Introducing Hekate

Circle for Hekate -Volume I, History & Mythology: Dedicated to the light-bearing Goddess of the crossroads in all her many faces, manifestations, and names. by Sorita D'este
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sorita D’Este has to be the foremost practitioner / devotee to Hecate. Not only is she a priest to the goddess but she has also done more than ample research. What follows is an excellent book that give the reader a good solid over view of Hecate throughout her long history. If you are interested in learning about this goddess then this is a book you would do well to delve into.

The first chapter of the book deals with the family and lineage of Hecate. Her father was Perseus and her Mother was Asteria. Her grandfather was the sun god Helios. Among her cousins are Apollo and Artemis, their mother Leto was Asteria’s sister. Leto was hunted by Hera and a large python because Zeuss seduced her or attacked her. Asteria in the meantime turned herself into an island. Hera, as a reward to Asteria for avoiding Zeuss’s pleasure snares was able to give her sister some rest on the island of Ortygia which is located near Sicily.
As Hecate’s cult expanded throughout the Greco Roman world she tended to absorb other goddesses and become conflated with them. Some o the goddeses she was conflated with are Demeter and Persephone, Artemis, Isis, Ereshkigal and Ishtar. Sometimes they are named as a double name like Hecate-Isis other times they are mentioned separately. It seems she absorbed or was conflated wit other Goddesses such as Bendis, Kybelle, Selene and a few others. With tis she absorbed their symbols, jobs and functions.
It is rather hard to pinpoint where the worship of Hecate originated. After all she was a titan who sided with Zeuss against Kronos. She helped beat off some monsters with her torches and for that she was allowed to keep her domain as a goddess of the earth air land and sea. She was worshipped widely over the entire Greco-Roman world. Evidence of her sanctuaries and worship can be found in modern day Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Jordan Valley, Syria, Egypt and parts of Italy. Certain places have her worshipped alone or paired up with Zeuss, Dionysus, Hermes and Pan.

Hecate is a liminal goddess which means she occupies those spaces in between like twilight, realms between death an life and passage ways. One of Hecate’s symbols is the key. Keys open doors and allow passage. Her shrine was at the entry way to shrines and houses. She was also an underworld goddess who escorted the dead, provided they had a proper funeral to the underworld. Those who died a violent death, suicide etc belonged to Hecate and became one of her ghosts. Black dogs were often associated with her as were bulls, cows, dogs. Staffs and snakes were associated with her as well as different head gear.
In her beginning years she started out as a solar goddess but now as time slips by she is associated with the moon. In the beginning she was a mother goddess and a maiden goddess. Thanks to Crowley and Robert Grave the krone epithet got added on. There are more volumes coming up. Keep your eyes open.


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Folk Saints on the Border

Folk Saints of the Borderlands: Victims, Bandits, and Healers by James S. Griffith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Along the border straddling the US / Mexico border a growing phenomenon is blooming. It has been going on for some time , probably starting in the late 19 th century. This is the veneration of folk saints. The folk saints answer prayers, bestow health and prosperity upon their followers. The most well known is Santa Muerte, but she is not discussed in this work.

These folk saints despite their wide veneration in Mexico, will most likely never be granted Saint Hood by the Catholic Church. That seems to be reserved for European white folks. These saints are healers, bandits and Robin Hoods.

Juan Soldano was a human soldier in Mexico, who was supposedly accused of a crime he did not commit. For that he was shot in a cemetery and buried there. He is one you pray to find justice. Actually the whole town wanted to lynch him. It was only later that he was believed to be innocent. In due time he was elevated to Saint Hood.

The second Saint was Mother Terresita. Her father was wealthy but has some political dispute with the governor. He moved further north in Mexico. Later when Porfiro the dictatorial president came to power and there was lots of fighting she went to live in California. Constantly revolutionaries invoked her name, despite whether she liked it or not.

Jesus Malverde was a sort of Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He used to rob stage coaches. Some say he did not exist at all but was a combination of two other bandits. Supposedly he was hung. He is a narco Saint . In other words a Saint that helps drug dealer.

Pancho Villa was a revolutionary who opposed president Porofiro. Pancho would steal livestock from wealthy farmers and give it to the poor. He also was known to kill indiscriminately. He was eventually assassinated. Some time spiritists will channel his spirit. He is a great defender of the poor and week and he also used to grope women and has has several affairs.

Pedrito and El Niño Fidenci were healers who cares for the people and gave them all food when they came. There are more details to share but you have to read the book to find out more.

