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

To see the Mother as she is, in her darkness and light. That is the image of Hekate as Pammetor, The Great Mother Goddess. To know her warm embrace and her firm corrections when we veer from the path. To give us, as John Bowlby, wrote “a secure base from which to explore the world. ”

For those of us who were denied this foundational sense of security, the journey can be untethered, as we wonder from one dysfunctional situation to another. The inherent problem, which Bowlby also describes, was that “what one cannot tell to the (m)other, one cannot tell to oneself.”

Stretching back across the centuries, we see that others venerated Hekate as The Great Mother. In the earliest reports, such as Hesiod’s Theogony, Hekate is portrayed as all powerful. This distinguishes The Great Mother from earth goddesses, which can be called “Elemental Mothers”, and The Great Mother who is source, soul, and cosmic. She is not Gaia, for example. The Great Mother, to the ancients, was life and death, blessing and bane. Nor is she merely a Goddess of Motherhood, although Hekate has always had a special interest in mothers and children. She was often described as Midwife in ancient texts.

In historical sources, Hekate is often interwoven with goddesses, as we learned in the last lesson. These triplicities formulate a Great Mother Goddess by weaving together all aspects of The Mother Archetype. With Artemis and Selene, she becomes the Wise Crone, the experienced Mother, while they represent the earlier phases of The Mother’s Journey. Hekate is also linked to other forms of the Great Mother Goddess, for example her association with Cybele, whom the Romans venerated as Magna Mater (The Great Mother).

Go deeper: Learn more about studying with me at keepingherkeys.com

She is the darkness.

She is the cry of "enough."

She is the sigil written in stone.

She is the silent walking away of the betrayed.

She is the lonely raising arms to the moon.

She is the lie told to live the truth.

She is the secret circle drawing down her moon.

She is the poison that heals.

She is the bold stare into the future.

She is the blood shed to bring rebirth.

She is all those who dare to become.

She is the power that is our right.

She is The Dark Mother.

She has returned.

Lesson 4: Ancient Hekate's Many Roles - Keeping Her Keys: An Introduction to Hekate's Modern Witchcraft

From the ancient sources, we know that Hekate was a liminal goddess, standing between worlds, particularly at the threshold of life and death. She was described in many diverse ways including Mother of All, Queen, Savior and World Soul. She was viewed as the torch-bearing guide for those on nightmarish Under World journeys. Not only was she viewed as the guide along the road, but also as the way itself. The variety of the titles bestowed upon her by the ancients often appears contradictory. We need to consider two things. One is that the ancient writers held vastly divergent views of Hekate. The other is that Hekate has always been a complex goddess with multiple roles and abilities.

Many-named Goddess who brings glory to men,

Whose children are fair,

Bull-eyed One, Horned One, Nature.

All-Mother, who brings forth both Gods and men

You roam around Olympus,

And traverse the wide and fathomless abyss.

You are the Beginning and the End.

And you alone are Mistress of All. - The Greek Magical Papyri IV 2785-2890.

“We’re witnessing the end of a 5,000 year reign of patriarchy, and are coming into a society created by our technology that will be more balanced and more feminine. It’s already happening. And I think that the good news is that it’s coming just in time.”

— Leonard Shlain

Psychopomp, which translates from Greek as “Soul Guide,” is one of Hekate’s most ancient roles.   

The Soul Guide is much more than the one who helps the earthly dead cross over the river to the other side, she is the midwife who assists new souls as they are born into flesh, and she reunites us with the fragments we lose along the way. Hekate calls us to take care of our own souls, and to see the soul in all things. Caring for our own souls and seeking to understand the soul in all things, draws us closer to Anima Mundi.   

 "By soul I mean, first of all, a perspective rather than a substance, a viewpoint toward things rather than a thing itself. This perspective is reflective; it mediates events and makes differences between ourselves and everything that happens. Between us and events, between the doer and the deed, there is a reflective moment -- and soul-making means differentiating this middle ground.” From Re-Visioning Psychology by James Hillman.    

