#magicalliving

Many of the misconceptions of Hecate are based on the fearful and derogatory stereotypes of witches and other powerful womxn. Others are nineteenth-century interpretations that many modern pagans and mythology fans assume are much older depictions. Let us be clear that Hecate is, indeed, a witch goddess, The Goddess of Witchcraft and Magic. There is no inherent wickedness in this, or anything to be afraid of. Hecate commands respect. Because we are less likely to learn about Her in school they way we may learn of the Olympian gods, many assume She is a “lesser” deity. This is just not so. She is pre-Olympian, a 2nd generation Titaness who took the side of the Olympians in the great war (the Titanomachy) and so, is beloved by the Olympians and honored even by Zeus. Hecate does have association with the underworld, and so with death. However, She is not macabre or bloodthirsty. Nor is she Death or a harbinger of death. She is a guide of souls, lighting their way to their eternal rest with Her twin torches. She also uses Her torches and Her keys to protect families and children and guide travelers along the many crossroads of life.

(Circe by John William Waterhouse)

Hecate has many famous priestess, though they haven’t always had the best press. Medea of The Argonautica and Circe of The Odyssey are both described as witches, priestesses of Hecate.  It is sometimes assumed that because Hecate is a goddess of witchcraft (and also of childbirth) that She is a woman’s deity.  Hecate does not discriminate and welcomes disciples of all genders.

When depicted with three heads, or three bodied, Hecate is seen as one of the many triple or three-in-one goddesses. Typically this trinity is that of Maiden-Mother-Crone, and in modern times Hecate is assumed to take part of the old, wisdom keeper. However, in Ancient times, She was often shown as younger woman, more contemporary in age to the Mother. Was the Crone image an influence from the depiction of a witch as an aged woman or to fit her into the MMC trinity?

I recently came across this incredible research about sparkling, bioluminescent dinoflagellates by the East China Sea. The ocean is enchanting without a light show, but when you add in something that looks like it’s designed by mermaids, you get a whole other level of beauty. 

( “Hekate in Greece” by Neheti Creative Commons)

Hecate was worshipped widely across Greece and Asia Minor (Turkey). Evidence of Her cult spreads from modern-day Sicily to across the Black Sea in Georgia.

She was worshiped as a household deity, with small altars called found in people’s homes. She also had markers at crossroads and along roadsides, even on the road leading to the Acropolis. These Hecateria were found in Athens, Aegina, Thrace and Miletus (Western Anatolia/Turkey), and Pachynus (Sicily).

While there is only one temple still standing today, in Lagina, Turkey other temples and shrines around the Hellenic world are mentioned by such epic poets as Ovid, Aristophenes and Euripedes.  The city of Eleusis is also sacred to Her as she takes a major role in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Her cult in Lagina is mentioned by Strabo, in which She is attended by eunuch priests. She was also honored in Byzantium where She is held as the city savior for protecting the people from Philip the Second of Macedonia.

(Scylla, possible child of Hecate)

Hecate is pre-Olympian, as Titaness. According to the Theogony, Hesiod’s epic poem listing the origins of the many Greek Gods, She is the only child of Titans Perses and Asteria, making Her a second-generation Titan. Even though She was a Titan, she was not cast into Tartarus after the Titan-Olympian war but because She fought on the side of the Olympians was held in a place of honor by them. In other tales She is said to be the daughter of Zeus and Asteria or Paion and Asteria. Demeter and Nyx are also said, in other poems, to be Her mother.

           (Hecate battle Klytios, Artemis fights Otos in the Giantomacy)

The myths of Hecate are not as readily available in our cultural zeitgeist as say, the many stories of Heracles, Zeus, or even Athena. She is a chthonic, underworld goddess and pre-Olympian. She is mentioned in the Theogony by Hesiod, as a second generation Titan that was honored even by Zeus. She is described as a nurse to the gods. She also engaged in the Giantomachy (the Giant War) on the side of the Olympians, defeating the giant Clytius with her twin torches. This may be my favorite. I love imagining Hecate as this small, fierce woman swinging her flaming torches and outwitting the giant!

Before the Common Era, Homer makes mention of Her helping Demeter search for Persephone after she was taken by Hades. She becomes a guide and companion (a pyschopomp) for Persephone during her time in the Underworld. This myth connects Her with both the Eleusinian Mysteries as well as the triple goddess archetype with Demeter (as Mother) and Persephone (as Maiden). In the Odyssey, the witch Circe is often interpreted as being a devotee or priestess of Hecate. In the Classical period She appears in the writings of Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides, as the Mistress of Witchcraft, also associated with death and ghosts. In the Alexandrian epic Argonautica (Jason and the Argonauts), Princess Medea is also a priestess of Hecate and instructs Jason to make sacrifice to Her to gain assistance in attaining the Golden Fleece.

The most iconic depiction of Hecate is that of the three-formed or three-headed goddess.  This is often in the form of the hekataion, the three figures around a central column. Sometimes a second trio, the Charities (in Rome, Graces) dance around the triple figure of Hecate and Her pillar. Her colors are Black, Red and White; the colors of the triple goddess, night, the moon and blood. 

She is typically shown holding such items as keys, two torches, daggers and/or serpents. In the Greek Magical Papyri She is described as having three heads; a dog, a serpent, and a horse or lion. Elsewhere, such as in Egyptian writing, She is said to have the head of a cow and/or a boar. As She is connected with the Dark (new) Moon she is often shown wear the lunar crown.

Dogs the animals most closely related to Hecate; it is said her approach is heralded by the sound of barking or howling dogs. Dogs were sacred to her and used as sacrifices at crossroads. She is often depicted as being accompanied by a dog and her familiar is the Trojan Queen Hekabe, transformed into a black female dog. Other animals associated with Hecate are  Owls, Polecats (Ferrets), Crows (Ravens?), Snakes, Frogs and Toads, Red Mullet (a kind of fish).

Likely the most well-known traditional offering for Hecate is the Deipnon or “Hecate’s Supper”. These are meal offerings held every lunar month, at the New (Dark) Moon to honor Hecate, placate the wandering spirits in Her retinue and make atonement for any wrong doing. In Ancient times the Deipnon consisted of three parts; the meal, the sacrifice (typically a black dog), and purification via fumigation (incense) and clearing of all leftovers.