The first book of the Hekataeon leads the Reader through a series of rituals taking place over two sets of nine days. The first nine days culminate with the Reader’s initiation at midnight on the night of the New Moon. The second nine days culminate on some night while the moon is waxing with the creation of a magical tool and ally called an iynx. Having completed these two rituals, the Reader devotes themselves to Hekate and the work of the Hekataeon, and is awarded the apropriate title of Devotee.
What follows is an inventory of what is needed to complete each of these two nine-day rituals. I have also included notes based on my experience doing these rituals, and countless others, to help you prepare and so that the work can go as smoothly as possible.
I provide these notes, primarily, because in my experience of working the Hekataeon, I sometimes found it difficult to read ahead, as if doing so even for the sake of preparation would somehow ruin the experience. And also, the descriptions of what is needed each day become slightly less precise as one progresses through the work. So, when some of my friends took up the work of the Hekataeon, those of us who had begun the work previously compiled these lists to ease them through.
The Call
Counting backwards inclusively from the night of the new moon, set aside nine days when you can perform a ritual at a liminal hour – ideally dawn, dusk, or midnight. Depending on whether you can leave your altar in place from one day to the next, the speed at which you move and read, and if you do the recommended additional reading at the end of each ritual can take anywhere from fifteen to ninety minutes.
Each chapter presumes that you have read it at least once before sitting down to perform the ritual. You should absolutely do that. Twice would be better.
Each ritual begins with washing your hands. Bring a towel.
Each ritual involves candles, burning paper, and collecting the ashes. Some of the rituals call for pouring the wax into a bowl of salt water. Buy paper that takes ink nicely, and that burns well burns well. Choose a fireproof bowl that is easy to empty. Buy candles that drip nicely. Make certain that your ritual space is sufficiently fire safe.
You will not burn all the way through the candles. Decide in advance if you are going to use the same candles from one ritual to the next, or if you wil discard them at the end of each day, or accumulate them on the altar to illuminate later rituals.
Most of the rituals involve some sort of guided meditation or trance journey, with a heavy emphasis on visualization. If you think you’ll struggle with this, do what preparation you think you’ll need. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using your phone (or computer or old school tape deck) to record yourself reading the chapter aloud for your own benefit.
Each ritual ends with a recommended reading selection from one of four books: The Orphic Hymns, The Homeric Hymns, Proculs, and the Greek Magical Papyri. Some of these passages are available on the internet. Some are not. The Hymn to Selene is PGM IV. 2785-2890. The Hymn to the Waning Moon is PGM IV. 2241-2358.
You will need:
- Three bowls: one for hand washing, one fireproof, one saltwater proof
- Cinnamon in an easy to access container (I like a salt cellar)
- A previously unused pen
- Paper
- Matches or a lighter (I prefer a butane torch lighter)
- White candles (x16, if you are not reusing them one night to the next)
- Black candles x3
- Myrrh incense
- Spring water
- Salt
- Yew sprig
- 6 small, similarly shaped stones (3 light and 3 dark)
- A small pouch for the stones
- A bloodletting devise (I recommend a lancet over a knife) or pomegranate juice as a blood substitute
Night One: DE SGILI
The work begins.
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen paper
- fireproof bowl
- one (1) white candle
- matches or lighter
Reading: Hesiod’s Theogony, lines 411-452. This passage about Hekate, her lineage and her attributes, doesn’t really fit in with the narrative as it has progressed so far, leading some scholars to speculate that Hesiod was a member of a mystery cult centered on Hekate. If you don’t have your own copy (I, unsurprisingly, favor the Athanassakis), this one is available for free from Harvard.
Night Two: DE NATURA
What is the nature of Hekate?
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen
- paper
- fireproof bowl
- one (1) white candle
- matches or lighter
Reading: Proclus Hymn to Hekate and Janus. I do not own a copy of any translation to recommend. I found this copy online, which compatriots of mine have vouched for, and which has the bonus of being interlinear for your hardcore nerds like me.
Night Three: DE POTENTIA
What are the powers of Hekate?
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen
- paper
- fireproof bowl
- one (1) white candle
- myrrh incense
- matches or lighter
Reading: Hymn to Selene, PGM IV. 2785-2890. I have found this transcription online. It may contain errors or typos that I have missed.
Night Four: DE FORMA
What is the appearance of Hekate?
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen
- paper\fireproof bowl
- two (2) white candles
- myrrh incense
- matches or lighter
Reading: Orphic Hymn to Hekate. It’s likely that a Reader of the Hekataeon already has well-established preference for a particular translation of the Orphic Hymns. Mine varies with the task, and for this I recommend in favor the Athanassakis and adamantly against the freely available Thomas Taylor. Unfortunately, for copyright reasons, that seems to be the only one I can find online.
Night Five: SENSIBUS
A consecration of the self and senses to better perceive the divine.
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen
- paper
- fireproof bowl
- three (3) white candles
- myrrh incense
- matches or lighter
Reading: Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Fair warning: it is long and depressing and any legitimate translation will 100% require a content warning for rape and abuse. I happen to own the Penguin Classics edition and would love a recommendation on a superior translation. I found this version available online courtesy, again, of Harvard.
Night Six: CANTICUM
A consecration song that you will sing as you continue the work. At last you will need the yew sprig that you might have gathered a week ago.
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen paper
- fireproof bowl
- three (3) white candles
- myrrh incense matches or lighter
- spring water
- salt
- a sprig of yew
Reading: Hymn to the Waning Moon, PGM IV.2241-2358. A potent curse from the Greek Magical Papyri, actually called “Document to the…” in Betz, and “Cry to the…” in Grayle’s other works. Unfortunately, I cannot find a copy online for your convenience.
Night Seven: FATUS
The creation of a divination tool which you will use repeatedly as you continue the work of the Hekataeon. A lesson learned when my own group worked the book: at the end of the night, use some other divination tool to confirm that your stones will speak clearly and truly.
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen paper
- fireproof bowl
- three (3) white candles
- myrrh incense matches or lighter
- spring water
- salt
- a sprig of yew
- three black stones
- three white stones
- a bag to store them in and read them from
Reading: Orphic Hymn to Artemis. See previous notes on the Orphic Hymns. This was the best I could find online, unfortunately the Taylor translation.
Night Eight: ARBITUM
A night of relatively intense visionary work, culminating in a divination which will determine whether or not you go forward. Note places where your vision deviates from the guided meditation. If you do not get the answer you were hoping for, do further divination, both with the stones and with another tool you have mastered.
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen paper
- fireproof bowl
- three (3) white candles
- myrrh incense matches or lighter
- spring water
- salt
- a sprig of yew
- the divination stones that you consecrated last night.
There is no recommended reading for this ritual.
Night Nine: INVOCATIO
Where the previous rituals may have been done at any “liminal hour”, this one calls to be done at midnight. A fast is recommended. The phrase is “eat little, drink only water”, which I think is a good balance. The more of your day that you can set aside to mediate on and prepare for the ritual that you are about to perform, the petter.
- bowl of water for washing hands
- cinnamon for washing hands
- Hekataeon pen paper
- fireproof bowl
- three (3) white candles
- myrrh incense matches or lighter
- spring water
- salt
- a sprig of yew
- a bloodletting device, or a blood substitute such as pomegranate juice
There is no recommended reading for this ritual.
The Iynx
When the nine nights of The Call are completed, the Devotee – formerly the Reader – makes and ensouls a tool called the “iynx”. No timing is given for the making of the iynx except that it must be buried in one place for three days, submerged under water for a second three days, and then hung in the air for a third three days, and then must be completed on a night of the waxing moon. It is somewhat vague as to whether the completion is done on the ninth night or the tenth. If the Devotee is to make the iynx in the waxing moon immediately following The Call, they have three or four days to rest and gather supplies before beginning.
As described in the Hekataeon, the completed iynx-spirit is embodied in a strapholos: a child’s toy no longer easy to find in the United States, and the (internet) search for which may well bring up more Hekataeon results than material. The strapholos is a disk with two holes drilled near the middle, through which a string is strung, and on which the disk is suspended between two handles. When spun and pulled, the disk makes a whirring, buzzing sound. But the precise geometry is more finicky, and you will want to construct and test your strapholos before ensouling it.
You will need:
- A glass bottle which you are willing and able to break
- Candle
- Saliva
- Salt water
- Grave dirt from one who died young
- Myrrh
- Charcoal
- Ash from burnt crossroads sigils from the Call
- Feather and/or snakeskin
- Someplace where you can bury the bottle
- Someplace where you can drown the bottle
- Someplace where you can hang the bottle
- A wooden disk which you can carve and/or paint, and which you can put two holes in the middle
- String
- Sticks or rods for handles.
- A name that you will assign to the spirit
- A form or image that you wish the spirit to appear in
- A plan for offerings that you will give the spirit in the future, when it does your will
I think that the ideal order of operations is:
- set out all your materials (on a single fire-safe surface, if possible)
- light charcoal for myrrh, apply myrrh early so it’s good and smokey when you start
- light one candle for “flame” component of ritual and a second for wax to seal your jar
- use jar to cover, snuf, and absorb the candle flame
- without turning the jar up, then use it to capture the myrrh smoke
- upturn jar to spit in it and then pour in the salt water, idealy before the myrrh smoke has dispersed
- add grave dirt
- add ashes
- add snake skin and/or feather
- seal jar
My partner and I are fortunate enough to have a yard to bury the bottle in, and trees from which to hang it. Lacking a pool or local body of water, we drowned ours in a bucket. There is nothing saying that the iynx bottle cannot be buried in a plant potter, or hung from a balcony railing or lantern hook. There is also nothing saying that you have to smash the iynx bottle against the ground (as we read it originally); when we redid the rite, we used a hammer.
I recommend assembling your strapholos as close to the beginning of the rite as possible. This gives you time to test that it works, and to practice with the unconsecrated tool so that, when you are called upon to spin it during the final ritual, you can do so with confidence.
I recommend choosing a name, image, and preferred offering at some point earlier than I did (which is to say, not on the final day). Write them down in advance, somewhere you won’t loose it – in the Hekataeon, itself, if you have to. Make the offering something that you will always have on hand – in my case, frankincense and myrrh.
With these rites complete, the Reader-turned-Devotee is ready to proceed to the second phase: the Book of the White Flame.
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