Event Recap: Hekate’s Night 2023

How do we bring our ancient practices into our modern world?

Are the ancient symbols appropriate for our changing culture? How are re-emerging Pagan and occult groups reclaiming our symbols - stolen by organized religions and political parties? And how do we pass our study onto our children as a practice—not as a system of belief?

Those, among other topics, were the difficult points of discussion for Hekate’s Night with the OCC.

We began with an educational slideshow about Hekate. Through Hekate’s lens, we examined traces from the 7th century through to the current era. I presented my facts: the unknown origins of her name, the futility of tracking her across Near Asia to the outer fringes of Greece, and the symbols we currently associate with her and other dark goddesses. Alongside archeological finds in terracotta, marble, and paint, we also studied textual sources such as the Hymn to Hekate in Hesiod’s Theogony, the Orphic Hymn to Hekate, and the Orphic Argonautica; and, of course, modern followers of the lady herself.

Turnout for the event was 100% - not a single person missing - and some our attendees shared their personal stories. The mood in the room was immaculate: respectful, actively listening, and engaged.

“In fall 2020, I was taking a shadow work course with my former coven, and part of the course was participating in one of the major rituals they call the 'Deathwalking Ritual of Release', [public information],” said @Aelin Lovelace during Stories of the Mother. “The ritual included the attendees being guided through a spirit journey to Hekate's Cave to present her with our offerings... where you sacrifice something to Hekate that no longer serves you. That night, I went to bed and fell asleep without suffering the paralyzing terror that was my nightly companion.”

This, says @Aelin, was the beginning of her long journey with this mysterious goddess. “I’ve sworn service to Hekate.”

I was equally excited to hear from our guest speaker for the night, who identifies herself online as @Mellie, her nickname. “My day job, I’m the Director of Leadership and Development [with my company], which just means I teach people how to transcend their limits and grow. Or in simpler words, I teach mundanes magick," said @Mellie. "I’ve taught magick for so many years, it’s hard for me not to talk about it.”

@Mellie described her initial meeting with Hekate, a story which Hekate asks is kept private at this time. She also described aspects of her experience as a modern witch in our segment Drawing Down the Moon.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about Hekate that were created specifically to disempower women from their own innate power. For example, by desexualizing Hekate and turning her into a Crone, or merely part of a triple moon triad. Completely a neopagan construct," @Mellie adds, "primarily put forth by men trying to organize a women’s mystery that they could not grasp themselves… viewing a woman only in terms of her sexual productivity and usefulness.”

““Maiden/mother/crone really does reduce women to ‘innocent and sexy/raising kids/aged speaker of wisdom’ as if that’s all we can do,” added @Lila Ofel Lilit, who runs her own discord for similar spiritual practices, The Night House. “Boxing up femininity into categories makes it less wild and untamed.””

“Maiden/mother/crone really does reduce women to ‘innocent and sexy/raising kids/aged speaker of wisdom’ as if that's all we can do,” added @Lila Ofel Lilit, who runs her own discord for similar spiritual practices, The Night House. “Boxing up femininity into categories makes it less wild and untamed.”

@Mellie agreed. “It’s a huge stumbling block now, especially with LGBTQ rights, gender identification, etc. Little do they realize that Hekate’s temple not only had eunuch priests, [but also] children, and men who dressed as women and performed women’s tasks.”

Drawing Down the Moon focused on re-establishing respect for our goddesses—and by extension, our women—in the modern era, and the talk became so engaged that I hated to cut it short. Look out for a self-contained session of Drawing Down the Moon in the coming months!

Took this at midnight, 6 hours in for us. Not enough coffee in the world for an early riser.

I had to cut the prior segment short because I had promised- pinkie out!- to share the ritual Hekate passed down to me on the weekend prior. With the Lady of the Crossroads herself in attendance, I’d hate to disappoint!

Hekate added a few anecdotes over the evening, but became most engaged with our Rise the Torch-bearers ritual segment and our final activity of the evening, Hekate’s Guided Tarot. Of course she did—she was the source!

The ritual, dictated to me in short, commanding sentences (and summarily left for me to explain in modern English), is available on the Red Veil discord. The tarot spread, which possesses such positions as “I am Hekate” and “The moon is my weakness (I hear her singing)”, is also available on the discord.

We shared a great deal of discussion about one another’s personal gnoses, knowledge about Hindu, Greek, and Pagan beliefs, and even—for a weird moment—a debate about the mathematical nature of triangles. With such a lively crowd, I’m not surprised so many of them stuck around past the end of the event to continue our guided tarot session.

Each member shared their spreads. Until midnight we pulled our cards and caught the jumpers, and one by one added our suggestions to one another’s draws. Of course, ladies like Hekate don’t pull punches; we offered one another comfort, too. Personally, I’m still chewing over my last draw, Temperance, and I will be for a while.

Finally, with the event happily extended by over an hour—with some people still popping in to join the fun—we put away our decks and said goodnight. Not before, of course, voting for me to host another guided tarot night sometime soon. Look out for that to appear on the Events page!

Those who attended the event live received my Hekate’s Night booklet: 26 pages of modern magics (like my homemade Hellbore Fire incense), basic spellwork practices (like my personal black salt recipe), crafts for those who may still be hiding in the broom closet, and even a couple delicious drinks to warm the soul. Attendees also received access to extra downloadable pages of family activities, worksheets for smaller children, and several pages of herb, powder, oil, and flower correspondences related to Hekate, Queen and Mother.

For those who would like access to the full bibliography and slideshows to the event, the Red Veil Lounge is open. Check the Hekate channel for online and PDF versions of the Theogony, Orphic Hymns, and Orphic Arognautica too!

If you’d like to join the Red Veil Lounge, the discord is available for all ages 18+. Just fill out the form to confirm your age.

Check out upcoming events on the Events page.