Epithets: Chrysosandalos
Golden-Sandaled, with Golden Sandals
PGM LXX 4-25
Ereschigal, virgin, bitch, serpent, wreath, key, herald’s wand, golden sandal of the Lady of Tartaros.
This spell which is titled the Charm of Hekate-Ereschigal is meant to protect the magician, and is the source of the ephesia grammata we see in Sorita D’Este’s Rite of Her Sacred Fires today.
ASKEI KATASKEI ERON OREON IOR MEGA SAMNYER BAUI (three times) PHOBANTIA SEMNE
Betz believes this spell includes remnants of the mysteries of the Idaean Dactyls. A scholiast on Theocritus mentions Hekate as wearing golden sandals and a white mantle, carrying a poppy and torches, and a calathos upon her head.
A similar description is also found on a curse tablet from Carthage, where the epithet becomes, Chrysosandalaimopotichthonia, ‘Of the Lower World wearing Golden Sandals and Drinking Blood.’
Sandals are significant symbols in Graeco-Roman magic, and the dirt from one’s sandal print can be used against the wearer. Sandals can also be a symbol of the Goddess or a symbol of death and rebirth and with stories of descent to the Underworld.
One oracle, The Corpus Hermeticum XIII, 1, from the late 3rd century CE, suggests that Hekate’s statue be consecrated with white robes, golden sandals, and snakes encircling her statue.
Kerenyi believes that other descriptions of Hekate wearing brazen sandals signify Hekate’s role as Queen of the Underworld, while the golden sandals represents Her position as a “bright” goddess (Kerenyi, 41.)
Hesiod tells us that Hera wears golden sandals, in his description of the birth of the Gods to Rhea and Kronos, though he uses the word chrysopedilos.
Today, gold isn’t often mentioned by Hekatean practitioners. Silver seems popular, and iron. Brass comes up sometimes, as does bronze. And each of those are legitimate options, with good reasons to do so. To me, gold is noble, and indicative of Hekate’s powerful status as a Titaness. I can imagine incorporating the white mantle and golden sandals as a preparation in possessory rituals, though I have not tried doing so myself.
Khaire Chrysosandalos, Glorious you are, arrayed in white, Full of power and glory, Casting light around In the darkness of the Underworld, Hekate, you shine, Upon the path we tread, And we are blessed to see the road By your golden torchlight.
Sources:
Addey, Crystal. Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism: Oracles of the Gods, Routledge, 2016. Athannasakis, Apostolos N. Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Shield, Johns Hopkins, 2004. Betz, Hans Dieter. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demotic Spells, Vol. 1, Univ. Chicago, 1996. Farnell, L.R. “The Pergamene Frieze, continued,” in the The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Council of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 1885. “Hellenic Goldsmithing,” The Jewelers’ Circular, Vol. 81, Issue 1, Jewelers’ Circular, 1920. p. 114. Johnston, Sarah Iles. Hekate Soteira, Scholars, 1990. Kerenyi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks, Thames & Hudson, 1980. Pachoumi, Eleni. The Concept of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri, Mohr Siebeck, 2017.
Images:
“Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, golden shoes,” from Hochdorf an der Enz, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, 530 BCE, gold, now in the Historic Museum of Bern, uploaded by Rosemania. Via Wikicommons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hochdorf_golden_shoes_ornaments.jpg