The Witches' Book of the Dead (32 page)

Sometimes appearing with the head of a lion, Ereshkigal sits naked on a throne of lapis lazuli. Her palace is surrounded by seven walls, each of which has a gate that the dead must pass through to get to the underworld. They lose something at every gate, until they are left naked and powerless. In ancient times, Ereshkigal took the funerary offerings to the dead. Call on Ereshkigal in all of your funerary rites and in any forms of necromancy.

Offerings to Ereshkigal
: Lapis lazuli; snakeskin shed from a live snake; figurines or images of lions and snakes.

Erinyes (Furies)

The Erinyes, or Furies, were three fearsome goddesses of vengeance and justice in Greco-Roman mythology who relentlessly punish wrongdoers to death, sometimes by driving them to suicide. “Erinyes” means “roused to anger”; the Romans called them Furies, meaning the same thing. Their Greek names are Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto. In Hades, they torment the souls of sinners, playing their lyres to cause souls to wither, and driving the souls of murderers to insanity. In appearance, the Erinyes are ugly and winged, with deadly serpents entwined in their hair and around their arms and waists. The Erinyes can be summoned for justifiable vengeance, but if you call upon them unjustly, they will torment you unto the end of your days … and beyond.

Offerings to the Erinyes
: Things that are sweet enough to appease them and keep them from harming you or those you love, including honey and sweet meats; for vengeance, offer honey (for the sting of the bee) or your own blood, but remember: you
must
be justified!

Hades

The mightiest and most feared god of the classical Greek underworld is Hades, the King of the Dead. His underworld, which also bears the name Hades, was conceived as a gloomy realm where shades—the souls of the dead—roamed in listless longing for the pleasures of the material world. Hades is dispassionate but not evil; nor is he synonymous with the Devil of Christianity. He seldom leaves his kingdom, but prefers to remain in his huge, cold palace. He possesses a cap that makes the wearer invisible. The Romans associated him with the minerals of the Earth and called him Pluto, the god of wealth. Call on Hades that he may encourage the dead to more easily accept you, to show you the way to hidden treasures, or to grant you the powers of invisibility.

Offerings to Hades
: Dates, figs, barley, honey, fava beans, black beans, or olive oil; cypress wood; figurines or images of pigs; your own blood or hair.

Hecate

Hecate is the Queen of all Witcheries, a powerful goddess who is the matron of magic and sorcery, guide to the dead, and a lantern to spirits seeking their way. Hecate has many facets, but has come to be known for three primary aspects: she is goddess of transitions; goddess of the moon; and queen of the night, ghosts, and shades. Hecate possesses vast chthonic power, and roams the Earth at night with a pack of red-eyed hell hounds and an entourage of departed souls. Hecate is heralded by the howl of dogs, which usually signify that the Goddess is about. In her aspect of Antea, she is the bringer of dreaded nightmares that can lead to insanity, and is so terrifying that many ancients referred to her only as “The Nameless One.” She is the goddess of the dark of the moon, a keeper of the keys to the gates between life and death, able to usher souls between the worlds.

Hecate is the goddess of crossroads, always looking in three directions at the same time. Whether it is a place where three roads meet, or several, she shines her light upon the crossroads so that the spirits of the dead may choose their path, and guides and protects those souls who have made that choice. In ancient times, Witches and necromancers gathered at crossroads on the 30th of each month to pay homage to Hecate and to aid in releasing the earthbound dead; while on the 13th of each month, honey cakes were left in gratitude for her help. Three-headed statues of Hecate were set up at crossroads while secret rites surrounded by torches were performed there to appease her. Statues of Hecate carrying torches were erected in front of homes to keep evil spirits at bay. Call on Hecate for protection and mediation whenever you make contact with the dead and to ask her to help guide the souls of the recently departed.

Offerings to Hecate
: Hecatean priestess and owner of Good Mojo Tattoo Parlor Mulysa Mayhem shared these offerings with me: fish, garlic, millet, honey cakes; waste products and garbage (left at the crossroads); menstrual blood; spring water.

