True Spirituality with Ange

There were a lot of concepts and beliefs in the faith that I was brought up in that did not sit well with me. So at the age of twelve, I stopped going to church. My desire for spirituality was still there though. So what do you do? I started exploring different religions, such as buddhism, and without giving it much thought, I started to pick and choose what felt right for me and what didn't. Now that I have been on this path for well over thirty years, I would like to invite you to do the same, regardless of whether you decide to stay in your religious tradition or not, as some of you value the communities that these religions have built and want to stay. I am officially giving you permission to create your own spiritual blueprint. Especially if you are a woman or a member of the LGBT community because traditionally, religions have not treated our communities well, so it's up to us to create a new narrative. Before we dive in, I also want you to go through this exercise with cultural appropriation in mind so that you remain respectful of other people's cultures and religions, especially if they have been exploited or are marginalised. You can read more about what cultural appropriation is in this Wikipedia article. With this caveat, let's dive in. I have selected three concepts from the PDF that I created to help you with this process, namely, heaven and hell, angels and karma. The PDF, that you will receive is you sign up for my newsletter with this link, has five pages of key words for you to explore. Heaven and Hell Heaven is traditionally regarded as the place where God and the angels reside and where the good go after death, and often depicted as above the clouds. Hell on the other hand is regarded as the place where the Devil and demons reside and where the wicked go after death and often depicted with perpetual fire and darkness. Heaven and Hell rest on the dualistic model of good and bad. Personally, I think that good and bad are always relative as they can depend on our beliefs, our culture and our circumstances. It also rest on a model where people are judged. And if you have been raised in the Catholic faith as I am, you only get one chance. When faced with a spiritual or religious concept, I want you to get into the habit of asking yourself: Does this support the life that I am creating? And if it doesn't, challenge it and replace it by something that feels better. You can use the four question process that Byron Katie has created, which is incredibly powerful. I describe the four questions in the episode but the most important one is number three which asks you to find out how that concept makes you feel. Personally that concept make me feel manipulated, as if I could not decide for myself what is right and what is right and I had to have the threat of hell to behave myself. Is heaven real? Who knows. Is hell real? Same answer. What better belief can we replace them with? Personally I believe there is a material world populated with beings with bodies, humnan or animal, and a spirit world for beings without bodies. I believe that God lives in my heart (although I rarely use the word God because it has a connotation that makes me cringe). I don't believe in heaven and hell. 2. Angels Does the concept of angels resonate with you? The definition of angels is spiritual beings believed to be messengers of God. Do we need to believe in God to believe in angels? I personally don't think so. For the record, I want to mention that religions have created hierarchy of angels that reflect the religious hierarchy and one has to wonder why, if not to support the oppressive religious model created by (mostly white) men. My own measuring stick for angelic presence is simplicity. So an angelic hierarchy feels like an oxymoron. You might also be interested in reading a piece I wrote for The Taoist Online on Medium recently that claims that guardian angels do not exist. 3. Karma Although traditionally linked to Hinduism and Buddhism, karma has found its way in popular culture in the West, so I wanted to include it in this episode. It is the idea of a chain of cause and effect in morality. The most common example of karma I have heard being used is someone being ill because they did something wrong in a past life. This ties into the concept of good and bad, with the added dimension of reincarnation, although it is not a necessary piece. I personally found it liberating when I came across it for the first time in my twenties. I had been raised by a very judgmental mother and tended to get very upset when people did the wrong thing. Of course, at the time, I could see no fault in my own behaviour but that's a topic for another discussion. The idea that karma took care of it all was freeing at first. Not anymore. And that's another point I would like to make: Your blueprint is a living document. It might look a certain way today and be entirely different in a year's time, so revisit it regularly. To share your piece of art regarding your new blueprint, DM me on my Facebook profile or my LinkedIn profile. To discuss this episode, head over to my FB page where you will find a post for this particular episode.  

