Keeping Her Keys: At The Crossroads of Modern Life and the Deeper World

Dr. Cyndi is joined by Angela Natividad, mythologist and marketing consultant, for this exploration of the Greek goddess Circe. Focusing on her powers of transformation, they weave through the two thousands years of Circe's mythology and art.

You can read more about Circe in Cyndi's book, "Entering Hekate's Garden."

Join The Covina Institute for deeper study of the crossroads of modern life and the deeper world. Every month we explore a different goddess through mythology, magic, and psychological constructs. Meditation, crafting, and workshops. Learn more about Covina.

Books mentioned:

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated by Charles Martin.

Art:

John Williams Waterhouse and others. Find a great resource on art depicting Circe here.

We can heal our deep wounds from our mother by leaning into the embrace of The Goddess. The cultural mother wound we all bear is at least partially due to the denial of the sacred feminine. In this episode I explore the psychospiritual connections between our personal wounds and how we relate to The Goddess.

Go to keepingherkeys.com to learn more about my work.

My reflections on Beltane, along with a guided meditation.

A deep exploration of Persephone's above ground aspects, from her maidenhood to her emergence from the underworld, including an analysis of The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, iconography of Kore, and more. 

Psychological themes: openness, vulnerability, recovering from trauma, and Internal Family Systems.

Note that we discuss themes of violence, trauma, and suffering. Take good care of yourself.

keepingherkeys.com

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Learn more about Internal Family Systems.

Agape refers to the ancient Greek word for close affiliation, deep affection and secure attachment. In the 21st century, our definition of love has been so narrowly restricted by society that, until we begin to explore the meaning of agape, we are often oblivious to this universal love flow. Agape is the love for a child, a friend, a parent, and our Goddess. Boundless, eternal and without condition. That is agape.

Phoberos means "fearful." Phoberos represents our shadow self, the parts of our psyche that we are afraid of. The thing with fear is what we often fear the most is our own ability to be fearsome. While our shadow turns our fear towards our true selves, it is also the power-seat of our ability to be toxic to others.

This meditation guides you through embracing agape and releasing phoberos to help heal into your unique self.

Based on an exercise in Keeping Her Keys, that explores the Love/Fear titles of Hekate.

Learn more: https://keepingherkeys.com/home

Angela and I explore the myth of Semele, Mother of Dionysus, and also called "The Mother of Frenzy." 

Semele was the youngest daughter of Cadmus, an ambitious king with connections to Aphrodite, Aries and more. Semele dared to fall in love with Zeus, and was shamed for it by her sisters. Ultimately, she was duped into requiring Zeus to reveal his true divinity, thereby rendering her to dust. However, Dionysus, being the good son, ensured that she was transformed into a goddess.   

At times called, "Thyone," meaning something like "Mother of Frenzy," we delve into the different types of frenzy, from panic to spiritual ecstasy.  Semele's key themes: desire, shame, love, death, rebirth, frenzy, and ecstasy.  Known as The Mother of Dionysus, Semele was venerated as an expression of The Great Mother in areas of the ancient Mediterranean where the cult of Dionysus was prevalent. In ancient Athens, she was honored during a minor festival. Generally, her origins are thought to be in Thebes. She is an expression of The Death Mother that is particularly potent, as she began as a mortal woman and then became a Goddess.   

keepingherkeys.com

From the archives, this is a meditative journey to awaken your interior spring cleaning. Time to cleanse, refresh, and reset.

Go deeper into your spiritual spring cleaning by joining Covina for the Gate of Renewal Journey from April 13 - June 30, 2022. Learn more.

Boundaries refer to personal policies that we use as our interior compass for navigating modern life and our excursions in the deeper world. The fundamental question to ask ourselves is, "what do I want inside my personal magic circle?" Once we've established who, and what, is in, then we move onto the work of protecting this sacred space. Being intentional of where we situate this personal sacred space of ours is the next step. We may need to avoid situations with a high probability of having our boundaries violated. Of course, there are times when this isn't possible. Even then we don't have to let toxic vibes into our magic circle. Envision them bumping off your protective sphere. When someone does make it through, and gets under our skin, then imagine removing them from your sacred circle.

The Praesidium Shielding Meditation is right here in the podcast.

True Magic: Unleashing Your Inner Witch is my book that I reference. Find it from most major online retailers.

Prentiss Hemphill, ‘Boundaries are the distance at which I can love you and me simultaneously,’

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab

Learn more: keepingherkeys.com

This is a lunar aura meditation. You don't need anything or any special training to this meditation. Simply sit comfortably and rest, expanding and allowing the experience to unfold.

Recorded during the live Full Moon Lodge of September 2020. 

Learn more at keepingherkeys.com

The more authentic you are, the more safe you become. There's always going to be this weird minority out there who feel threatened. So they feel unsafe. You're feeling safe, authentic, being kind and clear. And here come the ones freaked out by your truth. When we're living from our truth, we can handle these attacks so much better. Because we know we are so much more than whatever they say.

I tackle how to respond when people try to tell us that our authentic truth is wrong. AKA unsolicited advice. It's annoying, boundary violating and ever so unkind.

The Four Agreements can be purchased just about anywhere books are sold.

Go deeper: keepingherkeys.com