This is an updated version of my article Hekate's Profanation, previously published on my Pagan Patheos "Adamantine Muse" blog (now an archive, as I no longer blog there).
This is my ultimate guide for seekers who are confused about Hekate's attribution as a "Crone" in the modern Maiden, Mother and Crone construct, which remains popular in some Goddess and Wiccan circles. I would like to say this is everything you ever need to know on the topic - naturally new information will always come to light, and those of you who know my work will know I always err on the side that there is more to learn - so it is the nearly everything you need to know guide!!
“I come, a virgin of varied forms, wandering through the heavens, bull-faced, three-headed, ruthless, with golden arrows; chaste Phoebe bringing light to mortals, Eileithyia; bearing the three synthemata [sacred signs] of a triple nature. In the Aether I appear in fiery forms and in the air I sit in a silver chariot” - [Chaldean Oracles]
This article brings together material I have previously created for lectures or articles, and also material published in Circle for Hekate; Hekate: Her Sacred Fires and Hekate: Liminal Rites.
In 2001 when I found out to my utter horror that the majority of people I met in Pagan and Witchcraft circles believed that the Goddess Hekate was a "Crone" - I was pretty shocked. Since then I have witnessed the same shocked reactions when devotees who have devoted many years of study and practice exploring her Mysteries and Magic encounter the concept of Hekate being depicted as anything less than perfect. Not only is Hekate not a Crone, She simply does not fit in the Maiden, Mother and Crone construct She - and other goddesses - are so often squeezed into.
Before we continue, I would like you to take a deep breath and pause to reflect on a simple thing: Throughout the ages, defacing or describing gods as being less than perfect was often a technique employed by conquering religions in order to belittle and defame the older and more established religions in order to gain control over them. There is plenty of evidence to show how this played out.
What is the Maiden, Mother & Crone?
In this the feminine divine is considered to be singular, with many different forms – i.e. ‘all Goddesses are one Goddess’. It then proposes that this Goddess has three faces, or phases of life – being those of the Maiden, Mother and Crone (MMC). These phases are then each given attributes and used to not only refer to the phases of the Goddess but also that of the life of all women. It can be a powerful archetype to explore in ritual, especially when performing rites of passage for women, especially those linked to menarche, marriage, birthing and menopause. But can be restrictive for women who, for one reason or another, do not have a choice in experiencing these phases of life in a neat and predictable manner. For example, women who are infertile and are not able to fulfil their desire to have a child; girls who have their maidenhood taken away from them by force and those who don't fit the neat heterosexual box this construct assumes.
Jane Ellen Harrison
One of the suggested originators of the idea of the MMC is the Cambridge classicist Jane Ellen Harrison. Her work Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903) is often cited as the first example of Maiden, Mother and Other (unnamed) Goddess. However, studying that book makes it clear that her work has not always been read in the right context, as she makes a very clear distinction between the Maiden and Mother on the one hand, and the triple Maiden on the other. This is specifically stated by Harrison when she observes:
“Once the triple form established, it is noticeable that in Greek mythology the three figures are always regarded as maiden Goddesses, not as mothers. They may have taken their rise in the Mother and the Maid, but the Mother falls utterly away.”[1]
Harrison goes on to give some examples of the triple Maiden, not mentioning Hekate, but emphasising the occurrence of the phenomenon, commenting that, “The Charities, the Moirae [Fates], the Horae, are all essentially maidens.”[2]
Robert Graves
Whoever originated the idea of the MMC in the early 20th century, it cannot be disputed that the idea was popularised by Robert Graves through his writings, especially The White Goddess (1948). Graves perpetuated this theme in his subsequent writings, interchanging mother and nymph, so e.g. in The Greek Myths (1957.1:12), he observed:
“The moon’s three phases of new, full, and old recalled the matriarch’s three phases of maiden, nymph (nubile woman), and crone.”
Hekate was most often equated to the crone aspect of this archetypal triplicate image, but this idea of Hekate as a crone goddess is one which would have been completely alien to the people of ancient Greece or Anatolia, and likewise others who honoured here before the 20th century. The only possible explanation for the continued association today is that somehow the darker, scarier aspects of Hekate have been equated to wisdom in old age, which is, when you think about it quite ludicrous. Wisdom and knowledge do most certainly come with old age, but wisdom does not make you dark or scary – it should, in theory, make you more illuminating, interesting and exactly what it says, wise.
