HEKATE | Part I: From Archaic to Classical

*2/10/22 NOTE: In regards to Hesiod, he was born in Cyme but spent most of his life in Boetoia, in central mainland Greece*

Thank you all SO much for your patience! Here is my most requested—and most difficult video to research—Hekate! Well...part I. There is no way I could possibly condense all of Hekate to one video. Please feel free to share your experiences with Hekate in the comments!

❧ PRIMARY SOURCES
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
- Orphic Hymn to Hekate
- Hymn to Hekate, Theogony by Hesiod
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter
- Catalogues of Women Fragments by Hesiod
- Medea by Euripides
- Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius
- Description of Greece 1 & 2 by Pausanias
- Suppliant Women by Aeschylus
- Medea by Seneca

❧ SECONDARY SOURCES
- Restless Dead by Sarah Iles Johnston
- Crossroads by Sarah Iles Johnston
- Hekate Soteira by Sarah Iles Johnston
- Greek and Roman Necromancy by Daniel Ogden

❧ YOUTUBE CHANNELS

❧ COPYRIGHT INFO:

Theme song was composed and produced by me.

Picture of Cybele is licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 by Bujomar

Sound is: "Announcement Sound 4" by DDmyzik and is licensed under the Attribution Noncommercial License. Found on Freesound.

❧ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Introduction
1:42 Notes on research
2:31 Misconceptions
2:42 Maiden-Mother-Crone?
5:00 The Problem of the Hesiodic Hymn™
8:23 Goddess of Witchcraft?
12:22 How scary is Hekate?
13:19 Defining Hekate
13:41 Myths
18:08 Syncretism with other deities
21:19 Origins
23:18 Domains
25:24 Hekate's legacy
29:10 Conclusion

[Lightless]

This such a breath of fresh air and incredibly welcome, especially when everyone's UPG tends to override rational thought and dialogue. Adore this!

[VesperOfRoses]

I worship Hecate without being a devotee! We exist!
I had a thing going on with her here and there during my time as an eclectic pagan but in my regular praxis as a Hellenic polytheist I generally only worship her once a month during the new moon and occasionally when I need help dealing with spooky stuff. Pro-tip: If you live at a house with a driveway, you have a crossroads!

[DoomWraith]

Thank you so so so much for doing this video. Hekate is probably one of the most misunderstood deities in polytheism.

[rrainbow_jh]

I am one of those few who worship Persephone and Hekate together ^^
Thanks so much for this vid! I'm looking forward to part two~

[altunina]

you are underrated in the hekate worshipping community! as a student of ancient chinese literature and a friend of many classical western literature students i feel HOW much energy the making of the video and the researching process took!

[youthurricane]

I couldnt handle myself with "would the real hekate please stand up". This is genius.

[embrisa]

Right! Persephone and Hekate are the ones i am devoting myself 222 🔥💚✨💜🔥

[jessicaveylan]

Thanks for the video. I just started reading Sarah Johnston's book. I had never heard of Hekate but once from a lady I met a few months ago and I didn't think anything of it or look into her as it was not of interest to me. Fast forward a few months later and I was presented with two visions in the inner eye. One of a key in a folded up envelope. The next night a white tunnel as if traveling up a DNA strand. Every time I saw the tunnel or twisting I heard the words "Hekate's Tree". I am making some relationships to this experience and the opening of an energy center rarely spoken of but of a couple others sources. There was one individual who helped connect the dots. I believe the true mystics will start accessing much of the lost information. She is on a return for those of us that are not playing on the false aspects of her and are doing the inner work that allows her to come through. This is just my humble point of view.

[Ambina]

Never clicked so fast! I needed this one.

[SimpleMandy]

Finally someone else mentions worshipping Hekate and Persephone together! I actually have an altar dedicated to both of them as it feels way way off to worship them separately..

[rowanlaverne]

I would love a part two. I really enjoy sourced deep dives such as this and they are hard to find. I just finished fortress of lugh's 2 hour hermes video. He verbally sources his information so that was interesting. I am working my way through the primary sources, but I'm dyslexic so its a slow process. In that vein, these are wonderful. Thank you for all the heart and soul you poured into this. I hope this week is less hectic for you. ❤

[GlowHurtHuman]

This makes me feel better about my lack of regular ritual surrounding her. I wouldn't really consider myself "witchy" at all or religious. I've been drawn to Hekate since about 15 years ago and she's popped up when I've needed her ever sense. It's weird how it happens but I feel like there's something to my bond with her.

I think I'd like to incorporate more devotion but I also feel like I need a better grasp on the idea of deity worship to see if it's for me. Thank you for all the information. I thought it was just hard for me to find things about her because I'm less than qualified when it comes to research like this. I can't imagine the energy and focus you had to put into it.

[PaulKapow]

This is one of my new favorite videos on YouTube. 🙏 Thanks for making it.

[creacrea]

Another great video! I love that you offered some insight into the complexity of Hekate.

I had a few thoughts about some things you mentioned:

1. Being terrifying and being related to childcare are not mutually exclusive, just look at Kali Ma. I think Hekate can wield terrifying power as well as great concern for the welfare of children. In fact, being so fierce in protection would make her better at caring for children.

2. I have observed many modern worshippers of Persephone tend to interpret the myth within the context of Demeter being an overbearing mother and Hades being her true love that allows her best self to shine forward. I do think there is room for debate in the Hades/Persephone myth, but for those who interpret it as a love and empowerment story, the idea of having a "babysitter" (Hekate) is counter to that narrative. That's my opinion about why there isn't as many people worshipping them (Persephone and Hekate) together. Of course, that's not reflective of all, or even most, worshippers. It's based totally on my observation people within the community.

3. I love your emphasis of the point that Hekate does NOT need to have this super deep, singularly focused worship of her. I see so many practitioners saying that she "requires" such intense dedicated practice, and it just seems odd to me because that's not really how most Hellenic worship worked. Obviously, people should practice the way they feel is correct, so I'm not trying to discount that.

Thanks for the video! I'm looking forward to part 2!

[juniper]

You are one of my favorite youtubers!! Thank you for educating me on the ever confusing goddess hekate

[amjapan]

Wow, brilliant essay, thoroughly enjoyed and I learnt a lot. Hecate has become incredibly important to my practice, well done for organising so much evidence and explaining the tensions in it so clearly. Brilliant.

[rafaelfcf]

A small nit-pick, Hesiod was most likely born in Ascra, a village in Boeotia "close" to Athens. He's father is the one who actually comes from Cyme. While Homer is the one who lived across the Aegean sea in current Turkey.

[grouchygeek]

I knew you would be a good source for this particular goddess. Thank you for sticking to the facts!

[Underworld-Dark-Moon]

A part two would be greatly appreciated 🙏

[CLM]

Wow, such a wonderful point about her "fearful" archetype. I truly think the "fearsome" or spooky aspects of worship have a lot to do with ritual itself, less to do with how we should regard the gods theologically. The Egyptians used "fearful" as a description in ritual too, but now we know that had a deeper meaning to it, and was overall a positive thing.