Hecate

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Hecate or Hekate (Hekátē) was orginially a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth originating from Thrace. Due to popular cult following as a mother goddess her persona was integrated into Greek and Egyptian culture where she ultimately achieved her more modern connotations as a goddess of sorcery and her role as the ‘Queen of Ghosts.’

Classic portrayals show her as a triplicate goddess - child, mother, crone - standing at the crossroads holding a torch. Oftentimes the crone image was the predominant one. Sometimes she is described as having three heads: one dog, one serpent and one horse.

Her attendant and animal representation is of a female dog, and the most common form of offering was to leave meat at a crossroads. Sometimes dogs themselves were sacrificed to her (a good indication of her non-Hellenic origin, as dogs (along with donkeys) very rarely fills this part in genuine Greek ritual).

In modern times, she has become popular in neo-Paganism and Wicca, largely due to her association as the goddess of sorcery.

Mythology

Despite popular belief, Hecate was not originally a Greek goddess and in fact numerous references to her exist before Hesiod. Her exact origin is uncertain but it was known that she had popular cult followings in the areas in and around Thrace (what is modern Turkey). Here she played a role similar to that of lesser-Hermes, namely a governess of liminal points and the wilderness, bearing little resemblance to the night-walking crone. Additionally, this led to her role of aiding women in childbirth and the raising of young men.

Hesiod’s inclusion and praise of Hecate in his Theogony is troublesome for scholars in that being a relatively minor (at the time) and foreign goddess, he seems to overly praise her attributes and responsibilities in the ancient cosmos. It is theorized that Hesiod’s original village had a substantial Hecate following and that his inclusion in the Theogony was his own way to boost the home-goddess for unfamiliar readers.

(Hesiod records that she was among the offspring of Gaia and Uranus, the Earth and Sky. In Theogony he ascribed to Hecate such wide-ranging and fundamental powers, that it is hard to resist seeing such a deity as a figuration of the Great Goddess, though as a good Olympian Hesiod ascribes her powers as the "gift" of Zeus:

"Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honoured above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honour also in starry heaven, and is honoured exceedingly by the deathless gods.... The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea".

Her gifts towards mankind are all-encompassing, Hesiod tells:

"Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents. And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to those whose business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hecate and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as soon as seen, if so she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less".

Hecate was carefully attended:

"For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favour according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great honour comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favourably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her".

Hesiod emphasizes that Hecate was an only child, the daughter of Asteria, a star-goddess who was the sister of Leto, (the mother of Artemis and Apollo). Grandmother of the three cousins was Phoebe the ancient Titaness who personified the moon. Hecate was a reappearance of Phoebe, a moon goddess herself, who appeared in the dark of the moon.)

As her cult grew it quickly spread into areas of Egypt and Greece. However this presented a problem as Hecate’s role was already filled by other more prominent gods in the Greek pantheon; viz. Artemis.

There are two versions of Hecate that then emerge in Greek myth. The lesser cited is a clear example of trying to integrate Hecate while not diminishing Artemis. Here, Hecate is a mortal priestess (commonly associated with Iphigeneia) scorned and insults Artemis, eventually leading to the priestess committing suicide. Artemis then adorns the dead body with jewelry and whispers for her spirit to rise and become her Hecate, and act similar to Nemesis as an avenging spirit (but solely for injured women). These type of myths where a home god ‘creates’ a foreign god were popular in ancient cultures as a way of integrating foreign cults. Additionally, as Hecate’s cult grew her figure was added to the myth of the birth of Zeus as one of the midwives that hid the child, while Chronos consumed the fake rock handed to him by Gaia.

The second version helps to explain how Hecate gains the title of the ‘Queen of Ghosts’ and her role as a goddess of sorcery. Similar to how totems of Hermes were placed on borders as a ward against danger, it was believed that Hecate, as a liminal goddess, could also serve such a protective role. It became common to place statues of the goddess at the gates of cities, and eventually domestic doorways. Overtime, the association of keeping out evil spirits, lead to the belief that if offended Hecate could also let in evil spirits. Thus invocations to Hecate arose as her the supreme governess of the borders between the normal world and the spirit world.

Eventually, Hecate’s power resembles that of sorcery. Medea, who was a priestess of Hecate, used witchcraft, apparently under the guidance of the goddess, in order to handle magic herbs and poisons with skill, and to be able to stay the course of rivers, or check the paths of the stars and the moon.

Hecate has been called "tender-hearted", probably because she was concerned with the disappearance of Persephone, and addressed Demeter with sweet words when the goddess was distressed.

