#practicing witch

Without going into an actual history lesson here (perhaps I will in the future on my soon-to-be-blog), Hekate went way beyond what we think.

To TLDR, Hekate was originally thought to actually be a goddess of childbirth and a protector of children, more specifically being called, Kourotrophos—“a nurse of the young” (amongst similar associations), much like Artemis (who also held the name Kourotrophos).

There’s no saying where Hekate actually originated from, as archeologists are still a—digging in that dirt (and many places love to say they were the first, and it highly depends on which ancient text you read). She spanned over almost the entirety of Europe, and nearby territrories. She was venerated alongside many other deities in many places for several different reasons, and to say that she was just a goddess of this or that would be incorrect, as the many different places saw her in many different ways (forgive the poor wording). I think it’s safe to say, she obviously had a fluid list of actions and items she presided over. Hell, Hekate wasn’t even thought of as a Moon goddess at first!

Eventually, Hekate and Artemis became very heavily conflated with each other (amongst other goddess, but Artemis was the big one), as they both presided over many of the same things (childbirth, the moon eventually, etc), and both “earned” the epithet Soteira (there’s so so much to say about this, but alas, I don’t want a 5 page blog post). This was so much so, that Hekate-Artemis was a popular veneration in some practices, and many statues found archaeologically, were defined as being either Hekate or Diana (Artemis), since they both were very interchangeable do to having many similar epithets (there’s more to be said there, but again, I don’t want to type a full blown history lesson).

That being said, Hekate was eventually conflated with MANY other goddess than Artemis (Selene, Isis, Astarte, Persephone, Demeter, Eileithiya, Rhea,Kybele, etc) often becoming a hyphen alongside them.

And thusly,

Hekate did eventually add the witchcraft feather in her hat ( namely in the story of Medea). To say she is not a goddess of witchcraft would be incorrect though, as we have plenty of material telling us otherwise (the literal PGM, amongst many others). But to say she was a goddess of witchcraft would also be wrong, as she was still beyond that.

Hekate is many things, and traditionally became known as the goddess of many names (much like Isis of 10,000 names Hint hint).

What was Hekate?

She was a primordial goddess in many practices, even so much as being conflated with the ouroboros itself (the primordial soup), she was a goddess of thresholds, of transformations. She was the goddess of animals. She was a goddess of the mysteries. She was liminal, she existed beyond time and space. She was the preceder and the follower. She was the goddess of life and death— she giveth and she taketh, and she was even more than that. Please don’t put her in some box.

What is Hekate now (contemporarily)?

Well she’s all of that, but she’s also what you make her. We could get into a philosophical conversation of “what came first, the deity or the person?” But I wont do that here, that can be a blog post for the future, and I’ve exhausted my space here. in modern times, contemporarily we can worship Hekate as we want (give or take). We no longer slay black dogs in her name, do we? I hope not. Worship her as you want. Research what you want. Deities change as time progresses.

Before I finish this up for real, if you want to know Hekate as she was known prior to the Graeco-Roman practices, and those similar, you must find her in her previous names, and in material OUTSIDE of Graeco-Roman practices. This means the Hittites, Babylonians, etc. Hell, her first shout out as Hekate was in the Greek dark ages (shout out my boy Hesiod) as far as we’ve learned.

I implore those seeking Hekate’s roots, to look beyond Hellenistic paganism and co., and into other practices that have used her name or names adjacent (again, Isis, Astarte, Sophia, etc)

If you’re looking for examples, I’d suggest:

- Hermeticism/ alchemical practice

- Archetypes/ Carl Jung

- Alchemical mysticism

- Any ancient religion/practice that predates Greece

- Gnosticism (a newish name for a variety of ancient practices)

- And really tried and true, The Chaldean Oracles

- My future blog

- And so much more

AT THE END OF THE DAY, do what you want, and practice how you want (unless it’s closed, don’t do that). What feels good to YOU is what’s important. Don’t let people on the internet tell you you’re wrong in how you respect and worship the deity you’re worshipping, because we all start somewhere. In my many years of researching, it took me forever to figure things out and connect dots (and to this day, I’m STILL connecting the dots). Because much of what was written has been lost to time, we have to piece what we have together. That means looking beyond what we have, and looking where the red thread brings us. I also used to believe Hekate was just this and that, then I looked further and found out, NOPE.

With this message, I will say you need to dig deeper with Hekate. Many people here on the internet base their practices on a very unscratched surface. BUT if that’s what you chose to do, then ok. Who am I to tell you otherwise? Please look beyond Theoi.com (while a very good resource, it’s just the beginning), and PLEASE look beyond the Olympic times.

SOURCES (in the messiest format possible):

-“Theogeny” by Hesiod possibly 8th century

-The “PGM” Betz translation

-“Metamorphosis” by Ovid 8 CE

-“Medea” by Euripides 431 BCE (and there’s much to be said about Hekate and magick in the story of Medea)

-“Argonautica” Appollonius Rhodius 3rd Century BCE

-One of my favorite hymns to Hekate (I’ve even posted it before) “The Hymn to Hekate and Janus” Proclus around 5th century CE

-“Hekate Soteira” by Sarah Iles Johnston 1990

-Many many Grimoires