Hecate
Hecate is the ancient Greek Goddess of the Crossroads and the three-path guardian of the household protector of everything newly born, and the Goddess of Witchcraft. A powerful and beautiful Goddess, Hecate was the only one of the ancient TItans that was allowed by Zeus to keep an authority and power of giving humanity anything she wished (or withholding it if she pleased). She is one of the forms of the Moon Goddess, her kingdoms are three-fold: the earth, sea, and sky. SHe is a solitary Goddess and like Artemis, she is a ‘virgin’ unwilling to sacrifice her independency. Walking the roads at night or cemeteries during the dark phase of the moon, the Goddess Hecate with her torch is described as shining or luminous. Hecate is usually depicted with her sacred dogs, torch , and key.
Hecate and her animals were sometimes said to have three-heads allowing them to see in different directions. Although usually depicted as a beautiful woman having three human heads, some images are fearsome (one with a snake’s head, one with a horse’s, and the third a boar’s head.”
The ability to see in several directions at once (the past, present, and future) featured in myth of the abduction of Persephone. It was Hecate who ‘saw’ and told Demeter what had become of her daughter. She continued to play an important role in the life of Persephone, becoming her confidante when she was in the Underworld. Hades, thankful to their friendship, was more than hospitable; honoring Hecate as a prominent guest in his world. It plaid its effect of enhancing her reputation as a spirit of dark magic with the power to conjure up dreams, prophecies, and phantoms.
As ‘Queen of the NIght’ she was both honored and feared as the protectress of the outcast and also of the witches.
The Goddess Hecate was often accompanied on her travels by an owl, a symbol of wisdom.
Hecate’s ability to see in several directions at once and her attention to detail, combined with her extraordinary interest in that which is hidden and unknown gives her tremendous powers.
She knows what the rest of us don’t.
The Hecate’s devotees gave her and any friends that might be accompanying her a lot of honor, when darkness descended and they had their dinner, they would always leave some food outside as an offering to Hecate and her hounds.
Similarly, food was often left at the crossroads to honor Hecate, especially at junctions where three roads converged.
THe pole was erected at the intersection and three masks would be hung from it to pay homage to Hecate and to request her guidance in helping to choose the right direction.
Three-faced masks also adorned the entrances of many homes, honoring the Goddess Hecate, who could, of course, wield her influence over ‘the spirits that traveled the earth’ to keep them from entering the household.
The Goddess Hecate is also known as a protector of women, especially during childbirth. Not only was she called to ease the pains and progress of labor, but especially to protect and restore the health and growth of a child.
Hecate also played a role that in modern times is described as “hospice nurse”, helping the elderly and sick to make a smooth and painless passage into the next life and staying with them if need be in the otherworld to help prepare them for their eventual return to the earth in their next life.
Familiar with the process of death and dying as well as that of new birth and new life, the Goddess Hecate is wise in all of earth’s mysteries. The Great Goddess Hecate reminds us of the importance of change and transitions. She sometimes asks us to let go of what is familiar, safe, and secure and to travel to the scary places of the soul.
New beginnings, whether spiritual or mundane, aren’t always easy. But Hecate is there to support and show the way.
She loans her farsightedness for you to see what lies deeply forgotten or ever hidden, and helps you to make a choice and find your path. She shines her torch to guide you while you are in dreams or meditation.
Hecate teaches us to be just and to be tolerant of those who are different or less fortunate, yet she is hardly a ‘bleeding heart’, for Hecate dispenses justice blindly and equally.
Whether the Goddess Hecate visits us in waking hours or only while we sleep, she can lead us to see things differently (ourselves included) and help us find greater understanding of ourselves and others.
Although her name may mean “The Distant One”, Hecate is always close at hand in times of need helping us to release the old, familiar ways and find our way through new beginnings.
Hecate and her animals were sometimes said to have three-heads allowing them to see in different directions. Although usually depicted as a beautiful woman having three human heads, some images are fearsome (one with a snake’s head, one with a horse’s, and the third a boar’s head.”
The ability to see in several directions at once (the past, present, and future) featured in myth of the abduction of Persephone. It was Hecate who ‘saw’ and told Demeter what had become of her daughter. She continued to play an important role in the life of Persephone, becoming her confidante when she was in the Underworld. Hades, thankful to their friendship, was more than hospitable; honoring Hecate as a prominent guest in his world. It plaid its effect of enhancing her reputation as a spirit of dark magic with the power to conjure up dreams, prophecies, and phantoms.
As ‘Queen of the NIght’ she was both honored and feared as the protectress of the outcast and also of the witches.
The Goddess Hecate was often accompanied on her travels by an owl, a symbol of wisdom.
Hecate’s ability to see in several directions at once and her attention to detail, combined with her extraordinary interest in that which is hidden and unknown gives her tremendous powers.
She knows what the rest of us don’t.
