Re: Odd Insights into Hekate
Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:20 am
Pleiades wrote:Pablo wrote:The simple point is that hekate was always an imported deity to the Britsh Iles. Her priesthood left no indication of any work of incorporating any local flora and fauna.
On a different note Iread somewhere that the red mullet is a fish that is sacxred to her and is eaten in her Mediterranean rituals. This fish is now present in British fishmongers in ethnically diverse areas due to the West Indian influence. The red mullet is known as the goatfish in Jamaica
I am not sure how you define 'her Priesthood' but imported or not Hekate is closely associated with both trees and plants.Oak and Yew as well as the poisonous Aconite and Atropa Belladonna are all native to Britain.Monkshood and Nightshade are psychoactives linked to Hekate and to witchcraft of which cult she was deemed a Goddess.
Dogs were her principal sacrifice and depictions of her in the,possibly later,three headed guise included the Cow,Dog,Boar,and Horse.All native to Britain.
In her association with wisdom she is also depicted with an Owl,again a native British bird and along with the Horse and Dog,the Owl is a principal feature found in representations of witchcraft.
Red Mullet was indeed a feature within Hekate rites in ancient times.Always an expensive fish,it is now a common summer visitor to southern Cornish waters specifically the Lizard peninsula.Back in the late 80s early 90s this fish was so prized hostilities erupted among groups of local Cornish fishermen with claims of sabotaging rivals equipment to actual fights being commonly reported.Current UK prices see Red Mullet more expensive than most cuts of Beef.
Perhaps like the Red Mullet,Hekate was self-imported into Britain!
When I mentioned the "priethood" I was referring to those who had adopted her as a tutelary goddess or simply led people to worship her. Rather than her self-importing I would tend to look for a mechanism. I do know that she was mentioned in Macbeth. I do not know of any earlier written history but that does not mean none exists.
Given that the Gulf Stream is detected along the western UK then the fish could have certainly come up from the Caribbean or perhaps warming waters brought the up from the Med where I saw them when diving.