Cyber Cauldron

Many pagan paths will have a pantheon of gods and goddesses; Polytheistic religions have much historical and contemporary evidence supporting them. In polytheistic belief systems The divine source becomes a family of Godsheaded by a God Head and Goddess Head whose children created in divine splendour or Incestuous relationships or even from relationships with Humans or animals. The Gods and goddesses in Polytheistic religions have Buy Cialis Online “what Jung would call architypel human natures”and their trails and tribulations are laid down in stories. These stories will often have a moral outcome and are used to teach understanding of the not only the nature of the Gods but also that of humans.
Many of these stories will contain a hero such as herculescharged with a task that will get them immortalised in myth, gaining a place in the heavens so insuring that they and the gods are remembered, and act as examples of the Gods on earth.
The types of deities found in polytheistic religions fall in to the basic categories Celestial, Cosmological Category contains the Godhead and Goddess head and the Heavens the thing complete outside the realm of humans
· Creator
· Moon
· Sky
· Sun as father
· Weather, rain, thunder, lightning
· Time
Chthonic category contains all the things that the gods have direct control or dominion over
· Earth crop and the hunt
· Night
· Ocean, water
Human sphere contains the gods and goddess, which have direct control over human existence or are guardians of human needs and desires.
· Death
· Father, mother
· Fate
· Fertility, love, lust
· Health, healing, medicine
· Household, hearth
· Hunting
· War
· Knowledge or wisdom
· Thresholds, doorways
· Trickster
Demigods, Deified Heroes category contains the humans that would be gods through their deeds and heritage
· Cultural or local heroes
· Sacred king
· Imperial cult
Followers of Polytheistic religions will not see all the gods as equal and may worship with one deity making them Monolatry or may worship different deities depending on the time of the year making them Kathenotheism,
Some of the most common or well known Polytheist Religions are Shinto, Hellenic polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism, Chinese folk religion, Mahayana Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism,and Neopagan paths.

Originally posted 2011-02-14 15:38:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Hecate or Hakate in my mind is one of the most important goddess and saying that very little is known of her. Even her origins are a bit of a mystery even her parentage is a mystery some say Perses and Asteria, others say Zeus and Hera or as Hesiod claims Uranus and Gaia where her parents. While other says she travelled from a distant land while some say she was not a god but the only Titan that kept their powers. It is said that Zeus held her in high esteem either through Fear or respect and she was giving dominion over the Heavens, the Earth, the Sea and the Underworld a honour that no other god or goddess had.

Hecate has the control over life and death and Magicks and witchcraft basically she has control over every aspect of life and although she is a very very powerful goddess she can be very difficult to work with especial for men. Hecate demands loyalty from her followers she does have a tendency to turn men mad (can speck from personal experience) but her rewards are boundless.

Hecate has many guises and is one of very few goddesses, who are in triple aspect; the image of Hecate can be a maiden, a mother or a crone although most modern depictions of her are that of the crone. For me she is more force than form a guiding light that has lead me to a greater understanding of myself and of Magicks.

Hecate rule the in-between places such as doorways and dusk and dawn so communicating with her is easy for those brave enough to call on her. These in-between places are not the only place where you can meet Hecate and worship her; one of the most common places to meet her is crossroad, where one should always leave an offering or the Hecate Supper (a special meal created as an offering to Hecate).

I will say that Hecate will choose her followers and test them, for me it took nearly 25 years to fully connect with Hecate as a personal deity but as I look back over my life I can see her guiding hand directing the threads of my life to get me to where I am today, She appeared in many guises and left many symbols along the way. And many of the tests she put me through to see if I was worthy most of them where very painful and difficult at the time.

Through her guidance I moved through Wiccan and began to develop my own path and although my personal path mixes other tradition and does not fit any pagan path fully I have learn to understand that no one can follow  my path they can only follow their own.

I found that Hecate needs no other Gods or Goddesses for rituals or spell working but will work well with deities even those from different cultures to achieve a goal. I believe this happens because Hecate is more than a single goddess within a pantheon She is a deity that appears in other cultural paths, her roles are mirrored in pagan paths, most pagan cultures have a dark goddess that rule over life, death and magicks.

Being called a dark goddess is not a term that should encourage fear but understand as humans we fear the darker side of ourselves our ‘fears’ Hecate is the light that banishes these fears through understanding or simply put Hecate will make you face your fears.

Hecate has a great sense of humour and enjoys a good laugh normally at the cost of her priest and priestess.

Hecate like isolation and quite places and is easily called upon in meditation or through visualisation. To contact Hecate, find yourself a quite place and call on her do not visualise her form she will choose which guise which many not be human. Animals associated with Hecate are all wild creatures, the creatures of the night but she is most associated with dogs. But no matter in what form she appears in she will depart great knowledge but remember it may not be what you to hear.

Related articles

• On the Gods of the Motherlands – Part One from THE LAND OF NOD (matt-landofnod.blogspot.com)
• On Being godless (renaebair.com)
• Goddess’s of death and rebirth (cybercauldron.co.uk)
• Aspects of the goddess Lesson three (cybercauldron.co.uk)
• The Goddess Lesson Three (cybercauldron.co.uk)
• Lunar and solar goddess’s Lesson three (cybercauldron.co.uk)
• History of the goddess – lesson 3 (cybercauldron.co.uk)
• Basic Practices and Beliefs in Wicca (cybercauldron.co.uk)
• Protective Invocation to Hecate (witchesofthecraft.com)