Transitions are the stable, continuous state of existence. We move from one thing to another constantly. Even stuckness causes change, as rigidity creates brittleness which leads to breaking. We are ever in the process of becoming, and becoming undone, of decay and fertilization, of entropy and creation. Witches and myth lovers turn to Hecate rituals during times of transition, especially at the dark moon. Liminal passage, times of uncertainty, dark nights of the soul, are threshold initiations that can become the deepest, most profound moments of transformation in our lives. 

Hecate is an archetype of underworld guidance. She holds the torch in her hand to help us see the way through the dark. She is the energy that causes us to pause at the road’s fork, to ponder our next move, to consider what we must leave behind, and what we want to welcome as we step forward, to make a decision, even when we’re not fully sure where the path leads. 

Working with this goddess of the crossroads helps us see the hidden paths, and helps us recognize that thresholds of transformation are available in the experience of the everyday, within the magic of the mundane. 

In the last couple of essays, we explored the crossroads with Hecate as a life changing event, and as the change that trickles down the paths of our lives with every breath, as well as the symbols of Hecate as the thresholds of our own life’s magic. Read those first if you’d like to be more familiar with Hecate’s wisdom before diving into crossroads rituals with this powerful goddess of the thresholds. 

The Power of Hecate Rituals – Why We Work at the Threshold

Marking significant moments of life transitions, ritualizing endings, ceremonializing new beginnings, and engaging in sacred secularism – a living, breathing relationship that weaves ancient wisdom and modern knowledge, mythic depths and real life issues – supports the project of making life meaningful. 

Liminality as a Spiritual Technology

The liminal space, which can be found in every breath, or be the bridge between careers, relationships, and life phases, is powerful. It’s when something is not quite done, and not quite beginning, or when you’re on your way, or when you pause before you make a decision, when you’re shedding an identity, when you’re visited by the presence of an ancestor.

Liminality can be a fire that forges the tools that we need for the next phase in our lives – if we orient ourselves within it to the magic that’s available to us. 

Why Hecate governs transitions, endings, and the hidden path

When we say that Hecate governs transitions, it can mean different things for different people. I’ll offer you the spiritual atheist perspective; the archetype of the dark goddess is the energy that moves us into an underworld journey – it’s the event that sends you down the rabbit hole, it’s the world’s condition that spirals you down into the darkness, it’s when your identity falls off of you, and you are naked and covered in the ashes of who you were. 

It’s not only the energy that spins you onto the hidden path, it’s also dark feminine wisdom that supports you on your descent and return, guides you through a moonless doorway, and protects you within hidden realms that are as important as they are dangerous. 

The goddess of thresholds invites us to spark liminal magic, and craft shadow work rituals and rituals for life transitions, that support our connection to life itself. These rituals help us cultivate meaning so that the hardships, the loss, the grief, can all be experienced fully – not bypassed – and embraced as threshold initiation, deep transformation, and alchemical potency. 

Why Hecate Rituals are Relevant Now

We are experiencing collective upheaval. The times we’re living through are intense, scary, and chaotic. We don’t know how long this period of collapse and dissolution will last. We don’t know what’s coming. Uncertainty is ruling the land. I want to be careful of the tendency to romanticize this terrible period by associating it with a goddess, with the dark feminine, with Hecate magic.  It’s not all for the best. Let’s not do spiritual bypassing. But if we choose to, mindfully, this can be the mythic crossroads of Hecate. This is our collective journey of descent.

She comes to the help of Demeter when Persephone disappears, revealing to her that she’s in the underworld. She helps Persephone become queen in the underworld. She’s the guide and the guardian in difficult times. 

She’s the wisdom hidden where your soul navigates within the ruins of an old way of being, when an identity is shed, when the collective feels lost and overwhelmed, when the personal and the communal are collapsed. 

Hecate rituals at the crossroads of collective chaos, and personal loss of directions, can help – not to solve the problems, but to invoke guidance, to illuminate the way through the dungeons, to inspire and spark creativity within the entropy, to invite and to cultivate the kind of qualities we need, and to make something meaningful and valuable of this life, even as the world falls apart. Hecate ignites the alchemy of the apocalypse. 

A simple Hecate ritual for release can support emotional clearing and shadow work. Our relationship with the goddess of the crossroads can be cultivated through soft ceremonies of recognition. We don’t need big, elaborate ceremonies. We’re all busy and struggling, and a gentle moment of engagement can go a long way. 

Hecate’s torches illuminate whatever ritual path we are ready to walk. 

What Makes a Ritual Hecatean

Anytime you do a ritual that marks a threshold, you’re in the realms of the goddess of liminality. 

Hecate rituals are known as rituals for clarity and guidance, but I must add that our culture’s obsession with clarity has blurred the most important aspect of Hecate; the ability to be with ambiguity and ambivalence. 

A ritual is filled with dark feminine wisdom when it makes room for you to be in the liminal. 

