Hecate

[[File:Hekate,_Goddess_of_Darkness,_from_the_Goddesses_of_the_Greeks_and_Romans_series_(N188)_issued_by_Wm._S._Kimball_%26_Co._MET_DPB871067.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Got a light?]]
{{paganism}}
{{magic}}
'''Hecate''' or '''Hekate''' (in ancient Greek  '''Ἑκάτη''') is a [[goddess]] in [[Classical mythology|Greek religion and mythology]], usually depicted holding one or two torches, a [[snake]], keys, and accompanied by [[dog]]s, and variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, [[light]], [[magic]], protection from [[witchcraft]] or witchcraft as such, the [[Moon]], knowledge of [[Herbal supplement|herbs]] and poisonous plants, graves, [[ghosts]], necromancy, and sorcery in addition to be considered a protector of the household<ref>[http://www.labrys.gr/en/text_houseworship.html Hellenic Household Worship]. Labrys religious commentary.</ref> and much more as described later on. She would also be later on known by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] as '''Trivia''', represented three-formed, including to have extra heads of animals (cow, dog, boar, serpent, and [[horse]])<ref>Bonnefoy, Yves; Doniger, Wendy (1992). Roman and European Mythologies. University of Chicago Press. p. 195. "Hecate". Encyclopædia Britannica (article). 1823.</ref> or triple-bodied, and considered a protector of crossroads and travellers, appearing in the {{wpl|Chaldean oracles}} as Mother of [[Angel]]s, the [[Anima mundi]] and as Savior.

==Origin==
Due to the paucity of myths surrounding Hecate, the so many conflicting associations she has with other Greek deities, her strangely powerful nature described as having powers over land, sea, and air in {{wpl|Hesiod}}'s ''{{wpl|Theogony}}'' even next to {{wpl|Zeus}} (the chief deity of the pantheon), and lack of consistent parentage (her either being considered daughter of the Titans {{wpl|Perses}} and {{wpl|Asteria}} or of Zeus and {{wpl|Demeter}}, thus sister of {{wpl|Persephone}}), she's often considered by scholars to be a foreign deity absorbed in the Greek pantheon with some suggesting the praise she receives in the ''Theogony'' is basically the equivalent of [[evangelism]] introducing the goddess to the Greeks, assuming it's not merely a later interpolation{{efn|Do note how Hekate appears in such text as a sort of blank slate, with no attributes or physical descriptions of any kind.}}. Leading theories suggesting she came from one of several places:

* The [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian pantheon]], where she was known as {{wpl|Heqet||,}} a goddess of fertility and [[childbirth]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=McKechnie|first1=Paul R. |last2=Guillaume|first2=Philippe|title=Ptolemy the second Philadelphus and his world|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLr7rXZB35cC&pg=PA133|year=2008|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-17089-6|page=133}}</ref> 

* A much different Anatolian, in [[Turkey]] goddess of animals, fertility, and nature, i.e., similar to Greek {{wpl|Artemis||}}<ref name="Burkert">{{cite book |first=Walter |last=Burkert |year=1987 |title=Greek Religion: Archaic and classical |page=171 |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=0-631-15624-0}}</ref> 

* An also Anatolian [[Sun]] goddess with ties to the [[Afterlife|Underworld]] that over time went by the associations she's most known for, being syncretized with deities as (especially) {{wpl|Enodia||}} that was the one with the associations she's so known for (torches, crossroads, magic and witchcraft, etc), the already mentioned Artemis or the [[Moon|lunar]] goddess {{wpl|Selene}}<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255852651_Hecate_An_Anatolian_Sun-Goddess_of_the_Underworld Hecate: An Anatolian Sun-Goddess of the Underworld]</ref> 

A Greek origin cannot be ruled out or even that she was around before such times.<ref>Robert S.P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' (2009), Brill, p. 396.</ref>

