Fall equinox2/21/2023 ![]() It's in fall that devotees of Hecate today observe Hecate's Night or Hecate's Festival, which can take on features of Halloween as well as of the monthly Athenian observance of Deipnon in classical Greece.Īt the ancient Deipnon festival, a meal (Greek deipnon) would be offered to the goddess. Read our article on Nature’s Cycles to learn more about the moon. We also connect her to the season of fall in general, which is analogous to the waning moon. Some think that such apparitions aren't just sent by Hecate, but manifestations of the goddess herself.Īlthough she has been historically celebrated at various times, in modern Western culture, Hecate is naturally associated with the time around Halloween. The ghosts she sends show themselves as shifting apparitions that seem to be made of mist, and which dissolve into shadows only to reappear in a different shape the next moment. She can send her “dogs” against people who offend her and call them off if those in danger invoke her. Of her three main aspects, Hecate is most strongly associated with the underworld, and also with its denizens.ĭemons and ghosts are therefore often called “the dogs of Hecate,” in analogy to earthly dogs, which are sacred to her. On the earth, she is Artemis, who preserves life.īelow the earth, she holds sway as Persephone, the bride of Hades, and controls death.Īll three goddesses are aspects of the one Hecate, and she not only has these three powers but a hundred (Hekaton in Greek), according to my favorite Roman antiquarian Servius. Hecate's threefold rulership is often symbolized by portraying her as a goddess with three bodies-or in other words, as three goddesses.Īs the moon goddess Selene, with the power of birth, she rules above the earth. For me, this usually means nothing more than adding “. Since her power extends to all things, it's always good to invoke her, no matter who else you pray to and what you are praying for. It wasn't by birthright but because Zeus paid special honor to her that she became a co-ruler of the three realms: the sky along with Zeus, the sea with Poseidon, and the earth and underworld with Hades. Greek mythology provides conflicting answers to the question of Hecate's origins, but the most common answer is that she is the daughter of an obscure Titan called Perses, “the Destroyer.” ![]() For good reason, then, the pagan scholars of old interpreted her name as Hekatera, meaning “Both” in Greek. The simplest-and most difficult-answer to such questions is both. ![]() Is she a protector of our homes, or does she roam crossroads and graveyards like a bloodthirsty ghost? Is she a virgin or, as a different tradition holds, the mother of the famous witches Circe and Medea? ![]() I will explore both who this goddess was to the ancient Greeks, and how she is celebrated today. Hecate, also spelled Hekate, is a complicated woman associated with light and darkness, crossroads, and communicating with the dead. Hecate, the patron goddess of witches, is among the latter, at any rate for me. Some gods come into sharper focus the more you learn about them, while others become ever more mysterious and beguiling. ![]()
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