who haven’t read my previous ‘Goddess Athena’s Blogs, please allow me to make the introduction.

Goddess Athena

Goddess Athena is one of the most influential of all Goddesses. She gave her name to the City of Athens and is the Goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, law, justice, strategic warfare, strength, arts, and crafts.

Athena is also the patron Goddess of heroic endeavors, the voice that comes to heroes in times of need instilling in them a calm spirit and giving the energy to achieve their goals. Under Athena’s influence, man or woman can see the world with perfect clarity and take action just right for the moment. Athena’s essence is rationality, her greatest gift to mortals was to enable a human to act with divine wisdom.

Sometimes it is hard to stay motivated, maybe because you don’t really like what you do, or because you have yet to find what it is you are passionate about, maybe it is because you haven’t yet seen the results of your hard work.  So, in my ‘dreamy’ conversation with Athena last night I asked her how to find your passion:

How to Find Your Passion

Author Joanne Reed: “Lots of people nowadays feel demotivated and deflated because they have not yet found that one thing that keeps them passionate and eager. What would you say to those people?”

Athena: “Your fellow mortals tend to look for things in the wrong places. It is right for humans to want to live their lives with passion. The problem is that humans believe their passion is hiding somewhere, maybe behind a tree or underneath a rock. Humans should be first and foremost passionate about life itself. The truth is that our passion comes from doing things right. Get into the habit of injecting passion into all the things that you do. If you do this consistently, a time will come when something will stand out above all the other things, that is the thing to devote more time to doing passionately.”

Author Joanne Reed: “But there are those who have found their passion but feel demotivated and deflated because they cannot see any results. What would you say to them?”

Athena: “Stop focusing on the outcome and start focusing on the work itself!  They should pursue the things they love doing and they should devote themselves on a daily basis to practice and hone their art until people cannot take their eyes off them.”

Author Joanne Reed: “Thank you Athena for those wise words. There may still be time when people feel discouraged, I am sure my fellow mortals would appreciate some more guidance on how to find your passion.”

Athena: “My advice is to listen to nature and learn ‘Nature’s Language.’ Do daily meditations and talk to the Sun, the Moon, the Rain, and the Breeze. They should ask the Sun to bring them new energy by day. They should ask the Moon to restore them by night. They should ask the Rain to wash away their worries and they should ask the Breeze to blow new strength into their being. If they do this, they will be able to walk as tall as the trees and to stand as strong as the mountain.”

How to Find Your Passion in Nature, Immerse Yourself in it.

Author Joanne Reed: “Thank you Athena for those words of encouragement and wisdom. I will talk to my fellow humans and remind them to stay calm when the world around them is dark and scary. I will remind them to keep believing in themselves when filled with doubt. I will tell them to trust that the darkness will disappear with the first rays of light as the morning rises. I will tell them to scare away fear itself; to scare away the fear of not being good enough, I will tell them to scare away the fear of tomorrow and to continue to walk as tall as the tree and to stand as strong as the mountain in the knowledge that their morning is near.”

And this, my dear Friend is your Quest!


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For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble.  The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com.

Athena Goddess of War

Last week I was in Madrid, one of Europe’s most amazing cities, exciting and dynamic, with beautiful architecture everywhere you look. Dating back to the 9th century, Madrid has a rich history and has been the capital of Spain since 1606. El Retiro Park, located in the center of Madrid was originally a royal garden built for King Felipe IV in 1632 but has been open to the public since the Glorious Revolution of 1868. At the center of the 12-hectare park is a large artificial lake, El Estanque del Retiro and a monument dedicated to King Alfonso XII. The monument itself is a grand and elaborate curved colonnade, topped with a bronze equestrian statue of the king by sculptor Mariano Benlliure and incorporates the work of 21 other artists. One of those works is a sculpture of Athena Goddess of War herself!

Athena Goddess of War and Author Joanne Reed

I am not kidding! I met Goddess Athena in Madrid; she was looking very majestic and godly sitting at the focal point of the park watching over the lake. You can imagine my excitement at the sight of her there. Goddess Athena and I have been talking for a little while and our conversations have always been through ‘dreamy channels,’ but this time, I was standing right next to her while she imparted more of her godly wisdom about the Art of War.

Goddess Athena, daughter of Zeus, was known as both as ‘Athena Goddess of War‘ and ‘Athena Goddess of Wisdom.’ You may legitimately think, “How can the Goddess of War also be the Goddess of Wisdom?”, those two attributes do not seem to work well together!  Ares, son of Zeus and Athena’s brother was also a God of War; he was the patron of chaotic battles, extreme violence and slaughter, great pain, suffering and devastation. Athena was his antithesis; she was the patron of controlled strength, strategy, organized fighting, advanced weaponry and battlefield tactics. Athena excelled at mediation and always worked to prevent war, but if war could not be avoided, she was a fierce warrior and was known for never having lost a battle.

