Mother Hekate

You of many names...I have called You "Mother" so many times, so many ways. I often call You "Dark Mother", but there are problems with how that name is understood. That includes problems with how I have understood it.

I've wondered whether or not I should stop saying it. If it interrupts the rhythm of a chant or prayer, "Great Mother" will work just as well. And, Mother Hekate, You are certainly a Great Mother! The word "Great" could be placed at the beginning of each and every one of Your names!

I want to look deeper at "Dark", though. It sometimes seems it's almost synonymous with "Anti". An Anti-Mother. A Mother who is actually the opposite of whatever a Mother is expected to be. Almost as if a Dark Mother is some sort of Evil Stepmother Deity. (And the archetype of the Evil Stepmother has also caused so many problems.) If we go a little deeper, though, that "opposite" isn't a bad thing. A Shadow Mother... Dark Mother.

Any Mother needs to be a Dark Mother at times, just as aunts don't always get to be "the fun aunt", and teachers sometimes have to be a little harsh with a student who isn't taking their education seriously. Sometimes it's a doctor who has poor bedside manner who will be the best doctor for treating an illness.

What is "Dark"? A Mother of Monsters? Angry? Scary? Tough Love?

You adopt us, and guide and protect us. You don't make the scary things go away. You stand with us and show us the steps we need to take. You sometimes take an approach that we understand as being much like a human mother saying, "I told you not to do that!" or, "Now don't you wish you had listened to me?" 

You are also loving and nurturing. That warm love often comes when we are alone and cold...needing that love the most. You are not likely to be One who fills our lives with sunshine and rainbows. That does not mean You don't show us love. Oh, You have shown me so much love!

So, yes, I suppose You are my Dark Mother. My Great Mother. Great Dark Mother Hekate!