Hekate

The worship of this Deity began in Anatolia.


This Goddess is also known as Hecate and Hekat.

In Greece she was a pre-Olympian Goddess who aided Zeus in the battle against the Titans. He shared some of his power to with her in return.

Originally she was Goddess of the wild places, childbirth and the crossroads. These are all in between spaces that are associated with the spirit world; for the wilderness is not yet tame, birth is the moment of life where death stands in waiting and the three ways cross roads intersect at a point that is between all the directions. She was called upon by the ancients to provide protection and wisdom at these critical points.

As the in between spaces are the places where the veils between the worlds traditionally believed to be at their thinnest they are also associated with witches, magic and ghosts. From these links she gained the titles of Queen of witches and Queen of Ghosts and became a crone Goddess.

Today she is considered to be a Goddess of crossroads as offerings were made to her on the night of the new moon. Hence she is also Queen of the night as she is linked to the darkest night.

It was Hecate who heard the screams of Persephone as she was kidnapped by Hades. Later she became a good friend of Persephone, visiting her in the underworld.

She is the patron Goddess of Stratonikea.
Hekate was the daughter of Perses and Asteria, she never married or had a regular consort. The monster Scylla was said to be her child.
She was depicted with a torch bringing light and wisdom to the world, keys to open the gates between the worlds and access the hidden knowledge beyond and a knife to sever the cord as midwife at birth and to detach the body from it's life force at death.

Often shown as a triple Goddess with three faces or faces of a horse, a snake and a dog.

The Dark of the moon is linked with this Goddess. Pictures of Hekate

can be found by following this link. The images of the Goddess include the famous statute where the Goddess is shown in triplicate.