We celebrated the Rite Of Her Sacred Fires with 5 devotees, outside during a thunderstorm. The air was filled with power an the Goddess spoke through her oracular Priestess. The most important message that we remembered was: Never forget- you are the ritual.
Some months ago I had to leave my house (through my divorce) and moved from my village into a small town (30 km away from my old village). Through my move into the new area, I had to leave behind my crossroad shrine. I cared for this shrine for several years and the crossroad was on a very special place. The hill on which I created the shrine was on an old Germanic cult place and after Christianisation this place was used as gallows hill until the 19th century. You can see a picture of this shrine as first picture in this article.
In my house I had a separated ritual room, which I used for the group ceremonies of the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia, now I live in a 2 room flat. And to organise open group rituals in this flat is a challenge. So I searched for a place in which I could organise the sanctuary rituals outdoors.
I did long walks in my area and explored the forests and hills, the nature here is beautiful and the forests are deep, but I have not found a place that really draw me to erect there a ritual place. The same was true for the crossroads. Crossroads are everywhere and I looked for a crossroad that I could use for my Deipnon practices. Over the years I preferred crossroads that were outside of the villages I lived. When I began to honour Hekate as teenager, I began to use a small crossroad outside of the village on a small hill; the crossroad was nothing special, just a Y shaped intersection. But I felt the presence of Hekate there strongly and got signs on this place after I gave her offerings and did rituals on this place. I used this crossroad until I was 26 (and began to use it when I was 14 years old) so I used this spot for a long time. When my ex-husband and I bought our house in another village I had to leave this crossroad and found the crossroad that I spoke about already. I used this crossroad for 6 years and on this crossroad I felt Hekate much stronger than on the other crossroad. It felt like Hekate inhabited the complete hill and that the spirits were all around me, watching me and consuming the energy of the offerings. The hill felt alive and full of spirits and entities and after the rites I often heard dogs barking down in the village or owls screaming in the night.
Here in my new area I used several crossroads for my Hekate worship and the Deipnon practices in the last months. But no crossroad spoke to me, no signs, no barking of dogs in the night, no feeling of Hekate inhabiting the crossroad- everything felt disconnected for me. So as I have said crossroads are everywhere, but are not all crossroads the same? Are some crossroads more special than other ones? Or am I just petted that I had used this very special crossroads for so many years that normal crossroads are nothing special anymore? I don´t know. So I began to leave the offerings of my rites on the local cemetery and here I felt more connection again and felt the spirits around me interacting with the offerings again- this completely was missing on the crossroads that I used here in my rites.
Some weeks ago I found a hill in my area, called the Heiliger Berg (holy hill) and I explored this hill. There is a pagan ring wall and the remains of an old church (build in the 10th century and it was given up in the 17th century). I went several times to this hill, did walks through the woods and gave offerings to the nymphs and local spirits of the place. Through coincidence I found a very beautiful old quarry while I walked with my partner and my dogs through the forest. This place feels like a forsaken old temple, overgrown with honeysuckle, that builds a natural roof over the quarry. In the quarry there was already a stone pile that looked like an altar.
On the winter solstice I celebrated a ritual for Hekate in this place and used the stone pile as altar for her, when I gave her honey as offering, crows all around me began to scream and wind blew through the quarry that was wind still before. I plan to build a shrine for Hekate in this place and my partner already helped me to set up a huge rock and I will add more stones around this rock on my coming visits. I will use this place for the rituals of the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia and will start to organise open seasonal rituals throughout the coming year. Maybe a modern grove sanctuary will evolve out of this place with time- like the sacred grove of Hekate in Colchis or her sacred grove on the Avernean Lake at Cumae (the grove where the oracular priestess of Hekate opened the door to Hades for the hero Aeneas).
In Antiquity many Gods and Goddess were worshipped in sacred groves, these were special groves in which shrines and altars of the Deities were present and the cults were celebrated with rites and offerings. Sacred groves were common in ancient Greece, the roman Imperium and also very common as sacred places of the Germanic and Celtic regions. One of the most famous grove sanctuaries was the sacred grove of Diana Nemorensis near Rome. In this sacred grove Diana Trivia was worshipped and Hekate was connected to this place as well (maybe through syncretism). I think in modern paganism it would be a quite good way of worship, to dedicate shrines and altars for Gods and Goddesses and the local nymphs and spirits in the woods and forests, so that new sacred forests will grow and evolve with time. Sure the question is how these shrines and altars will be accepted if the groves are not private property. But I will see how this will evolve with the Hekate shrine in the forests of the Heiligen Berg in my area.
