About

Triple Hecate of the Crossroads

Or, Why does this blog exist?

Another feminist blog? You may be asking yourself why on earth there’s a need for such a thing. Perhaps there isn’t… Perhaps the void is well-filled by such sites as Jezebel and Feministing and others.

On the other hand maybe it’s worth putting my 2 cents in…  That, and my friends have been suggesting it for awhile (perhaps as a way to stem the influx of forwarded news articles with commentary like “OMGAWED! Can you believe how fucked up this is???”). And so, I figured I’d give this a shot.

Why is this blog called “Hecate of the Crossroads”?
There are several reasons for this.  The goddess Hecate is rich in symbolism.

Set at the crossroads of a path, she gave wisdom and protection to travelers.

With her three faces she saw the past, the present, and the future.  As a symbol for feminism I found it appropriate for we all that we owe  first and second wave feminism, for the present third wave  of feminism (though some say we are in the fourth wave), and in looking towards the future of the movement.

Triple Hecate was also considered to be an embodiment of the greek fates and the wyrd sisters.

Hecate was associated with the moon, and the moon phases. In this her three faces also symbolised the three stages of womanhood– maiden, matron, and crone.

• The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.
• The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life.
• The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings.

Hecate has been considered a “witch” and as the goddess for witches. This stems from the fact that she was the goddess of nature and childbirth and wisdom and death.  Midwives with their knowledge of all these things were historically considered to be her acolytes, and many midwives were tried and put to death as witches.

Hecate was also said to have dominion over the three “kingdoms”  of earth, air, and sea as she was the mother of them all (replacing Gaia the earth mother in some  creation myths.) As such, her symbol is also the triskelion

Triskele or Triskelion, represents the Triple Goddess

The triple crescent also represents the triple goddess, and was used as a symbol for Artemis (Hecate and Artemis, Athena, and Aphrodite were often interchangeable, as can be seen with the imagery of the hounds and moon (Artemis), the owl and spear (Athena),  and her beauty (Aphrodite).)  Diana de Poitiers, with her attachment to the goddess Artemis/Diana, used the above crescent symbol as her own.