HECATE

Written by Journey

 

It is written that Hecate is the granddaughter of Cronus’s sister Phoebe.  The daughter of two Titans - Her mother, Asteria, and Her father, Perses both are symbols of shining light.  She is the mother of Scylla. 

 

Hecate also known as Hekate and Trivia, Triceps, Diana, Selene, Triformis (Three Roads), Helice the virgin (Greek form of Hecate translates as Willow), listed as a “Shadow” name in The New Book of Magical Names by Phoenix McFarland, is the woman, the person, that we, both female and male, deep down, are all striving to be – strong, beautiful, powerful, intelligent, wise, just, honest, loyal, independent, successful, cunning, competitive, loving, and possessing the ability to express her feelings instead of repressing them.  She is the Goddess of the Sun and the Moon and the in-between (dusk and dawn).  She is the three phases of the moon to the Romans.  She the Goddess of Darkness, the ultimate Judge, the Goddess of Midwives, the Goddess of women and children, the Goddess of Fairies, the Goddess of the Night, the Goddess of Magic, the Goddess of Crossroads, the Goddess of Choice, the Ruler of the Dead, the trinity, the Virgin, the Maiden and the

 

Maid Mother Crone

 

 Crone, The Witch (with a capital W), a reverend Goddess whose powers precede Zeus.  As the Crone she has the power of healing and transformation.  She is part of the cycle of Birth-Death-Rebirth.  She has power on the Earth, the Sea and the Air.  She is the Goddess that should be called on in matters of government, war, athletics, horsemanship, sailing, hunting, animal husbandry and the nurturing of children.   She can drive you mad or bring you creative inspiration.  She is the sender of dreams and night visions.  She calls back the past, illuminates the present and give warning or promise of the future.  Hecate represents wisdom and decline.  She has common sense and practicality.  She represents justice and reaping what we have sown.  Before Christianity, prior to the Red Cross the Greek cross (+) was an emblem of Hecate as the Goddess of the Crossroads.  She supports those who act in a level-headed, rational, responsible way.  She gives success to all who ask Her in a respectful and humble manner and She protects and avenges any who would harm Her faithful followers.  She keeps a book of records.  Her name is the name is used to swear the most solemn oaths.  She does both white and black magic.  

 

 

She was the first Goddess, and She will be the last Goddess.  She was here prior to the first God.  Hecate is oldest of the old.  She is pre Olympian but was absorbed by both the Greek and Roman Pantheons probably because Her followers were so dedicated to this great Goddess that She couldn’t be replaced.   It is said that Zeus granted Hecate special privileges that includes influence over almost every important aspect of human life but I say She was here before him and She had these powers already.  He was intelligent enough to realized that She is just as powerful if not more powerful than he is.   He knew that She did not want to be  “King” that is not what the Goddess is all about and he didn’t have the power to take her powers away from Her and so he made Her an ally instead of an enemy. 

 

It was She that so threatened the male dominated Jewish - Christian religious leaders that they went out of their way to eradicate Her existence from the face of the earth and when they couldn’t do that they actively pursued changing people’s perception of what She was all about, leading people to believe that She was an ugly, evil witch and that anyone who worshiped this Goddess would end up in hell.   Her followers, who were less politically active, were unable to counter these lies.  As Christian political influence grew in power this derogation by the church eventually took the form of inquisitions, confiscation of property and death to Her believers and others who were accused of believing in this Goddess. 

 

 Notice the male dominated Pantheons and the study of these later Gods and Goddess became more acceptable and deemed less threatening by the church.  OK because they represented a male dominated religion that had a hierarchy - a king god and his fellow male gods and then female goddess who fit the accepted female image as a mother image, sex objects, or fickle females subject to the whim of the big male god.  The Church stressing the importance of allowing/ depending on the clergy to do their thinking and determine what was true.  A power grabbing method that used divide and conquer, male versus female, class versus class, race versus race, age versus age, greed, hate, war, murder and dependent thinking to gain political and financial power.  This was in direct opposition to a Goddess based religion that preceded the Pantheon/Christian religious, male dominated, political, hierarchical structure of God(s) and Goddesses,  but made up of non political, independent persons who are required to take responsibility their own actions, who are required to think for them selves, who are required to learn life’s lessons over many lives and therefore believes that every woman and man, regardless of class, age, or race as equal; and who believes in the importance of taking care of the earth and the people on it. 

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  Hecate with Torches

 

INTERESTING FACTS:

 

·        Serpent, Horse or Dog are Her sacred animals.

·        The night owl is Her messenger.

·        Moonstone Her gem

·        Silver Her candle

·        Myrrh is Her incense

·        She rules the three days prior to a New Moon or the dark of the Moon.

·        Her symbol is the torch

·        Monkshood (Wolfbane, Aconite) used to be called hecateis because it was sacred to Hecate.

·        The dark yew, considered the death tree in many European countries, and the willow a tree a moon-driven name are sacred to Hecate.

·        She is depicted as three female figures, or as one with three animal heads of a horse, a dog and a boar, or as three dogs.

·        Hecate’s Supper – left at the dead of night of a full moon at a cross roads and then leaving without looking back.

·        Her willow wand was a cosmic symbol connected with the stars.

·        Egyptians used red henna to stain their hands and feet to identify themselves with the Goddess.

·        Hecate’s sacred foods include pomegranate and apple

·        4 March in Greece the Anthesteria, a festival of flowers; dedicated to Flora and Hecate.

·        13 August Her annual festival in Greece and Rome to avert the harvest-destroying storms. Hecate marched by torchlight to the temple.

·        16 November is the night of Hecate in Greece begins at sunset. 

