Nemesis Now Greek Goddess Hekate Magic Goddess Bronze Figurine

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Hecate's most important sanctuary was Lagina, a theocratic city-state in which the goddess was served by eunuchs. [7] I have heard that the polecat was once a human being. It has also reached my hearing that Gale was her name then; that she was a dealer in spells and a sorceress ( pharmakis); that she was extremely lascivious, and that she was afflicted with abnormal sexual desires. Nor has it escaped my notice that the anger of the goddess Hekate transformed it into this evil creature. May the goddess be gracious to me: Fables and their telling I leave to others." [41] The Romans often knew her by the epithet of Trivia, an epithet she shares with Diana, each in their roles as protector of travel and of the crossroads (trivia, "three ways"). Hecate was closely identified with Diana/ Artemis in the Roman era. [12] Name and origin [ edit ]

Homer, Odyssey 10.135; Hesiod, Theogony 956; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.591; Apollodorus, 1.9.1; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 48.4; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked, "she is more at home on the fringes than in the centre of Greek polytheism. Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition." [11]A medieval commentator has suggested a link connecting the word "jinx" with Hecate: "The Byzantine polymath Michael Psellus [...] speaks of a bullroarer, consisting of a golden sphere, decorated throughout with symbols and whirled on an oxhide thong. He adds that such an instrument is called a iunx (hence "jinx"), but as for the significance says only that it is ineffable and that the ritual is sacred to Hecate." [169]

As Clay describes, Hekate stands as a kind of anti-Prometheus in Greek traditions. While the fire-bearing titan worsened relationships between gods and mortals, Hekate takes on the role of a crucial intermediary — a fitting position for a goddess of boundaries and crossroads. While some experts attribute Hesiod's Hekate fandom to his own personal worship of the deity, or perhaps his home village's connection to her, Clay interprets the focus as no mere whim, but rather a testament to Hekate's "critical mediating function" in the pantheon. A top of Hekate is a golden sphere enclosing a lapis lazuli in its middle that is twisted through a cow-hide leather thong and having engraved letters all over it. [Diviners] spin this sphere and make invocations. Such things they call charms, whether it is the matter of a spherical object, or a triangular one, or some other shape. While spinning them, they call out unintelligible or beast-like sounds, laughing and flailing at the air. [Hekate] teaches the taketes to operate, that is the movement of the top, as if it had an ineffable power. It is called the top of Hekate because it is dedicated to her. In her right hand she held the source of the virtues. But it is all nonsense." As quoted in Frank R. Trombley, Hellenic Religion and Christianization, C. 370–529, Brill, 1993, p. 319.

Aside from her own temples, Hecate was also worshipped in the sanctuaries of other gods, where she was apparently sometimes given her own space. A round stone altar dedicated to the goddess was found in the Delphinion (a temple dedicated to Apollo) at Miletus. Dated to the 7th century BCE, this is one of the oldest known artefacts dedicated to the worship of Hecate. [14] In association with her worship alongside Apollo at Miletus, worshipers used a unique form of offering: they would place stone cubes, often wreathes, known as γυλλοι ( gylloi) as protective offerings at the door or gateway. [14] [91] There was an area sacred to Hecate in the precincts of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, where the priests, megabyzi, officiated. [92] This sanctuary was called Hecatesion (Shrine of Hecate). [93] Hecate was also worshipped in the Temple of Athena in Titane: "In Titane there is also a sanctuary of Athena, into which they bring up the image of Koronis [mother of Asklepios] ... The sanctuary is built upon a hill, at the bottom of which is an Altar of the Winds, and on it the priest sacrifices to the winds one night in every year. He also performs other secret rites [of Hecate] at four pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts [of the winds], and he is said to chant as well the charms of Medea." [94] She was most commonly worshipped in nature, where she had many natural sanctuaries. An important sanctuary of Hecate was a holy cave on the island of Samothrake called Zerynthos: A favorite among modern and past witches, Hecate is an ancient Greek Goddess of magic, life and death, herbalism, the mysteries, and much more. She is a liminal spirit – she guards the thresholds between the human and spirit world. She’s found at the crossroads, at the doorways of homes, and at the gates of the cemetery. While a chthonic deity who presides over death and the dead, many forget Hecate is also a goddess of childbirth and life. As a triple goddess, her domain is the life/death/rebirth cycle. She is often depicted in a triple goddess form: as three women looking in different directions or as a three-headed canine. Orphic. Lithica, 48; Scholiast on Theocritus, l.c.; Apollonius Rhodius. Argonautica iii, 1211; Lycophron, 1175; Horace. Satires i, 8. 35; Virgil. Aeneid vi, 257. Bring some elements related to Hekate: down below you are going to find a few of the main elements you can use to create an altar. You can use one, two, three, or all of them or you can skip those suggestions and choose a few items that make you think of Hekate. When it comes to altars, the more you can customize them, the better!