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.
Hearth Shrine
Hekate is a Goddess that is honoured today in very diverse traditions and on very different quite individual paths. She has followers that come more from a hellenic background, devotees that come from different paths of wicca, some from ceremonial magick and quite a lot from traditional witchcraft and a lot of her devotees follow a quite individual path today.
These different forms of worship and different backgrounds of her modern devotees create quite different views of Hekate. And the same was true in antiquity too, there was never one true form of Hekate or her worship, she was viewed and worshipped in quite different forms and ways from location to location and this changed over time too in general. There were even different phases in her ancient view and cults in general. In the archaic time period she was a primordial Magna Mater, in classical and hellenic time she evolved into a Goddess of transitions, liminality, crossroads, spirits and magic. In the roman period her lunar side got quite popular and in late antiquity she was seen as a great Goddess again, as mistress of the cosmos and the ensouler of the world(s). Her worship came into different cultures and some scholars have the theory that even the Greeks of the archaic time period adopted her (maybe from Asia Minor).
Hekate was honoured in diverse forms and today she can be honoured in different ways or forms too. With this article I will try to create a red thread to understand different of her devotion better in their essence. And I will speak a little bit about my personal different ways of devotion.
When I speak about devotion or worship in this article- I mean the practices cult of the Goddess. To maintain a shrine, to give her regular offerings, to spend some time regular in meditation, prayers and libations. All these forms of worship strengthen the connection between the Goddess and her worshippers. These practices bring the presence of the Goddess towards you and her blessings, guidance and protection.
Household Worship:
In antiquity Hekate was an important Goddess of the household cults.
And for many devotees today this part of her worship is quite important.
Hekate can be a protector against negative influences, she can keep negative spirits away from the home and from the people who live there. And she can bring good spirits into the home of her worshippers and is able to connect the household to the ancestral spirits and their blessings, support and protection. She can act as an mediator between the worlds, she connects the home with the blessings of the Gods and with the spirit world.
She can bring good influences, success, wealth and prosperity into the home, she can let good things grow and fills the home with the warm comforting light of her torches.
In my personal practice I worship her in this aspect on my hearth shrine (a symbolic representation of the hearth). She is there as with her torches and brings the divine fire into our home. On the hearth shrine I honour the Gods and spirits of our household. Hestia, Zeus, Dionysos, Hermes and Apollon. And the Goddess Bast has her own small shrine next to the hearth shrine. Hekate is a kind of door opener for me in this aspect, she opens the doors to the realms of the Gods. But at the same time she is a door opener to the world of the spirits, she brings the good spirits and ancestors into our home- she mediates between the worlds. She feels much nearer then the other Gods and is always there with her might, even if it is sometimes just in the background. Sometimes her presence is like a bright heating flame, sometimes like the glow of still warm coals under already cold ashes. The hearth is a threshold between the worlds, the Gods of the household and the spirits get their offerings daily on the hearth shrine, libations, incense or some food of our meals. And I bring the libation bowl regularly outside of the house and empty it near a tree, or on the trees next to our front door. On the hearth Hekate is for me like a caring parent, supporting and illuminating, a bright, beautiful but powerful Goddess. She feels for me like Hesiod described her in his Theogony. She is the main focus of my household worship and the other Gods and spirits are connected to her worship in my practices- she is always present, the focus point, the way and the door through which the Gods and spirits are connected with our home.
But Hekate is also on the threshold of the home, she stands as Propylaia before the door. She protects the home against maleficent witchcraft, against negative spirits and against negative influences in general. This aspect of her is well known and many devotees began already to honour her in this aspect in their homes. In this aspect Hekate is like a guardian dog for me, fearful for outsiders. But a faithful companion for the family in the home.
Hekate was a quite important Goddess in domestic worship, she was part of the everyday live and I think this aspects of her are quite important for us as modern devotees. If you invite her into your home she will begin to care for your household and your family. She is not the scary dread Goddess in this aspects but a strong guardian, a strong ally and a mediating and caring Goddess.
Statue of Hekate as Mistress of witchcraft and spirits
Magic and Witchcraft:
Hekate was very connected to magical practices in antiquity. She was connected to the folk magic of antiquity but also to witchcraft and the art of theurgy. But most of her followers were not practising the magical arts, her role as Goddess of spirits and magic was for them more important in a different way- to get her protection against maleficent magic or evil spirits.
But there were also devotees who practised magic, witchcraft or theurgy.
