Author Archives: Tara

How to invoke Hekate

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I have a new toy, Ive been playing with Google Analytics for a while and one of the nice things you can do is actually see how people came across your site or blog; one that has come up a number of times recently is “How to Call on Hekate”.

What a very valid question and one that I hadn’t ever considered writing about. I suppose firstly because my normal knee jerk ornery response would be, well how long is a peice of string? In fact I think that actually was my first thought when I read those keywords, but on contemplation, I remember being absolutely flummoxed back in the day, I had read the Pagan/Witch/Magick 101 primers and moved on, to, well the likes of Crowley and the Haute Magick crew. I remember crying hot tears of anger and frustration because I wanted to work with a deity but really it isn’t that obvious “how” it actually happens, and there is sufficent enough material out there with conflicting views that there seemed to be no definitive answer, all I wanted was somebody to show me, just once, in practise how they did it.

And then there was the whole evokation and invocation malarky, I didn’t really want to invoke anything but when you read the Wicca-esque 101 primers it is invoke this and invoke that, evokation it seems doesn’t get a look in. But I did know that I didn’t want a possession, I wanted a conversation. Firstly I was lucky to happen across a copy of Franz Bardons “The Practise of Magical Evocation”, which I thoroughly recommend, especially if your into bells, smells, pomp and circumstance and then I eventually found somebody who showed me the whys and the wherefores and was very careful to make sure that I didn’t take thier (or anybody elses) way as some form of dogmatic scripture. And from then I was encouraged to develop my own practise.

Obviously I cannot “show” you how with the written word, as I came to realise after the fact, this is why so many traditions are called mystery traditions, because it can’t be written down only experienced, but also my cynical side sometimes wonders if some self professed initiates of these traditions haven’t got a clue either, its as much a mystery to them as it is to everybody else. In truth when calling Hekate, the only thing you really need is an open mind and an open heart, but I know that statement in its own right is of no help to anybody who is reading this post with interest. So I would suggest you start simply, use something that has been tried and tested, after all, why re-invent the wheel, if your like me, you will be happy to admit that flowery words are not your strong point and best left to mystics and poets.

So I would suggest you find yourself a quiet place, a circle if you feel you need it, although who are you protecting yourself from? A special place, a three way crossroad, a deserted beach, hell the bottom of your garden, as long as it is somewhere where you aren’t going to be disturbed. Don’t listen to this anywhere your going to be “comfortable” clap trap I keep hearing cited though, it doesn’t matter where you choose, it could be your most favourite “happy” place in the world but the first time you do this you are going to be far from “comfortable”, your heart is going to be in your throat, pounding, possibly sweating and shaking, your tummy giving it large like a scene from a bad alien movie.

So there you are knees knocking, possibly slightly crouching at the bottom of your garden so the neighbours can’t see you over the fence, you can guarantee your garden will have suddenly become infested with midges, or slugs, or the latest “in place” for the neighbourhood cats, or as I discovered the first time I did a specific operation with a new entity, of intense interest to the Police Helicopter, no seriously there is nothing so off putting as a big bugger off flood light suddenly lighting up your nocturnal doings. Anyway, so there you are, hopefully by this point youve actually giggled at the ridiculousness of the whole situation and some of the discomfort has passed as a result.

If it hasn’t then you really do need to lighten up just a wee bit. So what do you say, well how about using the Prayer for Selene for any spell from the Greek Magical Papyri:

“Come to me, O Beloved Mistress, Three-faced
Selene; kindly hear my Sacred Chants;
Night’s Ornament, young, bringing Light to Mortals,
O Child of Morn who ride upon the Fierce Bulls,
O Queen who drive Your Car on Equal Course
With Helios, who with the Triple Forms
Of Triple Graces dance in Revel with
The Stars. You’re Justice and the Moira’s Threads:
Klotho and Lachesis and Atropos
Three-headed, You’re Persephone, Megaira,
Allekto, Many-Formed, who arm Your Hands
With Dreaded, Murky Lamps, who shake Your Locks
Of fearful Serpents on Your Brow, who sound
The Roar of Bulls out from Your Mouths, whose Womb
Is decked out with the Scales of Creeping Things,
With Pois’nous Rows of Serpents down the Back,
Bound down Your Backs with Horrifying Chains
Night-Crier, Bull-faced, loving Solitude,
Bull-headed, You have Eyes of Bulls, the Voice
Of Dogs; You hide Your Forms in Shanks of Lions,
Your Ankle is Wolf-shaped, Fierce Dogs are dear
To You, wherefore they call You Hekate,
Many-named, Mene, cleaving Air just like
Dart-shooter Artemis, Persephone,
Shooter of Deer, night shining, triple-sounding,
Triple-headed, triple-voiced Selene
Triple-pointed, triple-faced, triple-necked,
And Goddess of the Triple Ways, who hold
Untiring Flaming Fire in Triple Baskets,
And You who oft frequent the Triple Way
And rule the Triple Decades, unto me
Who’m calling You be gracious and with Kindness
Give Heed, You who protect the Spacious World
At night, before whom Daimons quake in Fear
And Gods Immortal tremble, Goddess who
Exalt Men, You of Many Names, who bear
Fair Offspring, Bull-eyed, Horned, Mother of Gods
And Men, and Nature, Mother of All Things,
For You frequent Olympos, and the broad
And boundless Chasm You traverse. Beginning
And End are You, and You Alone rule All.
For All Things are from You, and in You do
All Things, Eternal One, come to their End.
As Everlasting Band around Your Temples
You wear Great Kronos’ Chains, unbreakable
And unremovable, and You hold in
Your Hands a Golden Scepter. Letters ’round
Your Scepter Kronos wrote Himself and gave
To You to wear that All Things stay steadfast:
Subduer and subdued, Mankind’s Subduer,
And Force-subduer; Chaos, too, You rule.
Hail, Goddess, and attend Your Epithets,
I burn for You this Spice, O Child of Zeus,
Dart-shooter, Heav’nly One, Goddess of Harbors,
Who roam the Mountains, Goddess of Crossroads,
O Nether and Nocturnal, and Infernal,
Goddess of Dark, Quiet and Frightful One,
O You who have Your Meal amid the Graves,
Night, Darkness, Broad Chaos: Necessity
Hard to escape are You; You’re Moira and
Erinys, Torment, Justice and Destroyer,
And You keep Kerberos in Chains, with Scales
Of Serpents are You dark, O You with Hair
Of Serpents, Serpent-girded, who drink Blood,
Who bring Death and Destruction, and who feast
On Hearts, Flesh Eater, who devour Those Dead
Untimely, and You who make Grief resound
And spread Madness, come to my Sacrifices,
And now for me do You fulfill this Matter.”
~Online Source

And the rest, well perhaps you can write to me and share your experiences of what comes next because honestly it can be as simple as that, enjoy.

Disclaimer: Any persons attempting to perform the operation described below, do so at thier own risk; the author of this site does not and will not accept any responsibility for the outcome of this operation. You’re bigs boys and girls folks, I shouldn’t have to post this up, you wouldn’t jump off a cliff if I told you to, now would you?

Greek Temple Architecture

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Not living in Greece and never having had the priviledge of visiting (although I am hoping to rectify that in the very near future), my primary concern with ancient sites has been pretty much academic, what statuary was found there, what steles or archeological artifacts have been found in the environs, that may or may not support the work that I do with Hekate, that might enrich my personal practises. I will be honest it had never occured to me to consider the possible astronomical orientation of the major temples. But I came across this interesting article online this morning and I thought it was worth linking to it especially as the Temple of Hekate in Sicily gets a specific mention.

Dr Salt found that 40 of 41 temples that he analysed in Sicily were oriented towards the eastern horizon. A statistical analysis all but eliminated the possibility that this was due to chance. The sole exception was the Temple of Hekate, which he suggests may have been built to honour a Moon goddess.

~Times Online

You can find the full article Here

A is for Apple

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Two posts in one day, gosh I hear you say this blog is like the bus service nothing for ages and then two come along at once, well sort of. I wrote this back in early 2007 for an earlier incarnation of my blogging life, I’d actually forgotten about it, but somebody I know and respect brought up today the concept of beauty from a magickal perspective, and I was reminded of this. So I thought I would trot it out for a 2nd run around the block, I hope it is of interest.

Apple mythology and folklore abounds, it is found in ancient irish, greek, welsh, norse and english liturature. From Adam and Eve, through to Merlin and Vivianne it’s symbolism appears over and over again. After a visit from the apple lady a month or so back I took it upon myself to understand more about this fruit and what it means from a mythological and magical perspective.

That the Apple Lady chose to visit me came as no surprise, I grew up on a very large fruit farm, where apples were the primary crop. There is something very eery about an apple orchard at dusk, there is a presence as old as time, that will manifest under just the right conditions. It effects man and beast alike, I have seen domestic cats momentarily turn ferile, attacking anything in thier path and dogs shiver and yelp in fear at something that to the eye is not there.

Perhaps this occurance of the veil thinning in such a manner is a reflection of the long history man has had with this fruit, creation myths aside. Apples have been cultivated for millenia, although in the British Isles not in the format we most commonly think of, in all likelyhood most of the earlier apple tales would have referred to the “crab” apple, rather than a Granny Smith. But none the less this long relationship has ensured that it has a prominent place in our conciousness and subsequently our mythology.

Irish Mythology

Aillinn

The Ogham stave “Quirt” is most commonly taken to mean apple and more specifically the crab apple (although there is some contention about this amongst scholars), in an Irish myth Aillinn, the granddaughter of the king of Leinster, in true Romeo and Juliet style fell in love with Baile the heir to the throne of Ulster, these two kingdoms were sworn enemy’s and in true romantic tradgedy style the pair died, it was said that from Baile’s grave grew a Yew tree and from Aillinn’s an apple. These tree’s were purported to have been cut down by the Filidh (Irish poets) and the tradgedy was written upon them in Ogham. They were eventually gifted to Art son of Conn, but upon his reading them, they drew shut never to be opened again.

~ Theme, death and rebirth, knowledge and withheld knowledge.

Conle

A mysterious and beautiful woman appears one day to Conle, she throws an apple at him and then promptly disappears. Conle then exists on nothing but the flesh of this apple for an entire month, an becomes consumed by the thought of this woman. When she appears again to him, he follows her to the other world never to be see again.

~ Temptation, Journey to the otherworld, inability to return to this world.

Bran Mac Febal

After hearing a beautiful woman sing, he falls asleep and upon waking discovers he is holding the “silver bough” of Emain. This was a beautiful branch containing golden apples purported to have come from the apple tree in the centre of an Otherworldly Isle (the Irish version of Avalon). After many adventures he makes it Emain, where he stays for a long period of time, and for everyday that passed in Emain many more years passed in Erin (Ireland), home sickness eventually over takes him and his comrades and the resolve to return home, only to discover the pasing of time and the inability to return home. They too sail away never to be seen again.

~ Temptation, Journey to the Otherworld, inability to return to this world.

Cormac

One day a mysterious stranger appears to Cormac, carrying an apple branch containing golden apples, besotted with this treasure he agrees to trade his wife and children for this wondrous item. Eventually the thrall of the branches magic starts to wear off and realising his loss, he resolves to venture into the otherworld to find them. Upon arriving he is greeted by Mananan, who declares the branch was a lure. Discussion passes between them and Cormac enquires about the meaning of a sight he witnessed upon his journey. Mananan lies to Cormac and Cormac catches him out, but Mananan refuses to give him the answer. Later they fall asleep and wake in thier own beds in this world.

~ Temptation, Journey to the Otherworld, Knowledge and withheld Knowledge.

Cu Roi

His otherworldly wife betrays him for the love of Cu Chulain and he is slain. In some recensions of the story he hides his soul in an apple that resided in the stomach of a Salmon that would only surface every seven years.

~ Temptation, Death, Knowledge.

Welsh Mythology

Culwch and Olwen

Culwch journey’s to the otherworld to gain the hand of Yspadden, the giant’s daughter, Olwen; To win Olwen’s hand he has to complete many impossible tasks. He petitions Arthur his cousin to help him in these tasks, his aparell during his appearance in Arthur’s court, it that of a four cornered cloth of purple which has golden apples of great value on each corner.

~ Journey to the Otherworld, Epic Challenges, Giants.

Peredur

Hidden from the concept of war by his mother, a chance meeting with a group of knights; set him on the path of becoming a great warrior. One of the knights he encountered was Owain, who is described as the one “who kept track of the knight who had divided the apples in Arthur’s court”.

~ Epic Challenges, Knowledge and withheld Knowledge.

Afallach

Purported to be the father of Modron (Father of the Mother), his name possibly derives from the welsh word “afall” meaning apple.

Greek Mythology

Eris/Discord

Eris is snubbed when is not invited to a wedding, she turns up anyway and throws a golden apple (possibly from the garden of hersperides) inscribed with the word Kallisti, into the proceedings. Kallisti means to the fairest, the goddesses assembled argue over who this gift is intended for. This argument in a round about way sparked the Trojan war.

~ Temptation, Death

Hera

Gaia gifts Hera enchanted apples trees upon her marriage to Zeus. She plants them in the grove of immortality, also known as the Garden of Hesperides.

~ Otherworld, Immortality

Atlanta

After rejecting many suitors, Hippomenes asked Aphrodite to aid him in persuing his suit of Atlanta. Atlanta declares she will only marry a man who can beat her in a foot race, knowing full well that she cannot be beaten. Aphrodite gift’s Hippomene’s apples from Hesperides, and instructs him to drop them along the route as he run’s. Atlanta cannot help but pause to scoop up these treasures and thus looses the race.

~ Temptation, Epic Challenges

Herakles

Charged with pergorming twelve seemingly impossible tasks to atone for commiting infanticide. His 11th task was to gain the golden apples from the Garden of Hesperides. Later as a gift for achieving these tasks, he is given the gift of immortality.

~Epic Challenges, Immortality

Norse Mythology

Idunn

The keeper of the apples of immortality in Asguard, she is stolen and taken to the giant Pazi in Jotenheim. Without her apples, the gods start aging and a battle ensues between the gods and the giants, the gods eventually win and Idunn is restored to Asguard.

~Immortality

English / Arthurian Mythology

Morgana/Morgraine/Morgan Le Fey

Half sister to Arthur, she plots his downfall, yet at the brink of his death when he is mortally wounded; accepts him into Avalon (The Island of Apples) to heal him and keep him safe until the hour of Britains greatest need.

~ Immortaility, Death/Healing

Merlin

Having been driven mad after the loss of his men in battle, he retires to the forests of Cumbria, he laments his loss. “Nineteen were the apples trees which once stood here with thier fruit: they stand no longer. Who has stolen them from me, where have they gone so suddenly. Now I see them now not. So fate both supports and opposes me, letting me see and preventing me from seeing”.

~ Otherworld, Death/Healing, Knowledge and withheld knowledge.

Apples and the Tree of Life

I encountered my Apple Lady whilst scrying, specifically I was in Tipareth of Geburah (the beauty of severity), she entered via Nun the 24th path of the Tree of life, which joins Netzach (victory) with Tipareth (beauty), which corresponds to the 13th Tarot Trump – Death. This is the path of “The pain of the obligation”; Regardie describes it as “the path of hidden energies that, when aroused, leads to increasing levels of illumination”. He futher explains, “Outmoded ideas of the ’self’ evaproate as new self-images and ’similitudes’ form to replace them. The task of the student on this path is to let go of the old and yield to that which is unfamiliar”.

Many of these stories have common themes, death and resurrection, knowledge and hidden knowledge, temptation often by a beautiful woman, percieved impossible challenges. So what does the apple teach, who is the “Apple Lady”. She has a role in just about every pantheon and every mythology group, her role is that of transformation, of progression, challenges that elicit spiritual and magical growth often through a purification through death, death of apects of the practitioner that bind them or cause conflict within thier ego that prevents them from reaching thier potential, from discovering thier true will.

The Apple Lady offers you the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but to accept that fruit requires that step your feet along a path from which you cannot return, no matter how much you would wish it. And to eat that fruit will ensure that you will never be the same again. Possibly better, more complete, but undeniably different.

Did you know?

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I own 6 tarot decks, no neither did I, until I took the time to root them out and count them up and that isn’t including the 3 blank decks I found still in the cellophane wrapping their original purpose now lost in the mists of time. I also have the pencil sketches of the Major Arcana for a deck of my own based upon the Guardians and Tresures of Britain. Not bad for somebody who doesn’t read cards…or should that be didn’t read cards….or maybe it should be somebody that didn’t fess up to reading the cards.

The problem was that I was never trained and I could not in all honesty say I was self taught because my very first deck (which actually is no longer with me but in better hands – Im a bit absive with my decks, ask me to do a “chaos” spread for you one day if we ever meet) was the Rider Waite and an accompanying “Idiots Guide” style book, I hated it, hated it with a passion, so I gave it away. But I did read, at one point fairly often, but it was intuitively, I knew nothing of the traditional symbology or so I thought. So when people asked me if I would give them a reading (because all occultists know the cards don’t they?) I would change the subject, get a very bad cough, or suddenly be unable to find my deck. Hmm maybe that is why I have so many decks, I kept hiding them in safe places so I accidently on purpose couldn’t find them, and then I really couldn’t.

Anyway I’m getting of track a bit, where was I, Oh yes, I would have been very happily preserving this little charade until a couple of acts of syncronicity occured. Yup, damn that syncronicity, I tell you when the revolution comes it will be the first up against the wall and shot, my life will then be so much easier. Firstly I had quite an indepth discussion with a fellow student of the mysteries regarding oracular aspects of working with Hekate. And secondly I discovered that a very well respected and talented teacher of the Tarot was running a weekend long workshop at a local MBS store. I still don’t really know what possessed me to book myself on the course, as lovely and clever and talented as they are, I normally find that, although in theory the MBS crowd and occultists should have a common ground, in reality, whilst they may only be standing 5 ft appart, there is a great yawning, gaping, abyss that separates them; as a result the idea of spending a weekend in such company would normally send me screaming down the high street tearing my hair and renting my clothes with much gnashing of teeth and beating of breast.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised, firstly it is possible that there may be validity in the statement that all occultists know the cards, it appears my years of scribbling, underling, highlighting and general wanton destruction of my copy of 777 for various “doings” may have paid off, because it turns out I had a bloody good idea of what was actually going on in the cards from a traditional point of view, secondly I have been asked by the owner of the shop to put together some talks and she was specifically interested in me facilitating a weekend Hekate workshop. Now I initially balked at the idea, she basicially inferred that I was going to have to “Goddess” it up a bit, not really my style, but apparently who am I to judge because every time I think about it this song pops into my head U2 – Mysterious Ways Click on the Link and really listen to the lyrics, go on I dare you, because if that isn’t an Oracular message, then I’m the irrepresible spirit of Monkey!

For my Father

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When I sat down this morning to write, it was going to be an academic treatise on Cults and festivals of the Dead and how they relate to or can be adapted to working with the Lady Hekate, and perhaps I will write it still, although maybe not today. All things considered, today seems like a good day to muse upon those that have gone before.

I am not a Wiccan, nor have I ever been, and although my other great love is the stories and tales of the land we now know of as Wales, neither is my path specifically a Celtic one (although I actually hate using the word Celtic, because it doesn’t really mean much); that being said, this time of year has always held a special signifcance for me, it has always felt different and never more so than in the last decade since my father, my first mentor, passed on around this time.

He taught me many things (although at the time I am not sure I appreciated quite what he was teaching me), not just to walk and talk or to ride my first bike, he taught me the names of the flowers and the trees, to eat hawthorm leaves and call them bread and cheese, to gauge just right how many slightly under-ripe cob nuts I could eat without getting the colly wobbles, how to make cider, to garden, and even to knit, crochet and sew, he told me stories and tales some awe inspiring, some frightening, some just down right ridiculous, we used to laugh and call him our font of useless information, a talent I can now proudly say I have inherited.

He called himself a heathen, although he wasn’t one in the way most people use the word now, he didn’t know about fancy groups and troths, although he had a deep one with the land, he knew of course of the Aesir and Vanir for his knowledge of old stories was phenominal, but they weren’t his gods, to use his words, he worshipped only at the altar of the compost heap.

He was an honorable man, a quiet man, a gentle man, loved by everybody who knew him; he talked many times of his funeral in the years before his passing, he said he always wanted a Viking funeral, or failing that to be buried “face down and bum uppards holding a bottle of whiskey”. Of course such schemes were to never come to pass, although plans are in place, his ashes safely stowed for a future time, when he and my mother will be sailed out on a flaming balsa wood boat across lake windermere, one of his most favourite places in the world.

