Who is the modern witch? What does she practice? What skills does she gather? Christian Victoria is here to inform us that the modern witch comes in many forms. Magic is about a dance between the inner (unseen) worlds and the outer (material) world. There are many ways to access this power in our daily lives and also through connective practices.
We explore:
-What it REALLY means to be Jack/Jill of all trades!
-How she went from growing up religious to becoming witchy
-The relationship between inner/outer worlds and our lived reality
-An experience on America's Top Model that opened her to her body sovereignty
-The tools and practices she gathers and continue to gather to help free spirited women live fully in their IDGAF energy and embody the queen they are! And so much more...
Connect with Christian on instagram @christianthegem and @lightshadowsmoke to learn more about working with her to awaken to the witch archetype within, the powerful woman who is truly the master of her reality.
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Every day there is a forgetting and every moment there is the possibility of remembering. Remembering who you truly are, awakening to your body, to the inner world and experience of being alive. Here is where you find the beauty, the joy. Here is where you free your Soma. Hello everybody, welcome to Free Your Soma, Stories of Somatic Awakening and How to Live from the Inside-outs. I have a special guest today, Christian. She is a board-certified life coach, a hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, Soul Exploration Guide, an intuitive tarot reader and a Reiki practitioner. She helps free-spirited, free-thinking women overcome years of conditioning and restrictive programming so they can live their most badass life beyond what they have been told as possible. That is a really long list of a bunch of really beautiful skills that you bring to the table. Welcome.
Thank you for having me. For those of you that are familiar with human design, I am a manifesting generator. I am meant to be multifaceted, multi-passionate, and that is exactly what I am. It's hard for me to just stick to one thing. I'm always reading multiple books, watching multiple shows, have 100 tabs open on my computer at any given point. It's just one of those things.
Yeah. Well, and what happens, at least from my experience, is that when you gather all these different tools, you meld them. In any given moment when you're with a client or you're with somebody, you're using a little bit from each to put together a little, whatever you want to call it, elixir or formula or spell that's going to meet the moment. You gather from all these different learnings.
Exactly. That's what I'm realizing as well. I'm actually doing a human design certification now, which I'm really excited to add to my tool belt for clients and for future offers and programs. That's one of the things I've been having to unlearn myself around conditioning of, you're doing too much at one time. Focus on one thing. You can't be the jack of all trades, blah, blah, blah, which which just actually discovered the full quote about jack of all trades too, by the way, which was very eye-opening. Are you familiar with it?
Well, I know the master of none, but is there more to the story? It is.
It is. I I so light too, but when I saw it, it was so eye-opening. One second, let me see if I can pull it up because I'm actually on my computer. Oh yeah, I totally agree. Yeah. Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. Woo!
Oh my God, we have been lied to. Exactly.
I was like, the whole context and energy of it changes, does it not? Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. And And I felt so seen when I saw that and not long after that, I tripped up on, well, discovered human design and my type manifesting generator was supposed to be multifaceted, blah, blah, blah. So that's something I'm learning to let go of, just following my joy, following my intuition and just loving how I'm basically creating my own cosmic brownie of what my thing is. Because I'm here to create something new. That's another thing in my chart as a manifesting generator. That's what we're meant to do is redefine what's realistic.
Oh yeah, I can see that. that.
Yeah, by not following a necessarily linear path in a way and creating our own path by following our intuition, basically. Yeah.
Oh, I love that. And it's interesting because I think that multitasking and maybe it's just a trend recently. I feel like it's getting like a bad rap. People are starting to think, like you said, oh, you should just pick one thing, pick a lane. Instead of allowing us to be like multitaskers. And And way that I think about this is that your nervous system is multitasking. It's designed to do that on some level. And And love that. Everybody's particular nervous system has a different capacity for how much it can multitask. So So course, like certain neurodivergent people might have issues with sound, you know, that just helps them from being able to focus on certain things because of noise. Someone else might be sensitive to like sensory information from like sitting on a scratchy surface or from the temperature outside, right? But generally speaking, our nervous systems are designed to multitask to take in light and color and sound and sensory information and do something with it, right? And create our experience. So we're made that way. We're made to be interacting with a lot of different sensory information, you know, that kind of relates to the ideas you were sharing.
I am just like sitting here with like the mind blown emoji face. I've never heard it broken down that way. But and I love that word, synchronicities, how things just kind of happen when they happen. I was having a conversation with my husband yesterday of how I realized, isn't there something to do with like your nervous system and how, well, I I you just kind of just said it, how some of us have a different tolerance for overwhelm and stress and all these different things. And not too long ago, I was doing a side hustle that was completely draining me. And I didn't have the capacity, capacity to work on my business, to do the things that I wanted to do. And I just felt so drained, all the joy was gone. And I just felt like I didn't want to do anything. And almost a year later, I'm realizing that the energy is coming back. My focus is coming back. I'm finishing up this meditation teacher certification that I was doing because again, multiple balls in the air at all times. But I started it a year ago and it was like I didn't have the capacity to focus. And what took me like two weeks to complete a year ago? I started over two days ago and I'm already there. So it's insane to me that you mentioned like how our nervous system is supposed to work in how we all have different capacities for different things, such as stress and focus and taking in all these different things. So So act, I just had the realization in a way yesterday, but you put it in words that were way more eloquent than I just did.
Yeah, no, no. What you're saying is so true because you're also what you're pointing to right now is really important. And it's like it changes. It's not fixed. Our nervous system is dynamic and it's responding to our environment. And obviously, like the stress of like a side hustle that doesn't suit you is kind of like a phase of life. It's like an environment that you're in that you're responding to. And then there's going to be a different phase of life. And this changes from moment to moment, literally throughout our day. But you can kind of like take it out to like macros and look at it like, oh, a few months at a time, a few weeks, a few years at a time. We slowly are shifting and evolving. It's never fixed. We're not just one way. That's why I think sometimes when people get a diagnosis, it can feel limiting. And this ties in with what we're going to talk about today because I love to get us, this is juicy. I'd love to get us back onto the subjects that we're going to talk about today. Yeah. Because we're going to talk about some archetypes today. Specifically, I'm really excited. We're going to talk about the archetype of the witch because this is one. You have been exploring playing with. It's one of your many, you know, identities and tools that you're utilizing. And I'm so excited with what you have to say about it because I think it's misunderstood and when people kind of pick an archetype, they sometimes think like that they can't go outside of that or that there's a way that that's supposed to look or supposed to be, right? This kind of limiting ourselves instead of like allowing that expansiveness of what we're, what's possible to be there. So before we get into all of that, let's orient a little bit more, I'd love to hear from you. What started you on this path? What started you on this like, you know, embodiment, free spirit, all this healing, amazing stuff you're doing. Where did it begin for you?
Honestly, I believe it really began at a young age. I born and raised Southern girl. If you can't hear the drawl, it comes and goes with certain words. And I've raised in a very religious in church, three to four days a week, some weeks in the church, very strict kind of household. And I'm not anti-religion. I grew up in a really amazing church. I love the community. It gave me a really great foundation for my faith. But a lot of the things that the Christian church was teaching to me, even as a kid, just some of it didn't sit right with me. As far as the stance on anti-LGBTQ, even when my mom sat me down for the birds of the bees talk, it it we don't believe in sex before marriage. Get married and have sex. And I was maybe a preteen at the time, maybe 12 years old. And I was thinking, is that really it though? Like I was a virgin at the time. But there was certain things, just certain things that came down the pipeline that I remember even thinking back then, I was a kid that was always asking why, why, why? And I'd get in trouble for it often. Don't just tell me, no, why? Why is it this way? Like I've always been a truth seeker in a way, which is what I've been realizing in recent years. So that was the first thing for me is just hearing certain things in the church in ways that I was supposed to believe that I was like, but what if I don't believe that? Why doesn't this feel right to me in my gut, in my heart? And then moving into that, when I was younger, not even 21 yet, I was actually on America's next top model on, it was like season, I don't remember what season it was, it's been too long. But I was like kind of fresh out of South Carolina. I had just moved to Atlanta after high school. And I got called out to be in the finals and blah, blah, blah. They flew us out to Los Angeles. That was my first time really being like off of the East Coast in Big O, Hollywood. And one of the main, what would you call it? Not a contest. What's the, what's the, I'm losing my words on the show or something. It was like a main parts of the competition before we got called into the house. They told us they brought us to a roof of the hotel. If anybody's seen my season that I was on, hopefully you didn't because Lord, those videos, but they put us on the top of a hotel and a challenge. Thank God, there it is. Sorry, I can start over from there. There was a challenge that came up before we even got to the house. It was like the top, like 50 girls. Cause you know, we go down to like 13. And so they put us on this roof of this hotel. We don't know what's happening. They reveal it on camera to you, what your challenge is. And we're on the top of this hotel in Hollywood, Beverly Hills. And they come out and say, your challenge is posing nude on the rooftop. And I wasn't even 20 yet. Fresh out of South Carolina, like I said, fresh out of high school. And my mouth dropped. I don't remember if the camera caught it, but I wasn't the only one. Long story short, I kind of had to have a come to Jesus moment. As we say in the cell. And I just decided in that moment, it was something I wanted to experience. Even, even though I was terrified of letting my parents down and still kind of myself mentally coming out of that religious, religious conditioning, that your body and your nakedness is a sin or something to be ashamed of. So in that moment, for me, that was actually a part of my spiritual awakening and personal development to me as well. I think that was a main catalyst. As an adult out of my parents house, making that choice for myself that they may be disappointed with this, but I feel like I want to do this. Not because I felt pressured. There were some girls that chose not to do it. But I did it. It's my term to come up. I'm standing there with my towel around my waist. And I just throw it down and I walk up to the stage. And the breeze is blowing and the sun is shining, beautiful LA weather. And even though I was shaking, I came off of that stage afterwards and I felt so freaking empowered. I was lit up. Like, I think I'm there right now emotionally, just thinking about it. Like, I don't even remember everything, but you know how your body stores emotions. I'm there right now and I feel so lit up. Right.
You're like, excitement.
Yeah. And so that was one of the things and I'll give you one more thing. As far as just the path, because I kind of feel like spiritual development and personal development go hand in hand. Part of my awakening to. My first hand experience of knowing that there's more to what the eyes can see or what I've been taught was also in Hawaii. I went out there with a friend. We ended up partying with some people we met at this bar. And I started kind of having a bit of a panic attack. And so one of the girls like takes me back to the hotel and I'm just kind of like messed up, lays me down on the bed. And she's like, do you you if I help you? I think I can help you. And I'm like, help me. How what are you talking about? She's like, just lay down. And she does what I now would consider as being an energy worker, kind of an aura sweep. She takes her hands down my like over the top of my body. She doesn't touch my body. She takes both of her hands and kind of runs down the length of my body a few inches over my body like three times. And I feel myself completely ground. Back to earth. Peaceful. Everything I thought was gone. And then she walks over to the balcony and she kind of spits into the air, even vomits a little bit. And she's like, oh, yeah, I didn't mention I practiced with some shamans in Peru. That's just kind of a little technique they talk. So I would say it's been like an evolution of getting to this space. Right. There's been many little things that the universe has sent me to be like, you know what? We've got some things lined up for you. That was a long answer. I apologize. But like the three things that came up.
Yeah, the you know, it created like a really nice timeline of kind of seeing you in these different stages of your life. You know, and with it's interesting with the America's Top Model challenge and that, you know, I think the thing that probably made it so, I guess, empowering and like amazing for you is that you were able to listen to yourself and choose what you wanted to do and not listen to the conditioning that you had got from your religion and from your family, but feel into yourself in the moment and like, allow yourself to go into that space of freedom and excitement and taking a risk. And I think that it's funny because it shows how like another woman could do the exact same thing and it could feel exploitive to her because she's not saying to herself. Right. That maybe she did it because she felt pressured, but that was not the case for you. You actually felt like you were listening to yourself for the first time and doing something like really radical and different compared to what you had, I guess, been grown up thinking was possible for you.
Right. Exactly. And you hit the nose on the head to me too. I know what's right for me or feels right for me is not going to feel that way for everyone else. Yes. The women that decided not to do it. I didn't see that as, oh, you're not ready or you're not willing to do what it takes. If that didn't feel right for you, that's fine. But then also there's the flip side of what if I am that woman that likes to be naked or likes to dress or be scantily clad as the old folks say. And I think that's also as we lean into talking about the witch archetype is the idea that everybody's path is meant to look different. We're not all meant to be fit into a box. We all have our own unique light that radiates differently from one another. And that's the way it's supposed to be. Yes.
