The Road to My Dedication to Hecate Hecate - Sorceress, keeper of the “crossing”, but also a witch… Published: 30th May, 2019 I Author: Smiljana Gavrančić

The Road to My Dedication to Hecate

Hecate - Sorceress, keeper of the “crossing”, but also a witch…

Published: 30th May, 2019 I Author: Smiljana Gavrančić

This article was first time published in IAM (INFINITY Astrological Magazine) #IAM25 #ROOM222 issue May/June 2019. During June 2019, Astrodienst (www.astro.com) is going to republish the same article on its website. If you want to have your digital/hard copy of #IAM25, you can order it here: #ROOM222 

 Recently, in my article Are You Persephone? we discussed Persephone and her meaning in the sense of astrology. If you remember, I said that it is usually like this: Moon in Scorpio, i.e. the Moon related to series 8 (Moon in the 8th house, in tense aspect with Pluto – conjunction, square, opposition), Venus and Pluto. I explained that myth on my own horoscope. 

 

But, when Persephone goes to the “underworld”, to Hades (at 3º Scorpio, where the death is the strongest, and the life is the most jeopardized), she needs someone to show her the way, and that someone is Hecate, another Moon archetype, who is like Persephone, represented by the Moon in Scorpio, i.e. by the Moon in strong relation with Pluto (series 8), or by the eclipse (for the nature of eclipse is Pluto, eclipse is like a “black hole”, it “pulls” and performs “deep cleansing”). 

Many entered Hades’ underworld, but almost nobody managed to get out. Hades, Persephone, Hermes and Hecate are the only beings who could go in and out of the underworld. In Greek mythology, Hermes is what Mercury represents in Roman mythology, but he also represents all that secret knowledge we call “hermetic” and that enables him to go in and out of the underworld as he wishes. 

His counterpart is Hecate. Hecate is one of the first goddesses, she is pre-Olympic goddess. She was created by Gaea and Uranus, in the primary creation that gave other gods later on, much before other beings were created. She represented a magic living in the nature, adored by humans, prayed to by humans, who fulfilled their wishes. Hecate is known as a sorceress, but later, in the collective awareness, she was named the witch (as Christianity came to be).

Hecate was discovered on July 11, 1868 as the hundredth asteroid, so it is marked by a number 100. Ascendant is at the Sun, since that is the moment pointing to awareness or seeing something, when it was recognized for the first time. 

 

At the time of discovery, Hecate was positioned at 15º Aquarius (the position of my Mercury – writing, but my Mercury rules 10th house – collective unconscious, but it is also the dispositor of Mars – the ruler of my 12th house – personal myth, and the ruler of my 5th house – Asc from the point of view of the previous life, and in the 8th house). The Moon was at the beginning of the sign of Aries, right next to Chiron, depicting the goddess who heals. Chiron is asteroid between Saturn and Uranus; it is the bridge, the crossing of the human soul to higher awareness, the crossing from the old into new. It is the part of cosmic awareness that should be immortal. We know that the Moon is in fall at 3º Scorpio, the death happens there, and since Chiron is related to the cosmic part on a human, then there is the clear message that Hecate had the ability to be in the world of immortal ones. 

We call her Hecate although she is sometimes referred to as plural, because she is often depicted as having three faces and appearing in three primary functions, three primary phases. 

If we look at how respected she had been in ancient times, we find her as one who can make every wish come true if one asks, if one opens up, if one prays – and the prayer is always primary the Moon, the primary opening of the soul, for “please” is the Moon and “thanks” is the Venus. One prays to Hecate when the Moon is new and the first day after the new moon appears, showing the tiny crescent, and then she is depicted as the woman carrying two torches. If the prayer is said at night of the new moon, she will fulfill it. She protects, cares for and defends those who pray to her. 

Also, Hecate is the keeper of the crossing, so she is also the goddess of birth and crossing of the soul from one universe into the other. She protects should from negative ghosts that might come from the other side. That is why her statues are kept in front of the door, in order to have her keeping the home safe from ghosts that might come through that door. When the moon is full she fulfills wishes related to protection, aiding someone, while fulfillment of all wishes one may have is reserved for the phase of new moon.