Aleister Crowley
Hekate “the crone” continues to be a popular idea amongst some traditions of contemporary Paganism, even though it is contradicted by many hundreds of years of contrary evidence. The first mention I have found of Hekate being described specifically in a way which fits the archetype of crone is in the works of the controversial magician and occult writer, Aleister Crowley.
In his novel Moonchild, which he wrote in 1917 and was published in 1929, Crowley declared of the triple lunar Goddess that:
“and thirdly, she is Hekate, a thing altogether of Hell, barren, hideous and malicious, the queen of death and evil witchcraft … Hekate is the crone, the woman past all hope of motherhood, her soul black with envy and hatred of happier mortals.” - Aleister Crowley
Hekate featured in other works by Crowley too. Ten years earlier Crowley had hinted at this perception of Hekate in his poem Orpheus, published in volume 3 of his Collected Works (1907). He described an invocation of Hekate beginning:
“O triple form of darkness! Sombre splendour! Thou moon unseen of men! Thou huntress dread! Thou crowned demon of the crownless dead!”
A later remark in the same piece suggests he was viewing her as a crone-like figure, where he commented, “Hecate, veiled with a shining veil, Utterly frail”; as frailty is commonly associated with physical age.
Hekate is a Maiden (not "the")
By complete contrast, in the ancient world, Hekate is described as being a maiden Goddess, a young and beautiful female figure, sometimes depicted in a single form and sometimes in her later triple form. Where depictions survive of the triple form, it depicts the Goddess as three identical women of the same age, standing back to back and holding different tools which are symbolic of the mysteries associated with Hekate, and usually includes her torches, but also daggers, keys, cords and other items. She is not "the" maiden though either, as there are many goddesses who share the epithet of "Kore" (maiden" with her, including Athena, Persephone and Artemis.
Hekate is a Goddess who has for thousands of years been associated with magic, as such she is capable of manifesting in many forms - which she does. Historically she is shown as single-bodied, or with two, three or four bodies or heads, human and sometimes that of animals. There is no disputing that she is old - in fact she is ancient! All the Gods are old – but since they are immortal, age is not relevant in the same way as it is for us as humans. Forcing a restrictive construct, on an ancient and multifaceted Goddess such as Hekate, is not helpful in my opinion. It leads to confusion as to the way in which this Goddess - and others - are understood. When we change their appearance, their roles and symbols it becomes impossible to see their Mysteries.
Hekate, Demeter and Persephone
If however, one insists on forcing Hekate into this construct, she would more aptly be assigned to the role of maiden, and possibly that of mother – rather than crone. I realise that this idea would be very foreign to her priesthood and devotees before the 20th century, but if Hekate is considered within the triad of Goddesses celebrated in the Eleusinian Mysteries these attributions become clear – Hekate as the maiden,
If we move forward with this premise, then Persephone is the bride/mother, and Demeter is the crone. Modern writers more often equate Persephone to the role of the maiden, Demeter to the role of Mother and Hekate to the crone, and in the case of Demeter and Persephone for good and obvious reasons. Persephone starts out being a maiden, the Kore; and Demeter’s name literally translates as Holy Mother. But there is no obvious reason for Hekate’s fitting onto the Crone – she is the companion to Persephone on her yearly journey, she aids Demeter with knowledge and she is depicted and described as a young woman bearing torches. But, the MMC model is also restrictive for Persephone and Demeter. Persephone is the wife of Hades and the goddess who effectively brings fertility to the land when she returns to her mother – these are mother qualities. Demeter, the grain Goddess, whose yearly mourning for the loss of her daughter brings winter and with it barrenness to the Earth, a crone quality.
Whilst it might work as a way of looking at the life of a woman, the MMC construct clearly presents issues when trying to match it up with historical Goddesses, especially when including Hekate within the triad. However, conversely with a goddess as multifaceted as Hekate, it is also perfectly obvious that she would be capable of sending spirits to those calling on her today in forms they are able to recognise and connect with – and maybe for some people, this might take the form of a Crone.
For me, Hekate transcends form and shape, and as a goddess, I personally fail to understand why age should be important. If we want to be literal, she is very old. In fact, she is ancient! We know that she was around for people at least 2800 years ago, and probably long before that. What would a human woman look like at that age? The bodies and bones of her ancient devotees are nothing more than dust now, and in turn, we will be the same – absorbed back into the body of Nature. With this thought, I leave you with a quote from the Chaldean Oracles –
Look not upon Nature, for her name is fatal. – Proc. in P1at. Th., 143. Z.
Further reading:
Circle for Hekate, Vol.1 – History and Mythology(2017), d’Este & Rankine