Full Moon in Aries Ritual: Honoring Your No

The full moon in fiery Aries offers you an opportunity to get clear about anything you need to shed or release to begin taking action towards a new or current goal. It’s a time to take acknowledge and claim your sacred “no”, for yourself, your loved ones, and your community. When you know your “no’s” you can clarify your “yes’s” and move towards them with greater confidence.

A cardinal fire sign, Aries offers intensely active energy and loves to initiate and take charge. Tune into the intense energy of this full moon to help course correct and shed.

Themes for the Full Moon in Aries

Themes: Initiation, action, holding boundaries, intense shedding and releasing, course corrections, change, and transformation

Element: Fire

Planetary Correspondence: Mars

Tarot correspondence: The Emperor

Full Moon in Aries Ritual Support

The ideal time to perform this ritual: This ritual is designed to be performed on the waning side of the full moon, anytime after the peak fullness of the moon to two days after. 

You’ll need: 

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Pen or pencil and paper

• Fireproof bowl, cauldron, or vessel 

• Optional item: red candle

1. Create sacred space by grounding yourself and connecting with your breath and body. If casting a circle or calling in the quarters is in your practice, you could do this too. Sit and begin connecting with your breath. Elongate each inhale and exhale and try to make them equal in length.

2. Ask yourself (aloud or in your mind), “What action, habit, or way of being could I release or say “no” to, to find more ease in attaining my goal (feel free to insert your personal goal here)?”

Optional: If you’re using a red candle, hold it in your hands and bring to mind the situation you’re seeking guidance around.

3. Begin to enter a meditative state by focusing on your breath and body. If you’re using the candle, you can gaze at its flame. If you’re not, you can close your eyes and visualize fire and allow it to share any messages with you. Stay in this space for 5-15 minutes.

4. Once you’ve received guidance around what you need to shed, thank any guides who came through, and exit your meditation. Write down what you’re ready to shed on a piece of paper.

5. In a well-ventilated location, light your paper on fire and place it in your fireproof vessel or cauldron. Stay with it as it burns, and visualize what needs to be released from you being burned up as the paper burns. This can be intense and bring up emotions. I encourage you to let them flow as much as possible.

6. Stay with your paper and your red candle (if using one) until it burns through. Take some time to return to your body and physical space. Thank any guides or ancestors that came through to offer guidance.

7. Ritual follow-up: To further the theme of releasing, consider releasing the ashes from your burned paper back into the earth or a body of water to be alchemized into something new.

This full moon ritual can be adapted or used for any full moon or any full moon in Aries. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. All drawings are featured from my "Zenned Out Guides" book series with Quarto Knows. Love & Shadow, Cassie

My Story & Support for Opening up to New Intuitive Abilities

If you consider yourself intuitive, you've probably experienced a handful of unexplainable experiences. The kinds of situations you just knew were outside of the scope of what most would deem "normal." Even when you walk a spiritual path, some of these experiences can still be jarring. Why? Because it's not what most of us are taught growing up, it's not what most of society deems as "normal," and these experiences usually happen outside our usual physical senses.

I don't usually get super personal here, but today I will be. Some of the experiences I've had over the last few years have shifted my business and life trajectory, and I know some of you have had these experiences too. It's been helpful and healing for me to hear other intuitive folks talk about their experiences because it's made me feel less alone and more empowered to walk this path. If sharing my story helps one person feel less alone and better able to embody their gifts, then this post has done its job. I've also recently opened my books to offer 1:1 sessions for energy work and intuitive mentorship and want to give you some context for this new phase of my work.

In this post, you'll learn more about my personal story and initiation into the work I do now and some tips for coping with the onset of psychic gifts.

Before I begin, I also want to offer a content warning. I will be talking about death and dying. So if you've recently experienced a loss or are actively grieving, I want to let you know and allow you to opt-out of this share. 

Let's dive in! Here's a super-condensed version of my story. 

Listen to this episode on my podcast, Rooting into Wholeness, here.

My Story 

When I was young, probably around six or seven years old, I remember sensing, "hearing," and even feeling the presence of spirits around my bed at night. It terrified me as a child. I honestly cannot remember if I ever brought it up to my parents or not. If I did, it must have been dismissed because it wasn't ever discussed. It wasn't until I was an adult that I heard other intuitive people talk about this same sort of thing. So many of us are open when we're young, and I've since learned that experiences like this are the norm for many intuitive people. 

Even though I was brought up in a Christian household and was told more than once about the evils of witchcraft and tarot, religion was never forced on me. Much of my extended family was deeply religious, which certainly colored some of my childhood. Still, overall I was able to choose whether or not I wanted to participate in organized religion, which I'm still grateful for to this day (thanks, mom!)

My grandmother, on the other hand, was very open-minded. She lived by her pendulum and astrology. Her open-mindedness made me feel safe as a young person to explore alternatives to the faith in which I was raised. As a young teenager, I started reading some of her books, everything I read made sense, and it answered a lot of the questions that religion never did. I learned meditation and energy work techniques from these books and was surprised at how easily I could feel my energy and get into a deep meditative state. I was hooked. 

Much of my adolescence was spent holed up in my room meditating, performing spells, feeling my energy, and begging my sister to pose for me to see her aura (she would usually do after a certain amount of pestering.) I remember having an inclination that I must be experiencing something that most others didn't. If other people could feel and sense what I felt from meditation and working with energy, they would do it too.

As a young adult, I became absorbed with studying Buddhism, yoga, and quantum physics, which have influenced my path in different ways. I completed my yoga teacher training in 2012 and always knew it wouldn't be the core of my work, rather something to compliment my work in the future.

Though I certainly experienced a variety of intuitive hits and supernatural experiences throughout my young adult years, they weren't anything out of the ordinary for me. The most prominent thing I remember is often having an inner knowing or receiving intuitive hits about my path. I always knew what my next step needed to be, whether it be, even if I didn't honor it. And I quickly found out that if I didn't honor the nudges, my physical health would suffer. 

When I moved to Arizona with my husband in the summer of 2012, things started to shift. My meditation practice became more regular, and I started having more intense premonitions, including my grandmother's death and the birth of my soon-to-be twins. 

