work by Katlyn Breene

Daughter of Titanes Perses and Asteria

Since ancient times Hecate has been there within us all. All thanks to Zeus, who granted her this power, she forever -stands at the crossroads with her torch, governing who comes and goes within the spiritual realm.  Like the Greek and mysterious women she is, she’s also the goddess of witchcraft, and is sometimes seen as an old hag stirring a cauldron.  I don’t think hag is a very nice word, so lets just say older lovely lady.

Lover of the sky and moon, she is the queen of night who was never afraid to see the unseen within the dark, and the underworld.  This made her play an important role in Persephone’s life when she needed someone to talk to.  Hecate was always there, for she always knew what others did not.  With that fierce intuitive knowledge, and dark demeanor came her will to forever be independent.  Deciding to never rely on the power of a man to make her happy, she remained a virgin goddess.  She enjoyed being alone, lurking in cemeteries and hiding within the shadows.

But just because she likes to be alone and in charge, doesn’t mean she wouldn’t offer help.  Known for helping sailors at sea, she can also help anyone who asks her with respect.  One would not want to toy with her emotions, but she can play a huge part in our self-discovery path.  Hecate is one to urge you to look deeper into things (including yourself) to realize truths, even if they are scary. She can bring about swift change within our lives, be it bad or good.  Which ever creates lasting growth within us.  She sits deep within our souls waiting to be called upon for natural wisdom.  So don’t hesitate!

HALLOWEEN WITH HECATE

Since its almost Samhain, day of the dead, naturally Hecate would be most tangible, as the veil of seen and unseen becomes thinnest.  To connect with Hecate, go outside when the only light in the sky is that of the moon and stars, and call upon her.  Sit quietly and listen to what the night has to say to you.  Watch the moon as it stares lovingly at down in your direction.  Record any thoughts or experiences.

SYMBOLS AND THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR ALTER:

Torch, keys, dogs, cinnamon, mugwort, lime, raisins, candles, masks, moonstone, gold, owls, pumpkins, and dark colors

I have been researching her many faces and have become fascinated with the little understood Hecate and Kali. When you look at them they may seem vastly different from one another but in reality they are very similar. Both are feared as dark and mysterious Goddess with many fearsome attributes. But in reality they are nothing like recent history has portrayed them as.

Hecate… Greek goddess of the three paths, guardian of the household, protector of everything newly born, as well as the goddess of witchcraft — once a widely revered and influential goddess, the reputation of Hecate has been tarnished over the centuries.

She has been portrayed as the Goddess of Death, the Old Hag, sometimes pictures with three animal heads,  one with a snake’s head, one with a horse’s and the third a boar’s head. When in reality she was a beauty in her own right. As well as being the only God or Goddess that Zeus allowed equal power. While she never joined the Olympian pantheon, Zeus honored her above all other deities by giving her a special place and granting her dominion over heaven, earth, and the underworld, as well as the power to give or take from humanity anything she wished.

She has been seen walking the roads at night often in the company of her Hounds, sometimes traveling with a following of”ghosts”. She was know to help the dying make a smooth and painless passage into the next life and staying with them, if need be, in the otherworld to help prepare them for their eventual return to the earth in their next life.

The Goddess of death and dying as well as that of new birth and new life, the Hecate was wise in all of the earth’s mysteries. She is often called the liberator because She manifests in our deepest issues and emotions, and reminds us that we need to release the past, especially those things that are hindering our growth, and to accept change and transitions. She sometimes asks us to let go of the familiar and to travel to the dark and scary places of the soul. Making changes, whether spiritual or mundane, is rarely easy. But She is there show you the way.

Hecate became a wardress and conveyor of souls through the underworld. Like Kali, in India, Hecate, as a funerary priestess, conducted her rites in charnel or burial grounds, assisting in liberating the souls of the newly dead.

As a triple Goddess, she represents The Maiden, standing for new beginnings.  You turn to the Maiden when the moon is waxing, The Mother who you to turn to when you need nurturing and protection… Turn to the Mother when the Moon is Full, And the Crone who you turn to at the end of our turn on the wheel. Look to the Crone now when the moon is dark. She represents mind, body and spirit; and birth, life and death. Her smiles are the radiance of the moon, whether it is full or dark, her power is everywhere and in everything.

She has mistakenly been called the destroyer, but She is not. She is the Goddess of death and rebirth, so to destroy would mean that something is forever gone.  You cannot bring something back that has been destroyed. It is through Her that all things live or die.

She was also worshipped as a goddess of fertility, whose torch was carried over freshly sown fields to symbolize the fertilizing power of moonlight.

Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses. Kali is a goddess of death and destruction but She destroys only to recreate, and what she destroys is sin, ignorance and decay. Nowhere in the Hindu stories is she seen killing anything but demons nor is she associated specifically with actual human dying.

