wizardofgrand
One artist’s effort to bring back the Goddess.This project includes the creation of 26 oil paintings…This is a project I’ve been working on for over 6 years now. When finished, it will be an oracle deck with an accompanying book and a complete magical system. I’ll be posting my experiences as I work with these Goddesses, pages from the book, how to work with the goddesses and of course, their images as I complete them. Check it out and follow me along..please ask questions or feel free to share your stories and the experiences you’ve had with these Goddesses.
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Hecate- Greek goddess of the Underworld and witchcraft.
Hecate is one of the ‘patron’ goddesses of many witches, who in some traditions refer to her in the Goddess’s aspect of the “Crone”. But other traditional witches associate her with the Maiden and/or with the Mother as well, for Hecate has three faces, or phases. Her role as a tripartite goddess, which many modern-day Wiccans associate with the concept of ‘the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, an interpretation clearly from the ancient myths, songs and statuary, was again made popular in modern times by writers such as Robert Graves in The White Goddess, and many others. This association is also noted in the 20th century, with the occult author Aleister Crowley. Historical depictions and descriptions show her facing in three different directions, a clear and precise reference to the tripartite nature of this ancient Goddess. The later Greek Magical Papyri sometimes refer to her as also having the heads of animals, and this can be seen as a reference to her aspect of Motherhood, who is often depicted as a ‘Mistress of Animals’.
Dark Moon Praises, from The Flaming Thyrsos
Oh great queen of the three-fold way,
Goddess of above, below and between
On the darkest night are your revels held
The baying of hounds and the flicker of torches
Eggs and garlic, honeyed-bread
Left at crossroads – for you and the restless dead
Dread-faced lady of the mystery realms
Tonight you walk the earth with your horde.
May the thick, sweet smoke of resins reach your nose
The whispered words of praise reach your ears
The utmost devotion, love and respect reach your immortal heart.
Titan of ineffable beauty, thousand named, multi-formed
Twin black bitches flank you,
The glimmer of firelight illumines your form as you hold aloft your torches.
Nymphs wielding fire brands dance with phantoms in the shadows
As your Nyxian robe sweeps the land, cosmic radiance unparalleled!
Praise be to thee – Hekate, Hekate, Hekate!
Your name spake in threes – Hekate, Hekate, Hekate!
I am devoted to you – Hekate, Hekate, Hekate!Image by Patrick Larabee (Artist Page)
Hecate- Influence from Afar; The One Before the Gate; Light Bringer
Hecate is Queen of the Night, Goddess of Witchcraft, and among the rulers of the Spirit World. She is the Queen of the Crossroads:Hecate patrols the frontier between life and death. She serves as an intermediary between spirits and humans. She owns the ultimate skeleton key: the key that unlocks the gates to all realms
Although now most associated with Greek mythology, her name, meaning “influence from afar” acknowledges Hecate’s foreign origins. She may have originated in what is now Georgia on the Black Sea,home of Medea,her most famous devotee and priestess. At one time, Hecate was chief deity of Caria, now in western turkey. The Greeks knew her as a Titan’s daughter and as the confidante and handmaiden of Persephone, Queen of the Dead.
Hecate is a goddess of life, death, regeneration, and magic. She rules wisdom, choices, expiation, victory, vengeance, and travel. She is the witness to every crime.
Hecate is an exceptionally powerful spirit. The Theogony of Hesiod describes Hecate as honored by Zeus above all others. According to myth, Hecate once served as an Angelas, a messenger for the other deities. She stole Hera’s beauty salve to give to her rival, Europa. Hera, enraged, perused Hecate, who fled first to the bed of a woman in childbirth, then to a funeral procession, and then finally to Lake Acheron in Hades where she was cleansed by the Cabeiri. Hecate emerged more powerful than ever, a goddess of birth, death, and purification. She rules passages between realms of life and death and is thus invoked by necromancers.
Hecate typically responds to petitions via visions and dreams. If lost at a crossroads, literal or metaphoric, invoke her name and then pay attention to signs from her. She can be a shadowy, oblique goddess: her response may be subtle. Look for her animals: snakes, cats, and especially dogs.
Favored People: Midwives, witches, healers, herbalists, dog lovers and rescuers
Manifestation: Hecate, Queen Witch, is a shape-shifter supreme: usual manifestations are as a black dog or a mature woman. She may manifest as a haggard, decrepit crone or an elegant woman.She even has an occasional mermaid manifestation. She may wear snakes in her hair. Every once in a wile she appears as a black cat, snake, or dragon.