Yes. Absolutely. I totally agree in that kind of individualism and connecting in with what you have to offer is huge. It's something that like I do in my somatic work with people and I can see that also doing that in, you know, the methods that you bring in, it's all about that. It's all about letting people experience and feel their individual and personal power. So how do you define which like if we're talking about the witch archetype, what does that mean to you? What What do you mean?
Oh, man, I swear, this is a rabbit hole that I've really enjoyed exploring and just reading about and researching for myself outside of the biased religious sources and the propaganda. But the witch archetype for me, she's so much. And this is honestly nothing new in my reading. She's she's made her appearances in the 70s, the 60s. It It comes back around. But now specifically for me, she's a representation of who I feel myself to be in my fullest office, authenticity and power. The witch and the archetype of the witch isn't worried about social conformity or fitting in or people pleasing or judgment or criticism. And oftentimes the witch is the activist. She's the she's the person or, you know, I'll say the being because a witch is not necessarily focused on the gender binary. The The one is typically what the word which means just simply means wise one. But she's typically the activist, someone that's not afraid to utilize her voice and speak up and like shake shit up. So with all that said, the witch archetype to me leaning into that essence of what the witch means is really reclaiming that power that was demonized and saying, hey, I don't need to look like what you think I need to look like. I don't need to lean into this patriarchal feminine archetype that you've said that I need to behave like or speak like. It's just this all encompassing energy of just standing in your power and your sovereignty, regardless of what other people have to say. Yes.
And there's a compelling nature to that. I think, you know, with a lot of times these archetypes of the witch, we think of like a woman casting spells or, you know, enchanting. Oh, Oh, Yeah. But, you know, the the the power that you just spoke to the person who's standing up, there is definitely like an enchanting quality to that. There's, you know, that compels people to follow in some way, whether it's taking action in their own lives or taking social action or, you know, standing up and joining and saying, yeah, you know, like this, there's a movement here. This is and that's that's kind of another way of looking at the idea of like spell casting or enchantment is that you're inspiring people through your own example, through your personal power to experience something new, to experience something novel that is otherwise unavailable. Exactly.
Exactly. And I don't even remember exactly when I started researching or what got me into it. It might have been a woman that used to read for me a while back. And she was just holding a piece of my jewelry. And because she she liked to kind of like hold on to it for energy. It was one of the first times I sat and read with her and she's like, you're kind of giving me witch energy. And she said it and I was like, you know what? Actually, that feels pretty good. And then also, again, going back to conditioning and misinformation, my mind goes to wait, is that a bad thing? And then I think it kind of started snowballing from there. Me just doing my own research on exactly what does it mean to be a witch? What do they do? Because what we've been taught specifically, I believe, in the Christian church is that the witch is this hag, this evil person that does mind control and kills babies and has fornicates with the devil. And it's not that at all. It's it's not that at all. I could tell all of you listening from all the reading that I've done. When you're reading from an unbiased source is that it is the complete opposite.
Yes. Yes. So then what does a witch look like, especially say like a modern witch? Like, what does a witch look like these days?
Well, the thing that I'm realizing and I just finished a book, a really powerful book. Witches, Sluts and Feminists, I believe the author's name was Kristen Soleil or something like that. She speaks to it, but it was a very eye opening book for me. Yeah, Chris Kristen Soleil, I believe is her last name. But in answering your question, the witch looks like you and me. There There no. There's no set look or type that has to be that makes a witch a witch. Like, to me, media has media and religion has kind of had their grip on it for generations, thousands of years, actually. But. It's interesting to me, especially with the quote unquote, divine of the rise of the sorry. I'm having trouble talking today, still jet lagged with the rise of the divine feminine in like the spiritual circles and like the healer circles, seeing it getting more popular now and people playing with the archetype of the witch and becoming more informed on what that actually means. I feel like some people get stuck in this idea that, oh, I have to put on all black and wear black fingernail polish and wear black lipstick and wear pentacles on my throat and blah, blah, blah. And. At the end of the day, it's that's only a small aspect of it. You don't have to look a certain way to be in touch with your inner magic. That's what more about what it is for me. You don't have to cast spells to be in touch with your inner magic. You don't have to. Even call yourself a witch to be in touch with your inner magic. And getting outside of that stereotype and how you think it's supposed to look is of the utmost importance when it comes to living authentically, which is, in fact, your magic. Does that make any sense?
Oh, yes, totally. And I mean, I kind of had this image of like, you know, maybe some really, you know, lots of interesting dark makeup and big cat eyes and like drippy, you know, black jewelry and she's like, yeah, covered in mud, you know, doing some kind of like ritualistic dance. And then there's also like the girl sitting in her sweatpants, like on her couch, you know, lighting like a little candle from like TJ Maxx. And they're they're doing the same thing. They're both getting in touch with their inner magic and they're both connecting to like their divine, you know, their divine connection to power. And and it doesn't have to look a certain way. You don't have to be in a particular environment with a certain set of aesthetics, right, in order to access that. Yeah.
And you just hit the nail on the head again with that. To me, again, whether it be spiritual development, personal development, which correlate with one another, it all goes hand in hand. The thing that I'm not liking that I'm seeing is people being so focused on aesthetics and not the inner work. The root and cause of your problems. And that's why nothing's changing. You can, you know, do the spells with the pink candles and the rose petals and the black salt. And I think all that stuff is very pretty. But a lot of people are missing the point. This is about the energetics, about who you are at your core, about the identity work, about picking apart, excavating those unsupportive beliefs and restrictive conditioning and why you do what you do and illuminating and shining a light on your traumas. And also realizing that even though you may have been in spaces where you felt broken, you're not broken. You still have that power, but self-awareness is going to be what you need to take yourself to that next level, getting in touch with your inner magic, reawakening to your power. So, yeah, the aesthetics are such a small portion of it. But even with that, there isn't any one set look for which patriarchal society has told us that there's one set look for which there's not. Just like there's not one set look for a goddess or for a mom. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be, at least.
