Researching The Goddess of Witches

Hekate.  Spelled with a k, get it straight.

At one point, many moons ago, I wanted to join The Temple of Hekate in NYC.  They had a table set up at Pagan Pride Day and a gentleman noticed the patch on my Tom Bihn Cafe bag which happened to be Hekate’s wheel.  Now, I’m not going to get into the symbol of Her wheel because that’s part of the reason for my research, so I don’t know the full answer as to why She has a wheel.  In any case, the gentleman asked if I worked with her and I said, not particularly no, but as a Greek Wiccan it was my understanding that Hekate was a house deity, where many folks had shrines to her in their homes and at the time I was seriously considering going full Hellenic Reconstructionist.  I figured if modern Greeks can have House Saints and shrines for them, then why couldn’t I have a House Goddess and shrine for Her?

He then said, anything you want to know about Hekate, you read Hekate Soteira by Sarah Iles Johnston.  That was the end of the conversation.  But I did jot down the name of the book and author in my notebook (remember the Moleskine Shadow lost?  Yeah, that one.)  The book was entirely too expensive on Amazon and only one seller even had it plus there were no digital copies which means my savvy broke ass behind couldn’t pirate it either.  No shame.

Well dear readers, after many years of holding this damn book in my cart on Amazon to save for later, I finally achieved more than half off the price.  For years the price fluctuated but it never went below 20 bucks.  Finally, a few days ago I get a notification that it’s 17 and change.  You best believe I snatched that shit up.  As of tonight, the price is 20.35, down from 45.  Damn you to hell Amazon.

Now, I don’t know anything more about this book other than it’s supposed to be the book on Hekate.  It is referenced in the book I’m currently reading about Her called Circle for Hekate by Sorita d’Este. The book is technically Johnston’s doctoral thesis expounded upon, so good for her, especially since there is an entire temple of devotees reading and recommending this one book.  She even keeps the original Greek texts intact in her work unlike in Circle for Hekate which gives translations.  I took an entire year of Ancient Greek in college, modern Greek is my second language, I can translate pottery in the museum.  I got this.  Seriously, it’s my party trick, and I use it to impress rich people at the park in Weehawken. Again, no shame.

What I need to figure out as an armchair classicist, is where does the symbol of Her wheel come from, at what point was she associated with witchcraft (which I must remind you was frowned upon in Ancient Greece, curse tablets however, were not), why does this one Goddess have so many other symbols, torches, crossroads, keys, dogs, among others.  And what’s the deal with the translation for the word wheel?  It’s extremely difficult to Google because the damned thing is called so many other things, like in modern Greek it’s technically whirl!  So, that’s the biggest mystery I hope to unlock, otherwise, I gotta find another patch for my bag and for that matter, my necklace.

A mini research project is just what I need!

Back to reading for me!

Blessed Be!

🌛🌝🌜