Hecate

Greek goddess of darkness and daughter of the titans Perses and Asteria, some also make her daughter of Zeus and Latona or daughter of the night. Her name means "the distant" and also may mean "100" hekaton owing to the sacrifice of 100 victims (hecatomb) or owing to the 100 years that the souls of the tombless had to spend in the Estigia coasts under her regency. Her powers made Zeus consider her with respect and admiration.
She had power on the fertility of the Earth as also Core, Proserpina and Demeter had, and once helped the last one to rescue her daughter from the Underworld where she had been taken by Poseidon.
The old Greeks believed Hecate had immense powers: she could provide good luck and had power over the richness and the success in life, when she could also give the most appropriate advises owing to her deep wisdom.
But not always she was good and nice to mortal eyes: she was a hunter and, if she wanted it, she would reveal herself as a woman with the body covered by snakes and chase mortals.
Later in history, Greeks started to worship her as moon goddess, bur while Artemis was the deity of moon light and the splendour of the night, Hecate was of the shades and terrors of it. She was the warden of hell's keys and she was made goddess of witchcraft, dark powers and evil, knowing as she and her daughters Circe and Medea did, the secrets of Black Magic. She also was the mistress of the poisons. Owing to this, black dogs and lambs were sacrificed at midnight in her honour by many magicians and witches or even by common people aiming to frighten the ghosts sent by her with the howling of the victims. When Medea called her, she appeared with snakes in her head.
It was believed that in dark ebony moon nights she walked among the mortals followed by ghostly howling dogs, hounds that were to serve her in her purposes.
Travelers were never to spend the nights in open lonely places since, as goddess of open places, she was believed to appear in those demoniac and mysterious places with three heads: of snake, lion and horse owing to some, or snake, dog and horse owing to others. The three way crossroads were her special domain, were she appeared with each head vigilating a different direction.
The holm or evergreen oaks (encinas) had been consecrated to her, as well as the dogs and the number 3.

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