#hellenic withcraft

Hekate of the Foxes, wild beasts of the green forests,

Mistress of Dogs, whose hounds prowl the roadsides,

Tricksters and messengers, screaming through the night beneath the moon,

Queen of Night, you who wanders the dark like your howling attendants,

Send to me your companions so that I may know of your presence and receive your guidance!

This ritual is meant to be performed just when the sky becomes black and before dinner. Set up the altar with black, white, and red candles. Adorn it with the photos, possessions, or art of the dead you wish to honor. Light the candles and prepare for the ritual. Begin by making offerings to Haides and Persephone. These can include pomegranates, wine, honey, and milk. These can either be left on the altar, buried, or poured onto the ground. Then say:

“Haides, Lord of the Underworld, and Persephone, Queen of the Dead, on this night your kingdom below has sway on Earth. I give unto you these offerings and ask for your favor. May those dead which I do not call to me leave me, and those I love, untouched. I also ask that those dead which I honor upon this night be permitted to come and receive the offerings I place before them. Please also bring blessings and peace to those whom I have lost and make their afterlife one of joy.”

Make an offering for Hekate as well. Pour offerings of wine, honey, and milk out for Her, leave offerings of garlic and raw eggs, and light for Her some incense of frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin. Then say:

“Goddess Hekate, Mistress of Souls, Gate-Keeper of the Underworld, She who carries souls between this plane and the next, I supplicate you. I place these offerings before you to honor you on this night which is sacred to you as goddess of the dead. Please accept these offerings and grant to me your blessings and favor. I come before you and ask you to open the gates of the Underworld and bring forth the spirits of those I have lost and those which I honor. I call them forth from the other side, in your name, to be with me here on this night, this night when the dead are closest to the living.”

Light an incense mixture of yew, wormwood, frankincense, cypress, and mullein (yew is poisonous do not burn this inside) and pour out libations of milk, honey, and wine for the dead which you have called to you. Then say:

“Beloved and Mighty Dead, those passed on whom I honor, blood of my blood, spirit of my spirit, and heart of my heart, I call to you. I place these offerings before you and feed your spirits. As the veil between our worlds is thinnest on this night, I ask you to be close to me and grant to me your presence and guidance. Come forth from the Underworld and commune with me, bringing blessings and good fortune with you. As I honor you in death and place these gifts before you, bestow upon me your favor and your company on this holy night.”

Light a black or white taper or pillar candle dressed in olive oil and sprinkled with wormwood, frankincense, cypress, yew, and mullein. Then say:

“I light this candle in the names of those below, so that as long as this flame burns may those dead which I have called forth be with me, returning to the other side upon its finish. To feast and be merry with me and to give me their blessings and guidance before resting once more.”

After this ritual, it is a nice idea to leave a plate of food from the meal had at dinner for the dead so that they may feast with you. It is also a good idea to perform spells and divinations on this night while the candle still burns for added power. Leave any offerings from the altar at a cemetery or crossroads the next day. 

Goddess Hekate, Queen of the Restless Dead,

Hear my prayers on this night that belongs to you and your ghostly entourage!

I ask that you protect my home from all things malevolent and miasmic

Shielding me from all that haunts the night with no moon

Only Begotten Maiden, please look upon me with grace, and spare your loyal follower from the spirits at your command

And may those vengeful and roaming dead that follow you on this night leave me be.

I ask that you also cleanse me, Goddess Hekate, helping me to shed all that ails me and makes me impure

Making me fit to serve you and the other gods, and to aid those around me, free of negativity and unease

May I be renewed upon this night, venturing into the next month with a clean slate

And may I be released from all those things in my life which bring me distress.

Hekate, Mistress of Souls, Averter of Evil, please hear my prayer and grant me your favor on this night!

I just wish we’d stop trying to pretend Hekate was never associated with witchcraft to try and dismantle a neo-pagan bastardization of Her. She plays an integral role in the Argonautica, which was dated in 3rd century BCE, as the goddess who is said to have guided Medea in learning witchcraft/magic. She is also invoked by Medea and her maids, which we can assume to be witches, in Sophocles’ Root-cutters fragment, which occurs earlier in the 5th century BCE. This goes along with Medea’s role as a witch who is devoted to Hekate in Euripides’ Medea which was also written in the 5th century. These earlier works are both considered within the classical period of Ancient Greece, and all of them are before the common era. And I’d certainly not consider them ‘late antiquity,’ at least from what I understand that term to mean.