==Worship==
Hecate was strongly associated with dogs, which were considered her sacred animals and often offered to her in sacrifice,<ref>Alberta Mildred Franklin, ''[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/FRALUP/home.html The Lupercalia]'', Columbia University, 1921</ref>{{rp|67}} showing also an association with childbirth and her being a mother goddess,<ref>Sarah Isles Johnson, ''Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece''. University of California Press, 2013. {{isbn|0520217071}}</ref>{{rp|211-212}} as well as with the {{wpl|polecat||.}} Among plants, the {{wpl|yew}} was considered sacred to her<ref>Matthew Suffness (Ed.), ''Taxol: Science and Applications (Handbooks in Pharmacology and Toxicology)''.  CRC Press, 1995. {{isbn|084938382X}}</ref>{{rp|28}} as were plants known to be poisonous, of medical usage, or psychoactive, and {{wpl|garlic}} offerings were typical.<ref>Frederick J. Simoons, ''Plants of Life, Plants of Death''. University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. {{isbn|978-0-299-15900-9}}.</ref>{{rp|143}}<ref>Fragkiska Megaloudi, ''Plants and Diet in Greece From Neolithic to Classic Periods''. Archaeopress, 2006. {{isbn| 1841719498}}</ref>{{rp|71}}

==Functions==
As noted above, Hecate was associated with borders, city walls, doorways, crossroads and, by extension, with realms outside or beyond the world of the living being a {{wpl|liminal deity}} with strong ties to the underworld,<ref>Bonnie MacLachlan and Judith Fletcher, ''Virginity Revisited: Configurations of The Unpossessed Body''. University of Toronto Press, 2007. {{isbn|0802090133}}.</ref>{{rp|14}} {{wpl|Ereshkigal#Ereshkigal's name in Greek magical texts|having been mixed with the Sumerian goddess of the Underworld}} {{wpl|Ereshkigal||,}} witchcraft often depicted then having much less nice looks (a "rotting goddess" with a "pallid decaying body", who has to "wear a mask when [she] visit[s] the gods in heaven"),<ref>Jacob Rabinowitz, ''The Rotting Goddess: The origin of the witch in classical antiquity's demonization of fertility religion''. Autonomedia, 1998. {{isbn|157027035X}}</ref> and the [[Moon]] even if this seems to be of later origins, conflating her with lunar goddesses as Artemis or {{wpl|Selene||.}}<ref>Sharynne MacLeod NicMhacha, ''Queen of the Night: Rediscovering the Celtic Moon Goddess''. Weiser, 2005. {{isbn|1578632846}}.</ref>{{rp|62-63}}, to the point the three were pretty much interchangeable in Roman times (known in Rome as respectively Diana, Luna, and Trivia)<ref>[https://www.thecollector.com/hecate-goddess-magic-witchcraft/ Everything You Need To Know About Hecate (Maiden, Mother, Crone)]</ref>

Some of these few myths surrounding Hecate consider the goddess to be nicer and more compassionate than other deities in the same mythos, at least by their standards, including to have 
cast a baleful polymorph spell upon
 transformed the Trojan queen {{wpl|Hecuba}} into her dog after she had drowned,<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Text/LycophronAlexandra.html Lycophron, Alexandra]</ref> having adopted {{wpl|Galanthis}} after he was transformed into a polecat, that in those times were thought to mate through the ear and give birth through the mouth, for having messed with the gods feeling sorry for him,<ref>Metamorphoses, pp. 29</ref> and especially according to the {{wpl|Homeric Hymn to Demeter}} having helped such goddess to look for her daughter Persephone after the latter had been kidnapped by {{wpl|Hades||,}} lending the former her torch(es) in some retellings of the myth, accompanying Demeter on the search for her daughter, and befriending Persephone in the Underworld 
giving her a sightseeing tour of it
 becoming her assistant and staying with her,<ref name="Charles M 1986 pp. 307–318">{{cite journal|first=Charles M.|last=Edwards|title=The Running Maiden from Eleusis and the Early Classical Image of Hekate|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|publisher=Archaeological Institute of America|location=Boston, Massachusetts|volume=90|issue=3|date=July 1986|pages=307–318|doi=10.2307/505689|s2cid=193054943 }}</ref> with Hecate because of that being also featured in the {{wpl|Eleusinian Mysteries}} together with Demeter and Persephone. Likewise, the Orphic Hymn to Hecate described her as wearing saffron-colored robes ("Krokopeplos") which is certainly quite different to her typical depiction as a goddess dressed in dark robes.<ref>[https://www.hellenicgods.org/the-orphic-hymn-to-hecate-aekati---hekate Orphic Hymn to Hecate]</ref>