When my grandfather died in 2017, things started to get a little bit weird, even for me! My grandfather had been living with cancer for some time. I again had the sense when it was his time to pass, but this time something else happened. I would begin to feel his presence and hear him clairaudiently, saying that he needed help crossing over. At first, I'm not going to lie, I ignored him (sorry, Roger.) Ignoring him only made him more persistent. So I did what I knew how to do. I sat down, got in a meditative state, accessed his energy, and began moving and pulling energy to create a clear channel for him to leave his physical body. I got the call the next day that he'd passed.

Now at this point, I hadn't had any formal training with this sort of thing, and I was having a pretty hard time accepting this because I loved Roger (I was on a first-name basis with this grandfather.) I didn't want him to die, and even though I knew he wanted help crossing over, it was hard not to feel somewhat responsible. I kept this experience a secret and chalked it up to being a fluke or merely my imagination.

In 2019 another family member on my husband's side (who I've decided to keep anonymous to respect his family) passed. The same thing started happening. I knew it was getting close to their time, and I felt their presence. It had been so long since Roger had passed that I did the same thing and ignored them for a while, and again they did not leave me alone. So, I helped them, and they left their body shortly after. I should also mention that all of these instances were performed remotely. Each time these people were states away.

At this point, I could no longer shrug off two experiences like this as a fluke or my imagination. I eventually opened up to my husband about it, which was hard for him to grasp, and to be honest, I don't blame him! I was still wrapping my head around it too. 

Side note, I'll be digging into some tips for bringing this kind of stuff up with loved ones later in this share.

If there's one thing I've learned about intuition and nudges from the other side, it's that if I keep ignoring something I'm intended to do, it won't go away. I've even experienced physical ailments in the past due to ignoring my path. I knew I had to take some action and seek guidance about my new abilities. 

Years earlier, I'd been receiving energy work from my now mentor, Robin Afinowich. Robin is, among many other beautiful titles, a shamanic practitioner in a Celtic lineage. My work with Robin was deep, and she was someone I trusted. I decided to go back to her to discuss some of my experiences. She confirmed what I already knew: I was very open and that this was a path I could walk should I choose. 

That was in 2019, and it's a path I've been walking ever since. I've spent the last two years learning from Robin and other Wise Women, practicing and honing my abilities beyond death midwifery. 

As you may have noticed from what I've shared already, my initiation into this work was centered around death, so hint hint, this is also where I feel called to deepen my work and offer more services. Though I intend to continue offering energy work, intuitive mentorship, and more books, my work will be centered around death and all that goes along with that (and it's a lot.) So, if you've been hanging out with me for long, buckle up because things are about to get deep! 

I will definitely speak to this more in future episodes, but one quick thing I'd like to point out is that you do not need to be old in linear age or actively dying to benefit from learning about and ritualizing themes of death. There's so much deep work that, in my opinion, we really need as a collective around death. Many of us have so much fear, anxiety, and stigma attached to death. I'm really excited to begin sharing more about this topic and bring it to the forefront as something to learn from and explore. From a practical standpoint, I'm beginning training to become a certified death doula from INELDA (International End of Life Doula Association) later this year, so I will also be offering sessions more specifically around dying too. 

Fun side note for my astrology friends out there, I recently had a reading with my friend Natalie Walstein of Soulshine Astrology, and one of the most valuable things she shared with me was having Pluto in my 10th house. Which, if you know astrology, you're probably already chuckling about this "coincidence." The 10th house is the house of careers, work, and social status. Pluto, which corresponds to Scorpio, is all about death, destruction, creation, and transformations. First of all, not sure how I didn't catch that from looking at my chart myself, and second of all, things started making a lot more sense after meeting with Natalie! P.s. I'm linking Natalie's info in the show notes if you want to connect with her or her work. She's lovely. 

I'll stop talking about death because I could go on and on about this topic, but I want to dive into some practical tips to offer if you're feeling called to walk a more spiritual path but feel lost. 

Where to start if you're experiencing intuitive and psychic abilities? 

Whether you have intuitive hits, are hearing spirits or feeling spirits, or just having a lot of unexplained synchronicities, here are some tips that I've learned over the years for navigating these waters. 

1. Family, friends, and boundaries

This one is tough and will be so unique to each person. Ultimately, it's entirely up to you who you decide to talk about and share your gifts with. I've approached sharing my work with family and friends on a very case-by-case basis. I know that there are people in my life more open to this sort of thing than others. If someone asks about my work and I know they're not open to it or believe in it, I have a personal boundary that I will not share much. I will be polite, but I will not tell them very much because it's not my job to prove myself or my abilities. On the other hand, if a friend or loved one is asking, and I know that even though they may not have the same beliefs as me, they're respectful and open to learning, I will share more with them. My suggestion is to be discerning about who you open up to about your gifts.

I've learned the hard way that I'm not here to convince anyone or defend my abilities, so if someone wants to poke holes in my experience, that's something for them to explore within themselves, not something for me to take on. Don't waste your precious gifts and energy on those who already don't believe you! I'm fortunate enough to be married to someone who believes in me and supports me even though he doesn't have the same beliefs as me. If he didn't, I'm not sure that we'd be married! 

2. Support, teachers, mentorship, and growth

Unless you were raised by an extremely open-minded, spiritual, or witchy family, it's unlikely that you have a lot of close people in your life to talk with about experiencing intuitive or psychic abilities. I know how isolating it can feel to be experiencing supernatural-like events and not have anyone to turn to. Here are a few tips and suggestions for finding your people. 

First, let the universe know that you'd like a mentor or teacher. Every time I've felt the need for a mentor or teacher in my life, I always make a point to ask for one. Though it may not always happen in the timing I'd like, I've always been presented with the right teachers at the right time. 

There are so many talented teachers and mentors who offer sessions, courses, and mentorships online. What I do and encourage my clients to do is to meditate on whether or not someone is a good fit for you or if you need their medicine and notice how it feels in your body. You could also try using a pendulum or a sway test to determine this too. I've found that I usually get a pretty definite "yes" or "no" when aligning my path with a teacher.

Second, connect with your guides more. We have so many teachers on the other side who are always ready to help us develop our gifts more. Don't discount their wisdom, and I encourage you to seek counsel from them often. Here's a great past post all about connecting with your guides. 

