Hecate - Guide, Protectress, Crone, & Mother

[Myst]

I found that info interesting, Spirahl. What fascinating, fascinating work, and how brave of these people to delve into it!

I can see why she would a guide to the underworld for people, being as it's commonly believed that
a) she was the only one who witnessed Persephone's abduction
and
b) she's believed to be the one who guides Persephone to the underworld for the winter and back up for the spring

I had a webpage bookmarked about this and how she's a torch bearer and protector of children too but I lost it when I formatted. Hope to find it again.

[silvrsnstr]

I posted stuff in the Demeter thing about Her, and here is some more stuff:
Hekate is a triple Goddess, Older than the Olympians. She is a Goddess of Magick, As Well as the Waning Moon. She is most often seen in Her third stage, as a statue gaurding Athena's and Demeter's temples. She is assoiated with the Dark Mother, and the Underworld. Sometimes, I also see Her with Aradia and Maat, wh oare like the Charlies Angel's, only Goddesses in my beilef. She is Called on to Aid in spells, and to Banish, and sometimes to carry a soul peiecfully to the UnderWorld. It is also my personal beilif that She is the One that guards the Oak and Holly King in rest, tho it is just my way of thinking. To me, She is a Great Protectress, Called for matters of abuse, danger, and rape. I say, "Woe to he who harms Hekate's children", Her children being those who honor Her, or those She has chosen. She also has power over Earth, Air, and Sea, as She did before Zeus was born. She never became and Olympian Goddess, tho, i beileve She is something more powerful.
Blessings,
Crimson Star

[Spirahl]

Here is a few sites that I have bookmarked and am working my way through:
http://pages.ivillage.com/sondaughter_hecate/sonsanddaughtersofhecate/
http://www.sacredcircle.com/Hecate/
http://www.pacificnet.net/~spectre/Temple/main.html
Yes, there are many variations of the triad of Hecate. One site states that Hecate was once the maiden, which I had not heard before. Your ideas about her being the one to see Persephone abducted and bringing her back, is a connection that hadn't occured to me. But I think your'e right on!
The writer tries to remain professionally sceptical and cool. His wife runs the video camera and gets scared. Hubby's oldest daughter takes photographs and is often clutching my hand! My hubby's ease and level of comfort amazes me, as I'm far from brave. He assures me that it was always not that way. He was hospitalized as a young'un because of this. They ruled out schizophrenia and then he started to predict accurately things for his doctors- so, they let him go!
Do you know anything about an Egyptian goddess Hekit? Connections?
If anyone else knows of a useful site, please pass it along. I've only had a computer for a few weeks and haven't searched the net to death yet. As a solitary, and only being able to previously share things with my hubby, the net has brought me so much info in so little time. Amazing! My word for the day...amazing! I find I've used it so many times today...8O

[Myst]

Maat? Hmm well I know Aradia anyway :)

As far as Hekit I know nothing but I'll be doing some research about this one I think. If she's a darker deity that's probably why; they definitely still do get a bad rap even on the 'net. The bits I learneda bout Hecate being a guide to Persephone were found on a website by a college student who had decided to disprove some of the myths that perpetuate about her - that she's just scary and dark.

I think working with Hecate will be very challenging but rewarding. Glad to see other people who are on the same path as far as that goes! Thanks for the info and links both of you.

[silvrsnstr]

Well, i found a source from my early years, 8 or 9. In the Gods of The Greeks, by C. Kerenyi, It says that Hekate was also in a trio of Titanesses, as She really is one, in some opinoins. Eurybia was the Goddess of Force and Daughter of Gaia. She bore Pallas, the Father of Styx, the Night, the second Goddess in the Trio. Asteria bore Hekate to Perses, the son of Eurybia. She is the cousin of Apollo and Artemis. She was revered beyond all other Goddesses by Zeus, and was given a power over the Underworld, and The Waning Moon. She drives Her dogs around the Underworld with a swarm of ghosts, and is even called Bitch and She-Wolf. She was in one aspect Prothyraia, the Goddess that helped Women in childbed. That is all i could find, sorry. :)
Blessings,
Crimson StarRaven.

