#roaenpost

Hekate.

I wanted to share some things I've learned about Her.

1) She is The Unseen Witness. This is an epithet I personally have given Her, but which derives from Her role as Persephone's savior and guide to and from the underworld.

2) She's pre-Greek. Anatolian, actually. That's how I personally like my deities—from a localized cult but so powerful they got picked up by a nearby pantheon (Diana is another example of this).

3) She's a goddess that was traditionally worshiped not in temples, but at homes. In my personal experience, She has a LOT of presence in apartments and shelters (especially shelters), as they are inherently liminal living situations.

4) She presides over Dogs and Polecats (like a weasel or ferret) and Horses, so I view Her as a goddess with dominion over all domesticated pets.

5) Hekate faces the three directions the roads lead at a Y- or T-junction, so in my personal practice I understand The Horned God to stand at Hekate's back and watch The Wild Way for Her. On my altar I have my representation of The Horned God facing away from me. Hekate did call me a sneak for that one, though, so YMMV.

6) I get the vibe she doesn't like to share altar space so she'll be getting a bookshelf of her own soon. You can use keys, the triple moon, and various momento mori (like bones, or the charm I made with a sprig of dead rosemary and a beetle carcass) to represent her in an altar space.

7) Herbs and Plants: Garlic, Yew, Mandrake, Dandelion, Belladonna, Cyclamen, Hemlock, Mint, Oak, Date Palms, Willow, Wolf's Bane. You'll notice many plants in her domain are poisonous or otherwise baneful. To this extent, she presides over all baneful plants.

8) She basically requires you to prioritize self-improvement and learning. Therapy and working out and reading and journaling can all be devoted to Her.

I know books from the seventies would have you believe otherwise, but you don't have to mentally hold circle for the whole ritual, and you don't have to physically mark the whole circle boundary, nor do you need a coven member to hold space. You can put regular old rocks at each of the cardinal directions along the walls of your room or along the outer perimeter of the sacred space and use those as anchor points for the energy you lay.

Start by gathering, cleansing, and sanctifying/consecrating/blessing/charging/whatever four stones of any shape and size that suits your needs. Larger stones are good if you want them to be a visible reminder of the boundaries of circle, but smaller ones are good for discretion. Anoint them with a protection oil if you'd like (I only recommend doing this if you are using them indoors with no animals around), and/or pencil protection sigils on them. Cast circle but make sure your energy hits each stone and runs through it. If you call in the quarters, invite them to reside in their respective directional stones. Boom, done, now you have an easily marked sacred space that doesn't need constant maintain.

And, fun fact, circle doesn't HAVE to be round. Round is easiest when you're using mental energy to hold the space, but if you use physical barriers like existing walls then your cast energy resides in that physical block and is held automatically. I especially love doing this as a quasi-permanent marker to sanctify an entire room because any doorways become defacto entrances/exits that spiritually open and close when physically opened and closed.

Okay but isn't this being lazy? NO you rude hypothetical, it's not. It's being resourceful. Using these physical anchors allows a solitary practitioner to put their focus towards other things. I use this method when I'm studying magic texts, or so I can hang out with my ancestors and spirit friends casually for extended periods of time, or if I am going to be attempting astral projection. And by "I use this method," I mean it is one of the permanent protections I have in place in my home.

From left to right we have Pairing One: Leather. Pairing Two: Starburst. Pairing Three: Cerebral.

oregano?

she's that bitch for family and friendship spells and she makes a great offering to ancestors especially. she's ruled by air and mercury which is a fun break from the gendered norm. she's all about communication and understanding. having an emotional issue? allow her airy logic to release and counter-balance the heated tempers and watery eyes.

-petty family feud of some kind? use oregano to prepare a meal and then invite over the offending party/ies to hash out your differences while in fellowship. allow her communicative properties to soothe everyone's egos and open up new paths to mutual understanding.

-take a bath in oregano and salt before a difficult cord cutting spell to prepare your body to release its attachment smoothly. can also be the ritual in and of itself for less intense relational cleansing

-put her in sachets or bowls that only have a few ingredients to help bond strengthen and meld their existing energies

-use oregano oil to anoint behind the ears of your partner before renewing your vows as a promise to always hear and understand one another

From left to right we have: Inner Child, Animal Intuition, and Shadow Self.

For some of you all of these readings may resonate. Take the messages that you feel apply to you, but be very honest with yourself in regards to what you choose to discard.