Florian Schlie - Voices of the Covenant - German Keybearer

2 days ago

11 min read

In this interview, we meet a long-standing German devotee of Hekate, Florian Schlie, whose connection with the Goddess began in adolescence and has since developed into decades of devotional, ritual, and community work. A member of the Covenant of Hekate since 2013, he later became both a Torchbearer and Keybearer, and in 2014 founded the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia in Germany.

His path brings together historical study, practical magic, theurgy, ritual service, and the care of a physical sanctuary where people can gather to experience Hekate in community. In this conversation, he reflects on the evolution of his relationship with Hekate, the importance of preserving ancient traditions while adapting them meaningfully for modern practice, and his belief that devotion can ripple outward—like circles on water - to touch and support others. Florian is also the author of the book Hekate’s Keys – Ancient Wisdom for New Paths.

1. When did you first join the Covenant of Hekate, and what inspired you to become part of it?

I submitted my membership application to the Covenant of Hekate in 2012. However, I was not accepted until 2013 because my application had somehow been overlooked at the time. What particularly inspired me to join the community was the work Sorita d’Este was putting into the Covenant of Hekate at the time, as well as the commitment of the other people involved in the project.

The Covenant of Hekate was still something very new then. What fascinated me most was its international character. It wasn't about creating a community limited to one particular country or region. Instead, from the beginning, the idea was to bring people together from different countries and regions. For me, this created the opportunity to work for Hekate together with other people and contribute to this international community, regardless of where I lived. That openness and international character were particularly inspiring to me at the time.

2. What first drew you to Hekate, and how has that initial connection developed over time?

The goddess Hekate came into my life when I was very young. I was only thirteen years old and had begun to take a deeper interest in the occult, particularly in witchcraft.

I first encountered Hekate through a book about occultism that my father gave me. Of course, he had no idea what this book would eventually mean to me. I took it with me to a confirmation retreat meant to prepare us for our confirmation.

The book included a short section about Hekate. When I read the goddess’s name, something happened that I have never forgotten. I got goosebumps; my whole body began to vibrate; I experienced waves of heat; and I felt a tingling sensation throughout my body. Today I understand that this is one of the ways energy or power manifests physically for me.

Hekate immediately drew me into her sphere, and she has never really let me go since then. I began reading everything I could find about her. This was long before the internet, so finding information was a very different experience from what it is today.

The following year, I began creating and performing my own rituals for Hekate. The ancient sources concerning Medea were particularly important to me as a source of inspiration.

From that first encounter onward, Hekate has always been my primary goddess. She has been present at the various thresholds and transitions of my life and has accompanied me through many changes. In my witchcraft, she has always been my mentor, my guide, and my protective goddess.

In 2005, I dedicated myself to Hekate as a priest. I then began organising open rituals for her, as well as private group rituals where other people could have their own experiences with Hekate in a communal setting.

I continue this work to this day. What began as a very personal encounter when I was thirteen has, over the decades, developed from an individual relationship with Hekate into a form of service to her and others.

3. What led you to become a Torchbearer or Keybearer within the Covenant?

For me, the impulse to become a Torchbearer in the Covenant of Hekate actually came from Hekate herself. At first, I simply had ordinary membership in the Covenant. But at some point, I felt a strong pull from the goddess, encouraging me to offer myself for this role. That is what I did, and I became a Torchbearer relatively soon after submitting my membership application. From the beginning, I tried to contribute my knowledge and personal experiences to the community. At first, I did this primarily online. Later, after I founded my own sanctuary, my work increasingly moved into the physical world.

In 2014, I founded the Sanctuary of Hekate Pasikrateia. This allowed me to connect my previous work as a priest with a physical sanctuary. Over the years, it has developed into a larger place of devotion to Hekate. People from all over Germany come here for both open and private rituals and take part in the ceremonies.

I became a Keybearer more through an impulse from Sorita. She had a dream in which Hekate gave keys to various people. According to what Sorita told me about the dream, I was one of those people. That is how I eventually became a Keybearer.

Since then, I have tried to shape my work at the sanctuary so the rituals I perform here do not affect only the people who are physically present. I want them to reach other people who honour Hekate as well, and ultimately the wider community and the people around me. I think of the effect of these rituals as being like the circles created when a stone is thrown into water. The stone falls at one particular point, but the circles spread farther and farther outward. In the same way, I want the rituals I perform here for Hekate to create circles of blessing that extend beyond the ritual itself and reach other people – first those who honor Hekate, and ultimately people in general.

