Category Archives: Goddesses

The Rite of Hekate Eurippa – A response to the Greek Wildfires

I would be surprised if we hadn’t all read a report something like this in the last few days.

Wildfires north of Athens leapt back to life on Thursday as searing conditions persisted and emergency crews battled blazes across Greece for a third day running. Red flames and sparks glowed in the night on the outskirts of the Greek capital, residents fled suburbs, asylum seekers were evacuated and authorities warned of more blazes on Friday as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) and gale force winds were expected. Twelve people were taken to hospital including two volunteer firefighters who were treated for burns in intensive care, health officials said. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said emergency services faced a difficult night with westerly winds set to strengthen and he urged people to comply with evacuation orders and avoid unnecessary travel. “We are dealing with unprecedented conditions as many days of heatwave have turned the whole country into a powder keg,” he said in a special televised address. – Reuters Aug 5

The Message

You’d be forgiven for having read it, and unless it somehow it directly affected you and yours passing on by with a sorry shake of the head. That’s exactly what I did for my sins. After all much of the world is crashing and burning in one way or another. But something happened this morning that made me sit up and take notice.

I went to do my usual weekly shop. There on the sanitation station was an ornamental key. I never ignore a key when it randomly appears in my life, especially one so bizarre as a small brass key in the middle of Aldi. Mere moments later a dear friend and Priestess contacted me asking if we could do anything to help the Ranch-Eros horse sanctuary who are in dire need after the devastating fires in Greece. Horses are sacred to Hekate and she even has her own horse headed aspect “Hekate Eurippa”.

Yes Hekate, well played my dear, well played, the Message was received.

What has happened since then is mindblowing, amazing, and restores my faith the Pagan and Goddess community. We have a facebook page – Horses For Hekate, a just giving page (which is already at 21% of goal in less than 3 hours) also by the same name (click here to donate) and now we have a ritual for all those that are so inclined can use as part of their dark moon rites tomorrow night. I do find it amazing that what we have this weekend is a new moon in leo, one that is part of what some call a “Lionsgate Portal” where the constellation Leo, the Sun and the Dog star Sirius align in a very specific manner and is considered by some to be very cosmologically important. For me the importance is that its Leo and Sirius, the dog and the lion are together at new moon, 3 very sacred symbols for the Goddess Hekate. The Chaldean Oracles actually state that “if you call upon me often you will perceive everything in lion-form.” C’mon this is starting to get to be a perfect a storm.

If you can please share this ritual it is free for all to use, the prayer is by the wonderful Mabh Savage and all I ask is if you use it you credit her, I also ask that you consider donating either your cash or maybe an item or service to the Silent Auction which will be announced properly in the coming days – we’ve already got some amazing donations so please come and look. And finally if all you can do is give your energy that is as important, please consider taking part in this rite both this weekend and every new moon until we reach our goal.

So without further ado here it is The Rite of Hekate Eurippa (ps if you like the FB page you can download it as PDF to work from at your altar).

HEKATE EURIPPA DARK MOON RITUAL

Set your sacred space in your normal way, this isn’t about fancy and fan-fair this is about raising energy and heartfelt devotion to the Goddess. Simple is good all that is needed for this rite is yourself, a singing bowl and a candle but you of course can make your preparations as you like. You may like to add flowers, incense, grain, wine, garlic, eggs or honey as offerings, these are all traditional to the Goddess and will be well received.

Opening Invocation:

Observe the fire burns without form, hear the voice that whispers from it.

Behold the soul, Dark Hekate, Numeric, Harmonic, Chaotic, Chthonic

I strike the Bell, I/we light the flame, we call you by your sacred names.

Ring bell/strike bowl 3x3x3

Light Candle

The Summoning

Hear our call, she who is our chosen accomplice, to whose presence this rite is dedicated.

Three times three we call as is your right, three times, for earth and sea and sky.

Hearken to your dread hounds calling, turn your magic wheel Hekate, Eurippa hear our prayers.

Hekate of the Many Names – Polyonumos, Come forth from the sea, Stand at our head with your ravening hosts.

Hearken to your dread hounds calling, turn your magic wheel Hekate, Eurippa hear our prayers.

Hekate of the Many Ways – Polytropos, Come forth from the earth, Stand at our head with your ravening hosts.

Hearken to your dread hounds calling, turn your magic wheel Hekate, Eurippa hear our prayers.

Hekate of the Many Ways – Polymorphikos, Come forth from the sky, Stand at our head with your ravening hosts.

Hearken to your dread hounds calling, turn your magic wheel Hekate, Eurippa hear our prayers.

The Prayer to Eurippa by Mabh Savage

Hail Hekate Eurippa

Horse headed

A horse leaping from her shoulder

Creature of fire

A fiery soul

So no flames need come near

As twin torches light

The night instead.

Speed away from danger

Solid and safe

Swift and sure

Hekate Eurippa

Horse finder

She of the animals

And of the land

Guide your charges

Away from harm

The fire without form,

Form barriers of protection

Let your fire breathing head

Protect its kin

Let the horses leap away

As you raise your hydra head

Towards the sphere of water

Cooling and drenching the land

We call to you Great Lady

From our land to theirs

Eyes upward to the skies

Minds joined across seas

Liminally poised

We pray for protection

Hekate Eurippa

With offerings and libations

We pray for safety

For horses and people

And the other inhabitants

Of Kria Vrisi (Κρύα Βρύση)

Rancheros Farm

And the surrounding areas

Affected by wildfires

Hands on heart

Mouth and brow

We send our prayer to you now

Hail Hekate Eurippa

Hail Hekate Kleidouchos

Hail Hekate.

HERE IS WHERE YOU MAY LIKE TO DANCE, SING, MEDITATE, SPEAK DEEPLY FROM THE HEART OR EVEN JUST SIT QUIETLY AND SEND YOUR ENERGY OUT ACROSS THE SEAS TO THE GODDESS AND THE HORSES ON HER LAND.

The Closing

I strike the Bell, I/we put out the flame, we thank you with your sacred names.

Polyonumos, Polytropos, Polymorphikos, Eurippa,

By Air, and Land and Sea Farewell this night Blessed Be!

En Erobos Phos!

Tara xXx

Fairies and Eggshells

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An infestation of uninvited fae can be a nuisance and whilst I absolutely do not think you should go round wantonly banishing the good folk there are times when posting up a magickal “Trespassers will be prosecuted” sign is really handy. The problem is, once you start working with them, they do like to invite their friends. A great and very cheap way of popping up that sign is with Cascarilla, a.k.a ground eggshells. Although I have been using it for some years and was taught it as hoodoo/folk magic skill, I’ve not seen it in mainstream western practises until quite recently, which surprises me because there is a considerable amount of lore surrounding it – especially with the Fae, so let’s have a look.

In German, French, Polish, Irish, Welsh and English folklore stories can be found where a wily human gets rid of a faery problem using eggshells. Brewing with eggshells to confuse a changeling enough to trick it into revealing its true nature is very common as is cooking in eggshells, the poet W.B Yeats recants the woeful tale of Mrs Sullivan who upon suspecting that her child was in fact a Faerie goes through the motion of cooking a meal for all the reapers in the field in just a single egg shell.

The Welsh folklorist John Rhys, tells two distinct tales of mothers who believing that their children have been whisked away by the Benith y Mamau (the mothers blessings) attempt to bake using only eggshells again to trick the changeling into revealing themselves and the prolific folklorist Evan Wentz retells a number of Breton tales where water is boiled in shells roasting before the fire thus causing a faery to cry out, ‘I have seen the acorn before the oak; I have seen the egg before the chicken: I have never seen the equal to this.’*

There are literally dozens of tales with variations on this same egg theme, and the words the faery speaks are so similar that when I discovered it I felt it necessary to do some digging to try and find the source. I’ve found all sort of suggestions to the origins of the eggshell theory, some think that the original source is the 16th century writer Reginald Scot who explained that this connection to the Fae is because both Faeries and Witches can, “saile in an egge shell, a cockle or muscle shell, through and under the tempestuous seas.”

Wirt Sykes* another welsh folklorist claimed that he could trace the origins of the egg shell story back to 7th Century Gaul, however the general use of eggshells in magic can be traced even further still. In the 1st century C.E. the Roman historian Pliny waxed lyrical about the medicinal and magical properties of eggs stating that people would immediately break or pierce the shells of eggs with a spoon after eating them to ward off evil spells. Eggshells were also part of “demon traps” found in middle eastern countries to disarm unwanted spirits, and sometimes, whole eggs were placed at the threshold to appease the threshold guardians specifically Hekate, who unsurprisingly is linked very closely with the Fae.

This practise is old, old, old and whichever way you look at it eggshells are faery kryptonite.

So why wouldn’t we use this resource in our regular ritual practises? It’s very simple, wash your shells out and peel out the membrane whilst they are still ‘moist’ and then either bake them and grind them to create brown cascarillia or just let them dry and grind them to make white. I’ve yet to find a definite answer as to why you would use one type over another but as so many of the traditional tales involve cooking with, roasting or heating eggshells as part of the banishing ritual I tend to make the brown kind. The uses are endless bathe in it to cleanse yourself of any unwanted influences from the spirit realm (including rude Fae), place it along your doors and window sills to keep the grobblies out of your home and even place it around your boundaries on your property to aid in your magical shielding. It doesn’t hurt to carry a little sachet of it in your witchy napsack when your out hunting fae either.

