As a fertility deity she was invoked by women to aid conception and delivery. One of Hecates frequent animal companions, and the one that shes most often depicted with, was a black dog. This is how she came to command the earth, bliss, and sea. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-mythology-hecate-1526205. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, A Recommended Book on Hekate Liminal Rites, Planetary MAGICK -7 Facts you should know, Magickal Protection-The BEST 10 SOLUTIONS. From the three supposedly came her image in Greek . the Jinn or Genie-good, bad or simply Goetic spirits of another name? Both of these gods were thought to be in charge of the dead and had something to do with Persephone coming back in the spring. Demeter descended to the underworld every spring to bring her daughter back to the surface, making the three goddesses share an association with the underworld. The most commonly repeated story of her birth was that Hecate was the daughter of Perses and Asteria, two second-generation Titans. Hecate is often depicted with three heads as she was called the Goddess of the Crossroads. During the time of the Romans, Hecate was often combined with the gods Artemis and Selene, especially in Roman poetry. On an Attic vase from the 5th century BCE, a woman is shown giving a goddess a puppy and a basket of cakes. Hecate was a goddess of boundaries and in between spaces. During the Hellenistic and Roman times, people still worshipped Hecate. The people of Sparta claimed that Ares had been nursed by a nymph called Thero. Classical scholars have differing views about where the worship of Hecate in Ancient Greece came from. The goddess was frequently associated with Demeter and even assimilated to her in some cults. According to Theogony. First 6 Months for 1.99 with Monthly Student and Teacher Plans Dismiss, 2022 Learning Mole. Performing a protection rite on yourself and use of amulet is always encouraged as well. She is depicted on the altar of Pergamon with one body and three heads (ca. We know you don't want to miss any news or research breakthroughs. Her name was derived from the Greek word hekatos which means "worker from afar". HECATE - the Greek Goddess of Crossroads (Greek mythology) - Godchecker The Greeks likewise borrowed many deities and legends from their eastern neighbors. Greeks likewise borrowed many deities and legends. Many historians believe that the Greek pantheon was once much smaller than we know it today. If you enjoyed this content why not dive into some more historical eras check out these articles: Ancient Rome, Ancient Egyptians The First Woman Pharaoh, Greek Mythology Medusa, Native American History. When Persephone was abducted to the underworld by Hades, Hecate was the only witness willing to help Demeter search for her daughter. Another option was a dish of red mullet, which was usually not allowed to be given to other gods. Q: How do the three witches make Hecate angry? Pausanias, a Greek traveller who lived in the second century CE, said that the goddess had a mystery cult on the island of Aegina, where people with mental illness thought they could be cured. Some poets say her mother is Crataeis. She is also known as Soteria (Savior), the Mother of Angels, and the Cosmic World. In aiding Demeter during her search for the missing Persephone and transfiguring Hecuba to spare her captivity or death she showed a level of compassion that might not be expected from an occult figure. She was the only child of the Titanes Perses and Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea. Her attributes, besides the torch, are the snake, whip, dagger, and sword. Hecate: Triple-Bodied Greek Goddess of Witchcraft and Keeper of Keys Click to reveal Hecate (Hekate) is the goddess of boundaries and guardian of crossroads; she is often shown with three faces and carrying a torch to show her connection to the night. In fact, Hecate might have been another goddess altogether! By joining Kidadl you agree to Kidadls Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receiving marketing communications from Kidadl. She was connected to occult practices such as witchcraft and magic, the Moon, gateways, and nocturnal beasts such as hellhounds and ghosts. Eating crunchy while enjoying a good movie or your favourite video game is a blessing. Subscribe for virtual tools, STEM-inspired play, Thus, pillars called Hecataea stood at crossroads and doorways, perhaps to keep away evil spirits. You ask Hecate to feed on these offerings, to accept them as an act of friendship and continued bond and also as an act of gratitude on your part. Esoteric writing from this time says that Hecate has the heads of a horse, a dog, and a snake. Child of Perses and Asteria, she was the only Titan to retain her control under Zeus' reign. Hecate, however, is routinely described as the goddess of witchcraft and associated with characters like Medea and Circe, the witch of Homers Odyssey. She was a goddess in charge of magic, witchcraft, and much more. The goddess Hecate is generally depicted as either an old woman in a long dress or a young woman in a knee-length skirt with hunting boots. She has also been mentioned in the works of Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, and Macbeth. Over time, some of the Olympians changed form and function. According to her story, Hecate sometimes withheld these blessings if she felt mortals did not deserve them. Victorian Era, Ibn Khaldun or Celts. Hesiod only talks about her family and how she killed Clytius in the Gigantomachy. Anatolia, which covered most of what is now Turkey, was a region that had close ties to the Greek world. Subscribe to our popular newsletter Synced Global AI Weekly to get weekly AI updates. The keys that she is sometimes shown holding are supposed to be the keys of the Underworld. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. In fact, she existed in such a nominal place that its difficult to say whether she existed as a singular goddess, a trio of beings, or as a minor aspect of a more major deity. The well-known Pergamon Altar (from around the 2nd century BCE) shows Hecate as three different things. As was already said, the dog was Hecates most holy animal. Each of the Greek gods has a few specialized functions. Advanced Magick for the 21st Century The Adeptus Course, THE MOST COMPLETE COURSE IN PRACTICAL MAGICK EVER RELEASED. Her friends are the Erinyes, winged creatures that punish bad behaviour, and her children are the Empusae, female demons that like to seduce travellers. Persephone was married to Hades and was the queen of the Underworld. Regula, deTraci. You may like to light incense such as the smoke of wormwood, cypress and lavender in these offerings. Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. She was specifically associated with witchcraft, magick, the Moon, Archways, and creatures of the night such as hell-hounds and ghosts. Like her Greek counterpart, she was also a goddess of domestic animals. They call her Aristaion or Night. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong. Selenite, tiger's eye, obsidian, rhodochrosite, jet, jasper, agate, and amber are the most suited crystals for Hecate. These three goddesses are also linked in the Mystery cults. Hecate: Goddess Symbols, Correspondences, Myth & Offerings The boundaries she oversaw were not limited to the physical world, though. She is the witness to every crime. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Hecate was also known as the queen or Goddess of the night. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. This could be because she sided with him during the 10-year battle between the Titans and the Olympians. This is especially ironic since, after this, she seems to have become more associated with the underworld, not less. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The best of the LearningMole geography tutorials. Hecate also has several temples where her shrine is worshipped. Both goddesses were usually shown with dogs by their sides, wearing hunting boots and carrying torches. Her tasks went beyond the heavens, the earth, the seas, and the Underworld. Several times, authors make a connection between Medeas use of magic, both harmful and protective, and her worship of Hecate. Her main jobs were to control boundaries, witchcraft, and the Underworld. The triple Hecate represented three aspects of a single goddess. The Tridevi The triad of goddesses in Hinduism often represents the three states of creation, preservation, and destruction. They are sometimes represented with the familiar aspects of the maiden, mother, and crone. Hecate's appearance is dark-haired and beautiful, but with an eerie edge to that beauty befitting a goddess of the night (though the actual goddess of the night is Nyx). Some later stories agreed that Asteria was her mother, but claimed Zeus had been her father. This myth led to goddess Hecate being depicted with torches in her hand. It even appears in Christianity, with the gospels placing three Marys at both the Crucifixion and Christs tomb. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents. She was also the goddess of the Oikos and the guardian of its entrances. In single form she appears on Greek vases and coins. She is often pictured holding keys because, as the goddess of boundaries, she held the power to open and close the doors to the realm of Hades. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. As a protector of the Oikos (home), like Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo, the goddess is usually shown holding a set of keys or torches, which she is said to have used to help or stop people from entering cities and homes. Hecate doesnt often appear in Greek art and writing until the 5th century BCE. It measured 21m x 28m and was built in the Corinthian order with 8 columns on its shorter sides and 11 columns on its longer sides. She is believed to visit the Underworld to help other gods and people who were outcasts due to fear. The Greek three-headed hound of Hades, Cerberus, may have been an earlier version of Hecate. She also assisted the gods in their war with the Gigantes, and slew Clytius.5, This extensive power possessed by Hecate was probably the reason that subsequently she was confounded and identified with several other divinities, and at length became a mystic