Goddess Athena meeting Author Joanne Reed at El Estanque del Retiro, Madrid

The Spanish Empire is described as the first truly global empire and the first to be known as “the Empire on which the sun never sets.” Between the late 15th to the early 19th centuries, Spain controlled a huge overseas territory, so, I asked Goddess Athena:

Author Joanne Reed: “Spaniards were great explorers; they were the first to venture to faraway lands across unknown oceans, and went further than anyone before them. What made them so successful?”

Goddess Athena: “You already know the answer to this question; it’s in Chapter 1 of your book, ‘This Is Your Quest.’”

Author Joanne Reed:Exploration started at sea, intrepid navigators and explorers crossed oceans to venture to faraway lands in pursuit of fame and fortune. The Quest for those navigators and explorers was for gold, spices, plants, medicine, knowledge and to establish trading posts.”

Goddess Athena: “Yes, but the role of the navy in these overseas pursuits was critical. The Spanish navy used the lake in El Retiro Park as a ‘playground’ for their naval practices because practice makes perfect.

Author Joanne Reed: “Did they have to practice? Couldn’t they just devise a war strategy?”

Goddess Athena: “No, knowing without doing is like not knowing at all. You cannot learn to ride a bicycle by reading a step-by-step guide. You have to go outside,  practice, stumble, fall off, get back on and do it over and over again until it becomes second nature. The same principle applies to everything else you do.”

Author Joanne Reed: “Wouldn’t it feel a little silly to hold mock naval battles in a lake?”

Goddess Athena: “No, because even if we have the intellectual capacity to quickly grasp concepts and ideas it is a mistake to believe that we also know how to execute them right away. Learning something new is hard, especially at the beginning when we struggle and make mistakes.  The reality is that the only way to learn something new is to practice, get feedback, refine your approach, and practice again.”

Your mission, should you accept it, is to pay attention to a Goddess, identify your goals and put them into practice until you reach your objectives and claim victory.


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For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble.  The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com.


Advice From Athena Goddess of Wisdom – Navigating Choppy Waters

Advice From Athena Goddess of Wisdom – Navigating Choppy Waters

Life is full of ups and downs; one day we can be sitting on top of the world and the next we can find ourselves in the gutter with problems we don’t know how to solve. Some days you may feel that you are swaying unsteadily on a tightrope between one extreme and another, between good moments and bad. We all have to accept the fact that life’s journey will sometimes take us on rocky paths, through choppy waters or down dark alleys. Who better than Athena Goddess of Wisdom to help us deal with those challenging times?

Aristotle said, “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light;” you have probably also heard “there is light at the end of the tunnel,” maybe this is the light that Aristotle was talking about.

If you read my previous post you would know Athena Goddess of Wisdom has agreed to talk to me on a regular basis to impart some of her godly wisdom. Who better to ask about seeing the light?

Athena Goddess of Wisdom

Goddess Athena is often depicted as a warrior holding a spear and wearing a golden helmet. Goddess Athena was admired and renowned for her role as judge, diplomat, and mediator, but it was as a mediator and planner that she really excelled. Goddess Athena was known for her superb logic and intellect, her decisions were well-considered and displayed great compassion. She avoided war whenever possible, but if negotiations failed, she could turn herself into a fierce warrior and was known to have never lost a battle.

Author Joanne Reed

Author Joanne Reed, “Goddess Athena, I am grateful for another opportunity to talk. Last time, your advice was to ‘Be like a River.’ However, not all rivers are calm and peaceful, some are tumultuous, dangerous, churning. How can mortals navigate these choppy waters and life’s ups and downs?”

Goddess Athena, “Tell your fellow mortals to ‘Be like a Cave.’ Tell them to stay calm, to breath deep and find beauty in unexpected places. Tell them to search inward and see the ‘hole’ picture. Tell them that good things take time and that they should look beneath the surface and hang tight”.

Goddess Athena, “My last words are to REED Joanne’s book ‘This Is Your Quest’ and keep tuned-in to her blog. I will be talking to her regularly to share more ‘divine wisdom’ to spread more joy and happiness.

Advice from a Cave

Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to listen to Nature, be like a cave, pay attention to a Goddess and just do what she says!

Advice from a Cave is part of the True Nature series by Ilan Shamir.


If you liked this post you can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook, or you may also like:

For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble.  The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com.