There are many unfamiliar terms which occur in the context of Greek religion and the Goddess Hekate. This glossary was written by Sorita d’Este for the Hekate Her Sacred Fires project and is being reproduced here for others who may struggle understanding some of the terminology, or who are just starting out.
Glossary of Terms
Aigina: Greek island which had a Hekate temple and celebrated her mysteries, said to have been founded by Orpheus..
Anatolia: Ancient kingdom of what is now most of Turkey.
Angel: A spiritual being which acts as a messenger for a particular deity. Commonly depicted as a winged human in form.
Antaia:‘Sender of Nocturnal Visions’, a title of Hekate.
Apollo: Greek god of music, healing and prophecy, son of Zeus and Leto, and twin of Artemis.
Apotropaic:‘Evil-averting’, a term often used for amulets and banishing or protective rites. Apotropaios or ‘Averter of Evil’ is a title of Hekate.
Argos: Greek island which had a Hekate temple.
Artemis: Greek Virgin Huntress goddess, daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo. From C5th BCE she was conflated at times with Hekate. The temple at Ephesus was dedicated to her as Artemis of Ephesus.
Asteria: Greek Stellar Titan goddess of astrology and dream prophecy, mother of Hekate.
Baubo: Old woman in the Eleusinian Mysteries sometimes equated with Hekate.
Bendis: Thracian lunar goddess and mother of Sabazius. Conflated with Hekate from mid-C5th BCE.
Bona Dea: Roman healing goddess who was conflated with Hekate from C2nd CE.
Brimo: Title given to Hekate, also used by Demeter and Persephone, and as a password in the Orphic Mysteries.
Byzantium: Modern-day Istanbul, centre of the Byzantine Empire and location of a Hekate shrine following her saving the city from invasion in the C4th BCE.
Caria: Ancient kingdom on what is now the west coast of Turkey.
Chaldean Oracles: A fragmentary collection of 226 verses from C2nd CE which portrays a Theurgical worldview with Hekate as the Cosmic Soul.
Charities: Three Greek goddesses of beauty, grace and festive mirth, sometimes depicted with triple Hekate on Hekataions.
Chthonic:‘Of the earth’, a name given to gods associated with the earth and the underworld, sometimes with the title Chthonia, e.g. Hekate Chthonia and Hermes Chthonia.
Crossroads: In relation to Hekate this is specifically a meeting of three roads (i.e. a Y shape), said to be particularly frequented by the restless dead and sacred to her as a liminal place.
Cyrene: Greek colony in modern-day Libya which had a Hekate temple.
Daimon: Supernatural being usually seen as being higher than man but lower than the gods, e.g. a demi-god or ghost of a hero, though at times also applied to old gods.
Defixiones: Binding curse tablets, usually made of lead and used in Greco-Roman times, containing a request to Hekate and/or other Chthonic deities for aid.
Deipnon:‘Hekate Supper’, a feast offered to Hekate at the crossroads on the New Moon.
Demeter: Greek Grain goddess, mother of Persephone and sister of Zeus. She was said to have established the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Diana: Roman virgin huntress goddess, who was conflated with Artemis, and subsequently with Hekate. Viewed as the goddess of witchcraft from the early Middle Ages onwards.
Dionysos: Greek god of Wine and Ecstasy, absorbed into the Olympian pantheon as the twice-born son of Zeus, though initially of unknown origin. Often conflated with the Thracian god Sabazius.
Eleusinian Mysteries: A Mystery Religion based at Eleusis, which was a powerful religious centre in the ancient world.
Enodia:‘Of the Roads’, a title of Hekate derived from the Thessalian road goddess she subsumed.
Ereschigal: Babylonian underworld goddess who was conflated with Hekate around C3rd/4th CE.
Greek Magical Papyri: A collection of magical charms and rites dating from C2nd BCE – C5th CE, which blend Egyptian, Gnostic, Greek and Hebrew material and techniques.
Hades: Greek Underworld god, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He abducted his niece Persephone to be his bride and end his loneliness. The Romans equated him to him Pluto.
Hekataion: a pillar surrounded by three Hekate figures (triformis). Small versions were placed at doorways to houses, and larger ones at crossroads.
Helios: Greek solar god, brother of Selene. He was conflated with Apollo, and sometimes associated with Hekate.
Hermes: Greek Messenger god, son of Zeus and Maya. He was often associated with Hekate, and together often shown with Kybele.
Hypostasis: The essential or manifest reality of something, as opposed to simplyits attributes.
Iakkhos: Greek god associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries and sometimes conflated with Dionysos.
Isis: Egyptian Mother goddess of magic, who became seen as a universal goddess, and who was conflated with Hekate for a period from C2nd CE.