I am honoured to have my first representative of the clergy on the podcast to talk about mystical experiences, which will surprise some of you. Rev. Stephanie Bradbury is an interim priest at the St Andrews Episcopal Church in Ayer, Massachusetts. She also speaks at the International Association for Near Death Studies. Although Stephanie has not had a near death experience (NDE) herself, she had a spiritually transformative experience (STE) as a student at University. Stephanie could be called a progressive priest, as for example, she uses pronouns next to her name. Historically, religion has not treated the LGBTQIA well, but it seems that things are changing. Stephanie has been a priest for 28 years. Her church, the Episcopal Church in America, is fairly progressive. Women have been ordained in that Church since 1976. Christianity is a varied landscape with millions of people believing different things, but it is often the more vocal ones that dominate the scene. And Christianity is immersed in a culture that does not believe in the transcendent. And that has filtered through the church: the idea that if it can't be detected through our senses, then it doesn't exist. Which is ironic because the scriptures are jam packed with descriptions of transcendent experiences. It's all in there. And these experiences are hard to take seriously because for the clergy, the rest of their lives is bathed in this materialism and they are told again and again that these experiences do not exist. Stephanie had the honour to counsel quite a few people who had near death experiences and other spiritually transformative experiences in her ministry. People who were told that these experiences were of the devil and who were told they would be going to hell. Or they were dismissed with words such as "I am sure you believe that". The average person on the street would say that too. It's sad because for most people who have spiritually transformative experiences, their first port of call is the Church and to be told this, is damaging. That's where they look for answers and the answers are not there. At least, not in most churches. But things are changing. It's hard for clergy too, but more and more Stephanie meets clergy that resonate with her approach. And some are afraid to lose their jobs. Even if a system is benevolent, it's hard to buck the system. Part of Stephanie's calling is to support clergy through this too. When she had her own experiences, she nearly walked away from the church until she was able to see the scriptures through new eyes. She saw that it was all there and now offers a blog about her views called Jesus and the Enchanted Cosmos on Substack. Stephanie and I talked about how religion can become words and an intellectual exercise rather than something felt from the heart. It's a little bit like snow. If you have never experienced snow, I can describe it to you but you will never feel what snow feels like. That's what has happened with all the transcendent experiences described in the Bible. People hear them but lack the first hand experience of them.

In this tarot series, we first looked at whether the tarot is evil or dangerous, then we looked at how to get the best tarot reading with a professional and we are now going to dive into what you need to know to do a reading for yourself, starting with choosing your first deck. Look at it as a tarot for beginners crash course. Tarot decks always have 78 cards. If you buy a deck that has less cards, it's an oracle deck, which I will cover in a different episode. These cards are split in two groups: The major arcana and the minor arcana. There are 22 major arcana that usually follow the same pattern, starting with the fool (card 0) and ending with the World (Card 21). Major arcanas usually have their number and name on them, particularly in the Rider-Waite deck, which is the gold standard for learning. How to choose your deck? I would recommend you choose it intuitively. Yet, at the same time, I recommend the Rider-Waite for learning. So maybe have two decks. My favourite deck is the Light Seer's Deck because it is more inclusive because the Rider-Waite is white washed and heteronormative. Once you receive your deck, you need to both cleanse it and dedicate it. I describe in the episode how to cleanse your deck with the sun. There are of course many different methods that are available on the internet. A lot of them involve crystals or smudging sticks. I prefer to keep things simple but if you want to use your crystals or incense, knock yourself out. Dedication: why is that important? It will set the tone for the kind of guidance you receive. Some people like to have their arse kicked, others prefer gentle guidance. I like my guidance to be uplifting, useful and inspiring. Take a little time to reflect on what you want. There are two ways to read the tarot: if you read cards literally, you don't need to be clairvoyant to do so. This means that everybody can read the cards for themselves, psychic or not. I think it's a good thing. In the episode I teach you one way to use your deck to get yes/no answers with just one card. I would rather you listen to the episode to hear all my instructions as there many parts to it but if you are in a rush, you pull one card. It is upright, it's a yes. If it is reversed, it's a no. At the end of the day, the power of tarot cards lie in their symbology, mostly what things mean to you. Because of this, I encourage you to sign up for my Treasure Hunt where you will learn how to find and interpret signs. Plus if you are an entrepreneur, particularly in the online service industry, I will share how to start thinking about a powerful three or five day challenge you could run. Here is the link to sign up. Last, here are the top five mistakes people do when they read the tarot so you can try to avoid them: Doing a reading when you feel low or vulnerable Using your deck in a space that is not safe Asking the same question until you get the answer that you want Asking the wrong question Think the answer you get is set in stone I can teach you the tarot one to one if you want for £199 a month (at the time of the recording of this episode). If you would like to find out more, book a discovery call with me with this link. Making sure you learn with the right mentor is incredibly important so let's chat.