Perhaps the best way to be our own psychopomp is to nourish the soul through the imagination, from which we explore our dreams, express our sacred creativity, and lean into the energy of the World Soul.  

From the Keeping Her Keys book: (starting on p. 65, Lesson 4):  The Hekate within Us  To explain how we make magic, we need to talk about how Hekate as the World Soul is represented in each of us within our individual souls. In my thinking, each one of us has a soul that is a unique transcendent spirit. This soul is never born into human form but is attached to each incarnation. The soul is connected to our current existence, but we can be disconnected from it for a variety of reasons. I believe that our life's work is to become unified with our soul. By listening to the soul, we can achieve our true life's purpose. When we quiet ourselves through things like meditation, prayer and ritual, we can become better attuned to our soul-voice within.   

“Kill the imagination and you kill the soul. Kill the soul and you're left with a listless, apathetic creature who can become hopeless or brutal or both.” ― Marion Woodman, Bone: Dying into Life  

Cyndi Brannen, PhD,  is a psychologist, author and teacher. She teaches and writes from the crossroads of psychology, spirituality and traditional wisdom, merging ancient knowledge with modern practices. Her work explores the journey through darkness to wholeness using the archetypes of the witch and Hekate. Her teaching focuses on personal healing through herbalism, rituals, meditations, and exploration of the deeper self.  She founded The Covina Institute, a soul school dedicated to the pursuit of wholeness through structured programs of study and transcendent experiences.   After years of a successful career in academia and healthcare, she transitioned to teaching and writing about reclaiming the sacred feminine through spiritual practices after she became convinced that mainstream psychology was not sufficient to lead to personal wholeness.  

keepingherkeys.com 

Keeping Her Keys SoundCloud Animara Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/user-188959581/sets/animara-meditations-journeys

I don't have to tell you that this past week has been stressful, nor do I need to convince you that we're all exhausted. We feel it in our bones. Instead, I'm here to stand with you in solidarity as a fellow traveller through difficult days. 

I focus on the teachings of fear, and how we can choose love.   

Dive deeper into the Keeping Her Keys book, and your understanding of Hekate. 

Get the love flow going by commenting where you find love these days.  

Listen to the Agape Phoberos Meditation:  https://soundcloud.com/user-188959581/agape-phoberos-ritual-meditation 

More on Agape Phoberos:  https://keepingherkeys.com/home/f/the-agape-phoberos-ritual 

Healing from Shame:  https://keepingherkeys.com/home/f/banishing-shame-from-our-witchcraft-and-our-lives 

Join The Covina Institute: https://members.covinainstitute.com/

An overview of the Hekate and the Wheel of the Year Research Project, with a discussion on the historical origins of Hekate's Wheel, Hekate as Soul, the history of Hekate as Gatekeeper (Propylaia), and a summary of the astrology of 2021 in general, and how to use it to deepen your understanding of yourself and Hekate. Includes a month-by-month guide.

Whether you're deep into your studies with Hekate or simply curious, you'll learn about her history through my exploration of her different roles and epithets as they relate to the lunar months, sabbats, seasons and the astrology of the new year. An excellent way to go deeper with Lesson 7 from the Keeping Her Keys book.

Mythological consciousness, the mysteries, the call of the rebel soul, and the courage to climb higher are the major themes of 2021. However, we haven’t spontaneously ascended. It’s more like we’ve been given the keys to the Temple Gate. The choice to enter is ours. We can become the High Priestess (or other sacred title of our choosing).

Watch the video version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG-Ug14JBIA&t=6s

Apply to become a student in my school, The Covina Institute: members.covinainstitute.com

 I was so happy to be joined by two priestesses within the Keeping Her Keys Soul School and Coven. Pinar is an Oxford-educated historian of antiquity specializing in the ancient Mediterranean area. Nini is a fabulous seer from a northern Italian witchcraft tradition that emphasizes working with spirits and spiritual transcendence. Within the school, Pinar writes articles about the historical origins of Hekate and other aspects of the sacred feminine in antiquity. Nini serves as dream coach, providing guidance as we seek to understand the symbolic language of the deeper world. They both are priestesses in rituals where they work as firekeepers supporting others as they venture into the spirit world. They are both mentors of The Mystai, the master course of Hekatean Witchcraft.