4. How do you understand your role as a Torchbearer or Keybearer today?

As a Torchbearer, I see myself as someone who carries the goddess’s fire brightly within himself and allows that light to shine into the world. My task is to make it possible for other people to learn more about Hekate and to come into contact with her power, her magic, and her positive influence.

As a Keybearer, I see my role primarily as one of transmitting knowledge and passing on both knowledge and practical skills. Of course, this also includes caring for the sanctuary and taking responsibility for this sacred place.

At the same time, I do not see my task as something that exists only within the sanctuary or within my personal practice. It is important to me that the work I do here reaches the right people. The same is true of the rituals I perform here.

I see my task as putting something into the world that reaches beyond the individual ritual moment – like the circles spreading across the water after a stone has been thrown into it. If my work can help people come into contact with Hekate, find strength, and perhaps transform their own lives and the world around them in a positive way, then that fulfills an essential part of my role as a Torchbearer and Keybearer.

5. Has your understanding of Hekate changed since joining the Covenant? If so, what has shifted?

My understanding of Hekate has not fundamentally changed as a result of joining the Covenant of Hekate. I have always perceived the goddess as highly diverse and multifaceted. For me, Hekate has never been a goddess who can only be understood or experienced in one particular way.

I have always experienced her as a goddess who can reveal herself differently to different people at different times. So for me, it was less about changing my own understanding of Hekate through the Covenant.

What was much more interesting to me was observing the many different facets of Hekate that became visible within this international community. The different experiences, perspectives, and personal relationships people have with her have shown me just how many different paths there are through which people can encounter Hekate and work with her.

It has not fundamentally changed my own understanding, but it has broadened my awareness of the enormous range of possible experiences with Hekate.

6. Which name, title, symbol, or image of Hekate is most meaningful to you, and why?

Of the symbols Hekate holds in her hands, the torch and the key are the most important to me.

The torch represents the light of the goddess that she brings into the world. For me, it represents the light of knowledge and understanding, but also the light of theurgy – the possibility of experiencing the divine directly through sacred ritual and establishing a connection with the divine.

The key represents the opening of doors and gates. It symbolises the possibility of crossing thresholds and gaining access to the divine.

For me, these two symbols complement one another in a very special way: the torch illuminates the path and brings knowledge and understanding, while the key opens the gates that allow us to enter into connection with the divine.

7. How does your devotion to Hekate shape your personal work, practice, or service?

Today, my devotion to Hekate is expressed most clearly through caring for my sanctuary. The sanctuary has a Hekateion in an old orchard, standing on a sandstone altar. There I hold a devotional practice every morning and evening to connect with the goddess and make small offerings to her. I also organise larger group rituals there.

My house also has a temple room with another Hekateion. My devotion follows the changing of the seasons in a certain way. During the darker part of the year, my work moves more strongly into the inner temple room while the outdoor sanctuary rests. During the warmer months, the opposite happens: the outdoor sanctuary becomes the main focus again, while the temple room becomes somewhat quieter.

The two sanctuaries are connected through particular keys and symbols. To me, they are essentially mirrors of one another and together form a larger sacred space.

But my devotion to Hekate is not expressed only through rituals or through caring for these sacred places. It is also present in my everyday life. I receive many requests from people who are themselves standing at a threshold or facing an important transition in their lives. I try to help them cross those thresholds and find the right path for themselves.

I work with hypnosis and with ritual, helping people let go of old blocks and move toward new and more positive paths. As an author, I also try to bring my magical knowledge and my knowledge of Hekate into both my nonfiction books and my novels.

Above all, however, I express my devotion through my own magic. I used to say, “I practice magic.” Today I would put it differently. My entire life is filled with magic. My life is magic.

And Hekate is a very essential part of that life. For that, I am deeply grateful to her.

8. What role does community play in your Hekatean path?

In the beginning, the online community was naturally a very important focus for me. Especially during those early years, it gave me an opportunity to exchange ideas with others, share experiences, and work together in devotion to Hekate.

From around 2005 onward, however, my focus gradually shifted away from purely virtual communities toward communities that also took shape in physical life.

Since I founded my own sanctuary in 2014, my focus has moved even more strongly away from online communities and toward the physical community here. I want to provide people with a place where they can have ritual, magical, and spiritual experiences within a real physical sanctuary and an actual community.

