Decisions are hard for all of us. Which way do I go now, which path is the right one, what do I do next, or, most urgently, where do I go from here? Life is never easy and some decisions can be hard ones, very hard. And, at times, it can seem as if there is no answer, although we know that is untrue and every situation has a solution, no matter how hard it can be to glimpse it at times.

This is where Hekate comes in. Hekate is the goddess of the crossroads. She is also the mistress of the magic arts, and is included in the grouping of the Moon goddesses. In ancient portraits she is shown to have three heads and they look in each of three directions.

When we are at a crossroads Hekate is there with her torch light and her ability to transcend both heaven and hell and her dwelling place on the earth. She can bring both the conscious mind and the unconscious mind together, and the need to live in day to day reality home to us. She is the one to go to for direction when we don't know which path to take and which road makes the best choice.

Hekate uses the wise owl as her messenger and she relies on the willow tree for sustenance. She is a goddess of the Moon, and when the Moon is dark she can use her torch for light and in search of the best pathway to take. When we need to make a hard decision for ourselves we are calling on Hekate for guidance, since she travels through the realms of sky, earth and Hades, the underworld.

Hekate is called the most lovely one of the Moon, and Hekate is there when a child is brought into the world, as she is the goddess associated with midwifery. When Ceres lost her daughter Persephone, Hekate used her torch to help Ceres look for her in the underworld. When we are unsure of ourselves or when the light around us is fading, and everything looks dark, we are traveling by night in the most metaphysical sense.

I believe that Hekate's province as goddess of the crossroads led inevitably to her status as goddess of the magic arts. One would naturally lead to the other. Who better than Hekate would know how so often our indecision leads us to call upon the energies present in the universe to ask for help and guidance when we cannot figure out what to do. Once a decision has been made, asking the powers that be to help incarnate that desire would naturally fall upon, who better, the goddess who shows us all the different roads available to us.

Hekate is the 100th asteroid, named and discovered on July 11, 1868. In her manifestation as 100 Hekate, her asteroid designation, she is the place we go to in our astrological charts to find out what we need to do to discern our direction in life. She is the also the place we go to find those parts of ourselves that were lost. When we are in need of using our magical selves to find or answer questions, Hekate as goddess of magic is there.

By looking up her placement in our charts we can see what astrological sign and house she occupies. Looking at my own chart I found that Hekate is in the 9th house, the house of religious belief and philosophy and law. She is exactly by 0 degrees square both Mercury, the mind, and Jupiter, the natural ruler of the 9th house. This tells me that at times I allow my conscious mind and my wish for how I want things to be to cloud my inner wisdom and natural thought. That when I need to find the place to go to for guidance I need to go to the 9th house. Perhaps I overanalyze situations too much and do not allow the wisdom that can be found in religion and philosophy to tell me the answer.

To compound matters Hekate is in the sign of Cancer, a sign in which I have no other placements. I am not personally familiar with the energy of Cancer, since while I have water signs in my chart, Cancer is not one. Perhaps this unfamiliar position is the one I need to learn from the most. Cancer is of course ruled by the Moon and represents feeling in its purest sense. So perhaps I need to use more Moon guidance in my discernment of the pathway, or perhaps I need to go emotionally on decisions and let the thought process be stilled, and use intuition more.

I know on the day I first began to become interested in Hekate, I looked up her current sign in the zodiac and she was at 0 Aries. 0 Aries is a power point sign, it is the world placement sign, and is the beginning of the spring equinox, a time of new beginnings for the earth as a whole. I believe Hekate is asking for notice and asking to speak to us. She is telling us she, not usually included in the more commonly known pantheon of goddesses, has been neglected for far too long.

Hekate entered the sign of Taurus on June 11, 2005, and will be there until April 9, 2006. In Taurus Hekate will be bringing her energy to Taurus symbolism. And what does Taurus symbolize? The greenery of the earth; planting, growing, creating beautiful gardens. Cooking, eating, enjoying the results of the fragrance of the seeds we put into the ground, and the nourishing foodstuffs we obtain from vegetables and fruits.

Taurus also rules our sensual side since Taurus is a sign that favors the five senses; taste, touch, sight, sound, aroma. Once Hekate enters Taurus it is a time to allow ourselves to experience the pleasures each of the five senses has to offer us, as we partake of the garden of life.

Letting ourselves feel secure enough to make the right decision is also a part of Hekate's foray into Taurus, since Taurus is a very security-minded and "I want to be risk-free" sign. That's good to know, too, since we will certainly make better decisions the more secure we feel.

As you learn who Hekate is, and what she has to tell you this year, you will discover a vast fountain of information you never knew she, or you, possessed.