[Myst]

any personal experiences with Her?

[silvrsnstr]

Recently i had a dream about Her, on Her day (the waning moon), actually. I think i was supposed to show people that Shes not evil, or bad, just on the opposite end of the circle. Maybe it will go farther than that, i guess I'll have to wait and see. :)
Blessings,
Crimson Star Raven

[Mairwen]

I feel that way about the Morrígan and Kerridwen as well. :D

[silvrsnstr]

People say Kerridwen is evil/bad? I didn't know that? What do they say? All i really know about her is that she is a Harvest Goddess (i think) and She stirs the cauldron of knowledge.
Blessings,
Crimson StarRaven

[Mairwen]

People say she's a Dark Goddess, a Crone and not to be mentioned or reckoned with. Fooey. They don't know the whole picture. I have a thread about Kerridwen around here somewhere. I'll bump it up.

[Spirahl]

Thanks Mairwen. I think learning about all "dark" goddesses would be helpful to me right now, just to work more with the concept. Is Queen Mab a goddess, or a Shakespearean invention, or neither, or both, or...? My hubby is quite drawn to her, and it's one of those things with me that she pulls and repels me at the same time. Chicken, bock!

WillowRaven, what does your pendant/amulet look like? On one of the sites above, the temple one, there is a symbol, "Hecate's Wheel". I sooo want that made into a jewelry piece for me!
The writer that hubby works with noticed one night that I wear a pendant and earrings that are a cresent moon with a star. He said that it is on the Pakistan flag. I thought that's weird, I know that it was a popular theme, the whole "celestial" thing a couple of years ago, but I'd had these pieces for years and for some reason thought of them as protection for me. So I looked into it on the web and found it was a symbol used by Islam. I thought that weird, never having a pull in that direction, but delved deeper. I went into a Muslim chatroom and asked, they said that the Muslims adopted the symbol and that they brought it from Turkey/Persia where it was above the door on moon-centred-worship temples. Then I did searches into Turkish moon temples and ended up at a site that spoke of Gardner developing Wicca and that he incorporated ideas from these old moon-worshippers. That in those temples, which are incredibly ancient, that the ritual "drawing down the moon" and the worship of Hecate was already in place there. The Turkish government sponsored an archeological dig, but won't release the results citing financial, social and religious reasons. I'm certainly no historian, and my research may be greatly flawed, and yet it still turned out to be one of the many, many things in my life that relate back to Hecate. I'm still getting used to the idea, of a particular Goddess chosing someone. This really has me thinking lately about the One God vs. polytheism. I was always undecided.
I don't know how you know she chose you, if you want to keep that private, that's okay too.

Silvrnstr, could you please explain again how Hecate relates to Gaia? For some reason (maybe that I didn't sleep last night..argh!), I'm just not getting it. But the hippy in me wants to know, because she greatly believes in the ''earth as mother" concept.

[silvrsnstr]

Originally posted by Mairwen
People say she's a Dark Goddess, a Crone and not to be mentioned or reckoned with. Fooey. They don't know the whole picture. I have a thread about Kerridwen around here somewhere. I'll bump it up.

Why would the dark be bad? The light and dark are opposites, nothing more. The dark is where knowledge is found, and the light where it is put ot use in my opinion. And are these people also afraid of the Holly King, The Dark God? And the Time From Litha to Yule? Please, people, you are supposed to beileve in balance, and light plus light equals unbalanceyness. So there.
Blessings to Mairwen,
Crimson Star Raven


Originally posted by Spirahl
Silvrnstr, could you please explain again how Hecate relates to Gaia? For some reason (maybe that I didn't sleep last night..argh!), I'm just not getting it. But the hippy in me wants to know, because she greatly believes in the ''earth as mother" concept.

Surely. Gaia bore Eurybia, who was the Goddess of Wide Force. She gave birth to Perses and Pallas , whom married Styx. Nyx, the Night, bore to Perses Hekate, and there you have it. She is the Grandaughter of Gaia.

