Hecate Trivia in Three Parts
“Have you ever had one of those days when something just seems to be trying to tell you somebody?” — John Constantine from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
[SPOILER ALERT — this article contains some light spoilers for The Sandman, which just released on Netflix, as well as some major spoilers for RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: All Winners (aka Season 7)… you have been warned]
For the past couple weeks, I’ve been noticing Hecate popping up in all sorts of places, so I am taking some time to share a few thoughts on this Goddess.
Firstly, who is Hecate?
Hecate (also spelled Hekate) is most well-known perhaps as Goddess of Witchcraft and Crossroads, but she also lays claim to Boundaries, Night, the Moon, Necromancy, Ghosts, Sorcery, Poisonous Plants & Herbs, Magic, and Spells. She has power over Earth, Sea, & Sky as well as the Underworld.
She is a powerful deity that has remained popular for millennia, although not always in the light of day (remember: Moon/Night/Boundaries Goddess).
Some claim her origins are Anatolian or Greek, or possibly even Egyptian (as Heqet or Heket), with her form variably represented as a singular goddess, three-headed, or triple-bodied.
Romans also knew her as Trivia (tri via -> three ways -> crossroads), although she shared that name with other goddesses.
Where is she popping up now?
For me personally, I noticed her referenced several times by Jinkx Monsoon during the recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, which ended a couple weeks ago on July 29th.
In addition to mentioning Hecate’s name in a skit, when she snatched the crown from the other queens to win the season, Jinkx claimed her scepter in Hecate’s name.
“I claim this in the name of Hecate, mother of witches” — Jinkx Monsoon, Internationally Tolerated Drag Queen, Card-Carrying Witch, and Queen of All Queens
As someone who enjoys watching the constant evolution of faith and spirituality, this was a powerful moment. Essentially, Jinkx directed a massive amount of attention/faith/energy/interest towards Hecate with that declaration. In some ways it was the witchy version of “I want to thank God”, and there is no derision intended by the comparison.
After this moment, I was primed to see Hecate in other places, and I did: just last week she made several appearances in The Sandman series, Netflix’s new series based on Neil Gaiman’s epic tale.
She also appeared in two comics I happened to be reading from Marvel’s Fear Itself event: one in a Journey into Mystery issue as the triple-bodied Norns (referenced obliquely) and another in a Hercules story as the triple-faced Hecate herself.
Soon after, while playing a game of Magic: The Gathering online, an image of a triple-bodied being known as the Trostani adorned the loading screen… a stretch in some ways but unmistakable in its symbolic reference, nevertheless.
If I were to go on, in the not too distant past, Hecate was also worshipped in the latter seasons of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, she was a character in the Sandman Universe: Lucifer series, and likely in many more references than I could find. Her appearances in “pop culture” are actually nothing new… she is mentioned in four of Shakespeare’s plays (Hamlet; Henry VI, Part I; King Lear; and Midsummer Night’s Dream) and she is a character appearing in Macbeth.
With all this I was considering writing something about Hecate, especially with these synchronistic overlaps of my interests in mythology, spirituality, comics, gaming, and drag queens all pointing in the same direction.
What eventually tipped the scales was when I looked at Hecate in astrology.
Did you know there is an asteroid named Hekate?
I certainly didn’t until I checked a day or so ago, but it was actually discovered on July 11, 1868, and it was the 100th asteroid to be catalogued. It’s name references both Hecate and “hekaton”, which is Greek for “hundred”, and she is one of many asteroids whose home is in the space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. She takes ~5.43 years to make one complete revolution around the sun.
When I was born, this asteroid was conjunct my natal Venus and Mercury in Aries, which are part of a Grand Trine with my Moon & Saturn in Leo and Neptune in Sagittarius. I have often seen this complex of planets as part of what fuels my interests in exploring spirituality, and I am not surprised to find Hekate snuggly within that space.
What did surprise me (in an “oh, of course” kind of way) was finding Hekate currently transiting my Ascendant. The Ascendant is often considered to be the lens through which one expresses themselves to the world, so writing an article about Hekate/Hecate (Heqet, eh?) during this transit feels synchronistically appropriate.
So, that’s three sections of trivia about Hecate (with this sentence and the title being me thinking I’m way too clever). Still, the astute reader may be wondering, “What actually is your point here?”
Quite simply, this felt like a type of miracle: a confluence of references and symbols evoking a specific goddess leads me to learning about the astrological placement of her representative in the heavens… and that asteroid just happens to be in an auspicious placement in both my natal chart and where it is transiting. These meaningful coincidences… these synchronicities… are what I love about exploring spirituality, astrology, mythology, and pop culture… and I’m thankful to have jumped down the rabbit hole.
Also, if I look back 30+ years to my experiences as a Catholic-raised teen, I would have judged many of Hecate’s aspects as dangerous, sinful, wrong, and quite possibly evil. She would have felt alien and scary, to say the least… much like drag queens before you see enough shows…
However, I’ve spent decades meditating and exploring various practices, and with greater understanding of and exposure to the traditions of others, it is ever easier to embrace the wide breadth of human spiritual expression.
I’m thankful to have chosen to broaden my understanding of faith and spirituality, as I believe my life is richer for it.
Some additional musings:
One of the ways I continue to be exposed to different spiritual and mythological ideas is through comics, tv/film, and pop culture.
In Alan Moore’s Promethea comics, characters explore the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and they encounter Aleister Crowley in drag attempting to ascend from Tiphareth (6) to Kether (1). The path between those sephira is associated with the High Priestess in Tarot and with the balancing of masculine and feminine energies. In this way, perhaps some drag queens are High Priestesses, as they often straddle the boundaries between genders and serve as conduits for their created selves. They’re also often looked to as knowledge-keepers for their communities, similar to the priestess class of ages past.
A drag queen claiming a scepter for Hecate is both joke and real, and it is a further embracing of the boundaries that lie firmly within Hecate’s dominion.
Loki interacting with the Norns reminded me of his evolution into the God of Outcasts in his recent Marvel show (whereas he had previously been solely the God of Mischief)… The God of Outcasts and the Goddess of Boundaries seems like a very well-positioned pair. It feels like there is a story here, and what would their progeny be?
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to share or send me a note. Also, if you would like to get an astrological reading on the placement of Hekate in your chart, please feel free to email me at hello@michaelsollazzo.com for more information.
