Hecate
Also spelled Hekate
Magic Night Crossroads Underworld Moon
Goddess of crossroads, thresholds, night, magic and the restless dead, often shown in triple form.
Hesiod's Theogony praises Hecate as a goddess honored by Zeus above all others, with a share in earth, sea and sky. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter she hears Persephone's cry and, torch in hand, joins Demeter's search, later becoming Persephone's companion. Offerings called 'Hecate's suppers' were left at crossroads at the end of each month. Her triple form, and her links with magic and the moon, developed later still.
Symbols
Twin torches Keys Dogs Crossroads
In the ancient sources
Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey
Hecate does not appear in the Iliad or the Odyssey. (Homer's 'far-shooter', hekatos, is a title of Apollo, not of Hecate.) Her earliest major source is Hesiod's Theogony.
Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns
- kourotrophos
- “nurse of the young” Theogony 450
- mounogenēs
- “only child” Theogony 448
- Theogony 409–411 Asteria bears Hecate, 'whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all'.
- Theogony 411–452 Zeus gives her a share of earth, sea and starry sky; she helps kings, warriors, athletes, horsemen, sailors and herdsmen as she wishes.
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 24–25 From her cave, tender-hearted Hecate hears Persephone cry out as she is carried off.
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 51–63 On the tenth day Hecate meets Demeter, holding a torch, and goes with her to ask Helios what he saw.
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 438–440 When Persephone returns, Hecate embraces her and becomes her attendant and companion from then on.
Hesiod's praise of Hecate is the longest he gives any single deity, and it says nothing of magic, crossroads, the dead or a triple form.
Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.
Correspondences Explore all
- Planet
- Moon
- Moon phase
- Dark moon
- Stones & metals
- Obsidian, Black tourmaline
- Tarot
- The Moon
These mix ancient attributes with modern associations from contemporary pagan and magical practice; the modern ones weren't part of her original worship.