In this episode, I talk about all things spooky in the spiritual world, because it's Halloween! I saw a connection of mine post a photo of a graveyard with orbs on LinkedIn over the weekend end it reminded me of my connection to both graveyards and orbs, so here we are.  I grew near the Cimetiere Montparnasse in Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montparnasse_Cemetery Growing up as a child, my bedroom window overlooked it. As if this was not enough, my grandmother took us playing hide and seek in the Cemetery whenever she came to look after us on Wednesdays, weather permitting. I also remember the first time I was tipsy walking through the Cemetery with my sister as a chaperone on the way back from a friend who served me a pretty strong of Rhum, as he was originally from the West Indies. And the one thing I did whilst walking in the middle of the night was do a speech to the dead.  I don't believe dead people hover over their graves nor that their new homes are cemeteries. They might visit when you do, say for example on the 1st of November for All Saints Day, but only because you are there and they care. Most of the rest of the time, they live in another dimension (a higher one).  My grandmother, who is now in that dimension, used to take my sister, my brother and I to play hide and seek in the Montparnasse Cemetery. When I went to see a psychic medium for the first time in 2005, my grandmother high jacked the session. Yet when I told my mother about it, she accused me of disturbing the peace my grandmother was having. Since then, and thanks to Abraham Hicks, I have come to believe that when we die, we continue to be interested in the same things we were interested in when we walked the earth. I guess that means my grandmother is in that cemetery most of the time. Joke apart: lawyers would gather around law firms, piano players around pianos... etc.  I want to explain the difference between our departed loved ones and ghosts, as this is a Halloween podcast. Our loved ones, when they come to see us, are only visiting. They don't come to haunt us. They are not attached to a specific venue and they know that they are "dead". They usually are now able to see the bigger picture and are slightly wiser than when they walked the earth. Ghosts, on the other hand, are trapped in between the Earth plane and the spirit world. They usually haunt places because they don't realise they are dead. So for example, they continue to live in the house that was theirs when they lived and disturb the new occupants. Think of the film the Others, with Nicole Kidman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Others_(2001_film) It's pretty accurate. But ghosts are not necessarily humans trapped in an in-between world. They can also be energy imprints or entities. I go into more details about the difference in the episode. They often hover around pubs, places where massacres have happened and generally dark spots on the Earth.  Orbs are the opposite of entities. They are beings of light. In March 2014, a day after my father died, I captured an orb on my phone camera as I was walking in the XVIth arrondissement, in Paris, which is precisely where my dad grew up as a boy. Two days later, I captured two orbs on either side of the Church where his funeral was going to be conducted, just before I met my cousin to hand him the speech I wanted him to read for me. Both photos are included in my memoir, My Father Who Art in Heaven which you can purchase in the online shop. www.theintuitiverevolution.co.uk/shop Energy vampires: my grandmother was one. What are energy vampires? People who drain you. You recognise them because before you see or interact with them you feel great. Whereas after you have, you feel exhausted, drained or simply awful. They can be friends, relatives, people you work with or even complete strangers. They can be trolls on social media. How does it work? They come into your energy field, if it is open or compromised, and hook into you then syphon your energy. They do not need to know how energy works in order to do this. You, on the other hand, need to learn about energy in order to protect yourself. Personally, I thought I was the one with a mood problem until I trained as a reiki master and learnt more about energy. Energy vampires hook you in by making you feel sorry for them, by complaining or by creating arguments. This enables them to wedge an opening into your energy field, et voila. I explain a little more about the mechanics of how that happens in the audio of the episode.  Psychic attacks are quite common. If you have been on the receiving of a psychic attack, you can feel off, on edge, anxious or nauseous. A psychic attack is when someone transfers their negative energy into your energy field. It can be deliberate, if they get angry, jealous or start hating you. This can happen for example with someone who knows you and is jealous of your success even if you don't actually know who they are. It can be accidental: someone who loves you who worries so much about you that they pour their worry energy into you. It can also be violent and feel almost like a physical slap when people attack when they are triggered. I share a story in the episode of a client who actually woke up in the middle of the night and who thought she was having a stroke.  You can open yourself to unwanted energies when you use tarot cards or Ouija boards. I am passionate about keeping people safe, so if you want to avoid the top three mistakes people make when using a tarot deck, head over to Julie Brown's podcast, This Sh*T works, where I was interviewed for a Halloween special. https://podfollow.com/1528595881/episode/5054aae6c39e2f1a168ad07800f5462ba4dd9d51/view

