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Hecate, also known as Hekate or Trivia, is the goddess of magic and witchcraft in Greek mythology. She was often depicted holding two torches or a key. She was the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria, and she was honored in the households as a protective goddess who brought prosperity.

Description[]

She has been associated with childbirth, nurturing the young, gates and walls, doorways, crossroads, magic, lunar lore, torches and dogs. In Ptolemaic Alexandria and elsewhere during the Hellenistic period, she appears as a three-faced goddess associated with ghosts, witchcraft, and curses. As the goddess of the crossroads, cult images and altars of Hecate in her triplicate or trimorphic form were placed at three-way crossroads (though they also appeared before private homes and in front of city gates).

History[]

Origins[]

She was a chthonic goddess that preceded the Olympians, and it seems that she was highly worshipped in Thrace. She was the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria, the second generation of Titans, making her among the oldest of the Olympian gods next to Aphrodite herself. She was also closely associated to the spiritual world, ghosts, and the dead. A shrine to Hecate was placed at the entrances of homes or even cities, hoping to protect them from the evil spirits that roamed the world.

To this day, whenever any witch offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, they call upon Hecate. Great honor comes full easily to the witch whose prayers the goddess receives favorably, and she bestows wealth upon them; for the power surely is with her. Hecate is also said to be the goddess that Zeus honors above all others. This is evident in him giving her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods.

Gigantomachy[]

During the Gigantomachy, Hecate fought by the side of the Olympian gods, and slew the giant Clytius using her torches. Hecate is depicted fighting Clytius in the east frieze of the Gigantomachy, in the Pergamon Altar next to Artemis; she appears with a different weapon in each of her three right hands, a torch, a sword and a lance.

Kidnap of Persephone[]

Hecate was approached by the goddess Demeter who requested her aid in searching for her missing daughter Persephone, not knowing at the time that the the latter was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. Hecate was uncertain so she took Demeter to Helios who witnessed the entire event unfold before revealing that it was Hades who "took" her without Demeter's consent yet with Zeus's blessing.

Hecate would be the one to care for Persephone as she was a chthonic goddess and a close associate of Hades. After it was decided that Persephone would spend a third of a year in the underworld and the rest on earth, Hecate became Persephone's companion to and from the underworld each year.

Great Flood[]

Before the Great Flood, Hecate and Odin approached the Watcher angel Mekhashefim and questioned the legitimacy of her role as divine executioner. The two deities, unappreciative of how Mekhashefim was teaching the ways of sorcery to the human race, implored her to stay her hand lest she face consequences. They were aware of the knowledge of the divine, but it is important on how it is distributed to mortals that can comprehend it. Mekhashefim only responded with a warning to the two, as it was not their place to judge the will of the Lord.

Odin, however, saw through that ruse and knew that this no will of her God but her own. Mekhashefim, enraged by such a blasphemous yet truthful statement, attempted to attack the two gods only for Hecate to quickly subdue her with a binding spell. This prompted the archangel Raphael to descend from Heaven and demanded an explanation from the two deities on why they would risk breaching polythea affairs. Upon explaining, Raphael would then take Mekhashefim for questioning.

Hecate was also the Witch of Izalith's patron goddess and teacher, with the Witch of Izalith being the first witch in recorded history and the progenitor of witches.

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