{"id":4946,"date":"2011-03-01T01:10:12","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T06:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=5023"},"modified":"2011-02-23T22:11:02","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T03:11:02","slug":"lets-spell-it-out-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2011\/03\/01\/lets-spell-it-out-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Spell it Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greetings!\u00a0 This month\u2019s article is inspired by a Greek feast day called the Anthesteria, the festival of flowers.\u00a0 It fell on March 4th<\/sup> and was dedicated to Flora and Hecate.<\/p>\n

FLORA<\/span><\/p>\n

Flora is the eternally youthful Roman goddess of flowers, flowering plants, flower magic, grain, human sexuality, fertility of vegetation and is associated with the element of Earth.<\/p>\n

Flora was the consort of Zephyrus, the god of the South Winds who announced the arrival of Spring. She was mostly worshipped by young girls who gave her offerings of fruits and flowers.\u00a0 Flora was one of the many ancient goddesses that were depicted carrying a flower garland which links her to the month of May.<\/p>\n

While flowers were under Flora\u2019s domain, she was also the goddess of the fertility of both the vegetable and animals kingdoms.\u00a0 Flora was associated with the Cornflower, mulberry and avocado as well as many trees including the Apple, Olive, Fig, Peach, Pine, Plum, Hawthorn and Cherry.<\/p>\n

Beside March 4th<\/sup>, there were a few other days on the calendar set aside for Flora.\u00a0 Her festivals had strong sexual overtones, but they were also associated with the dead, which explains the link to the Underworld goddess Hecate.\u00a0 These festivals were to not only honor the goddess Flora, but to also ensure a bountiful harvest.<\/p>\n

The Floralia, sacred to Flora, Maia (the month of May is named after her) and Venus was a Roman festival that ran from April 28th<\/sup> to May 3rd<\/sup>.\u00a0 Offerings of flowers and flowered wreaths were made to Flora the Goddess of Flowers and Maia the Earth Goddess during this festival.\u00a0 The wreaths were mounted on a flower garland adorned pole, the precursor to the Maypole of Bealtaine.\u00a0 This pole, along with flower-bedecked statues of Flora and Maia, was then carried through the street in a procession in honor of Maia.\u00a0 Singers and dancers joined in the revelry.\u00a0 Seeds and beans were thrown into the sideline crowds to bestow Flora\u2019s fertility and fecundity.\u00a0 As Flora was also a goddess of youthful pleasures and the patroness of prostitutes (flowers are the sex organs of plants after all), medallions depicting various sexual positions were passed out as well.\u00a0 The naked female body was honored until the authorities became prudish in the third century CE and demanded that the celebrants wear clothing.\u00a0 Flora was the unofficial patroness of the city because without her help with fertility, the city-state would not have flourished.<\/p>\n

In her Flora aspect, the Roman goddess Cardea was known as the Queen of May.\u00a0 Towards the end of May, the Roman Rosalia, again sacred to both Flora and Venus, fell on May 23rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

As the practices of the Romans were imported to northern Europe during the Roman occupation, it seems that the statues of the goddess Flora transformed into the May Doll.\u00a0 On May 1st<\/sup>, a doll that represented the goddess as the May Lady or the Queen of May, was carried procession-style by young girls in groups of two or three.\u00a0 They sang traditional May songs while carrying a flowered garland and brought the May Doll from one house to the next.\u00a0 The doll\u2019s face was hidden and there was a price to pay for the honor to see it.\u00a0 If the people of the household gave a gift, they would see the May Doll\u2019s face and the Goddess\u2019s blessings were bestowed upon them.<\/p>\n

Flora is still honored today in modern Pagan and Wiccan traditions, especially during the Sabbats of Ostara (the Vernal Equinox) and Bealtaine (May 1st<\/sup>).\u00a0 Flowers are woven into such things as wreaths garlands and headdresses, which are worn by ritual participants.\u00a0 Modern worshippers thank Flora for the coming of the warmer seasons of Spring and Summer.<\/p>\n

