[17] The word "heka" in the Egyptian language is also both the word for "magic" and the name of the god of magic and medicine, Heka. 8. "Many have been caught by the obvious resemblance of the Gr. Her attendants draped wreathes of yew around the necks of black bulls which they slaughtered in her honor and yew boughs were burned on funeral pyres. As a consort of the female Triple Goddess, the two aspects of the Horned God highlight night and day, battle and peace, sun and the moon, cold and warmth. She is seated on a throne, with a chaplet around her head; the depiction is otherwise relatively generic. Qetesh's sexuality led to a natural association with the Egyptian goddess Hathor. She was a warrior goddess. Qetesh is the name given to the Goa'uld that once possessed Vala Mal Doran, a recurring and then regular character in Seasons 9 and 10, respectively of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. She travelled a long way, and a long time, from further south in Africa. Otherwise, they are typically generic, or Artemis-like. No, right? The goddess had many titles and epithets, often overlapping with other deities. In art and myth, she is shown, along with Hermes, guiding Persephone back from the underworld with her torches. A medieval commentator has suggested a link connecting the word "jinx" with Hecate: "The Byzantine polymath Michael Psellus [] speaks of a bullroarer, consisting of a golden sphere, decorated throughout with symbols and whirled on an oxhide thong. Additional possible triads are Artemis, Selene, and Hecate or Persephone, Demeter, and Hekate. Hecate or Hekate[a] is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs,[1] and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. One name was known to Sekhmet and eight associated deities, and; and one name (known only to Sekhmet herself) was the means by which Sekhmet could modify her being or cease to exist. [7] In the post-Christian writings of the Chaldean Oracles (2nd3rd century CE) she was also regarded with (some) rulership over earth, sea, and sky, as well as a more universal role as Savior (Soteira), Mother of Angels and the Cosmic World Soul. The body of Osiris is believed to be guarded by four Egyptian cat goddesses, and Sekhmet is one of them. Medusa came to Greece from Libya as the Serpent Goddess, and the destroyer aspect of the Great Triple Goddess. [citation needed], During the Gigantomachy, Hecate fought by the side of the Olympian gods, and slew the giant Clytius using her torches. However, Sekhmet is a solar goddess. Here I disclaim all my paternal care" (The Arden Shakespeare, King Lear, Page no.165), In 1929, Lewis Brown, an expert on religious cults, connected the 1920s Blackburn Cult (also known as, "The Cult of the Great Eleven,") with Hecate worship rituals. [100] The island is the modern Megalos (Great) Reumatiaris.[101]. [3] Her fight with the Giant appears in a number of ancient vase paintings and other artwork. In the 1st century CE, Virgil described the entrance to hell as "Hecate's Grove", though he says that Hecate is equally "powerful in Heaven and Hell." Sekhmet is a powerful and unique therianthropic (part-animal, part human-like) mother goddess from ancient Egypt. "Hecate mediated between regimesOlympian and Titanbut also between mortal and divine spheres. [82] Likewise, shrines to Hecate at three way crossroads were created where food offerings were left at the new Moon to protect those who did so from spirits and other evils. There were over 2,000 deities in the Egyptian pantheon, many whose names are well known - Isis, Osiris, Horus, Amun, Ra, Hathor, Bastet, Thoth, Anubis, and Ptah among others - but many more less so who were also important. She has three faces for her role as the goddess of boundaries and the guardian of . [71] In Italy, the triple unity of the lunar goddesses Diana (the huntress), Luna (the Moon) and Hecate (the underworld) became a ubiquitous feature in depictions of sacred groves, where Hecate/Trivia marked intersections and crossroads along with other liminal deities. She is variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, protection from witchcraft, the Moon, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, graves, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. [28], By the 5th century BCE, Hecate had come to be strongly associated with ghosts, possibly due to conflation with the Thessalian goddess Enodia (meaning "traveller"), who travelled the earth with a retinue of ghosts and was depicted on coinage wearing a leafy crown and holding torches, iconography strongly associated with Hecate. "[135] This appears to refer to a variant of the device mentioned by Psellus.[136]. [6], Her epithets include "Mistress of All the Gods", "Lady of the Stars of Heaven", "Beloved of Ptah", "Great of magic, mistress of the stars", and "Eye of Ra, without her equal". However, there is indeed a definitive Egyptian frog deity in the form of Goddess Heqet. [17][18] One of the authors relying on the Anat-Ashtart-Athirat trinity theory is Saul M. Olyan (author of Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel) who calls the Qudshu-Astarte-Anat plaque "a triple-fusion hypostasis", and considers Qudshu to be an epithet of Athirat by a process of elimination, for Astarte and Anat appear after Qudshu in the inscription. 