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Dancing with the Jinn

Trance Dancing with the Jinn: The Ancient Art of Contacting Spirits Through Ecstatic Dance by Yasmin Henkesh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Beyond the vale lies the unseen realm of the spirit world, according to Orion Foxwood, and that spirit world wants to work with humanity to repair the world. Now more than ever we need to communicate with them. Orion Fixwood is a faery seer and if he wrote the forward then you know the book has got to be good.

Good it is. Author Yasmin Henkesh is a belly dancer and has travelled the Middle East extensively. She has also done a ton of research which makes for a very informative read.

Starting off she gives us a history of trance dancing from the early ages in the Middle East and Mediterranean. Moving right along she discusses the scientific aspect of trance. This can get a bit hard to read but if your going to do this then you should be well informed of any pitfalls which she aptly identified.

The next section of her book talks about the Zara spirits of Egypt and the Sudan. The Zar or fire spirits are known to posses people. To drive the jinn away the sheikhas and their women hold ceremonial prayers to drive them away and figure out what they want. Yasmin gives great over views of the different spirits and the development of the movement,

The Jinn have been immortalized in the Koran and have been know as genies here in the west. Yasmin discusses their involvement in the Koran and how they interact with humans.

The last part of the book talks about Sufi Islam and their technique to reach a trance state. Once again Yasmin does a bang em up job of describing Sufi Islam
And it's development.

What follows was a broad review of an excellent book. I left out specific details cause I want you to read the book.

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Journey to Kol Adair

Death's Mistress by Terry Goodkind
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Coming off the heels of the last adventure with Emperor Saluchan and putting the Omen Machine back to the under world and ending all prophecy for good, Nicci and Nathan are summoned to the layer of Red the witch woman. Braving some hazardous swamps to ge there, they find out they have another mission and that is to save the world and make Nathan whole. They are charged with finding the city of Kol Adair, which is at the other end of the DHaran Empire..
Enroute to Kol Adair, Nicci rescues a young man who is about to be killed by the name of Bannon. Bannon works on the wave walker, his captains ship. THe ship goes searching for Wish Pearls. It is on board this ship they come under attack for stealing pearls that belong to the selka. The selka are a race of sea people egineered by the wizards to fight in wars. The ship is attacked and of course the only three to survive are Nathan, Nicci and Bannon.
As they are shipwrecked on a strange and distant shore, they come across a small fishing town that is isolated from everything else. The villagers are very hosptable to the trveling trio. Yet only after being there for a while the town is attcked by Narukai slavers. Nicci is able to access her magic and use wizard fire to fend off the attackers. Nathan and Bannan must make do with swords. Nathan has lost his magic ever since the Omen Machine was returned to the underworld. When he does access his Han things go awry.
Their next adventure takes them to towns where everyone has been turned to stone. A wizard gone rogue has gone around assessin peoples guilt an turning them to stone. Nathan goes off on his own and sees a tower adorned with painted glass windows. THe wndows depict battle scenes of old. It is here that Nathan must battle some magically charged statues.
Their next two adventures take them to a place that is bein ravaged by another wizard called the Life Drinker. Rolland a wizard who accessed an ancient library was dying dying from/a wasting disease. To cure himself he used magic which casused him to drain the entire valley of life. Piecing together magic from ancient books they obtain a magic acorn from the tree of life. The next adventure has a priestess sacrificing herself to reanimate the valley. things seem to be going haywire. Kol Adair is a ways off still.

