Correspondences:
Colours: violet, black, silver, orange. My own personal colours are red, white and black for the three realms.
Direction: southwest. Some will say all because she is a Goddess of the Crossroads.
Element: Water and Fire, although again, some will say all.
Planet: Pluto, Saturn, Moon
Moon Phase: All
Astrological Sign: Scorpio
Metal: Silver
Stones: sapphire, moonstone, clear quartz
Plants: saffron, mandrake, dandelion, lavender, myrrh, monkshood. I would also add willow and as an incense, copal.
Tarot: The Magician or The High Priestess
Holy Days: Samhain, New Moons
Other: eggs, garlic, breads, cakes, honey, wine, bones, paired torches, dogs, serpents, keys, knives, lions
Enns:
Ana Hekate Ayer At
Eyan Catya Icar Hekat
Some scholars believe that Hekate predates the Olympian gods, classifying her as a pre-Olympian chthonic deity, meaning that she was a Titan (some might say a child of the Titans, yet not an Olympian) and held dominion over the underworld. Daughter of Perses and Asteria, the earliest literary reference to Hekate appears in Hesiod’s Theogony (8th century BCE), where she is described as a powerful goddess revered in the skies, earth, and sea. Notably, Zeus, the king of the Olympians, bestowed upon her a unique privilege – a share in the power of all three realms. This sets Hekate apart, highlighting her unrestricted influence.
Something that was mentioned in one of Sorita d’Este’s books was that the association with the old practice of sacrificing dogs to her is one which may point to her having origins outside of Greece, because this was just something that was not done within Greek deity worship.
There is some speculation that Hekate has a connection with the Egyptian Goddess Heqet, a frog-headed Goddess of fertility and childbirth, however I would lean more toward a connection with the Egyptian God Heka. He was a God of Magic and Medicine. The word “heka” itself means “magic”, but the Egyptologist Ogden Goelet stated:
Heka magic is many things, but, above all, it has a close association with speech and the power of the word. In the realm of Egyptian magic, actions did not necessarily speak louder than words – they were often one and the same thing. Thought, deed, image, and power are theoretically united in the concept of Heka.
We however also find a possible origin amongst the Carians of Anatolia, now known as Turkey, but more specifically in Lagina, where we find a very important temple dedicated to Hekate. It is here where we also find most of the theophoric names that invoke Hekate, or hekat-, however she may be associated with the sun goddess of the area.
Epithets such as “Triformis” (Three-Formed) and “Triodia” (of the Three Ways or the one who frequents crossroads) reflect Hekate’s association with crossroads. These junctions were symbolic thresholds between worlds – the physical and the spiritual, the known and the unknown. Hekate reigned over these liminal spaces, acting as a guardian and a guide for those who dared to traverse them.
Hekate has many epithets, literally in the hundreds. Some others apart from those mentioned above are:
The three heads of Hekate are more often seen as her dominion over the three realms. These three realms are usually seen as those of the heavens, earth and sea, or sky, land and sea. They can therefore obviously be associated with Upper, Middle and Lower Worlds, making Hekate the Goddess that can traverse the entire Cosmos and World Tree of Axis Mundi.
The depiction of these three heads, or as history would have it, often three bodies, had some changes that occurred. Up until around the 5th century BCE, Hekate was usually depicted with a single body, however it was around this period that we started to see Hekate having three bodies, usually credited to the sculptor Alcamenes. This then developed into Hekate having three heads, which were often of different animals, sometimes being dog, snake and horse, and others mentioning a cow or boar. We however mostly know Hekate’s three heads or bodies as being human and feminine in nature. In modern times this triple aspect has been associated with the Triple Goddess figure of Maiden, Mother and Crone, however it should be noted that the Maiden, Mother, Crone Triple Goddess was introduced by Robert Graves in his book The White Goddess, first published in 1948. Prior to that, the Triple Goddess of Maiden, Mother, Crone, didn’t exist.
What makes Hekate’s triadic nature significant is not just the representation of three distinct aspects but also the interconnectedness and interdependence of these realms. Life, death, and rebirth are not isolated events but rather part of an ongoing cycle—a continuous journey of growth, transformation, and evolution.
Hekate’s presence as the goddess of the three realms underscores the inherent unity of existence and the eternal rhythms that bind all living beings. Through her triadic nature, she reminds us of the sacredness of life’s transitions, the mysteries of the unseen, and the enduring power of the divine feminine.
In Four Daemon Queens, Connolly states her magical purposes as being: magical power, feminine wisdom, intuition, scrying, binding, crossing the veil, necromancy, opening gates and portals, and protection of home and person. She also says that Hekate is the goddess of magick, the crossroads, protector of the home and she rules over knowledge of herbs and plants.
Other associations may include the night, moon, and underworld as she rules over the nighttime realm. Hekate was depicted carrying flaming torches, illuminating the path for travelers. Her connection to the moon, often seen as a source of mystery and magic, further solidified her role as a mistress of the unseen. As a chthonic deity, she held sway over the realm of the dead, sometimes accompanying souls on their journey to the underworld.
The night and the crossroads were believed to be frequented by restless spirits. Hekate was often depicted with spectral hounds, acting as both a mistress of these creatures and a protector against them.
Hekate is usually worked with during the dark moon as opposed to the new moon. This is when Deipnon is recognized, and it is also the time when we honour the Ancestors and the Blessed Dead. The new moon is then recognized as Noumenia the following day.