[Myst]

Well of course we know the dark isn't bad; but some fluffies haven't seen that yet!

It reminds me of the belief that your first degree of initiation into a coven should center around the God and Light, and then through the second degree you learn the Goddess and Darkness. I think it went that way for me, in that for the first 4 years I've studied I've never really understood the real good of Dark without that primeval fear before it and now I'm starting to.

Queen Mab? You can find a bit of info on her at http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mab_queen.html as the Queen of Fairies. Hm fairies always seem to be a part of the green and the dark too don't they? I think you could conceivably use anyone to work with if you wanted - why stick to everyone else's favourite Gods, especially if She draws you?

and I so know what you mean about the chicken thing hehe, I had the same feeling when I realized it was time for my "second degree" so to speak.

The pendant is the triple mother, with maiden facing left, goddess facing forward, and crone facing right... oh hm maybe I'll try to scan her...

[Myst]

http://willowraven.com/hecatepend.jpg

Note the maiden carries the snake (fertility and power symbol), the crone carries a knife, and the mother carries torches. Also note the triple moon symbol on her, which is echoed (but vertically) as etched on the back of the pendant. The pendant is actually about 2" high and I picked it up at a store called Green Earth in a mall, believe it or not. It was about $30 CAD :)

[Spirahl]

That pendant was quite a find WillowRaven. In one of the above links you will find (if not already) a very old statue that is exactly the same. I tried to post the pic, but couldn't.

[silvrsnstr]

I found this info on Hekate:
Hekate was sometimes called "The Strong Goddess", with 2 wolves, cows, and serpants. This is linked to Hekate because she was often pictured with three heads, one for each of the obove animals. I think this is all, but who knows?
Blessings,
Crimson StarRaven

[Myst]

Well she was linked to many animals. Wolves or dogs, ravens, serpents, sometimes others. There's lots of lore on this Goddess....

[silvrsnstr]

Could you point me in the direction of some more?
Blessings,
Crimson StarRaven

[Nect]

I thought this site was pretty good:

http://www.hecate.org.uk/

I have been feeling a pull towards Hekate...need to do some meditations on her.

Anyone here worships Hekate?

Nect

[Mercuria]

Originally posted by Myst
she's believed to be the one who guides Persephone to the underworld for the winter and back up for the spring


Just thought I'd point this out:

In Greek mythology, Hermes is the only God who knew the way to and from Hades. Somehow he found out where it was, and in honour of his cunning, Hades made him the official herald to the underworld.

He has a special epithet for this, Hermes Psychopompos (guide of souls to the underworld). This is also why he is sometimes related to Anubis (guardian of the dead) and is also the patron of tombstones (which mark the gateway between life and death).

In the Persephone myth, he guides Hekate and Persephone to the underworld. And I believe in other versions, it was only he that brought Persephone back.

Mercuria

[Twilight Garden]

Originally posted by Nect
I thought this site was pretty good:

http://www.hecate.org.uk/

I have been feeling a pull towards Hekate...need to do some meditations on her.

Anyone here worships Hekate?

Nect I'm a priestess of Hekate. Her energy has been the strongest I've encountered. When I started out, I worked mainly with Athene, but Hekate felt stronger and had a closer connection with me. It was like Athene's wisdom led me to Hekate, if that makes any sense. I've been with Hekate ever since.

Mercuria: That is something I hear frequently. But I have heard many different versions of similar myths. It's not like one is more correct than another. They all have their values.

[Mercuria]

Originally posted by LunarMist

Mercuria: That is something I hear frequently. But I have heard many different versions of similar myths. It's not like one is more correct than another. They all have their values.

Hermes was still the only God who knew the way to and from the underworld.

[Myst]

According to the myth *you* know, yes.

According to other myths, no.

