Given that I recently complained about
the information on Hekate's Supper at a certain website, it is
probably fitting that I provide some of the information I feel was
missing from it. This entry may very well end up being lengthy
because I will also provide a discussion on the different types of
the dead in classical antiquity – particularly Greece – as I
understand them. I'm probably going to make a few mistakes, so if you
catch them? Correct me. Finally, I have put some of this information
in other entries, but I will be adding it here simply to keep all of
the information together.
As it stands, a discussion on Hekate's
Supper must begin with a discussion on the dead. It is here, however,
that I must pause. Some of the terms I am using are context
dependent. As Sarah Iles Johnston explains in a footnote in her
excellent Restless Dead: “The
same problem obtains for alastor
and palamnaios as for
apotropaios: these
words can represent the angry dead, a supernatural agent working on
behalf of the angry dead, or a god who averts the angry dead—indeed,
Alastor was even a title given to Zeus in his role as avenger of the
dead. The meaning in any given instance can be determined only
through context.” (P. 49, footnote). At least one of the terms I
will be using, Apotropaioi,
generally refers to a class of the restless and unburied dead, but
the similar term Apotropaios
can refer to their anger, which might be shown by the spirit acting
directly, requesting another spirit (most likely the request was made
a deity of the dead) harm the living, etc. This post is largely about
avoiding that anger, and about one of the potential tools for doing
so. For the sake of simplicity, when I use terms to refer to the
classes of the dead, I am focusing on the classes versus their means
of activity.
The Dead: Who
Are They, Where Are They, and why do they trouble us on occasion?
In many cases, I've previously simply
made two distinctions between the types of the dead: Heroic Spirits
and Ancestral Spirits, and the Restless Dead. Heroes and certain
types of ancestral spirits (such as the
Daimones
Khryseoi and
Daimones
Argyreoi) are generally helpful spirits and protective spirits.
However in the case of both heroes and the Daimones Khryseoi,
suggestions have been made that they could become angered. Daniel
Ogden in
Greek and Roman Necromancy
notes several tales of heroes being angered at their tombs by their
still-living country-folk; and in Restless Dead, Ms. Johnstone
comments: “Hesiod, in lines 121-23 and 126 of his Works and
Days , tells about how the privileged dead of the Golden Race return
to earth to protect the living and bestow wealth upon them. Some
scholars have interpreted a later passage (252-55) as indicating that
these souls of the Golden Race also play a role in punishing the
misbehavior of the living. It describes the 30,000 deathless
guardians of mortals who “keep a watch over lawsuits and wicked
acts, wandering over all the earth, clothed in mist.” The latter
two lines of this passage are also inserted by some manuscripts after
line 123, in the middle of Hesiod's description of the Golden Race,
which would serve to equate the souls of the Golden Race with the
30,000 deathless guardians” (p. 16-17).
Thus, if angered, they would need to be
ritually appeased in a manner similar to the manner in which the
Restless Dead are placated. The largest chunk of the latter category
is the Apotropaioi, who
became stuck residing next to or alongside our own world. The most
likely reason for this is failure to perform a proper funeral; Ms.
Johnston notes that funerary rites had specific protective services
added to them. The fear was that those who were left untended might
be attacked by another spirit while in a weakened state, or come
under compulsion by a magician and thereby enter spiritual servitude.
In the case of one's ancestors, either situation was deemed untenable
and as such those rites were seen as necessary. Failure to do so
would anger the dead, who would seek spiritual or supernatural means
to enact vengeance upon those who had failed them in a rather brutal
way. But failure to see proper funeral arrangements employed was only
one way that one could end up being restless. Suicides, who had not
finished out their mortal lives until the arrival of Thanatos, would
be forced to remain amongst the living until their time was up.
Children who died in accidents could also become members of the
Restless Dead, as could unmarried women. We might suggest that these
later additions are due to attachments; having not lived out a long
life, or having fallen in love, etc. But I am, frankly, unsure of all
the reasons that the Greeks imagined one to end up Restless.