Dean James is the host of the Used To Be Do Count (U2BDC) podcast, which explores what his guests used to be because who we used to be an important contribution to who we are today and we should not abandon a part of ourselves. Dean grew up in a religious environment, not because of his parents but because of school as most primary school in England are denomination schools under the umbrella of the Church of England. However, Dean has an interesting background as his father is a Turkish Cypriot, so he grew up influenced by Muslim values. His mother is Irish Catholic. And Dean feels that, having been exposed to both religions, they share common values. At one point in his youth, Dean went to Church and identified as Christian but one day, he heard the Priest that he admired and who was a mentor to him, do a homophobic sermon. And at that moment, even though Dean didn't know he was gay, his body froze. And that put him off church. It felt like milk turned sour. Since then Dean has dabbed into meditation and Buddhism. Dean used to be a professional dancer and he definitely feels that dancing is part of his spirituality. Sadly however, he stopped his career as a dancer when his brother died. And has recently taken up dancing again, though not professionally. He believes that dance can unlock our sixth sense because it unlocks energy in our bodies. He stopped dancing at the time of the death of his brother because something got blocked by grief in his body and he felt "Who am I to feel joy through dance when my brother is dead?" So Dean founded a charity for the following seven years. To hear the full interview, click here. To listen to Dean's podcast click here. To follow the podcast on IG, click here. To follow the podcast on Facebook, click here.  

There are five steps to finding your life's purpose. Step 1: Strengthen your intuition Everyone is intuitive but we haven't been taught how to use that intuition and what it looks like so we don't trust it. We also don't know how to access is on demand. If you want to learn how, please head over to my online course How To Learn to Trust Your Intuition. As children, we have been actively encouraged to ignore our intuition so that we could fit in and become compliant citizens. We are socially trained to believe what people say rather than observe their behaviour or how we feel about it. In the episode, I teach you one example that will enable you to know the difference between anxiety and fear on the one hand and intuition on the other hand. The clue is on how it makes you feel. You can also listen to previous episodes about intuition: EP 5 - How does intuition work. And EP 91 - Ignore your intuition at your peril. Step 2: Follow signs What are signs? In order to dive into the range of signs that are available to you I encourage you to listen to EP 23 Signs from the Universe. If you are in a hurry, they can be anything significant to you especially after you ask the Universe to show you the way. How do you ask? Listen to EP 47 How to Work with Angels to have more information about it. In a nutshell, you write down the help you want and then wait and pay attention. You start with paying attention to how you word your request. Every word matters. I help clients with this step because it's quite subtle and more complex than it appears at first. However for the purpose of this podcast episode you can keep it simple: What is my life's purpose? Date and sign it. In the episode, I list several ways in which you can receive the answer to your request. Step 3: Learn to say no This is a very important step. If you are a people pleaser and cannot say no, you are not likely to find your purpose because you will believe that your purpose is to make other people happy. No one's purpose is to make other people happy. Not even your own children if you are a parent. That's just a people pleasing point of view. Step 4: Trust the detours Even though we would like our lives to be this linear path to success, it rarely happens like this. Life is messy. I had to lose my entire career in 2005 in order to find my true purpose. And most of it was due to the fact that I was living someone else's version of success because I was a people pleaser, as I explained in EP 110 Success and Spirituality. Step 5: Open your own akashic records Your life's purpose is stored in your akashic records. They are what you could call your soul's diary. They contain everything about you as a soul. It is possible for you to access your own records and get information from them. I recommend Linda Howe's book to get started: How to read the akashic records. I also invite you to book a session with me as this is my speciality. I have two separate tariffs depending on whether you consult me for your private life or your business.  

The Universe has a radically different way to look at success than we do in the Western world. In this episode, I explore those differences, how I have lived experience of it and the five regrets of the dying. From 1988 to 2005, I had a stellar career as a lawyer (I count my studies in this period as I did really well at University). Then in 2005, two things happened, I lost my job and I became pregnant with my third child. This was a massive crisis for me as I wasn't just losing my job, I was losing my career. I talk about this second burnout period in my life in my brand new book, Healing Burnout with the Angels, so If you want to know when the book is coming out, sign up for my newsletter with this link. According to the Oxford dictionary, he definition of success is the accomplishment or an aim. In the West, that usually means wealth, fame or respect. For me, in 2005, two versions of success collided. The success I wanted to feel in my career and the success I wanted to feel as a mum. I wanted to be both the best lawyer in the world and the best mum in the world and sadly, the way the Western world is structured, both cannot be attained simultaneously. The second part of the episode is about whether this Western world definition of success is really going to matter when you are on your death bed and the short answer is no. In 2011, Bronnie Ware wrote a book called the five regrets of the dying. This was inspired by her work in palliative care. In the episode we explore these five regrets and then move to the most important question I believe we should ask ourselves: How do we make sure we live a life well lived? And what does that mean on a spiritual level? I share my answer at the end of the episode. I would love to know yours. And if you need to redefine your version of success and you need some help, book a discovery call with me.  

The last letter of my EPIC framework to manifest success without burnout is what I call the Triple C: Clarity, Courage and Confidence. They all come under the banner of mindset, which is at least 50% of success. Without the right mindset we often believe that what we want is not for us. We are too young, too old, to rich, too poor. Whatever it is that our limiting beliefs tell us. Suppose you had the energy pillar nailed as well as the prosperity mentality and the intuition, why do you need clarity? Clarity is probably one of the biggest obstacle to manifesting our dreams. I don't know about you but I used to change my mind about what I want so often that I confused myself. That was particularly true when I finished school and had to choose what to study. I had so many ideas. Perhaps for you, it's too many book ideas. And the truth is, you need to choose one and focus on that one long enough to get traction. Even that you need to be clear on. The fact you need to focus on one thing. I use to scatter myself. It is really bad in terms of results. But even getting clarity is not enough. When I do akashic records session, I give clarity to my clients. Unless they have the courage to take action, nothing is going to happen. And then the confidence comes last. Yes, it comes after action. If you wait to have the confidence to do something you are missing what it takes to go after your dreams. What if the action you took is not right? I think of intuition as a satellite navigation system, so it will show you how to redirect. But it won't be able to show you the right way unless you start your car and your journey. Does that make sense? I explore all three aspects of this pillar in this episode. If you believe you need support specifically with your mindset, why not check out my Stop Sabotaging your Success online course. Click here to find out more.  

Intuition is the third pillar of success without burnout. How so? Well intuition enables you to be in the right place at the right time, saving all the effort to get to that place. I experienced that recently in my career as an author. You can buy the Writer's and Artist's yearbook and pitch 100 agents or publishers, or... you can set your intention, write it down and opportunities COME TO YOU when the time is right. You can see how this allows you to have plenty of spare time to rest, reflect or work on your fitness. It's awesome. What is intuition? My definition of intuition is that it is a form of intelligence that does not require thinking. As this is an episode that was released on my Intuitive Revolution in Business podcast in 2021, I talk about my book launch of the book called Intuitive Revolution in Business which I am still incredibly proud of. The book, the decision journal and the intuition tracker are all available on my amazon shop. My Facebook page has been renamed Spiritual Lawyer. My podcast #HighVibeMonday has been discontinued by my podcast The Intuitive Revolution in Business is still available. I encourage you to listen to it as there are many accounts of entrepreneurs' stories around intuition. The more you listen to other people's stories of intuition, the more you will remember yours. And that is the start of the journey of trusting your intuition. In order to make room for intuition we need to both understand the mind and aim at quieting the mind. Intuition whispers. The more noise we have in our heads, the less we can hear it. And then hearing it is not enough. We need to act on it. It is also important to address the fears that will come when you decide to pursue your intuitive gifts. There is always the fear of ridicule. The number of time I have been called irrational by people who did not understand how intuition works is shocking. At the end of the day, though, I was right and that is all that matters. I acted on it and never had to live through regrets.  

Our guest this month is an Anxiety and OCD therapist who shares his journey of curing his OCD. Chris started developing high levels of anxiety from when he started going to school which was fed by some of the stories he was told around religion. He reacted against this by becoming an atheist but the damage was done. He battled intrusive thoughts about death, about hell for years. Even in cartoons that he watched on TV, like the Simpsons these messages about hell were reinforced. There came a point in his life where the fear was so intense that he wasn't functioning. He was obsessing over death. It was during COVID too so he hadn't seen friends in a month. He cried for five hours and then starting wondering if the problem was not death but OCD, so he went on YouTube and found a video by John Glanvill, who was to become his mentor. Slowly, Chris was able to look at his thoughts and question them. He now considers himself an entirely different man. But it took dedication and persistence and he says he is still working on himself. He knew when he watched the first video that the man who had recorded it was going to help him. Some of the things that this man talked about felt too far fetched but because Chris was getting results, he kept with the programme. Part of the work is to face your fears head on and do the things that you have up to now tried to avoid. I met Christ at Toastmasters which he joined long before I did to conquer his fear of public speaking. The idea is to sit with the anxiety rather than try to avoid it by doing some ritual that the ego promises will resolve the issue. As his mentor shared with him how he went to Peru and did ayahuasca, Chris felt the desire to experience something similar, so he found a Magic Mushroom retreat near him. He shared his insights into that experience with us on the podcast. It is now his end goal in life to experience something similar to what he experienced on that retreat without the mushroom. It's still work in progress but his life has been truly changed by the experience, although not as much as he thought it would because he had started doing the work long before turning up at the retreat. To work with Chris, head over to his website with this link.  

