Content Warning: death, dark themes

Kate Meyer-Currey - Hecate: move through darkness

Do not confuse me, as mortal

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scholars have done, for other

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lesser deities; I am daughter

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of Titans, born before time.

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I recall truths the stylus forgot;

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blurred into wax tablets, reborn

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as mere myth.

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I was the natural mother and

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mistress of all realms: I held

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sway over air and sea to the

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depths of hell. 

I am the torchbearer; she that

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kept the fire and blazed a trail

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for gods and men.

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I guided Demeter down paths

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to the Underworld, in search of

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Persephone, her daughter. My

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light was the joy of recognition

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in their wan faces.

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I was at Persephone’s side in

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Hades’ dark kingdom, where

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she must wait out the winter.

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I returned her safe to roam

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the free fields of spring and

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summer, dropping flowers at

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her feet like heaven’s stars.

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I topped temple pedestals.

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I stood at every crossroads:

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the triple waymark of past,

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present and future.

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I was the threshold between

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life and death.

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I was forgotten by men, down

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heedless years and altered

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custom.

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I was supplanted by brassy

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new beliefs and other votives

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stole my fire.

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I was banished underground;

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crowned queen of the night by

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their guilt-haunted memories.

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I hold dominion over darkness:

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my supplicants are witches and

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ghosts; the message-bearers

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between living and dead.

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I am the fitful light of the moon:

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I wax and wane according to

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mortal whim.

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I hold secrets; truths and lies: I

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speak through curses inscribed

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on lead; buried in graves, fallen

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in wells.

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I am keeper of the hidden flame

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that glows through the veil of lost

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years shrouding my face.

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I watch over those who still have

courage to stare into the dark.