Written by Founder and Mid Atlantic Director:
Coming from a Christian background and working in the paranormal, I’ve learned to be much more open-minded to other religions and deities. This has led to a fascination of other religions, and when possible, I’d like to spotlight other gods and goddesses for educational purposes, which hopefully you will all find not only enlightening, but respectful and informative.
Today marks the festival and feast of Hecate Trivia, which is a day that honors Hecate as a goddess of the crossroads, hence for the Latin term trivia, which means the place where three roads meet (tri + via). The celebration of Hecate started a few weeks back and today is one of many in terms of festivities. In Ancient Greece, altars to Hecate were often placed at crossroads, and people who were traveling at night would often leave offerings at crossroads for safe passage in return. She is known as a triple goddess who celebrates the phases of life including birth-life-death, full-new-dark moons, past-present-future, earth-heaven-underworld, earth-air-water, just to name a few. This is the time of where Hecate is worshipped starting in October and throughout the winter while everything is dead and dormant, allowing time for personal reflection.
Hecate originally started out as the goddess of women, childbirth, and the beginnings of life. In our modern time, she is known as the goddess of change, witchcraft, magic, life, death, crossroads, and psychic abilities. She is also associated with truth, the dark moon, and fertility. Hecate is known as one of the dark goddesses who rule over what we perceive as the darker elements of life such as magic, rebirth, death, spirits, ghosts, and the Underworld.
In the Greek myth of Persephone, Hecate is known as the keeper of the key to the Underworld, and keeps Persephone company while she is spending her time with Hades, as well as leading Demeter to Persephone due to her psychic abilities and the only one being able to hear and find Persephone in the Underworld. Because of her involvement with Persephone, Hecate began to be associated with death. During the Hellenistic period, Hecate became known as the triple-faced goddess of witchcraft and magic.
Whether you are Christian or practice some other religion, it is worth looking into other beliefs and religions for your own spiritual fulfillment. If you find yourself at a crossroads, whether metaphorically or literally, remember to give a nod to Hecate.
Sources:
Festival of Hecate – Paperblog
Alex Matsuo is the founder of the Association of Paranormal Study, author of the upcoming book The Haunted Actor, and host of ParaNation Radio which air every other Sunday @ 6pm PST/9pm EST. She can be followed on Twitter at: @alexmatsuo
