Editing Hecate (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:William Blake 006.jpg|thumb|''[[The Triple Hecate]]'', 1795. [[William Blake]].]]
Strmiska (2005) claimed that Hecate, conflated with the figure of [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], appears in [[late antiquity]] and in the [[Early Middle Ages]] as part of an "emerging legend complex" known as "[[Diana (mythology)#The "Society of Diana"|The Society of Diana]]"<ref name=aradia_sardinia>Magliocco, Sabina. (2009). Aradia in Sardinia: The Archaeology of a Folk Character. Pp. 40–60 in ''Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon''. Hidden Publishing.</ref> associated with gatherings of women, the Moon, and witchcraft that eventually became established "in the area of Northern Italy, southern Germany, and the western Balkans."<ref>Michael Strmiska, ''Modern paganism in world cultures'', ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 68.</ref> This theory of the Roman origins of many European folk traditions related to Diana or Hecate was explicitly advanced at least as early as 1807<ref>Francis Douce, Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, 1807, p. 235-243.</ref> and is reflected{{dubious|date=December 2017}}<!--grasping at straws to push a pet theory here--> in etymological claims by early modern lexicographers from the 17th to the 19th century, connecting ''[[hag]], hexe'' "witch" to the name of Hecate.<ref>[[John Minsheu]] and [[William Somner]] (17th century), [[Edward Lye]] of Oxford (1694–1767), [[Johann Georg Wachter]], ''Glossarium Germanicum'' (1737), [[Walter Whiter]], ''Etymologicon Universale'' (1822)</ref> Such derivations are today proposed only by a minority<ref>e.g. Gerald Milnes, ''Signs, Cures, & Witchery'', Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2007, p. 116; Samuel X. Radbill, "The Role of Animals in Infant Feeding", in ''American Folk Medicine: A Symposium'' Ed. Wayland D. Hand. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.</ref><ref>"Many have been caught by the obvious resemblance of the Gr. ''Hecate'', but the letters agree to closely, contrary to the laws of change, and the Mid. Ages would surely have had an unaspirated Ecate handed down to them; no Ecate or Hecate appears in the M. Lat. or Romance writings in the sense of witch, and how should the word have spread through all German lands?" Jacob Grimm, ''Teutonic Mythology'', 1835, (English translation 1900).
The actual etymology of ''hag'' is Germanic and unrelated to the name of Hecate. See e.g. Mallory, J.P, Adams, D.Q. ''The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World''. Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 223</ref>
A medieval commentator has suggested a link connecting the word "jinx" with Hecate: "The Byzantine polymath [[Michael Psellus]] [...] speaks of a bullroarer, consisting of a golden sphere, decorated throughout with symbols and whirled on an oxhide thong. He adds that such an instrument is called a ''iunx'' (hence "jinx"), but as for the significance says only that it is ineffable and that the ritual is sacred to Hecate."<ref>Mark Edwards, ''Neoplatonic saints: the Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by their Students'', Liverpool University Press, 2000, p. 100; Writing at some length about the ancient greek 'iunx' [[Marcel Detienne]] never mentions any connection to Hecate, see Detienne M, ''The Gardens of Adonis'', Princeton UP, 1994, pp.83–9.</ref>

Shakespeare mentions Hecate both before the end of the 16th century (''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', 1594–1596), and just after, in ''[[Macbeth (play)|Macbeth]]'' (1605): specifically, in the title character's "dagger" [[soliloquy]]: "Witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate's offerings..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/page_50.html|title=No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth: Act 2, Scene 1, Page 2|access-date=14 January 2015|archive-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115020723/http://nfs.sparknotes.com/macbeth/page_50.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Shakespeare mentions Hecate also in ''[[King Lear]]''. While disclaiming all his paternal care for [[Cordelia of Britain|Cordelia]], Lear says, "The mysteries of Hecate and the night,
By all the operations of the orbs
From whom we do exist and cease to be,
Here I disclaim all my paternal care" (The Arden Shakespeare, King Lear, p.&nbsp;165)

===Modern reception===
[[File:Maxmilián Pirner - HEKATE (1901).jpg|thumb|left|''Hekate'', pastel on paper by [[Maximilian Pirner]], 1901]]
In 1929, Lewis Brown, an expert on religious cults, connected the 1920s [[Blackburn Cult]] (also known as, "The Cult of the Great Eleven,") with Hecate worship rituals. He noted that the cult regularly practiced dog sacrifice and had secretly buried the body of one of its "queens" with seven dogs.<ref>Weird Rituals Laid to Primitive Minds, Los Angeles Examiner, 14 October 1929.</ref> Researcher Samuel Fort noted additional parallels, to include the cult's focus on mystic and typically nocturnal rites, its female dominated membership, the sacrifice of other animals (to include horses and mules), a focus on the mystical properties of roads and portals, and an emphasis on death, healing, and resurrection.<ref>''Cult of the Great Eleven'', Samuel Fort, 2014, 320 pages. ASIN B00OALI9O4</ref>

[[File:Hecate's Wheel.png|thumb|right|Hecate's wheel]]
As a "goddess of witchcraft", Hecate has been incorporated in various systems of [[Neopagan witchcraft]], [[Wicca]], and [[neopaganism]],<ref>e.g.[[Sabina Magliocco]], ''Witching Culture: Folklore and Neopaganism in America'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p79</ref> in some cases associated with the [[Wild Hunt]] of Germanic tradition,<ref>James R. Lewis, ''Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions'', 1999, pp 303–304; For a 'Moon magick' reference to Hecate as "Lady of the Wild Hunt and witchcraft" see: D. J. Conway, ''Moon Magick: Myth & Magic, Crafts & Recipes, Rituals & Spells'', Llewellyn, 1995, p157</ref> in others as part of a reconstruction of specifically Greek polytheism, in English also known as "[[Hellenismos]]".<ref>[[Hellenion (USA)]] {{cite web|url=http://hellenion.org/|title=Hellenion}}. {{cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/hellenionstemenos/Home/festivals/hekatesdeipnon|title=Hekate's Deipnon&nbsp;– Temenos}}</ref> In Wicca, Hecate has in some cases become identified with the "crone" aspect of the "[[Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)|Triple Goddess]]".<ref>E.g. {{cite book |first=Donna |last=Wilshire |title=Virgin mother crone: myths and mysteries of the triple goddess |location=Rochester, VT |publisher=Inner Traditions International |year=1994 |page=213 |isbn=0-89281-494-2 }}.</ref>