And as the sun goes down tonight, I shall light a candle and pour him a glass and think of all the gifts he gave to me and I never thanked him for.

Ask and ye shall recieve…

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So a few posts ago, I posted about the plight of the british honey bee, and particularly how I viewed it from a magickal perspective. Imagine my delight whilst walking down the baking goods aisle in my local supermarket this evening to spy a slogan adorning Rowse’s Honey – Save the Honey Bee. Not only have they commited £100,000 to aid research, but currently if you buy a jar of Rowse’s honey you can register online for a pack of wild flower seeds to plant in your garden to, as they put it, grow more bee friendly plants in your garden. For details see here. Okay it may only be pennies in a fountain, but you know, pennies do add up, and so I bought a jar and have registered for my free pack of seeds, after all is it not better to take small steps in the right direction when you hit that crossroads, than just sit there discussing the journey?

What is the date today?

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Anybody who has done even the smallest amount of research regarding the goddess Hekate will have heard about the Deipna Hekate or Hekates Suppers. Too often however the date for these is cited as being the 30th of the month.

The problem is that the ancient greeks did not have the same calendar as we did, in fact they didn’t have the same calendar as each other, which makes working out dates and times more than a little awkward. For example, the Attic calendar (which is the most complete version we have) started on the first day of the new moon after the summer solstice, the Boetian year didn’t start until the new moon after the winter solstice 6 months later.

The sighting of the new moon was of course subjective as well, so different areas at any point in time might be out by one or two days. So this leads to the question, if we would like to offer a Deipna Hekate, when would be the best time to do it?

Well, whilst I am a big advocate of research, I am not a reconstructionist, so in the first instance I would say leave out this offering on the night of the dark moon where you live. If you want to be a little more precise than just taking a look up into the sky at moonrise, then there are a number of excellent calculators online which will be a tad more specific,this is one I have used and you can even added to your FaceBook profile if you have an account. iPhone even has “an App for that”, or so my husband tells me.

And finally I would like to share is this excellent resource, which is being created and developed by a very dedicated group of Hellenic reconstructionists, Ive actually bookmarked it on my browser toolbar, so useful is it as a ready reckoner. You can find it here. And with that I shall wish you a very good last day of Puanepsion or first day of Maimakterion, depending of course where you live 😀

Of air-born honey, gift of heaven, I now Take up the tale

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Last weekend I had the honor of spending time with a wonderful group of like minded individuals. The purpose of this meeting of minds was to celebrate the Goddess Hekate.  Of the many subjects that were discussed around the fire was whether honey should be used in ritual considering the current worldwide crisis in the honey bee population.

For anybody who isn’t aware, there is a deep concern regarding the bee population, with whole colonies dying off or disappearing, the ecological effect of which is potentially disasterous for world agriculture; recently the Independant (Full Article Here) stated that:

“Most of the pollination for more than 90 commercial crops grown throughout the United States is provided by Apis mellifera, the honey bee, and the value from the pollination to agricultural output in the country is estimated at $14.6bn (£8bn) annually. In Britain alone, pollination by bees of a suite of just 10 crops, ranging from apples and pears to oilseed rape, was calculated to be worth £165m per annum in 2007.”

The causes for the dramatic decrease in population of this humble little creature are varied, from viruses, to mites, increased numbers of natural predators, pesticides and even mobile phones. Apiarists in the UK are petitioning Defra to spend £8 million pounds to conduct urgent research (Proposal in PDF Here) into these issues in an attempt to save bee population in the United Kingdom. Something which Defra says they cannot afford to do.

The knee jerk reaction of those who have more than a passing interest in environmental issues, is, most understandably, a desire to boycott honey and honey related products, a not insignificant sacrifice for anybody who works with Hekate, especially those who are starting out on thier path, for these products are a staple offering and eucharistic substance. But why is this?

Possibly one of the most well known and visually powerful evokations of the Goddess occurs in Book 3 of Apollonius of Rhode’s Argonautica (a.k.a Jason and the Golden Fleece). Medea a Priestess of Hekate instructs Jason as to how to enlist the help of the Goddess.

