At the Crossroads

Hey bestie,

I have spent years devoted to Hekate, Goddess of crossroads, thresholds, keys and torches. I have loved these symbols for a very long time.

Imagine my dismay when i discovered for the 500th time that appreciating the spiritual significance of the crossroads is more pleasant when you are not personally standing in one.

I would currently prefer a map.

A torch is not a map. It cannot tell you where the road ends, whether you will regret taking it, what waits around the bend, how long you will be walking, or whether another road would have been easier. A torch can illuminate where you are standing and perhaps a few steps ahead, which is a lot less information than I would like at this time in my life.

It is also the point, I fear.

There are thresholds in life where no amount of divination, analysis, advice or staring aggressively into the middle distance will give us certainty. Sometimes the question is not, How do I guarantee that I choose correctly?

Sometimes the question is, What can I see from where I am standing?

What do I know now that I didn't know before? What is true in the light I actually have? What is the next best step?

I don't think devotion means the Gods eliminate uncertainty for us. At least, if so I did not get that package upgrade in my personal priestess pack. Sometimes the sacred gift is smaller and harder than certainty.

You get a torch.

Before the Crossroads: Khernips

Before I approach ritual, I always cleanse. One practice I use is a modern Hekatean adaptation of khernips, cleansing water inspired by Greek traditions of ritual purification. Khernips removed miasma, which is like physical and energetic dirt and debris. One of Hekate's many epithets is Hekate Borborophorba, meaning “eater of filth”. This means she takes what “dirties” us, and consumes it so it doesn't consume us instead. 

This might remind you of a certain popular saviour archetype who takes away shame and washes away sins, but Hekate as an archetype is a few thousand years older, and “sin” meant something entirely different and with less condemnation…

Anyways! I use mugwort because she is my favourite plant, but you can use another plant or incense appropriate to your practice. Light the end and let it burn briefly, then pass the smoke around your body. Extinguish the burning end lightly in a bowl of water.

I love the elemental movement of this practice. Plant matter comes from Earth. Flame enters through Fire. Smoke moves through Air. Then all of it meets Water. Now your water is consecrated and holy.

Use your fingers to sprinkle a little of the water over yourself, your altar or the space where you are working. I also use this kind of cleansing water on my bed (very lightly!) or doorway, or add some to ritual baths.

As you cleanse, say:

What does not belong here may leave.
What clouds my sight may clear.
Let me come to the crossroads as I am.

A Crossroads Spell

You will need a key, a black candle and three small pieces of paper.

On the first, write WHAT I KNOW.

On the second, write WHAT I DO NOT KNOW.

On the third, write WHAT I CAN DO NEXT.

Write without trying to solve your entire life. Put the second paper underneath the key. You are allowed not to know. Place the first and third beside your candle.

Temple Soundtrack: Listen to the Temple Soundtrack on Spotify

For this ritual,  go to the temple Soundtrack and play Hekate, Cerridwen.

Optional: Make your khernips if you want to try it. Sprinkle the water around you to cleanse yourself and your space. 

Turn the lights off so your space is as dark as possible. light the candle and speak:

Hekate Enodia, Lady of the Ways,
stand with me where the roads divide.
Illuminate what is mine to see.
Guard what is not yet mine to know.
Give me wisdom for the step before me,
and courage enough to take it.

Sit with the flame. Do not demand the whole map. Ask only what the torch reveals.

The spell is what you do. The blessing is what you receive. Read this aloud to close the ritual, or return to it whenever not knowing starts masquerading as failure.

A Blessing for the Woman Who Cannot See the Whole Road

Beloved,

May you be released from the impossible task of knowing everything before you begin. May uncertainty cease to masquerade as failure. May the road reveal itself at the pace your feet can travel it.

May you recognize what is true even when it is not what you hoped would be true. May the doors meant for you open, and may the doors behind you close cleanly.

May Hekate's torches burn at the places where certainty cannot. May you know the difference between darkness and danger, and the difference between not knowing and being lost.

And may the light you have be enough for the step you are taking.

With love from the crossroads,

Sierra

From The Book of Blessings by Sierra Jamerson · Temple of Sound
Free spells, blessings, rituals and letters: templeofsound.co/the-temple-letters