It is always a pleasure to dive into Irisanya Moon's books and Hecate, Goddess of Magick and Witchcraft is no exception.
Ancient Deity of the crossroads, Hecate is often seen as the witchiest of witches, likely from Shakespeare's Three Witches scene in Macbeth. Described as a daughter of the Ancient Greek Titans, she is nonetheless (and appropriately, to my mind) a being who origins are unknown. I remember her from Edith Hamilton's Greek Mythology, particularly for her connection to Demeter and Kore.
"Hecate arrives in many forms and with many features, walking through art and stories that conjure visions of mystery and death, of travels between worlds and wonders. (p 34)"
Moon begins at the beginning: where did Hecate come from and how to pronounce her name. She then guides the reader through Hecate's family before moving on to lightly touch on the many stories and myths associated with her. A chapter on how Hecate is portrayed is fascinating, as is the next one, which focuses on her link with necromancy. Lime Moon, my early forays into witchcraft taught me that Hecate was the Queen of Witchcraft, and a chapter explores this sobriquet, including a list of days sacred to Hecate. Chapter seven details her epithets, animals, and symbols, a fitting lead up to Chapter 8's collection of Devotional Practices and then Chapter 9's look at Cultivating a Relationship with Hecate.
All throughout the reader is given techniques and ritual ideas to create and deepen their knowledge of and practice with Hecate. There are also lots and lots of passages provided from direct texts to begin to create one's own library of resources. Moon gives the reader a thorough collection of Resources and Bibliography. Well-researched, Hecate is nontheless an offering from Moon's personal practice, she does not speak for Hecate or other worshippers of Hecate. There are no absolutes here, only guidance.
Being in the Pagan Portals line, Hecate is slim and makes no attempt to gather, rectify, or explain the mountain of data available about this long-popular godd. (Moon uses the term godd to step away from gendered notions, godds don't fit well into human-defined labels.) As with many of the Pagan Portal books, the reader may be left desiring more, but that is no bad thing.
This is a wonderful book and would make an excellent addition to one's library.
~review by Lisa McSherry
Author: Irisanya Moon
Collective Ink, 2026
pp. 160
