First, despite knowing that Monday is Nov. 16, I somehow decided that the new moon in Scorpio would be happening on Sunday, despite also knowing that it was the 14th? So that ritual didn’t end up happening on time.
Second, I learned about Hecate’s Day on Instagram this weekend, so here we are! On the 16th, which is Monday and not Sunday. This week has been a bit of a blur, is what I’m saying.
Now. Let’s talk about the Queen of the Witches.
Hecate is a tripe-aspect goddess, and effectively everything about her points to the Western stereotype of what a witch is. She works at night, her sacred sites are 3-way or T-shaped crossroads, her sacred animals are dogs, cats, and snakes – the latter of which she sometimes wears in her hair. There is some indication that she is the Fates, being the goddess of birth, life, and death. Her color is black. Her number is 3. Her sacred objects are the key, torch, cauldron, knife, and broom.
Essentially, Hecate is the Witch Goddess, and as such on this night, we honor her in all her glorious divinity.
Hecate is special to me, specifically, in her aspect of a goddess of creation – specifically of textiles because I studied ancient cloth for my art history major.
I keep a line-a-day diary, and usually skim a day or two ahead just to remind myself where I was in previous years. Last year on the 15th, I flew to LA to attend a wedding with my dear friend and fellow witch, Dinah. The day of the wedding, we went to a witch shop, where we chatted with the proprietors. A familiar object caught my eye, and I said, “Oh, that’s a spindle and wool! Where did that come from?” The owner answered that someone had brought it as a devotion to Hecate, but they had no idea what it was or how to use it.
Spinning with a drop spindle is the oldest way to make thread, which then becomes cloth. There are so many spindle weights at Neolithic sites that you can occasionally buy them on eBay; they’re historically precious artifacts and also ubiquitous. Imagine spending every spare moment spinning thread, which is in itself a tool to make other things. There is a reason that the Three Fates are analogized to cloth-making, after all.
This is one of my favorite soapboxes, so I will get more fully into it at a later date. Suffice to say, it was extremely gratifying to see the looks on the witch shop occupant’s faces – both employees and customers – when they saw thread coming out of a ball of previously useless fluff. Spinning is an act of undiminished creation and feels powerful, somehow. Anyway my point here is, I realized last night that I showed those witches an aspect of Hecate, using one of her own offerings, on Hecate’s Day, and I really love it when magic happens like that.
My Hecate Night celebration tonight will be quiet. I will light some of my favorite incense, leave a small offering at the crossroads down the street, and work on a creative endeavor in the Goddess’s name.
What are your plans?