This was a most unusual magical working.  The seed began Oct 7th when I did a Kali puja.  It wasn't an especially powerful or memorable puja, but one week later on the 13th I felt the presence of Hecate enter my temple and touch me.  I was in the midst of my tattva balancing ritual and had just finished calling Earth when it happened.  A distinctly female energy that felt old and wise and "dry" enveloped me.  I intuitively called this energy "Hecate" without knowing why, and it was this event which put the idea in my head of doing a Hecate invocation for Samhain.  I am assuming this event was related to my recent Kali invocation because I hadn't worked with the Dark Feminine in some time and these two events seemed too close to be coincidence.

That night I had a most interesting dream, which at the time, I in no way associated with the mysterious and brief energy in my temple.  In the dream I experienced a descent into the underworld in the form of a terrifying fall into a deep chasm.  There was a period of being trapped underground and finding a way into a strange house inside a tree kept by a beautiful vampire woman, who I called the Queen of the Vampires.  She was also a powerful enchantress and the mistress of a giant 3 headed dog which she kept locked in the cellar.  This hidden house was her secret abode and she informed me and my companions that we could not be allowed to leave lest her secret be known.  So she cast a spell of mind control and forgetfullness on us, but she had a special plan for me and allowed me to slip free of the spell so I could seek her out.  I then promptly forgot about the dream.

On the day of Samhain I had a rough idea of the ritual I would do, but had done no real research on Hecate (I know, shamefull isn't it?).  When I finally started looking into her history and legends I was shocked to discover that she was in fact the Queen of the Vampires from my dream.  First she had to be reached through the underworld.  Also Cerberus (the 3 headed dog) is owned by Hecate.  Hecate is a powerful sorceress, and is traditionally depicted as an ever youthful immortal, for which the vampire is a cognate symbol.  All the pieces fit perfectly and coming on the heels of the strange energy, I had no doubt I had an authentic visitation from the goddess.  This is all the more convincing because I had no prior knowledge of these symbolic associations when I had the dream and had always believed Hecate to be a crone not a maiden!

There had been a powerful energy shift when dusk fell and the knowledge that I had been visited (twice!) energized me as I spent the next several hours devouring information and crafting the ritual itself.  I must have intuitively picked up on the right energy because I had already decided to incorporate a number of elements of which were traditionally associated with Hecate and rituals to her.  1) I had planned to do the ritual in a graveyard. 2) I had planned to make an offering to the dead, as per the traditional Celtic feast of the dead, which it turns out is traditional for Hecate also. 3) I had planned to ask her blessing on some poppy seeds I had aquired.

Hecate is a storm goddess and the moment I arrived at the site, the first few sprinkles of the coming storm started.  There was an especially creepy moaning of the wind, which I knew to be it blowing across the sepulchres as I approached the graveyard.  When I started the ritual I was greeted by a dog barking.  Traditionally this is a sign of Hecate's arrival, but it was nervewracking just the same because I was in a private graveyard and it was the owner's dog barking!  It started pouring just when I tried to light the candles and incense.  Of course I had no raincoat!

I had fashioned a rude circle of stones to work in, with a ring of 9 black candles marking the periphery.  On the altar was a knife, a key, poppy seeds, a rope, a pile of dirt from the graveyard (to be blessed), and the offerings: incense (Mandrake & Myrrh), bread & honey, and a gold coin (to pay for the ferry ride).  All of these are associated with Hecate.

The ritual itself was quite miserable.  It was wet and cold, the dog barked frequently, and the rain soaked through my written copy of the ritual.  It was very difficult to maintain a magical consciousness in these circumstances and I felt very little energy raised, and recieved no insights.  Afterwards I sat in the rain for as long as I could stand it, trying to commune with the energy.  I did get one important insight: check the weather report next time!

I buried the coin and tossed the offering behind me as I walked out, without looking back.  The ritual felt like a complete failure.  However, over the course of the next week, I received several important insights which helped me get my life back on track, most importantly some insights on how to improve my finances which worked wonderfully.  I felt happier, more centered and focused for having made the changes and more open to further wisdom.