"The ancients believed that this goddess also guided the souls of the dead to the underworld, as Hermes was also said to do,"

http://isxios.home.mindspring.com/hecate.htm

Meanwhile, this one mentions Hekate *and* Helios heard the cry and that Hekate takes Persephone to Helios

http://www.albany.edu/faculty/lr618/51to.htm

Others suggest Hekate actually dwells in the Underworld.

[Twilight Garden]

I had never seen that second site before. That was a really great read. It also gave a possible answer to a question I had. I wondered why Hekate led me to Zeus and not Hades or Hermes. Thank you for that link. :)

[Flar's Freyja]

I had a very intense experience with Hekate at Imbolc and I also had the perception that she is very dark and not to be messed with. At the time, I didn't understand why she would come to me but this was made very clear to me about two months later when things related to a major crossroads developed in my life. I had another encounter with her during the past week and received assurance that she is with me and intends to guide me in whatever needs to be done. She was very comforting. I feel peace and confidence that I can handle what is to come.

[Mithrea]

I've been feeling like she is constantly whapping me over the head lately trying to get me to see something and I can't figure it out.

I was really surprised when I found this thread bumped up and I had never read it before. I was REALLY surprised to find the thread was started on my sister's birthday and that my real name is mentioned in the thread. . .

So I've been whapped again and I still can't put it together :wah:

[Flar's Freyja]

:eek:

I'm sure she'll make it clear to you when the time is right.

[Mithrea]

You are now the third person to tell me that :)

I'm just impatient :D

[Flar's Freyja]

:rotfl:

I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences with Hekate in direct regard to death and would be willing to share.

[Mnemosyne]

When I think about goddesses who are associated with magick in the Greek pantheon, Hekate immediately comes to my mind. Another goddess who makes me think about magick in an instance is Freyja from the Norse pantheon. For some reason, Freyja, I always thought about the Norse goddess when I thought about you. The Norse goddess Frejya is so clever, just like your posts are. For some reason, if you don't feel a connection to the goddess Freyja, Freyja :D, I see Hekate with you.

[Flar's Freyja]

Originally posted by Mnemosyne
When I think about goddesses who are associated with magick in the Greek pantheon, Hekate immediately comes to my mind. Another goddess who makes me think about magick in an instance is Freyja from the Norse pantheon. For some reason, Freyja, I always thought about the Norse goddess when I thought about you. The Norse goddess Frejya is so clever, just like your posts are. For some reason, if you don't feel a connection to the goddess Freyja, Freyja :D, I see Hekate with you.

:) It was quite a while before I even found a goddess to identify with, and Freyja came to me unexpectedly, as did Hekate. I believe that Freyja carried me into the situation that has developed in my life that Hekate will now be guiding me through. Freyja also has a connection to death in that she claims half of the dead in battle as her own. It seems that I will be working with both of them now. I feel blessed to have both sides of the Mother on my side!

[Myst]

You should be warned Hekate is very dark and powerful and you will find yourself in dark situations if you invite her into your life. I think the past year and a bit has been the darkest hardest time of my life. Less then great relationships won't just fade but will explode. Darker parts of spirituality will come to the forefront and scare the crap out of you. Death will be close.

I didn't realize it either when I asked her to join me, now I know what she's like. Do *not* take it lightly.

[Flar's Freyja]

Thanks. Her coming to me literally scared the daylights out of me. It was during a ritual and the energy was so intense that I almost got sick afterward. I did not know what was to come at the time. I can't go into it here, but she is definitely appropriate for what is going on in my life right now. She is the goddess of the crossroads and this is a situation that I am facing that is not going to change. It is this aspect of her that I am actually going to need and I'm glad that she will be there for me.

[Myst]

Yeah, she'll continue to do that. Be prepared to face every dark emotion you have, and to face other people's worst sides.

[Mnemosyne]

Exactly, Myst!!!! Like most people, I see Hekate as very dark. I also see her has very mysterious. I have some darkness in my own life. Since I have some darkness in my life, I look for a goddess who will bring me some light. I have to admit that I totally respect this goddess though. She holds such power.

[Mnemosyne]

BUMP for all those who are interested in Hekate at the moment!

:boing: