October

The Mount Shasta Goddess Temple dedicates October to Hekate.

Artwork Hekate in Pluto’s Cave by Devanna Wolf

Hekate is shrouded in mystery, as ghostly travelers often are. She is found in Turkey, Thrace, Greece, Rome, and Egypt, and goes back farther than history can trace. She is mistress of magic, keeper of the keys of all the universe, and guide for the wandering dead. She is found at three-way crossroads, in cemeteries, and in places of wild magic. Accompanied by dogs, she journeys through the night, escorting souls to the afterlife, uncovering secrets, and feasting on the offerings left for her under the dark of the moon.

Though she has often been misinterpreted as a Crone goddess due to her associations with death, she is historically a maiden goddess, similar in form to Artemis. She presides over birth, midwifery, and death, reminding us that there is but one gate between this world and the next, and one passes through it with the grace of the goddess.

Ideas for honoring Hekate, Mother of Darkness:

 -prepare an offering plate of figs, olives, olive oil, garlic cloves, and flatbread, and leave it on your front porch at the dark moon

-burn myrrh resin on a charcoal and honor your lost ancestors

-fashion a bracelet, necklace, or belt from antique keys

-read the Orphic Hymn to Hekate

-volunteer to walk dogs at an animal shelter

-visit a cemetery and clean off untended graves

-light two candles on your altar

-learn some of Hekate’s epithets

Praise for Hekate

Morphos, Phosphoros, Eileithyia!
Wild Wanderer at the Crossroads
Bright Hostess at the Thresholds
Bearer of Twin Flames
Radiant Bride of Night
Mother of Darkness
Guard, guide, and lead me today!

I am a deer in thy wandering herd,
I am a key to thy mysteries
I am a torch in thy hand
I am a footfall along thy silent path
I am a star in thy vast heavens
I am a wave in thy fathomless seas
I am a knife that cuts cleanly
I am a soul in thy holy retinue
I am a fibre in the rope of eternity

I consecrate myself to thee this day, and every day,
that I may travel safely within thy saffron cloak,
dive with thy aid into deep mystic waters,
and dance with thee amongst the shades of my benevolent ancestors.
Therefore grant me courage and constancy,
guard me and guide me,
and grant unto me thy faultless and flawless perception.

-by Temple Priestess Yeshe Matthews

For more information about the Goddesses honored in the Mount Shasta Goddess Temple, join the Temple as a Mandala Member.