And the same is true today. Many modern followers of Hekate come from a magical background. And Hekate can be a great aid in these practices. She is a teacher of these arts, a protectress and a strong source of power. Hekate is the patron Goddess of the “magical arts”, like Athene is a a patron Goddess of the arts and crafts or Apollon is a patron God of music, divination and healing skills.
I personal come more from the witchcraft background. My practices for/with Hekate in this aspect are different to my normal household worship. I have a separate shrine for her (as mistress of witchcraft) and the familiar spirits and other Gods that are connected to witchcraft. For me she is as Goddess of witchcraft more ecstatic, wilder and more untamed. She is more nocturnal, lunar and earthly then in her aspects as domestic Goddess (in this aspects she feels more solar and fiery).
She is the queen of the night that wanders with the spirits through the landscape, she whispers secrets, knows the mysteries of herbs, she helps to cross the boundaries between our world and the underworld (the world of spirits), she brings power into potions, powders, oils and other spells. She can give you the support of familiar spirits and other mediating spirits.
If you begin to work with Hekate as mistress of witchcraft you will notice that she will lead you to a quite different path then it is often described in wicca 101 books. Her witchcraft is more connected to the traditional views about witches, to wander through the night, collecting herbs in forests and on old cemeteries, to get in touch with the spirit world, to learn about herbs, necromancy and the secret powers of nature and you will begin to get in touch with the underworld and its spirits and powers through her guidance.
But she was not only the Goddess of witchcraft, other magical paths and practices were connected with her too. She is a Goddess of liminality and her roles as Goddess of magic are quite connected with this aspect. Ceremonial magicians will benefit from the contact to Hekate too, like the theurgists in antiquity. But there she is not so much the lunar-earthly Goddess of witchcraft- more the solar-mercurial Goddess of theurgy who is able to open the doors to the empyrean realms and its beings, the guide to the ascending of the soul which she purifies with her empyrean fire.
Festivals:
Not all Gods were worshipped by all people on a every-day level. Most Gods had their special times and festivals where many people worshipped them. The same is true for Hekate. Even if the every-day devotion to Hekate brings a lot of benefits (in the household worship- or in witchcraft for example) this is not the right path for all people. Maybe because of time issues or because other Gods have a more important focus in their lives. But on the festivals of a God or Goddess many people worshipped them and the same is true today. In our modern world some festivals for Hekate evolved and these festivals are a great time to worship her, even if you are not an active regular devotee of her.
Even if you worship her regular or every day, you can use festivals as special times to give her some special attention, to do something bigger or more as usual.
Some festivals where she is honoured are:
Deipnon and Noumenia (dark moon and first crescent each month)
13th of August and 16th of November and the neopagan Samhain gets connected to her more and more too. There are several other dates too, but these are the most known today.
Sanctuary Shrine
Service as Priests/esses:
In antiquity most Gods had their priests and priestesses who served them in temples, on public shrines in small sanctuaries or in sacred groves.
This form of worship is different then the normal forms of worship.
As priest/priestess you act not for your own interests or the interests of your household/family but you serve the Deity. Hekate had only a few known temples in Greece- these were more small sanctuaries in comparison to the big temples of other Gods. But Hekate had shrines in the temples of other Gods and Goddesses and priests/esses there for sure as well. In Aisia Minor she had a great temple in Lagina and had priests/esses in other locations as well.
The roles of priests/esses were quite different from location to location and cult to cult. But in essence they served a God or a Goddess and served not the community like in Christians priests today. The roles and workings for the community of worshippers evolve through the service of the Deity. Not the other way around. To be a priest was a job- to care for the sanctuary, to care for the offerings, to keep the sanctuary clean, to care for worshippers who came to the temple, to do rites in honour of the Deity.
Today we have not temples but I think that will change with time.
I personal see myself as priest of Hekate, but I personal don’t like to highlight this role very much. In modern paganism there are so many people who use the title priest or high priestess as a title to be more important and special. And I personal don’t see it that way.
I did a rite of dedication to her as priest in 2005 and she accepted this. After this I grew into the roles and workings that she wanted from me as priest. I began to organise open rituals for her, so that other people can come into closer contact with her through rituals, I began to do regularly special rites to bless her devotees in general in her name. I began to bless the local spirits in her name and to act towards the goal bring the essence of Hekate more into the world through my acts and my service to her. I created a shrine on a crossroad in a public place and care for this shrine since than. I personal don’t see the role as priest as something special, it is more that you take more responsibility for the Goddess then you had as normal devotee before.