For me, there is something very special about seeing a community that may initially have been connected only through the internet become a community of actual encounters and shared experiences in physical space.

9. How do you balance personal experience, devotion, and historical sources in your work with Hekate?

Historical sources have always been a way for me to develop a living practice. When I first began exploring Hekate, there was no internet, so I depended entirely on books.

At that time, I took what I found in books about Medea and the practices associated with her as an important source of inspiration and tried to develop my own practice from it. At the same time, I studied the traditions surrounding Hekate, particularly the practices associated with the dark moon and offerings at crossroads. I also adapted these practices into forms that made sense for me in a modern context, while always retaining that echo of the ancient traditions behind them.

Later, as I gained greater access to historical primary sources, this approach developed further. I have always tried to create something from those sources that is genuinely practical in the modern world and, above all, effective.

This is still the way I work most of the time, both in my personal practice and in my work with groups. For me, historical sources are not a rigid set of rules that must simply be copied unchanged. They are a foundation from which something living can be developed – something that preserves a connection with the past while also functioning in the present.

10. What do you feel is most often misunderstood about Hekate in modern Pagan or magical communities?

I think one of the most common misunderstandings concerns the idea of Hekate as Maiden, Mother, and Crone, or the idea that Hekate is exclusively the Crone.

I also find it problematic when Hekate is understood as merely a goddess of magic, merely a goddess of witchcraft, or exclusively as a dark goddess.

The aspect of the “dark goddess” is particularly emphasised in many modern occult and Pagan communities. To me, however, this is only one facet of her nature. And even this facet is often misunderstood, in my opinion, and reduced to particular modern ideas about darkness, death, or shadow.

Hekate is much more diverse than that to me. She cannot be reduced to a single function, a single aspect, or a particular modern role. Her multifaceted nature is precisely what I consider to be such an important part of who she is.

11. Is there a Hekatean practice, prayer, ritual, or observance that has become especially important to you?

For me, offerings at the Deipnon, or dark moon, are particularly important, as are the traditional offerings associated with the Noumenia.

I believe that devotion to Hekate can be greatly enriched when people learn about these ancient practices and find ways to incorporate them into modern life and into their own devotion to Hekate.

For me personally, Hekate’s role as a goddess of theurgy is also particularly important. To me, theurgy means using ritual prayers and practices to establish direct contact with the divine – both with the divine within ourselves and with the divine within the cosmos.

The practices associated with Hekate can be an important key to this. They can help us recognise the divine within ourselves and strengthen the divine fire within us, while also bringing us into resonance with the divine in the cosmos.

For me, these practices are therefore much more than historical customs. They can become tools through which we experience a living connection with the divine.

12. Is there any Hekate-related work, project, group, writing, art, ritual, or service you would like to share with readers?

One project I would particularly like to share with readers is my book, Hekate’s Keys – Ancient Wisdom for New Paths.

In this book, I tried to synthesise knowledge and wisdom about Hekate and develop it into something that can be integrated into modern life. My aim was not simply to provide information about Hekate, but to transform that knowledge into a living, deep, magical, and spiritual practice.

I would therefore like to offer this book to people who want to deepen their connection with Hekate while also finding a way to make this ancient wisdom come alive in their contemporary lives.

Of course, my sanctuary here in the Weser Uplands is another important part of this work. For me, it is a living place of devotion to Hekate and of magic – a place where people can encounter Hekate not only through books or the internet, but through ritual and shared spiritual practice.

13. What advice would you offer to someone who is just beginning their path with Hekate?

My advice to anyone just beginning their path with Hekate is: start small.

Today, the internet is full of pictures of beautiful, elaborate altars covered with statues, ritual objects, and magical tools. Especially when you are just beginning, this can quickly become overwhelming. It may even create the impression that you need all of these things in order to properly honour Hekate.

In my opinion, that is not necessary at all. Start small. Perhaps begin with a single flame that you light for Hekate. Perhaps create a small altar dedicated to her.

That altar can then grow and take shape over time. Gradually, you can add symbols, statues, objects, or tools that have personal meaning for you.

Everything does not have to be one hundred per cent perfect or “correct” from the beginning. Your practice is allowed to develop. It is allowed to grow – just as your relationship with Hekate grows.

For me, that is an important part of any spiritual path: you do not have to know everything at the beginning. You can simply begin and grow together with the goddess.