Hekate: Her Sacred Fires: A Unique Collection of Essays, Prose and Artwork Exploring the Mysteries of the Torchbearing Triple Goddess of the Crossroads

Hekate Her Sacred Fires is an exceptional book for an extraordinary, eternal and universal Goddess. It brings together essays, prose and artwork from more than fifty remarkable contributors from all over the world. Their stories and revelations are challenging, their visions and determination in exploring the mysteries are inspirational, and their enthusiasm for the Goddess of the Crossroads is truly entrancing and sometimes highly infectious.

Hekate is a Goddess of great antiquity. She is primordial, powerful and sometimes animalistic - and yet, she is also sophisticated, modern and capable of adapting to different cultures. She is the Torchbearer, the Cosmic World Soul, the Guide and Companion. She is Mistress of the Restless Dead, who rules over the Heavens Earth and Sea. She is the Keybearer and so much more. Her devotees today, as throughout the ages, include philosophers, poets, sorcerers, theurgists, witches, root-cutters, enchantresses and ordinary people.

In her introduction, the author and priestess Sorita d'Este brings together an exciting wealth of material on the history and development of how the goddess Hekate has been seen through the ages. As well as a fascinating discussion of her possible origins and mythological connections, the introduction also includes a timeline providing glimpses into her portrayal through the ages, with extracts from literature and examples of amulets, coins and art.

The spectrum of material covered in this anthology is as diverse as the forms of Hekate herself, emphasising her role as lightbearer, keybearer, initiatrix, world soul, child's nurse, mistress of crossroads and serpent mysteries. Her devotees describe her role in traditional witchcraft and initiatory Wicca, healing and paganism, her approachability through her angels and trance oracles, her assistance in overcoming traumas and helping the dead continue their journeys. From the reestablishment of the ancient worship of the great mother goddess as Hekate in Thrace (Bulgaria) to meteorites and pilgrimages, Hekate's presence around the world and beyond is vividly described and illustrated by her torchbearers.

Publisher: Avalonia

Published: UK, 1 May 2010

Format: Paperback / softback, 308 pages

Age Range: 0+

Other Information: black & white illustrations

Dimensions: 29.7 x 21 x 1.6 centimeters (0.39 kg)

Writer: D'Este, Sorita, Digitalis, Raven, Vikki Bramshaw, Sorita D'Este

About the Author

Sorita d'Este is an author, researcher and publisher who manifests her knowledge and passion for the Mysteries through her work. Her research and writing pushes at the boundaries of Western Esoterica and beyond, often questioning and challenging the status quo and inspiring others towards experiential mysticism with firm foundations built on lessons learned from history, standing positively in today and looking with enthusiasm towards the future. She passionately believes that it is possible to manifest creativity, positivity, love and enchantment through the creation of independent, free-thinking and more spiritual communities, with firm foundations in truth, natural balance and generosity.

Reviews

"This book is possibly the best anthology I have ever read! It certainly blows the heads off all other Goddess books out there, regardless of which way you look at it. With this book Sorita d'Este and the other contributors have marked a new generation of mystical and magical thought and practice. One which will hopefully continue to move forward and achieve ever better things with each year that passes.This book introduces many writers, magicians and witches to the reader. Some of them are well known in their own right, such as Sorita d'Este herself, but also Raven Digitalis, Jade Sol Luna, Vikki Bramshaw and Emily Carding. A few of the others are also published authors or artists, but I had not heard of them previously. The artwork is phenomenal, it covers such a breath of emotional and visionary experience! The essays however is the heartbeat of this book. Each writer contributed something which was personal to them, an experience, a vision or an understanding. This is not something I have ever seen done, apart from in Sorita's previous anthology on Hekate (Hekate Keys to the Crossroads), but this book is far more than that!The contributors come from all over the world. It seems to me that most of them did not even know each other, but blindly contributed with the faith and knowledge that this was for a greater cause, a desire to create and share their passion for the Goddess Hekate. It is clear to me that Hekate is the Goddess of this time! Never before has she been so diversely seen and worshipped. I love this book because it shows how in their differences, the contributors still share a passion which is unmistakeably for the same Goddess.The highlights for me was Sorita's timeline (part of the introduction) which shows how Hekate was seen throughout the ages. The essays which really stood out were those by Andrea Salgado-Reys, Connia Silver, Diane Champigny and Dorn Simon-Sinnott. I felt a personal resonance with much of their own words. I found it refreshing to see work by people with a more traditional Craft leaning too, in particular John Canard, Trystn Branwynn and the lovely Shani Oates.But to be fair, I think I learned something from each and every essay. Its difficult to imagine that anyone out there - whether interested in paganism, wicca, witchcraft, druidry, thelema, ceremonial magic or just good old fashioned mysticism would not feel the same way!Absolute awesome! - Scarlet River, Amazon reviewer