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HEKATE
GODDESS AT THE CROSSROADS
She is the part of you that helps you to find your way....
(MUSIC from Enya "So I Could Find My Way")
Hekate is an asteroid goddess in your astrology chart. We are in the ancient domain of the triple goddess...The Triple Goddess is a part of every women's life. She is you as Maiden, you as Mother, and you as Crone, or old wise woman. In this triple Goddess image above, she is Persephone, the young innocent maiden, and she is Ceres, Demeter, the mother of Persephone, and Hekate, the old crone wise woman waiting within you.
"Hekate" Sharon Russell
Here is a modern version of Sharon Russell's Hekate as maid, mother, and crone. Hecate is often depicted with 3 heads as she stands at a crossroads.
The word Hecate comes from the Egyptian word, Heka, for 'magical speech', or first sound or utterance.
Hekate is one of the primordial Goddesses. Her mother was the Goddess Nyx, Goddess of Night, the first principle of creation. Later she became the daughter of Aster and lit the way out of the dark with her sparkling crown of stars (see above).
Our ancestors saw Hekate as a powerful witch who evoked spells that led us out of the darkness and into the light of new life. She was a divine personification of heavenly magic.
During patriarchy, when men suppressed the power of women, Hecate was seen as a big bad witch only. Very scary, misleading, and NOT the true nature of Hekate. Hekate does not try to have power over anyone; she is powerful, though, in that she has the WISDOM we may desperately need in times of making a decision.
She has a dog, Cerebrus, at her side for protection and instinctual knowing. In antiquity, Cerebrus was seen as guarding the gates of hell or the underworld. The underworld is a time and place of the dark, unknowing, a time when we need guidance from the world beyond our 5 senses, the so-called 'supernatural world.' If you have ever consulted an oracle or astrologer because you did not know which road to take, you are in the realm of Hekate.
Have you ever felt unable to move forward? This is a Hekate moment. This does not mean you are indecisive! NO, it has to do with the nature of inner knowing and our outer readiness. We are in a process....... and not yet ready to take action.
She WAITS until you are ready.
Your time with Hekate may last only a few moments or many years. As you are preparing to return to the upper world, the world of knowing, Hekate stands and leads you back on your 'chosen' path.
Hekate assists you in making wise decisions that will lead you out of the darkness, the depression, or limbo and back into the light.
She is often seen with a Key representing an opening or doorway into a new life experience, one that changes your current life direction into one more suitable for your spiritual stage of growth, for your maturity, and for gaining wisdom.
MAID MOTHER CRONE
During your maiden years, Hekate guides you on your journey through puberty. In your mothering years, she may take you through childbirth or marriage. Menopause is the turning point into your crone years, and Hekate is there for you once again.
Hekate represents the Crone aspect of the old wise one who guides you at the crossroads of your life. Hecate is not a Goddess of the Heavens nor of the lower worlds. Rather, she is a LIMINAL Goddess, a guide for you when you must choose between this or that, between one road or another. She stands between the worlds (this is the meaning of 'liminal'), ushering you in and out of the underworld journey that you take just before and during a major turning point ......... when big change is upon you.
This is one of the symbols for Hekate.
But not the only one; in some astrology programs, the symbol for Hekate shows a crossroads with a Moon.
In your astrology chart, Hecate will show you where you must choose wisely and how and when to use your power to facilitate your transformation.
Hekate points the way. Here she is in all her imagined powerful self! You may recognize that finger of fate pointing you along your path. Why is she so scary? Because you are in unknown territory when you are with Hekate. You are moving toward dealing with the unknowable future.
Your future is at stake.
Hekate is a Goddess that takes time with you. She is not in a hurry. Vital decisions that lead you away from one thing and into the next require a kind of perseverance that may feel frustrating, confusing, irritating, and even death-defying.
PATIENCE
"Woman at the Fountain" Matisse
We must learn to cultivate patience and openness where Hekate is concerned.
Hekate stands at life's thresholds. She is all-seeing and all-knowing. She sees the path's that are possible and what their possible outcomes would be. In this way, she is the oracle shifting between the dimensions receiving messages from your past, present, and future.
HOW DOES HECATE AFFECT ME IN MY CHART?
The house where one finds Hekate could be an area where you seek counsel. This area of your life could define where major life-changing turnings take place.
For instance, if Hekate is found in your 7th house, your spouse could dramatically change your life. In the 4th house, she could define a strong parental influence or seeking counsel from one of your parents. In the 10th house, you may be the counselor for others or perhaps your career came to a standstill at some point in your life and you did not know which way to go. A teacher or professor may have pointed the way for you if you have Hekate in your 3rd or 9th house.