It's hilarious because you're making me think of this thing. My My year old cousin, she goes to like a fashion school in LA. It's like a high school, this particularly for fashion. And I don't know. I think I was going to go to the farmer's market or something. I had a basket and I was going to go put vegetables in it or something. And she said, yeah, a lot of kids I go to school with, they love the aesthetic of going to the farmer's market with their basket and filling it up with the vegetables. Just the aesthetic of it. And And like, but they don't actually eat them. And the vegetables are probably just going to rot on their countertop. Oh my God. They're not really into actually eating them. They're just into the aesthetic. And I was like, really? This is a thing. And she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like just being into the aesthetic of something, not the actual practice of it. And she said it so famously. Oh, like straight up. I was just like, wow, like, I guess that's a thing, you know, like kind of like you can be into punk rock and like dress punk rock and like have zero politics involved in it. You know what I mean? When which seems kind of like, you know, funny, because that's like punk rock is all about politics, like at the core of it, you know what I mean? But you can also just be into the aesthetic of it. You're just like, this looks cool. And I like spikes.
Oh, the Instagrammable moments.
Yeah, like you said, like that doesn't really lead anywhere. You know what I mean? Like doesn't really like take us to where we can go, like kind of what these visuals are sort of pointing us in the direction of. It's just at that point, it's just kind of make believe and versus what you're really talking about is this deep excavation of ourselves and of our bodies to get in touch with that true nature, that power that we have. And that's way more juicy than any, you know, cute Instagram photo.
Exactly. And I will add that as far as who is the modern witch is. At the core, it's more about being more connected to nature and the interconnectedness of all things. And oftentimes people that call themselves witches are more connected to the cyclical flows of life, seasonal changes, follow the lunar phases. And just realizing and leaning into that awareness and recognize recognition that everything is energy and that everything is connected. And that's very, very powerful when you really start to be seated in that knowing and operating from that space.
Yes, yes. Well, this leads me to another question I had for you, which is, you know, how does magic, because some of what you're describing as connection and feeling into this action and being able to like do something with that power to create, you know, the life around you that you're interested in seeing to have that ability to instantly like manifest a new, a new perception, right? Or a new way of experiencing your life, right? So how does the practice of magic involve a connection with your inner world, right? And with your body? How are those things connected?
Well, first I will go ahead, just in case there's anybody whose ears have it completely turned off. I'm going into NLP mode right now. Typically when we're learning new things or listening to someone speak, it's some of the main primary directives of the conscious mind is to delete, distort, generalize information that we're receiving to maintain our narrative. Of our world and our version of reality. So I don't want anybody distorting these words here, although it might be happening if they're like completely just like blanking out right now. I would go ahead and just define magic for me. And I'm typically for people in these realms as intentionally manipulating energy for the greater good. We're not talk, we're not talking about love spells taking away anyone's free will. Actually one of the main tenants of Wiccans Witchcraft is do what you want, but don't harm anyone. A lot of people don't know that and spell work isn't even really my thing. We can get into that later. But when I'm speaking of magic, I'm speaking of just overall collective energy, creative energy, life force energy that's available to everyone. And with that, a lot of people see magic as being so woo-woo, right? And even with me being in this space and playing with Reiki and loving Tarot, that's my divination tool of choice. I'm still very skeptical and analytical. I have to see some science and some proof. I'm not just going to sit here with a crystal and just like think that it's just going to work on its own. I'm very much, this needs to be a holistic experience. Okay, I just throw in that out there. But I believe in regard to how magic involves, I believe you asked me, magic involves connection with the inner world and the body and everything. So science, one thing that I'm loving is that science, it has proven and is proving that everything is energy, right? And that, well, some things that I've been taught in NLP and what a lot of people already know about is that our thoughts create feelings and our feelings lead us to certain behaviors and actions, which then create the results around us in our reality. So at any point within our bodies, we're always emitting a certain energy, right? From our org field, all these things we're attracting these things to us. So things aren't right within our bodies. Things in our outer world are not going to be right. We're going to be attracting the things that we're running away from. And I even thought about it recently because, you know, like energy attracts like energy. And also I was thinking about it recently and as I've been deconditioning from some of these religious beliefs and things and shame around sex and pleasure and joy, I ran into the phrase of the Dantian in Chinese medicine. Are you familiar with it? No, no, tell me. The space in our abdomen around our solar plexus sacral and root chakra that holds and attracts and creates life force energy. Why is it that in patriarchal society we're taught to feel so much shame and self-loathing around sex and our pleasure, but in Eastern medicine that has existed for thousands of years? They know and they're teaching that this is the space from which everything is formed. Our creative energy, our joy, our pleasure, our confidence. So when I think of that as magic being energy and everything that's happening within us is happening without us, there's got to be a balance. I don't know if that answered your question, but like our body is our temple is where our soul resides. And if within our soul we're not doing the work, we're holding on to these traumas, we're not doing the personal development work, we're not trying to release things, process things, we're ignoring our feelings. We're going to receive more of that. So to any given point, that magic and manipulation of energy for the highest good becomes blocked and dysregulated, like similar to our nervous system. That's kind of the way I look at it. I don't know if that was a roundabout way of answering it.
No, it totally does. And I love that, you know, what was the word again that you said for that space in our abdomen?
The Dan Tien. The way I've seen it spelled was D-A-N, space T-I-E-N. But then I've also seen it spelled T-A-N, T-I-E-N.
Oh, I love this. It's a new word because I'm very familiar with this space. And in my somatic training, we call this space. We We it a of this space and we call it the somatic center. And it's actually we're all movement, like we're talking flowing, easy, functional, full body movement, something like running or walking. It It originates in this space, in this intersection of all of these different muscle groups.
I love that. It's funny how like across different cultural lines and things. Like there's this awareness of different spaces and even how cross cultural lines, there's all these different words for life force, energy and spirit. Like it's all the same. People just get lost in the sauce with what it's called and who's right and who's wrong, right?
Right, right, right. And it's always, we're also like, sometimes we're talking on different layers of our auric field. Like the one that I'm talking about with the muscle structure is very like, first chakra, like first layer of our auric, it's very, very physical and like biomechanical. But there's layers to this and there's spiritual layers. And there's also our sexual energy body and like the organs of our sexual reproduction. That's a different layer of our body system than our muscular structure, but they're connected. They're intertwined. They're competing with each other all the time. And so my practice is about releasing the muscular structure in that space and bringing it back to balance, which would also shift the energy. So it's kind of like you can work with the energy to free up this space. And you can also work with the physical body, but they're both interchangeably happening. And sometimes like when you experience this shifting in that space in your body, and maybe you can speak to this, when you experience a shift in your life force energy, it feels like magic. It feels like something supernatural has just occurred.
