Day 12 - Places Associated With Hekate and Her Worship
Lagina, Temple of Hekate David Morgan
There are not many temples for Hekate, but there are many sacred places, places where we can find Her if we know where to look.
In Lagina, part of Caria, was a temple to Hekate. The ruins still stand. I can only imagine the sacred energy I would feel there if I should ever visit it.
In Argos, the chief city of Argolis, there was a sanctuary for Eilethyia. Pausanias in his Description of Greece says this: "Over against the sanctuary of Eilethyia is a temple of Hekate [the goddess probably here identified with the apotheosed Iphigeneia], and the image is a work of Skopas. This one is of stone, while the bronze images opposite, also of Hekate, were made respectively by Polykleitos and his brother Naukydes."
Hekate's worshipers, and therefore I assume there were shrines of some sort, were also found in Thessalia (Pherai - honoring Her as Brimo Trimorphos), Zerinthyia Mountain and Cave of Samothrake, among others.
But what if we get away from Greece and Thrace? What do we find in our own time, in our own places?
Hekate is know as a Goddess of Liminal Spaces, those places where time and energy shifts. Doorways, gateways, caves. Even places like my hedge where I can feel the change as I walk through the opening in the hedge... I am not in the same place... I can feel Her there. I can feel Her at the waters edge at the lake behind my home. I can feel Her at the opening of my hearth. All of these are liminal spaces where Hekate has repeatedly been called, honored, and therefore, they are Her sacred places.
Just as the "Athenians . . . in their own houses . . . constructed in the porch . . . altars of Hecate . . . before every door." (Aristophanes, Wasps 799 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.), and at temples as well, so too do I. Her statue and other items for Her are kept at my front door for protection, yes, but also so She knows that, in my home, She is honored before all others.
Blessings Nine!
The opening in a hedge. Oh, what a great connection that is. You can't help but feel Her there when you walk through a hedge - even more so than a normal doorway.
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