I am going to go on a little bit of a different path today. Rather than talking about Anubis or one of the other Egyptian deities, I’ve decided to talk about a deity that traditionally belongs to another pantheon: Hekate. But, being the eclectic witch that I am, I feel called to talk about my experiences with her, so here we are.
On a little side note, I’ve come across quite a number of pagans and witches who tell me that they follow Hekate alongside Anubis – which makes me curious to know more, but that’ll be for another day. Today, I am going to talk about my experiences with Hekate.
I should preface by saying that I am not, by any means, an expert on Hekate. Nor do I necessarily call myself a Hekatean Witch, only because she’s not exclusively the deity I work with in my craft. BUT, I do work with her in a way that seems to be growing as time progresses.
I’ve told quite a number of people, especially in The Witches Realm (a Facebook group founded by Cyndi Brannen from Keeping Her Keys) and associated groups, that I work with Hekate, but it’s often vague and not really with a whole lot of details. I think part of it is because I was never really able to articulate very well the role that she played in my life, and that was largely due to the fact that I wasn’t aware yet of what that was or where it was going. But I can say that role seems to be growing more and more, so I wanted to take some time to talk about how this all works in my life.
Hekate had always been a name that piqued my interest, but more so in a way that I highly respected her, but I never took the time to explore that any further or learn anything about her. But I had known other witches and pagans who did, and I really admired that. I knew that she was a powerful goddess and a complex goddess, but that was about the extent of what I knew.
How It All Began
Hekate seemed to come into my life like a crashing wave that hit all at once, and there’s a particular reason I use that metaphor that I’ll explain in a moment. From what I hear from others, that can be a pretty common occurrence – that she comes in either quickly and suddenly, or for some quietly and subtly. There really isn’t much an in-between, so it seems. I use this analogy specifically because the only epithet I have ever really worked with (for no particular reason) is Einalia (Hekate as Sea Goddess).
One day, I was browsing a book – I believe that it was just your average reference book that many pagans and witches keep handy – and the name Hekate JUMPED out of the page at me. I got goosebumps. It was almost as if my eyes and the name Hekate were magnets that were drawn to each other. At the time, I just made a mental note of it and went about my business. But any time I went back to the name Hekate, I had that same feeling.
Signs, Signs, & More Signs
Then, I started to see signs. First, black dogs in dreams (and in physical form, too). Images of torches in places that stood out. A vision in a meditation. License plate that read “Hek” (or something to that effect), which could have easily been a coincidence, but it felt like a sign to me at the time. I’m not going to lie. It was overwhelming, and I wasn’t sure that I could handle all of it on top of things that were happening in my life at that time. So I sort of took it slowly.
I didn’t really know what to do with all of these signs that seemed to be coming at me one right after the other, so I called out to Hekate and asked for more information and clarification. It was about that time when I came across Cyndi Brannen’s Facebook page, Keeping Her Keys. I started reading many of the articles that Cyndi wrote, but the first one I remember reading was When Hekate Calls: A Practical Guide for Answering. Something about it resonated in me, so I continued to read more and more. And that’s when I found more information about epithets of Hekate, and the one that I was drawn to the most was Hekate Einalia.
Other events in life got in the way, and the final thing that really was a push for me happened during a move. I moved to a new apartment, and on the floor of my apartment (which was accessed from outside) there was a sort of symbol or sigil etched into the concrete. It was four torches, all pointing in four different directions, connected by a sort of knotwork of lines that looked like to be charred black, or perhaps painted. Immediately, my first thought was Hekate. It hit me like a ton of bricks – or a wave, to go back to my first analogy.
And that’s when I started reaching out to her. At first it was small, maybe a prayer or during meditation. Or simply sitting with her energy for a while to get a feel for her. But eventually that grew into working with her in witchcraft and spellwork. Not necessarily consistently, but fairly regularly. And that led to making space for her on my altar.
Goddess of the Untamed Seas
While visiting the beaches along California, especially in the more northern parts where it’s cold and the seas are wild and untamed and free, that’s where I have always felt most connected to her. There was something about standing next to the ocean, hearing the waves crash upon the rocks, watching them unbound and free, that gave me a sense of a connection to Hekate.
I began working a lot with Hekate Einalia, and it was there, during a very difficult period of my life, that I found my little niche with Hekate. I did a lot of work with her to help me out of this particular situation, and in the end, it worked. Perhaps not how I had expected, but that’s how it works with the gods, I suppose.
I am grateful for Hekate being a part of my life now, and I am also grateful to Cyndi Brannen for being a part of bringing Hekate into my life. Now that I am out of that particular situation, I am working on some very specific issues with Hekate, pulling things out of the cold, dark depths of the ocean to be healed. I am always looking for new ways to grow personally and spiritually, and this seems to fit right in where it needs to be. I look forward to learning more about her, including other epithets. My admiration for Hekate is growing, and I am thrilled to be on this journey with her.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In