Lastly, don't discount the power of online friendships. Some of my closest spiritual friends are people I've met online. Don't be shy. Consider DM'ing people (not businesses) who seem like they're in alignment with you. Many metaphysical stores have classes; this can be a great place to meet like-minded people, although I know this can be tricky right now with Covid.

3. Energetic protection and being scared of your abilities

This is always the top question I'm asked from anyone new to walking a spiritual path, especially if they're experiencing psychic abilities. Though I certainly do not want to discount the possibility of experiencing harmful or malicious energy or entities, it hasn't been my experience. Nearly all of the experiences I've had with the spirit realm have been overwhelmingly positive or neutral. I don't tell you this to say not to be cautious. I say this to put you at ease because, in my experience, malicious spirits are not the norm or need healing as well.

The most important thing I've learned in my work is that I have agency over my energy. If someone or something is bothering me, I can say, "not right now, later," or "not at all." I know that I could have ignored the requests of my loved ones who were dying, but ultimately I decided not to because I knew I could help them.

If you don't want to interact with something or someone, or don't feel comfortable seeing, hearing, or feeling certain things, say so. I've found that spirit will usually not give me more than I can handle and that the spirit world honors my requests and boundaries. There are, of course, loads of different tools you can use to bolster your energetic safety should you feel called. Some of my favorites are smoke cleansing, black tourmaline, and calling on my guides for protection. Check out this past post to learn more about energetic protection.

Those are some of my initial tips and suggestions for handling the onset of psychic and intuitive gifts, but I know there's so much more we could discuss! I always love to hear your questions, so if you have more on this topic, please share them on social media on my account at @cassieuhl or by email at hello@cassieuhl.com to answer them in a future post. I hope that if you've experienced supernatural experiences and feel like you don't know where to turn that my story offers some peace or at least a sense of not feeling so alone. 

My work now and how to work with me

As I mentioned, right now, I'm offering energy work and intuitive mentorship sessions. If you feel called to work with me, you can explore my energy work offerings here and intuitive mentorship offerings here. I anticipate that I'll begin offering my death doula services in the Spring or Summer of 2022.

Though I've been practicing this work for a little over two years now, I opened my books for sessions about a month ago. I'm so grateful to the beautiful souls I've been able to work with so far. Friendly reminder, my rates will be increasing on October 22, 2021, so now is a good time if you have been thinking about booking. I offered a lower rate initially because I knew I'd need to do some fine-tuning to my process based on feedback and how I felt about the work. I did, and I feel really good about the flow of my sessions. 

Those are some of my initial tips and suggestions for handling the onset of psychic and intuitive gifts, but I know there's so much more we could discuss! I always love to hear your questions, so if you have more on this topic, please share them on social media on my account at @cassieuhl or by contacting me here to answer them in a future post.

I hope that if you've experienced supernatural experiences and feel like you don't know where to turn that my story offers some peace or at least a sense of not feeling so alone. 

What is energy work and do you need it? + 5 common types of energy work

What is energy work? Is it real? Should you try it? I can’t tell you what’s best for you, but I can share detailed information about various energy work modalities and my personal experience with them to help you determine if and what’s right for you.

In this post, you'll learn a bit about what energy work is, if it's right for you, who can practice energy work, five common types of energy work, and experts in each field linked.

This is a big topic, friend! I invite you to cozy up with a cup of tea or to bookmark this read to refer back to later. Or, you can listen to the full episode here on my podcast, Rooting into Wholeness. 

My Experience With Energy Work

I experienced energy work for the first time at a very young age, 10 or 11 years old. I got my hands on some books from my grandmother about spirituality that explained how to feel the energy between my hands and over my body. I was easily able to feel my energy and was hooked. I continued meditating and working with my energy from that day in a variety of ways.

As an adult, I’ve tried various energy work methods both on myself and from others. I’ve also been practicing shamanic energy healing (in a Celtic lineage) for the last two years. Any of the methods I share here are methods I’ve experienced or administered firsthand. 

I will save my full story for another post that I’ll share soon.

What is Energy Work?

Energy work is the intentional effort to manipulate your or someone else's energy for spiritual, emotional, or physical healing. There are countless modalities of energy work practices in cultures around the world. You can perform energy work on yourself or seek it out from a professional. 

Energy work affects both the subtle body system (the energetic body) and the physical body in various ways. The subtle body system shows up differently across cultures. Here are some of the subtle body systems we see across the world: chakras and nadis (Hinduism), meridians (Chinese Medicine), the three cauldrons (Celtic), aura (cross-cultural), Ojos de luz (Incan energy system), and the list goes on. Most cultures around the world have some reference of an energy or subtle body system. 

Anything that affects the subtle body can also affect the physical body because they’re intertwined. It’s now commonly accepted that emotions can be stored in and affect the physical body. Many believe that energy can be manipulated to create changes in the subtle and the physical body in this same vein. As above so below, as within so without. 

Science now recognizes that everything is energy. When we zoom in on the physical world, really far, all we have is vibrating energy. There’s nothing solid about anything in the world we live in. It’s all energy. It can be hard to wrap the mind around physical objects not really being solid, but it’s what we know now to be true. This quote from the physicist Erwin Schrödinger illustrates this well in the quote below. 

“What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space. Particles are just schaumkommen (appearances).”- Erwin Schrödinger 

Aside from the quantum world, there’s also something to be said for unseen energies that we already know exist, like light waves, sound waves, electromagnetic energy, and heck, even wind. There’s an entire world of invisible energy that can affect us both positively and negatively. Though science has not completely caught up with the idea of humans having the potential to spark healing through touch and other psychic abilities, I believe it's something many ancient peoples have known all along. 

We spend so much time tending to and caring for our physical bodies, but what about our energy, our essence. 

Should You Try Energy Work?

If you feel called to try any kind of energy work, I suggest trying it. The bigger questions that you'll need to ask yourself are what kind of energy work you want to receive and who you want to work with. These are not questions that I can answer for you and will require some research and reflection.

As someone who's received a lot of different kinds of energy work, the best advice I can give you is that you'll know when you know. If you feel pulled to work with someone, honor that, and then do a bit of research about them, which I cover in the next section, to ensure that they're in alignment with your values and are working ethically. If you get any internal nudges that someone is or isn't a good fit, honor that.

