Back in my baby witch days, I remember reading that Hecate wouldn’t approve of any magic that was unethical, and that she would not contribute her energy to any spells that were cast spitefully. The spell would rebound on you times three, and all that. This view of Hecate is quite ahistorical. Hecate is no stranger to dark spells, and is even explicitly associated with them in some cases. Here’s several curses dedicated to Hecate, cast by real people in Ancient Greece, which were inscribed on small, thin lead tablets:
This is the text of a lead tablet dedicated to Hermes Khthonios and Hecate, asking them to bind a particular individual, likely in the context of a court case. We have no idea if the person casting this spell is in the right or not, but we do know that he wants to utterly destroy his opponent:
Hermes Khthonios and Hekate KhthoniaLet Pherenikos be bound before Hermes Khthonios and Hekate Khthonia. I bind Pherenikos’ [girl] Galene to Hermes Khthonios and to Hekate Khthonia I bind [her]. And just as this lead is worthless and cold, so let that man and his property be worthless and cold, and those who are with him who have spoken and counseled concerning me. Let Thersilochos, Oinophilos, Philotios, and any other supporter of Pherenikos be bound before Hermes Khthonios and Hekate Khthonia. Also Pherenikos’ soul and mind and tongue and plans and the things that he is doing and the things that he is planning concerning me. May everything be contrary for him and for those counseling and acting with… — Copied from Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World by John G. Gager
This lead tablet, also dedicated to Hecate, seems to be motivated by pure jealousy:
I will bind Sosikleia and [her] property and great fame and fortune and mind. Let her become hateful to [her] friends. I will bind her under murky Tartaros.in troublesome bonds, with Hekate of the underworld. BITTO AIELKISOS for the dizzying Furies — Copied from Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World by John G. Gager
Here’s another lead tablet, inscribed with a spell for getting revenge on thieves, and dedicated primarily to Hecate:
I make an exception for the writer and the destroyer, because he does this unwillingly, forced [into it] by thieves. I register and hand over to Pluto and to the Fates and to Persephone and to the Furies and to every harmful being; I hand [them] over to Hekate, eater of what has been demanded by the gods; I hand them over to the goddesses and gods of the underworld, and to Hermes the helper; I transfer the thieves who stole from the little house in the quarter/street called Acheloou — [who stole] chain, three spreads (one woolen, white, new) gum arabic… tools, white piles of dirt, linseed oil, and three white [objects]: mastic, pepper, and bitter almonds. I hand over those who know about the theft and deny it. I hand over all of them who have received what is contained in this deposition. Lady Hekate of the heavens, Hekate of the underworld, Hekate of the crossroads, Hekate of the triple-face, Hekate of the single-face, cut [out] the hearts of the thieves or the thief who took the items contained in this deposition. And let the earth not be walkable, the sea nor sailable; let there be no enjoyment of life, no increase of children, but may utter destruction visit them or him. As inspector, you will wield upon them the bronze sickle, and you will cut them out. But I exempt the writer and the destroyer. — Copied from Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World by John G. Gager
The spell includes a drawing of Hecate. This is how she’s depicted:
This image is on the cover of the book I copied the spells from. When I first saw it, I honestly thought it was Cthulhu. It’s actually a woman with three faces and six raised arms, but the arms definitely look like bat wings. One set of the wings or arms appears to end in snake heads.