This year I became a torchbearer of the CoH and opened a CoH sanctuary. This brought more the community aspect into my former roles (for me personal). Now there is not just the community of devotees in general where I feel a connection, but a more formed community as well where I feel responsibility and try to bring myself into the community as torchbearer.
In my roles as priest I experience Hekate more as great and universal Goddess, as the ensouler of the worlds and key holding mistress of the cosmos. I personal see her other forms as different aspects of her. She has many forms and many faces. When it is about my home and personal live in general I encounter her as domestic Goddess, when it is about my witchcraft practices I experience her as queen of the night and mistress of spirits. In my service of her I encounter her more as great Goddess, maybe because as priest it is not about personal contact for my personal needs but the focus is more on her needs and on the community of her worshippers in the background. As priest I see my work as a kind of mediating function at times, to bring the blessings and energy of Hekate into the world and to the people (and spirits), to be a guide at times, to help through a transition here and there for some people, or to help to open doors. To give advice and informations and just to be open that she brings me to the right time to the right places and people.
Conclusion:
There are different ways to connect yourself with Hekate. Not all people who worship Hekate are interested in magic or witchcraft. They see her more as a domestic Goddess and her role as Goddess of witchcraft has not much space in their lives. But there are as well people who are interested in magic or practice witchcraft- for them this role can be quite important. And their practices can be quite different then the practices of a normal devotee. I personal see the household worship- or every-day worship as the basis on which other more mystical ways of worship can grow and evolve if this wanted (or needed). Other people maybe just get in touch with her when it is about magical practices or witchcraft and she has not much space in their every-day life at all.
Maybe some people don’t pay her attention every day but worship her on her festivals. The connection to a deity is something quite individual. And there are different ways to express this connection.
For me personal there are different layers of Hekate worship in my life- they are interconnected but different at the same time.
Links to other websites- one shows the view of a hedge witch, the other of a hellenic recon:
http://moon-books.net/blogs/moonbooks/hekate-a-devotional/
http://baringtheaegis.blogspot.de/2013/07/hekates-crossroads.html
Artwork by Shay Skepevski
Modern pagans and early scholars described Hekate often as a Goddess of the moon and connected her to lunar lore.
More recent studies broke with the view of Hekate as a Moongoddess.
In archaic and classical time she had no lunar roles in Greece or Asia Minor. The first hints of a lunar role emerged in the late classical time. Both Hekate and Artemis were seen as lunar Goddesses in that time and both were equated with Selene in a few sources (but on a higher level with Luna in the roman rime period).
But the view of Hekate as a Moongoddess got first popular during the roman times and more so in late antiquity.
Differences between lunar Goddesses and the Moongoddesses:
A Moongoddess is an embodiment of the moon. Like the Sungod is the embodiment of the sun.
In the Greek pantheon Selene was the Moongoddess. She is the moon- the moon is her physical incarnation and her domain of power. Luna was seen in that way by the Romans. Luna and Selene were both Moongoddesses.
But at the same time there were several Goddesses in the greco-roman world that had lunar symbolism connected to them. Goddesses who were connected to the moon but not completely. For example Hekate, Artemis, Diana, Juno, Athene, Isis and I think Aphrodite too. Hekate and Isis evolved with time from lunar Goddesses to real Moongoddesses.
How her lunar side evolved and how she turned into a Moongoddess:
Hekate was seen in her oldest emanations as a solar and chtonic Goddess. How did she got connected to the moon? I think this was a long process.
Selene had no cults in ancient Greece. She was the incarnation of the moon but had not much power or influence over other things. Hekate was a Goddess who was connected to the night strongly so I think it was just natural that she got a lunar side over time, because the moon illuminates the night, like Hekate herself with her torches (even if these had original a solar symbolism).
And I think that Selene had no cults and was not important, it was just natural that other Goddesses evolved a lunar side in ancient Greece.
But the key for her lunar side lies in the beliefs of the Romans. For them Luna was more important than Selene was for the Greeks. For the Romans the fertility of the land, of the animals and humans was connected to the moon and its phases (Jacob Rabinowitz explains that well in his book The Rotting Goddess). So many Goddesses who were connected to fertility in their original worship were connected to the moon by the Romans- because fertility was connected for them to the moon. Isis is a good example. In Egypt she wasn’t a Moongoddess or had lunar symbolism attached to her. But after her adoption by the Romans she was seen as a Moongoddess. Her lunar side got stronger over time until she was seen as an embodiment of the Moon (for example in the Golden Ass).