Iynx: May be either (1) a type of angel who serves Hekate, or (2) another name for the Strophalos, (3) a wheel-based charm for love magic, originally sacred to the Greek love goddess Aphrodite.
Janus: Roman threshold god, conflated with Zeus/Jupiter and sometimes paired with Hekate.
Kali: Indian goddess of time and destruction, often depicted with multiple arms, and equated by some with Hekate.
Kleidouchos:‘Key-bearer’, a title of Hekate, particularly with regard to the inner sanctuaries of temples. She was also said to bear the keys to the Elysian Fields in the underworld.
Kore:‘Maiden’, a title usually applied to Persephone, but occasionally to Hekate, as in the Greek Magical Papyri.
Kourotrophos:‘Child’s Nurse’, a title of Hekate and some other Greek goddesses.
Kronos: Greek Titan god of time, husband of Rhea and father of Zeus, who deposed him.
Kundalini: Fire Serpent power said to reside dormant at the base of the spine in every person.
Kybele (Cybele): Phrygian and Anatolian Mother goddess whose worship became popular in Greece and Rome as the Magna Mater (Great Mother). Conflated with the goddess Rhea and also sometimes with Hekate.
Lagina: City in Caria where the last great Hellenic temple was built – to Hekate, in the C2nd CE.
Lampades: Torch-bearing nymphs who follow Hekate as part of her retinue.
Lilith: Sumerian goddess, demonised into the baby-killing serpent temptress in Hebrew and Christian texts.
Lucifer: Fallen archangel/god celebrated in the Aradia and the Luciferian tradition as the lord of light and liberator.
Luna: Roman moon goddess, conflated with Selene, and subsequently with Hekate and Diana.
Melinoe: Form of Hekate celebrated in the Orphic Mysteries.
Minoan Snake Goddess: Name given to two figures found in Knossos from c. 1500 BCE who may have links to the origins of Hekate.
Moirai: The three Greek Fates, representing inevitable destiny.
Nemesis: Greek vengeance goddess who was sometimes conflated with Hekate after C3rd CE.
Nike: Greek victory goddess, often depicted winged and bearing a wreath.
Noes: Intelligence or mind (Greek).
Ouranian: ‘Heavenly’, a name given to gods associated with the sky, also including the Olympian gods.
Orphic Mysteries: A Mystery Religion said to have been founded by the legendary musician Orpheus, and centred on Dionysos.
Persephone (Proserpina): Greek Spring goddess and Underworld Queen, daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Her abduction by Hades and subsequent division of the year between the earth and the underworld formed the basis of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries. The Romans equated her to Prosperpina.
Perses: Obscure Titan god whose name means ‘destroyer’, father of Hekate.
Phosphoros: ‘Light-bearer’, a title of Hekate regarding her twin torches.
Phrygia: Ancient kingdom, that was part of Anatolia, and which was absorbed into Greece, in what is now central and western Turkey.
Poseidon: Greek Sea god, brother of Hades and Zeus, sometimes associated with Hekate.
Propolos:‘Guide’, a title given to Hekate in her role escorting Persephone to and from the underworld.
Propylaia:‘Before the Gate’, a title given to Hekate as guardian of entranceways.
Restless Dead: A name given to those who souls did not go to the underworld, usually through failure to conduct the proper funerary rites, or because they had committed suicide.
Rhea: Greek Titan Mother goddess, mother of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter and others. She was conflated with Kybele, and Hekate in the Chaldean Oracles.
Sabazius: Thracian god known as the Rider God, son of Bendis, sometimes conflated with Dionysos.
Samothrace: Greek island noted as a centre of Hekate worship, with reference to initiations taking place in the Zerynthian cave there.
Selene: Greek lunar goddess, sister of Helios, conflated with Artemis and Hekate from around C1st BCE.
Selinus: Location of a temple to Demeter, Persephone and Hekate on the island of Sicily.
Soteira:‘Saviour’, a title of Hekate in the Chaldean Oracles, also sometimes applied to Zeus.
Strophalos: A tool, likened to a spinning top, used in Theurgy for drawing down energy and beings, including gods.
Thessaly: Ancient kingdom in northern Greece, particularly associated with witchcraft by later Greek writers.
Theurgia: A spiritual system of magic focusing on perfecting the self through inner union with the gods.
Thrace: Ancient kingdom around the river Danube comprising what would now be south-eastern Bulgaria, north-eastern Greece and the European part of Turkey.
Triformis: ‘three-formed’, a title given to Hekate when depicted as three-bodied.
Trioditis:‘of the three roads’, a title given to Hekate in respect of her role as guardian of the crossroads.
Zagreus: first form of the god Dionysos, before being killed and reborn. Celebrated in the Orphic Mysteries.