It's a good thing that Hecate is depicted as a triple goddess (though she isn't one) because she has a got a lot of jobs! Though frequently mistaken for a triple goddess, she isn’t one. Hecate (or Hekate) is the torchbearer of the night, goddess of witchcraft, liminal spaces, the moon, ghosts, arcane knowledge, and crossroads.
Hecate's character and domain have shifted greatly over time. In early depictions, Hecate was a benevolent and protective figure, guarding the boundaries of the oikos (the household) and watching over families like a protective mother. Likely an “imported” goddess from Asia Minor, she originally held power over land, sea, and sky, which she impressively maintained even after Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divided the cosmos among themselves. As a deity of thresholds and transitions, she bridged the divide between the old gods and the Olympians, standing as a liminal figure in a very literal sense.
Hecate’s darker imagery and her associations with witchcraft, ghosts, and the macabre developed much later, though it is now an inseparable part of her identity. In truth, she is just as much a goddess of light as of shadow. Her twin torches symbolize this duality: illumination and mystery, guidance and concealment, light piercing the inky night. While modern traditions cast her as a triple goddess (maiden, mother, crone), her ancient three-form depictions were quite literal and represented her guardianship of crossroads, allowing her to watch in every direction at once, not that she was literally three separate forms. In fact, in classical art and literature, she is not a fearsome crone at all, but a young maiden.
Hecate played an integral role in the story of Persephone When Demeter’s daughter was taken to the Underworld, it was Hecate who guided her through the darkness, her torches lighting the path back to the world above. After Persephone’s fate was sealed, mandated to spend part of each year in Hades and part on Earth, Hecate remained by her side as a steadfast companion and trusted ally in the realm of the dead.