I think Hekate went through a similar process. She already had a weak lunar side attached to her when the Romans adopted her from Asia Minor (it got a roman colony) and was there strongly connected to fertility. And through the roman beliefs this side grew stronger and stronger.
Her lunar side was then strengthened through the Philosophy. In the Philosophy of the Neoplatonists the moon was seen as a mediator between the material world and the spiritual world. They called it a star-like earth- and an earth-like star. And connected the moon to Hekate who was at the same time an ouranic and chtonic Goddess- heavenly and earthly- like the moon itself.
The moon was seen as the place of daimons (mediating spirits) and in traditional religion Hekate was seen as mistress of daimons- so this too strengthened her lunar side in late antiquity.
To make the picture complete the moon was seen as the resting place of spirits and souls- Philosophy envisioned the realm of the dead now within the moon. Through that the moon was strongly connected to the underworld- and in traditional religion Hekate was strongly connected to spirits and the underworld since the hellenic time period. Her role as Goddess of witchcraft was important too for her development as a Moongoddess. For the Romans witchcraft was strongly connected to the moon. In ancient Greece the witches just drew down the Moongoddess from the sky to create an eclipse (so the dark moon out of its natural time). So Selene was a “victim” used by the witches. But in roman literature the witches were empowered by the moon and strongly connected to the lunar symbolism. Hekate was strongly connected to witchcraft and so she was fused with other lunar Goddesses in the roman writings about witchcraft.
In art Hekate was depicted with the crescent moon from roman times onwards. She was equated to Luna in many ancient texts and was even named as the moon herself.
For example in a fragment of Porphyry:
“But, again, the moon is Hecate, the symbol of her varying phases and of her power dependent on the phases. Wherefore her power appears in three forms, having as symbol of the new moon the figure in the white robe and golden sandals, and torches lighted: the basket, which she bears when she has mounted high, is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops, which she makes to grow up according to the increase of her light: and again the symbol of the full moon is the goddess of the brazen sandals. Or even from she branch of olive one might infer her fiery nature, and from the poppy her productiveness, and the multitude of the souls who find an abode in her as in a city, for the poppy is an emblem of a city. She bears a bow, like Artemis, because of the sharpness of the pangs of labour. And, again, the Fates are referred to her powers, Clotho to the generative, and Lachesis to the nutritive, and Atropos to the inexorable will of the deity. Also, the productive power of the corn-crops, which is Demeter, they associate with her, as the producing power in her. The moon is also a supporter of Kore. They set Dionysus also beside her, both on account of their growth of horns, and because of the region of clouds lying beneath the lower world.” – Porphyry on Idols
Conclusion:
It is true that Hekate was original not a Goddess of the moon. Her lunar side grew and evolved over time and got very popular in the roman period of time. And this lunar side grew and evolved until she got a Moongoddess herself in late antiquity and was seen as an incarnation of the moon. But unlike Selene in ancient Greece- the Moongoddess was just one side of her being. And her other sides or spheres of influence stayed intact- even with this new domain.
Personal views:
I see Hekate as a Goddess of many things- her connection to the moon- or she as a Moongoddess is just one of many spheres of influence. I can understand that many hellenic recons don’t see Hekate as Moongoddess or don’t see the sources of roman rime and late antiquity as important and focus more on the sources from the times before. But I personal am not interested in a reconstruction of the Hekate who was worshipped in archaic- classical or hellenic times. But I learn from her history and the views and beliefs about her in all time periods. For me to not see the roman- and late antiquity sources in connection to her- is like cutting several centuries of her worship and history just out. Hekate was a primordial Goddess, a pre-greek Titaness. Even her views in the archaic time period were a change in her character and in the beliefs the people had about her, she got new roles and some of her older roles stayed alive. I see it in a similar way when it is about her lunar side- or the view of her as Moongoddess. Yes in her original form she was no Moongoddess or even had no lunar side. But that changed with time- this side grew and she adopted this symbolism.
I see Hekate strongly as the great Titaness like Hesiod described her. And for me her power over the moon (or the view of her as Moongoddess) works well with her power over earth, sky and sea.
For me the moon is part of her power over the sky. And the Titaness Phoebe who was Hekates grandmother in Hesiods Theogony, was connected to the moon, too.
So I think even in her genealogy there is a weak link to the moon- as well as to other spheres of influence she adopted from her ancestors (like the night from Asteria) her solar connection through Perses), her power over earth, land and sky from Gaia, Uranos and Pontos- all these elements come toegher in her genealogy. But that is just my personal view.
