Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Between Two Worlds: Spirits, Ghosts, and Hekate

Between Two Worlds: Spirits, Ghosts, and Hekate

Last updated on: February 12, 2019 at 6:13 pm by Brianne Raven Wolf

Between Two Worlds: Spirits, Ghosts, and Hekate 2019-02-12T18:13:09+00:00 Brianne Raven Wolf

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Every Dark Moon I give up more of what doesn’t serve me anymore. Every New Moon I accept willingly what is good for me now and moving forward in this incarnation. Slowly, some of the childhood memories I had are coming back to me. I value them as learning experiences. I have faith and trust in my Goddess Hekate as my guardian and guide. By finally acknowledging my magickal origins, I’m not afraid of going into my past in the Underworld for a visit now and then anymore!

The Family Farmhouse, photo by the author

Do you believe in spirits or ghosts? I do, having grown up in a haunted farmhouse in western New York State! So what is the difference between spirits and ghosts? Is there a difference? And how does Hekate fit into all of this for me?

I believe a spirit is a supernatural being, often a non-physical entity such as a ghost or faerie. Overlapping this is the sense of a soul. A spirit can also have a sense of being a ghost, a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person.

In folklore, a ghost–also known as an apparition, poltergeist, spirit or wraith–is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living. The belief in the existence of an afterlife as a manifestation of the spirits of the dead dates back to pre-literate cultures.

In my opinion, there isn’t much of a difference between spirits and ghosts, as I’ve witnessed both at different times in my life. I had my first experience with a spirit, probably a poltergeist, when I was recuperating in the parlor of our farmhouse after I had my tonsils removed. I was about 6 or 7 at the time. I couldn’t see an apparition but I knew whatever it was didn’t want me in that room. The parlor wasn’t used much at all, mostly storage with a cot in there when childhood diseases like measles happened. The spirit literally scared me so much I spent the rest of my recuperation on the couch in the living room. I told my parents about it the next morning but they didn’t believe me. But then, they hadn’t believed I was a girl instead of a boy.

Several years later a different spirit pushed me down part of a stairway. It actually touched me, and told me to be careful where I went in the house. I didn’t get hurt, but it really scared me. The spirits were only in a few places in the house, most predominately in a hallway upstairs, what was to be my grandmother’s bedroom, and of course the parlor.

I was able to hear voices as well, sometimes just babbling. Other times a bit more intimidating. And when you hear, or see, windows opening by themselves, you start to really believe in spirits and ghosts. When I was around 10, I was helping my father take out the old fashioned sash weights in the window frames. I had told him that would make it easier for the spirits to open the windows. “Nonsense, you’re making all of this up” he told me. Since I didn’t want to deal with his physical abuse, I just kept my mouth shut. Growing up as a young transgirl in the 1940’s and 50’s was not fun!

That summer, my youngest sister’s twin, Beverly, was killed in a farming accident. My father turned the farmhouse and property over to my grandparents shortly thereafter. He got a new job with General Electric as a military contractor and the family moved to California. Without me. I was very fortunate to be able to stay behind, live with my grandparents and help them out around the property. By then, all the farm animals had been sold. My grandmother had told me she had seen Beverly’s apparition a couple of times, but I never did. I think the trauma of me actually seeing the accident when my father ran her over with a hay truck while I was standing in the haymow was too much for me to handle at that time. He hadn’t seen her running alongside the truck.

By the way, after we had taken those sash weights out, it did make it easier for the spirits to open some of the windows. Including in my grandmother’s bedroom right before she died. She had had a stroke and was in the hospital. My parents had moved back into the farmhouse shortly before she died to take care of her and my grandfather. I had seen a ghostly image of my grandmother, who appeared beside my bed right before she died. The next morning my parents called me and told me she had died during the night. I think her spirit went out the window. I flew back to New York but got back too late so I didn’t get to say goodbye to her. Wish I’d had a good broom to get back quicker! The next day, when I got to the farmhouse, her bedroom window was open, and my parents said they hadn’t opened it.

The Farmhouse, photo by the author

I still have dreams of that farmhouse and the bad memories of growing up as a transgirl there. I had suppressed a lot of the childhood physical abuse, and what had happened back then years ago. I hadn’t thought too much about them as I had mentally blocked them from my mind. When Hekate came into my life two years ago in March and chose me, a lot happened to let me get past some of those memories. It turned out that it really had to do with me experiencing Hekate in more ways than I ever thought I would.

I had been very apprehensive of the Underworld since I was very young. Call it fear of the unknown. Especially growing up with an abusive father who was a deacon in the Baptist Church. “If you don’t change your weird ways you’ll go to Hell” he would tell me when I misbehaved. When I started writing my blog articles, Between Two Worlds, I discovered Cyndi Brannen, another Patheos writer and author, and her blog Keeping Her Keys. I started reading most, if not all, of Cyndi’s articles about Hekate, including Her as the Dark Mother, and more about the Underworld. The more I learned and read, my fear started to disappear. Last November I started taking a one year and one day course from Keeping Her Keys, An Introduction to Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft. It’s awesome!

It’s taken me most of my life to get past the fear of what I might find where I’ve never ventured before. I’m learning how to live with some of the situations and experiences that weren’t good for me. Some really bad choices. A few good choices, just not in marriages. Here’s a really good blog article from The Starlight Witch you should read. It was an inspiration for me to write this blog article. Many thanks, Astrea!

So until next time, in the future.

Mighty Hekate, Queen of the Witches,

Blessed am I,

To call myself one of Your chosen.

(Above used with permission from Cyndi Brannen, with many thanks and love.)

About Brianne Ravenwolf

Brianne Ravenwolf has identified as a Pagan from a very young age. She is an active member of Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin. She volunteers her time there helping at most Full Moon Rituals, as well as some workshops, Circle events, and Sanctuary work days. At Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG) last year, she became the first Pagan Transwoman to have the Senioring Rite of Passage. She follows a Hekatean Witchcraft Spiritual Path. To relax, she likes to walk, camp, and hike as much as possible in very rural areas. Brianne is also an avid reader, especially young adult novels. You can read more about the author here. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

February 11, 2019

The Purple Spiral Turns: Mindfulness and the Hippocratic Oath

Next Post

February 12, 2019 Radical Pantheist: Pillphobia, Ableism in Witchy Spaces

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba?

Select your answer to see how you score.

David was exiled Bathsheba was taken from him His kingdom was taken away Their first child died