We got together to shed light on the meaning of Hekate's torches, ranging from how we become entwined with the living energy of mythic archetypes, the historical depictions of torch bearing goddesses, and how we experience the illumination of Hekate in our dreams and imagination.

Goddesses in Every Woman and Goddesses in Older Women by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.

Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals by Thomas More

The Great Mother by Eric Neumann

Hekate's historical torches can be researched here:

https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-html/

Apply to join The Covina Institute: The Soul School of Keeping Her Keys:

The pull of the Cave of the Goddess is strong. We are drawn to stones and crystals without connecting them to the deep underworld from whence they came, for example. When we shift our understanding of these treasures of the cave, we see that they are the gifts of The Great Mother. The primordial power of the cave as a dwelling place of the sacred feminine is one of the oldest locations associated with The Great Mother.

The road to healing is found by turning inward to her cave, where the mysteries of life and death await. The return to the cave is a reunification with the sacred feminine. This is to say the Goddess, not modern day gender roles and stereotypes. The archetypal characteristics of the feminine, including instinct, intuition, emotion, and governance over the life cycle. In the ancient world, the cave was both feared and revered as symbolic of The Great Mother as a projection of the great womb that birthed all of life. Hekate, and other faces of The Great Mother, are all connected to the depths of the earth. We know within our depths that entering the cave is a requirement.

We embark on the journey with the release of our burdens through giving symbolic death to the heaviness we carry. The next stage is to call back our missing pieces through soul retrieval. The final stage of this lengthy trek is rebirth into our wholeness.

Guidance for the Journey: Rituals of the Sacred Cave

The three stations of the journey through darkness to wholeness in Hekate’s Cave can be experienced through The Rituals of the Sacred Cave.

These are audio classes with guided meditations to assist your journey.

https://soundcloud.com/user-188959581/sets/rituals-of-the-sacred-cave-3

Go deeper into the healing of The Dark Mother by joining the Keeping Her Keys Coven of Hekate, a soul school of courses, events and support in a safe and private network.

Keepingherkeys.mn.co or download the Mighty Networks app and search for “Keeping Her Keys.”

References:

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, "The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul”

Erich Neumann, "The Great Mother"

Marion Woodman and Elinor Dickson, “Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness”

The archetype of the witch is as old as humanity. Typically, female, although not always, the witch is the one who brings healing through her use of powers connected to the deeper world. This, across cultures and times, has always been done in the spirit of rebellion against the so-called civilized world. Thus, the witch is the outsider, the one who resists conformity. Perhaps it is these two characteristics, that of connection to the unseen world and resistance to authority that are at the heart of the archetype of the witch. Discussing the archetype of the witch inevitably evokes Hekate, the ancient goddess viewed across history as a Queen of the Night, ruling over witchcraft, prophecy, and spirits. These are the gifts she bestows upon witches.

Archetypes are foundational forces that flow throughout the universe. They are numinous, nonrational, and primal. It is difficult to find, and express in words, the center of an archetype. Archetypes are different than constructs, which can be easily defined and understood. To know an archetype requires experience. Much like the witch, an archetype is many things that are difficult to describe with words. The witch is mysterious, and the witch pursues the mysteries. She goes deeper into the dark to find healing.

As with all archetypes, the witch has a shadow aspect which is entirely different than the healing found in darkness. It is the shadowy characteristics that have been extolled throughout history. Aspects such as baneful witchcraft, poisoning, seducing, deception, and trickery have been reinforced in western culture as a means of robbing the witch of her power. At times portrayed as a hideous crone, at others a beguiling temptress, the witch has been vilified. Those labelled as witches have been persecuted, tortured, and murdered. The witch is frightening because she insists on the truth that resides in the dark.

“Entering Hekate’s Garden: The Magick, Medicine and Mystery of Plant Spirit Witchcraft” can be purchased from major booksellers.

“Keeping Her Keys: An Introduction to Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft” takes the reader on a journey through 13 lessons that awaken the soul through connection to the Witch Mother.

