The crossroads offering is seemingly a later addition and it’s pretty obvious where it comes from – the Deipnon. Every lunar month, on the dark moon, we offer to Hekate at the crossroads to honour Her of course, but it is also a propitiation offering that in some ways asks for protection. On the dark moon She wanders the world as leader of the host of the Restless Dead. So we offer at the crossroads to feed Her and the dead and Her hounds I suppose, but also to give us some protection from the dead.
As a protective sort of offering it stands to reason that this would become part of a protection festival that has little to no details about what one should do for that festival.
The most interesting part of this festival, and actually kind of makes me really like the whole thing, is the part where it is about Hekate as a storm Goddess. As we can see, the storm part of the festival appears to have originated with Leo Ruickbie. Given that the source he cites doesn’t mention storms at all, we have to assume that even if this did somehow originate in an ancient festival, the storm part of it is a modern addition.
I suppose it makes some logical sense though, a festival to ask Hekate to protect the harvest… why? Others who have searched before me often show confusion over why Hekate of all the deities is the one being asked to protect the crops/harvests. She’s not generally noted as an agricultural deity, so why Her? I suppose the addition of protection from storms makes it seem a little more palatable to those who know Her as the Lady of Storms.
Her storm aspect isn’t mentioned very often – but it is actually a slightly popular one. Fact is we don’t have a lot of information about Her as a storm Goddess, nor much about any cultus that revolved around that aspect. But some fragments of history do exist.
The main tangible piece of historical evidence we have of Hekate being a storm Goddess – at least to some of the Greeks is from my favourite place in ancient Greece, Samothrace.
“In Samothrace there were certain initiation-rites, which they supposed efficacious as a charm against certain dangers. In that place were also the mysteries of the Corybantes and those of Hecate. The initiates supposed that these things save [them] from terrors and from storms.
So, She was given offerings, or sacrifices, in Samothrace, asking for protection from the storms – and from terror. But we can also go further. Though it isn’t generally outright stated, as an Oceanic deity, Hekate would have province over stormy weather – especially on the ocean and the shore. Add to the fact that She is also a Ouranic deity, this would seem to give Her even more rule over the weather. As Brimo, the angry one, we can also hazard a guess that She again holds sway over angry storms or any natural disaster really.
The storm aspect holds firm in reference to Hekate, but whether it should be part of this festival is another matter. As a note, I actually did check the climate and weather patterns for Samothrace – they have really nice weather during August, with rare showers and storms. But for the most part, August is not a stormy season, any storm propitiation would likely not have happened at this time of year.