Love spells in Ancient Greece also weren’t unlike curses. This formula from the Greek Magical Papyri asks Hecate to force a young woman to fall in love with the caster, to prevent her from sleeping, to make her forget her family, to torment her with the frenzy of love until she comes to have sex with the caster:
Come, giant Hekate, Dione’s guard, / O Persia, Baubo Phroune, dart-shooter, Unconquered, Lydian, the one untamed, Sired nobly, torch-bearing, guide, who bends down Proud necks, Kore, hear, you who’ve parted / gates Of steel unbreakable. O Artemis, Who, too, were once protectress, mighty one, Mistress, who burst forth from the earth, dog-leader, All-tamer, crossroad goddess, triple-headed, Bringer of light, august / virgin, I call you Fawn-slayer, crafty, O infernal one, And many-formed. Come, Hekate, goddess Of three ways, who with your fire-breathing phantoms Have been allotted dreaded roads and harsh / Enchantments. Hekate I call you with Those who untimely passed away and with Those heroes who have died without a wife And children, hissing wildly, yearning in Their hearts.Go stand above her (NN) head and take Away from her sweet sleep. And never let Eyelid come glued to eyelid, but let her Be sore distressed with wakeful cares for me. / And if she lies with someone else in her Embrace, let her thrust him away and take Me in her heart. Let her abandon him At once and stand before my door subdued In soul at longing for my bed of love. But you, O Hekate, of many names, O Virgin, Kore, Goddess, come, I ask, O guard and shelter of the threshing floor, Who walk on fire, cow-eyed BOUORPHORBE PANPHORBA PHORBARA AKITOPHI ERESCHIGAL / NEBOUTOSOUALETH Beside the doors, PYPYLEDEDEZO And gate-breaker; Come, Hekate, of fiery Counsel, I call you to my sacred chants.MASKELLI MASKELLO PHNOUKENTABAOTH OREOBAZAGRA who burns forth from the earth, / earth mare, OREOPEGANYX MORMORON TOKOUMABI (add the usual). “In frenzy may she (NN) come fast to my doors, Forgetting children and her life with parents, And loathing all the race of men / and women Except me (NN), but may she hold me alone And come subdued in heart by love’s great force. — PGM 2715–2765
Here’s a similar spell, also from the PGM, that asks Hecate (here identified with a bunch of other underworld goddesses) to send the ghosts of those who died a violent death to torment the object of your affections until she comes to sleep with you. To perform it, you must go to the graves of those who died violently and throw an offering of bread crumbs into the grave, saying as you do,
To Moirai, Destinies, / Malignetes, To Famine, Jealousy, to those who died Untimely deaths and those dead violently, I’m sending food: Three-headed Goddess, Lady Of Night, who feed on filth, O Virgin, thou Key-holding Persephassa, Kore out Of Tartaros, grim-eyed, dreadful, child girt / With fiery serpents, he, NN, has mixed with tears and bitter groans leftovers from His own food, so that you, O luckless heroes Who are confined there in the NN place, May bring success to him who is beset With torments. You who’ve left the light, O you Unfortunate ones, / bring success to him, NN, who is distressed at heart because Of her, NN, ungodly and unholy. So bring her wracked with torment — and in haste! EIOUT ABAOTH PSAKERBA ARBATHIAO LALAOITH / IOSACHOTOU ALLALETHO You too as well, Lady, who feed on filth SYNATRAKABI BAUBARABAS ENPHNOUN MORKA ERESCHIGAL NEBOUTOSOUALETH and send the Erinyes ORGOGORGONIOTRIAN, Who rouses up with fire souls of the dead, Unlucky heroes, luckless heroines, Who in this place, who on this day, who in This hour, who in coffins of myrtlewood, Give heed to me and rouse / her, NN, on This night and from her eyes remove sweet sleep, And cause her wretched care and fearful pain, Cause her to follow after my footsteps, And / for my will give her a willingness Until she does what I command of her. O mistress Hekate PHORBA PHORBOBAR BARO PHORPHOR PHORBAI O Lady of the Crossroads, O Black Bitch. — PGM IV 1400–1432
I like this one because of some of these epithets that Hekate is given, like “she who feeds on filth” and “Black Bitch” (meant literally, since Hekate is associated with dogs).
In addition to being associated with curses and necromancy, in multiple contexts, Hecate is shown to be the goddess of pharmaka, which is the use of herbs and drugs in magic.