·        Her festival day is 31 December.  If you speak Her name this day you banish all unwanted ghosts.  You can also bless a moonstone this day by saying “Hekate, fill this silver stone; keep your magic with me where’er I roam.” (365 Goddesses)

 

 

 

 

·        Medea served as a priestess in Hecate’s temple.  Hecate taught her how to make the moon stand still, stop flame and wind. Medea used this ritual to protect Jason.

 

Charm of Protection

 

(Make a sacrifice at night to Hecate and then anoint yourself with this charm, and you would become invulnerable)

 

 

Ø     Used a vial of “Prometheus’ Charm” (Media make this from the dark fleshy root of a flower that grew when the ikhor of the god fell from the beak of an eagle to earth.  She gathered the juice this root in the dark of night after bathing in seven rivers and calling on Hecate, queen of the dead.)

Ø     The person that wants protection must bathe at midnight and then dig a pit and sacrifice a whole ewe for Hecate.

Ø     Pour out honey

Ø     Mix water with the charm and rub the mixture all over yourself and then sprinkle your sword, shield and spear.

 

After performing this ritual Jason was able to stand against the fire breathing bulls of Aietes.

 

With prayers, chants and a spell to Hecate Medea also protected Jason against a gargantuan snake sent by Aietes to protect the Golden Fleece.

 

An amulet of undertaking can be crafted from a loadstone cut into the shape of a heart and engraved with an image of the Goddess Hecate.  This amulet is worn on the forehead or the left arm.

 

·        Robert Graves says:

 

As Goddess of the Underworld she was concerned with Birth, Procreation and Death.  As Goddess of the Earth she was concerned with the three seasons of Spring, Summer, and Winter:  she animated the trees and plants and ruled all living creatures.  As Goddess of the Sky she was the Moon, in her three phases of New Moon, Full Moon, and Waning Moon.

 

 

·        Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica:  The Oracle of Hecate says

 

Mark I will teach what statue thou shalt make

For me; boughs of the wood, and worm-wood take,

Then garnish it, on it paint domestic mice;

Let ornaments be fair, and of great price.

Then frankincense, myrrh, storax mixed with blood

Of mice; then sing thou words secret and good;

As thou seest shapes of mine, so on it lay,

As many real mice; then take the bay,

And out of the trunk thereof a case prepare

To put it in; then see thou have a care,

That to the statue thou devoutly pray,

Also thy debts, and vows take care thou pay;

If that these things that here required be

Thou shalt perform, in dreams thou shalt me see.

 

·        Ovid’s Metamorphoses – Media’s Speech

 

O Night, most faithful to these my mysteries, and ye golden Stars, who with the Moon, succeed the fires of the day, and thou, three-faced Hecate, who comest conscious of my design,  and ye charms and arts of enchanters, and thou, too, Earth, that does furnish the enchanters with powerful herbs; ye breezes, too, and winds, mountains, rivers, and lakes, and all ye Deities of the groves, and all ye Gods of night, attend here; through whose aid, whenever I will, the rivers run back from their astonished banks to their sources, and by my charms I calm the troubled sea, and rouse it when calm; I disperse the clouds, and I bring clouds upon the Earth; I both allay the winds, ad I raise them; and I break the jaws of serpents with my words and my spells; I move, too, the solid rocks, and the oaks torn up with their own native Earth, and the forests as well; I command the mountains, too, to quake, and the Earth to groan, and the ghosts to come froth from their tombs, Thee, too O Moon, do I draw down!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

 

Cybele Hecate

 

   

 

Prayer to Hecate

By Journey

 

Wise Goddess,

oldest of the old,

wisest of the wise,

most powerful of the powerful

most beautiful of spirit and soul

most honest and judicial

hear my prayer this night.

 

Walk with me through this life

as my guide, my mentor, and my friend,

that I might follow your example.

Send me dreams and visions of

what has been, what is, and what will be

and enrich my life with magic

to be used in your name.

 

Protect me from both your enemies and mine.

Grant me health and long life and

Bless my life with the sustenance required

to meet the demands of my day to day needs.

 

Let my tongue speak the truth with kindness and compassion.

Let my ears hear the truth and know the hearts of others.

Let my eyes see the beauty in all people.

Let my heart feel love and respect for all life.

Let my mind know wisdom.

 

My life is dedicated to the reflection of,

Your love, your compassion, and your wisdom.

Your faithful daughter

 

Images:

Taken from JBL Statues

References:

 

A to Z Horoscope Maker and Interpreter by Stephanie Jean Clement, PhD and Marylee Bytheriver

Book of Shadows for the new generation Solitary Witch by Silver RavenWolf

Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses by Michael Jordan

Drawing Down the Moon Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshippers, and other Pagans in America Today by Margot Adler

Greek Gods, Human Lives What we can Learn from Myths by Mary Lefkowitz

In the Devil’s Snare by Mary Beth Norton

Moon Magick by D. J. Conway

Myths of the Ancient Greeks by Richard P. Martin

The Goddess Power, Sexuality, and the Feminine Divine by Shahrukh Husain

The New Book of Magical Names by Phoenix McFarland

The Once & Future Goddess by Elinor W. Gadon

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Written by Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim “The Foundation Book of Western Occultism” Translated by James Freake and Edited and Annotated by Donald Tyson

The Witches’ Goddess by Janet & Stewart Farrar

The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects by Walker

To Ride a Silver Broomstick New Generation Witchcraft by Silver RavenWolf

Virgin, Mother, Crone Myths & Mysteries of the Triple Goddess by Donna  

Wilshire

Wicca a Year and a Day by Timothy Roderick

Witchcraft at Salem by Chadwick Hansen

“365 Goddess” by Patricia Telesco