Deity Deep Dive: Hecate

Hecate, Hekate, however you spell it, or pronounce it, she is my Deity for this month. Oh boy did I choose a doozy… First off, no one can agree on anything with her. Was she a virgin Goddess? Who were her parents? Where is she from? No one seems to agree, and so this has become a more daunting project than I had initially anticipated… but here goes nothing! 

Hecate is the Goddess of many things, but most notably she is the Goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, and boundaries. People would put the little three figure statues (called Hekataion) in the entrance to homes or entire cities in hopes she would ward off evil and protect those within. They would also leave statues and offerings at crossroads to honor her. Because of her role in the myth with Persephone she was included in many of Demeter’s cults and worship as well. I could keep going into the archeological side of this for an entire post(for all Deities for that matter) but I’m not sure anyone else would truly be interested in that, but if anyone is let me know and I will go into more later, because it is fascinating to see how different Deities were more prevalent in different areas at different times.  

It’s most accepted that her parents are the Titans Perses (or Persaeus) and Asteria (meaning Starry [put a pin in this]). Others claim she’s a daughter of Zeus with Demeter, Asteria, Pharaea, or Hera. Personally, I think that just drives home the point of Zeus being a whore. There’s also mention of her being Leto or Tartarus’s daughter. The final potential parent is Nyx, but that could be a misunderstanding between “night” and “starry”, which is why it is most commonly said that Asteria is her mother. I’m going to stick with Perses and Asteria as her parents from here out, because except for the myth of Persephone’s abduction, and even there is minute, parentage doesn’t really come into play. 

During the Titanomachy Hecate sided with the Olympians and retained her power and status. It’s even said that Zeus paid her the highest respect. She also killed the giant Clytius in that war, but I really couldn’t find much else about her role there. The main thing she’s associated with is the abduction of Persephone. The people who think Zeus and Demeter are her parents say that Zeus sent Hecate out in search of Persephone, otherwise she’s said to have just been a witness. While working magic she saw the chariot come and when it left Persephone was gone, but she wasn’t sure who was taken by who until she heard Demeter calling for her daughter. With her torches Hecate led Demeter to the underworld in search and was witness to their reunion. Hecate chose to stay in the underworld with Persephone as a friend and attendant, and it gave her a place to comfortable practice her magic works, as she’d been in a cave prior to this. From then on, she was accepted as an underworld goddess. 

Hecate was considered a guardian to the underworld, and she was often shown with keys. It’s said that her keys could open the veil and that she helped guide people to their afterlife. A little bit of a fun fact here, I am huge into Kingdom Hearts, and this shouldn’t be relevant here but for those that don’t know the weapons in that game are called “keyblades”. Use your imagination, you’re probably right. So, I used to have the “Way to Dawn” keyblade as a keychain, and I used to wear it like a charm from my belt. Went into the only Pagan store in our area one day with it on and the shop keeper asked me if I was one of Hecate’s key maidens, to which I sadly dashed her excitement by telling her the truth, but it got me interested in Hecate all the same. I will say her being a guardian of the underworld sends some people to really weird places. I read that she is sometimes considered an earlier form of Cerberus. Does that mean she was the guard first? Or did she turn into a giant three headed dog? I didn’t care to look into that train of thought too deeply, because it gives me a headache. 

Hecate is closely associated with dogs, and usually has a dog (or two) with her. The association is with watchdogs protecting a home. The particular dog she is most often shown with is believed to be the transformed Queen Hecuba. When Troy fell and the queen was captured, she decided death was better than being stuck with Greeks. She jumped off a cliff and Hecate took pity on her, turned her into a dog, and kept her as a companion. Her other main companion was a polecat. If you’re like me you have no idea what a polecat is, but I did look it up. They’re related to ferrets, can be kept as pets, and are less stubborn than the average ferret. But polecats don’t like other pets in the house, and from the pictures they seem to be darker in color than ferrets. Hecate’s polecat is said to be Galinthias. Galinthias was the servant (or friend) who helped Alcmene birth Heracles. Hera asked the Moirai (Fates) and her daughter Eileithyia, Goddess of childbirth, to hinder Alcmene’s labor, thus letting the baby die. Galinthias tricked the Goddesses into thinking the baby was already born, and they stopped their interference long enough for Heracles to actually be born. As punishment she was turned into a polecat, which the Greeks thought of as dirty due to the “grotesque” way of mating (they thought polecats inseminated the ear and gave birth from the mouth?). Hecate, again, took pity and made the polecat one of her sacred animals, though it’s unclear apparently whether Galinthias went with Hecate or stayed with Alcmene as a pet. It’s also said that Hecate turned the witch Gale into a polecat. From the sounds of what I read it’s likely that Gale was the first polecat, and she was punished for “incontinence and abnormal (sexual?) desires.” I don’t know what that means. I can’t find what it means. I found one person who assumes Gale was one of Hecate’s priestesses, and that her “kinky” desires, mixed with possibly abusing her power is what set the Goddess off. But past that I couldn’t find anything else. 

It is undecided, like Hades, whether Hecate had children or not. Some think she is the mother to the Empusea, which are vampire like creatures that like to lure travelers to their deaths. They also obey Hecate. Whether it’s familial ties or something else, I’m not sure. Some also think Medea is a daughter of Hecate, she learned magic from the Goddess, and was also favored. Absyrtus(Aegialeus) is Madea’s brother (who she kills?), and of course he’s included in the list simply because his sister is (I assume, because there’s like nothing relevant about this potential listing). Circe apparently is also believed to be a daughter Hecate, but at this point I think they’re connecting any witch to the Goddess. They also say the sea monster Scylla (Skylla) was a child of Hecate, but everything is vague with her. 

Now comes some really interesting stuff that I found. Let’s start with her Roman aspect, Trivia. Trivia was the Goddess of witchcraft, and who haunted crossroads and graveyards. This also happened to be an epithet for Diana (Artemis). Likewise with the Greeks, Hecate is closely associated with Artemis and Selene (Moon Goddess). Some say Hecate was the darker side of Artemis that people separated when they started seeing the huntress as more pure, and light. One of Apollo’s epithets is Hecatos, and some believe the feminine Hecate is for his twin. 

So, here’s the rest of the little tidbits I found interesting in my research that I forgot to put in any semblance of a proper place; Hecate was said to be a companion to the Furies (those who tortured in Tartarus). Her offerings were given during the new moon. People saw her as a protectress of warriors, hunters, athletes, horseman, herdsman, shepherds, fisherman, and children. So basically, the entire working class, and kids. The oldest statue of her is called “Hekate Epipyrgidia”, and it guards Athen’s acropolis. She may have originated as local Carian sun Goddess. Caria was in Anatolia, which is most of modern day Turkey. There’s thought that Hecate could also be the Egyptian Goddess Heqet, who was associated with magic. 

So, there you have it. Hecate in all her mystery! I don’t work with her personally, but does anyone want to tell us more? Or correct anything I have wrong?