Hecate
From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project
Hecate (Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting" ) Hekate (Hekátê, Hekátē), is a Greek goddess of transitions and liminality.
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Parentage
According to the most common tradition Hecate was a daughter of Persaeus or Perses and Asteria, whence she is called Perseis. (Apollod. i. 2. § 4; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 478.) Others describe her as a daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and state that she was sent out by her father in search of Persephone (Schol. ad Tleocrit. ii. 12); others again make her a daughter of Zeus either by Pheraea or by Hera (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 1175; Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 36) ; and others, lastly, say that she was a daughter of Leto or Tartarus. (Procl. in Plat. Cratyl. p. 112 ; Orph. Argon. 975.) From The Theoi Project
I) PERSES & ASTERIA
Hesiod, Theogony 404 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "[The Titanis] Asteria (Starry One) of happy name, whom [the Titan] Perses (Destroyer) once led to his great house to be called his dear wife. And she conceived and bare Hekate." - Hesiod, Theogony 404
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 19 (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) : "Tender-hearted Hekate, bright-coiffed, the daughter of Persaios."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 8 - 9 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "The Titanes had children . . . Perses and Asteria of Hekate."
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 1035 (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "Hekate, Perses’ only daughter (mounogenes)."
Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos (the three-formed)."
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 45. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "We are told that Helios (the Sun) had two sons, Aeetes and Perses, Aeetes being the king of Kolkhis and the other king of the Tauric Chersonese, and that both of them were exceedingly cruel. And Perses had a daughter Hekate, who surpassed her father in boldness and lawlessness."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 74 (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Now to the ancient shrine of Perseis [Hekate, daughter of Perses] she [Medea] made her way."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 18 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) : "If you think Latona [Leto] a goddess, how can you not think that Hecate is one, who is the daughter of Latona’s sister Asteria?"
Seneca, Medea 812 (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "I see Trivia’s [Hekate's] swift gliding car . . . O Perseis [Perses’ daughter]."
II) NYX
Nyx (Night) as the mother of Hekate was probably identified with Asteria ("the Starry One").
Bacchylides, Fragment 1B (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx (Night)."
III) OTHER
The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 467 says that according to the Orphic Hymns, Hekate was a daughter of Deo [Demeter]; that according to Bacchylides, a daughter of Nyx (Night); according to Mousaios, a daughter of Zeus and Asteria; and that according to Pherecydes, she was a daughter of Aristaios.
N.B. Pherecydes clearly identified Aristaios with the Titan Astraios (the Starry One). Most poets make Hekate a daughter of night in some form, be that Asteria (Starry), Astraios (Starry) or Nyx (Night).
Animals sacred to the Goddess
Two metamorphosis myths describe the origins of her animal familiars: the black she-dog and the polecat (a mustelid house pet kept to hunt vermin). The bitch was originally the Trojan Queen Hekabe, who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by the goddess into her familiar. The polecat was originally the witch Gale who was transformed into the beast to punish her for her incontinence. Other say it was Galinthias, the nurse of Alkmene, transformed by the angry Eileithyia, but received by Hekate as her animal.
Dogs and black lambs were sacrificed to Hekate and the goddess was escorted by black hounds when she made her trip from the underworld. It is said her arrival is annouced by the baying and barking of hounds. From The Theoi Project
In some poetic descriptions of Hecate she is described as three bodied or three headed, one a horse, one a dog and the other a lion.(Orph. Argon. 975, &c.; Eustath. ad Hom. pp. 1467, 1714.)
- "I know of no other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of Kolophon; these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to Enodia (of the Wayside) [Hekate] ... at night." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 3.14.9-10
- "A baying of hounds was heard through the half-light: the goddess was coming, Hecate." - Virgil, Aeneid 6.257
- "I have heard that the land-marten (or polecat) was once a human being ... a dealer in spells and a sorceress (Pharmakis); that she was extremely incontinent ... the anger of the goddess Hekate transformed it into this evil creature." - Aelian, On Animals 15.11
- "They [the Moirai] turned her [Galinthias] into a deceitful weasel (or polecat) ... Hekate felt sorry for this transformation of her appearance and appointed her a sacred servant of herself." - Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 29
- "Hekate Brimo ... hearing his words from the abyss, came up ... and hounds of the underworld (kunes khthonioi) barked shrilly all around her." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1194
- "Zerynthos [in Samothrake], cave of the goddess to whom dogs are slain [Hekate]." - Lycophron, Alexandra 74
- "[Dogs] terrifying with thy baying in the night all mortals who worship not with torches the images of Zerynthia [Hekate]." - Lycophron, Alexandra 1174
- "Sapaeans [a Thrakian tribe] ... offer the guts of dogs to Trivia [Hekate]." - Ovid, Fasti 1.389
- "A baying of hounds was heard through the half-light: the goddess was coming, Hecate." - Virgil, Aeneid 6.257
- "Baying [of Hounds] loud as that which rings at the grim gate of Dis [Haides] or from Hecate’s escort [of black hounds] to the world above." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6.110
- "Hekate, divine friend of dogs." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.61
- "Hekate ... nightwandering, nurse of puppies because the nightly sound of the hurrying dogs is thy delight with their mournful whimpering." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44.198
Hecate as a Triple Goddess
Hecate is known in some Neo-Pagan circles today as a Triple Goddess. While Hecate has appeared in triads and in triplicate form, of the forms she takes or the triads she is mentioned in, none of them support a Mother, Maiden, Crone image.