Although never truly incorporated among the Olympian gods, Greek influence is essential for the modern understanding of Hecate. She sustained a large following, though, remaining a goddess of protection and childbirth. In late imagery she also has two ghostly dogs as servants by her side. In the magical papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt, she is called the Bitch and the She-Wolf, and her presence is signified by the barking of dogs.

In modern times Hecate has become a prevalint figure in women’s religions and a version of Hecate has been appropriated by Wicca and other modern magic-practising religions.

Goddess of the Crossroads

Hecate had a special role at three-way crossroads, where the Greeks set poles with masks of each of her heads facing different directions: Roman mythology also saw her as the goddess of the Trivia "the three ways", a folk belief, whether Celtic or Roman, that survived into the 7th century CE among the pagans of Flanders. There Eligius was wont to remind his recently converted flock "No Christian should make or render any devotion to the gods of the trivium, where three roads meet, to the fanes or the rocks, or springs or groves or corners" (for details, see Druid).

The crossroad aspect of Hecate stems from her original sphere as a goddess of the wilderness and untamed areas. This led to sacrifice in order for safe travel into these areas. This role is similar to lesser-[[Hermes], i.e. a god of liminal points or boundries.

Symbols

In modern days, Wiccan followers of Hecate associate several symbols and objects with her; though these are not her only followers. Traditionally in Ancient Greece, she was associated with a serpentine maze around a spiral, known as Hecate's wheel (the "Strophalos of Hecate", verse 194 of Isaac Preston Cory's 1836 translation of the Chaldean_Oracles). The symbolism referred to the serpent's power of rebirth, to the labyrinth of knowledge through which Hecate could lead mankind, and to the flame of Life itself: "The life-producing bosom of Hecate, that Living Flame which clothes itself in Matter to manifest Existence" (verse 55 of Cory's translation of the Chaldean_Oracles).

Objects

Traditionally, Hecate is represented as carrying torches, very often has a knife, and may appear holding a rope, a key, a phial , flowers , or a pomegranate .

The torch is obviously a symbol of the light that illuminates the darkness, as the Greeks secured Hecate in her role as the bringer of wisdom. Her knife represents her role as midwife in cutting the umbilical cord (possibly symbolized by the rope), as well as severing the link between the body and spirit at death. This may be the origin of the traditional ritual knives of witches. The Key is significant to Hecate's role as gatekeeper, being the one who could open the doors to sacred knowledge. The Orphic Hymns list her as the "keybearing Queen of the entire Cosmos." The pomegranate was seen by the Ancient Greeks as the fruit of the Underworld, though it was also used as a love-gift between Greek men and women. This may be because a pomegranate was eaten by Persephone, binding her to the Underworld and to Hades.

Important to note is the similarity of symbols and objects held by Hecate and other Dark-Mother-Goddesses the world over. Most often, symbols like the knife and rope represented the Dark Mother's ability to cut loose the bonds of the physical realm, thus showing her as midwife and nurse not only to children but to the dying as well.

Animals

All wild animals are sacred to Hecate. Creatures of darkness, such as ravens, owls, and snakes represent her the most. Dragons have been included in this list more recently, but are not a traditional Greek association with this goddess. Several images of Hecate show her holding a snake because snakes have long been connected with chthonic powers and the powers of Life, Death, and Rebirth .

The dog is the animal most commonly associated with Hecate. She was sometimes called the 'Black she-dog' and black dogs were once sacrificed to her in purification rituals. At Colophon in Thrace, Hecate might be manifest as a dog. The sound of barking dogs was the first sign of her approach in Greek and Roman literature. Her festival in mid-August, celebrated by sacrificing black bitches to ward off the stormy season, gave rise to the expression "the dog-days of summer". The frog, significantly a creature that can cross between two elements, is also sacred to Hecate, and to the Egyptian goddess Hekat. As a triple goddess, she sometimes appears with three heads-one of a dog, horse, bear or dog, snake or lion.

During the Medieval period in western Europe, Hecate was reverenced by witches who adopted parts of her mythos as their Goddess of Sorcery. Because Hecate had already been much maligned by the late Roman period, Christians of the era found it easy to blacken and villify her image. Thus were all her creatures also considered "creatures of darkness"; however, the history of creatures such as ravens, night-owls, snakes, scorpions, asses, bats, horses, bears, and lions as Her creatures is not always a dark and frightening one. While Hecate is a Dark Goddess, one must take care not to give too much credit to the stories her detractors choose to tell. (For more, please see Jacob Rabinowitz's work, "The Rotting Goddess".)

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Plants and Herbs

The yew, cypress, hazel, black poplar and willow are all sacred to Hecate. The leaves of the black poplar are dark on one side and light on the other, symbolizing the boundary between the worlds. The yew has long been associated with the Underworld.

