Hekate and Arachne

[sdi]

Hekate is the symbolic representation of Fate (or, as we would say in modern terms, karma). That's why She's triform, just as the Moirai are; that's why She's associated with the Moon, since karma only exists in the sublunary region; that's why Hesiod says She rewards those who work hard, for they have earned their success; that's why Plutarch assigns those who are punished between the first and second deaths to Hekate's Cave. Even Her name, Ἑκάτη, means "far-reaching" (in the masculine, the term is an epithet of Sniper Apollo): there is no escaping one's karma.

But is She not also associated with magic? Why? I was pondering this today and it occurs to me that magic is the means of messing directly with the threads of fate, making it a way of racking up karma either for good (e.g. theurgy) or ill (e.g. witchcraft).

But that made me realize we have an excellent myth about the pitfalls of magic—Arachne! Here is an example of a magician (weaving the threads of fate by her own design) who, rather than co-create with the gods, instead gratifies her own ego; Athena Herself comes in the shabby guise of philosophy to try and teach her wisdom, but Arachne hears not, commits suicide, and is reborn as less-than-human, forced to relive her failure in a lesser way...