Hecate as a Lunar Goddess
It is not quite accurate to say that Hecate/Hekate is a Luner Goddess, as her association with the moon is with that of the Dark Moon, or New Moon. It would be more accurate to say that she is associated with Night. Indeed, in the Bacchylides she is said to be the daughter of Night, Nyx.
"Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx (Night)." Bacchylides, Fragment 1B (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.)
"Asteria (Starry One) ... conceived and bare Hekate." - Hesiod, Theogony 404
"Queenly Deo [Demeter] wandered over the earth with flaming torches in her hands [after the abduction of Persephone] ... But when the tenth enlightening dawn had come, Hekate, with a torch in her hands, met her ... [and] sped swiftly with her, holding flaming torches in her hands. So they came to Helios (the Sun), ... and stood in front of his horses" - Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter 19
"[Hekate] the golden-shining attendant of Aphrodite." - Greek Lyric I Sappho or Alcaeus, Frag 23 [NB as the goddess of night, when men have intercourse.]
"Torch-bearing Hekate holy daughter of great-bosomed Nyx (Night)." - Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Frag 1B
"Hekate ... pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade ... nightly seen." - Orphic Hymn 1 to Hecate
"Propitiating the only-begotten Maiden (Koure mounogeneia) [Hekate] with a midnight offering ... Brimo [Hekate], nurse of youth (kourotrophos), Brimo, night-wanderer of the underworld (nyktipolis khthonie), Queen of the dead (anassa eneroi)." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.840
"Hekate Brimo ... hearing his words from the abyss, came up ... She was garlanded by fearsome snakes that coiled themselves round twigs of oak; the twinkle of a thousand torches lit the scene; and hounds of the underworld barked shrilly all around her." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1194
"[Selene the Moon cries:] `How many times ... have you [the witchMedea ] disorbed me with your incantations, making the night moonless so that you might practise your beloved witchcraft undisturbed." - Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.55 [NB Hekate empowered witches with the power to draw down the moon.]
"In the deep stillness of the midnight hour ... she [Medea] stretched her arms to the stars ... O Nox [Nyx the Night], Mother of Mysteries, and all ye golden Astra (Stars) who with Luna [Selene the Moon] succeed the fires of day, and thou, divine triceps (three-formed) Hecate, who knowest all my enterprises and dost fortify the arts of magic." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.162
"Out of Erebos and Chaos she called Nox (Night) and the Di Nocti (Gods of Night) and poured a prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.403
"Hecate, queen of the night." - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 7.515
While there seems to be a consensus among scholars for Hecate originating somewhere other than Greece, there also seems to be an agreement between the myths and poetry of her association with night, as opposed to the Moon itself.
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Hecate as a Crone
(WORKING ARTICLE)
Other Titles and Epithets
| Greek Title: | Transliteration: | Latin Spelling: | Translation: | |
| PerseiV | Perseis | Perseïs | Destroyer, Daughter of Perses | |
| Brimw | Brimô | Brimo | Angry One, Terrible One | |
| Aidwnaia | Aidônaia | Adonaea | Lady of the Underworld | |
| TrimorfoV | Trimorphis | Trimorphis | Three Formed, Three Bodied | |
| TrioditiV | Trioditis | Trioditis | Of the Crossroads | |
| Enodia | Enodia | Enodia | By the Wayside, Of the Crossroads | |
| Zhrunqia | Zerynthia | Zerynthia | Of Mt Zerynthia (in Samothrake) |
ENCYCLOPEDIA HEKATE TITLES
- A′NGELOS (Angelos). A surname of Artemis, under which she was worshipped at Syracuse, and according to some accounts the original name of Hecate. (Hesych. s. v.; Schol. ad Theocrit. ii. 12.)
- BRIMO (Brimô), the angry or the terrifying, occurs as a surname of several divinities, such as Hecate or Persephone (Apollon. Rhod. iii. 861, 1211; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 1171), Demeter (Arnob. v. p. 170), and Cybele. (Theodoret. Ther. i. 699.) The Scholiast on Apollonius (l. c.) gives a second derivation of Brimo from Bromos, so that it would refer to the crackling of the fire, as Hecate was conceived bearing a torch.
- CHTHO′NIA (Chthonia), may mean the subterraucous, or the goddess of the earth, that is, the protectress of the fields, whence it is used as a surname of infernal divinities, such as Hecate (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 148; Orph. Hymn. 35. 9), Nyx (Orph. Hymn. 2. 8), and Melinoë (Orph. Hymn. 70. 1), but especially of Demeter. (herod. ii. 123; Orph. Hymn. 39. 12; Artemid. ii. 35; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 987.)
- PHERAEA (Pheraia). 1. A surname of Artemis at Pherae in Thessaly, at Argos and Sicyon, where she had temples. (Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 259 ; Paus. ii. 10. § 6, 23. § 5.) 2. A surname of Hecate, because she was a daughter of Zeus and Pheraea, the daughter of Aeolus, or because she had been brought up by the shepherds of Pheres, or because she was worshipped at Pherae. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 1180; Spanheim, ad Callim. l. c.)
- PHO′SPHORUS (Phôsphoros), Phosphorus also occurs as a surname of several goddesses of light, as Artemis (Diana Lucifera, Paus. iv. 31. § 8; Serv. ad Aen. ii. 116), Eos (Eurip. Ion. 1157) and Hecate. (Eurip. Helen. 569.)
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