“wait for midnight which divides the night in two. Bathe in the stream of a river which is never still and, alone, without others, dress in dark robes and dig a circular pit. Over it slit the throat of a female sheep and burn it whole, heaping high a pyre on the very edge of the pit. Make appeasement to Hekate, the only born daughter of Perses, by pouring in libation from a cup the works of bees in their hives”

The libation is undeniably a honey based substance, and whenever I am contacted by somebody wanting to work with Hekate, honey and or mead is one of the first items I list. So imagine my discomfort to hear that people I respect and consider my peers, informing me that it was no longer the done thing to use honey in ritual. So I decided to look closer into this issue and I could only come to one conclusion, it is actually my responsibility to continue to use these products, if perhaps a little more responsibly.

So why have I come to this conclusion?

Defra have donated only £2 Million of a proposed £8 Million project, the most obvious place for sourcing the remainder of this funding is within the Bee-Keeping and Honey production industry itself. Reduced demand will in theory reduce the possible available funds.

A reduced demand for honey and bee related products will have a knock on effect, fewer apiarists will be trained, thus reducing the pool of expertise in this subject and thus theoretically affecting the level of consultation between the industry and the scientist who will conduct the research.

However, I am not advocating the purchase and indescriminate use of mass produced honey. For some time now, the honey and beeswax candles I use are mostly locally sourced, in fact I see the bees from the apiary in my garden on a daily basis in the summer months, they are particulary fond of my monster lavender bushes.  At a push I will purchase organic honey from the supermarket but only as a last resort and I have made the decision that I will no longer purchase mass produced mead, instead chosing to produce my own or just not use it at all.

And finally, I shall be taking a hint from Aristaios and petition his mother Cyrene.

His mother’s bidding: to the shrine he came,
The appointed altars reared, and thither led
Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,
With kine to match, that never yoke had known;
Then, when the ninth dawn had led in the day,
To Orpheus sent his funeral dues, and sought
The grove once more. But sudden, strange to tell
A portent they espy: through the oxen’s flesh,
Waxed soft in dissolution, hark! there hum
Bees from the belly; the rent ribs overboil
In endless clouds they spread them, till at last
On yon tree-top together fused they cling,

~ Virgil Gregorics Bk 4

The Wrong & the Rite of It

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I am not a big advocate of open rituals, my dislike of such events is a big contributing factor to my non attendance at many well thought of camps and conferences.

Organising pagans has been likened afterall to being much like hearding cats, in my opinion (as the budding local mad cat lady) cats are easier to organise, but I suppose that is a whole other story. Anyway, where was I, Oh yes open rituals and associated events.

Today I saw this posted on Facebook:

All I can say is those images reminded me about everything I hate about an alarmingly fast growing sub section of the Pagan community, as I viewed this video I could almost hear Alec Guiness in best Obi Wan Kenobi mode whisper “Stonehenge – You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany”!

It also made me think about a little “rantette” I made along a similar vein last year after being persuaded under duress to attend an event:

I am not in any publically percievable way either emotionally or physically crippled, I did not get hit particularly hard with the ugly stick at birth, and I am aware of how to enhance the non ugly stick afflicted attributes I have with the judicious use of expertly applied (if minimalistic) makeup and well fitting clothes that do not include tie die. I wash, dear gods I wash, admittedly with chemical free (pedants please don’t argue that everything has a chemical composition, you know exactly what I mean), cruelty free products, but non the less my bathroom has a full compliment of personal hygiene products that get used on a regular basis, particularly my hair products, I have a stunning head of hair, and lank is never a good look, I realise that if I do not have time to wash and style my hair then there are cunning tricks to disguise this fact, namely tying it up, or head scarfs or hats, and I do not use perfume, particularly anything patchouli based, to hide stale sweat——[snip]——I don’t give offerings to my crystals, I don’t worship the goddess (I’d like to research this “the” goddess, which culture does she come from, what attributes does she have, where are her centres of worship?), I have never had a clue and still don’t, despite a very long and tedious talk, what an aura is or looks like, and what seeing one can do for you – except that it may have something to do with a very poor interpretation of fourier series mathematics and alchemical re-ordering of elemental metals by getting rid of protons; wtf???. And I really have no clue what a Hedge Druid is, despite how hard and meaningfully somebody might look at me whilst they decare that is what they are.