She taught Circe and Medea to use drugs in their magic, and Medea invokes Hecate when she curses Jason and his wife:
She [Hekate] married Aeetes and bore two daughters, Kirke (Circe) and Medea, and a son Aigialeus. Although Kirke also, it is said devoted herself to the devising of all kinds of drugs and discovered roots of all manner of natures and potencies such as are difficult to credit, yet, notwithstanding that she was taught by her mother Hekate about not a few drugs. — Diodorus Siculus, Library of History
She [Circe] sprinkled round about her evil drugs and poisonous essences, and out of Erebos and Chaos called Nox (Night) [Nyx] and the Gods of Night (Di Nocti) and poured a prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate. The woods — wonder of wonders! — leapt away, a groan came from the ground, the bushes blanched, the spattered sward was soaked with gouts of blood, stones brayed and bellowed, dogs began to bark, black snakes swarmed on the soil and ghostly shapes of silent spirits floated through the air. Stunned by such magic sorcery, the group of courtiers stood aghast; and as they gazes, she touched their faces with her poisoned wand, and at its touch each took the magic form of some wild beast; none kept his proper shape. — Ovid, Metamorphoses
She [Medea] prays to Hecate to send her now more potent spells and mightier powers, nor abides contented with the drugs she knew. Then she girds up her robe and takes forth a Caucasian herb, of potency sure beyond all others, sprung of the gore that dropped from the liver of Prometheus, and grass wind-nurtured, fostered and strengthened by that blood divine among snows and grisly frosts, when the Vulture rises from his feasting on the flesh and from his open beak bedews the cliffs. That flower knows not the languor of life, but stands, immortally fresh, against the thunderbolt, and in the midst of lightnings its leaves are green. Hecate first, plying a blade that Stygian springs hardened, tore forth the strong stalk from the rocks; then showed she the plant to her handmaid [Medea] […] The Colchian [Medea] began to move through the dark night with sound of magic spells . . . and when they came to the tall trees and the shade of the triple goddess [Hekate] . . . so in the midnight shadows of the grove did they two [Jason and Medea] meet and draw nigh each other, awe-struck, like silent firs or motionless cypresses . . . And already had she begun to take the Titanian herbs and Persean [Hekate’s] potencies from her bosom . . . and forthwith with groans and tears she proffered the poisons to the youth [Jason].” — Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica
Give sting to my poisons, Hecate, and in my gifts keep hidden the seeds of fire. Let them cheat the sight, let them endure the touch; let burning fire penetrate to heart and veins; let her limbs melt and her bones consume in smoke, and with her blazing locks let the bride outshine her wedding torches.My prayers are heard: thrice has bold Hecate bayed loud, and has raised the accursèd fire with its baleful light. — Seneca, Medea
Diodorus Siculus also credits her with having discovered aconite, a real poisonous plant:
Being likewise ingenious in the mixing of deadly poisons she discovered the drug called aconite and tired out the strength of each poison by mixing it with food given to the strangers. — Diodorus Siculus, Library of History
Also, contrary to popular belief, Athena didn’t turn Arachne into a spider using her own magic. She turned her into a spider using herbs given to her by Hecate:
Even as she [Athena] spoke, before withdrawing from her victim’s sight, she sprinkled her [Arachne] with juice — extract of herbs of Hecate. At once all hair fell off, her nose and ears remained not, and her head shrunk rapidly in size, as well as all her body, leaving her diminutive. — Her slender fingers gathered to her sides as long thin legs; and all her other parts were fast absorbed in her abdomen — whence she vented a fine thread; — and ever since, Arachne, as a spider, weaves her web. — Ovid, Metamorphoses
None of these spells are what I would call “ethical.”
Hecate will help you with your curses and other magic for dubious situations. That’s kind of her thing. She’s been heavily sanitized by modern neopagan witchcraft; if someone tells you that Hecate does not approve of unethical magic, they’re wrong.
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