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She was also bound to other goddesses in a closely-linked trio. This is a reminder of her role as a goddess of the night, a guardian of the gates to Hades, and a goddess of boundaries. She was a goddess of magic and the underworld, but she was also a protector of the home and a guardian of borders. In single form she appears on Greek vases and coins. A shrine to this Goddess was built at the entrance of homes and cities as she was believed to keep evil spirits away. A: In Greek mythology, Hecate was the Goddess of witchcraft and magic. The goddess Hecate had unusual rituals performed in her honour, which include the offerings of food given at crossroads, road junctions, and any other sort of boundary or threshold known as the supper of Hecate. She is believed to visit the Underworld to help other gods and people who were outcasts due to fear. Most of all, Hecate was a goddess of mystery. At doorways and crossroads, pillars of the goddess Hecate, who held a torch, stood. The conflicting origins of Hecate were only the beginning of what made this goddess so mysterious. Hecate's powers transcended the boundaries of the sky, the earth, the seas, and the underworld. There is evidence that this may have been the case with Hecate. HEKATE (Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. It is unclear why this change took place. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. Her main jobs were to control boundaries, witchcraft, and the Underworld. The Carians were devoted to Hecate, and she was the primary deity worshipped in the town of Lagina. 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. Dogs also howl at the Moon, so this could be a link. The Lampades are people who carry torches and travel with the goddess at night. Hesiod, for example, seemed to hold in in high regard and makes no mention of this darker association. Some lexicographers, experts that study the origins of language, believe that the word hag and hex, which means witch, is derived from the word Hecate. She was often placed at the entrance of homes to help protect against the evil forces of the world. This was a group started by May Otis Blackburn in Los Angeles, California. You may request to banish harm from you and to protect you and your loved ones. Hecate was often shown as a single person wearing a long robe and holding burning torches. She is not a typical one-dimensional goddess but lives on many different levels. She was both a product of the Titans and an honored member of Zeuss court at Olympus. Originally she seems to have been an extremely powerful and benevolent goddess, identified with three other goddessesSelene (in heaven), Artemis (on earth), and Persephone (in the underworld). Polecats hid in dirty holes and, it was believed by the Greeks, had a grotesque and unnatural way of mating. The goddess was given gifts every month on the night of a new moon. For even now, whenever any human on the earth seeks to regain the favor or goodwill by performing fine sacrifices according to custom, he invokes Hecate; and much honor very easily stays with that man whose prayers the goddess accepts with gladness, and she bestows happiness upon him. It is believed that Hecate represented witchcraft, magic and ghosts. She's also the Queen of Witches. Some later stories agreed that Asteria was her mother, but claimed Zeus had been her father. To learn more about other Goddesses and exciting information, keep visiting on LearningMole. Medeas magic was often described as having to do with necromancy, sleep, and the night. Even Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods, is said to have reverenced her, and there are hints that she was considered to be an all-powerful goddess. Her priests are normally accompanied by hell hounds sent by their goddess to guard her temples. Greeks focused worship on the more protective aspects of Artemis, goddess that existed on the edges of the Greek, The Norns These three goddesses were the Norse equivalent of the Moirai. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Some say that Hecate is the daughter of Erebus and Nyx, ageless Goddess of the night, while others believe that She is one of the Furies or the last surviving Titan except for Zeus. Hecate is petitioned for fertility, especially for female children. Many of the traditional offerings to Hecate- are: milk, honey, oil, cakes, cheese, bloody meat, eggs, onions, garlic. Numerous smaller sculptures of Hecate remain in which the goddess appears as three separate women, wearing chitons, with the backs pressed against a pillar. They spun the threads of fate at the base of. Offerings to this Goddess were also made during the night of the new moon. Hecate was sometimes seen as a Titan, like her parents, and in the battle between the Titans and the Greek gods led by Zeus, she helped Zeus and so was not banished to the underworld with the rest of them. Another option was a dish of red mullet, which was usually not allowed to be given to other gods. She can be a shadowy, oblique goddess: her response may be subtle. Hecate carrying a torch is a common way to show this myth in art. The cave and the dawn are both thresholds- liminal times, thresholds between the earth and the underworld and night and day. Hecate helps or protects warriors, athletes, hunters, horsemen, herders, shepherds, fishermen, and children. By the 2nd century AD, a story had developed around Galinthias, a daughter of Proteus and friend of Alcmene. She rules wisdom, choices, expiation, victory, vengeance, and travel. EFFECTIVE MAGICK AND ALPHA STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, Seventh Phoenix MY Amazing STORY,My Journey, REAL LIFE Curses That STUNNED THEIR VICTIMS, HOW THE ALPHA FREQUENCY POWER-CHARGES YOUR MAGICK, Protection Magick Mastery Course #1 Best Rated. But Hecate is not the evil hag that popular legend suggests. She is also associated with the moon and is sometimes depicted as having three faces which symbolize the waxing, waning, and full moon phases. The beginnings of Hecates worship are shrouded in mystery. She is also mentioned in Aeneid, a play by Virgil where she guides one of the characters, Sibyl, in the Underworld. The facts about Hecate provides a list detailing fascinating additional info to increase your knowledge about Hecate in Greek Mythology. 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. Historian Robert Graves notes that the heads could be distinctive of a dog, lion and horse, representing the constellations which cover the calendar year. Even though there arent many myths about the goddess Hecate, the ones that do exist tell us a lot about where she has power. During the time of the Romans, Hecate was often combined with the gods Artemis and Selene, especially in Roman poetry. When the marriage of Persephone was finalized and she became the queen of the underworld, the bond between the three goddesses was strengthened. HEKATE (Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. Hecate, however, took pity on Galinthias. According to the Greek writer Hesiod*, Hecate was the daughter of the Titan* Perses and the nymph Asteria. As these stories were passed on, though, they often changed. She is depicted on the altar of Pergamon with one body and three heads (ca. As a result, the goddess of magic remained a major deity in regulating evil spirits in the Underworld. 