The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018
Hestia
Hearth and Home Deities
THERE ARE A MULTITUDE OF deities and spirits associated with the hearth, demonstrating the spiritual importance of this area. The concepts of hearth and home are so completely intertwined that deities associated with one are generally associated with the other. Here, then, is a sample of various hearth and domestic deities from several different cultures. It is by no means exhaustive, nor are the entries complete.
Hestia
The Greek goddess of the hearth, Hestia was the deity to whom offerings were made before any other. The saying “Hestia comes first” points to how entrenched she was in the lives and spiritual practice of these people. The Homeric Hymn “To Hestia” says,
Hestia, in the high dwellings of all, both deathless gods and men who walk on earth, you have gained an everlasting abode and highest honour: glorious is your portion and your right. For without you mortals hold no banquet, where one does not duly pour sweet wine in offering to Hestia both first and last.
Despite her first-among-equals position, Hestia is rarely referred to in myth; there are very few stories involving her, and her behavior is passive when she does appear. She seems to be more of an unembodied ideal than an enfleshed deity, as the other Olympians are presented in stories. This does not mean that she did not play a significant role in the lives of the Greeks. On the contrary: because Hestia was ever-present in the form of the home hearth as well as the public hearth, she was understood to be so entrenched in daily life that stories painting her as larger than life were unnecessary.
One of the three original Greek goddesses of the first generation of Olympians, Hestia was considered a virgin goddess, not beholden or subservient to any other person or deity. As a hearth goddess she was associated with the baking of bread and the preparation of meals. Identified also with the sacred flame, she was thereby connected to offerings, and she received a portion of every offering made to other gods.
Despite not having a formal temple, Hestia was honored by a public altar in the city hall, or prytaneum, where an eternal flame was kept lit. Just as the hearth represents the spiritual heart of the private home, the public hearth dedicated to Hestia was considered the heart of the city. When a new town was founded, embers from the public hearth would be carried to kindle the fire in the public hearth of the new municipality, transporting Hestia’s essence and protection to bless the new settlement. Likewise, family members establishing a new home elsewhere would bring embers from their home hearth to their new hearth.
Hestia preserves the sanctity of the private home, keeping it a refuge and a place of spiritual renewal. The hearth was considered the spiritual heart of the private home, and the fire in it was not extinguished. If it did go out, rituals of purification and renewal were necessary to relight it. As Hestia was the essence of the home, formalized worship was effectively nonexistent; everyone honored her on an individual basis. Hestia is an example of how holy the hearth and hearth fire were considered to be and how sacred the home as temple was for a family.
Her presence is symbolized by a flame burning on the hearth or altar. Hestia is rarely portrayed in iconology, for she is understood to be the flame itself. If portrayed, however, she is sometimes shown with a flowering branch, a kettle or cauldron-shaped pot, or a torch.
It is very interesting that Hestia is seen as an old maid or homebody, terms that generally have pejorative or dismissive associations in modern society. It should be remembered that older women were considered wise and experienced and were honored in ancient societies.