Hel

The Christian “Hell” was named for both this Norse goddess and the gloomy underworld where she dwells, gathering all spirits of the dead who do not die in battle or at sea in her desolate domain. Some have said that Hel was the daughter borne of the union between the trickster god Loki and a giantess Witch. Odin himself, father of the Norse gods, fearing a prophecy of the destruction Hel might cause, cast her into the deepest darkest regions of the world that she may become Queen of the Dead.

Hel's demeanor is sullen and downcast. One half of her body is alive, while the other is entirely dead and decaying. The underworld where the goddess resides is also known as Hel, or Helheim, and is a multifaceted realm that spans the spectrum between repose and torment. Those who died in battle or at sea went instead to the hall of heroes known as Asgard. When the Norse god, Baldr, died, the gods of Asgard pleaded with Hel to release him, but Hel made it clear that every being must cry in sorrow for the god; all did but for a single giantess, and so Baldr was consigned to the underworld until the last battle at the end of time, known as the Ragnarök, when even the dead throughout Hel may arise.

Offerings to Hel
: Figurines and images of black mare and hounds; mead; ashes of the dead; burnt offerings of personal sacrifices.

Hermes

The quicksilver messenger god of the Greeks, Hermes (“Mercury” to the Romans) is a psychopomp who escorts the souls of the dead to the underworld. Swift and cunning, Hermes is portrayed with winged feet and a winged helmet. He carries the caduceus, a serpent-entwined staff or magic wand, which symbolizes spiritual illumination and the power to manifest and to cast spells. Hermes is a patron god of magic and travelers, and like Hecate, his image was also once erected at crossroads. He is a trickster, shrewd and prone to malicious pranks. He can also be helpful; in Homer's
Odyssey
, he
saves Odysseus from the magical spells of Circe. Hermes appears in Greek mythology more often than any other deity. The Greeks identified him closely with Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom and magic, and the teacher of the mysteries and secrets of the universe. Like Anubis and Hecate, Hermes can be called on to usher the souls of the dead back and forth between the veil of death, and to help guide the souls of the recently departed.

Offerings to Hermes
: Silver coins; figurines or images of dogs, an animal sacred to Hermes for its intelligence and devotion; honey cakes or honey; wine, water, and incense. Adopting a shelter dog will give Hermes great pleasure.

Hypnos

God of sleep, the “little death,” Hypnos is the twin brother of Thanatos, the god of death. Hypnos lives in a dark, sunless cave through which flows the river Lethe (“forgetfulness”), one of the rivers that bound Hades. At the entrance of the cave grow poppies and plants that induce sleep. He is often portrayed as a young naked man, sometimes bearded and sometimes with wings attached to his head. He sleeps on a bed of feathers surrounded by black curtains. Call on Hypnos when you are seeking to dream of the dead.

Offerings to Hypnos
: Poppies or poppy seeds; sleep-inducing herbs such as mugwort and Saint John's wort; feathers; warm milk.

Inanna

Sumerian mother goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and the ruler of the cycle of life, death and fertility, Inanna (also called Nina) sacrificed her son-husband, Dumuzi, a shepherd, to the underworld, which parallels other myths that explain the seasons. Inanna descended to the Land of No Return, another name for the underworld, ruled by her sister, Ereshkigal. She passed through its seven gates, and had to surrender something at each gate—such as her crown and jewelry—so that by the time she reached the underworld, she
was naked and powerless. Ereshkigal had her taken captive by her demonic attendants, the Galli, and ordered her to be killed and her corpse to be hung up. Inanna's death plunged the world into mourning and winter. Enki, the god of wisdom, animated clay poppets who went to the underworld and begged for mercy. Ereshkigal relented, and had Inanna's corpse fed the Water of Life and the Bread of Life. Inanna revived. But according to the law of the underworld, no one could ever return from death. Inanna was released on the condition that she send another life in exchange.

When she returned to her temple, Inanna was shocked to find Dumuzi dressed in royal robes and sitting on her throne, happy to have taken over in her stead. She gave him the Eye of Death, and the Galli came and dragged him off to the underworld. Inanna immediately repented and revived his corpse, but she had to agree to a compromise with Ereshkigal: Dumuzi would spend six months among the living and six months among the dead each year. Call on Inanna to aid you in your journeys to the underworld and to help show the spirits the personal sacrifices you are willing to make to show that you are worthy of their aid.

