I praise lovely
three-formed Hekate Enodia,
saffron-veiled,
of Sky, Earth, and Sea,
who celebrates
Bacchanalia at the tomb
with the souls of the dead,
Daughter of Perses,
Lover of solitude,
honored with cakes,
Nocturnal one,
Protector of dogs,
Invincible Sovereign,
heralded by the roar of wild beasts...
Keybearing Queen of the whole Cosmos.
Primary Sources on Hecate
The earliest is Hesiod's
Theognis Penguin ed., pp 36-7. (Hesiod, to whom the work is generally attributed, lived in the 8th century b.c.e., but the work may be older, originating in oral tradition.
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter refers to
"luminous Hecate, bearing a light in her hands."
Secondary Sources on Hecate
The following excerpts are from essential texts for the scholarly study of ancient Western Paganism.
From Greek Religion
by Walter Burkert (ISBN 0-674-36281-0), p 171.
"Hecate is a goddess of more independent character, however often she was equated with Artemis from the fifth century onwards. In the iconography she is generally pictured as the same lithe virgin with short chiton, except that instead of the bow she carries torches---though these may be taken over by Artemis also. Hecate is the goddess of pathways, Enodia, especially of cross-roads and of the offerings laid down there; the triple-form figure of Hecate arose from the three masks which were hung at the meeting of three pathways. The pathways of Hecate are pathways of the night; accompanied by barking dogs, she leads a ghostly retinue. Hecate is also goddess of the moon and of the moon-conjuring witches of Thessaly, such as the dreaded sorceress Medea. Here secret society rituals are reflected. In the journey to Hades in the tale of the rape and return of Persephone Hecate is also at hand. Hecate seems to have her roots among the Carians of Asia Minor; her most important sanctuary is Lagina, a temple state of oriental type where there are also sacred eunuchs. The theophoric name
Hekatomnos, which is non-Greek in formation, is also Carian. Hesiod's family, which came from Aeolian Cumae, seems to have been especially devoted to Hecate; the
Theogony contains a Hymn to Hecate which accords the goddess a portion of honour in all domains of the world."
From The Gods of the Greeks
by Carl Kerenyi (ISBN 0-500-27048-1), pp. 35-36.
"Hekate ... was always closest to us --- although her name perhaps means "the Distant One". It is not only her name that links her with Apollon and Artemis, who are also named Hekatos and Hekate, but also her family origin --- if Hesiod is right in his account of it. She is elsewhere supposed to have been one of the daughters of Night. Hesiod, however, gives us the following genealogy: the Titan couple Phoebe and Koios had two daughters: Leto, the mother of Apollon and Artemis, and Asteria, a star goddess who bore Hekate to Peraios or Perses, the son of Eurybia. Hekate is therefore the cousin of Apollon and Artemis, and at the same time a reappearance of the great goddess Phoibe, whose name poets often give to the moon. Indeed, Hekate used to appear to us carrying her torch as the moon-goddess, whereas Artemis, although she, too, sometimes carries a torch, never did so. Hesiod seeks further to distinguish Hekate from Artemis by repeatedly emphasizing that the former is
monogenes, "an only child". In this respect, too, Hekate resembled Persephone, the goddess of the Underworld. For the rest, she was an almighty, threefold goddess. Zeus revered her above all others, and let her have her share of the earth, the sea and the starry sky; or rather, he did not deprive her of this threefold honour, which she had previously enjoyed under the earlier gods, the Titans, but let her retain what had been awarded to her at the first distribution of honours and dignities. She was therefore a true Titaness of the Titans, even though this is never expressly stated. On the contrary, she is said to be that Krataiis,that "Strong One", who bore to Phorkys the female sea-monster Skylla. Tales are told of her love-affairs with gods of the sea: with Triton, in particular, whom Hesiod calls
eurybias, "of wide force". On the other hand, it was also said that Hekate was mistress of the Underworld and every night led around a swarm of ghosts, accompanied by the barking of dogs. She was even called Bitch and She-wolf.