Some semblances of the ancient Roman May festivals have survived to modern-day Italy.\u00a0 Today, there are centered on the Goddess\u2019 latest incarnation as the Virgin Mary as well as other saints.\u00a0 The signing of the past has survived as well; Italian boys can be seen serenading their sweethearts on May 1st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

THE SPELL<\/p>\n

This is an excellent time of the year to get your vegetable garden started.\u00a0 Gather up your seeds, potting soil and planting pots.\u00a0 If you wish, you could also burn some floral incense or burn a pastel-colored candle. As you plant your seeds, visualize how they will grow before and after you transplant them into your garden or flowerbox.\u00a0 Call upon Flora for her blessings in your own words, or use this:<\/p>\n

\u201cGoddess of eternal youth,<\/p>\n

As I place these seeds in this earth;<\/p>\n

Please bestow fecundity,<\/p>\n

And a fruitful harvest to me.<\/p>\n

Bless these seeds so they take root,<\/p>\n

So I have vegetables and fruit,<\/p>\n

To get me through the wintertime,<\/p>\n

Flora I thank you with this rhyme.<\/p>\n

For the god of all and with harm to none,<\/p>\n

So say I, so shall it be done!\u201d<\/p>\n

HECATE<\/span><\/p>\n

Hecate (pronounced HEK-uh-tay) was worshipped from at least 800 BCE until 400 CE.\u00a0 She was called many things, including the Most Lovely One, the Great Sorceress of Nature, the Goddess of Transformations, the Wise Old Woman, the Distant One, the Queen of the Ghost World, the Queen of the World of Spirits and the Silver Footed Queen of the Night.\u00a0 Although Hecate is best known for being a Greek goddess, she is more ancient than that.\u00a0 No one can say for sure where her true origins lie but we do know that she was pre-Olympian and from a time called the Age of the Titans.\u00a0 Some believe she has a link to the Nubians through the Egyptian goddess Heket while others feel that she traveled south form Trace. \u00a0\u00a0Because Hecate has been associated with animals, symbols and concepts from the Paleolithic and Neolithic cultures, she is said to be a prehistoric goddess.\u00a0 She survived the Bronze Age and made her way to Classical Greece.<\/p>\n

In the western Turkey region of Caria, Hecate was the primary goddess.\u00a0 Mysteries and games were played at Hecate\u2019 sanctuary at the ancient cult site of Lagina in southwestern Turkey.\u00a0 West of Lagina was the region of Zernthos and there Hecate was given the name Zerynthia and she had a cave sacred to her named Zerynthos in Samothrace, a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea.\u00a0 Hecate or Hekate, was sometimes known as Kekabe and was related to Kubaba\/Kybebe (Cybele).\u00a0 The Thessalonians called her Enodia.<\/p>\n

Because she seems to be from a far-away place, it is fitting that Hecate\u2019s name means \u201cshe who succeeds form afar\u201d.\u00a0 Because it is hard to discern her origins, her parentage is also up for debate.\u00a0 Because she is said to have been a Titan and not a Greek goddess, some say that she was born to the Titans Tartaros and Night.\u00a0 Others credit Zeus and Hera or Perses and Asteria.<\/p>\n

In ancient art, Hecate\u2019s appearance varies.\u00a0 She wore a shimmering headdress.\u00a0 Sometimes she is shown with three heads, other times she is depicted as three women (similar to the Celtic Brigit).\u00a0 An ivory plaque from eight century BCE Sparta shows Hecate with wings.\u00a0 Some even say that she wears a necklace of strung testicles.\u00a0 As she is a Moon Goddess, she carries at least one torch.\u00a0 Due to her connection with Artemis\/Diana, she is also seen with a bow and a quiver of arrows.\u00a0 She even sometimes holds a whip.<\/p>\n