Sign up for my upcoming webinar called the 4 fun ways to avoid burnout on the 14th of October at 7 pm UK time. People who attend live with have a chance to win a session with me worth £300. Click here to sign up. Prosperity is defined by the Marrian Webster dictionary as "the condition of being successful or thriving, especially by making a lot of money". Abundance, which is a term also widely used in spiritual circles in the context of the law of attraction is defined as "a very large quantity of something". It is interesting that there is no concept of success linked to it, nor of money. And in reality, you could have an abundance of bills or debt. And abundance can have connotations of clutter to me. And lastly, wealth is defined as "a plentiful supply of a particularly desirable thing". This is where the episode about what I call True Prosperity starts. Definitions. And you can see how abundance and wealth don't really fit in my EPIC framework because as such they are not profound enough to lead to success. Prosperity does not necessarily link to materialism, and I like that. Or at least there need not be. The notion of money is added towards the end of the definition more as an example. i also talk about perfectionism because perfectionists could be prosperous and successful and yet not feel the success and prosperity attached to it. They simply move the goalpost as soon as they reach it. And that of course, can lead to burnout. We need to talk about success when we talk about prosperity because it is an entirely personal notion. I invite you to reflect on what success means to you. In the third part of the podcast, I talk about manifesting. This is a topic I already touched upon in Episode 32 titled the Gentle Art of Manifesting. Forgiveness and gratitude are two pillars of prosperity. If we hold grudges about people, we hold our prosperity back. If we are not grateful for what we already have, same.  

Before we start, can I remind you of my upcoming webinar on the 14th of October at 7 pm UK time, that you can sign up for by joining my newsletter with this link. Energy is like gravity. You don't need to believe it in order for it to affect your every day life. Are we taught about energy in school though? No. This episode will make up for that grave deficiency. It all stems from the energy field that is around us that the new age world calls the aura. We have seen in a previous episode about the Freemasons, that they also refer to that energy. It is here to protect us. it is also here to help us keep safe by allowing us to feel what is around us and hence sense danger. Our aura is directly linked to that gut feeling that tells us that someone is watching us behind us. In this episode, I share how our auras work, how it can become unbalanced, and how we connect energetically to other people, including people when we first meet them. And that energetic connection is what is behind our instant likes or dislikes of people. The English language reflects that reality through expressions like "being on the same wave length". I find it fascinating. I also explains what cords are and how these cords can affect our energy. This ties into what I discussed in last week's episode about energy vampires but even people who are not energy vampires can cord you, especially if they want to manipulate you. These cords can also come from our own habitual thoughts. So it's important to get an energy cleanse to be able to think in different ways, especially if our thinking and our beliefs do not support our goals. This is pillar number one of the EPIC framework that I use to support my clients reach new levels of success without burning out. Next week we will explore pillar number 2. 

You may have heard the expression "Energy Vampires". It refers to people who suck you dry and leave you feeling exhausted and sometimes even depressed after you spend any amount of time with them. In this episode, I am going to give you my best tips on how to deal with them. Energy vampires don't only affect our lives, they also affect our businesses and careers. They can also affect you without you even speaking to them. Not that I want you to panic, but it happened to me once. Just someone driving down the road who became aggravated because I wasn't driving through a traffic light. She poured insults at me and when she drove off, I felt myself again. There is more to the story, so please listen to the episode. I also explain why energy vampires do what they do. I give four steps on how to manage energy vampires and give a lot of examples regarding how they might affect your success. Step 1 is to refrain from engaging in their negativity and I illustrate how to do this in the episode. Step 2 is to limit how much time you spend with them. Step 3 is to let them know the things you will not tolerate. Step 4 is to suggest ways they can help themselves. If you want to be able to ask me questions and learn about three more unusual ways to avoid burn out, why not sign up for my business newsletter so that you can receive the link to sign up for my signature webinar called 4 unusual ways to prevent burnout on your path to success.