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The Most Holy Death

Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint by R. Andrew Chesnut
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THe cult of Santa Muetrte has grown by leaps and bounds since Dona Queta publicised her in her quesadilla stand in 2001. Before that he worhsip was kept under wraps with only a few people activelyfollowing her. Santa Muerte is a local homegrown Mexicn saint that is not CANONIZED by the Catholic Church. Most of her devotes are Catholic yet this movement seems to have the potential to break off into its own religious movement.
There are many saints that Mexican will pray to . THe most noteable one is the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was who the author was researching. Something was missing, a certain enthusiasm and after all theVirgin had been written about many times. Inspiration came when the author heard of the Mexican government destroying like over 40 shrines dedicated to the most holy death. This was part of an ongoing war against the drug cartels and Santa Muerte is a narco saint.
Many of her devotees are criminals, drug dealers, prisoners and also prison guards, policemen and soldiers. She is the most popullar saint, surpassing all of them in terms of sales items. But what is the story of this saint or this Grim Reapress. THe books is divided into chapters based on the color of candles her devotees will work with. Black is often the color most associated with her. Black is used for protections and cursing enemies. Back in the 80s and 90s when drug dealers kidnapped an american tourist and sacrificed him in a mixed palo mayombe ritual. Another case hapended in the 90s when a bust displayed Santa Muerte with black candles. The colors that are most popular to work with are white and red.
Thee first chapter is based on the brown candle. Brown is used for knolwdge and Enlightenment. This chapter discusses hsitory of Santa Muerte and her possible origins. THe chapter also covers offerings, the hsitory of Dona Queta and David Romo. Dona Queta opened a shrine to Santa Muerte from her quesadilla stand in the crime ridden neighborhood of Tepito. David Romo was allied with the Traditional Catholic Church and he opened up a church dedicated to Santa Muerte. David Romo has since been victimized by the government and was charged with kidnapping. The origins of Santa Muerte are hazy. Some are saying that she is a Mexican version of the Aztec goddess of the dead. But this cannot be because not all Indians were aztecs. Rather she is the Grim Reapress from Spain, who was La Parque or the parched one.
The next color they talked about was the black candle. In this chapter the author discusses how she is associated with cursing and protection. The drug dealers will ask her to help them with drug shipments or getting rid of legal authorities. Black is not a popular color but it is one most publicly associated with her. Thanks to cinema and media. White is for protection. Here the author discusses how the Saint protects her followers from witchcraft and other foul magic. Santa Muerte is as much a death bringer as she is a mother, healer and love doctor.
Red is the love candle. Most of her petitions are love petitions, especially jilted women who wanted their wayword husbands to change their ways. This has been her traditional roll historically. The other candle are green for justice, good for money, purple for healing. Finally the rainbow for all purposes. If you love Santa Muerte then get this book.

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Tarot Magic

Tarot Spells by Janina Renee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I got this book as a gift from a friend. Following pagan tradition it is a gift for a gift and I gave my friend a Santa Muerte Candle. Phoenix you are still remembered.

This book is an older edition. The spells are relatively simple to do. Unlike most Wiccan spells such tools like candle, incense , athame a and wands are optional. Most spells make candle, flowers and crystals optional.

At the books beginning there is a general opening and closing of the spell. The opening and closing is generic and no particular deities are called upon. The option is yours whether you want to use it, modify it or disregard it.

After the general opening and closing there is a meditation for each card you put down for the spell. Finally there are affirmations. You can break these visualization and affirmations off from the spell and use it independently as a stand alone should you so choose.

The appendices which are rather many give over lots of good information about what each tarot card means, what different colors correspond to and a few other goodies on Chrystal's plus there is an extensive bibliography in the back.

The spells are great for beginners just getting started and some of the more advanced practitioner might appreciate the simplicity.

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Modern Day Genocide

ISIS: Caliphate's Sex Slaves by Brad Power
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

ISIS: The Calhate's Sex Slaves

The book was way to short. I read it in an hour. Glad I did not pay nine buck for this book but got it off the Kindle Lending Library. What Brad Power does in this short pamphlet like book is give the reader a laundry list of crimes committed by DAesh against primarily the Yazidi community. There is scant mention of the other communities effected by the cultural genocide.
The aim of Daesh was to ethnically cleanse Iraq and Syria of any non muslim, non Sunni or non Arab prescence. Their take over began in August 2014. The start of the campaign was besieging local towns. First the fighters would demand the villages turn over all their weapons or die. If the villages had any weapons they would turn them over. Then they were told to hand over mobile phones and gold. Third they were told to convert to Islam or die.
The final assault came when they gathered the villagers and separated the men from the women. The men were taken away from the village and murdered enmasse. The women were distributed as spoils of war. Life as slave is terrible. Women asyoung s twelve are raped repeatedy through out the day. Many time they are forced into a marriage and forced to convert to islam. Women have comitted suicide things were so bad. Imagine bein rapd 30 time a day and passed around from man to man. Slave markets and concentration camps are poppingup all over Iraq and Syria. THe Yezidees have been forced tohide at Mount Sinjar for refuge. They have been abandoned by the Kurdish militias and the Iraqi army.
ISIS is aworld wide phenomona. Fighters come from over the world. Most are from Syria and Iraq. Yet others are from Russia, Europe, Africa and the Central Asian republics. The women are sold as slaves. The younger and prettier they are the more they cost. Buyer are coming in from all over the world. Truly sad.

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