Who Can Practice Energy Work and Can I Practice on Myself?

There are a lot of grey areas and different opinions within the answers to these questions. I will do my best in this short space, but please know that many feel differently and that this is a short answer to big questions.

If there’s one thing I hope you take away from this post, it’s that you can perform energy work on yourself. It is not something you need to pay hundreds of dollars to receive. There are many great energy work tools that you can use on yourself, some of which I will share here. Personally, I think it can be extremely powerful and healing to learn different ways to manipulate and heal your own energy. I discuss some of this in my “Understanding Auras” and “Understanding Chakras” books, which are great places to start. 

Regarding who can practice on other people, here are some suggestions and questions I always ask myself.

What is their training? Notice I said training, not Certification. Certification is not always a necessity in the case of energy work. Sadly certifications can actually be quite misleading and are not equally accessible. In fact, certification processes often leave out the very people who have trained in indigenous cultures and lineages. 

Many certification processes end up being watered-down versions of traditional energy work methods. Furthermore, they could be actively causing harm to the indigenous peoples they came from. 

Certification is not always bad, but it’s important to ask some follow-up questions and use discernment when hiring someone with certifications in the energy work methods listed below, like, “Where did the certification come from?”, “Who did they train with for the certification?” and “Were the indigenous and cultural roots respected in the certification process?”. If these things aren’t stated on a person’s website who’s offering energy work, you have every right to ask, and I’d encourage you to do so. 

Benefits and Risks of Energy Work

The possible benefits of energy work are vast and will vary from method to method. I'll dive into specific benefits for each kind of energy work method I discuss in their respective sections. Here's a general list of benefits I've personally experienced from different kinds of energy work.

• can induce deep calmness and anxiety reduction

• can help you feel closer to the spirit realm and connected to All Life

• can aid in the balancing of the chakras and subtle body

• can spark physical healing (energy work should never replace the guidance of a medical professional)

• can bring messages from loved ones and spirits

• can help with the removal of unwanted or stagnant energy

• can be supportive in processing shadow work and trauma (energy work should never replace the guidance of a trained therapist)

• can offer a deep sense of feeling held

• can give greater perspective on life issues

• can help with decision making

• can bring about a general sense of peace and ease

Are there any risks to energy work. Yes and no. Some forms of energy work are riskier than others. The practitioner is actively engaging with your energy for energy work like Reiki, Shamanic healing, and intuitive healing. This is a very intimate and vulnerable act. If you are highly sensitive to energy, it will be of utmost importance for you to be clear about what you do and do not want to experience and make sure you're a good fit with the person you intend to work with.

This is why it's so important to do your due diligence about who you decide to receive energy work from. If you find someone you'd like to receive energy work from, I suggest going within and asking something like, "Is ____________'s medicine in alignment with my highest good?" Notice what comes up. Beyond this, always be sure to run anyone through the questions offered above about who can practice energy work.Another risk is having too high of expectations. Remember, you have autonomy over yourself and your energy. If you go into a session thinking that the practitioner will be able to fix all of your problems in one hour, you might leave pretty disappointed. Energy work is not meant as a cure-all (though in some rare cases, it can be) and is intended, in my opinion, to be a catalyst for healing. I view energy work as a tool to spark healing, soothe the energy body, and open the door to spirit, but oftentimes, it will require further work from you as well. Also, who among us is truly perfectly healed? Here in physical, we will always have something we're moving through.

The Fine Print

Before we dig in, I have a few important things. See, I told you this was a big topic!

1. Energy work should never take the place of a trained medical professional or therapist. Though energy work can affect the body, and physical healing can take place, it should never replace the work of a doctor. We are multifaceted beings who require multifaceted care. I love receiving energy work, but you better believe I’m going to the hospital if I break my arm.    

1. I am not trained in all of the energy work methods mentioned below. As I mentioned above, I have experienced or administered and have thoroughly researched all of the methods I share here. I will link experts trained in each energy work method so you can experience it or learn more about them.

1. This is a non-exhaustive list of energy work techniques. I simply did not have room to share more energy work methods and techniques here, but I will list some more at the end of this article. 

Ok, let’s dive in!

Reiki 

I think Reiki is what most people think of when they hear energy work, but energy work is quite a diverse practice, as you'll find from this post. Here’s one explanation of what Reiki is from a past blog post by Eryn Johnson. 

“Reiki is a specific kind of energy work. It’s an energy healing modality that was channeled by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan. The word Reiki itself means “Universal Energy.” It’s Universal energy, spiritual energy, the energy of oneness, that can be channeled from one human being to another to facilitate healing.

Reiki has its own intelligence. You don’t have to be special to give Reiki, which is one of the things I love about it. We all have this energy within us–it simply gets awakened through a process called a Reiki attunement.” - Eryn Johnson 

Nowadays, it’s relatively easy to become “Reiki certified” and be deemed a “Reiki Master.” This is where like I mentioned above, it’s important to do your research and have discernment when seeking a Reiki practitioner.

The most insightful information I’ve heard and read about traditional Reiki has come from Marika Clymer, trained in traditional Japanese Reiki. If you are interested in receiving or learning more about traditional Reiki, I highly suggest learning more about Marika’s work. Visit her website to learn more or book a session here. Listen to an interview with her on the Living Open podcast here, where she discusses traditional Reiki and decolonial energetic healing. 

My personal experiences with Reiki have been wonderful. In my experience, it’s a very gentle form of energy work that always leaves me feeling like I’m floating in the clouds. 

Crystal Healing

Working with crystals for energy healing is great because it’s so accessible. You do not have to have an innate psychic gift to perform it on yourself, there’s loads of information available about it, and a few basic crystals are really all you need. Some good old quartz is my favorite go-to!

Crystal healing is based on the belief that because crystals are perfect crystalline structures, they can stabilize or shift the energy of other things and people around them. To learn more about crystal healing, check out this blog or my book “Understanding Crystals.”

In my experience, I do think you need to be pretty sensitive to energy and patient to notice this kind of energy work as the shifts can be subtle and happen slowly over time. Although, this isn’t everyone’s experience! For this reason, you’ll often find that crystal healing is combined with other kinds of energy or bodywork. It can be a standalone form of energy work, but it also makes a great compliment to many practices.