7), dated to the late 3rd or early 4th century CE, Hecate Erschigal is invoked against fear of punishment in the afterlife. There she was worshipped with her consort Ptah. [18], Hecate possibly originated among the Carians of Anatolia,[6] the region where most theophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, the father of Mausolus, are attested,[19] and where Hecate remained a Great Goddess into historical times, at her unrivalled[b] In other representations, her animal heads include those of a cow and a boar. [128], 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. [67] 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: O Sun our lord and sacred fire, the spear of Hecate of the It is speculated that these statues were created to pacify the goddess and please her. According to the myth, Osiris was a king of Egypt who was murdered and dismembered by his brother Seth. This aligns with the pyramid texts mentioning that Sekhmet conceived the king. Though such gifts varied in value and substance, it is nevertheless clear that the kings, chiefs, and Ollam of the Tuatha D Danann all drew their power . Some of the significant ones are listed below: 1. In the Michigan magical papyrus (inv. She was usually called the daughter of the Titans Asteria and Perses, but there were many alternate versions of her parentage, including some that made her a daughter of Zeus.Though Hecate was most commonly depicted as a sinister goddess of magic, witchcraft, and the Underworld, she was sometimes portrayed as kind and helpful. The Origin of Hotdogs, The History of Boracay Island in The Philippines. Sekhmet was worshipped along with Ra at the Heliopolis since the early Old Kingdom. [13] However, while Ashtart (Astarte) and Anat were closely associated with each other in Ugarit, in Egyptian sources, and elsewhere,[14][15] there is no evidence for conflation of Athirat and Ashtart, nor is Athirat associated closely with Ashtart and Anat in Ugaritic texts. [3] Marcia Stark & Gynne Stern (1993) The Dark Goddess: Dancing with the Shadow, The Crossing Press, [4] Marcia Stark & Gynne Stern (1993) The Dark Goddess: Dancing with the Shadow, The Crossing Press. In Sanskrit it's Medha, in Greek Metis, and in Egyptian she is Ma'at herself. In Egyptian-inspired Greek esoteric writings connected with Hermes Trismegistus, and in the Greek Magical Papyri of Late Antiquity, Hecate is described as having three heads: one dog, one serpent, and one horse. He is told to sweeten the offering with a libation of honey, then to retreat from the site without looking back, even if he hears the sound of footsteps or barking dogs. Hekate's Suppers, by K. F. Smith. Which of these is true, we do not know. I worship Hekate but have not worked with her personally. Different myths interchangeably call Sekhmet an angry manifestation of Hathor or Hathor and Bastet as docile manifestations of Sekhmet. It was called Psamite, because Hecate was honoured with a cake, which was called psamiton (). The left side of the symbol features a waxing moon, the center features a full moon, while the right side depicts a waning moon. Horus was an ancient Egyptian God of the sky, and he is typically depicted as a falcon. She was associated with witchcraft, magic, the Moon, doorways, and creatures of the night like hell-hounds and ghosts. Later poets and historians looked to Diana's identity as a triple goddess to merge her with triads heavenly, earthly, and underworld (cthonic) goddesses. [10] A 4thcenturyBCE marble relief from Crannon in Thessaly was dedicated by a race-horse owner. Apollonius of Rhodes, in the Argonautica mentions that Medea was taught by Hecate, "I have mentioned to you before a certain young girl whom Hecate, daughter of Perses, has taught to work in drugs. Some think this deity is Athirat/Ashratu under her Ugaritic name. Though Alcamenes' original statue is lost, hundreds of copies exist, and the general motif of a triple Hecate situated around a central pole or column, known as a hekataion, was used both at crossroads shrines as well as at the entrances to temples and private homes. [143] She was said to be the daughter of Zeus by either Asteria, according to Musaeus,[144] Hera, thus identified with Angelos,[145] or Pheraea, daughter of Aeolus;[146] the daughter of Aristaeus the son of Paion, according to Pherecydes;[147] the daughter of Nyx, according to Bacchylides;[144] the daughter of Perses, the son of Helios, by an unknown mother, according to Diodorus Siculus;[76] while in Orphic literature, she was said to be the daughter of Demeter[148] or Leto[149] or even Tartarus. The first literature mentioning Hecate is the Theogony (c. 700 BCE) by Hesiod: And [Asteria] conceived and bore Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. Food offerings might include cake or bread, fish, eggs and honey. So, then, albeit her mother's only child, she is honored amongst all the deathless gods. She