Offerings for Inanna
: Jewelry for her power; salt for the salty tears she wept over Dumuzi; sweet cakes, wine, and fine beer.

Isis

The Egyptian Mother Goddess, the name of Isis is actually Greek for the Egyptian hieroglyphic representing “throne.” Isis commands such powerful magic—she can raise the dead—that even Anubis bows to her whims. In ancient times, people prayed to her on behalf of the sick and dying. She also is goddess of fertility and childbirth. Isis was born a mortal, the sister of Osiris. Through magic, she acquired immortality by tricking the sun god, Ra, into revealing his secret name. She did this by obtaining his spit, from which she made a snake and left it in his path. Ra was bitten. She offered to relieve his agony if he would tell her his secret name, and he relented.

Isis married Osiris. When Osiris's treacherous brother, Set, murdered and dismembered him, Isis collected his body parts. She used magic to put them together and breathe life into the body so that she and Osiris could be together one last time before he left to rule the underworld. A son, Horus, was born from this union. Set once again cut up the body of Osiris, and Isis again collected the parts, but buried them in order to fertilize the land.

Isis is the prototype of the faithful wife and fertile, protective mother. She is associated with Sirius, the Dog Star, the rising of which signals the vernal equinox. Her symbol is the moon. She is often shown crowned with a lunar orb nestled between the horns of a bull or ram. In ancient times, she was worshipped at the full moon.

The Greeks considered her to be the goddess of wisdom, truth, and power, who had 10,000 names. Statues of her were decorated with stars, the moon, and the sun. Her priests controlled the elements and the forces of nature, as well as the unseen occult forces. Isis collaborated with Hermes to invent writing, and to teach law and the mysteries. They caused men to love women, invented sailing, ended cannibalism, made justice more powerful than gold or silver, and caused Truth to be considered beautiful.

Isis has a sister named Nephthys, who is also chthonic and stands at the gateway between the living and the dead.

The Isis of the mysteries is completely veiled by a scarlet cloth, which she lifts for those who learn her mysteries. Many of her symbols were later conferred upon the Virgin Mary. Call upon Isis to bring healing to those who are near death or for healing in general.

Offerings to Isis
: Red scarves and cloth; images of bulls and rams; images of the moon; milk, honey, roses, and lilies.

Kali

Kali is the Hindu goddess of death, destruction, fear and terror, and the wife-consort of Siva, the destroyer. Since the eighteenth century, she has also been recognized as a mother goddess. Kali embodies powerful energy.
In her aspect of Kali Ma (the “black mother”), she is a bloodthirsty and powerful warrior, and a drinker of blood. Her appearance is fearsome: she is dark-skinned or black, with long and disheveled hair, four arms, and hands with claw-like nails. Her tongue hangs out and she has long, sharp fangs. She wears a necklace of skulls and earrings of corpses. She is spattered with blood, and gets drunk by drinking the blood of her victims. In art she is often shown naked or wearing only her grisly jewelry and a girdle, standing on the body of Siva with one foot on his leg and one on his chest. Two of her hands hold a sword and the severed head of a giant, and the other two beckon to her worshippers. Kali is a central figure in Tantrism, a practice that employs control of sexual and life forces to gain longevity and immortality. She personifies death. Call on Kali to help you to understand the importance of the balance of death and life.

Offerings to Kali
: Red hibiscus flowers; raw sugar; cooked meat dishes; your own blood; fire.

Ma'at

Egyptian goddess of order, harmony, truth, morality, justice and law, and also the stars and seasons, Ma'at is often shown with wings and an ostrich feather in her headdress, holding a scepter and ankh. She has chthonic associations for her role with Anubis in judging new souls in the underworld, the Duat. The hearts of the newly dead were weighed against her ostrich feather in the Hall of Two Truths. The heart was regarded as the seat of the soul, and if it was heavier than her feather, it meant that the dead person had been wicked in life. The wicked were fed to Ammit, the Devourer or Bone-Crusher, and died a second death, thus being denied the bliss of the afterlife. Call on Ma'at when justice must prevail!