Who is Hecate? by Abraham LaBelle

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, a strange character named Hecate appears in a few scenes with the three witches. She appears to be the leader of the witches, as she was angry at them for including her in their meeting with Macbeth. Is it possible that Hecate is responsible for what happens to Macbeth?

Who even is Hecate?

In Greek mythology, Hecate is the goddess of witchcraft, necromancy, and sorcery. She is also known to be associated with crossroads, plants, poisons, and dogs. The witchcraft part made Hecate a well-known character in ancient witch hunts. This explains why Hecate was included in the play, Macbeth, as Shakespeare knew the goddess Hecate would be famous with the audience as a person of witchcraft.

Near the end of the play, Hecate basically states that Macbeth's downfall will be his overconfident belief that the prophecies will protect him. The witches later create the illusions which give Macbeth his remaining three prophecies, and ultimately lead to his death. From this, it seems as if Hecate is it overseer of the play, and decides the events and the outcome. But, Hecate is only given a small part in the play, and like sorcery, Hecate remains mysterious.

Greek Mythology of Winter- by Abraham LaBelle

Since it is currently winter, I thought it would be interesting to look up the history of the season of winter.

Our ancestors understood the basic seasons of summer and winter. They realized one was good for growing crops and the other brought cold temperature, snow, and sickness.

However, at this time, they never could have imagined the science of it all. For example, why seasons change, what causes snow, etc. So, our ancestors came up with mythologies to explain these weird phenomenon's.
I found many civilization's stories, but I think the Greek's is the most interesting, especially since we already read some Greek mythology.

Greek Mythology of Winter

Background:

Demeter- god of corn, grain, and the harvest

Hades- god of the underworld (hell)

Story:

Demeter's daughter, Persephone, was taken by Hades into the underworld to be his wife. This, of course, angered Demeter, so she made a curse that made all plants wither and die.

Now, Zeus had to step in, but he could not simply take Persephone away as she had eaten food in the underworld which meant she was then bound there and belonged to Hades. So, Zeus decreed that Persephone would spend 4 months in the underworld with Hades, and 8 months on Earth with her mother, Demeter.

When Persephone was in the underworld for 4 months, Demeter would grieve and cause Winter to occur, where plants would wither and the world would get colder. But, when Persephone was united with her mother, she would rejoice and Spring would start.