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

Hearth Witch Down Under

Home
About

Home
Pagan
Book Review – Hekate Keys to the Crossroads

Book Review – Hekate Keys to the Crossroads

Last updated on: January 24, 2018 at 1:33 pm by Bekah Evie Bel

Book Review – Hekate Keys to the Crossroads 2018-01-24T13:33:27+10:00 Bekah Evie Bel

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.

Hekate: Keys to the Crossroads, by Sorita D’Este.

HEKATE – Keys to the Crossroads A collection of personal essays, invocations, rituals, recipes and artwork from modern Witches, Priestesses and Priests who work with Hekate, the Ancient Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Magick and Sorcery. Hekate is one of the most fascinating Goddesses of the Ancient World. Loved, feared, hated and worshipped by people throughout history, the Witch Goddess of the Crossroads, facing three-ways, with her three faces, remains an image of power and awe in the modern world today, amongst those who understand and respect her power.

This book “Hekate: Keys to the Crossroads” brings together the experiences and perceptions of more than twenty modern day Witches, Priestesses and Priests all of whom work with this awesome Greek Goddess in the UK today. Through their essays, rituals and artwork they present a unique view into the realms of this multi-faceted and popular Goddess …..

Combining the best of research with a wide range of experiences this compact volume opens doorways in to many of Hekate’s realms. It is a unique journey – enchanting, funny, scary, magickal and daring, challenging and informative. Whether you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with the perceptions you will find within, one thing is certain: there is always more to learn and experience when it comes to Hekate.

This is a small book with just over 150 pages. It’s divided into three parts.

The first part is a historical type look at Hekate by Sorita herself. It details some history, where and how she was worshipped, what her associations (symbols etc) were and are, and other things like that.

The second part is an anthology by various Hekate devotees and followers, their personal stories of their encounters with Hekate – first encounters, lifelong experiences, ritual encounters and dedications.

The third part is a bunch of more practical things – incense recipes, recipes for food offerings, some pathworkings, odes, invocations and even a play.

Now on to my personal review. Sadly, not exactly the greatest book. I think mostly this is because, well, I have already read most of what’s in this book, or variations of, all over the internet. This information is readily available.

Now back when it was written, it’s likely the information wasn’t so available, and so it was likely a great book for its time (cause 2006 is forever ago!). If I had read it at any point before 2011 when I finally got my internet hooked up, this book would have been amazing to me.

But it’s not today, not now, not any more. Which is actually sad. I wish I could have had this book when it was first released – much like I wish I had Liminal Rites, Kharis and Komos when they were all released. But those three books gave me information that I didn’t already have, at this point in time. Keys to the Crossroads doesn’t have that advantage.

Now, I am not saying this is actually a bad book, because it is most certainly not. But personally, at this point in my life, it’s just not all that great for me. I think I would have loved it in 2006, or even 2010. But in 2016, it’s really nothing more than a curiosity.

As I said, it’s sad. It’s sad that I can’t like this book for the value it formally had. Though I can recognise that value, that recognition doesn’t affect my like of the book. So it’s sad I never got to read this and enjoy for it what it once was.

The best part of the book for me was the third, most specifically the incense and food recipes. While I can find these online – I have to know what to search for and it takes a while to sort through the good and bad stuff. Having these in a book is a bit handy. But it’s not quite enough to make this a great book.

Overall Assessment

A sad book that must have been extremely valuable when it was first released, but has sadly lost it’s value over time due to the Internet. Not a bad book, but kind of like a boring repeat of things you’ve already read online.

Recommend it for

Anyone who knows very little about Hekate and has not read up on Hekate online.

Anyone who wants to read something for nostalgic purposes.

I don’t think this is available in ebook format, or not that I can find anyway. But you can buy it in paperback from the following.

The Book Depository
Amazon

Hellenism

Multimedia

Resources and Material

Previous Post

May 2, 2016

Pagan Political Kerfuffle and Why I am Not in on it

Next Post

May 10, 2016 Book Review - The Temple of Hekate

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Australia Calendar, Events and Festivals General Hellenism Hellenismoz How To Lore and Myth Multimedia Pagan Blogosphere Pagan Community Pagan Parenting and Homeschooling Paganism 101 Personal Practice Religious Philosophy Resources and Material Ritual Uncategorized Witchcraft 101

Select a Month January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 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 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz