Hecate and Shadow Work: Signs the Goddess of the Crossroads Is Calling You
The full moon in Taurus rises tonight, round and buttery and very interested in snacks (it's Taurus, after all). But while she's lighting up the sky, I've been thinking about the goddess who rules the other side of the lunar month... the dark moon. Her name is Hecate, and I've been quietly studying her for a while now.
Here's something I haven't said out loud before: I believe Hecate has been walking me through a shadow work journey for years. At least ten. If I'm being honest with myself, possibly closer to twenty.
I can't share the details of that journey here (some stories need to stay in the cauldron a little longer), but I can tell you what it has felt like. A long series of crossroads, each one asking me to choose the harder, truer road. Doors closing. Keys showing up exactly when I needed them. A lot of standing in the dark, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
Who is Hecate?
Hecate (also spelled Hekate) is an ancient Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, the moon, ghosts and crossroads. She is usually pictured carrying two torches, sometimes a key, and in later art she has three faces looking down three roads at once.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, it's Hecate who hears Persephone cry out as she's carried into the underworld, and Hecate who lights the way with her torches. When Persephone returns each spring, Hecate becomes her companion, traveling with her between the world of the living and the realm of the dead.
That's her whole vibe, really. She is the queen of the in between. The threshold. The doorway. The moment after one thing ends and before the next begins.
She's also known as the queen of witches. In ancient myth, the sorceresses Circe and Medea were her priestesses (some stories even make Hecate their mother), and today witches, pagans and practitioners all over the world honor her as the patron of magic itself.
And here's the part that undid me a little: Hecate watches over mothers. Hesiod names her a nurse of the young, and many devotees honor her as a guardian of childbirth. It makes so much sense. Anyone who has given birth has stood at that same crossroads between worlds, facing death to bring new life through. Who else would hold the torch?
The High Priestess: Hecate in the Tarot
When I think of Hecate in the tarot, I think of the High Priestess. She sits between two pillars, guarding the veil between what we know and what we can only sense. She is the keeper of hidden knowledge, intuition and the mysteries of the dark moon.
The High Priestess from the Dark Days Tarot
In the Dark Days Tarot, my High Priestess sits cross legged with a crescent moon cradling a rose in her palm, her hair spilling into a night sky full of stars and faces... the ancestors, the voices, all the selves she has been. In the Mother Tarot, she's curled inside a glowing womb, that in between place where life waits to be born. Same doorway, two different lights.
The High Priestess from the Mother Tarot
What is shadow work?
Shadow work is the practice of getting to know the parts of yourself you've hidden away. The idea comes from psychologist Carl Jung, who called this hidden part of us the shadow: the feelings, needs, memories and traits we learned to push down because they didn't feel safe, acceptable or lovable.
Shadow work means turning toward those parts with curiosity instead of shame. It looks like noticing what triggers you and asking why. Following the thread of an old pattern back to where it began. Grieving what you lost. Reclaiming the rage, the wildness, the softness or the wanting you were once told to put away.
It isn't about becoming a darker person (or a perfect one). It's about becoming a whole one.
Why shadow work can take years
If you were hoping shadow work was a weekend cleanse... I have news. (Sorry.)
Our shadows are built over a lifetime, layer by layer, so they tend to come apart the same way. You heal one layer, and life hands you a new initiation that reveals the next one. A breakup, a move, becoming a parent, losing someone, a body that changes, a dream that dies. Each one is another crossroads.
It's less like a straight road and more like a spiral staircase winding down into the earth. You keep passing the same landmarks, but every time you're a little deeper and a little braver. That's why I believe my own journey has stretched across a decade or two. Hecate doesn't rush. She just keeps holding up the torch.
Signs Hecate may be calling you
Hecate rarely sends a formal invitation (she's more of a leave a key on your path and see if you notice kind of goddess). If she's knocking, you might notice:
Crossroads, literal and otherwise. Big decisions, forks in the road and the feeling of standing between two lives.
Keys. Finding them, losing them, dreaming about them or noticing locked doors everywhere you look.
Black dogs. Dogs were sacred to Hecate in ancient Greece, and many people say a black dog appears when she's near, in dreams or right on your street.
Crows and ravens. Not one of her ancient symbols, but many modern devotees say these dark winged messengers show up when she's around.
Torches, candles and lanterns. A pull toward working by firelight, or a strange new fondness for the dark.
Snakes, moths and other night creatures crossing your path.
The dark moon. Feeling restless, psychic or strangely alive during the darkest nights of the month.
Thresholds and endings. Doorways, graveyards, midnight, and big transitions like births, deaths and goodbyes.
A longing for magic. A call to study witchcraft, herbs or divination that you can't quite explain.
None of these on their own means much. But if they start piling up like keys in a junk drawer... she might be looking for you.
Shadow work and tarot go hand in hand
Tarot (and other forms of divination) is one of the gentlest ways I know to do shadow work. The cards hold up a mirror without pointing a finger. They give you images and language for feelings that don't have words yet, and they let you sneak up on the truth sideways.
If you'd like to try, here's a little three card spread I've been working with. I call it Hecate's Crossroads:
The road behind you: what you're ready to leave at the crossroads.
The road you're afraid of: the shadow that's asking to be seen.
The key: what will help you walk through the door.
Journal on each card and be gentle with whatever comes up. Shadow work can stir up a lot, so take good care of yourself, and lean on a therapist or someone you trust if you need extra support.
Meet her at the dark moon
Hecate is a dark moon goddess. In ancient Athens, people honored her on the last night of the lunar month with Hecate's Deipnon (her supper), leaving offerings of food at the crossroads and cleansing their homes before the moon returned.
The next dark moon falls on November 8th, just after Samhain and Día de los Muertos, while the veil is still thin. If you'd like to meet her there with a deck made for exactly this kind of work, now is the time to bring home the Dark Days Tarot. I drew it for the dark days of the lunar cycle, for looking into your shadows to find the answers that feed your deeper needs.
And because it's Samhain season, everything in the shop is 20% off, no code needed, now through Day of the Dead on November 1st. (Other discount codes like MOONMAIL take a little nap during sitewide sales.) Shop the sale here.
Looking for more ways to honor this season? Visit my Witches' Wheel of the Year to read about Samhain and the other seven sabbats.
Wherever you're standing tonight, in full moon light or at your own dark crossroads, I hope you feel her torch nearby.
xx Wren