Review: Hekate Her Sacred Fires

Let’s face it, most pagan anthologies suck. In most cases the only people who read pagan anthologies are those who contributed to them. Hekate Her Sacred Fires however, is not one of those anthologies and is still my favorite anthology to date. Edited by author Sorita d’Este, the founder of the Covenant of Hekate and the worldwide Rite of Her Sacred Fires, Sorita is considered a modern expert on the history and devotion of the goddess Hekate. The book features over fifty different authors and it’s the diversity of these authors that bring this anthology strength. Hellenic Reconstructionists, Wiccans, Theistic Satanists and daemonaltors, Theurgists and Pagans and Occultists of all flavors lend their visions of Hekate to showcase what a vastly encompassing and complex goddess Hekate is. This anthology is a cornucopia of diverse ritual, poetry, art, personal experiences and musings on Hekate. Coming in at 307 pages, the book itself is a just slightly larger in size of Raymond Buckland’s “Big Blue Book”, so it’s not a very small anthology.

Sorita d’Este who has authored other books on Hekate such as Hekate Liminal Rites and Hekate: Keys to the Crossroads provides a fantastic introduction into the history of Hekate, her cults, offerings, associated and conflated goddesses and male god companions. She then provides a massive timeline chart spanning about 20 pages from 6,000 BCE to the present time with different reliefs, coins, statues and depictions of Hekate throughout history. Aside from Sorita, the anthology’s contributors range from lesser-known more private devotees to well known published authors. This books is great for learning more about Hekate in the modern day and how she has touched the lives of many modern practitioners. Don’t read this book expecting to learn about the historical Hekate in depth (though there’s plenty in Sorita’s introduction to give you a simple understanding and there’s also a list of book resources provided on the very first page). That’s not what this book is nor what makes it so unique and special. The book ends with a glossary of words the reader may be unfamiliar with and then finishes with a transcript of the global Rite of Her Sacred Fires. This is a book that I feel any devotee of Hekate, regardless of their path should own, if only to learn how Hekate interacts with those of paths outside of their own and to gain a larger perspective of who Hekate is as a goddess today instead of something confined and bound only to the past.

Contributors to this anthology consists of Aedos Alala, Amber Rose, Amelia Ounsted, Andrea Salgado-Reyes, Brian Andrews, Catamara Rosarium, Connie Silver, David Rankine, Diane M. Champigny, Dorn Simon-Sinnott, Edaterina Ilieva, Emily Carding, Georgi Mischev, Hansa, Harry Barron, Henrik Holmdahl, Izzy Purplespoon, Jade Sol Luna, Jean Marie Feddercke, Jen Ricci, John Canard, Katherine Sutherland, Kay Gillard, Lezley Forster, Madre van der Merwe, Magin Rose, Mark Alan Smith, Michael Ellis, Morgana Sythove, Naza Cogo, Nikki Cullen, Orryelle Defenstrate-Bascule, Petra Schollern, Raven Digitalis, Richard A. Derks, Sara Croft, Shani Oates, Shay Skepevski, Soror Basilisk, Tara Sanchez, Thomas Star, Tim Furlow, Tina Georgitis, Tinnekka Bebout, Trystyn M. Branwynn, Vikki Bramshaw, Vlasta Mijac and Yuri Robbers.