I know these views are not popular, I suspect that many who read this post will think that I am selfish, stuck up, middle class snob, well guess what, I am, and proud of it, for I certainly can’t be proud of the images of the Solstice Celebrations currently floating around You Tube, I am totally, utterly and inexorably ashamed by any Pagan who would willingly participate in such a debacle.

This being said, I am aware that for many, who, for a number of reasons, do not have groups to celebrate with, Open festivals and rituals are their only way to access the wider pagan community and a limited experience of group work, but there are ways and ways; people perhaps should be looking to their local groups and sacred sites, not only would it perhaps open up wider long term oppertunities but it would go a long way to reduce their “magickal mileage”.

I had the honor of being invited to attend a small open gathering this year run by a local group, a group of friends, who despite varying paths and beliefs are able to produce beautiful, cohesive and powerful rites (rather than the ritual chaos often seen at open events); this maybe because they are friends, but I suspect this is more because they aren’t weekend wiccans, they actually walk the walk, all those invited (and not all pagan) thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the work they did and the only thing that was left behind to mark our passing was the sound of our laughter drifting on the wind.

Devotion

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When my mother turned 30, thinking that perhaps her life of learning was now far behind her; she decided that each year she would make an attempt to learn something new. Her rationale being that as the brain is effectively a muscle the more you “exercise” it, the healthier it will be. It is an ethos I believe has stood her in good stead. For although now in her sixties with a body that is failing her fast, her mental acuity is still as sharp as a razor.

For her this involved learning such skills as lace-making, car mechanics, pottery and eventually the cuisine of a different land each year, even now she can whip you up a Greek Meze or a Thai banquet from scratch with little effort and little thought to referencing a book, she can go to an international food store and ask for the ingredients using the region specific names, lol and admonish the shop assistant if they try and palm her off with an inappropriate alternative.

For my mother, the art, the magic, of food, is the care and devotion put into the preparation, and presentation. The offering of food is in many ways a mark of respect, no well thought of person goes away from her house unfed or un-watered, although it is sometimes obvious who she wants rid of quickly.

Not too far into my 30’s I decided to take a leaf out of her book and started finding “new” things to learn every year. Casting my mind back, I think that is where my total fascination with the Goddess Hekate first stemmed from. At the time I was well and truly entrenched in the study of Cochranite influenced Traditional Witchcraft.

Cochrane and Evan John Jones made several vague references to Hekate (although they used the romanised vernacular – Hecate), it struck me as a little unusual,  that a tradition that seemed to heavily entrenched in a system that apparently was focussed on the Genius Locii of this fair land to include a Goddess who was effectively a stranger.

Not long after that the draw became irresistable, that husky voice whispering in my ear at that grey time just between wakefulness and sleep. And although I still persue my resolution to learn something new every year, Hekate has remained with me ever since. She seems to enjoy utilising my new skills. I think she has worked out that I am never going to write her pretty poetry with which to stand at her alter and sing her praises. She has enough people to do that for her already.

Instead she finds new and interesting way to toment me ahem I mean get her dues. This year I decided that I would learn “end to end” the process for creating a woollen garment, from cleaning the fleece, through spinning, to actually knitting said item. Imagine my chagrin that whilst perusing knitting patterns online one day, I came across one predictably entitled Hecate.

“That One” whispered the voice in my head, “that one, that one, that one”.

Upon reading the pattern I discovered that it required a good 1000m of laceweight yarn, laceweight, the holy grail of many a new spinner, a category I most definitely fell under having only purchased my wheel a mere month before. It took me two months to spin the yarn and a further two months to make the finished garment, the actual number of hours well in excess of a 100. Truly an act of devotion, whether I liked it or not.

And that was the lesson I suspect it was intended that I learnt, for years I had mantained that I wasn’t a devotee, I didn’t do devotion, I worked with her, I might even work for her, and in the greek sense of the word, I could be considered a Priestess of her. But devoted I was not.

Devotion to me inferred some kind of religious fevour, unquestioning and very fallible belief in a particular deity, neither of which I was capable of doing. I still can’t.

But a mark of deep respect I can do, like my mother, I can create magic in a well prepared, manufactured and presented and apparently mundane task.

A Mark of Deep Respect

Shadows at the Crossroads - A Mark of Deep Respect