I highly suggest my friend Ashely Leavy of the Love and Light School of Crystal Healing to learn more about crystal healing. If you’d like to receive crystal healing, Ashley has recommended two of her former students, Samady Medina of Crystal Gaia and Peyton Johnson of Sol Energy Healing.

The Energy Alignment Method (EAM), The Emotion Code, and Applied Kinesiology

I’ve lumped these three together because they’re all based on variations of muscle testing. However, they do vary and are practiced and taught in different ways. 

Applied Kinesiology (not the same as Kinesiology) was developed in the early 1900s by an orthopaedic surgeon named R.W. Lovett. He used it to help determine the effects of Polio on his patients. It’s since been used and further developed by a variety of medical and energy work practitioners. Applied Kinesiology is based on the idea that when there is dis-ease or blocked energy within the body, muscles will be weakened, and subsequent muscle testing will yield a different response from the body. 

I’m most familiar with The Energy Alignment Method (EAM) by Yvette Taylor and The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson, so that’s what I’ll focus on here. 

EAM uses a sway test (a form of muscle testing) to identify blocked or unhelpful energy patterns in the body. It then uses a series of unique steps to release the unwanted energy and ends by calling in the desired energy. The emotion code works similarly and uses muscle testing to find “trapped emotions” but uses a different method for releasing the trapped energy. 

I would probably tell you that this energy work modality was quackery if I hadn’t tried it myself because it almost seems too easy! Over the last year, I’ve worked with a wonderfully talented coach who uses EAM named Maria Saraphina. Not only could I feel the energy leaving my body when we did the EAM (I’m super sensitive to all things energy), but I also noticed marked differences around all of the issues we worked on. 

Personally, I prefer EAM to the Emotion Code and have benefited greatly from working with the EAM. I found the emotion code to be a bit harder to follow and appreciate that the EAM takes additional steps to call in desired energy. 

You certainly don’t need to hire a coach or practitioner who uses this method to benefit from it. It’s actually pretty straightforward to learn and try it out on your own. I suggest starting with Yvette Taylor’s book about EAM here or The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson here. My friend and coach Maria also offers a free instructional video about EAM that you can find here. 

Breathwork and Pranayama

This is another powerful healing method that’s been under some controversy in recent years. Depending on who you ask, breathwork is pranayama (the ancient yogic practice of breath control). Still, some believe breathwork is a practice of its own, rooted in various other ancient practices. I’m not here to tell you which is true, nor have I done the necessary research to offer you an answer. Wherever you land, I do think it’s important to offer credit where credit is due. 

Pranayama is an ancient yogic practice that is one of the eight limbs of yoga and translates to “breath control” or “control over the life-giving force.” Breathwork pulls from a variety of cultures and practices. Both use a series of breathing techniques to control and move the flow of energy within the body. The idea is similar for both that by controlling the breath, one can create shifts and healing in the physical, emotional, and energetic body. 

I can not speak highly enough of the benefit of practicing some kind of breathing technique, whether it be pranayama or breathwork. I find it helps to calm the nervous system, get into a deeper state of meditation, helps to release stored trauma, and can activate intuition. The benefits of practicing pranayama or breathwork are vast. 

Like many of the other methods I’ve mentioned here, breathing is certainly something you can do on your own. However, the results can be intense. Pranayama and breathwork are not practices, in my opinion, that will always leave you feeling like you’re floating in the clouds (though it can). It can be incredibly emotional and physically draining. If you do want to practice pranayama or breathwork but do not have any prior experience with it, I highly suggest seeking the assistance of a trained practitioner to assist you, whether it be online or in-person. There are many group and solo sessions available by countless practitioners. Here’s a list of some I recommend. 

For Pranayama, Susan Barkataki offers online and in-person yoga teacher training from a lens of respecting the cultural heritage of yoga. 

Eryn Johnson, who shares posts here, often offers breathwork sessions here. You can also read a previous blog post by Eryn that dives deeper into breathwork here. 

Chauna Bryant also offers breathwork sessions and coaching options here. 

Shamanic and Intuitive Healing

I saved this one for the end because it’s the energy work field I work in, so I knew it would be the longest section! In my experience and personal practice, I’ve found a lot of overlap between shamanic and intuitive healing, which is why I’ve put them together. Shamanic practitioners often offer a wider array of services aside from energy healing, but for the sake of this post, I’ll be focusing on it as an energetic healing modality. 

I’d also like to make it clear that I’m using the term shamanism as an umbrella term here, as the term itself is rooted in Siberian practices from the Tungus people. Shamanic-like practices have been found in cultures worldwide, similar to the Tungus people and often referred to as core shamanism. This is a much bigger topic that I will speak to another day! Intuitive and shamanic healing is based on the idea that energy can be accessed, manipulated, and healed by people with psychic and intuitive gifts that have been initiated or trained in this kind of energy healing. Traditional healing in this way can be found in nearly all indigenous practices. 

Healers working in these modalities can “see” (objectively or subjectively in the mind’s eye) or sense (clairsentience) misaligned energy, blocked energy, cords, and physical issues. These healers can then remove, balance, or heal the energy through in-person or distance sessions. The healer will often enter a trancelike state to perform this kind of work but not always. Similar to Reiki, proximity is not necessary as all energy is connected. This work often relies heavily on collaborations between spirit guides and helping spirits from both the practitioner and the client.

My introduction into this work began when I received my first shamanic healing session in 2013 from my now mentor Robin Afinowich. It was the most impactful healing session I’ve experienced, but I will save my story and initiation into this work for a later post. 

This is a healing modality that you won’t find many certifications for because people are often born or initiated into this work and taught through lineages of teachers that don’t always honor certification the way so many do in the West. 

Of course, as for recommendations, I suggest my teacher, Robin Afinowich, but she only offers local sessions in the greater Phoenix area and is generally booked out.

Another intuitive energy worker I deeply respect who I’ve heard speak about her practice often is Judea Star. She also co-hosts an amazing podcast called Spirit Speakers, which I highly recommend! You can learn more about her or book an intuitive healing session with her here. 

Other kinds of energy work

This is truly such a brief introduction to energy work! There are so many other powerful kinds of energy work that I didn’t have room to discuss here. Some of my personal favorites are sound healing, acupuncture, and reflexology. 

