Hecate was intrusted by Zeus with the magic powers of heaven, earth, and sea. She might be cruel, or she might be kind. She had the power of bestowing good and of averting evil, or of bringing misfortune. People of rank erected her image in front of their houses. It was placed frequently at the crossings of roads where, at the new moon, offerings of food were presented, and left for the consumption of poor people.
In statuary, Hecate appears in a hideous form. Three heads and three pairs of arms spring from the same body. Serpents issue from the drapery at her feet and are twined in her hair. She bears a lighted torch and a sword in her hand, and is accompanied by two black, shaggy dogs. When placed at a crossroad, the three heads were usually those of a horse, a lion, and a dog. The three heads are doubtless symbolical of the three-fold nature which was ascribed to this mysterious goddess, her powers extending to the heavens, to the earth, and to the under world. It was probably on this account that she became variously identified with Selene, goddess of the moon, with Diana, goddess of the chase, and with Persephone, goddess of the lower world.
As a deity, Hecate was the goddess of witchcraft and sorcery. It was she who sent demons and phantoms to hover about spots where murder or other hideous crime had been committed. In Macbeth, it may be remembered, the guilty king speaks of "pale Hecate's offerings."
