Hekate, Asteroid 100: Burning Through the Darkness, a Liminal Journey
by Natasha Lyn Carruth
Originally published on March 23, 2023
There are few deities in antiquity that embody the level of strength and importance of Hekate, Goddess of the Dark Moon. Traditionally, Hekate is honored at the Dark Moon, just before it’s New. She’s sometimes maligned, and presented as something to fear…after all, deities who are associated with Death always have a complicated journey into human consciousness, they remind us that mortality is, indeed, inevitable. It’s important to remember that Death is merely one form of transformation, and this is a transformational energy to work with. Hekate is widely worshiped as Goddess of witches and magic, and is associated with all of the following…it would take an entire BOOK to do her justice, but for purposes of beginning to understand the deity behind the asteroid, these are all things that we can associate with Hekate:
Death, ghosts, graveyards
Witchcraft and magic, divination
Crossroads, both literal and figurative
The Underworld
Soul journey
Dogs, especially black
Crows, all corvids, all scavengers
Caves
Liminal spaces and thresholds…doorways, in between times like dawn and dusk
Keys, as she holds the keys to the Underworld
Plant magic, especially those that are baneful or poisonous
Torches, light in the darkness
Within mythology she plays the role of psychopomp, guiding the soul through the Underworld, carrying 2 torches of sacred flame that illuminate and enlighten. The relationships of the ancient world were complicated…it was Hekate who heard Persephone’s cries in the Underworld and rescued her from the grasp of Hades, so we can infer that astrologically, this tie to Pluto as ruler of the Underworld is a complex dynamic to contemplate. As Ceres was mother to Persephone, the relationship between she and Hekate, astrologically, is important as well. This is a Goddess that guides and protects, but only if you’re willing to do the work to understand the deeper lessons at hand, and to acknowledge the darkness. This is an energy of hidden places and that which people don’t want to see, the forgotten and forsaken that people deny in light of day. She’s venerated as a protector of the homeless, offerings left to her at crossroads were often devoured by grateful people who had nowhere to go, or wanderers.
Hekate is often depicted with three faces,three bodies, six arms, a triple goddess…but you can forget the modern neopagan take of “maiden mother and crone” as this is an entirely modern construct, and in antiquity she is depicted youthful. She is also considered a shapeshifter, and has many roles of manifestation that can be studied by researching her epithets, which are numerous. The Greek Magical Papyri and the Chaldean Oracles are excellent places to start if you feel called to dig deeper there. Hekate was acknowledged far and wide, and like many ancient deities, evolved over time as the cultural influence at hand shifted and evolved. I don’t suggest reading modern takes unless they are citing resources thoroughly, you’ll find a lot of opinion masquerading as fact out there, it’s rather prevalent in the modern attempt at reconstructionism, it becomes revisionism. Above all else, this is an energy that makes itself known when you seek it, and the deeper you dig the more there is to encounter at every turn. Her torches are eternal. It’s interesting that light bearing deities, of which she is one, have a tendency to be feared and maligned. Some of us embrace the darkness…the Chaldean Oracles, in fact, describe Hekate as the ruler of angels, and the Greek Magical Papyri echo this with subtle statements. When you take it back to the texts, you’re able to navigate them yourself and form your own connections and opinions rather than listening to what someone else is regurgitating about what they saw someone else say about her. This goes for researching any mythology, and any astrological influence that bears the name of an archetypal figure. The best way to find Hekate is to seek Her, and astrologically speaking, we can further our understanding by looking at her discovery chart to see how she functions in astrology, this keeper of keys and bearer of torches, one of the most widely worshiped Dark Goddesses that has ever whispered to us from the shadows. This is the journey of the liminal, through which she burns away the edges until we understand.
Hekate is asteroid 100, discovered by astronomer JC Watson on July 11, 1868, and there is no discovery time established in any research I’ve been able to find…yet. Some astrologers assume a time or put the Sun on the Ascendant, but that can be misleading, so keep in mind that in this chart, the angles and houses cannot be considered accurate.
As Hekate is a Lunar Goddess, understanding Moon is imperative to this chart, and most unfortunately, we cannot ascertain a correct time so easily. If she were discovered between Midnight and 2 AM, it’s Pisces. If she was discovered shortly after 2 AM through the rest of the day, it’s between 0 and 10 degrees Aries, a pretty wide berth to consider here. I chose this time for my calculation to put the Sun on the Midheaven, rather than the Ascendant. It’s hard to tell, astronomers work with telescopes day and night, that’s the entire point of an observatory, even in the 1800’s. Visibility would have been best during day IF she were near the Midheaven, but at night that wouldn’t matter as much. We have a night portion that was Pisces Moon, and night that was Aries Moon. Until I can ascertain a better window of time to consider,and this is an ongoing research project in which I am digging deep, I am not going to delve into Moon by degree so much as PHASE. Regardless of what the Moon sign was upon discovery, Hekate’s chart is a Moon that was Disseminating. This is a phase that is considered to be an internal process, hidden and subconscious at times, but the nature of this phase brings it to the surface. This is an energy that guides others, a phase of bringing messages, and of teaching…this is the sharing of wisdom. I find this befitting for the nature of Hekate, when we consider that her role is that of guide, and she inspires profound internal transformation.