And finally, her third phase, when the Moon is in its last phase and falling, she is represented as the woman holding the key, which leads the soul to secret knowledge and inner worlds, the key that opens other planes of existence. 

Let us take a look at the horoscope of American actress Shannen Doherty (well known for her role of Brenda Walsh in the popular American teenage series from ‘90s, Beverly Hills 90210) who also starred in the series “Charmed” in the late ‘90s,  playing the lead character, Prue Haliwell, the oldest of three sisters who are witches. In 2007, AOL named Prue Haliwell one of the 10 greatest witches in TV history! 

 

 Power of Three – to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons, warlocks...

 The series "Charmed" starts with three Halliwell sisters - Prudence "Prue" Halliwell, Piper Halliwell and Phoebe Halliwell, meeting again 6 months after the death of their grandmother. By moving back into the old house in San Francisco, the youngest sister, Phoebe, discovers an old book, "Book of Shadows", in the attic. After she unintentionally reads a spell from the book, and some paranormal beings appear, she realizes that she is able to stop them. That leads sisters to conclusion that they are witches, sorceresses, and that it is tradition in the family, since both their mother and grandmother were witches too. 

The first witch in the family was Melinda Warren, who was burnt alive. Before she died, Melinda vowed that each generation of Warren (Halliwell later) witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters, the most powerful witches the world has ever known.

“Before Melinda was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of three sisters...the most powerful witches the world has ever known... the Charmed Ones...“

Prue developed magical power of telekinesis – the power to move objects with her mind. As the series progresses, Prue learns how to channel her telekinetic powers through her hands and gains the power of astral projection, the ability to be in two places at once. During the third season, she becomes the strongest and most powerful witch of all Halliwell sisters. Her powers depend on her emotional state, so if she is angry, her powers are stronger. Despite her formidable powers and sharp intellect, Prue was tragically murdered (at the end of the third season), in her own home by the Source of All Evil's personal assassin, Shax, which temporarily severed The Power of Three altogether. For years, her sisters thought that she was living happily in the afterlife with their mother and grandmother, though they were eventually told that Prue had been reincarnated.

Persephone as Brenda Walsh in “Beverly Hills 90210”

 Shannen is Aries, with Ascendant in Virgo and MC in Gemini, meaning that Mercury is both the ruler of her Asc (herself), and the planet representing her through her profession. Her Mercury is retrograde (she is very deep person), positioned at the very prominent degree, at 3º Taurus, right across 3º Scorpio. At 3º Taurus the Moon is exalted, while at 3º Scorpio it – falls. It is the axis through which one descends to the underworld, to Hades, the axis 3º Taurus/3º Scorpio, which connects her with Persephone. But, there must be some more indicators to have Persephone. She has them, though. Her Venus is in strong applying opposition with Pluto, and at the same time the Venus is the dispositor of Mercury in Taurus, which brings Mercury into the sign of fall. That is why her primary tasks are spirituality, working on intuition activation, and awakening of the personal fate. But, her Moon is in Scorpio (8th sign, i.e. related to series 8). So, Shannen has a strong need to go to the Hades’ world, to choose romantic partners who are somehow “dangerous”, to escape to Hades’ chambers, to oppose her parents because of love (remember her big love with Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) in TV series Beverly Hills 90210).   

 But, Hecate as well...

 But, Shannen did not get the role in Charmed just by chance. She carries within the myth of Hecate. Her Moon at 15º Scorpio exactly squares 15º Aquarius (where  asteroid Hecate was at the moment of its discovery), then she has strong opposition with Saturn in Taurus, and Saturn carries over Hecate at 0º Capricorn in her natal chart, so all this indicates her strong unconscious need to relive Hecate within. Finally, look how her Moon “runs toward” the square with lunar nodes axis, right?

