As far as i understand there is no definate wheel but a variation of them in different shapes and forms.

Hi David,

This is a great inquiry as the study of Hecate's Wheel, otherwise known as the Iynx (or Iynges; plural) will provide a treasure house of information about Hekate and some of the magikal and mystical practices associted with Her worship.

There are many references to the use of this wheel in magick and ritual in ancient literature. Some off-handed, and some quite holy and sincere. Some Pythagoreans and other pre-socratic philosophers and 'mages' made use of this wheel. Even Socrates makes mention of it in a conversation with a courtesan where he boasts that he used it, in combination with appropriate incantations, to attract and bind to his will a couple of his male lovers, but that he taught courtesans how to use it to attract and hold their clientele (I'd take this with a huge grain of salt as it is well known that Plato was busy rewriting history to suite his own philosophic vision. It is also well known that courtesans were usualy practitioners of magik/witchcraft, which art they used for many purposes, including healing their clientele as along with the 'darker' uses ).

But the history of the magick wheel is ancient, and its origins are perhaps lost in the mists of time. Here is a link to an article by Bethe Hagens which provides invaluable insight into this - stated so much more lucidly than I could ever hope to state it myself!

www.oicm.umontreal.ca/cim05/c...IM05.pdf

The whole article should be read, but here is an excerpt:

"It was quite by chance, and just in the past year, that an internet search brought up the
iynx or Wheel of Hecate and introduced me to a whole new body of literature. I had not previously
realized that magic wheel refers not only to the zodiac, but to the buzzer. Large birds and other flying
sky Beings are very often associated with bullroarers, and as it happens, iynx is also the name of an
actual bird (the wryneck). Consistently referred to in theurgical texts in the plural as Iynges, these
mystical birds described in the Chaldean Oracles carried messages back and forth into and out
of manifestation (Johnston 1990). Some scholars believe that a physical iynx was at one time bound
splayed on a crossed magic wheel and spun as an erotic attractor.

A controversy has existed since early in the twentieth century among philologists and linguistic
scholars as to the distinctions between and even the exact physical identity of magic wheels,
bullroarers, and tops in classical Latin and Greek literature (Lewy 1978[1956]; Gow 1934; Tavenner
1933). There is no agreement on whether the mythological rhombos given to baby Dionysus before
the Titans slew him was a bullroarer (the most common interpretation), a Wheel of Hecate (iynx), or a
spinning spherical bronze top. Or a combination of these elements. Hecate is a key-holder (Johnston
1990), a triple goddess equivalent to the three Moirae (Fates) — the spinner, the weaver, and the
snipper of the string of life — who sits at the boundary restricting access into and out of two adjacent
ostensibly sonopoietic realms. Johnston believes the iynx might have been both a sphere (or other
Platonic figure) spun to represent the earth at the center of a geometric cosmos, as well as a more
conventionally imagined buzzer-like iynx wheel. Valery Makarov, a Russian engineer and historian,
identified keyholes in unique 2500-year-old bronze dodecahedra from Europe and South East Asia that
may be part of the family rhombos and precursors of Hecate’s instrument. In any case, there is no
disagreement that the timbre of these spinners is Creative agency."

Special emphasis is placed on the hypnotic sound created by the magick wheel. Considering this and some
of the extant fragments of Orphic poetry, and what is about rites of passage in related underworld cults, this sound
was a key element, as was the notion of the wheel, spinning, whistling, and the snake...

There are of course, as Bethe Mentions as well, associations which have been made between the wheel and various
astrological schemes, particularly those based on platonic models, but these are questionable I believe. If there's validity
to them I'd be inclined to be very cautious about extracting meaning from the root, rather than from the elaborate schemes
that were later devised to make the heavens and all phenomena conform to the visions of a small group of philosophers.

Much insight can be gained from the existing fragments of the Chaldean oracles, and from the NeoPlatonist school
(Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus and crew) as Hecate was their "World Soul", their central Goddess. They made liberal use
of Hecate's Wheels (Iynges) in their rites and practices. My citing them is not an endorsement of their ideas and/or practices.

Some of the books noted in the thread Biblio Hekate contain information on Hekate's Wheel.

I'm still discovering, so please, anyone inclined to do specific research into this, post any truly good articles or links that
you find!

Darkest blessings,

Saeth

Greetings and Namaste,

My learning has brought Hekate's Wheel to my attention in the past. Hekate has been in My life since I was 16 and I have done a great deal of research regarding this ancient Greek symbol. It is an emblem that represents the Triple aspects of The Moon Goddess. It is also used in the Hellenistic tradition.

Within this symbol, the center is considered the void which stands for the Life producing bosom of Hekate... In the Thracian culture, this symbol was used to represent childbirth and wilderness... It is interesting to note that in other cultures, Hekate became known as the Queen of Sorcery and Power among being the Queen of Witches and the Guardian of the Crossroads, Truth and decisions.

I personally have seen this symbol in two different versions. One that of a box like "wheel" version much like a zodiacal chart and the other is a serpentine symbol that winds like a labyrinth maze around a spiral. It came to represent a symbolic meanin of REBIRTH.

There is a great deal of reference to these two symbols in many cultures that worshiped and honored Hekate. Tis a journey that begins for you... I wish you many enlightening lessons.

Dark blessings,
Kitawna