Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature

by Sarah Iles Johnston

Hekate is best known to classicists and historians of religion as the horrific patroness of witches. But from the Hellenistic age onwards, some Greek and Roman philosophers and magicians portrayed her quite differently, allotting to her such duties as ensouling the cosmos and the individual men within it, forming the connective boundary between the divine and human worlds, and facilitating such communication between man and god as could lead eventually to the individual soul's release. She was celestial and potentially beneficent, rather than chthonic and threatening.

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Occult, Nonfiction, History, Paganism, Mythology

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

Sarah Iles Johnston is the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Religion and Professor of Classics and Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University.

Reviews

[Edward Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon re-reading this book recently, and being much deeper in the literature now, I find that it's not quite as good as I'd remembered it. It's a valuable contribution to a troubled field--the study of the Chaldean Oracles--but it really shows just how badly we are in need of a careful, systematic study of the Oracles.

Majercik's edition of the fragments, The Chaldean Oracles: Text Translation and Commentary, is very good (one wishes, of course, that it was more easily available), but can do little to synthesize the material, while Lewy's Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy: Mysticism Magic and Platonism in the Later Roman Empire, the preeminent attempt at synthesis in English, is way off base much of the time. One is better off with G.R.S. Mead's Chaldaean Oracles, which, though outdated to be sure, at least has the benefit of Mead's superior understanding of the fundamental goals of such literature.

Johnston does her best, but taken as a study of the Oracles, this can only be considered a preliminary foray into the material; taken, rather, as a study of Hekate, it fares somewhat better, insofar as Johnston steers clear of the erroneous generalizations endemic in authors who treat of this Goddess in passing or, worse, use these generalizations as the grounds for further erroneous inferences, e.g., about the Oracles.

All in all, then, a book from which one need not be warned away, but which is best approached with limited expectations, and with a healthy caution with respect to some of the inferences Johnston regards as self-evident, particularly when her principal justification for them is the unanimity of the previous literature on the Oracles, the shortcomings of which she is well aware of.

[Alexia ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic book! This book is a deep study of the role of Hecate in the Chaldean Oracles. This is not a light reading, by any means, since this is an academic study by Sarah Illes Jonhston, but it's a reading that I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about Hekate and especially her role has Soteira and as "World Soul", within the Chaldean theurgy. It is VERY well researched, packed with references and quotes and analyses of the fragments of the Oracles and even PGM, among other important texts and quotes or studies from other scholars.

[Ryan Denson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume is an edited version of Sarah Iles Johnston's doctoral dissertation on the role of Hekate in the Chaldean Oracles. It is thoroughly researched and well-presented discussion on how a Greco-Roman goddess came to occupy a crucial position in this metaphysical system. Johnston does an excellent job of explaining the ideas of Middle Platonism and the Chaldean Oracles as well as the scholarly issues with their study and interpretation. Non-scholarly readers should still be at least somewhat familiar with Platonic metaphysics and religion of later antiquity as this covers beliefs that will be unknown to the general public's perception of Hekate and Greco-Roman religion. Overall, it is an intriguing read, though repetitive at times, that describes a fascinating instance of how religious and philosophical ideas combine and change over time.

[Παλλαδία Σόρια · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brillian to understand Hekate under this name.
Brilliant to understand the goddess outside the stereotypes that always define her.
A reference book to read again and again. I will recommend 100%

[Cosette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hekate Soteira is an academic book, and although I'm not an academic, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Johnston expanded my understanding of liminality, transitions, and boundaries, making connections about Hekate's development and associations that have previously eluded me. Hekate Soteira is a must-read for those with a serious interest in the goddess.

[Mateusz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Instead of a review, a devotional "rhyme-poem" to thank the writer of this greatly researched book.

Key of virtue, poureth the soul, opener of gateways, chaser with demon-dogs,
Archeress of nekroi, drakaiana Artemis, blesser of the purified souls,
Red for divine fire, white for aethyr, black for hylic chtonic abysmal chaotic jaw,

When lions roared across the Tartarus, ‘tis formless eyeless chaos,
Marked me for a Saturnine spirit without a soul - wrapped in niger cloak
You were the first to open the shadows to the seer,
Isis after trials - unveiled the divine worlds,

Serpent of Eileithyia incised upon my neck, it ascends from water
Into the divine world’s embrace, Mithraic cross upon my forehead,
Magna Mater and Helios with Muses whisper thunderously:
“Thou shall be free”.

