Faces of Hekate

I love the lead-up to Samhain. I can dress as witchy as I want and fit right in with the Muggles celebrating Halloween. As Jon mentioned in his astrololgy post last week, even though most people celebrate Samhain and Halloween on October 31, the actual cross-quarter day is November 6, which is this coming weekend. So, it’s all Samhain, all week. The more Samhain, the better, right? That’s more time to spend with the goddess Hekate.

I love it as the Halloween stuff fills store shelves. I have to use a lot of restraint there.  Last year my big score was a six inch long quite realistic black plastic beetle, representing the spirit animal that I’ve been working with this year and last. It represents decay and decomposition as a necessary step to re-birth. I’d hoped to leave it behind with 2020, but Beetle is still all too relevant.

This year among the goodies in the Halloween section, I bought a bunch of black taper candles (hard to find at other times of year), and a Mexican-style skeleton woman I’ve dubbed Santa Muerte.

The Samhain decorations come out in my house in early October, and they stay until it’s time for the Yule decorations, meaning after Thanksgiving.

Then there’s Samhain itself. In the Crow tradition, the Crone for the given year priestesses our Samhain ritual, so they can have quite a different feel from year to year. In the Crow Women, the Crone is one of the official jobs. I wrote about our coven roles in this blog post.

There’s an ancestor altar to honor blood relatives and family members of choice, also beloved animal companions who have crossed over. Most often we’ve started the Samhain ritual around 8 p.m. after kids have finished trick or treating (if we’re at a house in town). Or we’re at a rural house that never gets trick or treaters. These rituals have been both inside and outside according to the desires of the priestess and the weather. We eat dinner first and might have snacks after.

One year we started at midnight. Most likely I downed a couple mugs of coffee to stay awake through that. Several of us made it a sleepover, which was fun.

Last year because of COVID, we had the ritual outside in the afternoon. We wore COVID masks and maintained social distancing. I priestessed. Being 2020, I got political. I called on Hekate and recently passed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg “to aid, strengthen, and guide us to make America DECENT again, to bring our people together again.” We ate outside after the ritual. Fortunately it was a nice Indian summer day.

This year, with all of us happily vaccinated, we’ll probably go back to a pre-COVID plan. I don’t know if this year’s Crone will call on Hekate, but I call on her fairly regularly or nod to her statue as I pass by.

The Pagan repertoire has many songs for Samhain. Our Crow Goddess album includes this one. We call it Dark Goddess Medley, because it has three chants that overlay.

Hecate, Cerridwen, Dark mother, take us in
Hecate, Cerridwen, let us be reborn

Down we go to the realms below
We bring with us our light to show
Up we rise with the dark in our eyes
We bring to light our piece of the night

Hey-oh, hey-oh-hey
Queen of Darkness, Ancient Hecate
Wheel a’turning, caludron stirring, stirring

Now we have another Hekate chant, by our sister Tara. We’ve used it in several rituals over the past couple of years. It’s on our album Pantheon: Honoring the Pagan Divine. The song Hail, Hekate is intentionally repetitive, perfect for processionals.

Hail Hekate, Hekate. Hail Hekate. Hail Hekate, Hekate. Hail Hekate.

I am a Priestess of the Goddess, I hold her Torch and Key
Midwife from birth until dying, She walks with me.

I am a Priest of the Goddess, Her magick beckons me,
I’ll meet her there at the crossroads, One forged in three.

Hail Hekate, Hekate. Hail Hekate. Hail Hekate, Hekate. Hail Hekate. 

I found the script for another Samhain I priestessed back in 2008, and I called on Hekate then even though I didn’t have the knowledge of her that I do now.

Most of my information about Hekate comes from the explorations I’ve had at Ardantane’s annual Hekate retreat (Nov. 13 this year) in New Mexico; those compiled in turn from various sources. They show her to be a goddess of many purposes, not just guidance at the crossroads or guardian of the gate and the threshhold.

She’s known as the keeper of the keys that can open, or lock away, occult mysteries and secrets within our subconscious. Exploring our shadow sides, maybe? And opening or locking those gates/ doors? Keys are one of her best known symbols. Maybe that’s where the Steampunk folks got them.  Like Ganesha, she can be a remover of obstacles. We are cautioned, however, that she isn’t real sympathetic if the obstacle is of our own creation.  And she expects us to do our part to deal with the situation.

She’s also the goddess of liminal spaces, borderlands, transitions and tipping points. She helps facilitate endings and also new beginnings. Some of these can be abrupt. Several years ago, I was thinking about retiring after 30 years on the job. But I didn’t.  Then my employer decided they didn’t need my services any more. I took that to mean Hekate was kicking me off the ledge, telling me it was time for me to use my talents and energy in other ways.

She is, of course, the torch bearer. She uses it to guide us in the dark woods and across boundaries. With it she guides departed souls to the Underworld to prepare for rebirth. She also guides the still living in symbolic journeys into and back from the Underworld. She is the goddess of the veil between the worlds.
Her torch is also a deadly weapon, sort of like a light saber. There are Greek images of her in battle, jamming her torch through an enemy fighter. She’s a warrior goddess.

But she also is a protector of the underdog, of women (especially giving birth) and children. These aspects make her relevant all year round, not just in fall. That need never seems to go away.

She has a Maiden aspect and can help when you need a fresh outlook on a situation. 

She is a goddess of justice. But beware that your own slate is clean before you call on her!

Hekate is often thought of as an old crone. Historical images seem to show otherwise. My own image is the Statue of Liberty. Did her creator have Hekate in mind? I think it’s quite possible. She has a torch, and she guards the gate/ threshhold. She also stands in welcome to those who have left everything in search of a better life, such as most of our (white European) ancestors.

I started crafting a Hekate shrine last year after Ardantane’s Hekate retreat. It got set aside for months after the initial effort. I picked it up with new enthusiasm and determination to get it done this fall. Here it is:

Hail Hekate. And Samhain blessings.

p.s. For more songs about Hekate and other aspects of the Crone, check out this Spotify playlist.