Beautiful, yes, I love that. Yeah, yeah. I love that. And it's just interesting, like the more I do my own research and the more I read, I've become the biggest book nerd since 2020. I think that was like one of the main blessings that I experienced post COVID is like really just getting more into reading and learning and deepening my knowledge in these fields. And yeah, it's really interesting, but when I tripped up over that phrase of the Dan Tian and that space in the abdomen, I was like, it's amazing how just in contrast the differences between certain Western philosophies and Eastern philosophies and how they see energy and how our bodies and spirit and minds are meant to operate together.
Yes, yes, a teacher of mine recently, he said that he was, I don't know, he's a somatic educator, he's one of my mentors, and he asked like a acupuncturist or some kind of Chinese medicine doctor who was sort of like vetting him to see like if it was gonna work to work with him. And he said, which comes first, your mind or your body? And he said, both at the same time, all the time. And he was like, yes, you passed the test. That's the like, they're both at the same time all the time. They're always together. There's not one before the other. We sometimes think that there's one before the other, but they're always simultaneous. It's about whether our mind is the first thing we notice or our body is the first thing we notice because maybe our awareness is gonna be one before the other, but they're always together.
That's an interesting way to look at it. I love that. I don't think I'd ever really considered that. But thinking about like when I've had my own experiences and like a Reiki session or something like that. And I guess, yeah, you can't really have the awareness without the brain being there, but then you wouldn't feel it if the body wasn't there. So I could see that. I just love how somebody could say something and like a light bulb goes off. So that's probably what happened to me just now. I'm like, oh, that is so true.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's what's so great about this podcast is we get to talk about these things and discover along our way. Part of what I wanted to talk about today, because you've mentioned this a little bit before, was unresolved trauma and the way that our unresolved issues and the conditioning that we carry, right? Because I think trauma is such a loaded word and sometimes we're talking about trauma, but really what we're meaning, kind of more neutral word is like the conditioning. The conditioning system to respond to life in a particular way based on some past experience, right? So we can say trauma or we could say conditioning. We're kind of talking about the same sort of thing at the end of the day, just varying degrees of intensity, right? But how does that affect or impact your ability to actually be in touch with your magic or even to utilize it? So actually use your magic for the greater good. I might need a minute with this.
But I guess intuitively the first word that came to me was shame and sadness and how those can ultimately be those lower vibrational energies that block you from your up leveling, your ascension and your healing, whether it be physiologically or psychologically. And also something that resonated with me in recent years was the concept of the witch wound. Are you familiar with it? Oh, please go on. So this can get a little woo-woo, but I promise I'll link it back to a little science. But I guess when I think of traumas, conditioning, impacting your magic, it makes me think of impacting magic being directly related to who you're meant to be in this life because your uniqueness, your light is your magic. That's nobody else's but yours. And for me specifically, it has been coming up in what us witchy girls like to call the witch wound in certain circles. And typically it's related to the ancestral trauma living in your DNA that incites illogical fear in a way. Like you're feeling it, but you can't place it. And in a way that it was affecting me and it's getting better since I've gained this awareness is fear visibility for fear of being unsafe. And in that fear of visibility, it had me playing very small, afraid to speak up, afraid to show my face, afraid to speak my truth. And if my magic, my superpower is to uplift and empower other people, how can I do that if I'm restricting my authenticity and playing small out of fear of visibility because of these ancestral wounds? Does that make any sense?
Yes, yes. And I love it. You're bringing in like another layer to it, which is the ancestral wounding, which is literally present in your DNA in terms of how your facial expressions are showing up. Right? Your moment to moment like morphine of our bodies and our faces that goes on, that's our DNA. Like we think of our DNA as like this thing that's like, I don't know, some kind of scientific thing we measure in a microscope or, you know. But it's actually just your facial expressions and like the way your body smells, like that's your DNA, you know what I mean? And when we're hiding, when we're conditioned, and you know, this is through, like you said, maybe a long line of conditioning that's not just whatever our parents did, but whatever their parents did and their parents did and their parents did, right? And we're conditioned in this way to make ourselves smaller, so as not to attract negative attention in someone, right? To be shamed, to be ridiculed, to be called out, maybe even to be like, you know, at some person's DNA might even have someone who's burned at the stake, you know?
Exactly, exactly. Some sort of serious like wounding that may be present, right? Of course our bodies are gonna wanna hide us to protect us. And so that would be literally in how you physically show up in the world, how you are when you stand up, I don't know, like a networking event and share what you're up to, you know, or talk to somebody on a discovery call, all of that is gonna be present. And I think you said it really beautifully in terms of the wounding keeps you from being able to do what you're here to do and share your magic. And what it sounds like in so many ways you do is you actually help activate other people's magic. You help them discover their magic, right? And that's such a beautiful thing. You wouldn't wanna deprive the world of that. And so, yeah. Oh, most definitely not. And for the people listening, this stuff is not all woo woo. Go look up Epigenetics. Have you been reading, are you familiar with Epigenetics? That has been so fascinating to me. I picked up the book, it didn't start with you. It's a book on intergenerational trauma. That's been very eye-opening. And I finally, finally got becoming supernatural. Joda Spenza.
I haven't read that one yet. I've heard great things about him. My mom really likes him. She's been talking about him for a while. I haven't gotten on board yet.
Yeah, definitely get on it. But I just love when spirit starts to, is meeting science now in these realms. And they're saying, hey, we're still a ways off, but we are connecting these things now. Because to me, that's honestly where the magic is in this life. We're meant to have doctors and medicines and tools. But we can't just be diagnosing and treating the symptoms when we're missing the root problems added. The level of the body, the level of the mind, the level of the emotions. We should be working with all of these things together. I would never tell somebody that has just been diagnosed with cancer to only do Reiki. When they have the option to have the tools and go see the doctor and see what the doctor has to say. But I also don't necessarily agree with people just pumping poison into their bodies. And they're forgetting about the energetic and spiritual space.
Right, right. And those energetic and spiritual tools are going to actually help their body handle the toxicity of the chemo that may also be part of the formula in saving their lives. It's better to do both than to just do the poison without something that's also going to soften that blow. Exactly.