Because of all the syncretisms and changes as time went by mentioned above, Hecate has also ''a lot'' of {{wpl|epithet|epithets,}} especially for a minor deity next to others as Zeus.<ref>[https://www.patheos.com/blogs/matauryn/2017/07/19/many-epithets-hekate/ The Many Epithets of Hekate]</ref>

==Today==
Hecate is still held today in high regard in [[Neopaganism]], both in the standard eclectic and the [[Polytheistic_reconstructionism#Hellenistic_reconstructionism|reconstructionist]] flavors (where besides her associations with magic her other roles of having power over different realms, liminality, and protector of the home are also present), and occupying a prominent place in [[Wicca]] and other similar traditions especially as a (sometimes more or less sanitized) goddess of magic and witchcraft including to ask for her help to summon and control spirits. Other Neopagans prefer to celebrate a {{wpl|Deipnon}} the day of the new Moon, so when she's wandering around with her retinue of spirits will have something to eat (either Hecate or poor people who stumbles upon the food, that is), with her triple nature being very prominent and being often considered the "crone" aspect of the {{wpl|Triple Goddess||.}}, when she's not considered the latter deity and formed by such triad<ref>E.g. {{cite book |first=Donna |last=Wilshire |title=Virgin mother crone: myths and mysteries of the triple goddess |location=Rochester, VT |publisher=Inner Traditions International |year=1994 |page=213 |isbn=0-89281-494-2 }}.</ref> However, in ancient times, Hecate's three aspects had the same age, were considered to be the same goddess instead of independent ones{{efn|Note how in most statues of Hecate in triple form as those in the gallery below her three aspects appear in contact instead of separated, being three-bodied unlike others as [[Saint Brigid#The goddess|Brigid]] that is often considered three different deities worshipped as one}}, and both the "maiden, mother, and crone" triad and the symbol of the triple Moon ("🌒🌕🌘") that is very associated with her today [[The White Goddess|are modern inventions]]. She also appears in a number of popular culture works, where her association with magic and witchcraft is typically present, often mixing in of course the "Maiden, Mother, and Crone" triad,<ref>[https://www.patheos.com/blogs/hearthwitchdownunder/2016/08/30-days-of-hekate-26-hekate-in-popular-culture.html Hekate in popular culture]</ref> some of course putting her as evil too because of such associations<ref>[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Hecate Hecate]. It seems [[Disney]] had not still enough messing with Hades</ref> while others are much closer to how she's portrayed in the myths.<ref>[https://www.deviantart.com/a-gnosis A-Gnosis (DeviantArt). See "Queen of the Dead" and "Anthesteria" especially]</ref>

<gallery>
File:Antalya museum Hecate from Yalvaç 3110.jpg|Roman Hekate from 3<sup>rd</sup> century CE
File:William Blake - Hecate or the Three Fates - WGA02218.jpg|William Blake's ''Hecate'', or ''The Night of Enitharmon's Joy''
File:The_Hecate_Sisters.jpg|A modern figurine of Hecate (the third one is behind the other two 
smoking a pipe
 holding those two torches.
File:Hecateanddoggies.jpg|Another modern figurine of Hecate 
taking her dogs for a walk
.
</gallery>

==External links==
*{{wpl|Hecate|Hecate guiding you with the light of her torches to the other wiki}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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Categories: Deities, Folklore, Magic, Mythology, Pagan religions, Paganism, Religion, Greek mythology