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. Hecate is defined by her powerful magic, being at ease with the night and darkness and in wild surroundings. Her association with dark magic is also tied to her identification as an underworld goddess. Hecate took pity on her, though, and brought her back to life as a dog to be her companion. Thus, pillars called Hecataea stood at crossroads and doorways, perhaps to keep away evil spirits. She is sometimes depicted as being accompanied by dogs or hounds and ghosts. The Greek form is hekatos, which means "who works from afar," a probable reference to her magic powers, but it may also distantly reference her possible origins in Egypt. She is often displayed holding two torches or a key. "Hecate: Greece's Dark Goddess of the Crossroads." Hecate was the principal goddess who had jurisdiction over enchantments and spells. Nearby Recently Sold Homes. It is believed that Zeus, the king of the gods, asked Hecate to help find Persephone after Hades kidnapped her. In ancient times the crossroads didnt have our modern symbolism as a place of choices. Hectate is derived from the Greek word 'hekatos,' which 'means worker from afar.' The moon goddess and the huntress were often linked, and it is believed by some that as Greeks focused worship on the more protective aspects of Artemis they shifted her darker characteristics to Hecate. This is how she came to command the earth, bliss, and sea. Esoteric writing from this time says that Hecate has the heads of a horse, a dog, and a snake. 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. Hecate is invoked when justice is not forthcoming from other channels. The iconography had not yet come to include her usual attributes, such as her keys and torches or her three aspects. Child of Perses and Asteria, she was the only Titan to retain her control under Zeus' reign. Both goddesses were usually shown with dogs by their sides, wearing hunting boots and carrying torches. People believed that by honoring and praying to this Goddess, their homes would be preserved from the vengeance of the dead. She witnessed the abduction of Demeters daughter Persephone to the underworld and, torch in hand, assisted in the search for her. Hecate is a Goddess shrouded in mystery, for there is continuing debate about Her name, origin and character. This was all about Hecate, a goddess in ancient Greek religion. Apollonius of Rhodes says that the sound of dogs barking from the Underworld can be heard when Hecate is nearby. Eventually, this came to include the boundary between the natural and the supernatural, making her a goddess of magic. Greece itself worshipped many trios of goddesses or goddesses with three forms that fit this archetype. On the other hand, Euripides says that Leto is her mother. As a protective goddess, it was common for statuettes of Hecate to be placed in the doorways of homes in Greece in the hopes that she would intervene to prevent bad fortune from passing in. Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft and was specifically known for her herbal knowledge. The various statues have also raised questions as to her duties. Her attributes, besides the torch, are the snake, whip, dagger, and sword. People used to believe that dogs would eat the dead if they werent buried. Updates? In Ancient Greek religion, Hecate had a wide range of godly tasks. It was said that she learned herbalism and spells from Hecate herself. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Home History Great Facts about Goddess Hecate. Quite often warriors worshipped the goddess Hecate just as readily. Greek pantheon was once much smaller than we know. Major temple shrines to Hecate were in the regions of Phrygia and Caria. Hecate. IT WAS A COMMON PRACTICE TO PLACE IMAGES OF HECATE ATCITYGATES & THE DOORWAYS OF PRIVATE HOMES AS SHE COULD WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS. Eating crunchy while enjoying a good movie or your favourite video game is a blessing. Hesiod goes on to say that the goddess supports warriors, athletes, hunters, horsemen, herdsmen, shepherds, fishermen, and children. Long before Hesiod and Homer began writing their poetry, the stories of the gods were passed on through oral tradition. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. To the Greeks this meant not only the moment at which the soul crossed between those to states, but also to a literal place. Her parentage was given differently by various writers. Her name has been connected to dark magic and disturbing rituals in the works of Shakespeare and well into modern times. 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. The earliest archaeological evidence that has been found that proved that this deity was important and worshipped by the people was the circular altar that was used in the 6th century BCE for sacrifices to her. She was specifically associated with witchcraft, magick, the Moon, Archways, and creatures of the night such as hell-hounds and ghosts. She convinced her daughter Eiliethyia, the goddess of childbirth, and the Moirai, the Fates, to prevent the birth. My name is Mike and for as long as I can remember (too long!) Hecate rules over the night, magic, and places where three roads meet. Her companions are known to punish wrong doing and criminals. In Rome, a similar goddess, Vesta, ruled over the group of priestesses called the Vestal Virgins whose duty it was to keep the sacred fire perpetually lit. Hecate was a goddess of boundaries and in between spaces. Hecate the goddess of Greek mythology has been primarily remembered for her associations with magic and witchcraft. The ancient Greeks thought of her as a Greek goddess, not someone from another country. Even in descriptions of Medeas witchcraft, it is difficult to distinguish magical rituals from more standard worship and rites. The most popular theory is that the Carians in Asia Minor brought Hecate to Greece, where she became a part of their religion. Symbols of Hecate are her place, the crossroads, two torches, and black dogs. It is unclear exactly when Hecate became so closely linked with magic and witchcraft. Article created on Monday, March 3, 1997. 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. During ancient times the place where roads met or at crossroads, a pole with three masks was erected. 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 . In Ancient Greece, this Goddess was honored in most homes as she was considered to bring prosperity.