Hecate is the Greek goddess of the crossroads
Hecate is the Greek goddess of the crossroads. Properly
pronounce her name is "E-CA-TA" or "e-CO-ta, the H is silent.
She stands at the crossroads of your life and protects you from
taking the wrong road. She is also the guardian of new borns,
the home. Not only was Hecate called upon to ease the pains and
progress of a woman's labor, but especially to protect and
restore the health and growth of a child. She is a moon Goddess,
she was described as shining or luminous. In other legends she
is invisible, perhaps only glimpsed as a light, a
"will-o-the-wisp". She always carries a torch or latern at
night. She can guide one on the dark night of the soul for she
sees in the dark. She is symbolized by the Owl. In the magical
papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt, she is called the Bitch and the
She-Wolf, and her presence is signified by the barking of dogs.
She is classified as a virgin Goddess, she had no need to marry.
She highly valued her independence. She has the ability to see
in all directions, the past, present and future. This forsight
allows her to predict one's future. It also gives her intuitive
knowledge of which path one should take. She is known as having
the ability to conjure up dreams, prophecies, and phantoms.
Hecate's ability to see into the underworld, the "otherworld" of
the sleeping and the dead, gives her unusual power to read one's
future. New beginnings, whether spiritual or mundane, aren't
always easy. But Hecate is there to support and show you the
way. She loans her farsightedness for you to see what lies
deeply forgotten or even hidden, and helps you make a choice and
find your path. Oft times she shines her torch to guide you
while you are in dreams or meditation. Whether the Greek goddess
Hecate visits us in waking hours or only while we sleep, she can
lead us to see things differently (ourselves included) and help
us find greater understanding of our selves and others. Hecate
reminds us of the importance of change, helping us to release
the past, especially those things that are hindering our
spiritual growth. She urges us to accept change and transitions.
She asks us to let go of what is familiar, safe, and secure to
learn trust and faith in all the Goddess offers. Hecate
symbolizes the dark within us, the part of our psyche we refuse
to acknowledge. But because she is so comfortable in the dark
like the owl she can take your hand a travel with to the places
in yourself you are the most afraid to go.
She is of great help if you are meditating on growing older and
death or crossing over. Similarly, Hecate played a role that, in
contemporary times, we would describe as a hospice worker
helping the elderly make a smooth and painless passage into the
next life and staying with them, if need be, in the otherworld
to help prepare them for their eventual return to the earth in
their next life. She then went with them as they were reborn. So
this is the reference to her being the Goddess of birth and of
death. Since she is the protector of women more women used her
powers in this regard then men. It is hardly surprizing that a
woman who needed to make a trip alone at night would say a brief
prayer to Hecate to seek her protection. She is the protector of
women. Hecate teaches us an important lesson, which is that the
feminine should be valued for itself, because deep within it
there is an eternal wisdom. Hecate is also the High Priestess,
the keeper of the Mysteries. Hecate is not the priestess who
seeks the inner knowledge, but High Priestess who has found it
and imparts it to others. During Medieval times, pagans were
being tortured based on their belief in the Goddess. Patriarchy
reigned and the fear of feminine power caused the Church to
demonize Hecate. She was made infamous as the crone; old,
wrinkled, ugly, warts protruding from her nose and chin,
mysterious, dark and loathsome. Many mistakenly call Her the
destroyer, but She is not for if you destroy something, that
something is forever gone. She is not a destroyer in that sense
she shows us how to let go and recreate ourselves, our dreams
and our ideas. Pray to Hercate before you let go of the past and
as you start a new future. She will show you the road to take so
you do not have to retrace your steps.