It was probably her role as guardian of entrances that led to Hecate's identification by the mid fifth century with Enodia, a Thessalian goddess. Enodia's very name ("In-the-Road") suggests that she watched over entrances, for it expresses both the possibility that she stood on the main road into a city, keeping an eye on all who entered, and in the road in front of private houses, protecting their inhabitants. [60] Webster, Noah (1866). A Dictionary of the English Language (10thed.). Rules for pronouncing the vowels of Greek and Latin proper names", p.9:" Hecate ..., pronounced in three syllables when in Latin, and in the same number in the Greek word Ἑκάτη; in English is universally contracted into two, by sinking the final e. Shakespeare seems to have begun, as he has now confirmed, this pronunciation, by so adapting the word in Macbeth.... And the play-going world, who form no small portion of what is called the better sort of people, have followed the actors in this world, and the rest of the world have followed them. The origin of the name Hecate (Ἑκάτη, Hekátē) and the original country of her worship are both unknown, though several theories have been proposed. Hecate was seen as a triple deity, identified with the goddesses Luna (Moon) in the sky and Diana (hunting) on the earth, while she represents the Underworld. [66] Hecate's association with Helios in literary sources and especially in cursing magic has been cited as evidence for her lunar nature, although this evidence is pretty late; no artwork before the Roman period connecting Hecate to the Moon exists. [67] Nevertheless, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter shows Helios and Hecate informing Demeter of Persephone's abduction, a common theme found in many parts of the world where the Sun and the Moon are questioned concerning events that happen on earth based on their ability to witness everything [67] and implies Hecate's capacity as a moon goddess in the hymn. [68] Another work connecting Hecate to Helios possibly as a moon goddess is Sophocles' lost play The Root Cutters, where Helios is described as Hecate's spear:

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (composed c. 600 BCE), Hecate is called "tender-hearted", an epithet perhaps intended to emphasize her concern with the disappearance of Persephone, when she assisted Demeter with her search for Persephone following her abduction by Hades, suggesting that Demeter should speak to the god of the Sun, Helios. Subsequently, Hecate became Persephone's companion on her yearly journey to and from the realms of Hades, serving as a psychopomp. Because of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone, [2] and there was a temple dedicated to her near the main sanctuary at Eleusis. [29] Classical period [ edit ]Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes. The supposed connection between Hecate and attested "Carian theophoric names" is not convincing, and instead suggests an aspect of the process of her Hellenization. One surviving group of stories [ clarification needed] suggests how Hecate might have come to be incorporated into the Greek pantheon without affecting the privileged position of Artemis. Here, Hecate is a mortal priestess often associated with Iphigenia. She scorns and insults Artemis, who in retribution eventually brings about the mortal's suicide. [127]

Armour, Robert A. (2001). Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt. American University in Cairo Press. p.116. Shakespeare, William (c. 1605) [ c. 1603–1607]. Macbeth. actIII, scene5, line1. Why, how now, Hecat! 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 ]

Meaning and Epithets

a b c d e f g h i j k l Rabinowitz, Jacob. The Rotting Goddess: The origin of the witch in classical antiquity's demonization of fertility religion. Autonomedia, 1998. Relief of triplicate Hekate. Three female figures framed in aedicula, with high poloi on their heads, dressed in chiton and peplos, holding torches in their hands. When should I create it? I feel shame and guilty… I really don’t want to disappoint the godness.Because of those blasphemous thoughts,I dare not start a connection with the goddess. 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 The ground-work of the above-mentioned confusions and identifications, especially with Demeter and Persephone, is contained in the Homeric hymn to Demeter; for, according to this hymn, she was, besides Helios, the only divinity who, from her cave, observed the abduction of Persephone. With a torch in her hand, she accompanied Demeter in the search after Persephone; and when the latter was found, Hecate remained with her as her attendant and companion. She thus becomes a deity of the lower world; but this notion does not occur till the time of the Greek tragedians, though it is generally current among the later writers. She is described in this capacity as a mighty and formidable divinity, ruling over the souls of the departed; she is the goddess of purifications and expiations, and is accompanied by Stygian dogs. 11 By Phorcys she became the mother of Scylla. 12

Aelian (1958). On the Characteristics of Animals by Aelian. Translated by Scholfield, Alwyn Faber. Harvard University Press.

