Hecate: The Mysterious Goddess of Witchcraft and the Crossroads

Hecate (sometimes spelled Hekate) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, the moon, and crossroads. Into the modern age, the goddess Hekate has been known as the mistress of ghosts, as the demonic mediator par excellence between above and below. She is closely associated with magic and the "use" of the spirits of the dead. Particularly in later antiquity, she is herself regarded as a fearsome, ghostly figure.

Yet other sources, describe her as a normal, even kind, deity.

Who was the real Hekate? Was she Greek? We will discuss her nature, paradoxes and possible origin and cult in Caria (above all in Lagina) and other places in Asia Minor.

Greek myth explained:

Greek Religious Practice:

Greek gods and their myths:

Greek Sanctuaries:

Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - Etymology and Iconography
01:01 - Early evidence
02:48 - Hecate in Cult
04:31 - The Paradox of the Goddess
04:55 - Hecate Cthonia
05:30 - Conclusions

[Anonymous-qw]

Great to see you back. Hecate being seen as evil isn't new. In the middle ages Hecate was seen as the leader of the witches. I studied Shakespeare's Macbeth at school and Hecate appears to the three witches in it.
From some online notes on Macbeth
Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft, and one can view her as the ruler of the Three Witches. In Act 3, Scene 5, Hecate appears before the Witches and demands to know why she has been excluded from their meetings with Macbeth.
She tells them Macbeth will be back to know his destiny and she proclaims that he will see apparitions that will, "by the strength of their illusion" lead him to conclude that he is safe. She plays an important role in the play because of the lines she utters at the end of the scene: "And you all know, security/Is mortals' chiefest enemy." She reveals in these lines that Macbeth's belief that he is untouchable will ultimately result in his downfall.

[thegreatermysteries]

Excellent video, thank you. More on Hecate, please.

[ravensthatflywiththenightm]

What a strange coincidence, I've been musing and pondering a lot about this goddess in the last three or four days!

[Danmark]

Thank you so much for this upload, I would love for you to do a deep dive into everything about this amazing Goddess.

[thehealernoob]

Loved the video. You should do more Hekate videos.

[Toxo]

Looking forward to the follow-up on this!

[YeenMage]

It's sad how Hecate is considered as a "goddess of evil" in Western civilization context (largely due to factors like Christianity), when she is in fact quite benevolent - like how Hecate assisted Demeter in searching for her daughter Persephone after she was abducted by Hades and then becoming her companion in the underworld. Why do Westerners have to see underworld gods like Anubis, Hades etc. as evil all the time?

[Greenwitch]

Could you possibly do more videos on this topic, id love to learn more!

[DuanTorruellas]

Some refer to her as the tripple goddess but there are many times female witches appear in threes.
Also seen as the maiden mother and crone. Thats also seen as the beginning, middle, and end but the mari is the original tripple goddess. The 3 phases of the moon. Crescent, harth, and full.
So yes i guess hecate is much different than the tripple goddess.

[raskolnikov]

I love your channel! As an undergraduate classical studies student, do you think you'd ever be willing to make a video with a reading list for better understanding the classical world? Something like that would be a godsend, great upload : )

[susanbergquist]

Definitely more on Hecate. Why is she associated with dogs? Does she have healing aspects?

[desfurria]

Loved this! What is Daimones exactly? Zeus has an illustrious Daimones, Socrates and Plotinus have one. but I'm very confused about what it is.