Comments on: The Transformation of the Crone

By: Kendra

Kendra — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:31:09 +0000

Ah, what Joanna says is exactly what I was thinking! we here in the U.S. are mutts and it makes perfect sense to blend and mix whatever speaks to us – a great deal of what speaks to me is Native American, like the land we live on, but I am conscious that it is not my heritage – but it seems natural to me that we blend and create rather than rigidly adhere and one of the things that I like about you Beth, is you get the Grateful Dead, because I think rock and roll is a form of modern religion and we are living in a exciting and formative time for paganism.

By: Arie

Arie — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:24:15 +0000

Well I never mix pantheons in the same sacred space.
One ritual for each one.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:26:18 +0000

Hecate is sister to, or a mirror version of, the Cailleach, the Old Woman of Winter in Celtic myth. Both are epiphanies of the Crone Goddess, are they not?

I attended a workshop on Whidbey Island some years ago with John & Caitlin Matthews. She mentioned that in the UK or other European countries, it makes perfect sense to work with one pantheon of gods/goddesses, because they have an ancestral connection to the deities of their native land. But in North America, we are almost all immigrants (or our parents/grandparents were). So for us, it makes perfect sense that we blend and mix our pantheons, as it is a reflection of North American culture. Just something to think about.

By: catherine

catherine — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:08:12 +0000

I read these words watching the sunshine twinkle off the ice and snow. Part frozen, part liquid—Winter’s magic transforming as the earth turns beneath the post storm sun. Magical and beautiful in either form!
it inspires to me to bless those that have need of specific ways of naming and their traditions. Believing in her love and abundance, I know She would deny them nothing….
Then She throws me a snowball, sticks out her tongue & says “let’s go have some fun!”

By: Mariele

Mariele — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:00:52 +0000

Beautiful, beautiful. Many paths all leading to the same place; many names, all one name.

By: Jo

Jo — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:44:01 +0000

I loved the original post and like the additional – makes perfect sense to me – we really don’t know where the Gods & Goddesses originally come from in any pantheon – so much that I have read leads me to believe that all have cross-populated cultures and mix freely -

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:18:34 +0000

I received a rather pointed comment in Twitter that it appears I am mixing pantheons here. In a way, perhaps, but while it is true that Hecate (Hekate) originated in Greece, She almost certainly traveled with the Romans (who adopted Her) to the British Isles.

Like much of our own present day world that adopts and adapts across lineages, it is unknown how much in the Celtic post-Roman pantheon was “pure.” And there is precious little actually known about Hecate’s earliest origins in Greek culture.

In addition, since the Celtic tribes at one time stretched from Ireland to present-day Turkey, it would be rather surprising if there was NOT a cross-pollination of Deities.

Lastly, as author Miranda Green discusses in Chapter Eight of The Celtic Worlds, caution is necessary in any discussion of what is “Roman,” much less “Celtic.” Both were a complex amalgam of many other influences and cultures, the separate threads of which have long ago been lost to conquest, agenda-laden historians, and simple lack of data.

For those following the New Old Path in these modern times, we already have a rich tradition of being called by Gods and Goddesses from many cultures. Why would we expect for Them to remain aloof from each other? Or not overlap together?

Just my own thoughts about this, with deepest love and respect, to She of Ten Thousand Names.
– Beth