Prenatal eclipses are very important in every life, in order to better understand that last emotion (in the moment of death in the previous incarnation) that “colored” one and most probably created some “binding karma”. The death in the previous life is a kind of “dark”, something unknown, but the memory always exists… In this case, since we talk about Hecate as an archetype of the Moon, we should take a look at Shannen’s prenatal lunar eclipse. It was at 20º Leo (the position of the Moon on February 10, 1971, while the Sun was across the Zodiac, at 20º Aquarius). Rulers of this full moon are the Sun and the Saturn. Her Sun (the ruler of prenatal lunar eclipse) at 22º Aries is at very “difficult” fixed star from the constellation of Cetus (sea monster, the belly of the whale) which is of spiritual nature, pulling one “down” into deadly situations, “closed spaces” (isolation, prison, hospital, but also the personal “caves”, i.e. depression) both literally and figuratively, after what one – being aware of his/her own mistakes, gets an opportunity for a new life and healing, but only if he/she regrets sincerely and asks the God from the belly to give a new chance. 

 

“Fight Like a Brenda!”

It is known that in March 2015 Shannon was diagnosed with breast cancer that spread to her lymph nodes (this is true depiction of her Moon (breasts) in Scorpio (Moon’s fall) in square with lunar nodes axis. She faced the illness with courage, and her colleagues from the series “Beverly Hills 90210” gave her support publishing on their Instagram profiles “Fight Like a Brenda!”. When I took a look at Ephemeris for March 2015, I found asteroid Hecate at 18º Capricorn, crossing over her natal Mars (the ruler of her Moon at 15º Scorpio), but also the ruler of her 8th house (deadly illnesses, operations), as well as of her Sun at 22º Aries (and the Sun is the ruler of her prenatal lunar eclipse at 20º Leo). Is this not a sign that the illness came so she could find the “key” within that Hecate carries within and that may bring her healing (since she was born in the phase when the Moon is falling, after the full Moon)?  

 It is interesting that she got the most support from Luke Perry (her Dylan from “Beverly Hills 90210”) who also faced the cancer of colon almost at the same time as she faced her illness. His South Node is at her Moon at 15º Scorpio, speaking of deep and strong connection (from the life before the previous one) of those two people, both on screen and out of it. The South Node always deeply changes the other person. Also, his Saturn in Pisces is close to her Venus, speaking of strong karmic connection, but also of the fact that one day he will “leave” her and make a huge emptiness in her life. At the moment when the series started, in October 1990, secondary progressed Venus of Shannen was at 10º Aries, right across the natal Venus at 10º Libra of Perry. Their synastry is very strong, and it was obvious that the chemistry between Brenda and Dylan was not acting at all. Luke Perry died recently from the stroke at age 52 and left the huge emptiness in the heart of Shannen, who publically admitted to love him and that he is her Dylan... Luke Perry (October 11, 1966, time of birth unknown, Mansfield, Ohio, USA) has in his chart Hecate at the spot where it was at the moment of the discovery, at 15º Aquarius. 

Today, at her Instagram profile, Shannen gives useful advice to women going through the same thing, but she also calls out all women to take preventive steps against this illness. On April 29, 2017, Doherty announced that her cancer was in remission.

Relationship with mother...

 I will add that her Moon is at the end of “Via Combusta”; at 15º Scorpio Via Combusta ends, so she had to collect all the knowledge from 15º Libra (the beginning of Via Combusta) to 15º Scorpio (the end of Via Combusta). The opposition with Saturn and the square with axis of Nodes is her challenge. To open the heart before all, in order to cleanse it. The heart and chest are represented by the Moon in one’s charts, so it is always good to consider what one keeps as an emotion within (i.e. as a memory, for the emotions never belong to us, they are memories of all women in our genetics who went through similar situations and we are now “cleaning” all that in this life). Because of the Saturn attacking her Moon, I think it is very important for her to work on her relationship with her mother, to establish more closeness there… In the photograph we see the mother of Shannen, who is with her in the hardest moments…  

Through the dispositor Mars, her Moon goes to the sign of Capricorn, so from the sign of the fall into the sign of its exile, which is not exactly the support, so Shannen (in the role of the witch), as Hecate, loses her life in the series. 