goddess, to whom mysteries were celebrated in Samothrace6 and in Aegina.7 For being as it were the queen of all nature, we find her identified with Demeter, Rhea (Cybele or Brimo); being a huntress and the protector of youth, she is the same as Artemis (Curotrophos); and as a goddess of the moon, she is regarded as the mystic Persephone.8 She was further connected with the worship of other mystic divinities, such as the Cabeiri and Curetes,9 and also with Apollo and the Muses.10, The ground-work of the above-mentioned confusions and identifications, especially with Demeter and Persephone, is contained in the Homeric hymn to Demeter; for, according to this hymn, she was, besides Helios, the only divinity who, from her cave, observed the abduction of Persephone. In other Indo-European cultures, the three-part goddesses included: The archetype of the triple goddess is so common that its considered one of the fundamental aspects of Indo-European religion. Hecate was often shown as a single person wearing a long robe and holding burning torches. Hecate acted as a veil between the world of the mortals and the supernatural. Hecate - Wikipedia The goddess, on the other hand, usually has human heads. A further canine connection may be with theEgyptiangodAnubiswho guided souls to the underworld, and the Greek three-headed hound ofHades, Cerberus, may be an earlier form of Hecate. Hecate is usually thought to have originated in Thrace, a wild northern region of Greece that is also known for its tales of Amazons. Carole Raddato/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0. She is invoked for justice, especially for sexual crimes against women and girls. Quite often each face is different, one of a dog, one of a horse and one of a goddess. She was the only one among the Titans who retained this power under the rule of Zeus, and she was honored by all the immortal gods. Kidadl is supported by you, the reader. Etymology. A goddess of crossroads, magic, poison, and the undead, Hecate was also the daughter of the Titan Perses and the nymph Asteria, according to Hesiod. She could not undo the curse, but she made the polecat her sacred servant. In fact she seems to have started out as Heket, the Egyptian Goddess of Childbirth. Some scholars believe that Hecate was one such goddess. Hecate was a goddess in Greek Mythology. Posted by 7thphoenix | May 27, 2020 | Magick Articles | 0 |. Persis and Asteria, two Titans from the generation of deities prior to the Olympians, are the legendary parents of Hecate. But the version of Hecate that appears in Greek texts is not so straightforward. In a hymn to Hecate, Hesiod detailed the ways in which the goddess could both allow good fortune and deny it: Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgment, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. They spun the threads of fate at the base of. Women also prayed to her for fertility and the birth of female children. Picture of the Greek Underworld, the residence of Hecate. Hecate - Roman and Greek Gods and Goddesses Hecate. Nyx, the Primordial Goddess of the Night | Ancient Origins Wormwood and cypress are traditional herbs in spirit work and lavender brings a kind of protection to your workings without banishing all the spirits around you at the crossroads. Because she was associated with borders, gates, and doorways, Hecate took on a protective role. Most likely, the cults of Thessalian Pherai (Pherae) and Eleusis saw Hekate as Chthonian (Underworld) Hermess wife. But because these Anatolian cult sites were built later, other classicists say that the goddess could not have come from Anatolia. The chief Greek god, Zeus, was very fond of this Goddess and gave her a share of the earth and sea. As the Romans developed and constructed superior road systems, we started to see the emergence of choices and nowadays in modern. The daughter of Perses and Asteria (twin sister of Leto ), Hecate was a member of the third generation of Titans, but sided with Zeus and his siblings during the Titanomachy. Hecate - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help A: In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, in Act three, scene five, Hecate was shown to be angry with the witches as they excluded her from their meetings with Macbeth. Most of the ceremonies and festivals dedicated to this Goddess were often celebrated at night. Hecate - A mysterious nature goddess associated with sorcery and witchcraft, who went with Demeter to the Underworld to fetch Persephone, but then stayed to assist Persephone. Hecate | Facts, Information, and Mythology Hekat) is the feminine form of hekatos, an epithet of the god Apollo meaning "the one who works from afar."But the true etymology of the name is uncertain. They were often associated with the three stages of life youth, adulthood, and old age. They believed that by praising the goddess, the restless dead would be soothed and not deliver vengeance on the family. Hecate is defined by her powerful magic, being at ease with the night and darkness and in wild surroundings. Hecate was the principal goddess who had jurisdiction over enchantments and spells. 