Iconography: Hecate is portrayed with three bodies, each facing a different direction. Alternatively, she is depicted with a woman’s body but three animal heads: those of a dog,horse, and lion. A statue of Hecate from the eighth century BCE shows her with wings, carrying a snake.
Attributes: Key, torch, cauldron, knife, broom
Emblem: Star and crescent moon
Plants: Garlic, lavender, mandrake, henna
Sacred Site : Three-way or T-shaped crossroads
Celestial bodies: Sirius the Dog Star; the moon, especially the Dark Moon phase
Offerings: Eggs, garlic, and honey (especially lavender honey); croissants and crescent shaped breads and pastries; candles; incense; images of dogs,especially black dogs.
"Hekate with her twin-torches fighting against the giant Klytios, in the War against the Giants.
(Pendant; bronze: Hecate wearing kolpos and peplos, holding two torches, two swords and two whips; two snakes and two stars. Made in Mediterranean (eastern Mediterranean), 4th BC; now in the British Museum…)
Charge Of Hecate on We Heart It - http://weheartit.com/entry/630972/via/sugarcoated149
Selene; kindly hear my Sacred Chants;
Night’s Ornament, young, bringing Light to Mortals,
O Child of Morn who ride upon the Fierce Bulls,
O Queen who drive Your Car on Equal Course
With Helios, who with the Triple Forms
Of Triple Graces dance in Revel with
The Stars. You’re Justice and the Moira’s Threads:
Klotho and Lachesis and Atropos
Three-headed, You’re Persephone, Megaira,
Allekto, Many-Formed, who arm Your Hands
With Dreaded, Murky Lamps, who shake Your Locks
Of fearful Serpents on Your Brow, who sound
The Roar of Bulls out from Your Mouths, whose Womb
Is decked out with the Scales of Creeping Things,
With Pois’nous Rows of Serpents down the Back,
Bound down Your Backs with Horrifying Chains
Night-Crier, Bull-faced, loving Solitude,
Bull-headed, You have Eyes of Bulls, the Voice
Of Dogs; You hide Your Forms in Shanks of Lions,
Your Ankle is Wolf-shaped, Fierce Dogs are dear
To You, wherefore they call You Hekate,
Many-named, Mene, cleaving Air just like
Dart-shooter Artemis, Persephone,
Shooter of Deer, night shining, triple-sounding,
Triple-headed, triple-voiced Selene
Triple-pointed, triple-faced, triple-necked,
And Goddess of the Triple Ways, who hold
Untiring Flaming Fire in Triple Baskets,
And You who oft frequent the Triple Way
And rule the Triple Decades, unto me
Who’m calling You be gracious and with Kindness
Give Heed, You who protect the Spacious World
At night, before whom Daimons quake in Fear
And Gods Immortal tremble, Goddess who
Exalt Men, You of Many Names, who bear
Fair Offspring, Bull-eyed, Horned, Mother of Gods
And Men, and Nature, Mother of All Things,
For You frequent Olympos, and the broad
And boundless Chasm You traverse. Beginning
And End are You, and You Alone rule All.
For All Things are from You, and in You do
All Things, Eternal One, come to their End.
As Everlasting Band around Your Temples
You wear Great Kronos’ Chains, unbreakable
And unremovable, and You hold in
Your Hands a Golden Scepter. Letters ‘round
Your Scepter Kronos wrote Himself and gave
To You to wear that All Things stay steadfast:
Subduer and subdued, Mankind’s Subduer,
And Force-subduer; Chaos, too, You rule.
Hail, Goddess, and attend Your Epithets,
I burn for You this Spice, O Child of Zeus,
Dart-shooter, Heav’nly One, Goddess of Harbors,
Who roam the Mountains, Goddess of Crossroads,
O Nether and Nocturnal, and Infernal,
Goddess of Dark, Quiet and Frightful One,
O You who have Your Meal amid the Graves,
Night, Darkness, Broad Chaos: Necessity
Hard to escape are You; You’re Moira and
Erinys, Torment, Justice and Destroyer,
And You keep Kerberos in Chains, with Scales
Of Serpents are You dark, O You with Hair
Of Serpents, Serpent-girded, who drink Blood,
Who bring Death and Destruction, and who feast
On Hearts, Flesh Eater, who devour Those Dead
Untimely, and You who make Grief resound
And spread Madness, come to my Sacrifices,
And now for me do You fulfill this Matter."
