Emotional Intelligence Series #4: Using Mythology and Hecate's Symbols in your EI journey

For parts #1, #2 #3, see:

Introduction to Emotional Intelligence (includes why I write this series: for Hecate Einalian)

Applying Emotional Intelligence 

The Dark Side to EI 

As always, here is my disclaimer:

I'm NOT a psychologist, nor a GP nor a therapist or a counsellor. If you have a mental health issue that arises from your exploration of EI and reading this blog piece, then I advise you to seek help and advice elsewhere. This blog and its exercises are designed for those who wish to develop their EI ONLY. Therefore DISCLAIMER: I can't be held responsible for any emotional or psychological issues that arise from this blog series.

In this blog, I am finally applying religious aspects and Hecate’s symbols to EI. This is about giving people a toolkit to work on their EI. Perhaps Hecate has provided a symbol for you. Or perhaps you know what you need to work on, and you select a symbol to remind you, and keep you focused on your journey.

First off, I explain in this blog On Hecate Einalian: Hecate of the Sea why Hecate Einalian and everything oceanic is linked to emotions, and emotional intelligence. With this in mind, I will start with more basic concepts, and then move onto more detailed ones. Additionally, a lot of these symbols and associations will overlap.

Basics

I want to start with the obvious; the liminality. The beach symbolises the liminality between the realms of earth and water. Emotionally and psychologically, this is a safe space. It’s useful for beginners because earth grounds you. The depths of the ocean and underwater caves is the extreme end; it’s where the Underworld and emotions meet, it’s where our Shadow lives and where monsters dwell. The surface of the water symbolises the liminality of water and air; where thoughts and emotions meet because the two feed into each other.

How you travel in the water is an important concept: A boat may indicate a certain level of caution, or a need to stay in the liminal space between water and air. This may also be the case if you swim but keep your head above water. Swimming and being able to do so easily underwater including being able to breathe might indicate a certain level of balance of emotions in your life. I transform into a mermaid and for me that represents a degree of control and understanding of my EI.

The polar extremes of the beach and the underwater caves, and how you travel from one to the other (or even if you do) is the journey to increasing EI and embedding EI into your religious practice.

Hecate’s Symbols

The further down you swim, the darker it gets, so the Torch is ideal. It illuminates uncomfortable feelings and fears. One of the interesting features of having a torch come to you underwater is whether the light is fire or not. Water puts fire out but who is to say you can’t see the impossible in your own personal visualisation?! If a torch comes to you with fire underwater, it is worth exploring why. My torch is a fluorescent shell which I also write about here: On Hecate Einalian: Hecate of the Sea

Credit photographer: Evans Papadimitriou. I took my ‘shell torch’ to my wedding on a Greek island

.

Red mullet is a symbol of Hecate, and is associated with the Underworld. It links to the liminality of the deep ocean and the Underworld. Read more about the details of this link in the paragraph Fish in Hekate's Animal Symbols | Covenant Of Hekate.

A key symbolises finding something that is buried deep emotionally. Think of the cliché of the sunken chest that is locked and hiding something. Or maybe an underwater cave is gated. Is it gated because there is a journey beyond the cave? Or is it hiding a part of you, or a monster that represents part of your Shadow?

The moon is the perfect symbol linking Hecate and emotions as this planet is associated with the watery domain. I personally think this is a great way to begin an EI journey especially as the moon phases could represent different types of emotions

Epithets

Here is a list of sea-inspired Hecate epithets that people can work with.

Einalian: Of the sea

Krataiis: Of the rocks.

There is something to be said about Krataiis! Krataiis is said to be Scylla’s mother. However depending on the source, Krataiis could be referring to Ceto or Hecate (Atsma, 2000-2017). Ceto is also known as Lamia the Shark, and is known as the matriarch of monsters. It also appears that Ceto and Hecate could be syncretised. Thus the epithet Krataiis could easily refer to Hecate’s darker oceanic aspects.

Bythios- Of the deep

Limenitikos: Of the harbour

Limenoskopos: Watching the harbour

Einalian would be a good epithet to start with. Krataiis and Bythios are ideal for exploring the shadow and more negative emotions. Limenitikos and Limenoskopos could be ideal for simply observing your emotions, or letting emotions come to light.

Oceanic Symbols

Within the sea, its animals, (real or mythical), its components (shells, random items that get pulled down), its geography, elementals and deities all represent different aspects of your emotional state. You can use these as tools to guide you. Similarly, where you find these animals and components can be symbolic (go back to the paragraph on basics!). Dolphins are usually seen as playful, and they are marine mammals so they come up to the surface and are usually seen during the day. This could indicate enjoyment, being with friends, or lightening up a little bit. Another example could be jellyfish which are soft-bodied which may indicate vulnerability. Shells are often found on the ocean floor, and they have come to represent different things depending on how they are formed. Items found on the ocean floor are equally symbolic. Just think about sunken ships or treasures.