was the wife of Ptah (patron god of artisans) and bore him a son Nefertum. From whom we do exist and cease to be, Hordern, J. H. Love Magic and Purification in Sophron, PSI 1214a, and Theocritus Pharmakeutria. The Classical Quarterly 52, no. For understanding of the Triple Goddess, the Moon Goddess, and other common themes . She scorns and insults Artemis, who in retribution eventually brings about the mortal's suicide. "page21 (image of Hecate attended by a dog)", "CULT OF HEKATE: Ancient Greek religion", "Travels in Greece and Turkey: Undertaken by Order of Louis XVI, and with the Authority of the Ottoman Court", Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Claviger, "Baktria, Kings, Agathokles, ancient coins index with thumbnails", "No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Act 2, Scene 1, Page 2", Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. [141][142] In various later accounts, Hecate was given different parents. There was also a shrine to Hecate in Aigina, where she was very popular: Of the gods, the Aiginetans worship most Hecate, in whose honour every year they celebrate mystic rites which, they say, Orpheus the Thrakian established among them. Danu was the source of the tribe's common heritage, as well as its nobility, unity, and power. [2] https://arce.org/resource/statues-sekhmet-mistress-dread/#:~:text=A%20mother%20goddess%20in%20the,as%20a%20lion%2Dheaded%20woman. It could also be that the fragment reads 'Phorcys', agreeing with Acusilaus' version. Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood, on the one hand, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately under her title Hecate. Hecate often carries a torch in her connection with the night. Once, Hermes chased Hecate (or Persephone) with the aim to rape her; but the goddess snored or roared in anger, frightening him off so that he desisted, hence her earning the name "Brimo" ("angry"). "[162] This theory of the Roman origins of many European folk traditions related to Diana or Hecate was explicitly advanced at least as early as 1807[163] and is reflected[dubious discuss] in etymological claims by early modern lexicographers from the 17th to the 19th century, connecting hag, hexe "witch" to the name of Hecate. [169] Researcher Samuel Fort noted additional parallels, to include the cult's focus on mystic and typically nocturnal rites, its female dominated membership, the sacrifice of other animals (to include horses and mules), a focus on the mystical properties of roads and portals, and an emphasis on death, healing, and resurrection. [28] It has been speculated that this triple image, usually situated around a pole or pillar, was derived from earlier representations of the goddess using three masks hung on actual wooden poles, possibly placed at crossroads and gateways. Antoninus Liberalis used a myth to explain this association: Aelian told a different story of a woman transformed into a polecat: Athenaeus of Naucratis, drawing on the etymological speculation of Apollodorus of Athens, notes that the red mullet is sacred to Hecate, "on account of the resemblance of their names; for that the goddess is trimorphos, of a triple form". [103] The Deipnon is always followed the next day by the Noumenia,[104] when the first sliver of the sunlit Moon is visible, and then the Agathos Daimon the day after that. Hecate or Hekate [a] is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches, a key, snakes, or accompanied by dogs, [1] and in later periods depicted as three-formed or triple-bodied. Pp. 2. [150], As a virgin goddess, she remained unmarried and had no regular consort, though some traditions named her as the mother of Scylla[151] through either Phorbas[152][f] or Phorcys.[153]. "[92] She was most commonly worshipped in nature, where she had many natural sanctuaries. In particular she was thought to give instruction in these closely related arts. The triple moon symbol, also called the triple goddess symbol, is represented by two crescent moons flanking a full moon. 264 f., and notes, 275277, ii. The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet. Sekhmets uncontrolled bloodlust, aggression, and domain over divine retribution, life, and death reminds one of the Hindu goddess Kali. It is possible that the representation of a triple Hecate surrounding a central pillar was originally derived from poles set up at three-way crossroads with masks hung on them, facing in each road direction. Much like Shiva did with Kali, Ra had to resort to trickery to calm Sekhmets anger and bring her out of her killing spree. "Beyond Erekigal? In her book The Dark Goddess: Dancing with the Shadow, Marcia Stark describes Sekhmet as Lady of the beginning / Self-contained / She who is the source / Destroyer of appearances / Devourer and creator / She who is and is not. Similar descriptions are used for many lunar goddesses serving esoteric functions. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. [170], As a "goddess of witchcraft", Hecate has been incorporated in various systems of modern witchcraft, Wicca, and neopaganism,[171] in some cases associated with the Wild Hunt of Germanic tradition,[172] in others as part of a reconstruction of specifically Greek polytheism, in English also known as "Hellenismos". 