Hekate is a maiden....

[Lover of War]

Why does everybody think of her as a Crone?

[Siona]

I think part of the problem is when people take a modern construct, the maiden-mother-crone triad, and try to apply it universally across all ancient deities. Hekate gets labeled a crone because her attributes match the crone goddess... the end of the moon cycle (which was actually what we now think of as the new moon), night, witchcraft, necromancy, ghosts, the dead and the underworld, etc.

Personally, I think Hekate is one of the many deities who doesn't really fit neatly into the maiden-mother-crone concept. Classically she was a wide-reaching deity with many attributes - some of which fit into the crone archetype, but then, as you say, in art she was shown as a younger woman (and in some cases, looked very similar to Artemis), and in some ancient traditions she was considered one of the virgin goddesses. However, since she is such a vast deity, I think trying to completely place her into either 'maiden' or 'crone' archetype doesn't do her justice. Some may wish to work with her in a particular view, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but trying to universally label her as a particular view doesn't really work, at least not in my opinion.

[Heartsong]

Like Siona says, I think it's because she has associations and functions that are most relatable to the Crone stage of life. (Cunning, darkness, death, etc.). That being said, I tend to think that all goddesses share in all three aspects (Maiden, Matron, Crone) simultaneosuly. What causes you to view her as a Maiden?

[hecate8]

Indeed, she is all there, and more.

[Lillady]

I agree the concept with Hekate being a Crone is just due to her association with death, darkness, afterlife etc. I think she is a maiden myself and have never thought of her as a Crone. I can understand the stereotype, per se though just do not agree with it.

[Xiao Rong]

I agree with Lillady, Siona, and Heartsong. I have a feeling that it's because in modern society, the role of the Crone (a powerful, respected, wise older woman) is largely absent, and when Pagans have gone around reclaiming the Crone, we don't have very many models to look up to, so we start assigning certain deities and figures there who feel like they should belong to that role (e.g. Hecate and her role as queen of the night and witchcraft), even if they weren't originally supposed to be Crone-figures. That said, we have the Maiden, Mother, and Crone in varying degrees throughout our lives, so some Maidens may really be quite Crone-like.

[Lover of War]

Oh that does make sense, but I just think it would be rude to call her one if shes not. Thats how she was depicted back then.

[Heartsong]

Oh that does make sense, but I just think it would be rude to call her one if shes not. That's how she was depicted back then.

I can understand where you're coming from. If it's rude, it would be because there may be some negative connotations that some people associate with the word 'Crone'. Like thinking of it to mean 'hag' or 'old woman', which carries some pretty not-nice significance in modern society, when it reality, all three words should be considered a compliment, I think at least. To be old is to be wise and to have experienced life more fully than young people have. I don't mean to sound didactic or that you personally think that way, WiccanTeen, just tossing that out there.

[Lover of War]

Oh I know its not a bad thing, but in my opinion wouldn't it rude to be called older? Oh well everybody sees the divine differently, but I just wondered. Thanks for the responses

[Xiao Rong]

No, I don't think it would be rude to be called older, at least not in all situations. (I can definitely think of times when I was a teen and I would have been quite flattered to be told I looked older, haha!) Again, I think this comes back to our society placing a lot of emphasis on physical beauty and youthfulness in women, and just about the worst or rudest thing you can do is to ask a woman her age or otherwise imply that she is old. We have so few positive role models of the Crone in the fullness of her power -- bold, outspoken, wise, respected, experienced older women whose physical beauty is far less important than their charisma and intelligence (to be fair, we don't have many positive female role models, period, and those that we have are almost all Maidens, with a handful of Mothers here and there) ... Instead, we mostly have images of old women as small, diminutive, helpless, senile, enfeebled in mind and body and almost entirely irrelevant except as objects of pity (think of the term "little old lady"). It's the latter image that is the basis for "old" being an insult. If we had more true Crones in our society, I suspect that more women would embrace their aging process and take "old" as a compliment ... and I would imagine (at least in my understanding of Hecate) that she would care more for wisdom and the power she commands than for physical beauty.

[Siona]

Oh I know its not a bad thing, but in my opinion wouldn't it rude to be called older? Oh well everybody sees the divine differently, but I just wondered. Thanks for the responses

I'm not sure being called older is rude in itself, particularly for a deity, but I do think it's sort of rude when people ignore centuries of her worship to try and limit her to a particular modern view. She was mainly depicted as a younger woman for centuries, so there might be a reason for that, you know? (There is an ancient Greek cultural context there that I think is important for understanding Hekate.) Like I said earlier though, I don't think there's any issue with someone wanting to explore her crone aspects, or seeing her as a crone, and some modern worshipers have said that's how she appears to them, so I think that's a real personal thing. However, I have met some people who limit her to crone, insist everyone see her as crone, or try to pass of the whole crone thing as totally historical, and that's where I think issues start to come up.

[Nightwatcher]

Maybe I'm the odd one, but I refer to Lady Hecate as the "Crone" but I never see her as old or aged. Essentially, it's hard to pin down her age; she is ageless. Random tidbit, she is speculated to be a Thracian Goddess that was adopted into the Grecian pantheon as a Titan Goddess and a child of Nyx.

For me, a "Crone" is anyone who has gleaned wisdom. Sometimes it is in a short period of time, sometimes long. When I ask for guidance from Lady Hecate, she is always young, with luminous skin, long, long black hair and incredibly kind but focused emerald-green eyes. She isn't "old" in the least but very calm, kind and learned.

[Lover of War]

Ok true Siona, and yea that makes sense Nightwatcher. Thanks again for input