Hekate Key

This key is a tribute to one of my favorite goddesses: Hecate, Guardian of the Crossroads, and mother of Witches. She was worshiped in both Greece and Rome and was much beloved. Though Witchcraft was her domain, she was regarded as a protective goddess who brought many blessing to the household. She would often be seen carrying one of her sacred symbol, a traveler's torch, or a key; for she was also a goddess of thresholds, and her shrines were placed at doors and gateways. In some descriptions, she is accompanied by two sisters. This connects her to the triple-goddess of Wiccan myth, and the Three Witches (or "Wyrd Sisters") of Macbeth. In other descriptions, the sisters are replaced by twin wolves or hounds. They embody her primal protectiveness and her connection to nature. In our key she guards the crossroads with her canine sisters; she faces our approach, a veil swept back to reveal her, and her beasts look in opposite directions towards the branches of the crossroads. A torch is held before her, wreathed by the coils of a serpent.