Mask of Hekate is shown only to a child, or a tormented devotee
For the profane she turns into swirling maelstorm of Physis’ terror
That casts them into ignorance of dealing with Gods,
Whereupon they are a mocking stock of everything they think they see.

Gods are seen in the sky, stars, heart and high intellect,
They manifest in great synthony of hopeless pain, great love,
And mystes’ constantly observant eyes.
If there is no chalice coined of a heroic life - how do you imagine
That wine is fulled with ambrosia by the immortal company?

They great Gods never manifest as luring tempting images of chtonic deceptions,
When you close your eyes at night. Or as simulacra and nightmares that torment some,
Let me give you an advice - when shadow terrorize you at night, catch the golden thread, do not be afraid, but follow the silver Pythagorean path,

Propitiated the Erynies’ dead, befriend the better part in demons,
Call for protection against the combustible, volatile part
And in apothropaic theurgy honor her, as her lilly’s grow with delight,

Isis will show you the path, once the ordeals are done,
Hekate will open the cosmic gateways, if verily thy desire
Is to cast the Earthly, the unworthy, the undivine,
And leave it to be devoured by the howling ones.

[Samantha Strong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so interesting, but it opened up more questions in my mind about Hekate than it solved. It's a shame so much information has been lost in history!

[Noé Hernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, idk, this book is weird to review, it sadly is among the few serious academic books on Hekate and the scholarship is superb, but also it feels dated, the edition of the physical book itself is very sloppy, some chapters are just redundant (basically the last 3 and the appendix).

I'm sure this book would benefit from a re-edition, but I doubt very much it will receive any attention from its author since it was published some 30-some years ago.

[Kristy Marquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an informative academic book, I am sure this is a great book. As a book for non-academics, this is a very chunky and challenging book to read. But it is one that every Hekatean should read at least once if not twice and three times to understand. It speaks about Hekate and her role in the Chaldean Oracles and explores Hekate during that time.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceedingly well researched and supported. It is not a light read.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good paired with the Chadean Oracles. It takes a somewhat less gendered approach to the translations of the existing fragments to analyze them in culture of its time in history.

This is the kind of grounded academic work for which I am looking.

[ceylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read! thank you
Hail Hekate 🗝

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough guide to the evolution of Hekate and her specific role in the Chaldean Oracles.

[Mogosha Noah]

hi

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched (can be a bit dry).

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, first and foremost an academic text before anything else. That being said, I rather enjoyed reading it, though it may seem dense for people who are looking for light, fun reading. This is a good preliminary look into the dense, and not very well researched world of the Chaldean oracles. Sarah Iles Johnston does a very good job at contributing to this field however, and I found it rather enlightening, especially because Hekate in general is not treated very well by academia for the most part, and you can tell that this text, along with her Iles' work in The Restless Dead is looking to remedy that.

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to review arguments in favor of Hecate's intermediary role and representation of the Soul in Chaldean Oracles. It was also intriguing to review the early representations of sympathetic magic and the correlation between theurgy and philosophy of the early Greco-Roman literary period. She focuses mostly on Iamblichus, Proclus, Psellus and a few others in this book.

I would say that her style is a bit frustrating. The argument is redundant and a good editor could have reduced this thesis by about 50 pages. Additionally, I would have liked to have seen more of the original texts in the Appendices (rather than just those she selected for review...and repeated).

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been an excellent book for explaining why and filling in the big blanks in my understanding of western religion. It's a slim volume, but it's taking me a while to read and absorb. My background in classics is poor to begin with, and the Chaldean Oracles on which much of the book is based previously were unknown to me. It's an excellent work, well worth the time it takes to read through. It's heavily footnoted. While the footnote material is often quite interesting in its own right sometimes it distracts me from the subject material.

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, I recommend it to those who wish to learn about the greek goddess Hecate (or Hekate).