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Hello dear reader, listener, watcher!
This week, we meet her again… Hecate!
But this time, we don’t find her at the crossroads. We are further down the path. Past the torches. Past the howling dogs. She is waiting at the gate with a key.
Welcome to Episode 9 of Goddess, Witch, Woman — the second of our Hecate series.
This episode is filled with scent and symbol. We begin with garlic - yes, garlic, I told you to bring some! - one of Hecate’s most ancient offerings. Left at the crossroads during the Deipnon, her dark-moon ritual, garlic marked the line between this world and the other. It warded off spirits and said: I see the veil, and I honour it.
Then we walk with Hecate Kleidouchos, the key-bearer (come listen and check if I'm butchering Greek words!). The Goddess who opens doors to other realms, and to the chambers within us. When the time is right, Hecate teaches us what it means to open, to know, to transform.
Inside this episode:
✦ garlic as offering, protection, and ancient ritual
✦ Hekate’s roles in the Chaldean Oracles & Greek Magical Papyri
✦ why she is called the mother of witches
✦ Pharmakeia: medicine, sorcery, and her lineage of plant witches
✦ the story of Bluebeard’s key and the chamber of horrors
✦ keys as responsibility, initiation, and sacred risk
✦ the spiral of the Strophalos, her wheel of ever-turning transformation
✦ a blessing for those holding the key and afraid to turn it
We end, as always, with reflection prompts to guide your own ritual.
This is for the ones who feel something stirring in their palm. The ones who’ve been dreaming of doors. The ones who know something in them is ready to be unlocked.
Recommended Reading:
– Hekate: Goddess of Witches by
– Hekate: Her Sacred Fires by
– Goddesses in Older Women by Jean Shinoda Bolen
– Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (read the chapter on Bluebeard!)
– Entering the Garden of Hekate by
Share the key:
If this episode opened something for you, share it. With a friend, a sister, or someone who still fears the word “witch.”
Comment and tell me: What door are you standing in front of?
And if you’d like to work with me personally:
🔮 Book an Oracle Reading → Book here
See you soon.
With a deep breath while turning a key,
Marianna
Did you know that if you touch the little heart at the end of this message, more people can find this message? If you comment or restack (that's sharing on substack) it's even better for me to be found! Thank you, deeply!
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