Part 1 Her Name Is Wisdom
What does it mean to be an elder in this culture? What are my new responsibilities? What has to be let go to make room for the transformations of energy that are ready to pour through the body-soul?
---Marion Woodman
p. 46
Chapter 3 Goddess of Intuitive and Psychic Wisdom Hecate at the Fork in the Road
In Greek mythology, Hecate was the goddess of the crossroads who could see three ways at once. When you arrive at a fork in the road, she is there. She can see where you are coming from, and where each of the two paths at the crossroad might take you. If you are someone who pays attention to dreams and synchronicities, draws upon a store of past experiences and uses intuition to decide which direction to take, you know this archetype.
Hecate is a goddess of intuition. Her three-way perspective allows her to see the connection between past, present, and future. This ability to see patterns that link past situations or relationships and present circumstances is an intuitive way of perception. Seeing how a situation evolved---or where someone is coming from---is not uncanny or mysterious to an intuitive person. At significant junctures, Hecate is silently present as an inner witness. Hers is wisdom learned from experience; she is what makes us grow wiser as we grow older. At significant forks in the road, she recalls the shape of the past, honestly sees the present, and has a sense of what lies ahead at a soul level. She does not make your choices, nor judge you. To know her wisdom, you must come to a stop and consult her. You must listen to what she says in the voice of your own intuition.
Sometimes in life something happens and you know that nothing in your life will be the same again. You know it is no longer an option to go on as before, but you are not sure what to do. A younger you might have responded impulsively by letting your emotions carry you away without much thought or consideration. Those same emotions may arise, but a maturity (often having to do with being responsible for others) stops you from acting on them. You know that whatever you decide to do here matters. It is time to call on Hecate to help you see the larger picture, to stay at the crossroad until it is clear to you which path to take.
You may find yourself at a significant fork in the road not because of some external event, but because your psyche is urging you to make changes. It's not uncommon for the focus---or archetypal direction---that a woman has had for decades to shift as a woman enters the third phase of her life. If you feel that you have reached a point where whatever you are doing no longer holds much interest, you are at a crossroad with Hecate.
Hecate is the goddess at the threshold of major transitions. She is embodied by the midwife who assists at births, and by women who help ease the passage of the soul as it leaves the body at death. Metaphorically, Hecate is an inner midwife, whose perspective aids us when we birth new aspects of ourselves. She helps us let go of what is ready to die: outmoded attitudes, outgrown roles, whatever elements in our lives are no longer life-affirming.
Hecate can be found at the threshold between old and new millennia. We anticipate the possibility of a new age for humanity, but until we arrive there, we are betwixt and between---in a 'liminal' time (from the Latin word for "threshold") where a shimmering potential has not yet become solid. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, humanity is at a critical juncture where change is needed to avert turning where we live---from neighborhoods to the planet---into a wasteland. Many women enter the crone phase with some sense of wanting to make a difference, or have an urge to "give back" in appreciation of opportunities that feminism provided them and first-hand experience that it is possible to bring about change. Women born just before, during, and in the first decade after World War II were in a movement that was peaceful and yet revolutionary in its influence.
Hecate is at the crux of the situation when a woman enters the third phase of her life and heeds a pull inward. She appears indecisive or as if her energy is lying fallow, when she is in this liminal (from Latin limen, limin- ‘threshold’) phase. If she stays at the crossroad until she intuitively knows what direction to take, she emerges renewed and replenished.
Hecate the Goddess
Even if you took a course in Greek mythology or have a current interest in the gods and goddesses as archetypes, at best Hecate is a vague figure. She is mentioned as accompanying Demeter in the story of the abduction of Persephone, depicted as the third and least important goddess. Hecate is invariably the crone (an old woman) goddess when classical mythology describes goddesses in threesomes; a pattern derived from the unacknowledged triple goddess of pre-Olympian times. Besides Persephone the maiden, Demeter the mother, and Hecate the crone, there were three goddesses who personified the phases of the moon: Artemis, goddess of the waxing moon; Selene, goddess of the full moon; and Hecate, goddess of the waning and dark moon. A third triad was Hebe the maiden, a cupbearer of the gods; Hera, the goddess of marriage; and Hecate, the goddess of the crossroads. Women who saw themselves in the archetypes of Persephone, Demeter, Artemis, or Hera in the book, Goddesses in Everywoman, may realize that by the third phase of their lives, the paths converge in the wise woman archetype of Hecate.