Mermaids and mer-men and other mythical sea creatures such as sea monsters can represent additional emotional aspects. For me personally, becoming a mermaid represents how far I’ve come on my EI journey: By embracing a tail and the capacity for breathing underwater, being a mermaid illustrates feeling comfortable in the face of deep emotions, and not allowing myself to be completely controlled by them.

Interestingly, in Greek mythology, the nymphs of the sea e.g. The Nereids have legs and not tails. In Greek myth, there are only 2 mermaids with tails. One famous myth is Thessalonike, Alexander the Greats’ sister. Upon her death, she was transformed into a mermaid living in the Aegean Sea. Should she come across sailors, she would always ask them: Does Alexander the Great live? If these sailors were wise enough to say, “yes, and he rules the world,” then they would live to tell the tale. If not, she would tear the vessel apart and everyone would be doomed. The other mermaid is Thoosa (daughter of Phorkys). The only merman in Greek myth is Triton (son of Poseidon and Amphitrite). See On Hecate Einalian: Hecate of the Sea for a genealogy.

You can also find a list of monsters that are oceanic based or descended from them in the genealogy. For example, Scylla who is sometimes said to be Hecate’s daughter is described as living and staying on the surface of the water, simply because she is keeping an eye on the sailors that miss Charybdis. Each of these monsters have the potential to illustrate certain negative emotional qualities.

For example, Medusa was transformed because Athena was angry at her being raped by Poseidon. Thus, Medusa is a monster because she has experienced injustice. There are several ways of interpreting Medusa as a monster. One is that she has been victimised, and she redirects her anger (incorrectly) at humans transforming them into stone. My personal approach is that Medusa represents a degree of projection onto others. Because of this she symbolises personality traits that we do not like in ourselves but instead of working on our own traits, we notice these traits in others, and automatically hate them. Perseus uses a reflective surface to get close to her. For me, this illustrates that we need to self-reflect in order to examine certain aspects of our Shadow.  

Another example is Scylla who was transformed out of jealousy into a monster. She could therefore represent jealousy herself. You might be able to equally apply such shadow traits and negative emotions onto monsters that are not oceanic based. Does the Minotaur indicate that you feel excluded and thus bitter about it? Ultimately, look to which monster resonates with you and examine why.

By working with such symbols and mythological characters, we can merge our spiritual work with oceanic symbolism to our EI development. It may help to do some reading on the science about the ocean, and any cultural oceanic mythology that resonates with you. By simply calling upon Hecate with one of her oceanic epithets and asking her to send you a symbol or creature, she offers a unique way for you to advance your EI.

The Day 8 Oceanic Ritual

As part of my Torchbearer commitments in 2016, I created the Day 8 ritual with contributions from other CoH devotees to be conducted on day 8 after the New Moon. It is an oceanic ritual because day 8 after the New Moon is associated with honouring Poseidon.  

However because Hecate and Poseidon share similarities (see The Goddess Hecate and the God Poseidon, and Askei Kataskei Issue 6, page 17), and because Einalian is one of Hecate’s epithets, we can bring them together into a ritual. The idea behind this ritual is that each person adapts this ritual for themselves. It is designed to be amenable according to the devotees’ intentions for the ritual on the day. It could be a simple meditation to reconnect with your emotions after a serious mundane task that required your mental energy, or you could be continuing your EI journey with deities and symbols from other pantheons. See the ritual: CoH Day 8 Oceanic Ritual.

Exercises

1) Go to the paragraph “Exploring Her [Hecate Einalian]: The Beach” in my article On Hecate Einalian: Hecate of the Sea. You can read it until you remember it, or record yourself to conduct a visualisation. Make notes on your emotions, and how you feel about going deeper. Based on what you receive, you can try some of the other exercises below.

2) Select an appropriate epithet and write a hymn either to honour or ask for help.

3) Choose or ask Hecate to give you a symbol, and then research it and/or meditate on it. Make notes on what you are being asked to learn.

4) Start doing the Day 8 ritual.

5) Place oceanic symbols relevant to your journey on your altar.

Let me know how you get on with your EI journey below!

Further information

Atsma, A.J., 2000-2017. The Theoi Project. Available from: http://www.theoi.com/

Cousteau, F (ed.) 2008. Ocean: The World’s Last Wilderness Revealed. American Museum of Natural History Dorling and Kindersley, USA.