Evidence of Hekate's threefold forms
I’ve had a few people grump that they don’t believe that Hekate is ever historically seen as three-formed. So, here’s some of the evidence that she does in fact show up in three forms. (This is not to say that She’s even remotely part of the MMC - if you know me, I kinda loathe the whole Mother, Maiden, Crone paradigm.)
Lycophron, Alexandra 1174 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
“The maiden daughter of Perseus, Brimo Trimorphos (Three-formed), shall make thee [Queen Hekabe of Troy] her attendant [after her transformed into a dog], terrifying with thy baying in the night all mortals who worship not with torches the images of Zerynthia [Hekate] queen of Strymon [in Thrake], appeasing the goddess of Pherai with sacrifice. And the island spur of Pakhynos [in Sikelia, Sicily] shall hold thine [Hekabe’s] awful cenotaph, piled by the hands of thy master [Odysseus], prompted by dreams when thou hast gotten the rites of death in front of the streams of Heloros. He [Odysseus] shall pour on the shore offerings for thee, unhappy one, fearing the anger of the three-necked goddess [Hekate], for that he shall hurl the first stone at thy [Hekabe’s] stoning and begin the dark sacrifice to Haides.”
"Hekate Einodia, Trioditis [Trivia], lovely dame, of earthly, watery, and celestial frame, sepulchral, in a saffron veil arrayed, pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade; Perseis, solitary goddess, hail! The world’s key-bearer, never doomed to fail; in stags rejoicing, huntress, nightly seen, and drawn by bulls, unconquerable queen; Leader, Nymphe, nurse, on mountains wandering, hear the suppliants who with holy rites thy power revere, and to the herdsman with a favouring mind draw near.” - Orphic Hymn 1 to Hecate
"In the deep stillness of the midnight hour … she [Medea] stretched her arms to the stars … O Nox [Nyx the Night], Mother of Mysteries, and all ye golden Astra (Stars) who with Luna [Selene the Moon] succeed the fires of day, and thou, divine triceps (three-formed) Hecate, who knowest all my enterprises and dost fortify the arts of magic.” - Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.162
"To the ancient shrine of Hecate Perseis [daughter of Perses], deep in the forest in a shady grove, she [the witch Medea] made her way [to meet with Jason] … [Jason] grasped her [Medea’s] hand and in low tones besought her aid and promised marriage … Then by the pure rites of Triformis [three-bodied Hecate] and by whatever Power dwelt in that grove he swore, and by her father’s father [Helios the sun] who sees all the world, and by his triumphs and his perils passed. Then she was sure; and straight the magic herbs she gave into his hands and taught their use [making him invulnerable to fire].” - Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.74
"Unto the lord of Tartarus [Haides] and unto the Stygian ghosts was Alcimede [mother of Jason] bringing holy offerings in fear for her mighty son [the Argonaut Jason], if Shades summoned forth [using the magic of Nekromankia] might give her surer knowledge. Even Aeson himself, who shares her anxiety but who hides such unmanly fears in his heart, yields and is led by his wife. In a trench stands blood and plenteous offering to hidden Phlegethon and with fierce cries the aged witch calls upon her departed ancestors and the grandson of great Pleione [Hermes guide of souls]. And now at the sound of the spell rose a face, insubstantial, and [the ghost of] Kretheus gazed upon his mournful son and daughter-in-law, and when he had sipped the blood he began to utter these words [tells him that Jason is safe, but King Pelias is plotting Aeson’s death] … He [Aeson] returns to the holy rites [of the Underworld Gods]. Beneath the gloom of an ancient cypress, squalid and ghastly with darksome hue, a bull still stood, dark blue fillets on his horns, his brow rough with the foliage of yew; the beast too was downcast, panting and restless, and terrified at the sight of the shade. The witch [Alkimede], according to the custom of her evil race had kept him, chosen above all others, to use him now at last for these hellish practises. When Aeson saw that the bull still remained at the hour of the awful rites unslain, he dooms him to death, and with one hand upon the horns of the fated victim speaks for the last time [cursing his half-brother King Pelias] …
Then he appeased the goddess of triple form [Hekate goddess of earthly ghosts], and with his last sacrifice offers a prayer to the Stygian abodes, rehearsing backward a spell soon, soon to prove persuasive; for without that no thin shade will the dark ferryman [Kharon] take away, and bound they stand at the mouth of Orcus [Haides].”- Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.730
"[Medea cries out to Hekate:] `Thou [Hekate-Selene] who doest show thy bright face as witness of the silent mysteries, O three-formed (triformis) Hecate, and ye gods by whose divinity Jason swore to me … I have yet curse more dire to call down on my husband – may he live.” - Seneca, Medea 6
"She [Medea] prays to Hecate to send her now more potent spells and mightier powers, nor abides contented with the drugs she knew. Then she girds up her robe and takes forth a Caucasian herb, of potency sure beyond all others, sprung of the gore that dropped from the liver of Prometheus, and grass wind-nurtured, fostered and strengthened by that blood divine among snows and grisly frosts, when the Vulture rises from his feasting on the flesh and from his open beak bedews the cliffs. That flower knows not the languor of life, but stands, immortally fresh, against the thunderbolt, and in the midst of lightnings its leaves are green. Hecate first, plying a blade that Stygian springs hardened, tore forth the strong stalk from the rocks; then showed she the plant to her handmaid [Medea], who beneath the tenth shining of Phoebe’s [Selene the Moon’s] light reaps the harvest of the mountain-side and rages madly among all the gory relics of the god; fruitlessly doth he groan, beholding the face of the Colchian maid; then over all the mountain pain contracts his limbs, and all his fetters shake beneath her sickle [Prometheus suffers anguish when the plant sprung from his blood is gathered]. The Colchian [Medea] began to move through the dark night with sound of magic spells … and when they came to the tall trees and the shade of the triple goddess [Hekate] … so in the midnight shadows of the grove did they two [Jason & Medea] meet and draw nigh each other, awe-struck, like silent firs or motionless cypresses … And already had she begun to take the Titanian herbs and Persean [Hekate’s] potencies from her bosom … and forthwith with groans and tears she proffered the poisons to the youth [Jason].” - Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 7.352
Lookit that Grave Stele: Gaius and Aphion from Istanbul with Hekate totally having three-forms,
This is just scratching the surface. She’s called Triaucheros (with Three Necks: Lycophron’s Alexandra), Triceps (Three-formed: Ovid), Trikephalos (Three-headed: so many sources), Trimorphos (Three-formed: many sources)…
Now, some people interpret this as a metaphor for her ability to see in many directions. But that’s just a theory. It’s not a certainty.
Sure, Hekate’s earliest forms were single in form. But here’s the thing that I think the modern intellect struggles with - the Ancient World is, for the most part, polyvalent. Many different perspectives existed, and everyone was okay with that. That’s one reason why in one story we see Hekate’s dedication to being untouched sexually, but in another we read that she and Phorkys or she and Hermes had a child or a liaison.
So, does it bother me that another person doesn’t see Hekate as three-formed? Nah. It does bother me when they argue that there’s no evidence for it.
For my practices, I’m trying not to divorce any of Hekate’s natures from Her. I try to embrace the sheer over-whelming variety and weirdness of a Titaness who is also a Goddess and became seen as so much else besides.
Theoi.com
Sarah Iles Johnston, Hekate Soteira
Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks