Seven Days of Hekate: Dedication

Friday and Saturday were important Hekate-wise as this was the time I chose to carry out my Rite of the Red Cord, to personally finalise my acceptance into the Covenant of Hekate. In part the Rite was similar to the Rite of the Devotee of Her Sacred Fires which is carried out prior to applying for membership but finally the "mystery" surrounding the red cord detailed in that ritual was finally revealed in a simple yet profoundly powerful way.

On preparing for the Rite I was very excited when a dog started barking outside; it was one of those hearty, echoing barks which lasted for some minutes and I took this to be a good sign. During, I had "Hekate Nytcipolus" playing in the background (and I will be reviewing this CD in my next post) and because I had the house to myself I could turn it up a little louder so it really added to the ambience of the task at hand.

I often find it hard to recall details sometimes in recalling ritual as I can get a little lost in myself and also due to the nature of the "members only" dedication I won't be going into specifics regarding what I did.

On the flip side to that, I can share with you something I did to add a personal element to my Dedication and that was to get a tattoo to mark the occasion (and myself). Now I've already had a tattoo of Hekate on my right forearm which was completed by the wonderfully talented Donna at Infinite Ink but upon being accepted into the CoH and recieving the Rite of the Red Cord to carry out, I made the choice to hold off carrying it out and booked myself in to have something small done.

I took the symbol of the Covenant and the Orphic Oath, two things which I have found resonate strongly with me on a personal level, and asked for the symbol line drawing to be stylised a little whilst still keeping the specific and important details such as the 3 waves and the seven-rayed stars.

It took just over 2hrs to complete and I won't deny that it hurt a little more than my other tattoos but it was all worth it and pain is a transitional thing, I could feel it almost melting into me and though uncomfortable at times I knew I was doing this for Hekate and I endured it as part of showing my dedication to Her.

This marks a new leg of my journey, the start of a new direction on my Path and I'm pleased to know that Hekate is within and without, guiding me along the way for I am a child of earth and starry heaven!