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. Lady of the mountains of the setting sun: Watcher and guardian of the west. Some triple goddess that I know of are the following: Greek: Hekate (Hecate), Selene, and Persephone. Overview. [29][28] Some hekataia, including a votive sculpture from Attica of the 3rd century BCE, include additional dancing figures identified as the Charites circling the triple Hecate and her central column. 1 (2002): Bergmann, Bettina, Joseph Farrell, Denis Feeney, James Ker, Damien Nelis, and Celia Schultz. Iusaas (Egyptian) Izanami-No-Kami (Shinto-Japanese) Mawu (West African) Nammu (Mesopotamian) Neith (Egyptian) Nu Kua (Chinese) Nut (Egyptian) White Buffalo Calf Woman (Native American) Yhi (Australian) Crones/Wise Women Baba Yaga (Slavic) Black Annis (Celtic) Cailleach (Celtic) Greine (Celtic) Hecate (Greek) Hel (Norse/Germanic) Oya (Santeria) Her cult subsequently spread . Egyptian equivalent: Neith: Statue of Diana-Artemis, fresco from Pompeii, 50-1 BCE. [76] Karl Kerenyi noted the similarity between the names, perhaps denoting a chthonic connection among the two and the goddess Persephone;[77] it is possible that this epithet gives evidence of a lunar aspect of Hecate. She was invoked to ward off diseases. Home shrines often took the form of a small Hekataion, a shrine centred on a wood or stone carving of a triple Hecate facing in three directions on three sides of a central pillar. William F. Albright proposed in 1939 that she was a form of the "lady of Byblos" (Baalat Gebal), while Ren Dussard suggested a connection to "Asherat" (e.g. [125] Another theory is that Hecate was mainly a household god and humble household worship could have been more pervasive and yet not mentioned as much as temple worship. In the Greek pantheon, Apollo was the god of medicine and often brought down plagues to punish mankind. Archaeologists have discovered approximately 700 larger-than-life granite statues of Sekhmet dated to the reign of Amenhotep III (18th Dynasty). Mason-Dixon Line Berg, William, "Hecate: Greek or "Anatolian"? And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn. It is difficult to distinguish Sekhmet from other feline goddesses, especially Bastet. On the night of the new moon, a meal would be set outside, in a small shrine to Hecate by the front door; as the street in front of the house and the doorway create a crossroads, known to be a place Hecate dwelled. Hecate was a powerful goddess of uncertain origin. Lagina, where the famous temple of Hecate drew great festal assemblies every year, lay close to the originally Macedonian colony of Stratonikeia, where she was the city's patron. The origin of the name Hecate (, Hekt) and the original country of her worship are both unknown, though several theories have been proposed. [d] It shows Hecate, with a hound beside her, placing a wreath on the head of a mare. The possibility of not to be, of returning to nothingness, distinguishes Egyptian gods and goddesses from deities of all other pagan pantheons.[1]. In Greek, deipnon means the evening meal, usually the largest meal of the day. A triple deity is a deity with three apparent forms that function as a singular whole. Lewis Richard Farnell, (1896). English translation used here from: William Wynn Wescott (tr. Aside from her own temples, Hecate was also worshipped in the sanctuaries of other gods, where she was apparently sometimes given her own space. What's interesting about this deity is that Isis has mothered more religions than you may think. Weird Rituals Laid to Primitive Minds, Los Angeles Examiner, 14 October 1929. [10] In what appears to be a 7th-century indication of the survival of cult practices of this general sort, Saint Eligius, in his Sermo warns the sick among his recently converted flock in Flanders against putting "devilish charms at springs or trees or crossroads",[62] and, according to Saint Ouen would urge them "No Christian should make or render any devotion to the deities of the trivium, where three roads meet". Hecate was one of several deities worshipped in ancient Athens as a protector of the oikos (household), alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo. He also performs other secret rites [of Hecate] at four pits, taming the fierceness of the blasts [of the winds], and he is said to chant as well the charms of Medea. (1971). [84] by Michael Jordan, which is also a comprehensive encyclopedia of Goddesses. However, there were distinct war gods (Ares), gods of strategy (Athena), and gods of death (Hades). "[28], Like Hecate, "the dog is a creature of the threshold, the guardian of doors and portals, and so it is appropriately associated with the frontier between life and death, and with demons and ghosts which move across the frontier. The Athenian Greeks honoured Hecate during the Deipnon. One needs refined or higher-order capabilities to understand the esoteric phenomenon.

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