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The Process of Gods : A Study of the Goddess Hekate Part 3 Hekate was, as ruler of boundaries also capable of facilitating communication and between realms. In that guise She was invoked by sorcerers raising the dead (as in some of the literary records we do have) and probably by those who sought Her aid in portioning the Gods of Olympus and Hades. As key-bearer and guardian of doorways, She is also, naturally, the opener of the portals she protects. The evidence also supports Rabinowitz’ assertion that Her transcendental position in regard to the Heavens, Earth, Sea and Underworld, that Hekate is a mediatrix between these realms and thus the “deathless gods” and men. That she is the Hekate Trivia, Goddess the cross roads and clearly is a ruler over transition, as She is often found where one world (the world of humanity and another, whether the underworld or heaven, are joined, intersected or transited) in some form throughout her development seems conclusive evidence for this mediating role. Indeed, Rabinowitz links the function Hekate as a mediatrix to the Voudon Loa Legba , a conclusion I had arrived at from a rather different direction (working with M. Bertiaux’s published materials from the OTOA and Black & Hyatt’s Urban Voodoo) and provides ample proof that this attribution, of Lord (Lady) of the Crossroads, is an indication of Her ability to transcend the boundaries of Heaven and Earth by examining the cult of Legba and comparing Him to what we know of the ancient symbol and myths of Hekate. The passage upon which this assertion rests is worth quoting: For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, he calls upon Hecate (sic). This does indeed seem to place Hekate in a functionary role similar to Legba, especially considering the similarities in the symbolism of the crossroads. So demonstrated, this opens the door, so to speak, to understanding Hekate in a very primal form, as Her relation to the World Tree, so central to shamanic cosmology, places Her firmly in the systems of the oldest known magickal and religious frameworks of humanity. Through this understanding, it is now possible to “reconstruct”, or at least devise reasonable facsimiles of some of the most ancient ritual practices associated with Hekate and, perhaps most importantly, to understand Her development into Her form as represented in the Late Classical world and down through the two millennia since She was ‘demonized’ and Her worship was driven underground. Rabinowitz explores these themes in his book but, since shamanism is not within the scope of this brief essay, I recommend The Rotting Goddess to the reader, as both an excellent survey as well as a strongly documented starting point for further research for any of the points touched on here. Hekate is often (again no doubt due to Her later development as portrayed
in the literary works of the late Roman Empire) associated with the
Moon. While this attribution is not without foundation as we have seen,
and will find later, the Lunar aspect of Hekate is marginal at best
during most of the time she was openly worshipped compared to other
forms of the Goddess. It seems likely, in fact, that the Lunar attributions
are largely due to ‘contamination’ by other deities as Hekate
was synchretised into the Greek and then Roman Pantheons. This is important
for two reasons. The first is that popular or later conception of a
god may often be at odds or at least skewed compared to their actual
myth or cult, particularly if the goddess in question has Her roots,
so to speak, in the distant past. Second, it is a perfect example of
how gods mutate and develop over time and across cultural boundries.
It is worth noting that Hekate is enjoying something of a revival amongst
modern pagans who emphasize the Lunar connection with the Goddess, and
in spite of the mentioned marginality of this aspect of Hekate in the
ancient world, have formed relationships with the Goddess as strong,
no doubt, as they were in ancient times. Thus, Hekate was primarily
not a Moon Goddess, but now is! Such is the nature of the gods.
Hekate is most well known in modern times from the classical representations of Her as a Goddess of Witchcraft and ruler of “Darkness” which is at once the gestating KAOS from which the world is created, the sun opposing Night (as in the Egyptian myth of Re and the APEP serpent) as well as the “ordinary” or worldly night, the time of criminals, sorcery and the unquiet dead. In medieval Europe, Hekate was sometimes associated with pagan “holdovers” such as legends of the Wild Hunt. In the Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities we are told that Hekate “was only worshipped at night by torchlight”. She is consistantly associated with “deeds of darkness, the Goddess of the Crossways, which held to be ghostly places of evil magic. An awful divinity" . These representaion are certainly indicative of how She was concieved in Late antiquity, mainly in the works of the “Poets” such as Lucan and Ovid, but are not, by any means, the entire story of Her place in the mind and religions of the Ancient world. Nevertheless, it is not my intent to rehabiltate, as it were, the concept
of Hekate, as this depth and mythically rich background is clearly part
of the reason the form of the Goddess was revealed in the Nine Coils
as She was, identified with Hekate as well as the “modern”
hypostasis of the Primeval Mother found in Thelema, Babalon. Neither
should we think of the Hekate of later Antiquity as less authentic or
in some way wrong, simply as an aspect, from which we attempt to create
our portrait. I wish to draw as complete a picture of Hekate as possible
and so wholly reject “political correctness” in our search
for understanding. This is for the simple, and, in my view, conclusive
reason that social perspectives of the various forces of Nature and
Spirit are products of historical and cultural themes that, while valid
for the moment, do nothing for our desire to approach Her mysteries,
by reason of the very temporal nature of these concepts. In short, social
and political views come and go (and often come ‘round again)
but She is Eternal, unchanging and perfect in Herself. It is our perspective
that changes. This central fact of Her being (the timeless or eternal
aspect) is what we, who seek the “deep things” or “Mysteries”
of the gods are, in my view, searching for. What this comes down to,
in a practical sense, is the inclusion of ALL aspects of the Goddess,
regardless of modern sensibilities. This doesn’t mean I am advocating
or practicing animal sacrifice any more than writing about Kali advocates
the practices of the Thugees, but I will not shy away from or gloss
over aspects of Hekate for any reason, no matter how terrible or corrupt
they seem, at least in our researches.
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