It has always been my belief that Hecate and Persephone were lovers. In the old Greek myths Hecate was by no means the crone she later became. And I could never believe Persephone (whose name was Kore before her abduction) fell for her rapist. And Hecate is often shown to accompany Persephone not only in the underworld, but also on her trips back to the surface of the earth.
I am actually a lesbian myself and married to another woman. Not only that, I am also a High Priestess of Gaia, the ancient Greek Goddess of the Earth, and so is my wife.
On a side note, both my wife and I have alopecia universalis; we met in a self-help group. That is a disease which makes all hair fall out from head to toe, even the eyelashes. There is not a single hair on us anywhere. We are used to it meanwhile, and for our role of High Priestesses we even see it as a symbol of purity.
There are several different myths about the origin of Hecate; in some of these she is a daughter of Gaia. There are also myths in which she is the elder sister of Kore. I like the idea that she is a daughter of Gaia, and that Gaia accepts Persephone as child after Hecate and Persephone become a couple.
So in our rituals my wife turns into Persephone and I into Hecate. The union of this couple is very powerful since Hecate is the Goddess of Witchcraft and Persephone, according to some myths, has the power of looking into the future. In some ways the couple is like a lame man riding on the shoulders of a blind and guiding him. Persephone can see what the future will be, but she does not have the power to do anything about it. Hecate as the Goddess of Witchcraft can alter things with her magic, but she can not see the outcome; for this she needs Persephone.
We even created a calendar of our own. It has 13 months of 28 days each, plus a New Year's Day which does not belong to any month or week. In leap years New Year's Day is followed by Leap Day, which also does not belong to any month or week. This calendar has the advantage that a certain date will fall on the same weekday every year. What's more, all months start with the same weekday. We named our weekdays after the seven Pleiades, by the way, and the thirteen months after Greek Goddesses. Our calendar year starts with the vernal equinox which marks the beginning of spring. That way a year resembles a human life, with spring being childhood and youth (the first 20 years), summer young adulthood (the next 20 years), fall middle age (the next 20 years) and winter old age (the rest).
The solstices and equinoxes, which mark the beginning of the four seasons, are our holy days. We paint ourselves head to toe in the color of the beginning season for them (light green for the grass of spring, bright red for the blossoms of summer, yellowish-brown for the leaves of fall and white for the snow of winter). Here is a link to a photo of me painted for the fall equinox.
Hecate and Persephone
I am actually a lesbian myself and married to another woman. Not only that, I am also a High Priestess of Gaia, the ancient Greek Goddess of the Earth, and so is my wife.
On a side note, both my wife and I have alopecia universalis; we met in a self-help group. That is a disease which makes all hair fall out from head to toe, even the eyelashes. There is not a single hair on us anywhere. We are used to it meanwhile, and for our role of High Priestesses we even see it as a symbol of purity.
There are several different myths about the origin of Hecate; in some of these she is a daughter of Gaia. There are also myths in which she is the elder sister of Kore. I like the idea that she is a daughter of Gaia, and that Gaia accepts Persephone as child after Hecate and Persephone become a couple.
So in our rituals my wife turns into Persephone and I into Hecate. The union of this couple is very powerful since Hecate is the Goddess of Witchcraft and Persephone, according to some myths, has the power of looking into the future. In some ways the couple is like a lame man riding on the shoulders of a blind and guiding him. Persephone can see what the future will be, but she does not have the power to do anything about it. Hecate as the Goddess of Witchcraft can alter things with her magic, but she can not see the outcome; for this she needs Persephone.
We even created a calendar of our own. It has 13 months of 28 days each, plus a New Year's Day which does not belong to any month or week. In leap years New Year's Day is followed by Leap Day, which also does not belong to any month or week. This calendar has the advantage that a certain date will fall on the same weekday every year. What's more, all months start with the same weekday. We named our weekdays after the seven Pleiades, by the way, and the thirteen months after Greek Goddesses. Our calendar year starts with the vernal equinox which marks the beginning of spring. That way a year resembles a human life, with spring being childhood and youth (the first 20 years), summer young adulthood (the next 20 years), fall middle age (the next 20 years) and winter old age (the rest).
The solstices and equinoxes, which mark the beginning of the four seasons, are our holy days. We paint ourselves head to toe in the color of the beginning season for them (light green for the grass of spring, bright red for the blossoms of summer, yellowish-brown for the leaves of fall and white for the snow of winter). Here is a link to a photo of me painted for the fall equinox.
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/6633/highpriestessjean.jpg