Deipnon,ceremonial tools and incense

 

In the nights of the dark moon I focus on Hekate aspects as chthonic Goddess. The queen of the night, who walks with the shades of the dead through the crossroads, the mistress of graveyards, queen of witches, protectress against evil and Goddess of crossroads.

 

She is dark but protecting, in her protecting aspects she can be fearsome- like a guardian dog, friendly towards the households but aggressive against enemies. In the nights of the dark moon the spirits wander, the veils between the worlds are thinner. Hekate is protecting the homes of her followers against negative spirits and harmful influences. But at the same time she is the mistress of spirits. She is queen of the witches and the protectress against malefic witchcraft as well.

 

The nights of the dark moon are usually busy times for me, in my devotion to Hekate and for my witchcraft and magical practices as well. Yesterday I have consecrated my ritual tools again. They were already consecrated years and months ago- each tool when I got it and brought it to my collection. My ritual tools for the ceremonial magic are quite different than most of the ritual tools of witches that I know. I use a sharp kitchen knife to cut herbs, to ward off negative spirits, to work for protection, I use a whip for apotropaic practices and if it is needed for banishing, I use a wand made from yew wood- to call the Goddess or other Gods/Goddesses, to create circles, to bless for invocations and evocations (I think that’s the tool that I have in common with most witches). I use a cord for trance work. And bowls and the oinochoe for sacred water and offerings. These are my basic ritual tools in my ceremonial worship of Hekate- as well as the bowls for incense (sky), blossoms (earth) and water (sea). As well as my drum and the divination tools.

 

And today I gave Hekate her Deipnon offerings, in antiquity this meal was used to calm the restless dead. In my personal practice I give this meal to Hekate and all the spirits that are benign- in my home and around me. And afterwards I bring it to a crossroad that also the restless dead have their share of it.

And I created incense for the cleansing of the home during the dark moon. I used cypress needles, cumin, poplar buds, bay leaves, pine resin, rosemary, juniper berries and essential oils of bergamot, cedar and Indian lemon balm. I charged the mixture after my Deipnon rite and will use it in my household cleansing practices that I do on the dark moon each month.

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Dark Moon- time to create Witches Salt

Before I celebrated the Deipnon on the last dark moon. I created Witches Salt. It is inspired by the Hoodoo formula Black Salt. I used wormwood black pepper garlic and salt to create the formula. I use it for protection, banishing and curses. I called on Hekate in her darker emanations. As queen of witchcraft, mistress of spirits, Goddess of nightly crossroads and graveyards. I called the spirits of the herbs to aid me and called the restless spirits to aid me too. I petitioned Hekate Chtonia to strengthen the spell while I burned the herbs to ashes and mixed this with the salt. And charged the Witches Salt formulated it’s purpose and breathed life into the formula.

Nightly Crossroads Shrine

We had a wolderful dusk this evening and after the night got more powerful and brought her veil of starlight, darkness and moonshine over the landscape. I walked with our dog up the hill to visit the crossroad shrine (you can read something about the shrine and how it came into being in one of the issues of Askei Kataskei). The first pictures shows the way that leads from the village to the hill.

The Todtenberg (hill of the dead) was once a pagan cult place- after christianisation it evolved into the gallows hill of the local villages. Today there is a small wood with a beautiful crossroad where i created a small shrine to Hekate. On my way to the shrine the moon weaved her spell over the hill. Even when she just appeared through the twigs of the poplar trees.

Hekates crossroad in the small wood on the hill, threefold crossroads were places in antiquity that were strongly linked to Hekate. In many magical practices of different cultrues threefold crossroads are still very important…

The chtonic crossroads shrine- from this point of the place, the shrine faces towards the intersection of the crossroad…

I prayed to the Goddess on her shrine, connected myself to her energy, her power, her presence- asked her to bless the crossroad and to bring her blessings and protection over the place- and to the spirits, animals and people that cross this place on their walks and journeys…

I circled three times through the crossroad, chanting her epithets- Triformis Trioditis Trimorphos… thanked her for her blessings. And walked with our dog back towards the village… and we both heared the barking of dogs in the distance…

Blessing of new statue and symbolism of the altar(tools).

On Thursday I have cleansed and blessed my new three-formed Hekate statue. And posted pictures of the rite on some Hekate related discussion groups on Facebook. I was asked about the symbolism of the tools on the altar.

