Aleister Crowley & Hekate as Crone
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. first mention I have found to 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.”
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.
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.