There is a final, subcategory of the Restless Dead who I should not
omit: the Biaiothanatos Daimon,
or the Violent Death.
This spirit was specifically injured horribly during their final
moments and seek vengeance for the wrong done to them. Like others,
they were thought unable to enter the underworld because their time
on earth had not ended.
Ms.
Johnston describes these spirits as “envious or jealous” or the
human condition and goodwill; thus, at times of celebration and while
one is joyous, they are more likely to come upon them living and muck
it all up.
“[...]
in the Greek view, death did little to change the essential features
of human personality. Ghosts retained the emotions of living persons
and were assumed to feel the same way about both good and bad
treatment as they would have felt when alive; the real difference lay
in what the dead were able to do about their feelings. There were
some types of dead who were predisposed to be unhappy and vindictive,
most often because of something that had happened while they were
still alive, but even the kindest soul, if left unhonored, would
become angry and make that anger known. This lack of any real
qualitative difference between the angry dead and the peaceful dead —
and thus the potential for the latter to become the former — is
reflected by the fact that actions performed to soothe the angry are
often the same as those used to honor the peaceful” (P. 38-39).
As
such they were expected to be either driven to a point where they
could no longer harm the living (a rather untenable prospect these
days), like the crossroads, with exorcisms. In other cases they were
placated; the wrong done to them was sought to be fixed, or a
purification specialist was sought who could fix the problem.
The
most important thing to put down, here and now, is that the
individual person was thought to be incapable of taking on such a
spirit themselves. It required the blessing of one of the Cthonic
deities, or a deity that could specifically avert the evil. One of
the potential means of securing release from the ill-will of the dead
was a meal, dedicated to Hekate, known as Hekate's Supper
(deipna Hekates, Hekataia ).
This meal was given, according to K.F. Smith in Stephen Ronan's The
Goddess Hekate, to placate both
the spirits of the dead and Hekate herself:
“...
[T]he offerings laid at the crossroads every month for Hekate. Their
purpose was to placate not only this dread goddess of the underworld,
but also we learn from Plutarch (Moralia,
709 A), the Atropopaioi,
i.e. the ghosts of those who for some reason cannot rest easy in
their graves, and come back to earth in search of vengeance. An army
of these invisible and maleficent beings follows in the wake of its
leader as she roams at large through the midnight world” (P. 57 –
61).
Thus
it fulfills two purposes, both of which will interest the magician or
sorcerer seeking to use the crossways
for their purposes: to, through devotional service, gain and help
maintain the good-will of the Mistress of the Netherworld, and to
placate those unhappy souls that remain swarming around us even now.
Cleansing.
In
any event, there is preliminary work to be done before the meal is
even prepared. First, one cleans themselves and then cleans out their
home taking care to gather any “polluting” (miasmatic)
material from the house-hold altars or around them, gathering these
items together. These can, I think, include left-over incense sticks,
incense residue, fecal matter left by animals living in one's house,
and some of the offerings given to deities (particularly if one has
been giving them meat). These things could be sources of power for
the spirit that needed to be cleansed. This can also include
katharsia,
or trash. As such trash that is particularly foul can be added to
what will be taken with one to the crossroads.
Next
one aspurges the residence with incense, and perhaps sprinkles
consecrated water as well. (Mixing in salt with your water may work
here. The dead generally don't
like
salt.) The incense was carried in a censer of bake clay, which would
be left at the crossroads with the meal. Given that many of us use
metal censers we aren't willing to part with, I'd recommend using
incense sticks as they can be more easily carried and disposed of at
the crossroads.
I
also recommend stealing a few lines from the Orphic hymns while
blessing the incense:
“to
my holy sacrifice invite, the pow'r who reigns in deepest hell and
night; I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame, of earthly, wat'ry, and
celestial frame, Sepulchral, in a saffron veil array'd, leas'd with
dark ghosts that wander thro' the shade; Persian, unconquerable
huntress hail! The world's key-bearer never doom'd to fail On the
rough rock to wander thee delights, leader and nurse be present to
our rites Propitious grant our just desires success, accept our
homage, and the incense bless.”
