Talk:Hecate

Regarding the "Nature of Her Cult" section

This section seems blatantly written by someone with an agenda. The use of "Her" with a capital H and so on makes it look quite un-encyclopedic. Or am I wrong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.164.153.220 (talk) 12:32, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Assertion of metrical necessity

One version suggested earlier (above) had:

Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses refers to "triple Hecat" (/'hɛk-ət/), and this spelling without the final E later appears in Ben Jonson's play The Sad Shepherd, Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus, William Shakespeare's plays A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth, and John Milton's play Comus,* perhaps to fit the verse metres.
[* Milton, John (1634). Comus, Act I, Scene 1, line 135: "Wherein thou rid'st with Hecat".]

One objection to that was "speculation", which is why the underlined portion no longer appears. However, now that same assertion is being made as grounds to delete Milton from the footnote. If it's speculation to mention it in-text, it's speculation to delete on that basis, and in any case it doesn't follow from "metrical necessity" that the example of that usage should therefore be deleted — as the usage in prose has also been documented by Webster and Brewer. — Sizzle Flambé (☎/✍) 21:41, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

They aren't equivalent. Wikipedia policy as set out in WP:RS and WP:NPOV mean that we should present evidence as set out in the majority of reliable sources. In particular WP:Weight says that we should reflect disagreements between expert sources according to the balance of the evidence. It also says that we should give a particular aspect of an issue the balance that it deserves. If we mention the spelling of Hecate's name in Milton's Comus, then we would have to mention that there are three different spellings that we've identified in reliable sources, going into this level of detail about how one poet spelt the name would give the issue undue weight in what is an article covering all aspects of the godess in quesiton.--Peter cohen (talk) 23:39, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Utterly false historical revisionism

To say that Hecate "... was a popular chthonian Greco-Roman goddess associated later on by modern day neopagans with magic, witches, ghosts, and crossroads" suggests that she did not have these associations before the modern day.

Yet going on, we see that "she has been associated with ... crossroads, magic, lunar lore"; "associated with ghosts, infernal spirits, the dead and sorcery"; "closely associated with sorcery"; "in Sophocles and Euripides she is characterized as the mistress of witchcraft"; called "Triodia/Trioditis (who frequents crossroads)"; "Cult images and altars of Hecate in her triplicate or trimorphic form were placed at crossroads.... In this form she came to be known as the goddess Trivia 'the three ways' in Roman mythology."

So the interpolation "later on by modern day neopagans" was already shown in the article to be false. The specified association long predates the modern day neopagans, and if they carry it on it is merely as a continuation of far older traditions. — Sizzle Flambé (☎/✍) 07:24, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I completely agree. This article also states (basically) that her ancient statuary depicting three faces should not be assosicted with the tripartite Goddess, and this flagrantly ridiculous and completely idiotic. That is what the three faces of Hecate (et cetera) mean (that is all they mean!) ~ the three phases of the Moon, or Goddess, and the three stages of womanhood ~ youth, motherhood and maturity -- the Maiden, the Mother and the Wysen'd Olde Crone, as we call them in the Craft. Just because the writer doesn't understand the allegory, does not mean that the association is invalid, it in fact an ancient association (the most ancient?). The statement should be removed, and I have done so. Glorious Goddess (talk) 03:07, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Removed accordingly. — Sizzle Flambé (☎/✍) 07:33, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Hecate is NOT a crone. Hecate is the 'saffron-clad Maiden'. She's a maiden, not a crone. The crone thing is an (absurd) modern construct.

Lilith

I was doing some source research for Lilith and one mentioned her as an aspect of Hecate. Anyone who maintains reliable sources for this article have an opinion on this? Is this a modern feminist connection with no archaeological backing? Is it a notable feminist or neopagan view? Alatari (talk) 10:41, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

I left the list of sources on the Talk:Lilith page. Alatari (talk) 10:42, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

When editing this page

This is a 'living' deity. She is still worshiped by a significant number of people and so that is a consideration when editing this article. This means her mythology is evolving and not fixed in time. This is born out by the talk page arguments which have been an interesting read. Alatari (talk) 08:33, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Hecate is not a 'living' deity. The 'official' worship of the goddess died out with the coming of Christianity. However, before the arrival of Chritianity Hecate had evolved into a 'boogey-man' type of entity associated with evil and death. The moder 'worship' of Hecate by Wiccans and Neopgans has absolutley nothing in commong with her traditional worship or native religion.BoyintheMachine (talk) 04:40, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

Hekate is a living deity. There is modern worship of Hekate by Hellenic polythists, in the Americas and in Greece, Russia, and elsewhere, that is based on the traditional worship in ancient Greece. Hellenion is a 501c3 church with groups in the USA and Canada that has reconstructed and revived the practices of (mainly) Athenian Greek indigenous worship. http://hellenion.org/ The Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes is an umbrella group in Greece representing several religious groups that practice the indigenous religion of Greece. http://www.ysee.gr/index-eng.php And the publisher Neos Alexandria published a devotional book called Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate in 2009. http://neosalexandria.org/bibliotheca-alexandrina/current-titles/bearing-torches-a-devotional-anthology-for-hekate/ CaraSchulz (talk) 14:58, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Designation of years

All the years in the article that are meant to be BCE should really be marked with the letters "BCE," since Wikipedia is addressed to a popular audience. We can't expect most people to be familiar with the convention of omitting BCE when a discussion is dealing only with or primarily with BCE dates. 173.3.104.225 (talk) 13:18, 27 June 2010 (UTC)Swan

Parents

The article say "Hesiod records that she was esteemed as the offspring of Gaia and Uranus, the Earth and Sky" while also saying "Hesiod emphasizes that Hecate was an only child, the daughter of Perses and Asteria." Could someone familiar with mythology please clear that up? Peter.C • talk 13:32, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Consort and children internal contradiction

The info box lists Aeëtes as her consort and Aegialeus, Absyrtus, Medea, Circe and Chalciope as her children. All that is said on the subject in the article, however, is, "As a virgin goddess, she remained unmarried and had no regular consort, though some traditions named her as the mother of Scylla." Aeëtes's page does note that some sources claim him to be her husband, and Circe's page notes that some sources claim her to be Hecate's daughter, but the pages of the other children listed do not mention her at all. 99.20.100.18 (talk) 23:37, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Move To Delete The Following Sections

-Modern Festivals -Survival In Pre-Modern Folklore -Cross Cultural Parallels -Nature of Her Cult

Modern Festivals and Survival in Pre-Modern Folklore should be deleted due to them being based in Neo-Pagan propaganda. I don't know why all the Wiccans and Neopagans always want to take over these wiki pages but they need to stop. Survival in Pre-Modern Folklore is also fringe. Cross Cultural Parallels needs to be deleted as this is an encyclopedi entry on Hecate and not a place to espouse unneccesary religious or philosophical debates. The section on the nature of her cult as it is too simplistic.BoyintheMachine (talk) 04:47, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

If persons in present day worship a God or other deity and can prove this is happening, this is not propaganda and is germane to the article on the deity.CaraSchulz (talk) 15:02, 28 November 2012 (UTC)