And I'll add in one more thing. Again, this word magic we keep using, I feel like I was feeling led into the aspect of people's life purpose. And if you're continuing to let your conditioning and trauma hold you back from your magic, which is a part of your life purpose. And in general, as I'm studying the gene keys in human design, something that I read that I loved is literally like, your life purpose here is to be radiant energy, to be light. And how can you do that if you have things holding you back? If you have certain things that you aren't willing to face, certain fears you aren't willing to let go of, how can you be that and fulfill what you are here to fulfill? If you're impacting your magic, if you're not working through these unresolved conditionings and limiting beliefs and traumas. It's pretty deep stuff, but also it can be pretty simple when you start to think about it. It's interesting like that paradox.
Yes, yes. So let's get into this a little deeper. Like what are some of your tools for the things that you mentioned, for transforming the conditioning? What are the things that you utilize in your practice when you talk about letting go of the conditioning that's been ancestral or the conditioning that's been in this life with the religious stuff? What are the practices that you actively do?
Again, holistic. Energetically, I've been loving Reiki. That was one of the best decisions I ever made. My best friend from high school actually was the catalyst for me. With that, she got attuned to Reiki and then I started taking her class. So that was a really beautiful eye-opening moment for me. And I give myself a daily self-Reiki, like every night, sometimes in the morning, but typically when I'm falling asleep, I just place my hands on my heart and my stomach. So I'm kind of giving myself like a little sleepy dose. And then mentally though, hypnotherapy has been such a blessing. I honestly thought it was a crock of shit for a minute. Excuse my language. And I'm still looking for more research and things like that because like I said, I love to see hard evidence. But even in that, just the first-hand experience of slowly recognizing how my thought patterns are changing and seeing certain negative feedback loops falling away, certain patterns that weren't serving me falling away. And even noticing like, oh, those shame spirals I used to fall into aren't lasting as long as they used to. And it's interesting how like it actually works. I didn't think it was like a thing, but and a lot of people don't realize that hypnotherapy is very similar to meditation, just the intention is different. You go into the same type of brain waves and to theta waves as you do a meditation. And it puts you into a more relaxed space to be able to bypass that monkey mind, the analytical critical thinking factor that anytime you tell yourself something good about yourself, it's automatically deflected by your ego. Or by your childhood wounding, you know. So I do self-hypnosis. I've done hypnosis with other professionals as well. And it's not a magic pill, but something that slowly happens over time. Yes.
And there's an aspect of like reconditioning your unconscious mind is what I've understood hypnotherapy to be able to do. And it's so fascinating to me. You know, I've recently started doing more, as my past was, I was a yoga teacher for many years, and then now I'm a somatic educator. And now I'm starting to blend the two more, starting to like kind of bring them together. And that I have really started to honor and respect the way that body practices, like you said, meditation, but also hypnotherapy, which I count that as a body practice, means that a bunch of mental energy, because you're just sitting still. But there's a whole element to like your breathing and your eyes and all of this when you're doing hypnotherapy, right? So it's a body practice. But body practice is like this, including the somatic work and the yoga, you know, they take us into this altered state of consciousness, where we are more vulnerable, where we're more susceptible and open to conditioning, right? And I remember reading this, and I can't remember where at this time. I'm sure somebody listening probably knows what I'm talking about. Maybe you do, that when we're children, we're living in kind of an altered state of consciousness from the time that we're like born until we're like seven or eight or maybe even beyond that. Yes, we're in, yes. Brain waves, where we're more susceptible to conditioning. And that's how we get this conditioning, this, you know, layers of beliefs and patterns that are not really us, but they are something that we received and we internalized at one point and became part of our makeup, of our like thinking and our processing, right? Well, when you go into these altered states, like you're talking about in hypnotherapy, you're getting a chance to reprogram. And like you said, this can happen instantly. I mean, of course, I always have those clients who have some breakthrough moment, you know, and like things really shift really quickly, but not everybody's like that. And sometimes it does take consistency to make long changing like differences in the way that you've been operating. So I think that's really powerful that you can do this for yourself. Self hypnosis, you said? Yes.
Yeah. And people don't realize that you can actually do that. You don't necessarily have to go to a professional hypnot therapist. Of course, we're going to know a little more than you do because, you know, we've gone through certifications, just learning the knowledge, working with someone that's been doing it longer than us, all these things. But you can totally do self hypnosis just simply by like making a voice memo on your phone and playing it back to yourself. But I mean, even again, to those who may have completely blanked out because hypnotherapy sounds way too woo-woo and there's no science behind it. If you think about it logically, if you're continually telling yourself something, whether it be good or bad, what do you think is going to happen to your brain and your body? It's going to absorb it, right? So in hypnotherapy, the same thing is happening. We're just setting the intention to like plant seeds of some more supportive beliefs, more loving thoughts. That's the intention that we go into it with. And specifically, if we're listening to it every day, logically, what is going to happen? Yeah, it has to happen, right? It has to begin to shift. And there are some things that can shift in one session. The man that I trained under, he quit smoking. Like I think he had like a multiple pack a day habit for years, quit smoking a one night. But then with certain other things, I think like really deep seated, like ancestral beliefs, things like that, really deep, traumatic, unsupported beliefs, it can take a little longer. Even myself specifically, as I've been shifting more into, I call her Boss Bitch Christian, CEO Christian, from Worker B Christian into I am an entrepreneur with a successful business. I'm a life coach. It's taking some time for me to get comfortable in that identity, because old Christian was completely different. But hypnotherapy and the repetition of those thoughts and those beliefs and supporting myself in that mindset work has been like a really lovely evolution and awakening to that identity where I know I belong.
Yes. Yes, this is so beautiful. I love it because you're talking about getting more full up with the magic that you are. Exactly.
And we've all got it. Our own particular brand of magic is just a matter of reconnecting to it is what I like to say. Right.
As we kind of already touched on this a little bit, what do you feel like on a daily basis, like in terms of we're talking about day in, day out, habits and behaviors, what have you noticed that your body needs to be able to hold your magic and your power in a sustainable way? What are the needs of your body when it comes to this visibility?
