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Between Two Worlds: My Journey With Hekate

Between Two Worlds: My Journey With Hekate

Last updated on: February 3, 2018 at 5:29 pm by Brianne Raven Wolf

Between Two Worlds: My Journey With Hekate 2018-02-03T17:29:05+00:00 Brianne Raven Wolf

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Until early March of 2017, I had only one Goddess, Luna. I was pleased with my one Goddess, and I felt that she was pleased with me, most of the time that is. I really didn’t think about having more than one Goddess. Well, surprise, surprise!

In January, I had started to shut down my company after 39 years, and was in the process of selling assets, paying bills, stopping production and related stuff. So I was really busy and stressed out a bit too as I was still going into the shop every workday and answering lots of questions like “why are you closing”? My answer was simple, it’s time, especially after my graphic artist had passed away very suddenly.

“The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy,” William Blake’s iconic painting of Hekate. From WikiMedia.

Very early in the first full week in March, I remember in that period between sleeping and waking up, and hearing “Hekate”, really loud. I thought there was somebody in the room, which would have been very strange since I live by myself, and had for over 10 years. But, being absorbed in what I was doing with shutting down the business, I ignored her. Turned out to be NOT such a good idea. To be honest, I really didn’t know much about Hekate, and hadn’t take the time to find out.

The following week, around the middle of March, I was to be taking Selena Fox to a workshop she was doing at the UW-Oshkosh student Pagan group. A day prior to us leaving, the same thing happened, way more loudly it felt like. Again, one word, “HEKATE”, and I nearly jumped out of my bed! Wow, what an experience. But, I thought, well, I’ll ask Selena on the way up or back, and again, didn’t do my homework as I was really busy with the business stuff. So on March 16th, off I went to pickup Selena and go to Oshkosh. On the trip, Selena started asking me questions about being a Transwoman, like when had I first known, etc. Then, afterwards, I told her what had happened in those 2 instances.

She asked me, “what do you know about Hekate?” I said all I had heard was that she was the Mother of all Witches. Well, she said, she’s a Triple Goddess, including the Goddess of the Crossroads, which you are at now in your life. I hadn’t really given it that much thought, being so caught up with liquidating the business, but when Selena explained it, it was like a light going off in my head! My first reaction was, but I have a Goddess, Luna. I then learned that we may have more than one Deity in our lives, especially when we are at a time in our lives when we need help. Oh yes, I really did need Hekate’s help as it turned out. So we had a chat about my journey, where it had been, and where it was going, and what I needed on my Spiritual path.

So enter Polytheism on my Spiritual path. Sometimes we have to wander to come full circle. That was the way it was with me up to this period in my life. I’ll admit I wasn’t really focused on much, except what I wanted, not what was good for me. That trip with Selena changed my focus more than I could have ever believed. Things would just come to me suddenly, like it had when I had arrived at Circle Sanctuary to make Spirit bags prior to Pagan Spirit Gathering 2016. But, back then, with all of the problems I was having in business, I had not really recognized that the Deities were trying to tell me something.

“Diana-Goddess of the Hunt” by Pietro Antonio Rotari. From WikiMedia.

I’m of the opinion now that Hekate knew I had to stumble a bit before I walked. I had never thought that I was at a crossroads, both in my business life, which was steadily going on a rather steep, downward spiral, and my personal life. Yes, I was going to most of the Full Moon Rituals, some of Selena’s workshops and events at Circle Sanctuary, but was I really associating what I needed versus what I thought I needed. I did learn a lot, and it was really great being with other like minded Pagans, but I was still missing something.

At that time there was some administrative changes going on with the staff at Circle. Selena asked if I would be willing to help her out with Full Moon Rituals and workshops for the remainder of 2017. Well, I did have the time, and it felt right for me to do so. Again, when I let things go, and let Hekate guide me, all of a sudden my stress levels went way down. I became an active volunteer and found it fulfilled something in me that was definitely missing. It wasn’t just about me, it was about what I finally had the time to help out in ways that I had never expected.

A bit before our trip to Oshkosh, Selena has asked me if I had ever done a Rite of Passage on my Pagan path. As I had always been a solitary practitioner, and not as involved in that as I should have been, I said no, I hadn’t. I also had never been to PSG before. The two years prior, there had always been business issues, some of them employee issues, that had precluded me from going. But not having business stuff to get in the way of going anymore, I signed up for PSG 2017.

“Hecate” by Stéphane Mallarmé. From WIkiMedia.

Selena had explained to me, being a transgender Pagan, legally female, but had not fully transitioned from male to female, that I had some options. One of them was that I could do a Rite of Passage for a Sage for my male side, or one for a Crone because of my mostly female side. But when we talked, I really didn’t have a sense of doing either. I was also far enough along in my transition, that neither felt right for me. So we started talking, because of my age, doing something a little different.

I know now, in retrospect, that Hekate was having a definite presence in my life, working in ways that I hadn’t thought of. Selena asked me, since neither Sage or Crone was relevant, how about a different Rite of Passage. We discussed options again. At Welcome Spring, a couple of Circle members had mentioned an Elder Rite of Passage. Well, being a “two spirit”, in a few previous lives, that would not be appropriate for me in this life. Selena agreed, and we came up with Senioring instead. It felt right to both of us, and as it turned out, again with Hekate guiding me, along with Selena, it was the correct choice.

Coming soon, The Journey with Hekate continues, the Senioring Rite of Passage . . . . . . .

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