Perhaps your Hekate has strong connections with the 2nd house or Venus at a particular time and you seek a financial adviser to guide you.
Hekate is more of a loner in relationships. If you have a very strong Hekate in your first house by birth, you may prefer not to marry or have children. Hekate (and Vesta) can indicate celibacy for a woman, esp during the time of certain transits. So it may not last a lifetime, but there may be a time when this is the correct choice for you until you are ready to move back into relationship territory.
My daughter-in-law has five french bulldogs...she sold two, but many are still bouncing around! I have to go soon and check out her chart for Hekate's position; I might learn something. Hekate is often seen with a dog that protects her. This is part of her instinctual self, and your inner instincts towards or away from something are part of your inner Hekate.
If you have many dogs, Hekate is beside you in a potent way in this lifetime. Your dogs protect you from something....you may want to journal about what that might be.
Midwives have a strong connection to Hekate, as do those who work with the dying.
Hekate may come to you in many forms. She may enter as a friend. She may be a teacher or spiritual counselor who helps you to find your way.
She may not be benign...she may be a 'he' or a situation that throws you OUT of one lifestream and into another.
You may discover her when you are...
AT THE CROSSROADS OF A LOVE AFFAIR...
or
Perhaps you must cross the great river
"Butterflies in Metamorphosis" by Harry Clarke 1889-1931
She is the guardian at the doorway to Death. Hekate came to me as 'myself' when I helped a friend who was dying through her dying time. Are you someone's Hekate?
This is Sharon's book about the shadow. It's a "must-read."
"Innocence to Wholeness"
Hekate was more powerful than Zeus in mythology. She can bring up shadow material, the unseen elements in your psyche, if you are contending with her in your astrology chart's 8th or 12th house or if Hecate is transiting your Neptune or even Jupiter.
"BELIEVE, AND YOU WILL FIND YOUR WAY."
ENYA
WHEN AM I MOST LIKELY TO NOTICE A HECATE ACTIVATION IN MY CHART?
When a planet goes over (transits) your Hekate, you will notice some aspect of her in your life. Perhaps you make an important decision on that day or week (before or after the transit). So it's good to know where Hekate is in your chart. If transiting PLUTO is going over Hecate, this is a major initiation time and could last for several years to many years. With Saturn going over your Hekate, an older person or mentor may be involved, and it is likely to last many months.
MY HEKATE STORY
When transiting Saturn went over my Hekate a few years ago, I was assisting a dear friend in her dying time. At first, I did not know that she was dying. I only knew that my world felt like it was opening to the other side. Everything I tried to do to help her made no headway. I was STUCK for many months in the limbo of her dying time without knowing she was truly going to die.
One day she would say, "no heroics, please," and the next day, it would be, "I want to live." It was a long journey as day by day, I watched her retreat from this world. As I look back, I see she was also having HER time with Hekate.
It wasn't until I talked to a friend who suggested I look at my own astrology chart that I made the connection. When I did, I saw that I was in the midst of a Saturn transit moving right over my Hekate. When she died on Winter Solstice in December of 2017, Saturn had made its final pass over the exact degree of Hekate in my natal chart.
Saturn can represent the teacher, mentor, or elder - she was all those things to me. She had been my Hekate guide in MY life for over thirty years, so her death was an extremely intense, powerful, and meaningful experience for me. Saturn, as the planet that contacted Hekate in my chart, represented long-term relationships, often with elders. I can say that my life has not been the same since she has gone.
This was after a surgery she had many years before she died, about 10, as I recall. She completely recovered then, and so I was expecting something like that again, I think, but when it didn't happen this time, it was.........heartbreaking. You are looking at two Hekate women. She was my Hekate; then I was hers.
Hekate is an agent of great power, so as you begin to work with her, take time to digest the possible crossroads of your life. Look at your past. What crossroads, important life-altering decisions did you make? What decision right now could change the course of your life?
Who plays the role of Hekate for you in your life right now? Do you need to find a Hekate to help you with an important decision?
Joseph Campbell's great Aunt sent him a book on 'mythology' when he was only 12....she thought long and hard to find the right gift for a 12-year-old boy when....finally, after much stewing, a certain book with many myths in it just kind of "...occurred to me that he might like this." She served as Joseph's Hekate without her ever knowing it! For those of you not familiar with Joseph Campbell, he became the most famous Professor of Mythology of all time!
IF YOU LIKED LEARNING ABOUT HEKATE AS A TRIPLE GODDESS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ ABOUT ANOTHER ASPECT OF THIS TRIPLE GODDESS: PERSEPHONE - GODDESS OF AWAKENING.
Thoughtful wishes to you,
Dixie Gladstone
Feminine Astrology
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© Dixie Gladstone 2012 - 2023
Feminine Astrology
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