Another guest post from Hee Kim:
Hekate (or Hecate) was the goddess of night, magic, ghosts, necromancy, and witchcraft. She has two familiars: a black she-dog and the polecat (a weasely thing kept to kill pest). She was the only offspring of Asteria and Titanes Perses from whom she begot her awesome abilities over earth, sea, and heaven. Hekate is often shown as a triple form as a goddess of a crossroads. Also, her Pillars, called Hecataea, were erected at doorways and crossroads to ward off evil spirits. She was sometimes depicted as three bodies back to back, so that she could look in all directions at crossroad. Furthermore, Hecate, Greek goddess of the “three paths”, watches over the household and everything “newly born”, and the “goddess of witchcraft.
Once a commonly worshiped goddess in her own right and “influential goddess”, the reputation of Hecate has been sullied over the hundred of years. In recent years she is usually looked upon as a “hag” or old witch stirring the cauldron. To me she is a goddess of change and new life not a hag. I would like to add that Hecate was the only goddess that Zeus shared the seemless ability of giving mortals anything they cared for or not giving them what they please either. I see her as a “moon goddess She is a protector of sailors of shepherds because she can stop storms in their tracks and they know it. She is also connected to black magic,with the ability to conjure up prophecies, phantoms, and dreams. I also see her as a goddess that can impart enlightment to me she is known to travel with a owl a symbol for wisdom but known to be the goddess of trivia.
One of the many reason why I like Hecate for women especially she eases and protects women during giving birth and to watch over the steady progress of the child during his or her life. She.also is like a “hospice nurse” when you get real old and make that final transition from life to death into the next life she stays with you in you need her and in the otherworld to help you to prepare you for your return to earth in your next life. So to me she she is a goddess of new life too. She is there in your dreams or meditations to guide you. Hecate is also a very fair goddess, though she is no softy and acts accordingly, not “blindly” and “equally” when she pours out her justice. Lastly, her names means the “The Distant One”. Hecate is always near when you really need her assistance.
Beyond the PenUmbra 