The yew has strong associations with death as well as rebirth. A poison prepared from the seeds was used on arrows, and yew wood was commonly used to make bows and dagger hilts. The potion in Hecate's cauldron contains 'slips of yew'. Yew berries carry Hecate's power, and can bring wisdom or death. The seeds are highly poisonous, but the fleshy, coral-colored 'berry' surrounding it is not. If prepared correctly, the berry can cause visual hallucinations. (Reference was requested for this: there are many books to cite, but the best would be "Witchcraft Medecine" by Ratsch et al. See below.)

Many other herbs and plants are associated with Hecate, including garlic, almonds, lavender, myrrh, mugwort, cardamon, mint, dandelion, hellebore, and lesser celandine. Several poisons and hallucinogens are linked to Hecate, including belladonna, hemlock, mandrake, aconite (known as hecateis), and opium poppy. Many of Hecate's plants were those that can be used shamanistically to achieve varyings states of consciousness.

For more on this subject, there is a brilliant work by Muller-Ebeling, Ratsch, and Storl named "Witchcraft Medecine". It can be difficult to get but it is well worth the effort.

Festivals

Hecate was worshipped by both the Greeks and the Romans who had their own festivals dedicated to her. According to Ruickbie (2004:19) the Greeks observed two sacred days, one on the 13th of August and one on the 30th of November, whilst the Romans observed the 29th of every month as her sacred day.

Cross-Cultural Parallels

The figure of Hecate can often be associated with the figure of Isis in Egyptian myth (mainly due to her role as sorceress), though her direct comparison is most likely the goddess Hekat. In Hebrew myth she is often compared to the figure of Lilith and later on the Whore of Babylon, as both where symbols of liminal points and Lilith also has a role in sorcery. As with all 'mother-goddess figures, some scholars ultimately compare her to the Virgin Mary.

Hecate in Later Literature

Hecate makes an appearance in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth (c.1606); she is represented as a goddess or demon who commands the three witches. There is some evidence to suggest that the scene was not written by Shakespeare, but was added during a revision by Thomas Middleton, who used material from his own play The Witch (1615).

Modern Refernces to Hecate

More recently, Hecate has appeared in Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics. She is also heavily mentioned in the popular TV series,"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by wiccans and other characters casting spells.

Hecate in neo-Paganism

In modern neo-Paganism Hecate can take numerous roles. Modern Neopagans, particularly Hellenistic sects in the United States, often view Hecate as a goddess of Magic. Hecate is not seen as a necessarily benevolent goddess, and her favor is often seen as fickle. Hecate is thought to grant magical power to those who please her, and sometimes punish those who displease her. Examples of punishment may include inflicting madness in some cases, or sickness, posion, and disease in others. However Hecate is not thought to be malevolent, and to those who gain her favor she is thought to grant boons, including relief from pain, ease in child birth, the curing of disease and physical ailments, and (some believe) unnatural longevity. In regards to unnatural longevity, some believe that Vampires and other immortals may exist among us as examples, but it's worthy of note that no such immortal has ever been found outside of various myths and works of fiction. Hecate is believed by many to be unconcerned with mortals unless they earn her attention, reserving most of her favor for innately magical beings and favoring her Nymphs above all else.

Worship of Hecate can take many forms. In some cases animal sacrifices have been alleged. Most modern pagans very actively discourage the practice of animal sacrifice, in part due to fear of being associated with satanist and in part due to concerns for the humane treatment of animals.

Hecate is thought to favor those who show conviction, commitment, and adoration for her, which leads many to conduct chanting and prostration in hopes of gaining favor and magical power. The most common forms of worship include prostration, chanting adoration for Hecate, fasting, the collecting of lanterns, the burning of oils and incense, and the burning and bread and other foods as sacrifices. According to some pagan websites Hecate is worshipped by both men and women evenly.

Many groups worship Artemis instead due to Hecate's supposedly fickle nature and lack of benevolence. Other gods commonly worshipped by such groups are Theia and Hyperion.

External links

• Frequently Asked Questions about Hekate
• The 1911 Britanica Encyclopedia Article on Hecate
• [http://www.goddessmystic.com/CoreCurriculum/Goddesses/Hekate/index.shtml Hekate: Guardian at the Gate
• Theoi article on Hecate

Further reading

• Johnston, Sarah Iles. Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Role in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature. 1990.
• Johnston, Sarah Iles. Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. 1991.
• Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. 1951.
• Ruickbie, Leo. Witchcraft Out of the Shadows. 2004.

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100 Hekate is an asteroid.