Hecate (or Hekate) is the deity of the moon, magic, and plenty. She is also considered to be the goddess of witchcraft. She is both feared and revered. She is known as the provider of food, riches, and other desirable things, and as a defender of children. She also is an independent and capricious deity who wanders the night with a pack of hell hounds, which she sets on anyone she finds traveling about.
Hecate was known by a number of bynames: Apotropaia (that turns away/protects), Chthonia (of the earth/underworld), Enodia (on the way), Klêidouchos (holding the keys), Kourotrophos (nurse of children), Krokopeplos (saffron cloaked), Melinoe, Phosphoros, Lampadephoros (bringing or bearing light), Propolos (who serves/attends), Propulaia/Propylaia (before the gate), Soteria (savior), Trimorphe (three-formed), Triodia/Trioditis (who frequents crossroads)
Hecate has few clerics, and most of those are cleric/wizards or cleric/sorcerers. Her clerics usually work in solitude, performing magical research, making items, and searching out legendary treasures. They form cells of cultists to pursue their schemes on a larger scale.
Vestments
Hecate's clerics prefer blue-white garb (the color of moonlight).
Temples
Temples to Hecate serve as bases and sanctuaries for her clerics. They are always well hidden, often located in depths of dark, haunted forests and guarded by undead.
Hecate is the patron of those who work dark magic and those who would work magic for gain. She promotes the use of spells and magic items, and tells her followers that magic is the key that unlocks wealth, power, and all desirable things.
She preaches the joys of abundance, but warns against the folly of waste. Any good reaper or hunter, she says, leaves a few seeds and a few fauns for next year.
Her true form is that of a woman with three heads. However, she can appear in any form she likes, and she most often appears as a beautiful woman with lustrous, dark hair.
Hecate is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. The goddess was frequently associated with Demeter and even assimilated to her in some cults.