The statues of Hecate

Richard Cavendish, The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic and Folk Belief, Routledge, 1975, p. 62. The spelling Hecat is due to Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, [25] and this spelling without the final E later appears in plays of the Elizabethan- Jacobean period. [26] Webster's Dictionary of 1866 particularly credits the influence of Shakespeare for the then-predominant disyllabic pronunciation of the name. [27] Iconography [ edit ] Hekataion with the Charites, Attic, 3rd century BCE ( Glyptothek, Munich) Hecate was said to favour offerings of garlic, which was closely associated with her cult. [53] She is also sometimes associated with cypress, a tree symbolic of death and the underworld, and hence sacred to a number of chthonic deities. [54] Antiphanes, in Athenaeus, 313 B (2. 39 K), and 358 F; Melanthius, in Athenaeus, 325 B. Plato, Com. (i. 647. 19 K), Apollodorus, Melanthius, Hegesander, Chariclides (iii. 394 K), Antiphanes, in Athenaeus, 358 F; Aristophanes, Plutus, 596.

a b Johnston, Sarah Iles, (1991). Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. ISBN 0-520-21707-1 A number of other plants (often poisonous, medicinal and/or psychoactive) are associated with Hecate. [55] These include aconite (also called hecateis), [56] belladonna, dittany, and mandrake. It has been suggested that the use of dogs for digging up mandrake is further corroboration of the association of this plant with Hecate; indeed, since at least as early as the 1st century CE, there are a number of attestations to the apparently widespread practice of using dogs to dig up plants associated with magic. [57] Functions [ edit ] Gilt bronze Hekataion, 1st century CE. Musei Capitolini, Rome. As a goddess of boundaries [ edit ] By the 1st century CE, Hecate's chthonic and nocturnal character had led to her transformation into a goddess heavily associated with witchcraft, witches, magic, and sorcery. In Lucan's Pharsalia, the witch Erichtho invokes Hecate as "Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of Hecate, the goddess we witches revere", and describes her as a "rotting goddess" with a "pallid decaying body", who has to "wear a mask when [she] visit[s] the gods in heaven." [29] Although in later times Hecate's dog came to be thought of as a manifestation of restless souls or daemons who accompanied her, its docile appearance and its accompaniment of a Hecate who looks completely friendly in many pieces of ancient art suggests that its original signification was positive and thus likelier to have arisen from the dog's connection with birth than the dog's underworld associations." [38] The association with dogs, particularly female dogs, could be explained by a metamorphosis myth in Lycophron: the friendly looking female dog accompanying Hecate was originally the Trojan Queen Hecuba, who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by Hecate into her familiar. [39] Cicero, Horace, Juvenal, Martial, Pliny, Seneca, and Suetonius have left abundant and interesting testimony to the red mullet fever which began to affect wealthy Romans during the last years of the Republic and really gripped them in the early Empire. The main symptoms were a preoccupation with size, the consequent rise to absurd heights of the prices of large specimens, a habit of keeping red mullet in captivity, and the enjoyment of the highly specialized aesthetic experience induced by watching the color of the dying fish change." [45]

During the Gigantomachy, Hecate fought by the side of the Olympian gods, and slew the giant Clytius using her torches. [133] Hecate is depicted fighting Clytius in the east frieze of the Gigantomachy, in the Pergamon Altar next to Artemis; [134] she appears with a different weapon in each of her three right hands, a torch, a sword and a lance. [4] Her fight with the Giant appears in a number of ancient vase paintings and other artwork. [34] [135] Marlowe, Christopher (c. 1603) [first published 1604; performed earlier]. Doctor Faustus. actIII, scene2, line21– via Google Books. Pluto's blue fire and Hecat's tree Hi Gayle! I was excited to see your reply. I had a dream about a few weeks ago about her. I have been having issues with remembering my dreams and I asked one night if there was someone who wanted to work with me to please let me know and for them to not be so suttle but very direct because I wanted to be sure. Well that night the only thing I remembered from that dream was me rushing, running or being pushes towards something and I screamed her name for help as I was approaching something not sure what it was…maybe a tree trunk I am really not sure but I woke up and remembering her name. Now am researching how to safely work with her. My son found a dog on Thanksgiving 2021 and I decided to let him keep it. He would sit under me all the time, sleep in my room and would go crazy if anyone approach my my home while my kids were outside. Although he was “my sons dog” Cash ( the dog’s name) would always be by my side. I had to give him away because I had to move and we could not bring any pets along. I am currently researching more about her so that I can fully understand how to work with her. I also have been studying herbs and the best ways to incorporate them in soaps and candles for a business so I feel like I am on the right path.