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

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”

For her witches, Hekate's darkness is her nourishing womb. We return home to her for healing. Witchcraft is the medicine she offers. The annual descent of Her Wheel of the Year into long nights is when she opens the gates to her sacred Cave, wherein her cauldron of birth resides. Deep healing, release of spiritual filth, soul retrieval and rebirth are all found in her darkness.

Episode 3, Season 1

Learn more at keepingherkeys.com

In this combo episode, I walk us through the historical origins on Honoring Hekate on the Dark Moon, to modern practice, and then through a meditative journey.

The historical practices conducted on the Dark Moon in propitiation of Hekate, focused on seeking her protection for the coming new lunar month. Known as Hekate's Deipnon (meaning "supper"), in parts of the ancient Mediterranean, households would engage in purification, create offerings, and leave them at a crossroads.

I break down how to adapt this to our modern lives, from working with Hekate's Sacred Flame through the Triformis Ritual, cleansing through khernips, making meaningful offerings, and going on a Dark Moon Crossroads pilgrimage.

Then I lead us through a meditative journey to Hekate's Garden where we leave our offerings on the Moon Altar at the crossroads.

From "Keeping Her Keys: An Introduction to Hekate's Modern Witchcraft:" This is a time for expressing devotion to Hekate. The word “devotion” may seem odd to you, I know it did when I first heard it applied to a deity. Devotion means being committed to Hekate. Even that sounds a tad strange. What it means is that you have a relationship with her wherein you are committed to honoring her through various activities. Devotion to Hekate requires the same attitude being applied to ourselves. We honor both ourselves and Hekate by living a magical life, practicing witchcraft, and expressing our devotion.

The Deipnon is the time we set aside as a special day for honoring Hekate. This can be celebrated in diverse ways. You can adapt the traditional Hekate’s Supper, you can create a personal ritual based on your understanding of Hekate or any other activity that makes sense to you. Any of the offerings previously discussed are appropriate. I typically go on what I call a devotional walk to the place where I perform my Deipnon ritual. During this walk, I’ll do various versions of the Three Keys chant, recite a list of epithets and some excerpts from the ancient texts. I also often do the Evocation of Hekate that you’ve been practicing.

Watch with subtitles, read the transcript and more here: https://app.searchie.io/watch/jVDGMknnqW

Ethics: https://keepingherkeys.com/ethics

Study with me: https://members.covinainstitute.com/