Order of Hecate; The Triple Goddess
“It is said that whenever you call on the Triple Goddess, she comes to you. As much as I ignored her, put my faith in lesser gods, signed my name in other books, she still came to me when I needed her most. When I wandered, lost in the Nether Realm, it was she who led me back to the material world. We call you, Hecate. We call on you now, maiden, in your unbounded potential. We call on you, mother, in all your divine power. We call on you, crone, in your arcane wisdom. We are descended of all maidens, mothers, and crones. And so, when we call on the three-in-one, we call on all witches stretching back from the beginning of time to the end of days. We call on ourselves, the powers that have been denied us. Imbue us with them, Hecate, and we shall pray to you morning, noon, and night. And we shall live to honor thy three faces, thy three forms. Dark mother, keeper of the key to the door between worlds, we summon thee. Return our sister Hilda to the realm of the living, and we will never forget you again!”
ORDER OF HECATE; MAIDEN.
These are the words chanted by Zelda Spellman, who returned from witch’s limbo and had a spiritual reawakening, seeking to bring back her sister from the dead. Previously of the Church of Night, those that followed Zelda swore allegiance to the Triple Goddess, rebranding themselves from the Dark Lord to her.
Despite originating from the Satanic witches, this brand of Pagan witches are far more good-natured than their unholy counterparts. Since they turned away from Lucifer, they aren’t tied to Hell and thus don’t strictly go to Hell after their passings like the Church members would—instead, they return to where all witches are usually supposed to go; Witch’s limbo.
Lilith, the first witch, was given protection and cherished by the Order of Hecate. Although never a full-blown member, she was still given sanctuary. When being questioned as to why by the Dark Lord, she simply states how Hecate was the goddess of witches and lo, she was the first witch. Regardless, Lilith was never a full proper member of the Order, and yet is said to embody the ‘Mother’ aspect of the Triple Goddess.
But, wait, the Triple Goddess? What does that even mean? Doesn’t the Order of Hecate worship, well, Hecate?
ORDER OF HECATE; MOTHER.
The Triple Goddess is a real-world Neopagan religious figure which, similar to the Holy Trinity of Christianity, is three distinct figures in one; the Maiden, Mother and Crone. These three aspects symbolize the female life cycle, as well as the phases of the moon. Often, it is said they rule the realms of heavens, Earth, and the underworld.
Our modern-day understanding of the Triple Goddess mostly stems from Robert Graves, a middle 20th-century poet, novelist and mythographer, who regarded her as the continuing muse of all true poetry. His poetry and novels prominently feature the Triple Goddess, and is the basis of many modern beliefs of the goddess. There were others, of course, but none were as influential as Graves.
Graves was, in fact, the one that coined that Hecate was the original and most prominent amongst the triple moon goddesses. This was reinforced by how a 1st century work regarding a tale of witchcraft, the coven of witches within it speaks of, "Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of our goddess Hecate.”
ORDER OF HECATE; CRONE.
Although modern times post-Christianity has done witchcraft no favors, Hecate was a revered goddess during the ancient times. Her worship existed alongside the rest of the Greek and Roman pantheon, although more so with Artemis/Diana than others, as the goddess of hunt also was considered a triad goddess to some extent as well.
Many scholars believe Hecate is a figure that predates Greek society. Among the theories, the most popular is that Hecate was accepted into Greek religion from the Carians in Asia Minor, possibly during the Archaic age. There is much evidence pointing towards this, as there are many sites present in Carina dedicated to the cultic worship of the goddess.
However, when her cult had been founded in Athens, possibly some point during 430 BCE, it’s speculated that the statue for her temple had the first official symbols of her triple divinity. But what sort of practices are conducted for the goddess of magic, spells, the moon, the night, crossroads, and ghosts?
THE REAL-LIFE ORDER OF HECATE.
Worship of Hecate varied, with significant cult centers across the ancient world, however were not as massively open and common as the other gods within the Greek pantheon were. She was honored nonetheless with offerings at household shrines to protect homes from evil. Her followers performed rituals at crossroads too, many crossroads having three masks at their forks in remembrance of the goddess.
A few of the most notable rituals performed in her honor would include the offerings of food, given at crossroads, road junctions, and any other sort of boundary or threshold. This was known as 'the supper of Hecate,' something that consisted of small cakes of eggs, cheese, bread, and dog meat, which were lit with miniature torches or, alternatively, a dish of red mullet, which was normally prohibited from offerings to the other gods. The offerings to the goddess were made each month during the night of a new moon.
The Triple Goddess’ primary symbols include keys, dogs, and can be frequently depicted holding torches. Torches symbolize her role as a guide through darkness and the underworld, and dogs are sacred to her as her companions. (As a side note, the three-headed canine Cerberus, guardian of the underworld, could also be attributed as being a predeceasing form of the goddess.) Hecate’s position as the goddess of boundaries, namely the metaphysical boundaries, keys are what’re used to represent her control over the crossing points between the physical and spiritual worlds.