Fumigate the entire house, and gather
the remains together with the katharsia
and other items. You will be taking these to the crossroads.
Obviously, sort the most disgusting
elements to be transported only. If you have too much trash? Just
take it out and leave those items which are truly foul
to transport to the crossroads.
In the
event you're lamenting not having a trivium near you, just find a
nearby quadrivium to use after midnight. There should be one...
like... everywhere. It may be symbolically inapt, but it beats
leaving those items near to your home where they can empower things
that you would prefer not be empowered.
The Meal
“There was also a “supper”
(deipnon or dais) of various foods; the dead who
partook of these sometimes were described as eudeipnoi, which
we best can translate, perhaps, as “those who are content with
their meal.” The word, a euphemism, seems to reflect the hope that,
once nourished, the dead would realize that they had nothing to
complain about. There is some evidence that water was also given to
the dead person so that he could wash, just a host would give a
living guest water in which to wash before a meal. Offerings to the
dead might also include jewelry, flowers, and small objects used in
everyday life such as swords, strigils, toys, and mirrors (although
gifts, like lamentation, were sometimes restricted by funerary laws).
It is hard to avoid the conclusion that these gifts were expected to
be useful in the afterlife, particularly when ghost stories tell of
the dead demanding objects that were forgotten or omitted at the
time of burial.”
- Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead. (P. 41)
What
did the meal consist of? K.F. Smith indicates the following:
“
As
is usually the case with offerings to the dead, the regular Hekates
diepnon on
the thirtieth of the month consisted of food. The specific articles,
so far as they are mentioned, were magides,
a kind of loaf or cake, the shape and ingredients are not clear, the
mainis,
or
sprat,
skoroda,
or garlic, the trigle,
or
mullet,
a sacrificial cake described by Harpocration as “somewhat like the
psaista,”
eggs, cheese, possibly the basunias
a
kind of cake, for which Semus,
in Athenaeus, xiv. 545 B, gives the recipe.”
The
basunias
is a form of honey-cake, the likes of which are often associated with
being given to the dead. JSK in the Geosophia
indicates that honey-cakes made from Bran were given to Cerberus, and
includes them in several contexts. If one cannot make such a cake,
like
this one, then the most profitable thing to do is to slather some
high quality bread or cake with honey.
A well
rounded meal will probably include at least:
Some
sweet wine, or cool water,* or milk.
A
meat-type component, such as mullet, sprat, or along those days.
Today I picked up some weakfish
(“sea salmon”), which are hardly traditional. However, I'm going
to honey-glaze them and add nuts and then bake the fish to round out
my preparations.
A
cake, preferably made with honey, or at least with a good deal of
honey added to the top.
Some
sweet fruits.
Even
if one cannot get the items traditionally given to Hekate, items that
are dedicated to heroes and the dead often overlap and offerings can
be culled from such sources. Additionally, adding honey to anything
is always a good idea.
While I am not sure that the Oreganos
mentioned by Ms. Johnston as a funerary component is oregano,
divination seems favorable for adding it to the meal as a spice.
Finally,
along with the meal and polluted elements, these items are brought to
the crossroads and dedicated to Hekate. I normally perform this
dedication in the West,
much like the prayers to the unknown divinity (who was probably
Hekate) prior to plucking Mandrake.
If you feel another direction works better, feel free to ignore what
I do. At then end of this comes perhaps the most important part:
Turn
around and leave “without looking back.”
In the
event there are no spirits to be rid of, I see nothing wrong with
simply preparing a meal and bringing it to the crossroads to dedicate
to Hekate in hopes of procuring her favor. Others may disagree,
however.
* Cool water was typically given so
that the dead could clean themselves, in which case bringing along a
disable bowl to add it to is probably a good idea.