Shannen and me...

If I take a look now at my chart, since my Mercury is at the degree of Hecate discovery, and since I have the Moon in the 8th house in square with the Pluto, then the following is obvious: like Shannen, I also have the Venus in Pisces – our Venuses are almost at the same degree (now transit Neptune is here, so our connection is huge although we are far away, and I feel her presence strongly, especially after the recent death of Luke Perry, her great love from the mentioned series “Beverly Hills 90210”). Our Venuses are at the star Achernar (Eridanus constellation), of very spiritual nature, representing the travel by the underground river, but there is the light at the end of a tunnel… 

So we both have the code of Persephone, but of Hecate as well, but my Moon is much stronger than hers, for it is in the sign of its domicile and at the degree of Jupiter’s exaltation (God), so my contact with the God, through the prayer, is above all lightness. I have an „exit“ from the square of the Moon and Pluto through the trine of the Venus (as dispositor of the Pluto in Libra) and the Moon. Shannen was born in the phase of Moon falling, while I was born immediately before the fool moon at 11º Leo, which means that within me lives the part of Hecate that make wishes come true if one asks, but there is also that part of the Moon guarding the souls of negative ghosts. It is interesting that my Hecate is activated (it is at 7º Leo), so the first lunation after my birth (February 1, 1980) crossed my Hecate as well.   

My Mercury is at the tip of Yod (the Finger of God) with the Moon, Mars (ruler of my 12 – personal myth, and my 5 – my Asc in the previous life), and every Yod has the nature of Chiron (wound, but also the healing) – when Hecate was discovered, the Moon at 1º Aries had just crossed over Chiron at 0º Aries. Chiron is again in Aries now…   

  

If we look deeper into my chart, then in the modern ruler of the Aquarius, in my Uranus (dispositor of my Mercury at 15º Aquarius) we see the final fate of Hecate in me in the previous incarnation. Uranus goes into strong square with lunar nodes axis, and it is very probable that I lost my life in the previous incarnation because of astrology, that I was declared the witch… Do not forget, 12th house is the house of the personal myth, but also the house of death in the previous life (if the Asc in the previous life is the present 5th house, then 12th house is now the 8th house counting from the 5th one, and that is the house where the previous life ended, leaving behind that “binding karma”…). In this life I continue where I left off, for my Ascendant is in the same sign as the cusp of the 12th house – in Scorpio, meaning that my incarnations are related, and the 5th house is in Aries (Asc in the previous life) with Mars being its ruler, just like my 12th house and my Asc.   

I opened myself for the power of the prayer after Uranus and Pluto “kicked” me 6 times during the previous years, at the Moon at 15° Cancer, and before that Jupiter, in September 2013, by crossing over that same Moon – brought me to my mother’s death. Primarily with Persephone within, that eternal girl protected by her mother (my father died when I was 16), I suddenly faced the lesson from Hecate to “embrace” the death as a part of life. On that September 6, 2013 (when my mother died in front of me), transit Saturn was at 7º Scorpio, in square with Hecate at 7º Leo from my chart, while the nodal axis went across 9º Scorpio/9º Taurus, squaring my natal Sun (in traditional astrology, natural ruler of the 4th house – family) at 9º Aquarius. But, my Sun is the ruler of Hecate, too, which is at 7° Leo in my chart.

Today, after all that, I feel that Hecate within me enables me to still have a strong and deep connection with my mother, although she is not physically present, but she comes to my dreams with strong messages, she is my guide… I dare to say that my mother’s death made me the mistress of the crossing, i.e. that part of Hecate where she governs that crossing from life to death – it is active in me now… The death (as well as illness) is what I feared the most, I am still afraid of it, and I have to work on it for my whole life as it is my primary lesson. That is why the God gave me Scorpio Asc.