Main shrine of the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia.
Working altar with incense, blessed water and some twigs of Solanum Dulcamara to clean the home.
The offerings to Hekate and the spirits on the working altar.
Witchcraft shrine. In honour of the the Witchqueen and the Master and hearth for my familiar spirits and my witches tools.
Shrine of Hekate Propylaia. On our front door. After the home was cleansed she got the incense water and the nightshade as offering.
Devotional Rite for Hekate Phosphoros
Note: First I had in mind to give different rites for different aspects of Hekate, but so far it stayed with the rite for Hekate Phosphoros. So I edited the text.
So far my articles in the series- understanding Hekate- were quite theoretical. Before I will continiue with the articles I will give some instructions for a simple devotional rite. These rites help to get a connection to Hekate, to feel and experience her on a personal level. These devotional rites are designed for a regular (at best daily) use. And are short enough for this.
For the devotional rites you will need a shrine for Hekate and a statue of her or a framed picture/image. Put the statue/image into the centre of the shrine. The shrine can be quite simple, like in the picture above. Or ou can add more elements and symbols. That is your choice. You will need as essential stuff:
A shrine
Statue/Image of Hekate
Offering bowl
Living flame (candle, tealight or oillamp)
Pitcher/bowl with saltwater
Plate/bowl with dried flowers/blossoms
Incense burner and incense.
You will need an offering bowl. This can be just a bowl in which you give the offerings during the rite.
A living flame is essential, too (tea light, candle, oil lamp). If you use just one living flame, two, three ore more is up to you. But one living flame is essential (it symbolises the divine fire).
The bowl/plate with flowers/blossoms (from my experience Hekate likes lavender, jasmine, rose)- is a symbol of Hekates dominion over the earth/land.
Put some water into the pitcher (or the second bowl) and add a small bit of sea salt into the water. This pitcher/bowl symbolises her dominion over the sea.
Prepare some incense. This can be simple incense sticks or resins and herbs that you burn on charcoal- or on an incense lamp, too. If you use incense sticks get some of good quality (from my experience Hekate likes the smell of jasmine).
The shrine can be very simple. Put the image of the Goddess in the centre of the shrine. If you use one living flame- put this before the image to the centre. If you use two flames you can put them to the right and left side of the image.
Put the offering bowl before the image. And arrange the bowl/plate with flowers/blossoms, the pitcher with saltwater and the incense on the shrine in a way that it looks nice. That is the essential stuff on the shrine- you can decorate it with other symbols if you want it.
Before you begin the devotional rite you can clean yourself and the room where you do the devotional rite with the techniques you use in general. For example with the burning of cleansing herbs (like sage)- or the sprinkling of yourself and the room with blessed water.
The devotional rite for Hekate Phosphoros:
Part 1: Lighting the flames.
Light the living flame(s) on your shrine. Speak: “I light these divine flame(s) in the name of the great Goddess Hekate, may her divine fire be present on this shrine, may her light bring protection and blessings.”
Focus for a moment on the flame(s) see and feel the light that the flame(s) create. Watch the fire. See and feel the atmosphere that the fire creates on your shrine.
Part 2: Blessing of yourself and the offerings.
Close your eyes, take three deep breaths and relax. Calm down. Put your hands to your breast in a way that your dominant hand lays on your other hand.
Imagine the stars burning bright above you in the sky (even if it is day- the stars are there).
Imagine that their silver light flows down into your body and fills you out. You begin to shine in a silver light.
Imagine the depths of the earth below you. Imagine a golden shining serpent that crawls up to you. This serpent is pure life source- the serpent is climbing in coils around your body and the life force of the earth fills you out. You begin to glow in a golden light. Imagine and feel the ouranic fire of the stars and the chtonic serpent power filling you out. Imagine that in your breast a spark begins to shine, the light of this spark gets brighter and brighter until a radiant sun burns within your breast.
Open your eyes and see the shrine before your. Hold your hands over the shrine and imagine that the ouranic and chtonic powers flow through your hands into the offerings. Imagine that they begin to shine. Speak again and again the ephesian letters: Askion, Kataskion, Lix, Tetrax, Damnameneus, Aisia.
And imagine that a sphere of light surrounds you and your shrine. The shrine is the centre of this sacred sphere.The divine fire of your shrine flame(s) is filling this divine sphere around you.
If you feel it is enough bring your hand back to your breast. And stop to speak the ephesian letters.