Join the Keeping Her Keys Coven of Hekate school and network for lessons, community and live events: https://bit.ly/KHKfreetrial

Learn more about Lampadia: The Journey Through Darkness To Wholeness in Hekate’s Cave, a seven month training program in the healing keys of magick, medicine and mystery. BEGINS November 4. Get all the details at https://keepingherkeys.com/

Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Mythology by Charlene Spretnak

The Book of Symbols. Reflections on Archetypal Images Hardcover by Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS) 

Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing Power of the Dark Goddess Kindle Edition by Demetra George

Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants by Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Christian Rätsch, Wolf-Dieter Storl

Hekate is often depicted as a Triple Goddess, representing the many faces of the sacred feminine. We can experience the Triple Goddess, known as Triformis, Trimorphis and Trivia (Trivium) as different aspects of Hekate herself, such as the Underworld Night Queen, the Goddess of the earthly garden, and the Keeper of the Keys of the Universe of The Starry Road. Historically, Hekate has been shown as having three animal heads, such as boar, wolf, and bull. In this discussion, I talk about Hekate’s triplicities in conjunction with the goddesses she is most often companioned with. There are three distinct trios, each one representing one key of her three keys of magick, medicine and mystery. The triplicity of magick is symbolized by Hekate with her daughters, Circe and Medea. Hekate, Persephone and Demeter comprise the trinity of medicine. The Three Formed Goddesses of Mystery are revealed through Hekate, Artemis and Selene.

The meditation included takes the listener on a journey deep into Hekate’s Garden to drink from Trivium’s well.

Lampadios: The Journey Through Darkness To Wholeness takes the student through Hekate's Cave on a deep healing journey.

https://keepingherkeys.mn.co/posts/welcome-to-lampadios-the-healing-journey-through-darkness-to-wholeness

Learn more about the goddesses featured:

In “Entering Hekate’s Garden: The Magick, Medicine and Mystery of Plant Spirit Witchcraft,”explore Hekate, Circe and Medea.

Keeping Her Keys: An Introduction to Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft includes a discussion on Hekate’s triplicities.

Hekate as The Triple Goddess:

https://keepingherkeys.com/f/hekate-as-the-triple-goddess

The Power of Persephone: https://keepingherkeys.com/f/the-power-of-persephone

Persephone: Goddess of Adaptation: https://keepingherkeys.com/f/persephone-goddess-of-adaptation

Hekate, Circe and Persephone: Wisdom of the Resilient Goddesses

https://keepingherkeys.com/blog/f/hekate-circe-and-persephone-wisdom-of-the-resilient-goddesses

Demeter: Fury, Fertility, and the Fall

https://keepingherkeys.com/blog/f/demeter-fury-fertility-and-the-fall

Artemis: Huntress, Guardian, Fierce Maiden

https://keepingherkeys.com/blog/f/artemis-huntress-guardian-fierce-maiden

Great Goddesses of Magick, Medicine and Mystery Ritual:

https://keepingherkeys.com/blog/f/great-goddesses-of-magic-and-mystery-ritual

Join the Keeping Her Keys Coven of Hekate school and network for lessons, community and live events:

https://bit.ly/KHKfreetrial

Triple Goddess illustration created by Mary Martinez exclusively for Keeping Her Keys. Purchase official merchandise in the KHK RedBubble store:

https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/52023305

Music in the meditation: 852 Hz Awakening Intuition by Source Vibrations, Solfeggio Harmonics, Vol. 1.

The High Priestess governs their own life with intuition, and explores the mysteries of the deeper world with an open heart. Becoming the High Priestess involves an initiation into a journey that moves us from the illusion of separation to the alchemical union within. The High Priestess in tarot offers us guidances as we cross the threshold from novice to mystic.

Join the Keeping Her Keys Coven at keepingherkeys.mn.co to access the High Priestess Tarot Reading.

Episode 16, Season 1

In this episode, Cyndi discusses the components of sacred rituals, from the spark of truth that ignites our soul to the initiation into the mysteries.

Learn more at keepingherkeys.com

Episode 15, Season 1