Phew, my friend! Did you make it to the end with me? If you did, I hope you enjoyed and learned something from all of this information. As always, if you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with someone you think will enjoy it too. If you have a question feel free to comment on social media here or reach out via email here. 

Full Moon in Aquarius: Honoring Your Magic for the Good of All

Our August full moon in Aquarius offers an opportunity to work magic for the good of the collective and all of Earth’s creatures. The sign of Aquarius calls you to explore humanitarian themes in new and radical ways, inviting each of us to create a more just and whole world. Learn more about the energy of Aquarius here.

Themes for this full moon: The good of the collective, radical transformations, rebelliousness, digital expression, and honoring one’s truth.

Element: Air

The ideal time to perform this ritual is the day before or the day of the full moon.

You’ll need:

• 15-30 minutes of quiet and uninterrupted time

• Pen, pencil, markers, or paint and paper

• Optional items: incense or herbs to burn and a piece of clear quartz. 

1. Create a sacred space. Connect with your breath and body. Root into the moment.

2. Optional: light incense or burn herbs to connect with the element of air through the smoke. Any scent you feel called to use will do, but light and floral scents match this moon best.

3. Sit and begin connecting with your breath. Elongate each inhale and exhale and try to make them equal in length.

4. Ask yourself (aloud or in your mind), “What would the world look and feel like if all life forms and resources were respected and cared for equally?”

5. After visualizing this version of our world, ask yourself (aloud or in your mind), “What actions can I take to help bring this version of the world forward?”

6. Continue to focus on your breath for another 5-10 minutes and allow any messages, sensations, or guidance to come to you.

7. Optional: Pull a tarot or oracle card for guidance around this question. Asking again, “What actions can I take to help bring this version of the world forward?”

8. Take some time to write, draw, or paint any visualizations about this world vision and actions you’re committed to taking to help it come to fruition.

9. Place your drawing/writing on an altar or a window sill under the full moon. Optional: place a piece of clear quartz on top of it to amplify its intention.

10. Take some time to return to your body and physical space. Thank any guides or ancestors that came through to offer guidance.

Ritual follow-up: Carve out time to take action on the list you created. Moving into the waning moon phase, seek acceptance around outcomes and people you cannot control regarding your actions. Trust that with your action and energy, the wheels are in motion for progress.

This full moon ritual can be adapted or used for any full moon or any full moon in Aquarius. As always, take what you like and leave the rest. 

How to Dress a Candle for Spellwork

Candles are included in spellwork, and there’s a reason why. Fire magic is powerful — it can help transform energy, focus your desires, send intentions into the universe, burn away what you want to release, and more.

Candles are powerful on their own, but dressing a candle for spellwork can help amplify and intensify your spell. In this blog post, I’ll be breaking down how to dress a candle for spellwork. To get more of an intro to candle magick, check out this blog post.

WHY DRESS A CANDLE FOR SPELLWORK?

Dressing a candle spellwork can mean rubbing a candle in oil and/or rolling a candle in herbs. Using herbs and oils that support the intention you’re working with can help you amplify your spell, making it more powerful. 

Below, I share some correspondences for oils and herbs to help you decide how to dress your candles most effectively. 

HOW TO DRESS A CANDLE FOR SPELLWORK

Here are some loose guidelines for dressing your candles for spellwork:

1. Cleanse your candle. You can cleanse your candle with salt, smoke, sound, or any other cleansing tool that feels good to you.

2. Rub your candle in oil. As you do, focus on the intention of your spell.

3. Roll your oiled candle in herbs if you’re using them. Again, direct your energy towards your spell’s intention as you roll your candle. Stay present, breathe, and focus on connecting your intention to your candle.

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OILS, HERBS & CORRESPONDENCES FOR CANDLE MAGICK

Before I get into correspondences, a note about oils: you can feel free to use neutral oils like sunflower seed oil or coconut oil. When you work these oils, they act more as a vehicle for your herbs than an intention amplifier on their own.

Explore the Radical Candle Magic class.

If you want to use an oil that brings its own amplifying qualities, you’ll be using essential oils. If you decide to use essential oils, I invite you to be really intentional with them, buy small amounts only, and research as much as you can to find companies that are making them in the most sustainable and ethical ways possible. The same goes for herbs - do your research and make sure you’re gathering any herbs you use ethically. 

Featured deck is The Ritual Deck. 

For pleasure spells - Use red or orange candle colors. Use clary sage, lavender, or sandalwood oil with rose petals or other flower petals, ginger, or calendula. 

For abundance spells - Use green, brown, or gold candle colors. Use basil, cinnamon, or frankincense oil with cinnamon, basil, or ginger.

For creativity spells - Use orange, yellow, blue, or purple candle colors. Use tangerine or peppermint oil with verbena, bay leaves, or angelica. 

For intuition spells - Use blue, purple, or silver candle colors. Use myrrh, or clary sage oil with mugwort, chamomile, or rose petals.

For protection spells - Use brown, black, or blue candle colors. Use clove, cypress, or juniper oil with mugwort, mullen, or comfrey. 

For releasing spells - Use yellow, orange, or black candle colors. Use bergamot or geranium oil with cloves or rosemary. 

For love spells - Use red, orange, or pink candle colors. Use cardamom, jasmine or ylang-ylang oil with yarrow, oregano, or fennel. 

Want more on spellwork? Check out these blogs:

• Getting Started with Candle Magick

• Four Candle Magick Spells + Free Printable

• Spellwork and Witchcraft Ethics

• Your Spell’s Over, Now What? 3 Ways to Release or Repurpose Your Ritual Items

New Moon in Leo: Cultivating Joy

The sign of Leo calls for full self-expression, play, creativity, and showing your full and true self to the world. Every new moon is a time to be open to spirit for new opportunities, guidance, and growth.

This new moon is an invitation to tune into spirit around how you can step more fully into expressing yourself in a way that feels joyful and aligned. Read on for a ritual I crafted for you to enjoy anytime during the new moon.

Additional resources:

• Learn more about the energy of Leo season here.

• Find more new moon rituals here.

New Moon in Leo Ritual Support

1. Create a sacred space. Sit, close your eyes, connect with your breath and body. Root into the moment. 

2. Optional: Light a red, yellow, orange, or white candle. Hold it in your hands, infusing it with the intention of being open to spirit for guidance in the lunar cycle ahead. 

