Of Mice and Gods

Last updated on: January 24, 2018 at 1:33 pm

April 27, 2016 by Bekah Evie Bel

“Ask Hekate whether it is better to be rich or starving; she will tell you that the rich send her a meal every month and that the poor make it disappear before it is even served.”

– Aristophanes, Plutus 410

It is not really known if this was okay or not. Some suggest these poor people would have been punished by Hekate for stealing Her offerings. But others suggest that the act of making an offering to Hekate was in fact an act of charity – which makes it seem like maybe it wasn’t a bad thing for the starving to take Her offerings.

Either way, it makes me feel a little better about the mice that have been stealing some of the offerings I have been making to Her.

Not that they are starving in any way, with all the food they steal from me.

The fact they are considered sacred, in some way, to Hekate makes it a little better too I guess. And then, the fact people would often offer sacred animals as sacrifices to the Gods. And Hekate is all about poisons… Well… No it’s probably still bad to throw rat poison around near the altar.

I am going to have to start leaving offerings in the cauldron, lid on.

The things we learn.