We know considerably more about Asteria than her partner Perses, the most common recurring story being that she is the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Pheobe, the wife of Perses, mother of Hekate and the Goddess of Oracles, dream incubation, and the night sky. Her name meaning starry or falling star is quite possibly a homage to her father who was considered the axis of the Heavens around which the constellations revolved. Whilst her mother was the Goddess who presided over the axis of earth and was considered a Goddess of Oracles, being the last female divinity to preside over Delphi before she passed it onto Apollon.

Although Asteria was the wife of Perses, her love life is not one that ran smooth, and as such I would never consider asking her for help with relationship issues. Except maybe in the case of fleeing an inappropriate or abusive relationship or to get rid of predatory sexual advances. The reason for this being that after the Titanic war she was pursued by Zeus who was positively infatuated with her; although he was a bit of a Lothario so this wasn’t uncommon behaviour. Anyway, Asteria refused his advances and a good old chase scene ensued with Asteria choosing to take the form of a Quail to escape the Gods advances. Finally in desperation she threw herself into the sea where she transformed into the Island that became known as Delos.

But things weren’t over yet, for years the Island of Delos was said to float around the Aegean with no fixed location, the reason for this being that whilst Zeus gave up the hunt, his brother Poseidon took up the chase also becoming completely infatuated with the beleaguered Goddess. The Island is said to have finally rested in its current location when the Goddess allowed a Temple to Apollon to be built upon her shores.

There is no Orphic Hymn dedicated to Asteria that I know of, but an adaptation of the hymn “To the Stars” would be a very appropriate invocation when calling upon the goddess to honour her or to aid you in prophecy.

TO ASTERIA

With holy voice, I call to thee, oh starry one on high

Pure sacred light and Goddess of the Night

Celestial Star, progeny of Earth and Sky

In silver ribbons beaming far your light

Brilliant rays around the heaven ye throw

Eternal Fires, the source of all below

With flames significant of Fate ye shine

And aptly rule for men a path divine.

Hail, glittering, joyful, silver streaking fires!

Propitious shine on all my just desires,

These sacred rites regard with conscious rays

And aid our word devoted to your praise.

© Tara Sanchez 2015

Following on from yesterday’s post, it is only logical to now spend some time getting to know Perses. This isn’t easy because he’s a bit of an enigmatic character, even the fabulous resource Theoi is a little light on information. And I think this is why some people shy away from him. I have heard people argue that he should never be invoked under any circumstance, but why should that be?

I suspect mostly this is because he is an unknown quantity, and those who are perhaps a little faint of heart are put off by his epithet “The Destroyer”. But I would argue that this very title alone is why we should be calling upon him alongside Hekate in many of our rituals, but more of that shortly.

So what do we know about him? Well we know that he is one of three children born to the Titans Krios and Eurybia. He married the Goddess Asteria and his only child is the Goddess Hekate. We know that some considered that he presided over the constellation Perseus (although others associated him with the Dog Star Sirius). He is often thought of as a God of war, presiding over the start of the campaign season, and he was known as The Destroyer, his name possibly stemming from a root word which means to lay waste.

And yet according to Hesiod he was also known as being preeminent among all men in wisdom, what a contradiction! A bit like his wonderfully complicated offspring. What is it they say? Like father like daughter!

So here we have a Titanic God, father of the Goddess Hekate, and he is wise, and he is a warrior and he is capable of destroying and laying waste to all around him, I can think of a whole host of reasons why I would want to invoke him, not least because, you know, he’s Hekate’s dad and it might be nice to just say thanks for making such a cool daughter. Anyway here are a few ideas:

• Cursing and Retribution*
• Removal of Blockages
• Aid in overcoming addictions and/or bad habits
• Guidance in difficult situations
• Clarity in quarrels or confrontational situations
• Aid in making fair assessments and judgements
• Help in healing and getting rid of serious illness*

*Disclaimer 1 – Yes I am aware there is the rule of three, and karma and a whole host of other very good reasons why we shouldn’t curse, not least that we are supposed to be evolved human beings. But the ancient world was full of defixiones (curse tablets), petitions for retribution and binding spells, it was a recognised practise and one quite regularly associated with his daughter. Morals were different then and actually the moral compass for some still sees retribution as a valid path now. So why wouldn’t we want to call on a God called the Destroyer, sort of makes sense if you’re that way inclined doesn’t it?

*Disclaimer 2 – Petitioning Gods and Goddess for help in healing is no substitute for consulting a fully qualified medical professional. It should be considered as a complement rather than an alternative to modern medical techniques. You must also be very careful about wording of these petitions, the universe has a wickedly twisted sense of humour, if you ask for help healing a cancer in your hand, be very careful to ask that your limbs stay intact and with full recovery to rude health, you really don’t want to get cured by having an amputation now do you? And this is another reason why people possibly shy away, it doesn’t do to be slap dash in situations like this.

A trip to the Sierra Nevada to honour the goddess during the Perseids.

For quite a few years now I have made a day in August special to Hekate. Normally choosing a date sometime during the Perseid Meteor Showers. The reason for doing this is primarily that not only do some sources believe that Hekate’s father Perses presided over the constellation of Perseus from which the Perseid Meteor showers appear to originate, but also her mother Asteria can be associated with meteor showers as her name quite literally means falling star.

These meteor showers occur every year at approximately the same time starting around the 9th and finishing around the 16th, with the climax varying anywhere between those dates. They are known as some of the most prolific meteor showers that we know with a frequency that can be in excess of 60 meteors an hour at their peak. This may not seem like an awful lot but believe me, with a clear sky away from light pollution this is more than enough to make for a particularly spectacular event.

I find it rather ironic that the peak for the storm this year is predicted to be around the 13th as it is a date I normally shy away from. I have discussed this aversion before but I think it serves to revisit it again. And it all boils down to a failure by many to understand how the Attic (and other historical Greek calendars) actually work.

Basically the simplest way to explain it is that on the 16th day of Metageitnion, there was the Sacrifice of Kourotrophos, Hekate , and Artemis. This month falls roughly between July and August but due to the Attic calendar being one that depends upon the lunar cycle rather than set dates, the actual date for the 16th day of Metageitnion can vary and does as a result sometimes fall on the 13th of August. Somewhere along the line somebody did the research found the festival, worked out that the 16th day that year was on the 13th, wrote it in their book and thus history was made. And far be it from me to stop Hekate from getting herself a new festival, just as long as we recognise that it is a new festival. And this is where I become unstuck, too many people now approach it as historical fact, so hence my desire to avoid it because I feel sometimes I am propagating and lending support to a myth.

But this year I am excitedly venturing into the fray of a new feast day, even if it is no longer movable. And I’m also embarking on a great adventure, I am going to be travelling through France and Spain stopping enroute at various sacred sites to arrive in time to join one of the Covenant of Hekate (http://hekatecovenant.com) Torchbearers at her Sanctuary to partake in a Perseids rite which we are working together to create and hope to share with the community in the days to come so that if any others wish to join us we can all look up to the same sky, and know we are all staring at the same falling stars with the same purpose in mind , how wonderfully delicious.

In our ritual we will of course be invoking Hekate, Asteria and Perses, but more on that tomorrow 😉