None Before You

Glorious Hekate Ourania!

Glorious Hekate Khthonia!

Glorious Hekate Einalia!

Why are You above all others for me? I ask myself these things and sit with my thoughts, sorting them out and getting to understand myself better, because I don't want to do meaningless things. That would be wasteful, empty, and dishonoring.

The mythology tells us that even Zeus honors You first. That sets a good example, but Mother, You know my ways are Hekatean but not Hellenic. I am thankful for the blessings of Hermes, Pan, Poseidon, Prometheus, Apollon, Hephaistos...all who have given me their blessings. I thank You for opening gates to those relationships and agreements. My ways are not restricted to one pantheon, though, and while I do seek the wisdom of the mythology and what is known of ancient practices and how they have evolved and are being reconstructed, You know my ways are not only guided by those ways. I feel no obligation in my practice to honor You because Zeus honors You.

All who have left the religion I grew up in must reach the point, individually, of asking ourselves what we still carry with us from that. Do I honor You above others because it is comfortable after growing up in monotheism? Even my honoring of others isn't worship as much as polite and affectionate interaction, or sometimes something more like a business agreement. Is my henotheism just a repetition of monotheistic practice with polytheistic belief added in? I do not believe it is so.

Mother, I honor You above all others because You are my Mother. That is true in ways I would find it nearly impossible to explain to another person. It is true on multiple levels, woven through multiple experiences. I do not call You "Mother" simply out of respect for a goddess. I do not call You "Mother" only when calling to You in one of Your forms in which You are widely recognised as carrying the title. You are, in multiple ways, my Mother.

I am thankful for relationships with my Ancestors. I am thankful for my relationships with other spirits. Those relationships are very different from my relationships with beings we recognise as deities, though. Among deities, I don't see now how any could come before You for me. I am thankful for the opportunities I have for building relationships, as well as the relationships that are not meant to be so strong and intimate. Even when those relationships have been built over years and many experiences, though, my relationship with You will be older and stronger. Some of those other relationships exist because of Your guidance. 

Glorious Hekate, there are none for me who take priority before You!