Sun for Hekate is at 19 Cancer, the sign ruled by Moon, of course! Moon is conjunct Mercury Retrograde at 24 Cancer by an orb of 5, Cazimi would have been just a couple of days later, a time where the hidden comes to light. Mercury Retrograde in Cancer entails confronting issues of home and roots, and this is where Hekate may offer wisdom in ways that we don’t expect, and communicates with symbols and mystery. Cancer is a powerfully intuitive sign, and this is an energy that expects us to be open and receptive to messages if we’re going to work with it. It’s interesting to note that Venus, planet of relationships, is also Retrograde. Hekate is primarily considered without a consort, though some cults linked her to psychopomp Hermes (Mercury)...perhaps this Mercury Retrograde as well as Venus being Retrograde here characterizes that rather succinctly, the misunderstanding of nature of relationships, and potentially mischaracterization. Hekate is sometimes conflated with Artemis and this how she is known as the mother of Circe and Medea, in a myth in which she is maligned to the extreme in her use of poisonous plants. The back and forth nature of the Artemis/Hekate/Selene ever evolving Lunar Goddess interpretation is one that has many twists and turns over time, but it’s safe to say that PRIMARILY, if we consider the vast majority of what is known and dismiss the twists and turns as soap operatic twists and turns of mythology, Hekate is a deity that does not have a constant consort, she is empowered of her own accord and in her own radiance.
Hekate has Mars, planet of action and drive, at 7 Gemini, a Mars that easily sees all possibilities and is flexible, embraces a mutable and open minded, non judgmental guide that can navigate situations with guidance that embraces duality, and helps us to confront lessons of the darker side of human nature. Given that Mars is Station at 8 degrees Gemini today, I thought this was an appropriate time, as this Goddess of liminal spaces is experiencing Mars Station on her Mars, Station is a standstill, in my interpretation, a profoundly liminal space.
Asteroid Hekate has a wide square to Sun in nurturing, supportive Cancer from a conjunction between Jupiter and Neptune in Fire of Aries at 13 and 17 degrees. Neptune is intuition and spiritual depth, and Jupiter magnifies all that it touches, and in Aries, it is insistent upon DOING something. This is an energy that offers spiritual messages, deep and abiding, things we need to contemplate and absorb, Neptunian visions…she does have a role here as an oracle, after all…but Jupiter in Aries has a demand for ACTION. This is an energy that is happy to offer inspiration, but that expects at the same time that we take it and run with it, that we LISTEN.
Pluto, which is imperative to think about as Hekate is Goddess of the Underworld, is in Taurus at 16 degrees, sextile Hekate’s 19 degree Sun. This opens the door to the Underworld, and she has full scope of access. Given that Hekate is a chthonic deity, one of the inner Earth where the Underworld was thought to lie, it’s interesting that her discovery chart has Pluto here in Taurus, the sign of the physical Earth, a cave into which she can gracefully descend in this open and flowing Earth/Water sextile.
At her time of discovery, asteroid Hekate was at 15 degrees Aquarius, and this is an incredibly interesting place. When we consider that this is the midpoint between the Winter Solstice when Sun enters 0 Capricorn and the Vernal Equinox when Sun enters 0 Aries, this is again, a LIMINAL SPACE, one of being in between. This is the degree that Sun illuminates at Imbolc, an ancient celebration known as “Feast of Light” or “Feast of Pan.” Sunset, yet another liminal time, is honored on this day. This is one more hidden layer of her chart that speaks to her wavering on the fringes, weaving meaning into liminal spaces, opening doors for those who have asked for them to be opened. She wasn’t discovered at this degree by coincidence, there are few degrees that can be considered this profoundly liminal. The 29 and 0 degrees can be, as they flow into one another, and the 15th degree of the fixed signs. She’s exact at not just 15 Aquarius, but 29 minutes, the halfway point through the liminal degree.
Some people assert that Hekate at 15 Aquarius was conjunct Black Moon Lilith, which was in the sign, but without a time, I am not so willing to call them conjunct, because Black Moon Lilith can waver back and forth a span of 10 degrees or more in a day when she’s moving fast, and that’s not something that I am willing to make assumptions about. I think it does a disservice to both influences, each of whom is a profound example of personal empowerment. Hekate, in particular, is an influence of discernment and guidance, and it betrays her nature to make judgment calls without doing the work.
In my experience, Hekate in transit functions powerfully within the context of the Lunar cycle, of course, so you can expect to see me detail those things as we experience them in transit as time goes on. I will talk about her influence with both daily transit aspect and even more specifically each month under the Dark Moon, which is her time, and we can use this to think about transformation and any lessons we’re experiencing when we’re at a crossroads. She holds the keys, and we can examine her journey through the Zodiac to seek deeper understanding. This is a deity with whom I am exceedingly well acquainted, and as we observe her in transit, I’ll talk more about her specific epithets where they arise, and I’m always happy to answer questions. Of course, how she impacts you directly depends upon how she functions in your natal chart, but in a general sense, we can discern deeper messages for the collective by seeing how she’s influencing things in transit.