Testimony

I have been a devotee of Hecate for over thirty years now. She came to me at a time of great distress in my life and showed me how to direct my future. Through her repeated guidance and assistance, my life has reaped many rewards, and I have been the recipient of much that is fortunate and good.

Bad things have happened to me: events both traumatic and physically damaging. I can not claim to have lived a life completely without sorrow or disappointment. I have lost friends and family to the great beyond, and many dreams have shattered in mid-formation. In this, I feel that my life is very similar to that of many others.

But when good things happen through Her guidance, they’re really, really good things. Lucrative jobs at the right time, perfect road trips and vacations, comfortable houses in great locations, with helpful friends and neighbors. Best of all, I know that my wife, who has been my friend and navigator for decades, came into my life directly through Her interaction. Because Hekate told me it was going to happen.

For me, the triple Goddess appears as a single figure, whose age aspect varies, yet she always appears tall, strong, and imposing, radiating a kind of energy and light like moonlight on water. She wears a black, hooded cape and a daiphonous blue gown that sparkles with starlight, belted with a leather strap covered in hanging keys. She holds a flaming torch aloft and a dagger at the ready. She is accompanied by a pair of black mastiffs who quietly flank her as she walks. She is always facing me. She is always listening.

I find her at three-way crossings and the places where rivers meet. She stands at every large gate or doorway, where she holds the keys to every lock and can remove any obstacle. She guides the way as the seasons change, and she lingers at birth and at death. And after life, she guides us to the great beyond. She is a liminal goddess – a deity of openings and closings, entrances and exits, pathways, and destinations.

When I meditate and when I pray, I can hear her voice. I can visualize her before me in this world but not of it. I can feel her presence like an energy field in the room that soothes and relaxes. Sometimes, it feels like a gentle hug. There’s a strong sense of empathy being given, but also perspective that even though I may not see where hope lies, she does and can lead me there. There’s also a recognition that my experience of her presence is likely very different from those whom she dislikes.

“Create your own doorway,” she says. When the place you’re in or the situation you find yourself at is too difficult or unpleasant and you need to move on, give yourself an out. Create an opportunity to move into a world where things are better. Life is too short to waste it on mean or violent people. Go through that door and take a new path.

“Be honest with yourself,” she says, holding a mirror up to your soul. Feelings are complicated and sometimes hard to unwrap, and take the time to work through why you feel angry or sad to understand what changes need to happen for you to find the space and time to grow. Our desires to please others can hide our true feelings or cause us to abandon personal care. Look into that mirror and see what’s missing.

“Life brings change,” she says, standing on a bridge over rushing water. Like the slowly changing moon, anticipate that tomorrow will be the same in some ways and different in others, and plan your movements with flexibility in mind. Always be ready to revise your plan and adjust to the moment. The expectation of permanence is frequently a source of great sorrow. Expect change.

“Imagination is a powerful tool,” she says. The ability to imagine a thing that isn’t yet is a great power that can transform the world. The key is to recognize that you already imagine reality the way it is, so learning  how to imagine it the way you want it to be is how you move everything forward. Believe in a future you would want to be part of, and you’ll be working to help make it happen.

“Do the work,” she says. She can show the way and unlock the doors, but you have to do the walking, you have to lift the tools, and you have to mark the time. Manifestation is easy: doing the work to keep things together is hard and requires community support. The traveler walks. The writer writes. The baker bakes. Making things happen means doing the work.

She stands with her torch at the crossroads where the universes intersect and guards the travelers on all roads with light and knowledge. She stands on the cliffs where the ocean clambors for space, where waters fall between elevations, in the East at the dawn, and on the edge of the lava fields where new land grows. She is the transformation of spring, the realization of truth, and the emergence from the egg. She is the tsunami, she is the caustic flow, she is the lightning, she is the hurricane.

Hail Hecate!