The Hecate’s devotees gave her and any friends that might be accompanying her a lot of honor, when darkness descended and they had their dinner, they would always leave some food outside as an offering to Hecate and her hounds.
Similarly, food was often left at the crossroads to honor Hecate, especially at junctions where three roads converged.
THe pole was erected at the intersection and three masks would be hung from it to pay homage to Hecate and to request her guidance in helping to choose the right direction.
Three-faced masks also adorned the entrances of many homes, honoring the Goddess Hecate, who could, of course, wield her influence over ‘the spirits that traveled the earth’ to keep them from entering the household.
The Goddess Hecate is also known as a protector of women, especially during childbirth. Not only was she called to ease the pains and progress of labor, but especially to protect and restore the health and growth of a child.
Hecate also played a role that in modern times is described as “hospice nurse”, helping the elderly and sick to make a smooth and painless passage into the next life and staying with them if need be in the otherworld to help prepare them for their eventual return to the earth in their next life.
Familiar with the process of death and dying as well as that of new birth and new life, the Goddess Hecate is wise in all of earth’s mysteries. The Great Goddess Hecate reminds us of the importance of change and transitions. She sometimes asks us to let go of what is familiar, safe, and secure and to travel to the scary places of the soul.
New beginnings, whether spiritual or mundane, aren’t always easy. But Hecate is there to support and show the way.
She loans her farsightedness for you to see what lies deeply forgotten or ever hidden, and helps you to make a choice and find your path. She shines her torch to guide you while you are in dreams or meditation.
Hecate teaches us to be just and to be tolerant of those who are different or less fortunate, yet she is hardly a ‘bleeding heart’, for Hecate dispenses justice blindly and equally.
Whether the Goddess Hecate visits us in waking hours or only while we sleep, she can lead us to see things differently (ourselves included) and help us find greater understanding of ourselves and others.
Although her name may mean “The Distant One”, Hecate is always close at hand in times of need helping us to release the old, familiar ways and find our way through new beginnings.
Call of Justice to the Dark Goddess
items needed:
blessing oil with drop of your blood added altar cover with pentacle drawn with your blessing/blood sage smudge stick red candle
Set up and smudge altar to the right of Goddess altar. Always work this spell inside of your sacred circle as altar of self. Place red candle as representation of self in the center of pentagram.
I call on you, the Dark Mothers of the Night! Hear me and come to me. You who are Hecate, Crone of Magick; you who are Persephone, raped and despoiled; you who are Kali-Ma, the Mother of Destruction ... hear me. Erinyes, black maidens of vengeance. Adsagsona, she who seeks out, I call to thee.
The violation against me cries out. I have been __ by one who escapes justice. Dark Mothers, I invoke you, turn your eyes to this abuser and bring __ to justice. Let __ not hide from your eyes, let __ be exposed for all to see and let ___ wrongful deeds be known to all. I ask, Dark Mother, that you take ___ into your realm and show no mercy, as ____ has shown no shame.
Persephone, you have undergone pain and grown strong. I ask that you protect me in your arms and be the Magick Mirror that reflects ____ violation back. Give me the strength and inner will to overcome the injustice and negativity that is directed towards me.
Dark Mothers I ask that you act, according to the law of three or your own wills as you see fit.
I am _____ . I am a priestess of my Goddess. This is my bidding and these are my words. May this spell not reverse, or place upon me any curse. So mote it be.
blessing oil with drop of your blood added altar cover with pentacle drawn with your blessing/blood sage smudge stick red candle
Set up and smudge altar to the right of Goddess altar. Always work this spell inside of your sacred circle as altar of self. Place red candle as representation of self in the center of pentagram.
I call on you, the Dark Mothers of the Night! Hear me and come to me. You who are Hecate, Crone of Magick; you who are Persephone, raped and despoiled; you who are Kali-Ma, the Mother of Destruction ... hear me. Erinyes, black maidens of vengeance. Adsagsona, she who seeks out, I call to thee.
The violation against me cries out. I have been __ by one who escapes justice. Dark Mothers, I invoke you, turn your eyes to this abuser and bring __ to justice. Let __ not hide from your eyes, let __ be exposed for all to see and let ___ wrongful deeds be known to all. I ask, Dark Mother, that you take ___ into your realm and show no mercy, as ____ has shown no shame.
Persephone, you have undergone pain and grown strong. I ask that you protect me in your arms and be the Magick Mirror that reflects ____ violation back. Give me the strength and inner will to overcome the injustice and negativity that is directed towards me.
Dark Mothers I ask that you act, according to the law of three or your own wills as you see fit.
I am _____ . I am a priestess of my Goddess. This is my bidding and these are my words. May this spell not reverse, or place upon me any curse. So mote it be.
