I don’t know enough about Hekate

Temple to Hekate Triformis at Selinunte

As a follow-up to the previous post I briefly mentioned Hekate and then added the note ref Cashford. I’m writing in various places so I can’t always put my hands on my books. The book I’m referring to here is The Moon: Myth and Image by Jules Cashford. I’ve had it for a few years, but haven’t reviewed it because I haven’t had time to sit down and read it properly. It’s a big book, about 400 pages and fairly small type. It’s also written sequentially, so it’s not the easiest book to dip in and out of. That’s not to say it’s written badly, quite the contrary it’s written well, but Jules Cashford was quite reasonably expecting that the reader would be paying attention.

It is a very useful book. In this case I’ve looked up a section on Hekate. She appears throughout the book, but there’s one particular section where the goddess is discussed in more detail. So I now remember that Hekate is mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (which Cashford’s also published a translation of). Hekate assists Demeter in her trip to the underworld.

It’s a very useful book because of the references back to the ancient sources. There’s no shortage of information on Hekate or Hecate on the web, but a lot of this is neo-pagan material which isn’t referenced to where the ideas are coming from. It’s not wrong, but a lot of the information about Hekate as a witch goddess or a crone is quite late and some of it is distorted by Christian authors. She is a night goddess, and she does deal with death, but not solely death. The Hymn to Demeter refers to her as tender-hearted and Cashford also records a description of her as the goddess with the bright headband, which is a poetic description of a thin crescent moon. With the crescent moon disappearing and then reappearing as a New Moon a few days later, it’s possible to see how Hekate was also known as a goddess of re-birth and regeneration.

Hekate’s not mentioned that often in the ancient texts as I recall, so I’m finding Cashford’s book very useful in tracking down material. By one of those coincidences I also have a bit of news about it. I get a catalogue periodically from psbooks which I assume are recently remaindered books. Cashford’s Moon is available at the reduced price of £10 rather than £25 at the time of writing. I haven’t read it all, so I can’t say it’s all fantastic, but it does look like a bit of a bargain at that price.