Hecate by Lisa Iris from The Enchanted World of Lisa Iris

Hekate (also known by the more common but inaccurate spelling Hecate) is the Goddess of witchcraft and magic, protectress of children, guardian of the home, and keeper of the mysteries of life, death, and rebirth. Daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria, She is also a Titan, whose power reigns in heaven, on the earth, and in the sea. She bestows upon humanity wealth, victory, and wisdom. She was invoked for good luck by sailors and hunters. When the Dorics and their Olympian gods conquered the Greek mainland, She was one of the few early deities to retain all Her original powers and glories. Hekate was originally an Anatolian Goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, who was introduced into Thrace and Greece in pre-historic times. One of the earliest written records comes from Hesiod's Theogony, written in the 7th to 8th century BCE, in which She is referred to in this way: "Hekate whom Zeus the son of Kronos 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 . . . For as many as were born of Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (Heaven) [the Titanes] amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Kronos [Zeus] 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. Also, because she is an only child, the goddess receives not less honour, but much more still, for Zeus honours her." Later She was brought into Egypt by the Macedonian Ptolemy and his followers after the death of Alexander the Great and had a large center of worship at Alexandria. It is interesting to note that Her earliest depictions were not tri-formed but singular in nature. Pausanias states that Hekate was first shown in Her tri-form by the sculptor Alkamenes as part of the work he did for the temple of Nike on the Athenian Akropolis during the late fifth century BCE. So strong was Her worship in the hearts and minds of the people that as late as the 7th century CE the Christian Patriarch Eligius had to admonish his recently converted flock against making offerings to the Goddess of the Crossroads. Some of Her titles include:

Khthoniê, Of the Underworld
Krataeis, the Mighty One
Enodia, Of the Crossroads
Kourotrophos, Nurse of the Young
Propylaia, the One before the Gate
Propolos, the attendant who leads
Phosphoros, the light-bringer
Prytania, Invincible Queen of the Dead
Trioditis, Of the Three-Ways
Klêidouchos, Keeper of the Keys
Tricephalus, The Three-Headed
Perseis, Daughter of Perses
Brimô, Terrible One
Aidônaia, Lady of the Underworld
Trimorphis, Three-Formed
Zerynthia, Of Mount Zerynthia (in Samothrace)
Nyktipolos, Night Wandering
Atalos, Tender One
Skylakagetis, Leader of the Dogs
Kourê Mounogenês, Only Begotten Maiden
Liparokrêdemnos, Bright-Coiffed
Anassa Eneroi, Queen of the those Below

The most important sanctuary to Hekate in the ancient world was in Lagina, a theocratic city-state in which the Goddess was served by eunuchs, and where Her famous temple drew great festal assemblies every year. This city lay close to the originally Macedonian colony of Stratonikea, where She was the city's patroness. There was a shrine to Hekate in the complex of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, where the megabyzi, eunuch priests, officiated. Hekate was worshipped in Eleusis as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Worship of Hekate was also very important in Aigina, where tradition held that the legendary Thracian poet Orpheus had established the Mysteries and had a temple built where there was a celebrated statue of Her created by the famous sculptor Myron. In Italy at Lake Averno, an extinct volcanic crater, the thick, dark forest surrounding the lake was known as Hekate's sacred grove. Other centers of Hekate's worship include Thessaly, Thrace, Delos, Samothrace, Karia, Lydia, Rhodes, and in the Greek colony of Sicily, where tradition held that the first shrine was erected by Odysseus during his wanderings. Most homes in the ancient Hellenic world had a shrine to Hekate near their entrance. These small shrines were called Hekataion, and are referred to in many sources from the time.

Of all the animals, the one most associated with Hekate in ancient tradition is the female dog, and Hekate is often referred to as "The Black Bitch". Unlike most other Greek deities, dogs were often sacrificed to Her, along with sheep and honey. Another common form of offering was to leave meat at a crossroads. At Kolophon in Thrace, Hekate was said to manifest as a dog, and the sound of barking dogs was considered to be the first sign of Her approach in Greek and Roman literature. Her priestesses were often mystai who communed with the Goddess in trance-inducing rites. They were often accompanied by the Korybantes who were male dancers. "Already the bird of morning was cutting the air with loud cries [on the island of Samothrake]; already the helmeted bands of desert-haunting Korybantes were beating on their shields in the Knossian dance, and leaping with rhythmic steps, and the oxhides thudded under the blows of the iron as they whirled them about in rivalry, while the double pipe made music, and quickened the dancers with its rollicking tune in time to the bounding steps. Aye, and the trees whispered, the rocks boomed, the forests held jubilee with their intelligent movings and shakings, and the Dryades did sing. Packs of bears joined the dance, skipping and wheeling face to face; lions with a roar from emulous throats mimicked the triumphant cry of the priests of the Kabeiroi, sane in their madness; the revelling pipes rang out a tune to honour of Hekate, divine friend of dogs, those single pipes, which the horn-polisher’s art invented in Kronos’s days." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca.

Other priestesses were depicted as witches and sorceresses, most famously Medea and Circe, who was a Goddess in Her own right. It was this aspect of priestesshood which carried on in Alexandria where She was regarded mostly as a Goddess of sorceries who was frequently invoked in Egyptian magical texts from the time of Ptolemy onward. In the Chaldean Oracles that were edited in Alexandria, She was also associated with a serpentine maze around a spiral, known as Strophalos of Hekate or Hekate's Wheel. There Her most potent symbol was the serpent, which was associated with Her powers over death and rebirth and with Her ancient wisdom. "The life-producing bosom of Hekate, that Living Flame which clothes itself in Matter to manifest Existence" - The Chaldean Oracles. There is some speculation that the Goddess Diana as She is referred to in Charles Leland's book "Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches" is actually a distillation of Hekate, since the Romans associated Her with Diana as a Moon Goddess and the rites and attributes of Diana in the book much more closely resemble those of Hekate than they do the Roman Diana, especially since Hekate was known as "Queen of the Witches" in ancient times, an epithet which the Romans never ascribed to Diana, but which is given to the Tuscan manifestation of Diana in the book.

The Greeks observed two days sacred to Hekate, one on the 13th of August held to aid in keeping the storms from destroying the harvest, and one on the 30th of November where She was honored as Lady of the Crossroads. The Romans observed the 29th of every month as Her sacred day when eggs and fish were offered to Her at crossroads shrines. The Macedonians honored Hekate in a midwinter festival, praising Her as the "Divine Midwife". Hekate was also honored in Eleusis as part of the Thesmophoria, which marked the end of the hot, harsh summer months when nothing would grow and the beginning of the fall planting season in the Greek month of Pyanopsion, which is roughly during the middle of October to the middle of November. "Silence! Silence! Pray to the Thesmophorai, Demeter and Koura [Persephone]; pray to Ploutos, Kalligeneia, Kourotrophos [Hekate], Ge (the Earth), Hermes and the Kharites (Graces), that all may happen for the best at this gathering, both for the greatest advantage of Athens and for our own personal happiness! May the award be given her who, by both deeds and words, has most deserved it from the Athenian people and from the women! Address these prayers to heaven and demand happiness for yourselves. Io Paean! Io Paean! Let us rejoice!" - Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae.

Back to the main page...