Alexandra Hughes 0:12
Everyone and their cat is talking about witches. But what is a witch or medicine woman or priestess? How does one become one? And what is the common thread between women who identify as such magical creatures? Welcome to the witch hunt podcast, where we hold space for healing conversations that collectively explore these questions with the intention of celebrating of illuminating and elevating the rise of feminine energy magic and self sourced power. All in a world that's gone pretty much mental. Every new and full moon host is Aleksandra Beckel Hughes, who identifies as all three of these sacred tights, in her own weird way, invites you to brew some tea to light a candle and to join her in her conversations with witches, medicine, women, priestesses, and other magical creatures from around the world. So come gather to share in the knowledge, experience, magic and sacred stories of those women, who once hunted to be burned at the stake, are now hunted to be held in the light so that they so that we can illuminate the way.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:30
Right now, what's super on trend is like talking about the galactic realms talking about the star nations talking about aliens, like people who are channelling all that info. And so when something gets really almost like hot topic like that, then I stepped back a little bit. And I asked to be an observer and really check in with myself like, am I supposed to be focusing on this? Because when we focus, right, we're energetically connecting, and often contributing to that thing that we're focusing on. And so from a really young age, I always wanted to make sure that I was empowered in the process, and then it was authentic to me. And lo and welcome to episode 51 of the witch hunt podcast. ancient magic in modern times, a paradigm shifting conversation on the spiritual industry. Shadows and shamanic modalities with psychic medicine woman, shamanic practitioner and spiritual teacher, the amazing Amber Chang, our cat.
Alexandra Hughes 2:36
This conversation was so rich, flowing from fascinating topic to fascinating topic, we took a critical look at the spiritual industry highlighting the toxicity of Guru culture, and the importance of shifting from seeking answers outside of us to strengthening our internal authority. We talked about how the concept identity and practice of being a witch goes beyond love and light, and helps us to honour both the darkness and the light in our lives. And we talked shadow work plus the shamanic modalities that are common amongst indigenous societies around the world, and how both Amber Jane and I personally relate to the word shaman, as well as to our own indigeneity and then there's just so much more. This is a mind expanding episode. Even for the seasoned practitioner, you are not going to want to miss it. But before we jump in, I have a very exciting announcement which surprise surprise came to me as a divine download the evening after I recorded this episode with Amber Jane.
I was pondering on how to support the ongoing production and growth of the witch hunt podcast when I received the download that I've decided to call the witch hunt collective. The witch hunt Collective is the coming together of women under every full moon, equinox and Solstice this year. To connect with the woman that you were born to be the sole mission you're here to realise. This is a time and space when we'll plug into cosmic lunar and earthly energies to support our ongoing growth and transformation. When you join the witch hunt collective you'll get access to 13 Full Moon live women's circles, including four sacred feminine ceremonial workshops all led by yours truly. And here's the best news you can join the witch hunt collective for as little as $37 a month. Click the links in the show notes for all the details or to reserve your spot or you can email me at Alex at in essence coaching.com with any questions, spaces for this year long experience will be available until March 20. But the circles have already started and the next one is on the 23rd of February. I'd love to have you join now. Without further ado, enjoy this amazing conversation with Amber Jade
welcome Amber Jane or cat to the witch hunt Podcast. I'm really excited to have you here and till
Learn about your story and to learn about your magic and your beautiful offerings. So, the way we begin here at the podcast is always by inviting you to introduce yourself. Yeah, thank you. And thanks for its We met through a mutual friend over email. And it's just we had an awesome conversation together. So I just want to say thanks, I'm excited to get to know you more as well and be here and be sharing this these good conversations that you're bringing out to the world. So thanks for having me and inviting me. Oh, it's such a pleasure. I our conversation was amazing before we hit the record button, so I know that now it's just going to be just as good and maybe even better, if that's possible.
