Pagan Paths - Mediterranean
Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate
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Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate
Edited by Sannion, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2009
4/5 Broomsticks
Shrouded and mysterious, clad in shadows and torchlight, Hekate is arguably one of the most well-known Goddesses in Pagan spirituality and practices; even those who only have knowledge of Her through Shakespeare’s Macbeth can link Her to Witchcraft and associated areas. Whether seen as the Underworld hag, guardian of the dead, or the enchanting dire maiden, She who holds the keys to inner wisdom, Hekate is a Lady who fulfills many roles, not many of which are fully explored in much of today’s neo-Paganism.
Read more: Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate
The Goat Foot God
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The Goat Foot God
DIOTIMA BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA, 2008
What Rough Beast!
How could I resist? When I — who takes his name in honor of Pan, whose shoulder wears a laughing Pan tattoo, whose production studios have been named for the Goat Foot God — received a copy of this book, I immediately had to read it.
Sadly, The Goat Foot God (misspelled on the book’s back cover as “The Goat Food God”) often stumbles. As an unwittingly accurate appraisal on that back cover states, “Diotima takes a scholarly yet idiosyncratic look at Pan.” Indeed, “There are more questions than answers herein.” But although that approach is debatably “in keeping with the eponymous subject,” the incomplete treatment did not satisfy this curious Son of Pan.
Diotima starts out well, summarizing the primal appeal of Pan and drawing vital distinctions between logos and mythos: between insistence upon the rationally provable, and acceptance of the sublimely mysterious. Working outward from the Homeric Hymn to Pan (reprinted in the first Appendix), Diotima presents an array of classical Greek sources regarding Pan and his lineage.
