11 February 2010

Notes




         Up breakfast and the paper. Mid-morning. Carol is readying herself for Westerville. You are almost ready. > You checked and sent out email, played with the cat, and are now ready to leave. By ten-thirty you hope to be on the way as Carol has an errand or two before lunch out with Cathy and Tod.

         Thales and Sophia coming up in scene fourteen. Thales gives his rational for thinking that the beautiful woman he saw on the path was actually Hecate which was the reason she appeared old and with a cane.  While at home download material on Hecate.

         Late afternoon and you had lunch earlier at Best Breakfast and Sandwiches down in the Glengarry Plaza on South State just beyond Dempsey Road. Now you are at Pasquale’s early hoping to get some work done before your local classmates arrive in about an hour. First let’s go over and pick what we need from your new Hecate document.

         You have cut the material by half. Let’s get it down to what we need – so one more round of editing. – Amorella.

         This material comes from Wikipedia:

She has been associated with childbirth, nurturing the young, gates and walls, doorways, crossroads, magic, lunar lore, torches and dogs.

Some classical portrayals show her as a triplicate goddess holding a torch, a key, and a serpent. Others continue to depict her in singular form.
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She appears in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in Hesiod's Theogony, where she is promoted strongly as a great goddess.

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Hesiod records that she was among the offspring of Gaia and Uranus, the Earth and Sky. In Theogony he ascribed great powers to Hecate:
Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods.

And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents.

Hesiod emphasizes that Hecate was an only child, the daughter of Perses and Asteria, a star-goddess who was the sister of Leto (the mother of Artemis and Apollo).
If this interpretation is correct, as Hecate’s cult grew, she was inserted into the later myth of the birth of Zeus as one of the midwives that hid the child,[22] while Cronus consumed the deceiving rock handed to him by Gaia. There was an area sacred to Hecate in the precincts of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, where the priests, megabyzi, officiated.[27]
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Hecate also came to be associated with ghosts, infernal spirits, the dead and sorcery. Like the totems of Hermes—herms placed at borders as a ward against danger—images of Hecate (like Artemis and Diana, often referred to as a "liminal" goddess) were also placed at the gates of cities, and eventually domestic doorways. Over time, the association with keeping out evil spirits could have led to the belief that if offended, Hecate could also allow the evil spirits in.

Hecate was associated with borders, city walls, doorways, crossroads and, by extension, with realms outside or beyond the world of the living. She appears to have been particularly associated with being 'between' and hence is frequently characterized as a "liminal" goddess. "Hecate mediated between regimes – Olympian and Titan - but also between mortal and divine spheres."
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Before she became associated with Greek mythology, she had many similarities with Artemis (wilderness, and watching over wedding ceremonies)[75] and Hera (child rearing and the protection of young men or heroes, and watching over wedding ceremonies).[citation needed]   Above from Wikipedia

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The rest of the Hecate material is from: Myths.suite101.com/article.cfm/selene_and_hecate_in_greekmythology
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Hekate assisted Demeter in her search for Persephone, guiding her through the night with flaming torches. After the mother-daughter reunion became she Persephone's minister and companion in Haides.
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Hekate was usually depicted in Greek vase painting as a woman holding twin torches. Sometimes she was dressed in a knee-length maiden's skirt and hunting boots, much like Artemis. In statuary Hekate was often depicted in triple form as a goddess of crossroads.
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Hecate, the Sorceress

Hecate helped Demeter find her daughter Persephone who was seized by Hades, god of the underworld and she went on to become Persephone's attendant. It has been widely accepted that the cult of Hecate comes from Anatolia (W. Berg, Numen, 21, 2, 1975), in particular Caria (today southwest Turkey). Hecate is an ambiguous goddess, capable for good and evil. Midwives and sorceresses, like Medea, appeal to her alike.
In Johnson's The Restless Dead, Hecate is guardian of entrances and protector of childbirth but also mistress of dead souls. Foods are offered at crossroads to appease Hecate and the dead, especially on the night of the new moon. Hecate takes the role of the sorceress, or goddess of witchcraft and magic, for female magic is associated with the spirits of the dead. She is also known to cure madness by averting attacks by the dead who caused it.
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         You are home at twenty-two and thirty hours. We could work more but you have a few emails before bed. Arrivederci, orndorff.

         Arrivederchi? You never say good-bye Amorella. Where did that come from?

         Your head orndorff. I’ll go back to, ‘Later, dude.’

         I like that better. Good-bye sounds so permanent.

         What does ‘good-bye’ mean orndorff?

         I used to use it in a lecture on the History and Development of the English language. It means “God Be With Ye” but no one remembers that anymore. Oh.

         You need to relax old man, that is the sense of good-bye in your head so I used it. Thought the Italian would add a little flavor.

         Thank you, Amorella.

         Tomorrow, old man. – Amorella. 


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