After the last two episodes that explored the Templars and Freemasonry, I thought it would be beneficial to interview a real life Freemason. Darren and I met about six months ago when I posted in a local Facebook group asking who could fix my crystal bracelets and the rest is history. Darren joined Freemasonry due to a good friend of his, which is actually quite typical of this organisation, even though I don't think it is in their ethos to push it in other people's faces. He trusted that friend and joined his local lodge about eight years ago and has now reached Master level. I found my discussion with Darren to be incredibly refreshing as he shared openly about his experience, what it's been like and why he has stayed so long. We also talked about a spiritual experience that he calls his awakening and how this led him to various paths, amongst others reiki and massage, whilst holding a job in corporate at the same time. To Darren, but it also surfaced from the book I read for last week's episode, Freemasonry is about finding your true self. You can find Darren on Instagram and Facebook. If you are local to Bristol, you can also find his bracelets and necklaces in some shops. Feel free to reach out to him to ask him where.

In this episode I explore Freemasonry, as a logical follow up topic from my episode on the Knights Templar last week. My research has centered around a book published in 1922 by an author called W. L. Wilmshurst and a book published by an author called Michel Maffesoli who is a former French freemason and professor of sociology. It was an interesting exploration of this organisation that made me realise that there are actually two schools of freemasonry that are quite different, called Anglo-American and Continental. I discuss the differences between these organisations in the episode. Before diving into this secret world, which I need to say I am not a part of, I had no idea how spiritual the core of Anglo-American masonry was but also the influence it has had on theosophy and the new age movement. It incorporates many notions from astrology and numerology. Their understanding of numbers even tie in to Angel Numbers, which is an episode i invite you to listen to if you have not already. The creator of the Rider-Waite deck, which is a classic tarot deck used by teachers around the world, was himself a freemason which explains the symbology of the High Priestess card, in particular. You may not know that I used to be a tarot teacher and have a self study course about the tarot. If you are interested, please free to use the contact form on this website to enquire about it. I also want to invite you to explore the three episodes I did about the tarot (Episodes 34, 35 and 36).

The main reason I wanted to do an episode about the Knights Templar is that I have been fascinated by them since childhood. However, in addition to that, when I did the Psychic Business Academy in 2017, I discovered that my protector guide was a Knight Templar called Antoine. I was also told by my Reiki Master that I had been a Templar in a past life. It all started making a lot more sense. I have researched the Templars for this episode and wanted to give credit to Michael Haag's book on the topic. The basics is that the Order of the Knight Templars was founded in 1119 in Jerusalem and that the Templars who were both Knights and Monks, had the mission of protecting pilgrims from Europe who went to Jerusalem. However, they also became an incredibly powerful financial organisation that spanned from Britain to Egypt. Their bravery was legendary. On the 13th of October 1307, which happened to be a Friday, Templars were arrested throughout France and charged with heresy, obscenity, homosexuality and idol worship. The Grand Master, Jacques de Molay was burnt at the stake on a small island near the Ile de la Cite in Paris. In 2007, the Vatican published a document called the Chinon Parchment that cleared the Templars of all charges. In the episode I explore eight conspiracy theories about the Templars and use the tarot to find out what was true and what was not. One of the things that transpired from these tarot readings was that the Freemasons are indeed historically linked to the Templars, which really excites me as I have planned to have a Freemason on the podcast as our guest for this month of August. If you would like me to connect you to your protector guide, why not book a session with me. Click this link to pay.

We did something a bit different for episode 100. I invited my business bestie, Stephanie Kakris, to discuss the top four episodes on the podcast and have a general conversation about why I created it and what my plans are moving forward. Only 6.17% podcasts make it to episode 100 so I am incredibly proud of this achievement.  The four most popular episodes to date are the following:  #1 EP 45: Five Things  You Need to Know About Energy #2 EP 49: The Spirit World #3 EP 48: Dancing in the Light #4 EP 50: Why I no longer refer to the divine feminine As it happens, the episode is released on the Lion's Gate, i.e. the 8th of August (8/8) which is considered a powerful portal by the spiritual community, so Stephanie and I also had a chat about that and the great opportunity that it presents. We could not talk about the Lion's Gate without mentioning my power animal, a Lion who likes to be called King Lion as opposed to the Lion King. He appeared to me in a meditation over ten years ago but the story about him keeps unfolding in interesting and mysterious ways. A couple of years ago, as I went through my first regression session with a hypnotherapist and was walking down some steps that lead me to a past life, I saw King Lion walking down the steps by my side. As we arrived at the bottom of the staircase, I was shown a roman arena and realised I was to be sacrificed in the Lion's Den. That's when King Lion turned to me and told me "This is where we first met. You were my breakfast that day. You tasted rather nice so I decided to become your guide." If you would like me to connect you to your spirit guide or power animal, book your session with this link. 

