REVIEW: 'Hekate: Goddess of Witches' by Courtney Weber

I had high hopes for this book; I always eagerly anticipate any new work about Hekate, eager to see how She has inspired and moved more of Her devotees. However, I must say that Hekate: Goddess of the Witches felt somewhat disappointing.

In over a decade of my own exploration and worship, I still consider myself to be continually learning but I felt that there was something “lacking” in a lot of the content of this book.

Generally it deals with basic information and is a reasonable introduction to the Goddess Hekate, but its over dependence on “may” statements, weaken the many of the topics being discussed, despite endnotes and references.

Whilst it touches on historical points in places, it seems to pluck things out of the air in others, muddying the waters slightly after many others (d’Este, Sanchez, Mischev, Cullen etc) have striven to clarify who Hekate was, and is.

The language used is a bit trite in places and overall it gave a sense that the author is talking about Hekate without actually having an in-depth, personal relationship with Her. The author herself describes Hekate as “a consistent background presence” and this raised an eyebrow for me, to consider how a person with a background presence could truly represent the Goddess in a published work.

“I had a plan for this book. I lined up the chapters in a way that mirrored my other books, giving the reader the opportunity to examine each aspect of the goddess through the context of the original culture that worshipped her, while connecting them with modern practice. But the more I tried to stick with that comfortable formula, the more elusive this book became.”

The above paragraph, giving early on in the first chapter, was what started me to worry and as I read on, I found the material presented suffered as a result as the author unwittingly undermines her own knowledge.

Also, this book is focused more specifically towards Witches rather than the wider devotional community of Hekate. Whist many Hekateans identify as Witches and practice some form of magick or witchcraft, Hekate is – as history shows – much more than this, and whilst many of Her aspects and powers can be drawn back into the sphere of “witchcraft”, it doesn’t do Her justice in a wider sense.

This is by no means a terrible book, but perhaps not a strong one. Everyone will sing their song of Hekate based around their personal experiences and understandings, but when you put those experiences/understandings into the public eye, obviously not all of the readership are going to synchronise with it.

Such is my experience of this book. If you are less interested in Hekate’s wider and historically/culturally focused history and more interested in modern practices and applications, then you are likely to find relevance in the work. Perhaps, given my ten years of so of study on Hekate and Her Mystries, this book is not directly aimed at me. I wanted to like and enjoy the book, but I could not shake off the nagging doubts in the back of my mind as I read and interpreted the contents given.

A middle-of-the-road book for the modern, Hektean witch. By no means terrible, but lacking a sense of certainty and stable knowledge and experience.