She was literally "close" to us, in the sense that she stood before the doors of most of our houses under the name of
Prothyraia, the goddess who helped women in childbed (or sometimes cruelly oppressed them), and was also to be seen at meeting places of three ways, where images of her were set up: three wooden masks upon a pole, or a threefold statue with three faces looking in three directions. To describe how and with what purposes she was invoked by women would take us into the field of witchcraft; and I propose to confine myself as closely as possible to Mythology.
Prayer to HeKate
Most ancient Goddess, beautiful Hekate,
powerful, swift, unseen,
We invoke Thee.
Be among us,
Come to our aid.
Ever Watchful,
nothing escapes your understanding.
Your domain is unbounded;
the secrets of the heavens,
the earth, and the underworld
are Yours.
You hear the laments of the oppressed.
Companion of all
who travel in darkness, come to us
bearing light in your hands. Be our guide
through the dark places.
Protect us from unseen dangers.
In our travail,
help us to bring new life safely to birth.
Champion of refugees,
in your honor,
we kindle now a flame of hope,
as a sign of our covenant of solidarity
with all who are oppressed.
(c) Christa Landon 2002
On the Worship of Hekate by "Lucian Prymal" shadowserpent@mail2hecate.com
[In] my own personal opinion ... the gift of greatest worth in honoring the Mighty Gods is that of the intent behind the offering, regardless of the value of the offering itself.
There are few things as powerful as presenting offerings and libations into a great fire ablaze atop a large stone altar during festival, but then, again, few things can compare to being before your home altar sharing your heart, thoughts, and adoration with the Mighty Gods.
I do not pretend to know how others perceive the Gods they worship, nor to question the validity of the way they choose to honor those Gods. However, in worshipping Mighty Hekate, She is ever the light within the darkness and is my guide, guardian, and protectress.
When I light candles to honor Her, these simple candles have a great significance to me as in their flames, I acknowledge Glorious Hekate's roles in my life. [With them] I honor Her by remembering how, by Her Divine Will and Guidance, I was lead from out the darkness and emptiness of my past life and given a new chance at truly living in fulfillment in Her service. The candle flame also serves to remind me that the darkness ever exists, but in Hekate's Eternal Light, one need never become lost within the shadows without or within, for She is ever faithful and never is Her light denied those that seek it and find it.
Honor and glorious praises to all the Immortal Gods!
Lucian Prymal
Servant of Mighty Hekate.
Domestic Hecate Rituals
During Noumenia (`new moon day') which was held on the
evening of the first sighted new moon, the Greeks carried on the following purification ritual.
First, they thoroughly cleaned their houses and deposited the
garbage at the crossroads at which an image of the Triple Hekate
was installed. The garbage included hair and nail clippings. Eggs and other offerings were also left there.
Having made this sacrifice, one was to walk away without looking back.
These practices also prevented clippings being used in spells, a major fear in many magic-using cultures. If you offered them to Hekate the hope was that she would keep them safe from magicians and others who performed spells.
Share your favorite prayers, devotions, and meditations with other Pagans in this virtual temple. Send them to the Editor with "virtual temple" in the subject.
Have you found ancient or scholarly material on the God/desses which moves you? Share it with other Pagans by sending to the Edirot, complete bibliographic information (author, publisher or website.) Thank you.
The image of Hecate above was done in colored pencils by Christa Landon and based on an antique line drawing of an ancient statue. For permissions, contact the Editor.
For more information about Hecate, read
Burkert's Greek Religion.
Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira
-------------------------, Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece (Univ. of California Press: Berkeley, 1999).
Robert Von Rudloff, Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion. Victoria, BC: Horned Owl Press, 1999. Pp. ix + 176. ISBN 0-9696066-8-0.
You can read online the Bryn Mawr Classical Review of this title. Sarah Iles Johnston, of Ohio State University criticizes the book's scholarship as immature, but also says that
"Such enthusiasm can be refreshing and lend appeal to learned discussions: it glimmers forth in a fascinating way from E.R. Dodds' work on ancient magic and spiritualism, for example, and, in the book under review, it contributes to a lively, pleasant style of communication...Had I encountered the book by chance in Barnes and Noble, for example -- I would have guessed it was written for practicing neo-pagans."
Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion provides an analysis of Hekate's nature and roles in the archaic period and, after doing so, suggests in conclusion that she played five major roles in early Greek religion: Propylaia, Propolos, Phosphoros, Kourotrophos and Chthonia (page 91). That a copy of the book was submitted to BMCR for review indicates that either the author or the publisher hopes to market it to scholars. Were it not for this -- , for But having been asked to review Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion for this, a scholarly journal, I must judge it primarily by scholarly criteria.
This requires me, I regret, to give it a largely negative review. Most of the reasons for this can be dealt with briefly. The bibliography fails to include some important and/or recent works on Hekate, such as H. Sarien's LIMC article (1992), F. Laumonier's Les cultes indigènes en Carie (1958), and my own article on rituals at the crossroads directed towards Hekate (ZPE 88 [1991]). Some of these missing works, apparently, were meant to be included -- footnotes several times direct the reader to "Johnston 1991" for example, despite the fact that no corresponding entry appears in the bibliography. This brings me to a second reason for my negative review: the book was rather carelessly produced and presents the reader with far more than the average number of misspellings, misdirections and omissions. Other signs of carelessness are V.'s failure to take epigraphic texts into account adequately (although he occasionally refers to epigraphical evidence, he relies on second-hand descriptions of the texts, taken from other scholars' works, and almost never provides citations that would lead the reader directly to the inscription itself), his failure to provide any footnotes at all to back up some of his statements, and quite a few errors of fact and exaggeration, such as the statement that Hesiod narrated the story of Pandora twice in the Works and Days (page 11), or the statement that mythic aoroi (dead virgins) often are renamed Hekate (page 70) -- it happens to only two mythic women, Iphigeneia / Iphimede and an unnamed Ephesian woman.1 Rarely does he cite other scholars by name in his discussion or take up their arguments in any specifics, even when his own ideas closely echo or contradict theirs.
More serious failings concern his interpretations of ancient evidence. Hermes' connection with Hekate in the Theogony cannot be explained away by making him symbolize the earth (page 80); Hekate's association with magic is highly unlikely to have been adopted by her from Medeia (page 79); and Hekate's early relationship to Helios (such as it was) surely was not forged by their common relationship to Medeia (page 89). We have no reason to think that ancient birth goddesses all carried torches nor that the torches carried by some of them symbolized the hygienically purifying effects of fire (page 103). He could have disabused himself of the outdated assumption that chthonic deities have a "greater concern with matters of basic living, such as fertility, childbirth, crops, fate and death" (page 113), simply by reading through Burkert's Greek Religion. V's thesis -- that Hekate played five main roles in archaic religion -- is not altogether incorrect, insofar as she did display functions a lot like most of those he describes, but other scholars have pointed much of this out before, and, where V. is original in his observations, factual errors or errors of interpretation diminish his contribution.
It is also confusing -- and annoying -- that in spite of V.'s stated purpose to examine Hekate only as she appeared in the archaic and early classical periods, he includes evidence from significantly later periods (right down to passages from Eustathius) when it suits his purposes. I do not object to using later evidence to help elucidate earlier materials per se, but scholars who do so in a piecemeal manner must explain their reasons for including some things and excluding others. Certainly, there were other, important, pieces of post-archaic evidence that V. might have treated which he did not: Nicander's story of Hekate and the weasel, for example (ap. Ant. Lib. 29), which would have been important to his discussion of Hekate's roles as birth goddess and kourotrophos.
All of this being said, I must finish by adding that my biggest regret is that this book was published when it was. V. tells us in his preface that the book grew out of his master's thesis. Few of us, I suspect, would want to see our master's theses in print -- a thesis usually serves as a sort of dry-run for the dissertation, which is itself a dry-run for the first book. There are traces in Hekate of a potentially good scholar: V. often asks the right questions of his materials and he avoids some of the biggest pitfalls that young scholars of Greek religion stumble into, such as assuming that each deity has a single, unchanging personality. For a master's student, he collected an impressive amount of ancient material. Had V. been told to work on his topic for several years more and been given adequate guidance, he might have offered us something useful and interesting. I hope that I have another opportunity to review his work one day that allows me to praise instead of criticize.
Notes
1. Cf. S.I. Johnston, Restless Dead. Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece (Univ. of California Press: Berkeley, 1999) ch. 6.
