Forms of Hekate Empyrian and Infernal
One of the things that captured me right at the start of my journey with Hekate is how true to her name she is. Truly she is Heka – “Beyond“. Beyond any conception or box you want to put her in. If we dismiss the recent misconception of her as a crone, most people think of Hekate as a relatively approachable goddess appearing as a young woman bearing torches, sometimes singly and sometimes in triple aspect. Very terrestrial. As she becomes associated with magic and witchcraft we start to see atavistic descriptions of her as having heads of dragons, goats, serpents, horses, bulls, dogs, even a cow; all in different combination of three and four. She is mentioned in these animal forms in the Greek Magical Papyrii, the Chaldean Oracles, and later works like Liber de Mensibus and the Suda of Byzantium. This in itself would not be surprising, old gods often took on demonic visage during the spread of Christianity, but we also have her appearing as a more heavenly, empyrean figure during this time – described as a fully transcendent savior, source of virtues, and cosmic world soul in the Chaldean Oracles and the writings of Michael Psellus.
The idea that a triple goddess should be able to operate in three distinct modes is perhaps not surprising, but the juxtaposition of atavistic and infernal imagery with transcendent and empyrean imagery is striking. I know of several modern authors and groups that treat Hekate as a wholly infernal figure, even working her into the hierarchy of hell. In the historical record, and to the members of the Sorcery of Hekate community, she is much more than that.
In the Sorcery of Hekate course we have very specific forms of Hekate that we use as part of the Arcana. Every face, every implement, every article of clothing hold a meaning both as a magical function and a key to her mysteries. The central form is the one that you have seen posted many times on the blog, and has now been rendered by 7 different artists. The image above is an artists rendering of the Heavenly Soteria form we use in the course. This image was graciously commissioned by Matt Gridley as a gift to the students and alumni of the Sorcery of Hekate Course, wo know the secrets of this design. He maintains the rights to the piece and it is used here with permission.
Read more about Sorcery of Hekate in post 2 of this series BUILDING THE MACHINERY OF MAGIC
Sorcery of Hekate Course Starts June 3rd – Registration Now Open
HOW THE COURSE WORKS
The course is taught through Bi-Weekly Audio Lessons and Ritual texts, with periodic videos to support the material. This is followed by a recorded Question and Answer session the following week where I answer any questions you submit about that lesson. This question and answer recording is key to making sure that everyone understands the very precise steps we take to build the work in our lives.
There are three main commitments:
1. You MUST do 100 repetitions of IO HEKA IO HO per day. It doesn’t matter if you are at your altar, it doesnt matter if you are in the right “headspace”, just do them. Do them in the car for all I care, it is about keeping this particular thread of fate running through your life during the practice. It take less than 5 minutes – if you can brush your teeth you can do the mantra. That said, there is a way to repair mistakes if you miss a few days.
2. You need to make an offering to Hekate on every New Moon during training. This can be a large ceremony, or a very simple offering of Incense and Wine while saying the Mantra just to keep the commitment. There will be other things that are strongly recommended for these days, but this is the commitment.
3. As with all my classes the material is under a vow of Secrecy.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
There are a few different payment plans available for the course:
$100 a month for 7 months
$25 a week for 28 weeks
$700 as a one time payment