Does anyone worship Selene?

[Morbid_Rogue]

Just wondering?

[hedge*]

No - but she's a moon goddess and I LOVE the moon.

[Patience]

I have six friends who do they all have a stone the shape of a crest on a necklace chain it is really cute....

[lilimitzuki]

Do you?
I love the moon and I¿m thinking of worshiping her

[[SnowRaven]]

Just wondering?

I do - I think I've always been drawn to her. She is my Patron Goddess and I honor her every Esbat. For me, she is part of the maiden-mother-crone triumverate of Artemis-Selene-Hecate. Starting this year I will also honor all 3 goddess' ancient feast days.

Let me know what else you'd like to know!

BB

[LaFiamma]

Just wondering?

I do - I think I've always been drawn to her. She is my Patron Goddess and I honor her every Esbat. For me, she is part of the maiden-mother-crone triumverate of Artemis-Selene-Hecate. Starting this year I will also honor all 3 goddess' ancient feast days.

Let me know what else you'd like to know!

BB

If you are looking into ancient festival days of the goddesses, you will find that Hekate is actually a virgin goddess, she was never a crone to the Greeks. Also, Artemis had lunar connections, but was never goddess of the moon. I don't believe that Selene had any actual festival days.

[[SnowRaven]]

Just wondering?

I do - I think I've always been drawn to her. She is my Patron Goddess and I honor her every Esbat. For me, she is part of the maiden-mother-crone triumvirate of Artemis-Selene-Hecate. Starting this year I will also honor all 3 goddess' ancient feast days.

Let me know what else you'd like to know!

BB

If you are looking into ancient festival days of the goddesses, you will find that Hecate is actually a virgin goddess, she was never a crone to the Greeks. Also, Artemis had lunar connections, but was never goddess of the moon. I don't believe that Selene had any actual festival days.

Feast Days:

Selene: Feb. 7, Mar. 31 [festival of the moon], Aug 24 [Lunae in Graecostasi]

Artemis: Aug 13, Oct 6, Aug 15

Hecate: Nov 16, Dec 31

[LaFiamma]

Just wondering?

I do - I think I've always been drawn to her. She is my Patron Goddess and I honor her every Esbat. For me, she is part of the maiden-mother-crone triumvirate of Artemis-Selene-Hecate. Starting this year I will also honor all 3 goddess' ancient feast days.

Let me know what else you'd like to know!

BB

If you are looking into ancient festival days of the goddesses, you will find that Hecate is actually a virgin goddess, she was never a crone to the Greeks. Also, Artemis had lunar connections, but was never goddess of the moon. I don't believe that Selene had any actual festival days.

Feast Days:

Selene: Feb. 7, Mar. 31 [festival of the moon], Aug 24 [Lunae in Graecostasi]

Artemis: Aug 13, Oct 6, Aug 15

Hecate: Nov 16, Dec 31

Well, first thing, whatever source you have that gives modern calender days as festival days in ancient Greek culture is incorrect- the Greeks used a lunar-based calendar. Your source may simply be fixing the day to a close day on the modern calendar- that's pretty common, but it should at least say so. Additionally, there was no single Greek calendar, as there was no one single unified "Greece" at the time, there were many city-states. Athens' Calendar was not the same as Sparta's, which was not the same as Thessaly's, which was not the same as Corinth's and so on and so on, but most surviving calendar information is from Athens.

Here are a few of the ancient festivals of Artemis-

Kharisteria -- The feast of Artemis Agrotera (the huntress). After the victory at Marathon, this became a commemoration of that battle, and was known as Kharisteria, "Thanksgiving." This falls on the 6th of the Athenian month Boidromion, which corresponds to September 5th/6th of 2008 (The Athenian day straddles our modern day because back then, the day began and ended at sundown)

Elaphebolia -- Festival of Artemis, where she was offered cakes shaped like stags, made from dough, honey and sesame-seeds. This falls on the 6th day of the Athenian month Elaphabolion, which corresponds to March 2nds/3rd of 2009

Mounikhia -- Festival of Artemis as the moon goddess and mistress of the animals. A procession of girls carrying boughs came to the shrine of Apollon and Artemis. A she-goat was sacrificed to the goddess, along with other offerings. Another procession consisted of people carrying amphiphontes (shining-all-round), round cakes containing lit candles arranged in a circle. This falls on either the sixth or sixteenth day of the Athenian month Mounikhion, which corresponds to April 1st/2nd or 11th/12th of 2009.

