ABC Wednesday - H is for Hecate.

It's ABC Wednesday and H is Hecate for me, and here is how She got into my life.

In brief, She's a Greek goddess, daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria. Goddess of Crossroads, birth & death, challenges and struggles, witchcraft and magic, ruling over the earth, skies and the sea. For many people, She represents the Triple Goddess - Maiden, Mother and Crone. Powerful and determined, a deity not to be taken lightly.

When you're pagan and practice regularly, you may start getting attached to a specific deity when doing your prayers, spells and rituals. One you feel connected to, who represents the guidance, protection and strength you need, or whose characteristics you can relate to, or both. It's a powerful symbol for you to focus on, to make the connection between this world and the spiritual world easier to be established. Each pagan goddess and god have a beautiful myth to explain their origins and  power.

Hecate was not an instant choice for me when I started walking my path. Due to my own nature, I tend to lean to "more cheerful" deities, and in the beginning Gaia (representation of our Earth) and Brigidh, the healing and creative goddess, were closer to me - and still are. My favorite male god has always been Cernunnos, the protector of Nature, among other things, for his comforting and imponent, sensual guiding figure, who always gave me this feeling of being in good hands when summoning him.

My patroness goddess had a long way to get to me. As I create hand-embroidered pagan dolls in felt, I'm constantly challenged by customers to create deities from different pantheons I'm not familiar with, and studying them is a source of delight for me. Knowledge is never too much. In contradiction, I consciously avoided contact with the concept of Hecate, not wanting to aknowledge her existence in a closer way. I was scared of her power and direct connection with the Underworld and Death, that in my intentional ignorance was all I knew about. Contrary to my innate curiosity, I avoided researching about her, only having occasional glimpses when reading references related to other myths. So I had a stupid misconception that kept this beautiful deity away from my life for a long time.

But a few years ago a friend ordered a Hecate from me, and I finally had to go deeper on my researches to make an appropriate doll with the right symbols. And my misconception started to be broken. Other people loved the doll and ironically She became a hit.

At last, three years ago, I got a big order of 30 Hecate dolls for a pagan event, and I was surrounded by her amazing energy for weeks on a daily basis. Day after day I brought her to life under my fingers, embroidering her symbols (torch, key and Wheel) and at each stitch, my irrational fears were gradually taken away, and my respect and love got stronger. Having one of her favorite animals, a black dog, constantly crossing my way in the streets during this period just added in a fun way to the fact that I had my patroness goddess almost begging for my attention - just, She doesn't beg. Somehow I think She was gently pulling my ear and telling me to stop being so childish in my apprehensions about her.

And that's how I surrended to this incredible goddess, and She became part of my spiritual life, making my path richer and deeper with Her powerful symbolism. Now I know I'm in good hands when I summon her. :)

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To read another cool H entry, visit my dear favorite author, at Under An Outlaw Moon.

To read more great ABC entries, and if you want to join the project, visit the meme's main page, and have fun! :)