Finally I am always up for a good chant when I do this kind of work, and Wirt Sykes very cleverly worked out that the Welsh and the Breton of the words that the Fae speak when they are outed makes a very pleasing rhyme.

‘I have seen the acorn before I saw the oak: I have seen the egg before I saw the white hen: I have never seen the like of this.’

‘Gweliz mez ken gwelet derven,

Gweliz vi ken gwelet iar wenn,

Erioez ne wiliz evelhenn’

Let’s face it the Welsh is way cooler and sounds nice and arcane, really adds to the ambience.

*Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (Walter Yeeling), 1878-1965. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (pp. 127-128). HardPress Publishing. Kindle Edition.

* Wirt Sikes. British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (p. 54). Organization. Kindle Edition.

The Blessings of Brigid

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For a couple of years now I have been trying to make more of a conscious effort to really connect with the festivals on the wheel of the year. So at the end of January I found myself accepting an invitation to attend an hour’s silent vigil in the woods dedicated to the Goddess Brigid. I’ll be frank, whilst I love dark nights, woodland walks and candle-lit vigils I was rather perplexed as to my subconscious motivations. Brigid is not a deity Ive had a lot of connection with and nor did I really want to. To explain, I think how you interact with deities is a bit like how you interact
with people. There has to be a certain something about the person or nothing will never develop. They will remain just somebody you know in passing, might say “hi” to as you walk past in the street because you recognise them. But you wouldn’t necessarily stop and talk. And to be frank my previous interaction with Brigid had left me pretty much as cold as the Imbolc snow that so often scatters the ground at that time of year. So I think it goes without saying that I was more than a bit shocked when during the vigil a quiet internal voice instructed me to continue to light candles until Equinox.

Publicly Ive been wearing my Druid hat almost as much as I’ve been wearing my Wiccan hat of late so it occurred to me that this sudden tentative spark of connection may be related to that, Brigid is a goddess of poetry and often a patron to Bards. It also occurred to me that it was an aspect of Brigid I was feeling as a soul calling rather than an actual connection. At that early point of connection during the vigil it was close to seven weeks since I had set foot on Anglesey, the longest I have gone in well over 18 months. The author Kristoffer Hughes suggests that the Goddess of the river Braint which bisects the Isle of Anglesey is a localised version of the Goddess Briganti, whom many believe to also be Brigid [1.Hughes, K. The book of Celtic Magic, Llewellyn 2016]. Therefore although admittedly in a reluctant manner I started lighting a candle whenever I sat down in my study and when away, I made an effort, if only for a fleeting moment, to think of Brigid and her sacred flame. After all Imbolc to Equinox was not a long time, right?

Of course Spring is now most definitely upon us and Equinox is looming fast and I find that the whole catalog of synchronicity which has followed is such that I am now left without a shadow of a doubt that the relationship now has some form of chemistry going on. A spark of interest which wasn’t there before. What that interest is I have no idea, and whether there is a longevity to the interaction is equally mystifying. However, the more I read about her, the more I can see the similarities she shares with the two other Goddesses that have at one point or another shared my life. And there are a couple of aspects which have me positively entranced. For example, How can a fairy Princess, the wife of Angus the Ever young, a Tuatha de Dannan also be patron of smith craft, an occupation which even into history is an Iron rich activity?
I think sometimes, when connections are made you have to go with your gut and follow your nose, and just enjoy the journey, no motivations, no ulterior motive, no “What’s in it for me?”. So I find myself with a small shrine to Brigid on my window, and not unsurprisingly everything I needed for it to feel right was either made available to me or I had in my possession already. Including some beautiful glass crystals that reminded me of the “Guiding Star of Bride”

“Over her heart gleamed a star like crystal, pure as her thoughts and bright as the joy that Angus brought her.”

And with that I thought I would finish with an enchanting poem I found telling of the search of Angus the Ever young for his Princess.

Angus hath come — the young, the fair,
The blue-eyed god with golden hair,
The God who to the world doth bring
This morn the promise of the spring;
Who moves the bird to song ere yet
He hath awaked the violet,
Or the soft primrose on the steep
While buds are laid in lidded sleep,
And white snows wrap the hills serene,
Ere glows the larch’s vivid green
Through the brown woods bare. All Hail!
Angus, may thy will prevail
He comes, he goes, and far and wide
He searches for the Princess Bride[2. Mackenzie, D.A. Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend, Stokes 1917]