Additionally, Artemis was traditionally honored on the sixth day of every month in many places- she is said to have been born on the sixth day of the month, and Apollo is said to have been born on the seventh day. The festival of their birth is the Thargelia, though most sources indicate that this is a festival in honor of Apollo in particular.

Festival information is available here:
http://www.winterscapes.com/kharis/calendar.htm

Athenian calendar aligned with the contemporary calendar is here (scroll down to the last calendar on the page to see the one that applies right now):

http://www.numachi.com/%7Eccount/hmepa/ ... s/696.html

[LaFiamma]

If you are looking into ancient festival days of the goddesses, you will find that Hecate is actually a virgin goddess, she was never a crone to the Greeks. Also, Artemis had lunar connections, but was never goddess of the moon. I don't believe that Selene had any actual festival days.

Feast Days:

Selene: Feb. 7, Mar. 31 [festival of the moon], Aug 24 [Lunae in Graecostasi]

Artemis: Aug 13, Oct 6, Aug 15

Hecate: Nov 16, Dec 31[/quote]

Okay...poking around a little further, it looks like you might actually be looking at Roman festival days if Luna and Diana for Selene and Artemis...as for the ones you have listed for Hekate, I see some modern day mentions, but nothing about ancient festivals that fall anywhere near those days, nor can I find anything about the Romans holding a festival for Trivia (Hekate's Roman counterpart) at all.

Hekate was, however, honored every month at the new moon with a Deipnon, or supper- a plate of food was offered to her at a three-way crossroad (four-way crossroads are associated to Hermes), which, it seems, often became a meal for homeless beggars. These days, most people who practice this tradition are not near three-way intersections and will leave the food at whatever intersection they can, on their front doorstep, or another appropriate spot. I've also known of several who make it a point to donate food to homeless shelters or food pantries,or volunteer in soup kitchens on or near the new moon.

You can of course, honor the goddesses on any day you choose but if you are looking for ancient Greek festivals, those are not.

One thing that a lot of Hellenic folks do is create festivals for their chosen deities, either of personal meaning or based on an aspect that did not have a traditional festival back in the day, and pick a day for their festival.

[[SnowRaven]]

Obv. pinning feast days to the current calendar is more helpful to the modern witch. I'm more than aware that we use a solar calender now and previously it was lunar based as my patron Deity is Selene. Being Eclectic, I worship my Goddess[es] when/however I am moved and am able to change and grow beyond the vagaries of human historical writings.

Additionally, the concept of Hecate as the Crone in the Artemis-Selene-Hecate triumvirate is because she is a 'Dark' or 'Secret' Goddesses rather than a true Crone. [IMO] Artemis being a virgin is obvious as the maiden and Selene who had 50+ children besides being a full moon Deity makes sense to me as the mother. Starting in historical 'fact' is fine but faith makes leaps that needn't always be supported by the ancient texts. Goddesses & Gods are not fixed/unchanging - as their followers grow so do they.

[LaFiamma]

Obv. pinning feast days to the current calendar is more helpful to the modern witch.

Personal preference.

I'm more than aware that we use a solar calender now and previously it was lunar based as my patron Deity is Selene. Being Eclectic, I worship my Goddess[es] when/however I am moved and am able to change and grow beyond the vagaries of human historical writings.

I provided information on ancient festivals because you said that you were looking at ancient festivals, that's all.

Additionally, the concept of Hecate as the Crone in the Artemis-Selene-Hecate triumvirate is because she is a 'Dark' or 'Secret' Goddesses rather than a true Crone.[IMO]

I'm curious, why must "dark" or "secret" be a crone thing? Genuine curiousity here. Why cannot Hekate as a virgin goddess have "dark" or "secret" qualities- she also has very "light" qualities as well. (I by the way am fully of the view that all deities have darker, lighter, hidden and obvious aspects. As the maiden/mother/crone triumverate has zero use for me, I am honestly baffled by the need for a virgin goddess to be reassigned as crone because of her darker faces. No one ever does that to Artemis and she has some very dark facets to her. This is an extremely common neopagan thing- pick up any book in the new age section and if you find Hekate in there, no one ever mentions her as a virgin or maiden, always a crone, so this is nothing personal to you. I honestly have been scratching my head at this for several years.)

I must go to work now, happy new year to you.

[[SnowRaven]]

I'm curious, why must "dark" or "secret" be a crone thing?

Well, as always speaking IMO, the waning moon gains in darkness until her face is entirely hid from us. Assigning Hecate to this phase seems to many an obvious thing, but it's always good to really examine just why we do things, so your skepticism is very helpful. Hecate's virginity or lack there of makes no impact on me because we are not talking about a hymen when we speak of 'virginity' of ancient Goddesses. [that perversion comes later] Being 'Virgin' was to be powerful in one's own right, to stand on one's own. Hecate certainly has that!! As does Artemis.... None of them are virgins in the modern sense of the word - free of sexual congress.

[LaFiamma]

I'm curious, why must "dark" or "secret" be a crone thing?

Well, as always speaking IMO, the waning moon gains in darkness until her face is entirely hid from us. Assigning Hecate to this phase seems to many an obvious thing, but it's always good to really examine just why we do things, so your skepticism is very helpful. Hecate's virginity or lack there of makes no impact on me because we are not talking about a hymen when we speak of 'virginity' of ancient Goddesses. [that perversion comes later] Being 'Virgin' was to be powerful in one's own right, to stand on one's own. Hecate certainly has that!! As does Artemis.... None of them are virgins in the modern sense of the word - free of sexual congress.

Yes, I am familiar with the differing uses of "virgin".

I'm still not clear on the crone thing...why is it obvious? Hekate may hold secrets, but she is not hidden.

[[SnowRaven]]

Perhaps it is just obvious to me in my relationship with her? I'll have to spend some time with her to find this out. Thank you, you've opened up a new dialog when I was foundering on how to approach her.

It has to be more than just me as there are pagans the world over who assign her that role in their worship. Something endemic in her make-up must call to the crone phase..... it's not as I am the first to align the triumvirate in this fashion. Perhaps it is that she is so powerful and knowledgeable - the kind of wisdom we associate with older 'crone' humans. That may be why pagans the world over place her in the crone position. It is also possible that others, not myself, find her scary/threatening as they do the moon going dark......

[LaFiamma]

Perhaps it is just obvious to me in my relationship with her? I'll have to spend some time with her to find this out. Thank you, you've opened up a new dialog when I was foundering on how to approach her.

It has to be more than just me as there are pagans the world over who assign her that role in their worship. Something endemic in her make-up must call to the crone phase..... it's not as I am the first to align the triumvirate in this fashion. Perhaps it is that she is so powerful and knowledgeable - the kind of wisdom we associate with older 'crone' humans. That may be why pagans the world over place her in the crone position. It is also possible that others, not myself, find her scary/threatening as they do the moon going dark......

Yeah, the whole thing kinda has me scratching my head...like, I get why people associate her so much with witches and magic, though she had nothing to do with it in the religion, but people latch onto it on one story and suddenly it seems that there's nothing else to her. The crone thing...I just can't see where it pulls from. The Romans saw Trivia as what is now called a crone goddess, though I don't think they really called her that...but Trivia and Hekate, with all their similarities, still are two different goddesses.

I've already mentioned that I find the MMC triumvirate to be personally useless, but even that aside, a lot of what I've seen of it seems to serve, at least for a lot of folks who subscribe to it, as laundry baskets into which goddesses are to be forced. I've watched a number of folks nearly explode with frustration trying to create MMC groupings where there just are none ("Okay, if Athena is my maiden goddess who did the Greeks match her with for mother and crone?" Well that's easy...they didn't, but try telling Suzy Silver Butterfly Sparklebutt who just read some DJ Conway that one and her head starts spinning...eh, sorry personal soapbox thing there.)