 

In general:

I have several shrines in the temple room. One main shrine for Hekate with an ensouled statue. A witchcraft connected shrine (that is more focused on the symbolism of Traditional Witchcraft).

In the middle of the temple room is the working altar- the focus of magical rites, the working space and the centre of group rituals in the temple room. The set up of this altar changes with my intentions, goals or for the rites that are performed.

 

Earth, sea and sky:

Hekate has dominion over the three realms- earth, sea and sky. I personal don’t see this symbolism so much connected to the elements- but more as the three physical realms. Earth is here the land, the ground under your feet. Sea is the realm of the oceans- but for me all the water in the clouds and the falling rain, too. All waters on earth are connected somehow with each other. The sea is mediating between earth and sky. The water from the sea goes up into the sky as fog- travels through the sky as clouds, falls again down to the earth. Mixes with the water of the rivers and flows back one day into the sea.

 

Sky is for me the physical sky- not so much a spiritual heaven (and sure Hekate is connected to the spiritual heaven and underworld, too), but in the symbolism of the three realms it is more about the physical earth, sky and sea. These realms are embodied through the three bowls on the altar. One with incense, one with herbs and salt, one with water. They are arranged in a triangle around the Hekate-Pillar.

I used the symbolism of the three realms as main focus of the altar set up.

 

Statue and pillar:

In the middle of the altar is a column- for me this is the symbol of the world tree and the Axis Mundi. It is the sacred pillar around which the three depictions of Hekate were erected as Hekateion. Around the pillar three Gorgons are arranged like the figures of Hekate in the Hekateia of the past. Hekate was described with snake hair too in ancient sources. So for me the Gorgons are fitting as symbols of Hekate. They are embodiment of Hekates apotropaic (averting of evil) aspects- the three-formed snake haired Hekate protects the thresholds between the worlds, she protects the axis mundi of the temple room (from my personal symbolism). On top of the pillar is the statue of the three-formed Hekate as central focus of the altar (and the temple room in general). Around the pillar are three blessed candles. They symbolise the divine fire of the Goddess, her sacred torches- the light of the divine.

 

Elements:

The corners of the altar are connected to the four elements. Air in the east (raven feathers), fire in the south (the candle holder), water in the oinochoe in the west, snake skin and pomegranates for earth in the north. For me the elements are etheric energies that create the physical reality. The material manifestations of the elements- are symbols for the elements- not the element itself (so in my personal understanding the element earth is not the physical earth- but the physical earth is created from the element earth- and the energy of the element earth flows through the material physical earth. The burning candle is not the element fire- but the element fire flows through the material flame. But that is my personal understanding of the elements.

 

Tools:

Wand- I use the wand to bless, to direct energy and to call spirits and Gods/esses.

Dagger- not a Athame. I use it as ceremonial knife, to cut things, harvest herbs, to banish negative energies or spirits. It symbolises Hekates dagger for me. In antiquity daggers were used to protect against spirits or to control them.

Oinochoe and libation bowl: I use the oinochoe to give liquid offerings into the libation bowl. Both are very old symbols of Hekate. And are next to the torch the most common symbols of her in ancient statues and depictions.

The whip-I use it for protective workings, to banish negative spirits or energies, when force and control are needed. It is Hekates whip. Whips were use in antiquity to control spirits.

Skull- the human skull (not a real one) is a symbol for the ancestors and the connection to the realms of Hades. In necromantic workings I use it as focus point for the spirits.

Iron key- before the skull is large iron key. It is a symbol of the key to Hades.

Animal skulls- the animal skulls are spirit vessels, they create a focus point for spirits in general. The human skull is more used for the spirits of the dead as focus.

Triangle of manifestation:

I used the artwork from this blog: magickfromscratch.com

It is under the surface of the shrine- direct under the Hekate-Pillar.

During the dark months I practised a lot spirit work (necromancy). So the altar had a strong focus on that theme. Now where the days get lighter again- the symbolism of the altar will get a different focus again, too.

 

 

First blossoms for the Goddess…

So far we have a very mild winter here in Germany (and i really like that). Today temperature it is over 10 Grad Celsius outside. Some of the bushes that gets flowers early in the year (usually here in end of february) have already opened their blossomes. I did a long walk in the morning and collected some of the blossoms. So i was able to adore the statue of the Goddess with the first blossoms of this year.