The Founder
The Fortress
The Fortress
Meet Brenda Burke
Brenda is a teacher and the founder of From the Fortress, named for the meaning of her Irish surname. She is a passionate explorer of the mysteries of consciousness, psyche, soul, and body, and has a gift for uncovering the ancient wisdom hidden in the depths of our shadows and dark nights.
Through guides, small groups, an
Meet Brenda Burke
Brenda is a teacher and the founder of From the Fortress, named for the meaning of her Irish surname. She is a passionate explorer of the mysteries of consciousness, psyche, soul, and body, and has a gift for uncovering the ancient wisdom hidden in the depths of our shadows and dark nights.
Through guides, small groups, and one-to-one quests, Brenda is an encouraging companion for the arduous journey of individuation, helping others unravel old patterns, reclaim personal sovereignty, and re-enchant their lives from the inside out.
The Fortress
The Fortress
The Fortress
The Fortress carries a dual symbolism.
It represents the soul's longing for safety, belonging, and psychic wholeness. It is the sanctuary we build to protect what is precious within us.
But every fortress has another side.
The very structures that once protected us can also become the walls that keep us closed off from our potential. The pur
The Fortress carries a dual symbolism.
It represents the soul's longing for safety, belonging, and psychic wholeness. It is the sanctuary we build to protect what is precious within us.
But every fortress has another side.
The very structures that once protected us can also become the walls that keep us closed off from our potential. The pursuit of fortress-level impermeability can become a prison.
The Fortress teaches us about the sacred balance between openness and boundaries, safety and discomfort, protection and risk. We need walls, but we also need doors.
Like The Tower of Tarot, From The Fortress asks us to examine the structures that have outlived their purpose. What happens when the walls begin to crack? What might be waiting beyond them?
The structures and systems of old are collapsing, inviting us toward the wisdom, wonder, and wellness that await us in the dark forest; in the mysteries beyond the fortress walls.
Step into the unknown. Reclaim your magic.
Quests From The Fortress follow the soul's archetypal journey of rewilding:
Reclamation ➡️ Integration ➡️ Transformation ➡️ Liberation
"All good things are wild and free."
~ Henry David Thoreau
Pillars of The Fortress
Story
Symbol
Symbol
"It is of life-saving vitality to make a connection to a story...It is nothing less than a university of the soul... These stories are telling us how to live." ~Martin Shaw, Courting the Wild Twin
Story is not bound by time nor place and offers immense wisdom and deep medicine. My most beloved books are full of myths, often told and explo
"It is of life-saving vitality to make a connection to a story...It is nothing less than a university of the soul... These stories are telling us how to live." ~Martin Shaw, Courting the Wild Twin
Story is not bound by time nor place and offers immense wisdom and deep medicine. My most beloved books are full of myths, often told and explored from a Jungian perspective. They speak directly to the soul and guide us onward on our healing journey.
Symbol
Symbol
Symbol
"As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbols. Every dream is evidence of this process." ~Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols
Ancient spiritual philosophies and quantum consciousness theories suggest we are dreaming this world into existence. To me, this implies life could be a symbolic representation of our unconscious m
"As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbols. Every dream is evidence of this process." ~Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols
Ancient spiritual philosophies and quantum consciousness theories suggest we are dreaming this world into existence. To me, this implies life could be a symbolic representation of our unconscious material yearning to surface. We can begin to feel into existence as we would a dream or psychedelic journey; to pay attention to the symbols, archetypes, and synchronicities that the psyche speaks to us through. These clues lead to more agency, lucidity and wonder.
Merrily, merrily, merrily... Life is but a dream.
Soma
Symbol
Soma
"A felt sense contains a maze of meanings, a whole textile of facets, a Persian rug of patterning—more than could be said or thought." ~ Eugene Gendlin
"Soma" has 3 significant meanings to me.
1) Somatic therapy: We're here to feel it all, but what we don't allow ourselves to fully feel and express stays inside, becoming toxic dis-ease.
2)
"A felt sense contains a maze of meanings, a whole textile of facets, a Persian rug of patterning—more than could be said or thought." ~ Eugene Gendlin
"Soma" has 3 significant meanings to me.