Rituals for life transitions often use Hecate symbols, such as the torch, or other illuminating objects, to help you find your way through the uncertainty and the dark, or the key, to help you open the door to the next phase, and lock the door on what you’re leaving behind. You can read more about Hecate symbols in this essay, to enrich your understanding of them, and weave them into your Hecate rituals. 

A Dark Moon Ritual with Hecate – Clearing, Ending, Unbinding

Hecate is associated with the moon – all its phases, all its faces. She’s a triple goddess, and so she’s not only Maiden, Mother, Crone, but she’s the waxing crescent moon, the full moon, and the waning crescent moon. She’s the new, the peak, and the dark. She’s all of it, and everything that’s in between. Especially the inbetween. 

Rituals for Hecate were traditionally done within the dark moon phase; three days before the new moon, the new moon itself, and three days after. People often think of the dark moon as the end of a lunar cycle, before the moon renews itself, before another lunar cycle begins. But many witches consider the three days after the new moon as the completion of the dark moon cycle – a potent time still submerged in shadow, deep unknown woven with deep knowing. 

A dark moon phase can also be applied to the end of a solar cycle – the last few weeks of the year, leading up to the Winter Solstice, and carried into the beginning of a new year. 

We also go through personal dark moon phases, as well as collective ones, when we experience deep transformation in the darkness of the underworld; times of chaos, confusion, grief, depression, and the feeling of falling apart. 

Working with the dark moon is an invitation to do shadow work rituals. 

Step 1 – Entering the Moonless Doorway

The dark moon phase is the period at the end of a lunar cycle, and the very beginning of a new one, when the moon is least visible, or hiding from us completely on the new moon. It is a time of mystery, of the unknown, of uncertainty. The dark moon is lunar liminality, dark, potent, generative. 

Astronomically, the dark moon is the period that surrounds the new moon – both before and after. The moon has 0% illumination when it’s new – in conjunction with the sun. Astrologically/Spiritually, the dark moon is a time of completion, of release, of clearing the path for what’s next. It’s a quieter time of reflection and contemplation.

The emotional qualities associated with the dark moon are rage, depression, grief, sorrow, resistance. The overculture’s message teaches us to repress the so-called negative emotions. Hecate rituals for the dark moon invite us to integrate all of our parts, and to reclaim our shadow. 

Hecate meets us at the moonless doorway as our guide through the darkness, through hidden realms, through the energies in us that we don’t want to look at. 

Dark Moon Hecate Ritual – How to prepare 

You can make a ritual as elaborate as you wish it to be – it’s up to you. For a ritual to be meaningful, all we really need is a bit of time set for this sacred threshold, our attention, and our intention. 

Pick a time and a place where you can be in the dark. The dark moon is a quiet phase, so creating a space where you can spend a few moments in silence is important. 

Bring a candle to symbolize the torch. Optional: You can choose a candle with a specific color that evokes clearing, ending, and releasing. If you’d like, you can carve something that represents what you’re letting go of on the candle. Light it. 

Bring a key. You can hold it close to your heart. You can place it by the candle. Charge it with meaning: What are you leaving behind? What are you giving to the land of the dead and turning your back on? 

Take some slow, deep breaths into your belly, to help regulate the nervous system, center your energy, and call yourself to the threshold. (If you need some help with belly breaths, and with nervous system regulation before you start your ritual, you can use this video practice, which also incorporates a little gentle movement, and a simple throat activation).

Bring a journal, a pen, a bowl to burn a piece of paper in. 

Step 2 – Naming What Ends

Dark moon rituals with Hecate are an invitation to send some things into the inner compost bin, and let them break down into soil, or burn them in the transformative fire of your awareness.  

Once your candle is lit in your dark quiet space, your key is placed on an altar, on your body, or by your candle, and your breath has guided you into presence, pick up a pen and your journal, and explore…

Journal Prompts for a Dark Moon Hecate Ritual 

• • What do you feel in the dark?

• • What are some of the things that are bothering you at this juncture of your life?

• • What are you learning from your sorrow, your sadness, your rage, your pain?

• • What are some of the things you’re resisting these days?

• • What is being stripped away?

• • What do you want to let go of, but feels sticky and insistent?

• • What parts of you have you not given enough attention to lately?

• • What voices have been loud lately in your head?

• • What do you want to see more of in your behavior?

• • What patterns of thought have been blocking, limiting, and disconnecting you from who you want to be?

• • What do you need help with from the goddess of liminality?

The Torch-bearing Goddess on a Dark Moon Ritual for Release

When you’re done journaling, write down on a separate piece of paper what you’re ready to burn, what you want to let go of, what you need to compost, what you wish to banish.

Do you have a bowl to burn this paper in? BE EXTRA EXTRA CAREFUL WHEN WORKING WITH FIRE!!!!!

When you’re ready, bring your paper to the flame of your candle and when it lights up, place it in the bowl and watch it burn. In your own language say something in the spirit of: “I’m giving (insert what you’re letting go of) to Hecate, to burn in the flame of her torch, and light up my path. As I let (fill in the blank) go, I give myself to creativity and renewal. And so it is.”

