Selene and Hekate
I understand why people might look at Selene and Hekate and say they are opposites, full moon vs new moon. Selene is bright, peace-loving, gentle. Hekate is dark, powerful, fierce. But the thing is, the unifying symbol of “moon” is much more powerful than the opposite phases of it.
They both know secrets -- Selene, like Helios, is said to see everything that passes below the heavens. They are both nurturing -- Selene is mother to fifty or more daughters, and Hekate is nursemaid, kourotrophos, caregiver. They are both lightbearers -- Selene in her holy radiance, Hekate with her torches. They are both associated with the night.
And they are both sources of magical power. Hekate is well-documented as goddess of witches. Selene is held and bled by the Thessalian witches, of course, but I would submit that she can pass down her power voluntarily as well. Helios, her brother, is the progenitor of the two famous Greek witches any student of Classics will immediately name: Circe and Medea. Both are directly descended from Helios as daughter and granddaughter respectively. While both call on Hekate in some form, it cannot be denied that their divine blood, Helios’ blood, gives them power beyond that of mere mortals. Does Selene not carry the same divine influence as her brother? It would be beyond a reach for anyone to claim literal descent from the Titan goddess, but I think it’s worth considering whether Selene, like Hekate, can bestow her power and authority on mortals who engage with her through prayer, devotion, and spellwork. My experience is that she can and will.
Trying to make family trees for Greek mythology is an exercise in frustration, I know. But Selene and Hekate are pretty consistently related in the same fashion: they are first cousins once removed. Selene is actually one generation closer to Ouranos+Gaia, and since Helios’ power seems to dilute through the generations (Circe = basically a minor goddess; Medea = maybe a goddess? maybe a mortal? who can say really), this would suggest that Selene has more of what we consider “magic” to dispense than even Hekate does.
On the whole, I regard them as more similar than different. Two points in a cycle resemble each other more than any point outside the cycle, basically. I’m far from an expert, but this is the point my reading and experience have led me to so far.
