REVIEW: Centre of Excellence ‘Hekate Diploma’

The Hekatean Renaissance is at an all time high and many people from parts of the world are seeking to learn about this fascinating and ancient Goddess and how they can benefit from Her influence in their lives.

Distance-learning courses are nothing new, many established and highly praised courses such as those by Jason Miller’s The Sorcery of Hekate | Strategic Sorcery and Jack Grayle’s Hail Hekate: Walking the Forked Path - The Blackthorne School are available. So when I first encountered the succinctly titled “Hekate Diploma” being run through the Centre of Excellence, I was dubious but intrigued.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Centre of Excellence is an online distance learning provider with a wide array of courses that are counted towards a person’s “Continuing Professional Development”. The claim several interntional business awards, that all courses are fully certified or accredited and that there are over 1 million learners across 150 different countries.

From Corporate Wellness, Life Coaching, Beauty Therapy, Language and other courses, their “Psychic & Supernatural” section has grown in popularity and variety, currently offering 70 different courses, including Ancestral Healing, Tarot, Wicca, Vedic Astrology, Mediumship, Dowsing and many others.

Many of these courses can be obtained at a fraction of the specified cost, either through promotions, discount codes or contacting CoE directly asking for any current deals.

I managed to get the Hekate Diploma for £29 and decided to enrol on the course out of curiosity to see exactly what was being offered. Despite advances in the history and factual side of Hekate’s nature there is still plenty of misconception and erroneous material out there, so to say that overall I was pleasantly surprised does by no means excuse the course its problematic areas, but we’ll come to that shortly.

The course itself is divided into 10 Modules, with each containing information followed by an assessment. The assessments usually comprise of around 12 questions, largely multiple choice but with the last couple requiring you to write in your own words.

The course description details that it should take you up to 150 hours to complete, working in your own time, from home, though there is no time limit for completing this (or any) course. Classed as a “Level 3” course, completing it grants you 150 CPD (Continued Professional Development) points and on completion of all the course assessments, you receive 2 certificates: one from the Centre of Excellence and a CPD certificate displaying the number of CPD points earned from the course.

The course begins with a general introduction that contains a sort of “channelled” message from Hekate, welcoming you. To some this might be cringeworthy, but the actual content of those words resonated with how I’ve received messages, signs and inspiration from Hekate.

The course provider also states: “In this course, you will learn to stand at the crossroads with Hekate and shine a light in the darkness for personal transformation. Alchemy will be your guiding principle. Alchemy refers to the transmutation of something base into something higher. In this case, we will bring ourselves to the altar of Hekate and offer our capabilities to her guidance. We will be renewed and transformed.”

That sounds like working with Hekate to me – She is very much one for pushing the individual to confront shadows, develop skills and generally grow and advance in Her teachings, further exploring Her Mysteries.

Of course, there were places where I picked up on less solid or slightly incorrect information. Unless stated in the course material, there are no references, citations, footnotes or bibliography provided.

Discussions such as Hekate and the Egyptian Goddess Heqet somehow being linked/the same is still mentioned, however this is alongside a generally more interesting piece regarding Hekate in the Greek Magical Papyri, and links to the Goddess Isis (which can actually be sourced).

During one of the assessments, I had to contest a incorrect mark when I gave the correct answer. This was quickly addressed, though it did make me wonder how many others might get marked incorrect without realising or challenging the information.

And that brings me to the overall topic of the assessments. Regardless of whether you feel or know the information given be incorrect, you can only achieve marks for giving the answers as they are given in the course material. Whilst you could challenge these errors, generally within this course they are minor at best. Even in discussion of “the Crone”, it’s not done in such as way as they are saying Hekate is a Crone, but rather it is a possible aspect She has adopted as She has shapeshifted through time.

The personal development angles of the course are again nothing new but tailored specifically for those looking to work through a Hekatean lens and like anything require the work and effort if you are to see results.

MODULE OVERVIEW

Module 1: Who is Hekate? An Introduction

Module 2: Historical and Mythological Hecate

Module 3: Hekate in Classical Literature, Myth and Art

Module 4: Queen of Witches

Module 5: Underworld Guide

Module 6: Divination, Tarot and Mystical Correspondences

Module 7: Hekate and Your Magical Practice

Module 8: Evoking Hecate

Module 9: Hekate the Muse—Creativity

Module 10: Hekate the Revelatory—Initiations

Did I pass? Well yes, and in truth anyone with an established knowledge would be able to as well. But having completed this course does not mean that I have “completed” Hekate. You cannot close the book on the Goddess – new pages are being added all the time! What I did by carrying out this course was less for me directly, and more for the wider community, to ensure decent and relevant information is being promoted – especially when you are paying for it.

I would just mention the use of the word “Diploma”. To some, this might be seen to mean you are now an expert, know more than others and therefore need look no further. All I can say to this is: you are dead wrong.

In conclusion, for someone who is starting out exploring Hekate this would not be a bad place to start. As with any quest for knowledge and self-development, stay open and true to yourself and don’t allow the “flavour” of a particular person’s outlook to overly influence your own developing practice.

PROS: CONS:

Flexible Use of the word “Diploma”

Accessible Assessments marked by adherence to module content

Historically & culturally varied Unknown course creator

Good Foundational Knowledge Printed course materials additional cost