Additional resources:

• Learn more about candle magick here.

3. Ask yourself the following question, "How can I express myself more fully?"

4. Meditate for 10 minutes or more with the intention of being open to spirit for guidance.

Additional resources:

• Learn more about meditation here.

• Purchase my guided meditations for each moon phase here.

5. Using your favorite tarot or oracle card deck, ask the following questions: 

1. How am I being called to express myself? 

2. What’s blocking me from expressing myself more fully? 

3. How can I move past what’s blocking me from fuller self-expression?

4. How will me living more authentically change my life and the lives of others?

Additional resources:

• Learn more about tarot here and oracle cards here.

• Shop the Journey Tarot here.

6. Close your ritual by connecting with your breath and body again. Thank any guides or ancestors that came through to offer guidance. Consider journaling to process any.

If you enjoy this ritual, consider sharing it with someone who might also enjoy it.

Fae, Faeries, and Fair folk! Who are They & 3 Ways to Connect with Them

The fae go by a variety of names, including but not limited to fae, fair folk, faeries, and fairies. The size and appearance of faeries will vary depending on your location and personal beliefs. Some see faeries as human-sized, while others see them as smaller beings.

Faeries are a magical species of human-like beings. They live in a spirit realm alongside, but separate, from our physical world. This realm is referred to as otherworld or underworld. In my practice, I refer to this space as otherworld and will refer to it as such throughout the rest of this post.

Similar to humans, the fae are not a monolith! There are benevolent and malevolent faeries. Many report them as being quite mischievous, and some even say they're dangerous. It’s important to remember that just like forming a relationship with a new human, you need to determine a faerie's intentions before engaging. Always approach anyone from the spirit realm both respectfully and carefully. 

Folklore about faeries is most common in Ireland, Wales, England, and Scotland but certainly pops up in other parts of the world as well. The idea of a “spirit of place” or genius loci, which faeries are, is common for many practices. Even if you don’t work with faeries in your practice, you may have a similar entity in your spiritual lineage or a similar kind of being where you currently live. 

Rather than assuming the fae will appear to you like Tinkerbell, I invite you to be open to how the spirits of your locality and lineage may present themselves. Elves, gnomes, tree spirits, animals, and more can all be present as local spirits. 

Why Would You Want to Connect With The Fae?

At this point, you might be wondering why you’d even want to bother connecting with the fae. In fact, some highly advise not to interact with the fae at all! This is a personal choice you’ll need to make. All I can share with you is my personal experience.

I have spirit guides in otherworld who are faeries, and my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. Beyond my personal experience, the fae do live in a spirit world less dense than ours, so they also have a very different perspective. I think most of us could learn a great deal from a different perspective!   

The second reason I think it’s important to connect with fae, or your local spirits, is to form a better relationship with the natural world and the spirit world. It takes conscious practice to form a relationship with any being in the spirit world. Doing so can be a powerful and enlightening experience.

Here are three simple ways to start building a better relationship with the fae or any local spirits in your area. 

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3 Ways to Connect with Faeries

The seasons of Beltane and Samhain are two of the best times to interact with the fae. If you’re catching this post during another season, don’t fret, you can still try these techniques. It might just take a bit longer to see any results. During Beltane and Samhain, sabbats opposite each other on the Wheel of the Year (find more about the Wheel of the Year and a free printable here), the veil between the spirit and physical world is at its thinnest. The thin veil makes it easier to reach the home of the fae, also known as otherworld. 

1. Prepare a faerie offering on a home altar or out in nature

The easiest way to start working with the fae will be to physically and energetically take action to open yourself up to the potential of learning from them. You can do this by leaving faerie offerings out in nature or on your altar. Because otherworld is all around you, this is less about attracting the fae and more about creating a safe space for you to experience beings, like faeries, from otherworld.

That said, there are items you can use that correspond with and attract faeries. The items listed below will serve two purposes, first as a reminder of your desire to connect with the fae and as a way to attract them. Faeries are said to love sweet treats like fruit and cakes. Milk is another common food item that the fae are said to enjoy. There are also a host of herbs that the fae enjoy, like thyme, yarrow, heather, and rosemary. 

All things cute and tiny will also serve as potent reminders to you to be open to experiences from otherworld. Building a faerie garden outside or creating a special altar space in your home dedicated to the fae can both be powerful ways to set an intention to work with the fae. 

2. Form a strong relationship with your natural surroundings. 

Our busy lives often distract us from the innate magic all around, but it’s always there, especially in nature. Many practices have what is called a “spirit of place” or genius loci. These are the spirits of the land, which include faeries, elves, gnomes, and more.

Connecting with nature regularly will help open doorways to your local spirits of place. This can be as simple as going for daily walks, becoming more in tune with the seasons, or gardening.

To use this method to become more in tune with faeries, try setting that intention as you walk around to notice signs of spirit in nature. Perhaps you’ll start to notice things in nature that look like portals or doorways, signifying entry points to otherworld. Maybe you’ll start to see flashes or shadows of the fae out of the corner of your eye as you explore nature. Be open to experiencing scents, sounds, sensations, and visuals from the fae and other spirits of place as you explore your natural environment. 

3. Meditation and Journey Work

Meditation and journey work are my favorite way to work with faeries. It’s unlikely that you’ll come across a solid, living, breathing faery in your garden, but journeying to otherworld is another story! If meditation is new to you, this technique will likely take some practice, or you might not feel quite ready for it, be patient with yourself. 

Remember, “Your body is one of the best vessels of magical energy.” - Sirona Knight, from Celtic Traditions: Druids, Faeries, and Wiccan Rituals.

Click here to access a free guided meditation for journey work that can help you get started with journeying during meditation. 

If meditation or journeying is more familiar to you, you can set an intention to connect with the fae at the beginning of your meditation. Here are basic steps I take when connecting with beings in otherworld. This may vary for you, and that’s okay! Take what feels right and leave the rest. 