Ooh. First thing that comes to mind is lots of water. I stay hydrated. Like it's almost got no CD. Like I have to have a full bottle of water next to me when I'm sleeping on the nightstand. If I wake up thirsty, water has to be there. And then on top of that rest, my body likes sleep and I need a lot of sleep to feel good. Not like an overly amount, but my Leo husband, his fire never burns out. He's always on the move. He goes, he can go to sleep at midnight, wake up at 4 a.m. Meanwhile, over here, typically I aim for about seven, eight hours of sleep every night. Honestly, some seasons and I'm learning to also listen to my body as we talk more about somatic and semantics and all that. I just started learning to listen to my body because I realized my energy happens in cycles. There are some days when I need nine, nine hours of sleep. And then there's some days when I'll wake up and it's been six hours and I'm like, okay, that's fine. We're up. We're up. Let's get some stuff done. So I think that's also just important for the audience to note is to really even start keeping a journal and seeing how your energy cycles, especially if you're into human design, some of us are meant to have less sleep than others and then there's even your circadian rhythms and all of those things. So it can change. Just like everything else we've talked about, there's going to be times when it spirals up, times when it spirals down, what I want to eat changes. I can eat salad three days straight and then I don't want to salad for like a month. But water and rest are the things that have really been really supportive for me and just feeling like the best person and also my environment. I don't have a lot of drama and my friendships, my relationships, my marriage. So back to epigenetics. Your environment and the people that you encounter do and will affect your energy, even how your genes are expressed. Yes. That's being proven by science.
I mean, because I've been learning a lot about our microbiome and we think of our microbiome as like our gut and yeah, there's a lot of, in our colon is like the highest concentration, but it's actually all over your body. It's like it's in the molecules coming out of your mouth when you breathe. And when we're in an environment of any kind, we're receiving the microbiome of that environment. We're receiving the bacteria and the information from our environment. Oh, so good. And it's blending and interacting with our microbiome. And the same thing with people and animals. If you're around somebody who has a healthy, strong microbiome, you're going to be impacted by that positive one. And if you're around someone who has a weaker, more, you know, compromised microbiome, you're going to be impacted by that. But the good news is they're going to be impacted by your slightly healthier one.
Interesting. Yeah, I don't think I'm familiar. Oh, sorry. You had it made to speak over you. I don't think I'm familiar with, I've seen the word microbiome, but I wasn't exactly sure of like exactly what it was.
It's just all microbes that are living on in your body and influencing you. I mean, it's crazy. It's a whole rabbit hole. I'm probably planting a seed right now. This will be like the next leg of like part of your discovery pattern, if you haven't gone there yet.
Yeah, yeah, totally. Like someone else could have a certain configuration of microbes that you might be missing. And so literally in their presence, you feel a little bit different. Your biology is being impacted just very slightly, especially if you're spending a lot of time with them. I mean, the perfect example here would be like a life partner or someone that you're kissing and smooching on, because what better way to get microbes than. But yeah, so then of course, their microbiomes impacting yours, the microbes that maybe you had an abundance of that they didn't have any of are getting exchanged and moved around. And I think honestly, that's how people end up like looking like their partner. You ever hear that one like with someone like that is so funny.
Yes, yes, I have heard that. That's an interesting way to look at it. Again, I just love the way everything starts to work together and support one another. The more we talk about these things in the different schools of thought and different modalities, like everything supports one another. When you start like getting deeper into all these things.
Yes, I'm brought back to what you said earlier about magic and being a witch is about connecting with and seeing the interconnectedness of things. Seeing this fabric of how everything is woven together and connected. That even with this idea of like opposing beliefs or opposing energies, they're part of a balance. They're part of the dance that's always going on. Just when we even look at it like as negative and positive ions, like all these things are dancing and balancing each other out. So even opposition is collaborative at the end of the day.
Oh, yes. It makes me even think of like the law of contrast. We wouldn't have happiness without sadness. We wouldn't be able to recognize it. Yes. You know, and we wouldn't have light without the dark. You can't have, if you were never angry, you wouldn't know what not being angry felt like. If there wasn't some chaos, you wouldn't know what peace felt like.
Yeah, freedom. If you wouldn't appreciate or understand freedom if you didn't experience restriction and limitation. Exactly.
I think the more I learn these things, the more I lean into some of the ancient wisdom, it's made me a better person because even in that knowing of everything being interconnected, everything that I recognize in myself, I can recognize in others. And even at times as uncomfortable as it can be and people hate this one. The things often that we're so triggered in by other people or that irritates us about other people, we're recognizing it because it's an aspect of ourselves we haven't made peace with yet. And then even something as simple as me knowing that if I say something hurtful to that person, that energy can come back to me. Or if I do something hurtful to that person, I completely, completely believe in the things coming back to unfold. And then just being a good person, knowing that the good things that I put out into the universe are helping it uplifting the collective.
Yes. Yes. And I think that that is so healing when we start connecting with the interconnectedness, with the way that everything is working together. It's healing because we realize we're not alone. We realize we've never been doing this alone. Also realize that everybody else is on a journey themselves. They're on a similar path, even if it's a radically different style. It's still this way of contending with whatever you arrived with and learning to move or move with that and move around that and negotiate that from day to day.
I'm laughing so hard because I was talking with one of my girlfriends that long ago. I was I I hate being so mature and open-minded and good at perspectives because I have a hard time staying mad at people. I hate it. I hate being the bigger person all the time and just being in this field of work and personal development. My arms always are open to people. And my mind is always, I'm always attracting people that want to tell me their problems. Just that healing energy attracts that. And it's just interesting to me, anytime somebody lashes out at me or even if somebody cuts me off in traffic, maybe they're rushing to meet their dad at the emergency room. It's always a positive reframe or something. Or I'm always just thinking, you know what, that person's doing the best they can with what they have right now. I can't even be mad. I'm going to be mad for five seconds and I'm going to go about my day.
Because there's some part of us that wants to stay in our justice, in our version of justice. I know that feeling when you're like, really, I'm the bigger person again. Always. Someone else got to take some responsibility here and do this. Is it just me? I know that feeling. I know what you're talking about. Yes. Oh my God. And it's funny too, when you really see other people not doing it. With that example of someone cutting me off in traffic, what I've recognized is I've totally been you. I was distracted and I cut someone off in traffic. I can live for a number of times that I did that. And the other person behind me was honking and giving me the finger and was getting all pissy and upset. And I was just like, dude, I'm sorry. I'm having a stressful day. It didn't mean to cure off. You know what I mean? And so whenever I have that happen, I just immediately it's just like, I give you a pass. I'm not going to be angry. I'm not going to be that person that's like, God damn it, and honking my horn. Maybe you're just a distracted mom on your way somewhere and you're just lucky that you didn't hit me and you're just glad that there was no car accident. So like, let's just be grateful. And then you get that experience of someone doing all that and being all dramatic and you're just kind of like, oh man, okay. There's that.
