Church of the Earth of NC

Written by Parerclip Essay on Hecate previously in a newsletter (late 2004)
Hecate's associations as the maiden aspect.

Hecate is a misunderstood goddess. She is often pictured as an old crone, scourging the earth on moonless nights, with fearsome dogs and restless souls as her entourage. Most do not realize that she is a handmaiden of Aphrodite, and that she is also associated with Apollo. Hecate’s transformation from Sappho’s goddess “shining of gold” to a dreadful hag personifying death can be attributed to her connections with crossroads, childbirth, and divination.

As guardian of the crossroads, Hecate was first pictured as a young woman wearing a long gown with a knife at her side and a torch in each hand. The knife was her pledge to protect travelers, and the torches were there for her to be able to guide them. She later evolved into an image of three faces, each facing a different direction, to oversee all happenings in the crossroads. Unfortunately, in the Underworld, souls were judged at the junction between the roads leading to the Elysian Fields, the Fields of Asphodel, and Tartarus. The final judgment of life is a scary prospect that many feared and dreaded. Also, when Persephone was confined to Hades’ realm for part of the year, Hecate was her guide between the worlds, and although that meant Hecate guided spring back to the earth, she is more remembered for bringing life to its supposed death. The final blow was the fact that the ancient Hellenes used the crossroads as their burial ground for suicides and convicted criminals. These three dark associations were the first step to Hecate being viewed as only a dark goddess.

Hecate stands on the boundary between life and death, just as midwives and healers do. She was called the “most shining one” and originally assisted Apollo in the daily birth of the Sun. Her original image also relates to her being a goddess of childbirth. The torches she carried represent fire, the ultimate purification, and the only defense against the diseases of the birthing chamber. The knife that hangs by her side, that is often used to take life from those undeserving of it, is also used to sever the umbilical cord. In this, Hecate is the guide to life and the guide to death. Her presence at both events solidifies her as a goddess who rules over creation and destruction equally. In matriarchal societies, childbirth is worshipped and revered. However, as the Hellenic culture grew more into a patriarchal society, childbirth soon became taboo and impure. Expectant and new mothers were hidden away for fear of contamination. Goddesses like Hecate, who were associated with childbirth, were pushed to the side in favor of new gods. The most well known example of this change is Hestia, the goddess of hearth, home, and family, and her losing a place on Mount Olympus to Dionysus, the god of wine.

Queen of the Witches is another title that has been bestowed upon Hecate. She is known to bless her followers with true and insightful wisdom. Also, she can grant the ability to guide others using divination. Her downfall came in two forms in respect to this attribute. First, those who were given true wisdom were often not believed, they were considered liars, and declared mad by many of their peers. The line between inspiration and madness is gray at best, and Hecate was blamed with lunatic ravings as well as eloquent speeches. The second blow was when the Christian Church assumed power and declared all forms of divination to be false and innately dark and evil. This lead to many of earlier myths of Hecate as a goddess who bestowed great gifts being forgotten, and the ones were she is in her role of Goddess of the Dead brought into the foreground.

Hecate, like most Hellenic gods and goddesses, does not fit neatly into any one description. I believe that Hecate can best be seen as a modern, working, woman. She is neither fully maiden nor crone, and never a mother. Hecate represents a woman who does not depend on a man. She has the wisdom of the crone, yet the youth and vitality of a maiden. Her associations with dark aspects are correct, but often forgotten are her affiliations with life as well. She is truly a goddess who stands on the boundary between life and death; between light and darkness. She is like the gateway that ushers in change. She is the crossroads but none of the roads themselves. And to me, who sees a part of her in every strong woman, she is a friend.

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