Burn some incense and say: “I burn this incense for the great Hekate, may this smell welcome her on this shrine”.
Part 3: Calling the Goddess- Hekate Phosphoros.
Close your eyes. Have your hands again on your breast. Relax and Imagine a beautiful young maiden. She wears a white dress with golden ornaments, on her feet she has golden sandals. Her hair is brown but shines with an light of gold and an aura of light is around the Goddess. In her hands she holds two long burning torches. The torches are decorated with wreaths of ivy and the flames of the torches burn bright. On her head she has a shining golden diadem.
Imagine that she stands behind your shrine.
Move your hands from your breast and raise them up to the sky. Begin to whisper again and again- IO Phosphoros, IO Hekate… whisper this again and again with closed eyes. Imagine the Goddess standing on your shrine while you whisper this again and again. Let your words get louder and louder (or as loud as you are able to speak them in your home) and when you feel it is enough, open your eyes and speak the prayer:
“Hekate Phosphoros, bright shining queen, torchbearer, divine maiden, shining star in darkest night, be here and bring me your protection, your light and your blessings. Bring your divine fire and bring light into the darkness with your sacred torches.”
Bring your hands back to your breast and just feel and open yourself to her presence. Focus on your inner view of Hekate and watch the shrine to with your physical eyes.
Part 4: Offerings to the Goddess.
Burn again some incense and take the incense burner (or incense stick) into your hands and let it circle three times over the shrine and let the smoke touch the image of the Goddess. Speak: “I offer you this incense- by your power over the starry sky.”
Put the incense back to the shrine.
Take the pitcher with water and pour three times water into the offering bowl. Speak: “I offer you this blessed water, by your power of the salty sea”.
Put the pitcher back to your shrine.
Take the plate with the flowers and sprinkle three times flowers over the shrine, over the statue/image and three times into the offering bowl. Speak: “I offer you these flowers, by your power over the fertile earth.”
Put the plate back to the shrine.
Take the offering bowl in your hands and hold it in front of the image. Speak:
“Mighty Hekate, mistress over earth, sea and sky, bringer of divine fire.
Take these offerings. Bring your protection, blessings and light into my home and into me. Io Phosphoros, Io Phosphoros, Io Phosphors.”
Put the offering bowl back and put your index finger of your dominant hand into the bowl. Sprinkle the statue/image with the water from the offering bowl. And then touch your brow with the finger to bless yourself.
Part 5: Thanking and ending the rite.
Now you can meditate, enjoy the presence of Hekate, do divination, play instruments, dance or do other devotional acts to Hekate. Or thank her and close the rite.
Thank her with your own words. Ask her to guide you with her light. To protect you and your home and to bring her blessings.
Imagine that she disappears from the shrine- but a spark of her presence, power and energy stays connected to the statue/image and in the flames on your shrine.
Imagine that the sacred sphere around you begins to fade away, it flows into the flames on your shrine and into your heart.
Touch the ground with your hands and imagine that all energy that is to much flows down into the earth. Imagine that the bright sun in your chest begins to transform into a tiny lightning spark.
This devotional rite can be practiced within 10-15 minutes after you have settled into it and know it well. Do this devotional rite as regualar as possible and focus on your feelings, emotions and your inner view during the rite.
You can add more elements to create a longer more eleborate rite. Or add the offering of food, oil, milk, honey or other offerings on the Noumenia, full moon and Deipnon- or on other times when you think it is necessary.
The offerings of water, flowers and incense are connected to her dominion over sea, earth and sky. Instead of flowers you can use herbal mixtures, wheat or even seeds like sesame- or poppy seeds. I usually use dried lavender flowers or dried jasmine flowers. or a compination of rose, lavender and jasmine flowers.
On the weekend I was busy to fill some of my dried herbs into big jars. I harvested a lot of herbs in my witch-garden and dried them in the temple room. I separated the leaves from the stems and filled the the leaves of green mints, spearmint, lemon balm and lemon verbena into the jars. I created a powder from the stems of the mints- that I will use as incense and for herbal powders. From some stems of the lemon verbena and the mints I created smudge sticks. Usual I create these from fresh herbs and let them than dry as bundle- it is an experiment if it will work to burn the stems of the herbs as smudge sticks, too.
I blessed the powder and the smudge sticks on my Hekate-Shrine in the temple room.
