Devotional Month of Purification 2018

Now in february you can join the devotional month of purification for the third time and ask Hekate to clean you and give you new energy.

I designed the ritual 2016 for my COH sanctuary to give people all over the world the possibility to join one of the projects of my sanctuary no matter where you live.

You can read more about the ritual here:

https://archetypicalwitchcraft.wordpress.com/devotional-month-of-purification/

And you can find here a Facebook page where you can share your experiences, your altar pictures, your questions etc.:

https://www.facebook.com/events/118675692284220/

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Creating a Hekateion Part 5

Three years ago I started to create a modern Hekateion, you can see the different stages of this project in these articles: creating a Hekateion part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.

Some weeks after I started this project my life began to change a lot and this change continued until this year (divorce can turn the life really upside down) and the process to finish my Hekateion came to rest through all the change in my life. But the statues were used in my private rituals with and for Hekate and in the group rituals of the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia. After the rite of her sacred fires in Mai 2017 a rush of creativity began to flow through me again and I began to continue to work on the Hekateion and two weeks ago I finished the project.

The statues are now housed in the temple room in my new home and they are completely coloured (the statues of Deities were usually painted and not white as many imagine it today), they are filled with special herbs, stones, snake skin, dog hair, gemstones, sacred objects and oil lamps burn on the round altar when the Hekateion is in use. The statues are coloured in Hekates sacred colours (black, red and white), serpents coil around the shoulders of her, I changed the bowl into a torch (and it is possible to remove the clay flames and burn tea lights or ethanol fires in the bowl that is now the top of the torch), sacred tools of Hekate are on the altar (like the whip, knives, pomegranates, Oinochoe and magical tools as well that i use in my hekatean witchcraft and magic, a statue of Anubis in dog/jackal form is on the altar (for her connection to dogs and the underworld), bowls with incense, water and seeds are around the statues to symbolise her influence over earth, sea and sky, three skulls are on the altar as well, these are filled with dirt from graves and of course offerings are arranged on the altar as well. The pole is coloured in dark violet and is sprinkled with gold colour, to symbolise the night sky and the Axis Mundi and on top of the pole is the statue that I used as sanctuary image, when I opened the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia several years ago.

The Hekateion is in the centre of my temple room, where i store my herbs, incense, tinctures, oils and the tools for herbal magic and in this room i work most of my magic (when i work indoors) and my devotional rites for Hekate and in the meetings of the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia the Hekateion is the focal point of the rituals and devotees can spend time near the Hekateion on their own as well to meditate or dwell in her presence.

 

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.

Hekate in the Greek Magical Papyri

Goddess of the Triple Ways, who hold
Untiring Flaming Fire in Triple Baskets,
And You who oft frequent the Triple Way
And rule the Triple Decades, unto me
Who’m calling You be gracious and with Kindness
Give Heed, You who protect the Spacious World
At night, before whom Daimons quake in Fear
And Gods Immortal tremble, Goddess who
Exalt Men, You of Many Names, who bear
Fair Offspring, Bull-eyed, Horned, Mother of Gods
And Men, and Nature, Mother of All Things,
For You frequent Olympos, and the broad
And boundless Chasm You traverse. Beginning
And End are You, and You Alone rule All.
For All Things are from You, and in You do
All Things, Eternal One, come to their End.

In my personal views I see and experience Hekate as a great Goddess,  who has many forms and different aspects.  She is heavenly, earthly and oceanic,  ouranic and chtonic, bright and dark,  virgin and mother, gentle and fearful, beautiful and powerful.  I experience her quite similar as she is described in the PGM.

I had in mind to write an article about Hekate in the PGM for my Understanding Hekate articles- but i found great articles on a blog who already discuss this topic. So i will share here the links to the articles.

Hekate in the PGM

Invocation of Hekate

Overview of other PGM related articles on this blog

Creating a Hekateion 2

I have blessed and cleansed the first statue with the power of the three realms, incense (sky), sacred water (sea) and a mixture of herbs (earth). And asked Hekate to bless the statue with her divine fire.