1) Somatic therapy: We're here to feel it all, but what we don't allow ourselves to fully feel and express stays inside, becoming toxic dis-ease.
2) Plant Medicine: "Soma" was an ancient hallucinogenic plant beverage. There is an immense amount of wellness on offer through psychedelic healing.
3) Brave New World: In Huxley's book, "soma" is a drug given out by the State as a powerful method of distraction and social control. Pay attention...
Brenda's Story & Soulcraft
A few years ago, I stepped away from my career in education to explore a question that had become impossible to ignore: What do I truly desire from this life?
Around the same time, I found myself moving through an initiatory relationship marked by profound heartbreak, loss, and the resurfacing of wounds I thought had long been buried.
My world was flipped upside down and it became a descent into my own Underworld, a season of stripping away, reckoning, and transformation.
In archetypal language, Pluto and The Tower were doing some major soul-level work in my life.
In the darkness, I began meeting the parts of myself I had exiled to the shadows. I immersed myself in ancient and esoteric traditions, followed the threads of depth psychology, and discovered extraordinary wisdom in books and courses. Through my experiences with plant teachers and expanded states of consciousness, I continued learning that the things we fear, suppress, or exile within ourselves often carry something essential for our vitality.
My path of deep inner work eventually led me here.
It restored a sense of feminine magic, the wonder of personal gnosis, and the very real possibility that life and love can truly be good.
From the Fortress is my passion project and an expression of my soulcraft. It explores the mysteries of consciousness, psyche, soul, and body while asking a persistent question: What would become possible if we broke the bonds of everything keeping us from real freedom?
I am a proud ancient history nerd, teacher, longtime yoga practitioner, seeker, book lover, mystic, Jungian enthusiast, highly Scorpionic wild woman and, perhaps most importantly, a believer in your unique magic.
Experience & Credentials
- BA in Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology and History)
- Credentialed Educator: 12 years of teaching, course creation, intervention coaching and group leadership
- Certified Somatic Attachment Therapy Practitioner through Embody Lab with teachings from Peter Levine, Gabor Mate, and more!
- Somatic Regenerative Alchemy Coach, trained by Dr. Sarah Coxon.
- Psychedelic therapy practitioner training through MycoVision
- Archetypal Immersion program (1-year) via ReWilding with Sabrina Lynn
- Creator and Facilitator of the Central Oregon Psychedelic Society Book Club, Wild Women's Book Club and Heal The Witch Wound Coven/Cohort.
- Paul Levy's live Dreaming Ourselves Awake course and Robert Moss' Shamanic Dreaming with the Goddesses of Rebirth through The Shift Network
- Andrew Holocek's Tibetan Book of the Dead course through Embodied Philosophy
- Certified Professional Organizer (Magic of Tidying believer)
- 20 years of dedicated yoga practice (vinyasa, yin, kundalini +)
- Many years of global anti-human trafficking education & community building work. Your contributions go toward this cause!
Testimonials
Step Into The Mysteries
A Sanctuary of Plutonian Exploration
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
~ Carl Jung
Pluto, known to the Greeks as Hades, is the archetypal ruler of Scorpio, the Underworld, and the mysteries of the unconscious, transformation, power, and intimacy.
Though many fear this dark archetype, Pluto and his beloved queen, Persephone, can become powerful allies on the path toward true healing. Together, they invite us into the mysteries of descent, death and rebirth, and the transformation that becomes possible when we are willing to face what has been hidden.
Pluto represents profound psychological rebirth, shadow work, and the dismantling of old structures that have become disempowering or outlived their purpose. His medicine asks us to strip away what is false, confront what has been buried, reclaim what has been exiled, and discover a deeper source of personal power.
When life flips you upside down, Pluto may be nearby, inviting you to step into the mysteries and reclaim your magic.
We all encounter Plutonian seasons in life, particularly during periods of profound transition and crisis. Jung believed that the second half of life offered a unique opportunity for individuation, the heroic journey toward greater wholeness.
Perhaps the descent is not a detour from your path.
Perhaps it is the path. ✨
Mission
Guiding souls through the shadowy mysteries of major change to transform the riddled, fertile darkness into a path of liberation.
Pack lightly. Travel with plenty of
CURIOUSITY
COURAGE
COMPASSION
CONNECTION