Introducing Hekate

Circle for Hekate -Volume I, History & Mythology: Dedicated to the light-bearing Goddess of the crossroads in all her many faces, manifestations, and names. by Sorita D'este
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sorita D’Este has to be the foremost practitioner / devotee to Hecate. Not only is she a priest to the goddess but she has also done more than ample research. What follows is an excellent book that give the reader a good solid over view of Hecate throughout her long history. If you are interested in learning about this goddess then this is a book you would do well to delve into.

The first chapter of the book deals with the family and lineage of Hecate. Her father was Perseus and her Mother was Asteria. Her grandfather was the sun god Helios. Among her cousins are Apollo and Artemis, their mother Leto was Asteria’s sister. Leto was hunted by Hera and a large python because Zeuss seduced her or attacked her. Asteria in the meantime turned herself into an island. Hera, as a reward to Asteria for avoiding Zeuss’s pleasure snares was able to give her sister some rest on the island of Ortygia which is located near Sicily.
As Hecate’s cult expanded throughout the Greco Roman world she tended to absorb other goddesses and become conflated with them. Some o the goddeses she was conflated with are Demeter and Persephone, Artemis, Isis, Ereshkigal and Ishtar. Sometimes they are named as a double name like Hecate-Isis other times they are mentioned separately. It seems she absorbed or was conflated wit other Goddesses such as Bendis, Kybelle, Selene and a few others. With tis she absorbed their symbols, jobs and functions.
It is rather hard to pinpoint where the worship of Hecate originated. After all she was a titan who sided with Zeuss against Kronos. She helped beat off some monsters with her torches and for that she was allowed to keep her domain as a goddess of the earth air land and sea. She was worshipped widely over the entire Greco-Roman world. Evidence of her sanctuaries and worship can be found in modern day Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Jordan Valley, Syria, Egypt and parts of Italy. Certain places have her worshipped alone or paired up with Zeuss, Dionysus, Hermes and Pan.

Hecate is a liminal goddess which means she occupies those spaces in between like twilight, realms between death an life and passage ways. One of Hecate’s symbols is the key. Keys open doors and allow passage. Her shrine was at the entry way to shrines and houses. She was also an underworld goddess who escorted the dead, provided they had a proper funeral to the underworld. Those who died a violent death, suicide etc belonged to Hecate and became one of her ghosts. Black dogs were often associated with her as were bulls, cows, dogs. Staffs and snakes were associated with her as well as different head gear.
In her beginning years she started out as a solar goddess but now as time slips by she is associated with the moon. In the beginning she was a mother goddess and a maiden goddess. Thanks to Crowley and Robert Grave the krone epithet got added on. There are more volumes coming up. Keep your eyes open.


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