Goddess of the Crossroads<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of the crossroads in very ancient one and holds great significance.\u00a0 The lore of the crossroads traveled through time form southern Europe to northern Europe; many fateful events transpired at crossroads in stories.\u00a0 Today, crossroads are a place where two roads cross<\/em>, making the shape of a \u201c+\u201d or an \u201cX\u201d.\u00a0 The original crossroads were a place where three roads meet to form the shape of a \u201cY\u201d.\u00a0 The \u201cY\u201d shape is significant; it symbolizes the past, present and future as well as being \u00a0linked to the magickal serpent.\u00a0 Snakes have long been revered as mystical creatures due in part to their ability to shed their skin and move on.\u00a0 The snake has a forked tongue which it uses to \u201ctaste\u201d the air to ascertain what is happening in the area around it.\u00a0 It then makes a decision as to where to go next.<\/p>\n

The number three being magically powerful goes back to antiquity because it was believed to be an amplification of root power.\u00a0 In other words, if one thing was powerful and you were to triple the number of that thing, then it would stand to reason that it was now three times as powerful.<\/p>\n

Because of this power, the crossroads were a place to perform magic or divination, make fateful decisions, communicate with conjured spirits, perform rites of purification or banishment, and to have mystical encounters.\u00a0 There were many goddesses that became associated with the powerful crossroads, but the three most known were Diana, Prosperina and Hecate.\u00a0 The ancient writer Varro equated Hecate with the Diana, calling Hecate Trivia which means \u201cOf the Three Roads\u201d or \u201cShe of the Crossroads\u201d.\u00a0 Both Diana and Hecate were torch-bearing goddesses of witchcraft whose worshipers gathered only at night at the crossroads.\u00a0 Images of both goddesses were placed there.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Hecate was pictured in art as having three faces; one that could see in each of the three directions of the crossroads.\u00a0 These faces weren\u2019t always human in nature; some artists depicted her as having the face of a snake, a horse and a dog.\u00a0 The ancient writer Ovid said that Hecate\u2019s face \u201cturned in three directions that she may guard the crossroads where they branch three separate ways\u201d.\u00a0 A wooden pole, called the Hekataion, was placed at these crossroads.\u00a0 It began as a tree stump because Hecate was the goddess of the Three Worlds and the World Tree of Life, but it later evolved into a pole that had three masks hung on it.\u00a0 Each mask faced one of the directions of the roads.\u00a0 The Hekataion represented Hecate as the guardian of the entrance of the Underworld and it also represented the sacred tree that stood in the center of the sacred grove of the Goddess.<\/p>\n

Hecate\u2019s worshippers often traveled to her crossroads to leave her offerings, request her protection during travel and to ask for her help with the issues of their daily lives.\u00a0 Other times they left offerings to aspects of Hecate.\u00a0 For instance, women brought pig offerings to Kourotrophos at the crossroads.\u00a0 Kourotrophos was the child-nurse aspect of Artemis-Hecate (who has also been equated with the Celtic goddess Aeracura\/Aericura.<\/p>\n

It was believed that the crossroads were haunted by people who had died unjustly and were un-avenged.\u00a0 These spirits were conjured by sorcerers to attack their enemies because of their vengeful nature.\u00a0 Hecate was said to stroll around the crossroads with her black dogs.\u00a0 Because Hecate was the Goddess of the Crossroads, and the crossroads had the association with Black Magic, Hecate came to be known as the goddess of the Dark Arts.\u00a0 Those who invoked Hecate at the crossroads were believed to be experts in the manufacture deadly poisons.\u00a0 It was thought that Hecate would either bless or curse those that passed y the crossroads, depending ion what kind or person that they were and what Hecate thought that they deserved.<\/p>\n

Hecate is also connected to the guardian spirits known as the Lare (pronounced lah-ray).\u00a0 This is yet another connection between Hecate and Diana, the Queen of the Faeries.\u00a0 The Roman Lare spirits evolved form the Etruscan Lasa spirits, the faeries of the fields and grain who evolved form the Cult of the Dead.\u00a0 Due to this connection, the Lare were worshipped at Hecate\u2019s crossroads.<\/p>\n