1. Optional: Grab a piece of black tourmaline to have with you as you meditate for energetic protection. 

2. Sitting or lying down, close your eyes and begin your meditation. 

3. Set an intention, in your mind or aloud, to connect with a faerie that has your highest and best intentions. 

4. Tune into your body and focus on your breath to get grounded. 

5. Close your eyes and begin to focus your attention inward. 

6. Visualize a safe and happy place in your mind. For me, it is a lush forest. 

7. When you feel ready, visualize a doorway or portal to exit into otherworld. 

8. Ask to be taken to a faerie or any other kind of spirit being you’d like to connect with. 

9. Be open to the process and the journey. 

10. When you feel ready, find your way back to the portal to come back to your safe space.

11. Stay in your safe space for as long as you need before coming back to the physical world. 

12. When you’re ready, open your eyes and rest for some time to integrate your experience. 

Remember, the spirit realm is always available to you. It’s simply a matter of tuning into it.

5 Samhain Rituals + Samhain Correspondences & Card Spread

The ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), celebrated on October 31st and November 1st, marks the end of our seasonal cycle on the Wheel of the Year. This is why it's often referred to as the witch's New Year. Seasonally speaking, Samhain is the third and final harvest of the season or the last rally to store and prepare for the coming Winter season.

This sacred celebration reaches much farther than harvests and is also a time when the veil between the physical and spirit world is at its thinnest. The Celtic people believed that spirits walked among them during this time, so Samhain is accepted as an ideal time to communicate and connect with the spirit realm. Here's a fun drawing I created with ritual suggestions for Samhain. Keep scrolling to learn more about each one. 

Time to pull out all of your favorite intuitive and protective tools! Let's dig into four different ways to connect with this season through ritual. I'll also share correspondences for Samhain and a card spread to use with your favorite tarot or oracle card deck. 

1. Create a Samhain Altar + Samhain Correspondences 

Switching up your altar or sacred space for the seasons is an easy way to bring in each celebration's energy on the Wheel of The Year. Get a quick look at how I do this in this video I shared on Instagram for Mabon. 

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When it comes to changing out your altar, understanding the correspondences (items that carry the similar energy) of Samhain will be helpful. Here's a list of tools and symbols that correspond with Samhain. 

Samhain Correspondences:

• Themes: Releasing, cleansing, divination, protection, the underworld, offerings for ancestors

• Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon

• Crystals: Labradorite, obsidian, onyx, garnet, hematite, amethyst

• Candle Colors: Purple, black, orange, silver

• Tools: Besom (broom), cauldron, any kind of divination tool

• Plants and Scents: Mugwort, cinnamon, clove, patchouli

• Foods: Apples, pomegranate, pumpkins, nuts, meat

• Runes: Algiz, Daggaz, Ansuz, Perthro, Othalo

• Gods and Goddesses: Persephone, all crone Goddesses, Callieach, Cerridwen, and Hecate

To create your altar, select items and symbols from the list above and anything else that personally connects you to this season. Clear and cleanse (both physically and energetically) your altar space, then place your altar items with care and intention. I like to end my altar creation by lighting a candle and saying a prayer for the altar's intention. It could be something like this, but feel free to tailor it to your liking. 

With this altar, I welcome the final harvest season and the thinning of the veil. I remember my loved ones crossed over and all ancestors before them and share this offering as a sign of my gratitude. Myself and my space are protected from any beings that do not have my highest good in mind. So it is. 

2. Sweep away negative energy with a besom

With the thinning of the veil between spirit and physical, it's essential to clear out and protect your space from unwanted energies. I shared a thorough post a few years ago with steps to perform a Samhain house cleansing and blessing; check it out here. Because I already wrote all about performing a house cleansing, I'd like to dive a little deeper into using a besom for Samhain. 

A besom, or broom, is a tool used by witches to cleanse a space energetically. Though your besom can clean physically, it doesn't touch the ground when used as an energy cleansing tool. Simply open a door in your house, sweep right above the floor, and visualize negative energy leaving your space. 

You can make your besom or find them for purchase at certain stores. I usually get mine from Trader Joe's and like to add my own decorations to it. 

3. Connect with your ancestors and give offerings to loved ones in spirit. 

There are cultures worldwide who believe that our loved ones come back at certain times to walk among us. We see this in the Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico, Hungry Ghosts day in China, and in Samhain (to name a few.) 

Samhain offers us a special time to connect with, honor, and remember all those who have come before us. You can do this in various ways, including by connecting with your ancestors for guidance through your intuition, remembering loved ones and ancestors passed on, or giving loved ones in spirit an offering. 

Your altar is a great place to give an offering to any loved ones who've crossed over. An offering to your ancestors could be pictures of them or favorite foods and drinks. You can also connect with ancestors in spirit through meditation and breathwork. Check out this past blog post for steps to work with your ancestors through meditation and breathwork.

Find a guided journey to your ancestors here.

4. Protect yourself!

The thinning veil is a double-edged sword for Samhain. Yes, it is lovely to connect with spirit so easily, but it also leaves you more susceptible to all energies, which may not have your highest good in mind. Because the veil is so thin during this time, take care to protect yourself and your space from any unwelcome energy. 

The featured oracle card deck is The Ritual Deck.

A protection tool that works exceptionally well during Samhain is burning dried mugwort. I shared all about this plant here. Some other favorites are salt for banishing, black candles, and the Rune Algiz. Find even more protection tools and rituals in a previous post here. 

5. Pull out your intuitive tools + Samhain Card Spread

If you want to connect with spirit, set the wheels in motion for a new desire, or want to learn more about yourself from a higher perspective, now's the time to pull out all the stops and dive deep into your intuitive practice. With the thinning veil between spirit and physical, the doors are wide open for profound intuitive growth, shadow work, and spiritual connections. 

Here's a suggested card spread to try out with your favorite tarot or oracle card deck. Samhain tarot or oracle card spread.

1. In what areas of my life do I need more protection?

2. What bonds do I need to break free of in my life?

3. What areas of my life are seeking renewal?

4. In what areas of my life do I need to allow grieving?

5. What messages do my ancestors have for me?

There are endless options for performing intuitive work, but some of my favorites for Samhain are candle spells, scrying, oracle and tarot card readings, and journey work.

Samhain is a truly magical time, and I hope you can feel how special it is with everything I've shared here. Remember, there's nothing to fear. At our core, we are spiritual beings too. This unique time offers us the opportunity to connect with a realm we already know so well, even if we've temporarily forgotten. Samhain blessings, dear one!