In this workshop from March 2020, watch Dr. Cyndi Brannen discuss experiences with Hekate.


Who is this presence? Hekate is rising, re-awakening the wildness inside of us. She whispers, haunts our dreams, and sends messages through symbols and more. Weird, I know. However, as a researcher, I’ve been studying this phenomenon for years. The legitimate experience of Hekate rising has been described by so many that it is undeniable that there is something going on.

To the ancient philosophers Hekate was so much more than the Goddess of Crossroads and Magic, she was Anima Mundi, Soul of the World. She is Soul, and she always speaks to us through our own. Soul is the deeper self that is the key to the spirit world and the infinite time of the universe. She cracks open the hard shell of ego, quiets the shadow, and shines light on our inner temenos.

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.

Her writing explores the archetype of the witch as a mechanism for healing from trauma, and as a font of personal sovereignty. She examines the many faces of the goddess, through mythology and personal experiences, as a reflection of the feminine principle, the anima, within. Added to her work is her years of professional experience in developing and evaluating self-directed programs based on modern psychological evidence. Notably, the roles of attachment, coping skills, and stress management. She draws heavily from certain modalities, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Motivational Interviewing.

Dr. Brannen describes herself as a seeker of the goddess within and the mysteries of the deeper world. She is deeply connected to the Witch Mother, Hekate. Her quest to understand both have led her through studies in comparative religion, mythology, gender analysis, and feminist scholarship. Along the way, she has studied many esoteric teachings, including astrology, herbalism, energetic healing, shamanic techniques, divination, hermeticism, and mediumship.

A dedicated scholar of mythology, she describes herself as an "accidental classicist," who studies the ancient views of the many faces of the goddess and women, through a modern lens, extrapolating themes to help others heal.

Dr. Brannen's teaching approach is rooted in the belief that exploring the sacred feminine, which she focuses on as Anima Mundi/Hekate, is essential for the achievement of personal wholeness and for healing the wounds of the world. She views the soul is eternal, and archetypes as living forces upon which the universe is built. These archetypes include, but are not limited to, animal spirits, plant medicine, and the powers of the planets.

Reclaiming feminine archetypes, such as the witch and the goddess, is a requirement for wholeness for all genders, and especially relevant for those who identify as women.
This is accomplished through a transpersonal process which includes dream exploration, transcendent experiences through meditations, journeys and rituals, sacred creativity with such things as art, talismans, and, yes, even the casting of spells.

She conducts ongoing research on personal experiences of the numinous using a mixed-methods approach including quantitative analysis and grounded theory. Her teaching and leadership styles are collaborative, focusing on power with instead of power over.

Go deeper into your experience of Hekate by applying to join The Covina Institute, an online soul school providing professional structured programs of learning and live opportunities for transcendent experiences. Covina comes from the Latin word meaning to come together for a shared purpose. Within the gates of our institute, you'll find the keys of psychology, spirituality and the traditional wisdom of the goddess meeting at the crossroads of learning, transcendence, and kinship.

The Covina Institute is the soul school of learning through courses included with membership and advanced study in master courses, plus live online events including medicine circles, meditations, moon lodges, rituals, salons and workshops. The courses included with membership are self-directed so you can work through them at your own pace.

https://keepingherkeys.com/