During the weekend I was quite busy in the temple room. I worked every day on the goal to recharge the temple room again with energy and to ground Hekates power in the room. I have used techniques from ceremonial magick (some of these had their roots in the greco-roman magic of late antiquity). In the last years I used more techniques and symbolism from the Traditional Witchcraft background in my personal practice (and will keep using them when it is about witchcraft). So it was an alternation to switch back to this stuff for me. For me the techniques from the ceremonial magick work better for me personal to create a permanent sacred space. The techniques from the Traditional Witchcraft background work for me more to open a door into the underworld and to bring the witch nearer to this realm. I was surprised that the ceremonial stuff worked still so well after so many years where I rarely used them and drew my personal practice from quite different practices and symbolism. But it felt not really like I broke with this stuff, when I used it now again. But I have to say that I don’t use the Christian-jewisch elements of ceremonial magick (like calling on angels or using names of Yahweh). Instead I change those stuff and use symbolism that is drawn from Hekate (and I did this in the past, too). But today it was much easier, because I know more of the Theurgy and magic of late antiquity (where she was quite important).
On this blog I read a very interesting article about the creating of Godforms. This practice was not new to me and I used mental pictures of Gods in my work with Gods and spirits. But I never tried to nourish these mental pictures with energy to make them more physical when it is about my working with Gods (when it is about spirit work, this came into being natural). In my personal practice I invoked the presence of Hekate into her statue(s) or into the room (or circle) in general. The article of the author spoke to me and I tried out her method to create Godforms.
Instead of using the Greek vocals I chanted the Ephesian Letters (Askei Kataskei Lix Tetrax, Damnameneus Aisia) again and again and nourished the mental picture of Hekate with the energy I raised through that. With the goal in mind to bring the mental image of Hekate into the etheric/astral realm and make it more physical. I didn’t had high expectations, but in the smoke of the incense I was able to see the shape of the Goddess- like a mirage in the room and I was able to feel her presence strong in the room.
I will continue to work with this method and will see how it will evolve in future.
During the last days my temple room got renovated by my husband. When we bought our house four years ago, the room was used before as childrens room. All walls were green. And they stayed green when we moved in. After we moved in the “green-room” got the ritual room and evolved with time into a temple room. It is the biggest room in our house. Over the years we celebrated many group rituals there with my circle (this phase is over now since a few months) and had many open group rituals there, too. It was really time now for a renovating of the room. As said all walls were green, now they are white. I will add some decorations and patterns on the walls, pictures and symbols- this will grow and evolve with time.
On wednesday I have cleansed the ritual room with olibanum resin and blessed water (I have added rose-salt, lavender flowers and lemongras to the water) and used a piece of fresh lemongras to sprinkle the blessed water in the temple room.
Then the temple room got blessed again, the guardians, elements and spirits were welcomed and re-invited, the portals between the worlds were re-opened and the room was dedicated again to Hekate- and she filled the room with her presence again.
I will do some devotional stuff now every day until the full moon to strenghten the connection to Hekate and ground her energy within the room, to re-build the energy level so that the room gets a sacred space of Hekate again.
On thursday it was very stormy. I did a devotional walk up the Todtenberg- to visit the crossroads shrine. On the path I recognised that big twigs of an poplar tree fell to the ground, the storm broke them off. So I was able to harvest a lot of poplar buds. For me personal the poplar is an important tree. I love it to listen to the whispers of the wind in the poplar leaves, I like their almost majestic power and their hugeness.
In greek antiquity poplars were trees of the underworld and were through this connected to Hekate. The buds of the poplar trees were used for magical incense and as ingredient of flying ointments. I use the also to create ointments, incense, oils or in powders.
On the afternoon I created a anointing-oil. I react allergic to ingredients in many hygiene products and perfumes. So I began to create oils myself that I can use as perfume. Sometimes I choose those oils for a reason- for example to change my aura/charisma or to influence people on a subtle level through the scent. I created this oil to have a nice perfume and to draw positive influences towards me and to create a aura of positive energy around me.
I have grinded herbs to a powder – cinnamon, cardamom, galangal, lemongras, patchouli leaves, bay leaves and vanilla. I have put this powder into sweet almond oil and heated it (in a glass) with hot water. Through the heat the essential oils got from the powder into the oil and the magical energies of the herbs, too.
After the oil cooled down again I put some drops of natural essential orange- and patchouli oil into the herbal-oil (to strengthen the smell).
Then I have brought the oil into my temple room and blessed it on Hekates shrine and empowered it there.
I also put the poblar buds to the Hekate shrine and asked the Goddess to bless the buds so that I can use them when they got dry.
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.
Where Three Roads Meet... 