It is Samhain!
Fitting for this special day i wanted to research mythological witches a bit. Since we of this forum not only have the openly avaible knowledge but also personal gnosis i would like to ask what races of witches you know and what you know about them as i have heard and found information about the lamiae, the succubic half-women-half-snakes with greek origin which are one of the races belonging to the mighty goddess of witchcraft our beloved hecate.
What is your take on the topic. IĀ“d like to hear everything you have to say about this topic.
I wish everyone a pleasant samhain.
Hecate sends her greetings to everyone who celebrates Samhain with her
A witch is just a person who does witchcraft. The idea of a witch being a different race mostly comes from mainstream media.
Yes, i get that but in mythology there is at least one race, the lamiae, only female and all witches as they belong to hecate
In late Greek mythology, the lamiae were not witches. They were closer to what we would consider to be vampires or succubi as they were seducers and eaters of men.
So your only criteria for being a witch is affiliation with Hecate? Thatās silly.
You beat me to it!
But Iāll add onto this: the original Lamia was Hecateās daughter and a queen of Libya, but there are no records of her also being a witch. She also murdered babies after Hera killed her children (from Zeus, of course) and turned her into a monster.
Well i have close connections to them so i know from personal experience. All of them are witches
As lamia went with hecate she joined the empusai, became her daughter and also a witch. Witchcraft is in the dna of the lamiae. You can trust me, i had multiple past lifes as a lamia
Soā¦UPG. In the actual mythology, they were not witches. Nor were they daughters of Hecate. They were underworld monsters and thatās their only connection to the goddess.
The original Lamia was not a daughter of Hecate. Her parentage is given as that of an Egyptian king, Belus, and a nymph, Achiroe, though at least one poet identified her father as Poseidon instead. Nowhere is she ever affiliated with Hecate.
Went to double-check, and yeah, youāre right.
The only connection of the lamiae to Hecate is if you believe they are the same as the Empusai, who were similar vampiric beings actually commanded by Hecate. However, whereas the laminae were said to be serpentine below the waist, the Empusai were one-legged.
Well itās a Celtic Festival and sheās Greek so why would she? She has her own ways to celebrate the dead and harvest time. Would she celebrate twice? If I had to pick a Greek god I would go with Hades at this time of year myself, as heās the king of the underworld and god of the dead.
ā¦ Samhain is the festival of the dead when the ancestors walk among us again, returned from the underworld. Itās celebrated by druids, Celtic pagans and Celtic-influenced witches but itās not actually about witches, its about honoring the departed. And sometimes warding off alcoholic uncle bob cos heās pissed heās dead.
Arenāt the lamiae like a variwnt of lilith?
Nope. They donāt have any connection to Lilith.
Taking a shot in the dark, but I think itās because some Wiccans have incorporated Hecate into their worship and now conflate her with Samhain for some reason.
I figured if you see the lower body of a lamiae as a leg then they are āone-leggedā too. Empusa can be translated to that so I think the term ālamia joined the empousaā makes sense, as she also started belonging to hecate like the empousa at one point
If you really care then evoke hecate and ask her, she will verify what Iāve said
Lamia was actaully a Titan originally known as Ceto, Lamia is one of her epithets meaning Shark. She is the Mother Of Monsters & Seers/Oracles. The mythology of her being the Queen of Lybia & Hekateās Daughter is much later in her demonisation.