Hekate the Dark Mother

**Hekate the Dark Mother**

We have all heard of Hecate, but who is she really? My perception of this, and the actual reality and gravity of her, did not truly set in, until she came calling.

Hecate In Greek Mythology

Hecate, in Greek mythology, was considered to be the Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft. She was often depicted holding two torches or a key. She was the daughter of the Titans, Perses and Asteria. Ancient Greeks honoured Hecate in their households as a protective goddess who brought prosperity.

Hecate was a chthonic goddess that preceded the Olympians, and it seems that she was highly worshipped in Thrace. She was also closely associated to the spiritual world, ghosts, and the dead. A shrine to Hecate was placed at the entrances of homes, hoping to protect them from the evil spirits that roamed the world. She also helped goddess Demeter search for her daughter Persephone, when Persephone was abducted by Hades, God of the Underworld. After it was decided that Persephone would spend half the year in the underworld and the rest on earth, Hecate became Persephone’s companion to and from the underworld each year.

Hekate’s Name

The Dark Mother from whose womb we are born, and to whom we must return. Goddess of Witches. Necromancer. Healer. Terrifying Queen of the Underworld. This is Hekate or Hecate. She cares not how you spell or pronounce her name. She is beyond such things.

Hekate and the Witches

Seems to be a pretty basic story. If we look deeper, what does she mean to us, those of us who connect to her, and her daughter’s? We are the Witches, who honour her in our practice, and live by her guidance. She is the Triple Goddess, The Moon and the Stars. She is ancient and contemporary. Known by a multitude of names, ranging from World Soul to Goddess of the Witches, to the Keeper of the Keys of the Universe. Symbolically, her hands hold all that there is.

What is certain is that Hekate’s Witches have always been associated with Magick, Medicine and Mystery. We are the dangerous sorceresses whose herbals bring healing or poisoning, depending on our needs.

Hekate’s eternal daughters, Medea and Circe, brought forward the practice of Pharmakeia, plant spirit medicine. Thus, her medicine is that of both the world of spirits and the mundane. Her archetypal keys represent the opening to the mysterious and her guidance along our earth-bound journeys. She is Anima Mundi, the very soul of all creation. She is the essence, the vibration and the magick. Unknowable, yet as close as our breath. To her witches, she is The Mother. Liberator. The One.

Hekate and the Dark Moon

The dark moon, the night of the astrological new moon, has been sacred to Hekate’s Witches since ancient times. On this night, sacred rites are performed in her honour. She is The Star Walker, reigning over the night from above, yet she is also the one who wanders the night to rescue lost souls, while bringing vengeance to those who defile her beloveds. She is the Dark Mother who offers respite to the weary and the banisher of evil.

Triformis, Trimorphis: Hekate as The Triple Goddess

Hekate’s role as Keeper of the Keys is vital to understanding her essence as Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World. Other ancient writers used this metaphor to describe her power as the Mediator between humans and the deeper world. Within the Persephone myth cycle, she replicates this archetype. She is the guardian to Persephone when she is deeply troubled, she guides her back and forth, ensuring the seasons change, and she is the keeper of the keys of wisdom and transformation.

Hekate, Persephone and Demeter form one version of the Triple Goddess. The Triple Goddess to the ancient writers represented the power of transformation, the ability to shapeshift and the seasonal progression. In this way, the Triple Goddess is Triformis (Three Formed) and Trimorphis (Three Morphed). The Triple Goddess also represented the three visible phases of the moon. Thus, Hekate as part of the Triple Goddess was often associated with Selene (Luna in Latin) and Artemis (Diana).

20th Century Hekate

In the early 20th century Hekate’s limited capacity as an underworld goddess was further reinforced through the works of Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner. Hekate (usually spelled the Latin way: Hecate) became widely known as The Goddess of Witchcraft in neo-pagan circles. It is obvious from the lives and works of these men, and others like them, that they held deeply troubling views of women. While their words may be inspiring, they are tainted by their spirits of depravity, misogyny and outright abuse. Our understanding of Hekate must be liberated from such entanglements, while acknowledging the beauty of some of these portrayals.

Maiden-Mother-Crone

Somewhere along the way, Hekate as a crone became a commonly held belief among neo-pagans. In addition to this interpretation of her as an individual, she was also placed in the “Maiden Mother Crone” tripartite goddess structure as the crone or as the entire trio. While the veracity of these applications of Hekate has been debated, there is ancient evidence that solidifies her as a maiden. Her role as a mother is reinforced through ancient epithets, such as Pammetor, and there are a few tales portraying her as a biological mother. Accompanying this new application of Hekate’s ancient characterization as a triple goddess was the Wiccan association of her with the moon.

Hekate’s Night – Entering the Underworld

November 16 is a night for deep spiritual work, of offering Hekate our internal refuse so we may work toward healing our shadow and beginning the process of rebirth. Hekate welcomes her chosen home, but the profane will be banished. Seek her out of sincerity, or risk her fierceness. This ritual will open you to the spirits of the Underworld. Participants have received messages from departed loved ones, animal allies, and Hekate’s companions. Persephone, in particular, often meets those who perform this rite.

In the same way we leave offerings at a crossroads for Deipnon, during this ritual, we need leave our spiritual junk, the miasma, in Her underworld, and we don’t look back. We offer her the toxic parts of ourselves that we are ready to let go of, in order to make space for our rebirth, space to take up her keys and move forward as sovereign, fire-walking, truth-weaving witches.

Further information can be found @ keepingherkeys.com

Keeping her Keys by Cindy Brennan; Entering Hekate’s Garden by Cindy Brennan

Have a wonderful day everyone! All Hail the Dark Mother, Hekate.

Article by Amie Clark