The east frieze of a Hellenistic temple of hers at Lagina shows her helping protect the newborn Zeus from his father Cronus; this frieze is the only evidence of Hecate's involvement in the myth of his birth. [33] [34] Sacred animals [ edit ] In Early Modern English, the name was also pronounced disyllabically (as / ˈ h ɛ k . ɪ t/) and sometimes spelled Hecat. It remained common practice in English to pronounce her name in two syllables, even when spelled with final e, well into the 19th century. [ citation needed]

Shakespeare mentions Hecate also in King Lear. While disclaiming all his paternal care for Cordelia, Lear says, "The mysteries of Hecate and the night,There is another very important feature which arose out of the notion of her being an infernal divinity, namely, she was regarded as a spectral being, who at night sent from the lower world all kinds of demons and terrible phantoms, who taught sorcery and witchcraft, who dwelt at places where two roads crossed each other, on tombs, and near the blood of murdered persons. She herself too wanders about with the souls of the dead, and her approach is announced by the whining and howling of dogs. 13 Magliocco, Sabina. (2009). Aradia in Sardinia: The Archaeology of a Folk Character. Pp. 40–60 in Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon. Hidden Publishing. Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress: The Virgin Mary And The Creation of Christian Constantinople, Routledge, 1994, pp. 126–127. The Athenian Greeks honoured Hecate during the Deipnon. In Greek, deipnon means the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the day. Hecate's Deipnon is, at its most basic, a meal served to Hecate and the restless dead once a lunar month [104] during the New Moon. On the night of the new moon, a meal would be set outside, in a small shrine to Hecate by the front door; as the street in front of the house and the doorway create a crossroads, known to be a place Hecate dwelled. Food offerings might include cake or bread, fish, eggs and honey. [105] The Deipnon is always followed the next day by the Noumenia, [106] when the first sliver of the sunlit Moon is visible, and then the Agathos Daimon the day after that. She is featured in a few prominent myths including in Hesiod, where she is the daughter of a powerful Titan and nymph. In this myth, Hecate has immense power and rules over the three realms – land, sky, and sea. Which is evident in her triple form manifestation. She’s also well known for playing an integral role in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. She bears witness to Persephone’s “kidnapping” and aids Demeter in recovering her stolen daughter from Hades and the Underworld. Hecate’s Magical Domains & Associations Domain

Hecate [a] ( Έκατη in Ancient Greek) is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, or snakes, or accompanied by dogs, [2] and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. She is variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, protection from witchcraft, the Moon, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, graves, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. [3] [4] [5] Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's Theogony in the 8th century BCE [6] as a goddess of great honour with domains in sky, earth, and sea. Her place of origin is debated by scholars, but she had popular followings amongst the witches of Thessaly [7] and an important sanctuary among the Carian Greeks of Asia Minor in Lagina. [7] Her oldest known representation was found in Selinunte, in Sicily. I've been casting spells for more than a decade and have worked privately with clients from all over the world.Dogs were closely associated with Hecate in the Classical world. "In art and in literature Hecate is constantly represented as dog-shaped or as accompanied by a dog. Her approach was heralded by the howling of a dog. The dog was Hecate's regular sacrificial animal, and was often eaten in solemn sacrament." [35] The sacrifice of dogs to Hecate is attested for Thrace, Samothrace, Colophon, and Athens. [11] A 4thcenturyBCE marble relief from Crannon in Thessaly was dedicated by a race-horse owner. [d] It shows Hecate, with a hound beside her, placing a wreath on the head of a mare. It has been claimed that her association with dogs is "suggestive of her connection with birth, for the dog was sacred to Eileithyia, Genetyllis, and other birth goddesses. Images of her attended by a dog [36] are also found at times when she is shown as in her role as mother goddess with child, and when she is depicted alongside the god Hermes and the goddess Cybele in reliefs. [37] Bonnefoy, Yves; Doniger, Wendy (1992). Roman and European Mythologies. University of Chicago Press. p.195.

R. L. Hunter, The Argonautica of Apollonius, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 142, citing Apollonius of Rhodes. I get a terrible OCD.Many times that, the more I want to pray to god and godness, some illogical blasphemous ideas appear without reason. I hate these ideas and feel guilty. I swear I never mean to think about this, but the negative ideas just appear in my mind. Well.. i have the OCD symptom before(for many other reasons), but never feel suffering like now. The more I want to worship, these ideas torture me more.If Hecate's cult spread from Anatolia into Greece, then it possibly presented a conflict, as her role was already filled by other more prominent deities in the Greek pantheon, above all by Artemis and Selene. This line of reasoning lies behind the widely accepted hypothesis that she was a foreign deity who was incorporated into the Greek pantheon. Other than in the Theogony, the Greek sources do not offer a consistent story of her parentage or of her relations in the Greek pantheon. Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.467 = Pherecydes, fr. 44 Fowler = FGrHist 3 fr. 44 = Vorsokr. 2 B 16 = Bacchylides, fr. 1 B Snell-Maehler = Orphic fr. 41 Kern. Some call me Juno, others Bellona of the Battles, and still others Hecate. Principally the Ethiopians which dwell in the Orient, and the Egyptians which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustomed to worship me, do call me Queen Isis. [139] You can offer her some moon water. It’s best to make your own as she appreciates the commitment and the dedication behind all things homemade!

You can use items related to the symbols connected with her like a snake, a torch, a knife, a key, or a wheel of Hekate. Worker-from-afar." A mysterious divinity, who, according to the most common tradition, was a daughter of Persaeus or Perses and Asteria, whence she is called Perseis. 1 Others describe her as a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and state that she was sent out by her father in search of Persephone; 2 others again make her a daughter of Zeus either by Pheraea or by Hera; 3 and others, lastly, say that she was a daughter of Leto or Tartarus. 4 Homer does not mention her. Relief of triplicate Hekate. Three female figures framed in aedicula, with high poloi on their heads, dressed in chiton and peplos, holding torches in their hands. When should I create it?In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (composed c. 600 BCE), Hecate is called "tender-hearted", an epithet perhaps intended to emphasize her concern with the disappearance of Persephone, when she assisted Demeter with her search for Persephone following her abduction by Hades, suggesting that Demeter should speak to the god of the Sun, Helios. Subsequently, Hecate became Persephone's companion on her yearly journey to and from the realms of Hades, serving as a psychopomp. Because of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone, [2] and there was a temple dedicated to her near the main sanctuary at Eleusis. [29] Classical period [ edit ] Dogs were sacred to Hecate and associated with roads, domestic spaces, purification, and spirits of the dead. Dogs were also sacrificed to the road. [86] Comparative mythologist Alexander Haggerty Krappe cited that Hecate was also named ίππεύτρια ( hippeutria – 'the equestrienne'), since the horse was "the chthonic animal par excellence". [49] Sacred plants [ edit ]