So, just because Hekate is seen as a benevolent goddess previous to this, and even after this, doesn’t mean Her chthonic and witchcraft related sides weren’t also there. Most scholars, like Sarah Iles Johnston, agree that She could both protect from spirits and put them upon someone. Hence why She was worshipped on the Deipnon. The ancients didn’t believe in a straight-forward concept of benevolent vs malevolent when it came to deities, so Her roles in the Theogony and Homeric Hymn to Demeter as a beneficient goddess do not preclude the fact that She could also be a goddess who could be angered and punish mortals, and was scary when She did so.

One of Hekate’s primary themes is being a goddess of liminality, which Sarah Iles Johnston argues contributed to Her ascension to the role of Cosmic World Soul in the Chaldean Oracles. So it would make sense that She could be simultaneously a chthonic, snake-crowned goddess of witchcraft, and also a goddess who could protect children and the home. These can, and did, exist as the same time for some. Hence the fear many attribute to being out and about on the Deipnon.

Many rituals may require casting a circle to bless the space and protect it from harmful entities. This is particularly apt for rituals that contain sensitive materials or energies. This version of casting a circle is for Hekatean witches and magicians, so that the space may be used for communing with Hekate and working rituals with Her aid. 

To begin, place a candle at each cardinal direction point to outline your circle. Place three other candles in the circle to represent Hekate. Light one of the candles and some incense; frankincense, myrrh, or dragon’s blood works best.

Walk around the circle four times, once with a wand or stick, once with incense, once with the lit candle, and once sprinkling khernips. Each time around, say

“Hekate Apotropaia, averter of evil, I trace this circle and call upon thee. Protect this space and those inside it from ill and bane and harmful magic.”

Then, face the north, light the northern candle and say:

“Hekate Chthonia, Underworld Goddess and Mistress of the Dead, She who was given a share of the earth, be with me here in this circle, strong and firm like the ground below.”

Face the east, light the eastern candle, and say:

“Hekate Ourania, Heavenly One, She who was given a share of the skies, be with me here in this circle, bringing transformative and shifting power like the air around me.”

Face the south, light the southern candle, and say:

“Hekate Pyrphoros, Holy Fire and Bringer of Light, She who carries the twin torches, be with me here in this circle, powerful and generative like the fires I light in your name.”

Face the west, light the western candle, and say:

“Hekate Einalia, watery goddess, She who was given a share of the ocean, be with me here in this circle, nourishing and endless like the seas”

Face the north again and light another of the Hekate candles, then say:

“I call on Hekate Tetraoditis, She who looks four ways, Mistress of the Crossroads, I ask that you protect this space with your four-fold protection and make this circle a crossroads, a space of transformation and power.”

Light the last Hekate candle and say:

“I call on Hekate Pharmakeia, Queen of Witches, Mistress of all things magical, please bless this space so that magic may be worked within it. I ask that you grant your aid to all the spells and rites that I perform here.”

Continue:

This spell is designed to call on Pan’s virility and His love for many to draw love into your life. It is a charm that is designed to be fed over time so that your life is never empty of love and sex. For this charm, you will need:

-Four red candles

-Red wax

-A goat horn

-Calamus root, lovage root, damiana, horny goat weed, catnip, mayapple, deer’s tongue, pine needles or resin, cinnamon, and strawberry leaves

-Sexual fluids (optional)

-A Pan oil and a love oil

-A paper and red ink pen

Begin by invoking Pan and making Him an offering. Write your intention for the charm on the paper and put it in the goat horn. Stuff the horn full of the other ingredients and seal it with the wax.

Then dress the candles in a mixture of the Pan oil and the love oil and sprinkle them with the herbs. Light the candles and rub the goat horn with the oils as you say:

“Hear me now, lustful god of the woods, as I bind this spell with these magic words

Bless this horn, and bless my life, and bless as well these many herbs

I feed this charm with this oil, to draw love to me when I will,

With these candles I do enchant, to bless this charm and work this spell,

I present these offerings, and these prayers, to the Great God Pan, of the Pine,

And with these words and with this wax, this lasting charm I now do bind”

This charm is designed to be routinely fed when going through dry spells. All one needs to do is to rub the horn with the oils and say the following:

“I rub this charm with this oil to bring me sex and love,

Pan bring them to me now by rustic horns and hooves”

If the charm is to be disposed of, do so by leaving it in the woods with an offering to Pan to thank Him.