I started to colour the statue and already got the central pillar. First I had in mind to buy a Greek column, but these are quite expensive in the size that I need for the statues. So I decided to use a wood pole and my husband connected it with the table that will be used as the altar, on which the Hekateion will stand soon.

I have created herbal bags that are filled with herbs that are connected to Hekate and with other symbolic objects. I will put these bags into the statues as heart. The statues will be filled with this bag and other items to strengthen the connection to Hekate and they will help to ensoul the statues, or to animate it- how it was called in ancient Theurgy.

I blessed and empowered the bags on my sanctuary shrine and petitioned Hekate to fill these bags with her love, protection and power, that they will strengthen the connection to her, that she sends daimons and spirits to fill these bags as mediators and to animate the bags (and than the statues soon). I have used a recipe from late antiquity as basis. Rue, bay leaves, gum (which was gum arabicum I think, but I used the good smelling ambra gum instead), myrrh, olibanum and in the original recipe the crushed tails of lizards that live near houses. I used snake skin instead. And I added other herbs that are connected to Hekate too and hair of a bag dog, beeswax (because of her connection to honey) and amethysts (I personal connect these with Hekate, I don’t know ancient references for this). The bags will be put into the statues when they are finished.

I cleansed and blessed the altar table and the pole with incense, sacred water and herbs, I gave an offering of honey to the nymph of the tree that was used to create the pole and asked her to be welcome, to get a share in the offerings that will be given in future to Hekate and to aid me and other devotees in our worship of Hekate. After I have done this I noticed that I never did the same for the nymphs of other wood materials that I used so far as shrines or altars- so I invited the nymph(s) of the trees who were used to build the tables that I use as altar. And did the same for her (or them). And played the drum for the nymphs and the other spirits who surrounded me in my rite.

Now I wait until the other statues arrive, tomorrow I will speak with the artist who will help me in my project and I look forward to carry on my work.

Understanding Hekate Part 8: Different ways to honour Hekate

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

Deipnon Pictures

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.

Waxing Moon, Spell and Signs of the Goddess

On the Nomenia i had empowered a rose quarz with the power of the first crescent moon and with the might of Hekate-Phosphors. On Saturday I filled a bag of white cloth with seven herbs, the rose quarz and blessed salt (so 9 ingredients) and sealed this herbal bag with red cord. I asked the spirits of the herbs to help me with my goal (which i will not name her in detail). Then i charged the bag with my emotions, will, intent and my etheric energy.

On Sunday I took the bag with me to a walk through the night. The night was clear, the waxing moon was shining bright, the stars were glowing, i looked up into the living veil of darkness, starlight and moonshine- the living veil of the nightly Goddess. I held the bag in my hands, so that it was filled with the light of the moon, I drew down the energy of the waxing moon and filled the bag with it. I prayed to Hekate-Phosphoros to bless the spell and to be gracious towards my goal. I drew down the power of the stars and filled the bag with it, too.

I walked to Hekates crossroad shrine (a shrine on a hill outside of my village, on a threefold crossroad in a small wood). Again I prayed to Hekate, asked her to bless the spell. I put the bag down to the chtonic shrine, asked her to empower it, to strenghten the spell. I prayed to her as Chtonia, Kourotrophos and Phosphoros. I felt the power of the Goddess, filling the spell. Thanked her. Then I left the crossroad, with the bag near my heart. And in the distance some dogs began to bark in the night. A good sign that the Goddess will help me with my goal.

Back home i put the bag to the feet of the Goddess into my hearth shrine, lighted candles and offered herbal honey on a incense burner. Prayed again for my goal.

This spell brought together elements of all three worlds (of the magic of late antiquity). Elements of the material world (the quarz, herbs, salt, bag etc, and act as sympathetic magic). Elements of the etheric world (the using of my etheric energy, the power of the moon). And elements of the empyrean world (the praying to Hekate).