2 Beds. Although Hecate found Persephone, instead of rescuing her, she helped her settle into her new life as the bride of Hades. We hope you love our recommendations for products and services! It was said that she learned herbalism and spells from Hecate herself. She was often placed at the entrance of homes to help protect against the evil forces of the world. Hecate was weaved strongly into all these symbolisms of the crossroads and still does to her devotees. Moreover, the fact that Hecate had a Greek name does not necessarily mean that her cult originated in Greece (she more likely emerged from Caria in Asia Minor). As one of the deities capable of passing between realms, she had access to the secrets of the dead. Hecate has been referenced in various literary works, including the plays by Sophocles and Euripides. She convinced her daughter Eiliethyia, the goddess of childbirth, and the Moirai, the Fates, to prevent the birth. In 1929, an expert in religious cults noted that the Blackburn Cult or The Cult of the Great Eleven that was formed in the '20s was connected with Hecate worship and rituals. Hecate Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster Further, the home would be blessed and any wrong-doing by family members would be forgiven and the household purified. In revenge for the trick, Eileithyia turned Galinthias into a polecat. Even in descriptions of Medeas witchcraft, it is difficult to distinguish magical rituals from more standard worship and rites. The Carians were devoted to Hecate, and she was the primary deity worshipped in the town of Lagina. Mystifying Hecate Facts: The Greek Goddess Of Magic And Spells Hecate appears in many plays and poems as the personification of darkness, the moon, and magic. Archaeological items found in Lagina in Caria and Phrygia also point to the importance of this Goddess during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. A shrine to Hecate was placed at the entrances of homes or even cities, hoping to protect them from the evil spirits that roamed the world. Throughout history however, her sphere of influence also included the moon, night, crossroads, boundaries, ghosts and necromancy.Although Hecate was once considered to be a powerful Greek goddess of witchcraft, Hecate was not a major deity when compared, for instance, to the . $204,000 Last Sold Price. In fact, the earliest depictions of Hecate can only be differentiated from those of Artemis by inscriptions. The Egyptian fertility goddess Heqet was associated with magic, which the Egyptians called heqa. Home History Great Facts about Goddess Hecate. Look for her animals: snakes, dragons, cats, and especially dogs. Hecate | Sacred Wicca As the goddess of the night, witchcraft and sorcery, Hecate was very important to ancient Greeks, particularly to the famed author and scholar Hesiod. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1175; Scholiast on Theocritus, ii, 36. Authors from the past, like Ovid and Pausanias, say that dogs, especially black dogs, were given to the goddess as sacrifices. Hecate is portrayed in single form on sculptures of Myron and Naucydes. However, the queen killed the Thracian king when on her way to Greece. She was not portrayed as being loving towards children but as someone who took revenge against anyone that harmed children. Most of all, Hecate was a goddess of mystery. She acted as a sort of guardian because she watched over the places that allowed passage into homes, cities, or even states. However, she is believed to be protective of human beings. During the Romans, many of her traits belonged to the world of the dead. Though perhaps originally an indigenous woodland goddess, Diana early became identified with Artemis. The most popular theory is that the Carians in Asia Minor brought Hecate to Greece, where she became a part of their religion. Mythical Facts about Hecate Fact 1: Shrines to the goddess were placed at the doorways of homes and as protection from the dead and evil spirits. Hecate is the daughter of Perses and Asteria. The triple goddesses are often referred to as the Maiden, Mother (or Matron), and Crone. Hecate was variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, dogs, light, the moon, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. times its difficult to find a quite crossroads to perform workings except in remote areas. Her attributes, besides the torch, are the snake, whip, dagger, and sword. As early as the 5th century BC, the image of the hekataion was the standard way of showing the goddess in sculpture. And there is a good book titled Hekate liminal rites By David Rankine and Sorite DEsteyou should check out. Hecate is usually depicted with a burning torch in her hand and with a dog laying at her feet, its head raised. Hecate is remembered best not as a goddess of boundaries, but as a goddess of magic. There are few legends about Her, and no fixed genealogy. Her parentage was given differently by various writers. You then connect yourself to her through visualizing and forming a mental image of her presence, you then thank her and pray to her. The three-part goddess was able to keep watch in all directions, and became standard in both written and visual representations.