Although I have chosen astrology as my profession, the church is not new to me for I visit it frequently. I deeply believe and feel that religion and astrology are tightly connected. Still, I often say the following in this life: I like the Church, but I do not like its administration, and that is probably my Uranus at Asc squaring the nodal axis that suffered for astrology sometime in the past and even was proclaimed the witch by church administration. My Moon at the degree of God, at 15º Cancer, has a strong subconscious need to be in the contact with God and prayer, while the strong Uranus at the Ascendant helps me connect my knowledge of astrology and symbolism of some saints of Serbian Orthodox Church. In that I see my “magic”, enchantment, something nice… 

The First Chiron’s return on April 27, 2021

 Well, Shannan is preparing for her first Chiron’s return, and since when Hecate was discovered the Moon was next to Chiron, I took a look at that chart, and was not disappointed. See the axis 15º Taurus/15º Scorpio? On that day transit Moon will be at her natal Moon at 15º Scorpio (in other words, it will be the day of her lunar return), while the transit Venus will be across the Zodiac, at 15º Taurus. Let me remind you that Hecate was discovered at 15º Aquarius, and there is the activation of that sorceress in her with the first Chiron’s return. Fixed T-square across 15º will make her activate Hecate within even more, and as you see, the Moon will be in a falling phase again, just like when she was born in April 1971, which again is the sign that she has the “key” in her hands… I already mentioned in the text – you remember - On April 29, 2017, Doherty announced that her cancer was in remission. So, after exactly 4 years Shannen will be given the chance to be fully healed through Chiron’s return. Also interesting is Hecate from the chart of Luke Perry, at the mentioned 15º Aquarius, so his spirit might be involved in reviving Hecate within Shannan. If we go even further, and transfer the chart of death of Luke Perry into the 12th Harmonic chart (describing the future life of that moment), then we find there the Venus (love) at 15º Taurus, at the spot where transit Venus in the Shannen’s chart of the first return of Chiron will be. Although not on Earth anymore, he can surely help her from above, with his love… He wished Hecate within her to be “alive”… 

On April 27, 2021 Hecate will be at 24º Pisces (at the Saturn of  Luke Perry) and clearly call upon her angular houses - Asc, Desc, Mc, IC (through 24º-25º of mutable signs), which is more than a sign that she opens into the sorceress… 

But, there is the message for me here too. Namely, the 12the Harmonic chart of death of Luke Perry has Asc at 9º Leo (where my mother’s Asc was), and Desc at 9º Aquarius (at my natal Sun, the natural ruler of the 4th house – the family). IC/MC axis in the 12th Harmonic chart of death of Perry goes across 9º Scorpio/9º Taurus, the spot of lunar nodes at the moment of my mother’s death… 

I wish her health and full healing!

~

Is it possible for one horoscope to house two different mythological stories? Oh yes – it is possible and quite typical as well. Namely, we are all made of multiple strings of different myths that create the weft of our unique fate – the field we astrologers try to figure out.

Chart sources:

Shannen Doerthy https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Doherty,_Shannen

Luke Perry https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Perry,_Luke

Luke Perry’s time of death is listed on the death certificate as 12:44 p.m. (4th March 2019) https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Perry,_Luke

Smiljana Gavrančić was born in Serbia and she is the editor, founder and owner of the bimonthly IAM – INΦINITY Astrological Magazine. She is an ISAR CAP, studied hermetic astrology and practises astrology of karma and archetypes (fixed stars, mythology). She is also a leading exponent of significant degrees in mundane and natal charts – and was one of a few astrologers to predict that Donald Trump would become the 45th US President a year before his election. She blogs in English and in Serbian and you can read her articles at www.astrologsmiljanagavrancic.blogspot.com  You can visit her official website at www.infinityastrologicalmagazine.com  and order digital/hard copy of IAM (since September 2018 Smiljana started to print IAM)  , and if you want you can book your reading with Smiljana at smiljana.gavrancic@gmail.com  
    
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