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Book Review: Keeping Her Keys

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Cyndi Brannen’s wonderful book, Keeping Her Keys – An Introduction To Hekate’s Modern Witchcraft is a must-read! I recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning about and working with Hekate (Hecate). Filled with great information, meditations, exercises, and spell work this book is perfect for those just discovering Hekate. I found it just as valuable forthe seasoned witch and those that have been devoted to Hekate for years.

Keeping Her Keys

For years I have been a huge fan of Cyndi’s blog “Keeping Her Keys”. I was eager to read this book from the moment it was announced and I was not disappointed. Having been a devotee and priestess of Hekate for many years, this book took me by surprise. The information, while familiar to me, was very well organized and easily read and absorbed. It kept this long-time scholar engaged and excited about the new information that Cyndi shared. Where was this book years ago when I had to scrape to find anything about Hekate?

Her chapters on symbols and correspondences are worth the price of the book alone. Cyndi engages the searcher with hands-on experience. There are opportunities inside to create your own altar and items of magick for your devotions. She guides us in learning to plant our own Hekate’s garden and making incense and oils. All in all, this gives the reader a complete guide to working with and creating your own personal relationship to Hekate.

More Information about Keeping Her Keys

If I had one criticism it would be the amount of typos found in this volume. Missing and incorrectly spelled words. I found numerous grammar errors, and sentences that look as if parts of them were missing. All of these drove this Virgo witch a bit crazy. However, the superior content of the book made up for this inconvenience.

To learn more about Cyndi Brannen, and her work, classes, and upcoming books, check out her website. You can purchase her book through Amazon below.

Blessed Be!

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The Race – by Terry Lynn Pellegrini

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In honor of Halloween, I have opted to re-post a narrative poem I wrote in 2017. The poem itself is a bit darker than I usually write, but it fits right the mood for the season. I hope you enjoy “The Race”.

THE RACE

From the crossroads I run
Bare feet striking hard packed dirt,
Jarred bones, ragged breath, arteries pumping.
I crash through the waist high weeds at the roadside heedless of the stinging of the nettles, the thorns stabbing my legs.
They follow.
Fetid breath upon my heels, bone white canines dripping.
Watching me with eyes made luminescent by the moonlight.
Terror. They are terror.

I race, away, away, I must escape. No rest, not yet, never again.
They pursue, closer, ever closer.
Their growls and barks echoing in my ears, competing with the sound of my frantic
heart, ragged breath, anguished sobs.
A sound, unexpected, sharp, then the pain.
I feel her scourge upon my back, punishment deserved, punishment meted.
The blood excites them, spurs them on.

I fall.
Down on all fours, then up.
Begging the Gods to aid me, to release me from my torture, from my lies.
A sound of gold changing hands, of delight, echoing through the trees.
No aid for the accused, no quarter for the wicked.
They are nearer now, the pack, these Hounds of Hell.
Racing forward, snarling, hunger evident. Their prize. My reward.
A deal gone bad, betrayal, murder, no regrets, evil embraced.

Still I race, legs moving, long past numb.
Head pounding, lungs bursting, my sweat dripping into bloodshot eyes.
I feel them. Nips at my heels, salty saliva flung into wounds by dripping muzzles.
A misstep, a stumble. I fall, finished.
I will run no more. Cannot. I am done.
They are upon me, tearing, gnashing, ripping, feasting.
With my last breath I hear Her laugh.
Justice has been served.

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Darkest Night – A Poem for Hekate

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I am feeling a bit under the weather today. Allergies are kicking my butt and I feel as if my head is in a vise. So, instead of trying to fight through all of the crap in my head, I thought I would re-share an old post, Darkest Night. I wrote this several years ago as an offering to Hekate at our groups Hekate’s Feast night. However, its content is just as relevant today as it was then.

Once again we enter the season of contemplation and quiet as the wheel of the year turns to Mabon. This turn ushers in the beginning of the darkest time of the year. And in this dark, we call upon the Goddesses whose realms reside in the shadows. We turn to them in the darkest hours of the night, during the darkest times of our souls. It seems fitting that this small offering be shared once again,

Darkest Night – A Poem for Hekate

By Terry Lynn Pellegrini – (Copyright 2016)

In the darkest of nights, She lights my way. Phosphorous, illuminating, brilliant one. Torches held high, I follow. Through my despair, through my apprehension, She leads me to knowledge. She leads me to joy. And through my joy, She shows me life and what lies beyond.

Her torches burn through the forgotten fields of my soul. Scorching that which has died, lain fallow, neglected. Blackened earth and ash nourish the slumbering seeds of inspiration, Pushing visions through the parched earth towards the moonlit sky. I feel Her pull, Her presence quenching my thirst, slaking my hunger.

With Her keys, She unlocks for me the mysteries, Invites me through the door and into the welcoming darkness I have forgotten. Her hounds, black, menacing, ever at my side.  Guarding my steps, teeth bared, haunches taut. Ever ready to protect as well as devour. And they watch, as fears are defeated and yearnings are satiated.

And when I stand at the crossroads of my life, She comes. Lighting the path of my existence, showing me the path to my destiny, Gifting me with the secrets of life, death, and beyond. And I rejoice in the knowing of Her. Giving freely of my heart, my devotion, my pain, and my joy.

Hekate Soteria. Hekate Phosphorous. She of the three faces. Guardian of the Crossroads. She who stands as my Mother, my sister, my Goddess. My teacher, my mentor and my muse. Hekate. May I live a thousand years in your service. May you be forever in my heart, my mind and my soul. Hail Hekate!