Hecate Ritual: Banish Negativity
In this ritual you will be calling on Hecate in Her Crone aspect. It is performed during the Dark of the Moon. Some people are fearful of working with the Dark Moon and the Crone, but She is the wise protector who will take your negativity and transform it in her cauldron of change. Begin by setting up your altar as you normally do for ritual, making sure you have a black candle and wine or water in your chalice in addition to anything else you use. You will also need cleansing, purifying incense and a censer or some kind of container, which can be carried, around your home. (I use a large shell to hold smoldering charcoal, or stick incense.) It is best to set your altar on the floor for this rite, but you may do it however you feel most comfortable.
Cast your circle as you normally do. When you are through, kneel before your altar and light the black candle. With your arms held, palms upward, at your sides, call Hecate by saying three times:
Hecate, beautiful Crone of Night
I call you here to put things right.
Transform the negative thought and pain
And help my life be whole again.
Close your eyes. When you feel the presence of Hecate and know she is there to help you, open your eyes. Bow your head to her to show your reverence, then take the chalice, saying:
Lady of the Dark Moon,
Share with me this wine.
Bring your protection to
Flood this life of mine.
May the waters of your eternal womb
Bring change most divine.
Sip a small amount of the wine (or water), envisioning it as liquid energy, flowing to effect a positive change within and outside of you. Leave the rest as an offering to Hecate. Light the purifying incense in the censer, cut a door in the Circle, and, beginning in the eastern-most corner of your home, smudge your home, going counter-clockwise. Go into every closet, the bathroom, and the garage – make sure your entire house is smudged. As you go, chant:
Negativity be gone.
Come back into the Circle and visualize your entire house and yard bathed in a peaceful blue light. Since you have created a void by banishing the negativity, you will need to fill that void. Now going deosil (clock-wise), re-trace your steps through the house, asking that good, protective spirits come into your home and that positive energies replace the negative ones that have just been banished. This is an important step, because if you don’t fill the void with something good, the negativity will come right back. Sometimes during such a ritual, I take one large and one small black stone and charge them to keep away negativity. I promise Hecate that the large one will remain in a prominent place in my house and that I will keep the small one with me at all times.
Thank Hecate. Meditate if you wish, visualizing your life free from negative happenings and feelings and full of love, prosperity, and happiness. Feel how She has changed your home and your life. Close the Circle and know that it is done.
Cast your circle as you normally do. When you are through, kneel before your altar and light the black candle. With your arms held, palms upward, at your sides, call Hecate by saying three times:
Hecate, beautiful Crone of Night
I call you here to put things right.
Transform the negative thought and pain
And help my life be whole again.
Close your eyes. When you feel the presence of Hecate and know she is there to help you, open your eyes. Bow your head to her to show your reverence, then take the chalice, saying:
Lady of the Dark Moon,
Share with me this wine.
Bring your protection to
Flood this life of mine.
May the waters of your eternal womb
Bring change most divine.
Sip a small amount of the wine (or water), envisioning it as liquid energy, flowing to effect a positive change within and outside of you. Leave the rest as an offering to Hecate. Light the purifying incense in the censer, cut a door in the Circle, and, beginning in the eastern-most corner of your home, smudge your home, going counter-clockwise. Go into every closet, the bathroom, and the garage – make sure your entire house is smudged. As you go, chant:
Negativity be gone.
Come back into the Circle and visualize your entire house and yard bathed in a peaceful blue light. Since you have created a void by banishing the negativity, you will need to fill that void. Now going deosil (clock-wise), re-trace your steps through the house, asking that good, protective spirits come into your home and that positive energies replace the negative ones that have just been banished. This is an important step, because if you don’t fill the void with something good, the negativity will come right back. Sometimes during such a ritual, I take one large and one small black stone and charge them to keep away negativity. I promise Hecate that the large one will remain in a prominent place in my house and that I will keep the small one with me at all times.
Thank Hecate. Meditate if you wish, visualizing your life free from negative happenings and feelings and full of love, prosperity, and happiness. Feel how She has changed your home and your life. Close the Circle and know that it is done.
Self-Dedication to Hecate
“Lady bourne of night, I call upon you to witness this rite.
Lady of the torch, snake, hound, and moon, I call upon you.
Enter at my behest, and allow me to leave blessed.
Mother of witches,
Maiden,
Mother,
Crone,
You shall reap what I have sewn.
Witness my dedication to your service.
Hecate, I dedicate myself to you and your purpose.
MInd,
Body,
and Soul,
I am your daughter,
and remain come hell or highwater."
Lady of the torch, snake, hound, and moon, I call upon you.
Enter at my behest, and allow me to leave blessed.
Mother of witches,
Maiden,
Mother,
Crone,
You shall reap what I have sewn.
Witness my dedication to your service.
Hecate, I dedicate myself to you and your purpose.
MInd,
Body,
and Soul,
I am your daughter,
and remain come hell or highwater."