This episode was inspired by a fellow Toastmasters who did a speech on how beneficial walking in forests had been for his mental health. But it's also been inspired by my childhood love of forests – particularly the Asterix and Obelix comics. And if it wasn't enough, I had an experience with my son as we visited Bowood when he was 6 or 7. To my astonishment, he reported to me how distressed the trees were in that park and how most of them were very sad. Only one "baby" tree seemed to be ok. My son, in his powerful autism, was genuinely connecting to the feelings of trees. Since them forest science has made leaps and bounds and it has been recognised that trees have feelings and so much more. This episode summarises what forest scientist have come to understand about tree and ends with a tree meditation to help you connect to this beautiful communities. If you would like to purchase any of my guided meditations, contact me through this form or book a discovery call.

Leah Kern is a spiritual intuitive eating coach with a background in clinical dietetics. She feels that her jewish ancestors and culture connect her to something very special when it comes to the work that she does. And she sees the spiritual side of her work as informed by her culture and faith because it asks her to be in awe of the smallest things. And for her, spirituality is being able to connect to that awe of life. She has a quote by a rabbi on her website that basically says that to be spiritual is to be amazed. In her faith, there is a prayer for the first thing you do when you get up in the morning, and the first time you go to the bathroom. It helps you connect with awe all through the day. We talked about how sometimes people who eat "clean" can think they are better than other people and how that actually takes them further from true spirituality than others. There are waves of almost fashion in the spiritual circles, such as juicing, cleansing, and we have to be careful not to fall back into the diet mentality of controlling our food. Initially when Leah chose to study nutrition, it wasn't from a healthy place. She was involved in disordered eating. One day, though, she came across intuitive intuition and it was such an aha moment that her world changed completely. Even though she worked as a clinical dietician in a hospital at the start of her career, it became apparent very quickly that she was meant to have her own business. One thing led to another and Leah now offers services on a one to one basis and a course called The Return. She loves that she now works with people who are seeking her out, rather than being told to see her, as was the case in her job in a hospital. She is also able to build a much deeper relationship with her clients. You can find Leah on her website, LinkedIn and IG.

In this episode I share about a self enquiry process that can help spiritual seekers examine through the lens of critical faculty beliefs that they hold or that they are being served by religious or spiritual leaders. But first, we should start with us. This episode is a follow up on how the mind works which I believe is an incredibly important episode for us spiritual seekers. The mind is both wonderful and dangerous and we need to know how to use it safely. Peace starts with us, as we explore in the interview with Barbara With and that starts with examining our own thoughts. The process is called "The Work" and was created (or received) by Byron Katie at a time in her life where she wasn't functioning any more and she realised that a big part of her suffering came from her own thoughts. It is obviously nothing new to practices such a buddhism. However, what is unique and powerful about her process is that it is incredible simple. People confuse simplicity with lack of power. Nothing could be further from the truth. Simple things can sometimes be a lot harder than complex ones. And believe me, her process packs a punch. It rests in four simple questions: Is it true? Are you sure? How do you feel when you believe this thought? Who would you be without it? Or how would you feel without it? Then she asks you to turn your thought around and instead of pointing the finger at others (something that the ego looooooves to do - yes I know about this because I have an ego too), and take it back to you. It's also a lesson in acceptance which ties in with the F**k It Experiment in conducted in June. In the episode I go through the process about a belief that has been making me angry of late, and that is that my knees are ruining my life. I had a knee injury last year and just as I am finally able to run again, my other knee has decided to pack up. Grrrr. But we also need to use this process to go through the b**sh*t that we are constantly served by spiritual and religious leaders. And I used the example of the Virgin birth and how that ties into the "divine feminine" (to hear my thoughts on that concept, listen to episode 50 here) and Jesus' celibacy which makes us all feel ashamed about our basic emotional and sexual needs. So take it into your spiritual journey to be more discerning about what and who you believe. It's a spiritual jungle out there, remember. Keep yourself safe. If you would like to explore beliefs in a safe space with a professional (me), why not book a discovery call with this link. You can start working with me from as little as £111 a month.