Kali is not always thought of as a Dark Goddess; rather, she is also referred to as a great and loving primordial Mother Goddess in the Hindu tantric tradition. In this aspect, as Mother Goddess, she is referred to as Kali Ma, meaning Kali Mother, because of her creative, nurturing and devouring aspects…

Her three forms are manifested in many ways: the three phases of the moon, the three sections of the cosmos (heaven, earth, and the underworld), the three stages of life, the three trimesters of pregnancy, and so on. Women represent her spirit in mortal flesh. Kali’s three forms are also sacred colors: white for the Virgin, red for the Mother, black for the Crone, the three together symbolizing birth, life, and death. To her worshippers in both Hinduism and Tantra she represents a multi-faceted Great Goddess responsible for all of life from conception to death.
Kali is represented as a Black woman with four arms that represent the complete circle of creation and destruction. In one hand she has a Sword, in another the head of the demon she has slain the bloodied sword and severed head symbolize the destruction of ignorance and the dawning of knowledge. The sword is the Sword of knowledge, which cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false consciousness (the severed head); with the other two she is encouraging her worshippers while representing the creative aspect of Kali.
Her garland of fifty human heads, each representing one of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, symbolizes the repository of knowledge and wisdom. Her only clothing is a girdle made of dead men’s hands, hands that are the principal instruments of work and so
Signify the action of karma. Thus the binding effects of this karma have
severed, as it were, by devotion to Kali, and her tongue protrudes from her mouth depicting the fact that she consumes all things and denotes the act of tasting or enjoying what society regards as forbidden.
Kali’s fierce appearances have been the subject of extensive descriptions in several earlier and modern works. Though her fierce form is filled with awe-inspiring symbols, their real meaning is not what it first appears.

Her black skin represents the womb of the chaos from which all of creation arises and into which all of creation will eventually dissolve. Kali’s blackness symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature, because black is the color in which all other colors merge; black absorbs and dissolves them. Or black is said to represent the total absence of color, again signifying the nature of Kali as ultimate reality. Either way, Kali’s black color symbolizes her transcendence of all form….
Kali’s nudity has a similar meaning. Her nudity is said to represent that. Kali is the bright fire of truth, which cannot be hidden by the clothes of ignorance.

Kali is Mother to her devotees not because she protects them from the way
things really are but because she reveals to them their mortality and thus
releases them to act fully and freely, releases them from the incredible,
binding web of “adult” pretense, practicality, and rationality

I could go on and on as there is much research both for and against these Goddesses. But what I basically want to show is that both Hecate and Kali are multi faceted Goddesses. And that to look at only one facet is not only disrespectful to the Goddess herself but also limiting to yourself.

Just as we are more than we sometimes seem to be so are these Goddesses. And we do her a disservice if we only accept the version of her that hundreds of years of fear, hatred, and ignorance have left us. Do not judge this book by the cover it has been given. Open it and look deeper inside and you may surprise yourself by finding a connection that will fulfill you.

Until next time
Blessed Home and Hearth
the Hearthkeeper

PS. If there is anything you would like to see here… Please email me at
theheartkeeper@gmail.com

Hecate (also known as Hekate) is the Greek Goddess of the Crossroads.  Her name means the “The Distant One”.  She guards the household; she is the protector of everything newly born and the Goddess of Witchcraft.   Hecate completes the Triple Goddess of Maiden (Persephone), Mother (Demeter) and Crone (Hecate).   Some of her titles are “Goddess of the Dark Moon”, “Goddess of the Witches”, “Mistress of Magic” and “Great Mother”.   She is a very powerful and active goddess so if you invoke her, be ready for a lifetime of service to her.  Hecate helps us to understand the darkness of the night and life so we can experience the light in our lives.
Hecate was one of the only Goddesses who was allowed to retain her authority by Zeus once the Olympians took control.  She could give humanity anything they wanted or take it away.   Hecate also was one of the “virgin” goddesses (like her cousin emis) who wouldn’t sacrifice her independence for marriage.   As time went on, Hecate was unfairly classified as an “old hag” because she could assist during times of the dark moon, during mediumship, dreams and she had great experience with death and death transitions.  Despite that, she is also known as a “Moon Goddesses” and her rulership was three-fold – earth, sea and sky.  Because she could create or hold off storms, she is the goddess who was the protector of sailors.
Hecate helps you during the crossroads in your life.  She is known for her foresight.   Many are known to gathe r at the crossroads and leave leftovers outdoors as offerings.  Hecate was usually depicted with her sacred animals but these animals and even herself in some situations were shown with three heads.  These three heads were seeing into the past, present and future.  Hecate also traveled with an Owl.  An Owl represents wisdom and even though she isn’t known as the goddess of Wisdom, she rules trivia.  Hecate is known to have a special type of knowledge.  She is also known as a compassionate goddess that dispenses justice but know that it will be blind and fair justice.
Since Hecate has the gift of prophecy, she is known to have told a sad and frantic Demeter what had happened to Persephone.  Even when Persephone was in the Underworld (or the “Otherworld”), Hecate was welcomed by Hades, who was thankful that Hecate could be Persephone’s confidant and friend.  Because of this friendship, Hecate developed into a Goddess that was comfortable with the=2 0Underworld and the Dead, hence being seen as someone who would accept those that were misunderstood or shunned.  She was known to travel with outcasts as her role of “Queen of the Night”.  This role earned her a mixture of honor and fear because she was walking with those that lived on the outer fringe.
Because of her experience with the Underworld, Hecate also worked with people making their transition to the Underworld.  She would comfort them as they passed and would stay with them if they needed transition to the Underworld.  She knew of the mysteries of birth and death and could protect and assist with both.
Hecate is here to help you make your transitions in life – not just birth and death but the symbolic births and deaths.  Hecate pushes you to let go of what is familiar and comfortable so you may bring out the depths of your soul and know and experience your life lessons.  Her festival days are January 8, May 3, August 13, October 31, November 16 and December 31.  Her gemstones are Moonstone, black tourmaline, hematite, smoky quartz – dark stones.
Even though Hecate’s reputation is of an “old hag”, Hecate is far from it.  If you are looking for profound changes and digging deep to do the work for them, Hecate may be the Goddess for your transformation.