Dearest readers...
It's been a while! I had some technical difficulties but we finally managed to sort them out! Expect your monthly interview to get to know different community members, their practices, and the role that the Goddess Hekate has in their lives.
The goal of these interviews is to enrich our practices, see things from different perspectives and feel a bit less alone in this virtual space.
Today, I'm sharing Valeria Stige's interview with you. Enjoy!
E: Please, share a bit about you. Anything you'd like the readers to know about who you are.
How did Hekate enter your life?
When did you first hear about Her?
I met Our Lady for the first time 9 years ago. I had abandoned Catholicism for a few years and was looking for my path, initially coming into contact with Artemis, a goddess closely linked to my cultural roots (my family comes from Syracuse, Sicily). I was in a very delicate period for me: both from a personal, professional, and spiritual point of view, which had confronted me with the themes of healing and death in different areas. At that time, in particular, I had begun to discover that I could interact with the deceased, which left me very upset and frightened. She came to my rescue, but I admit at first that I was very afraid: I had read about how she was a dark, underworld goddess, linked to necromancy, about her terrible and ferocious appearance... Honestly, I would have preferred to have a gentler, loving and maternal deity nearby! It took me a really long time to trust her! I felt fascinated and wanted to know more and more, but I was very afraid that it could lead me down paths that were dangerous or unwanted for me, so I proceeded very slowly. She was very patient - I never felt like she was rushing me or forcing me. One night I had a dream that was enlightening for me. I dreamed of his dogs: three huge black mastiffs coming into my house. In the dream, I was terrified and tried to push them out with all my strength, but my children (very young at the time) played with them and showed no fear. When I woke up I realized that I had no reason to fear Hekate, that she would not harm me and I could let her enter my life with confidence.
E: Are there any particular books or articles that resonated with you and defined your relationship with Hekate? If yes, which ones?
Oh, I've read so many things about her! Ancient and modern texts, myths, poems, articles... Each one has left me something, they have allowed me to know many pieces of the Lady, and to better understand her personality (as much as I can within my human limits). The one that resonated with me the most, however, was Hekate Soteira by Sarah Iles Johnston. Reading it, it's as if I felt that all the pieces of the puzzle were making sense, as if they were arranging themselves to create a coherent and sensible image. Hekate's various faces, her many roles and aspects, were part of a multifaceted and complex personality, but perfectly coherent and integral. I remember feeling a sense of "enlightenment", as if I had finally managed to understand a little more about her, her role in my life, and somehow about myself.
E: How did you find out Hekate's call? from that moment onwards... how did you start a "relationship" with Her? (Through daily devotions, for example).
When I started working with her in the transit practices of the deceased, I set up a small altar for her (a very simple thing! A small key placed on a black candle that I lit periodically in her honor). Over time, as my relationship with her intensified, I felt the need to expand my offerings and devotions. Over time I moved her altar from the shelf above the fireplace to a storage room used as a small (very small!) sanctuary: she has a cabinet all for her, a statuette, a painting hanging on the wall, candles, objects, fabrics and incense just for her ! Initially he shared that space with other deities I worked with, but over time it became all his own! It makes me smile because little by little it's as if it has conquered its space (physically at home, in my spiritual practices and my life)! But She did it with extreme grace, patience, and respecting my times. I really appreciated the fact that She didn't force me. My devotional practices have also intensified: I have composed hymns for her, I celebrate deipnon, I involve her in the healing work I do and, more generally, in the totality of my life.
E: How do you feel your practice has evolved through time?
I think I have already partially answered. Initially, Hecate was one of the deities that I honoured, and I did so in relation to specific moments or particular jobs that I had to face (e.g. the practice of accompanying the deceased). Now all my practice revolves around her, and is not limited exclusively to specific areas: for me Hekate is the guide in my evolutionary path as an embodied person and as a soul.
Are you part of a "tradition"? Is there anything related to this tradition that includes Hekate in your practice?
No, I'm not part of any tradition. I took my first steps in an eclectic congregation from which I learned the rudiments of neopagan spirituality and witchcraft; I also had some brief experience in more traditional study groups, but I preferred to follow my path independently, comparing my vision with that of others, but seeking my own answers.
E: Do you celebrate Deipnon? How do you celebrate it?
I celebrate Deipnon, but the way can vary depending on the time and situation. I can focus the work on purification, banishment, elimination of old habits/bonds/situations, but also on new beginnings or nascent projects. Sometimes I simply celebrate the beginning of a new cycle, and listen to the energies moving within and around me. I always make an offering on the altar, but sometimes I also make external ones in forms of charity, the objective or recipient of which may vary.
E: And on another note, why did you decide to become a member of the CoH?
Experiencing spirituality mostly alone, I felt a desire and need for a community to belong to and interact with. The CoH is a reality that I immediately loved, because I consider it very inclusive and welcoming; we share the vision of the goddess as Soteira and her five virtues, but there are no dogmas or strict rules, we are many, all different, and with a different vision and experience of Hekate: a splendid reflection of the complexity and multiplicity of Hekate herself! But at the same time we are all bound by love for the Lady, in a brotherhood that knows no borders or barriers (logistical, linguistic, cultural), all committed to spreading the light of her torches in the world in our own way. I chose to join the CoH because I wanted to feel part of this project and this community: I wanted to make official, with the goddess and with myself, my desire and my commitment to bring her into the world through me.
E: Is there anything else about yourself, your practice, or your Sanctuary that you'd like to add?
Except that I am sincerely grateful to Hecate for coming into my life and for allowing all the changes I have been able to make since she accompanied me. It has given new impetus to my life, new eyes through which to look at the world and understand myself; most of all it gave new meaning to my existence, making me see higher goals and purposes than I could before. Since he is with me my life is not simpler, but certainly richer and fuller of meaning.
Thank you Valeria for sharing these powerful insights with us! and thank you readers for getting all the way here! what do you think of this month's interview? what are your thoughts? did anything resonate with you while you were reading?
And for the rest of CoH members who have sent me their interview answers, THANK YOU! they will be published one by one on a monthly basis from now on.
Salve Hekate! en Erebos, Phos!
Ekhidna Bakkheus.
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