MYTHOLOGY (noun.)
1. a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition.
2. the study of myths
─ IN WHICH THE ADMINS GIVE YOU INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE MANY BELIEFS OF MULTIPLE MMYTHOLOGIES
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HEKATE
Hekate (also spelled, Hecate) is the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. As the only child of the Titanes, Perses and Asteria, from whom she inherited her power over heaven, earth, and sea.
When Persephone (goddess of the spring) within the underworld with Hades (god of the underworld) Hekate aided Persephone's mother, Demeter (goddess of the harvest and fertility) in finding her daughter by guiding her through the night with flaming torches.
Three metamorphosis* myths describe the origins of her animal familiars: the black she-dog and the polecat (a mustelid* house pet kept in ancient times to hunt vermin). The dog was the Trojan Queen Hekabe (Hecuba) who leapt from the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by the goddess. The polecat was either the witch Gale, turned as for her incontinence, or Galinthias, midwife of Alkmene (Alcmena), who was transformed by the enraged goddess Eileithya but adopted by the sympathetic Hekate.
Usually depicted in Greek vase paintings as a woman holding twin torches, she was sometimes dressed in a knee-length maiden's skirt and hunting boots, much like Artemis. In statuary the goddess was often depicted in triple form as a goddess of crossroads.
Derived from the greek word hekatos, her name means "worker from afar." The masculine form of the name, Hekatos, was a common epithet* of the god Apollon.
Hekate was identified with a number of different goddesses, such as Artemis, Seline (the Moon), Despoine, the sea-goddess Krataeis (Crataeis), the goddess of the Taurian Khersonese in Skythia, the Kolkhian (Colchian) nymph Perseis, the heroine Iphigeneia, the Thracian goddess Bendis and Kotys (Cotys), the Euboian nymph Maira (the Dog-Star), the Eluesinian nymph Daeira and the Boiotian nymph Herkyna (Hercyna).
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GLOSSARY
* Metamorphosis: The change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one.
* Mustelid: A mammal of the weasel family (Mustelidae), distinguished by having a long body, short legs, and musky scent glands under the tail.
* Epithet: An adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.