The energy of release under Hecate’s torches is powerful. Hecate’s torches illuminate whatever ritual path we are ready to walk. Hecate’s torches light up the serpentine path. 

What you’ll burn in her fire will nourish the next phase of your life. The land after a fire is fertile. Renewal is green and lush after things burn down. Make room for the fire to clear your heart from the unnecessary burdens you place in it. Make room for the feelings that come with release, with letting something die, with closing the door on something. 

The feelings might surprise you – what comes up isn’t always what we expect. Breathe and be with the truth of your experience. Be conscious of the indirect quality of the liminal passage – the serpentine path doesn’t add up or go in expected directions. It twists and turns, it burrows and climbs, it descends and rises,

What we burn will not necessarily simply disappear. What we do in a ritual takes time to unfold in our lives. The path of magic is not a straight line. Give yourself to the mystery of the dark moon, to the unknown, the unexpected. 

Step 3 – Walking Away from What No Longer Holds You

Once your paper is all in ashes, whenever you feel ready, hold the key in your hands, close your eyes, and take three rounds (or more) of slow, deep cleansing breath. Breathe into your belly and let it puff like a balloon, then exhale slowly and fully out of your mouth.

Threshold Visualization 

Imagine yourself standing at a gateway or a doorway. See the shape of it: is it arched? Is it a modern door or an ancient gate? How big is it? See the color of it. Feel the texture – what is the threshold made of? Wood? Stone? Plants? Something else? 

Do you see something on the other side? Do you have an idea of what’s waiting for you? Or is it a complete unknown? Are you looking forward to it? Are you nervous? Feel what there is to feel. Receive yourself right there with whatever is moving through you. 

Feel your feet on the ground at the threshold. Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale walk through it to the other side. Hold the key next to your heart. 

The gate is closing. The path behind you sealing shut. Lock the door. Walk on your new path. Keep the key next to your heart. Breathe slowly, deeply, intentionally, and keep visualizing yourself walking until you feel complete enough.

Endings are sacred. Give yourself as much time as you need to before you call yourself to re-emerge.

Closing the Rite – Returning from the Crossroads

When you feel ready enough, place one hand over the belly, and the other on your heart, and take a few more breaths, giving yourself the message that you are here for yourself on this new path, supporting yourself. Whisper your thanks to yourself for making this shift. Thank the darkness for what it revealed. Thank Hecate for bearing witness. 

Visualize the torchlight dimming, until only the memory of its glow flickers. Tap the floor three times. You are returning. Whenever you’re ready, open your eyes and come back to the room. The crossroads is closed. The knowing within the unknown stays. You are changed.

Go outside and spread the ashes of the paper you burned on the earth.

IMPORTANT NOTE: you might find that not everything in this ritual fits with you and your style. Take what works for you and leave the rest at the threshold. Make this yours, because it is! 

Post Hecate Ritual Integration: What to Notice Over the Next Few Days

After dark moon rituals with Hecate, the shifts are subtle and profound. 

Pay attention to your dreams. You can boost them with Mugwort tea – such a wonderful herb to play with. Hecate always has a bundle of herbs with her. This one might help you connect with her through the liminality of the unconscious. 

Notice the emotional echoes of the threshold. You won’t necessarily have clarity, and my suggestion is to make room for the honest truth of what’s emerging, which might be ambiguous, not clear. Ambiguity and paradox are signs that Hecate is present. Let her guide you (whatever that means for you – symbolic language is powerful, even if your approach is secular and not faith based). 

Whenever you walk through a doorway, whenever you notice a beautiful door or gate somewhere, whenever you hold your keys, whenever you see a black dog, whenever you notice something that evokes Hecate – pause, take three long deep breaths, and know that you’re supported. 

Listen for a quieter voice rising inside of you, whispering wise words and wild wonders. Listen to the messages it whispers. 

Carry the Key with You

Notice if old patterns feel looser, less gripping, less dominant. It’s ok if you still feel caught in the old ways. Transitions are not linear, they are liminal. It’s a serpentine path, not a straight line. Whenever you feel the old pattern you intended to leave behind creeping in, hold the key you used during the ritual, and turn it three times in your hand, mimicking locking a door. 

The Path Ahead is Already Stirring

Next week. I’ll share another Hecate ritual to accompany you on the path. If you feel a doorway forming within life’s changes, within the space between the years, within the chaos we are in collectively – stay tuned! 

To learn how to create your own rituals for other moon phases, seasons, archetypes, and life events, download my free ritual guide. It’s full of ideas, practical tools, and poetic engagement with the power of ritual. 

Subscribe to my Substack to receive Muse Medicine and Mythic Magic every Monday, plus other meaningful engagements (I share a note or two on the Substack app almost every day, to support your journey).

Try this ritual practice video to deepen and embody your connection with Hecate and the dark moon phase, and subscribe to my YouTube channel to receive weekly somatic spells.

If you found this Hecate ritual helpful and interesting, please share it with a friend today. 

Thanks for reading, dear soul! 

Much love,

Hagar