Hekate, Hungry Ghosts and Working With Spirits
In this talk taken from a seminar in the course I taught over the summer of 2026, known as Hekate's Keys of The Cauldron, I explore the vast, living world of spirits through the lens of Hekate, ancient mistress of the horde. Drawing from Chapter 15 of my book, Entering Hekate's Cauldron, I discuss the historical origins of Hekate's connections with the deeper world, root the talk in a grounding taxonomy of spirits (from the divine to the restless dead), unpack the concept of our own inner hungry ghosts, and share some accessible practices for connecting with the spirit world safely and with discernment. Whether you are new to spirit work or deepening a long-standing practice, this talk offers both a map and an invitation - to recognize that the spirit world is not somewhere we go, but somewhere we already are. Includes practical tips for cleansing, protection, working with sumbola, and building genuine spirit alliances rooted in reciprocity. In the video, I refer to Khernips and working with a spirit guide. You can find more about these in Entering Hekate's Cauldron.
The night comes alive. Black hounds howl. The Queen beckons her chosen now. Your feet twitch, and your soul awakes. Crossing the threshold, entering the mysteries. Found in the depths of Hekate’s Cauldron, where spirits abound.”
- Chapter 15, Crossing the Threshold: Spirits of the Deeper World, Entering Hekate’s Cauldron
Spirits are always with us. From our altar to the wandering ghost we sense in an unfamiliar room, the world is enchanted. In Chapter 15 of Entering Hekate’s Cauldron, I write about this directly: “If we shift our gaze beyond the illusory veil of separation between the physical and the etheric, we can see how much we are already walking in their world.” This is not metaphor. It is the lived reality of the witch’s path, and it is the reality Hekate has always presided over.
This article is drawn from a talk I gave as part of a seminar. You can watch the talk on YouTube or listen to as a podcast episode wherever you get your podcasts. What follows expands on those ideas, woven together with material from Chapter 15 of Entering Hekate’s Cauldron. My hope is that it gives us a richer foundation for understanding Hekate’s alliance with the spirit world; its history, its structure, and how we can begin to navigate it with confidence, discernment, and genuine connection.
Hekate’s Trail of Spirits
The complexities of Hekate’s history speak of the multitudinous ways her connections with spirits of the deeper world can present themselves to us as contemporary practitioners. While I will always say that the version of Hekate that matters most is our personal understanding, reviewing the historical interpretations of her helps us to interpret our experiences. It is undeniable that wherever Hekate is, there are spirits. Yet how – and who – is encountered can be filtered through the times in which we live and what information we’ve learned. I’ll start with a story. Many years ago, I read an essay by an author I greatly admired. She went deep into how Hekate was dangerous. It felt like the blogger was saying that she alone had the special power to work with Hekate, because she was so heavy-handed in her description about Hekate being quite nasty. Specifically, the author cited that children couldn’t be present when one was working with Hekate because she was dangerous to them. I found this odd, given the historical references to Hekate as a Kourotrophos, or guardian of the young. Is Hekate dangerous? Not in my experience. Does working with her make us vulnerable to harmful entities? Not in my experience, either. If one knows a small fraction of Hekate’s history, it’s easy to see why someone might think she’s nefarious. However, surveying the almost 3,000 years of history about her, reveals that how she is seen varies greatly by the time and place.
This quote captures a great deal of that complex history:
“And yet, none of the earliest evidence for Heca