The Three Faces of Hecate<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of the Triple Goddess, or the Maiden-Mother-Crone, is found in many different cultures.\u00a0 As noted earlier, the crossroads were significant due to the number three.\u00a0 The number three represented the beginning, middle and end, according to Pythagoras.\u00a0 The Triple goddess is usually seen as three women in different stages of their life; youth, the age of maturity and old age.\u00a0 The Triple Goddess is sometimes depicted as the Three Fates, called the Moirae or the Norns.\u00a0 Many goddesses had a Wheel of Life in which they spun the lives of humans.\u00a0 The Triple Goddess did this as well, only in a different manner; the Maiden pulls the thread, the Mother spins the thread and the Crone cuts the thread at the end of the person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Although Hecate is a Triple Goddess, one who sees in three directions at once, she is most often seen as the wise Crone.\u00a0 She has gained much knowledge and wields great magick.\u00a0 The Crone is the dark aspect of the Moon and is the closest of the three goddesses to the death-rebirth phase of life.<\/p>\n

The Three Worlds of Hecate<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Goddess of the World Tree, Hecate reigns over the three cosmic realms.\u00a0 To the southern Europeans, these worlds were known as Ouranos the Overworld, Gaia the Middleworld and Pontos the Underworld.\u00a0 In the northern part of Europe, the Celts called these three worlds Gwynvyd the Upperworld, Abred the Middleworld (Earth) and Annwn the Underworld.\u00a0 Hecate was given domain over a portion of the sky (Upperworld), sea (Underworld) and earth (Middleworld) by Zeus.<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, Hecate is most known for being the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess, which makes her the Queen of the Underworld.\u00a0 In both the southern and northern European mythologies, the Underworld was considered to be a world of water.\u00a0 As a pond or a lake is a microcosmic version of the vast ocean, it is considered a bridge to the Underworld as the water flows to and from it.\u00a0 Other access points to the Underworld would be caves, portals, tunnels or doorways.<\/p>\n

The philosopher Porphyry explained Hecate as being Triformis or three formed, \u201cThe Moon is Hecate\u2026her power appears in three forms: Selene is in Heaven, Artemis is on Earth and Hekate is in the Underworld\u201d.\u00a0 The poet Hesiod said that Hecate reigned over the Three Great Mysteries; Birth, Life and Death.<\/p>\n

The ancients gave offerings to Hecate in all three of her realms.\u00a0 As an act of libation, wine is poured onto the soil in honor of the spirits of the Earth and the chthonic deities of the Underworld.\u00a0 Our ancestors would then toss pieces of cake into the night sky in honor of the deities of the Moon.<\/p>\n

Hecate\u2019s Broom<\/span><\/p>\n

The iconic Witches Broom is linked to the hearth, the World Tree, the Three Realms and to Hecate. \u00a0The World Tree reaches its branches up to the Upperworld, it sinks its roots down into the Underworld and its trunk is in our world.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, the handle of the Witches\u2019 Broom was made from the branch of an Ash tree which is associated with the Underworld realm of Water and was said to give the Witch power over the Elements.\u00a0 The sweep was made from birch twigs which is associated with having power over and protection from spirits which were believed to reside in the Upperworld realm of Air.\u00a0 The handle and the sweep were bound together with strips of Willow bark.\u00a0 The Willow tree, which declared the Witches\u2019 allegiance to Hecate, has long been associated with the Middleworld realm of Earth because its branches arc towards the ground.<\/p>\n

The broom, like the Hekataion, was symbolic of the cosmic World Tree and the deity that resided inside the central tree of the sacred grove.\u00a0 The broom is a metaphoric key to the three realms of Hecate; a shamanic tool to journey through the various worlds.\u00a0 The broom was considered a symbol to the spirits that Hecate had bestowed power to that person as a Witch.<\/p>\n

Animals of Hecate<\/span><\/p>\n

The totemic animals associated with Hecate go back to her prehistoric origins.\u00a0 These animals stayed with this Goddess of the Witches and with the Witches themselves over the centuries; from before the Inquisition up to our time.<\/p>\n