Metaphorically and mythologically, she is dimly seen. She is associated with the underworld but did not reside there. Her time was twilight. Offerings---"Hecate suppers"---were left for her at crossroads, usually when the moon was dark, sometimes when it was full. In later times, when women were feared as witches, Hecate was called a queen of the witches or queen of the ghostworld, and seen as a diabolical figure. The poet Sappho called her queen of the night.
Her mythological origins are unclear, with discrepancies in the few accounts of her genealogical tree. Usually she is described as a Titan, who remained a goddess after these earlier divinities were defeated by Zeus and the Olympians. Hesiod, in "Theogony" (about 700 B.C.E.), said that her name means "she who has power far off" and that she was honored more highly than other divinities and given power over land, sea, and sky by Zeus. These were realms clearly divided among and ruled over by male divinities, thus for Hecate to be accorded "power over" them must not have been the same as ruling over a domain. This may have had to do with a psychic ability or clairvoyance. It also may have acknowledged another once valued aspect attributed to her, that of goddess of magic and divination.
Hecate is described as a moon goddess who wears a gleaming headdress or a headband of stars, and holds flaming torches in each hand. She was thought to walk the roads of ancient Greece accompanied by her black hounds. She was an invisible presence at the three-way crossroad, or materialized in the form of a pillar or Hecterion, a statue with three faces that looked in the three directions. Over time, as she was denigrated, Hecate became transformed into the goddess of trivia (from the Latin word 'trivia'---three ways---which meant "crossroads").
Demetra George in 'Mysteries of the Dark Moon' describes an ancient image of Hecate, depicting her with three heads and three pairs of arms. She carries three torches and a key, a rope, and a dagger. Her torches allow her to see in the dark, the key unlocks the secrets of the occult or hidden mysteries and knowledge of the afterlife; the rope is a symbol of the umbilical cord of rebirth, the knife, which became a symbol of ritual power, the power to cut through delusions.
Greek divinities were linked with animals who were sacred to them or had their characteristics and became symbols of them. The dog was Hecate's primary symbolic animal.
pick up again on p. 49:
Descents Into the Underworld and the Acquisition of Wisdom
The story of the rape or abduction of Persephone is told in the Homeric "Hymn to Demeter." The maiden Persephone was gathering flowers in the meadow. Attracted to a particularly beautiful, large bloom, she left her companions in order to pick it. As she reached for it, the earth opened up before her. Out of a deep, dark vent in the earth, Hades the Lord of the Underworld emerged in his black chariot drawn by his black horses, abducted her as she screamed in terror, and took her with him back into the underworld. When Persephone disappeared from the meadow, her mother, Demeter, searched the entire world for her, to no avail.
Finally, after nine days and nights, Demeter returned, defeated and in grief, to the meadow. There Hecate came to her, saying that though she could not see what had happened, she had heard Persephone's screams. Hecate suggested that they seek information from the god of the sun, who was overhead when Persephone disappeared. He could tell them what had happened. Accompanied by Hecate, Demeter now hears the truth: Persephone was abducted by Hades, with Zeus's permission.
Hecate is not mentioned again in the myth, until Persephone returns from the underworld and is reunited with Demeter. Hecate greets Persephone with much affection, followed by a cryptic line that reads, "And from that day on that lady precedes and follows Persephone."
For Hecate to precede and follow Persephone would be impossible physically. It suggests that Persephone would now be accompanied by a spirit or consciousness that she acquired upon her return from the underworld. The story of the rape of Persephone and her abduction into the underworld applies to everyone. We've all had periods when we were Persephone gathering flowers in the meadow, when all was well. Then the unexpected happened, and we were terrified as our secure world was violated by a sudden loss. It could be a betrayal and the end of a relationship, a death, the onset of an illness, financial loss, or an end of innocence. If we are plunged into the dark world of hopelessness, depression, or despair, or into cynicism, bitterness, or revenge, we are for a time held captive in the underworld, wondering if we will ever return.
If you return from your own descents into the underworld, you have learned that love and suffering are parts of life. By making it through the hard times, you grow in depth and wisdom. A wise Hecate then becomes an inner companion. Women friends or women in support groups gain this perspective by listening, and witnessing, and caring about each other as well.
Hecate consoled Demeter in her grief and loss but she was more than a comforter and a witness. She suggested that they seek information from the god of the sun who saw what happened to Persephone. Hecate's counsel was to 'seek the truth.' She accompanied Demeter and was with her when Demeter learned that Persephone was abducted by Hades. The god of the sun urged her to accommodate and accept Hades as, after all, he was an Olympian like herself, and thus would not make a bad son-in-law. When Demeter heard this, and that it was done with Zeus's permission, her grief turned to anger. She decided to leave Olympus and, in disguise, wander among people, and her determination eventually led to Persephone's return.
People may think that they cannot face what is true, and so they adapt, often by keeping the truth at a distance through rationalization, denial, or addictions that serve to numb us to the truth. Only when a woman has learned from experience that reality can be faced, is she a wise-woman like Hecate.
A Hecate Meditation/Active Imagination
Ask yourself: "What have I learned about life from my own experience?" and "What truth do I need to face?" Answers are likely to come when you really want to know and are receptive. They may come into your mind if you are quiet and wait.
Or you might visualize Hecate and ask her these questions.
Hecate the Witness
Hecate is a witness within us at every juncture, even if the ego denies, represses, distorts, and cannot acknowledge what is happening. This observer makes connections and speaks to us in the symbolic language of dreams. Dreams come to you in the half-light, they are liminal messages that come from the dreaming unconscious and require conscious effort to grasp and remember, just as the insights that could illuminate a painful emotional situation also come and will recede and be forgotten unless you pay attention and learn.
As an archetypal figure, Hecate, too, can be ignored. She can also become an observing part of your psyche that you draw upon daily. Psychotherapists come to depend upon Hecate, and to some extent serve as embodiments of Hecate for their clients. People are at a crossroad when they seek psychotherapy. A therapist observes, hears, and bears witness to what is revealed. Like Hecate was for Demeter, the therapist encourages the client to seek the truth of the situation, which includes her genuine feelings and perceptions that denial covers. Hecate the witness is there when you pay attention to your dreams, heed your intuitive perceptions, or listen to an inner voice. It's as if she accompanies us, holding up her torches so we can see in the dark.
People with multiple personalities reach Hecate's juncture each time a new personality emerges. This disorder arises out of terrible abuse in childhood when the child learns to dissociate from pain and memories too awful to bear. Multiples are usually unaware of the existence of other personalities in them, experience unaccountable lapses of time, and puzzling and distressing occurrences. In the absence of a consistent "I" there is a hidden observer who functions like Hecate and bears witness to the "birth" of each personality. Ralph Allison, M.D., a psychiatrist who worked with integrating multiples, called this part of the psyche the "inner self-helper." Allison characterized the inner self-helper as androgynous, as feeling only love and goodwill, and knowing all of the personalities and the circumstances in the patient's life. Allison and other clinicians have found that with the help of this inner witness, the many fragmentary personalities can become aware of each other, and eventually integrate into one personality. The inner self-helper is another name for Hecate.
Unlike people with multiple personalities, we may not have amnesia and have chunks of time we cannot account for, and yet we, too, are "multiple selves." Observing this in others is easy and begins in childhood, when we see how adults put on a "different face." Seeing the "multiples" in ourselves is harder. The compassionate gaze of Hecate the witness does not blame or shame anyone, and so does not foster defensiveness or denial. Instead, she enables us to see ourselves, especially those parts that might otherwise be kept hidden. While Hecate may develop early in a person's life or come into the foreground of the psyche when traumatic circumstances call her forth, Hecate usually grows in significance as we grow older and can see patterns and reflect upon events that have taken us unaware into dark places of depression, jealousy, vengefulness, or hopelessness. The older we become, the more likely it is for us to know Hecate as a wise counselor who reminds us of lessons learned from experience. In these ways, Hecate facilitates the integration of our multiple selves into becoming a consistent and authentic person.
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