Exactly. And that's the work too though. Like the deeper you get into this work, the deeper, what was I going to say? Sorry. The deeper that we get into this work and the more work we do and the more we heal ourselves, the easier it is to put more love and understanding out into the universe. And then that snowball is in the most beautiful way. Like who knows that person that cut you off in traffic or said that mean thing to you, they might have been at the end of their rope. We don't know what's happening. Everybody's got their own thing going on. We don't know everybody's story. They might have been holding onto the last shred of sanity and hope in that moment. And you just sent them spiraling. Because you made it about you. You get what I'm saying? And then in this work, when we're doing, we're obviously not perfect people. I'm not perfect by any means. I lose my temper. I snap at people, but just that awareness and feeling grounded. And again, back to interconnectedness of all things, realizing that they're no different from me and I've been where they've been. And I also don't know what they're going through right now.
Yeah, totally. And when we get into a stressed out state, when we're dysregulated, some of those things can be remedied by, like you said, drinking more water, making sure we got enough sleep. But sometimes people are dealing with a certain level of pain, whether it's emotional, psychological, physical, or spiritual pain, that we can't compare where we're at to that. And so the comparison doesn't even, it's irrelevant. It's just like accepting, like we're both on the same journey, but right now, whatever this person is dealing with, like, let me just give them some grace. Because like you said, I don't know what it is. I don't know the level or the severity to which they may be suffering at this moment.
Grace, such a good word. Go grace upon them, even momentarily in like a busy traffic situation. Exactly. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that word up. I knew there was the word I was forgetting through the interview, and I think grace was the word. Extending grace to everyone around us, even ourselves when we need it.
Yes, totally. Well, this has been such an illuminating and beautiful conversation. I think you have a real gift for public speaking and for sharing what you're up to. So I know I've seen you on Instagram, you know, you have made at different times these little reels where you're just kind of talking and telling people, you know, about what you're noticing or what you're, you know, something new that's coming into your consciousness. And there's this way that you're just, you're sharing and I can feel that you're sharing from your heart. And so for anybody who, you know, would love to connect with you, maybe you can tell this a little bit of where people can find you, whether that's on social media or somewhere else.
Oh, thank you. Yes. So my Instagram, my business Instagram is light, shadow, smoke, all one word. My personal is Christian, the gym, T-H-E-G-E-M because I'm a gym and I play on words. He, he.
Precious, precious, beautiful stone.
Oh, you are so sweet. Yes, play on words. You got it. But I'm definitely more active on the light, shadow, smoke page, although I've been taking a little bit of a social media break while I work through these certifications and travel and extending myself grace for not being as consistent as I feel I should be. But yeah, I am there and then my links are in my bio on both pages. If you wish to get a touch with me through email, my booking links are on there as well. And then I also have some exciting new offers coming out soon that I'm working on. So I'm excited about that.
You want to tell us about any of them or about anything that you particularly like would invite anybody into experiencing with you?
Well, there's booking links to book intuitive tarot readings with me, hitting the therapy sessions with me with a money back guarantee if you aren't happy with your session and you get the recording for further reinforcement to listen to as much as you like. And then also my one-on-one guidance sessions and coaching packages. So my focus is typically women who are reconnecting with themselves need help with sole exploration connecting to their intuition. I have a lot of women coming to me after leaving long-term relationships and divorces. The universe keeps sending those to me. But also I can help you with a number of different things. It's just kind of a very customized approach. So we can get on a connection call if you have questions about how I can help you or if I can help you. And in future offers, I will be finishing my human design certification soon. So I look forward to merging that with my coaching offers and just seeing how I'm feeling about all of it, like just creating from joy and just also paying attention to what people are asking me for. So yes, I'm excited.
Beautiful. You totally blew my mind right at the beginning with that jack of all trades quote. Would you mind saying that again for everybody and like let them hear it again because it was perfect. And it also encapsulates you so well. Because it is. Yes, it does. I've taken all these tools and you're using them in this individualized personal way with your magic.
Yes, a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. And that is me in a freaking nutshell.
Oh, I love it. That's so great. And what's so great about that is it really invites people to just be all that they are and see that we're better in an expansive way rather than holding back, holding back pieces so that we can fit into one area of life instead of again with that interconnectedness being able to expand and spread out in our beliefs, in our tools, in our consciousness. Exactly.
And I'll leave the audience with just again, if you're ready to lean into that which archetype it's about trusting yourself in your power and just leaning into who you are unapologetically. That's been what's been most beautiful for me.
Perfect. Well, thank you so much for being on. My podcast, it's been a pleasure. And I really look forward to connecting with you more in the future. And yeah, and thank you so much just for sharing all of your light and all of your magic today.
Thank you for having me. It's so fun.
Hello, everyone. I'm Amy Tecaja and I have an exciting announcement. At the end of September, I will be hosting my first full-length retreat. Somatic Awakening will take place in the San Gabriel Mountains. This three-day transformational experience will include Hannah Somatic Movement, hands-on somatic body work by my father William Davis, my cousin Seiji Oshenza, and myself. We will also explore somatic yoga and mudra practice, as well as an end of the day sound healing to deepen your calm and release. Only nine spaces are available for full-time participants. Day passes will be available for the Saturday activities. Right now, you can get $200 off the full price of the retreat. So, if you're feeling called into freedom and ease of movement, a peaceful, relaxed nervous system, delicious plant-based meals, and a fresh and enlivened way of being, go to freeriosoma.com and hold your space. Payment plans are available by request, and feel free to reach out to me with questions or comments at freeriosoma.com. Thanks again for listening and supporting this self-healing revolution. You've been listening to the Free Your Soma podcast. Subscribe now to hear more stories of somatic awakening and gain knowledge and tools for somatic living. If you'd like to learn more about me, Amy Takaya, Hannah Somatic Education, or the Radiance Program, please visit www.freeriosoma .com.
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