Amber Jane Arquette 5:47
Yeah, so you know, my name is Amber Jane. And I've been living in Portland, Oregon, it was kind of like a definitely a divine placement. For me, I feel like I have been moving under the radar of things so that I could step into big power and Big Magic with my gifts. And in a way that allowed me to be with my teachers that wasn't influenced by like the maybe hype of the the spiritual community or spiritual Indus industry, if you want to call it. So even though I feel really knowledgeable through my own gifts, but also my training, which I'll talk about in a minute, I still feel like I'm learning all of these big conversations, or maybe not big conversation, but the like, leaders have, you know, the spiritual context and the spiritual teachings that are happening in the limelight. So like, who's on Gaia, and like, who wrote this book, and I'm just sharing that, because lately, I've been thinking about how we're shifting our mindset. And this is really just what what's wanting to come through right now, we're shifting our mindset from having to know all the answers and like getting gold stars for our academic or our no illness, you know, and we're shifting into, you know, harnessing our own magic, which is an intuitive, very divine feminine practice. And it's not about knowing all the answers. It's about asking the right questions, and being curious and open. And being a clear channel of deciphering that information so that we can help ourselves and those around us. And so I just feel really thankful right now, because I spent the last couple of years being like, how come I don't know these like famous people and this person who wrote this book, and, you know, this person who's known for this, and that, and I'm not supposed to, because I'm just supposed to show up as me and not influenced by all of this spiritual culture that we have been in for a while. And I feel like I'm here to, to pave a new path that really empowers people and brings back the power in our own spiritual practices. Because I've been for the last eight years, I've been training with Jan Engel Smith, who founded a school called Light song. And I got my bachelor's in community shamanism and ceremony. And I worked up to the master level of soul retrieval. And so I really got to harness my gifts and just jump into the world. And in a very committed way through seven years of just being in apprentice mode and facilitation and my own learning and my own healing, to understand energy, understand the soul, understand how we can get trapped in cycles and energetic patterns and trauma and even you know, in that can be lineage that can be other lifetimes that can be contracts or oaths or even curses and how we really do need are our witches are medicine, women are medicine men are our healers are people to help us undo these things. For us. It's kind of like my analogy is a dentist never does their own root canal. And neither does a surgeon ever do their own surgery on themselves. And so we need to dismantle the idea that we're supposed to be self healers, for 100% Of all the things like we can do our own work for sure. And our own healing on all these different levels. And that can really land when we work with a practitioner that can help us undo kind of the unseen things and undo the things that we just can't reach or we don't have the right
ankle right?
So yeah, so my
kind of a long winded intro, but I was gifted my whole life I just kind of was born into psychic telepathic, I saw dead people, I was very connected to the Earth realms and and, you know, the mystical Fae realms and was free a lot with my mom, we were, you know, I had it was like a single mom on a farm, we moved out to this farm land for a number of years. And so I just got to like run in like grass and have that kind of wild and free childhood. And then through high school in my early 20s It was really confusing. Like, I had these gifts, but where was I gonna put them I was kind of the weirdo in school. And so it's really uncomfortable with myself, and ended up knowing that I felt like I wasn't academically good. So I was like, There's no way I'm going to college. I'm just gonna have to like go into the workforce, which was fun. It was all I realised the theme of like alchemy, I did coffee. I did. mixology, bartending, and I got into essential oils and like creating blends and creating recipes and the arts. And then in 2000, what was a big turning point in 2011, I had my daughter, and I birthed her at home and by myself because the midwives didn't make it. And I
it was like my psychic abilities just tenfold like blew up. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, what am I going to do with myself.
And I kept having light song come up over and over. And so I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go to their level one class when my daughter was around three.
And that just set me on the path that was like, my whole life was just waiting for this moment to learn about shamanic modalities, and to hone my training and hone my gifts. And that was a huge commitment for seven years. And now suddenly, the school has closed and the spiritual community is a little bit here in there. And so my practice is not just healing, but I'm starting to open up an online spiritual community and courses and realising that the teachings that I have been given, also need to be shared. But with this kind of like modern application, like how can we have resiliency and energetic mastery and understanding of ourselves through these kind of core shamanic understandings, but also again, I love to like, just really bring it in, like how do we ground it into our daily lives?
Alexandra Hughes 12:53
Yeah, oh, there's so much I want to say thank you. Thank you for the, for the beautiful long introduction. There, there was so much gold in there, I wrote a whole bunch of things down i i loved what you said about how you were sort of shielded maybe, or distanced from the hype of the spiritual conversations or the industry. And I really want to dive into that, because I think and you know, how influential that can be, but maybe not leading you into the authenticity of your soul, you know? And what is that spiritual industry? And how is it that it's gone a bit wonky in that it's, some of it isn't doing that. And I loved how you said that we're shifting from the Gold Star having the answers to I wrote down living into the mystery or navigating the mystery and how do we and we do that by, you know, building up our intuition, but like you said, asking the right questions. And then this other piece around like
naming our teachers or honouring our teachers or honouring the fact that we, even if we're healers, we still need healers, right for ourselves and that there's just this I think that we come from a place and I think of this a bit from a marketing and messaging perspective, because I've been in this entrepreneurial world and trained you know, it's a young online world right so trained in ways that now I see as manipulative but it also in a way that when we tell our story, at least I was trained you tell your story, in a way that position positions you as not needing help, right you don't clearly name or honour your teachers or your healers on your about page. Oh, yeah, that's
yeah, you're like the self made. I got to the top five
myself and I didn't need any help to get here. And in a way like that, that narrative is very much in line with what you were referring to, you know, not having your or maybe I misunderstood and you can correct
Amber Jane Arquette 15:11
Oh, very much. So I think that it's incredibly disempowering, right? Because not only are you totally disconnected to this long lineage, right? All of these people have been on this rich journey to bring these things to us at this time, that literally have been broken down and disconnected to an oral tradition. So a lot of the teachings that have survived, you know, are like, yeah, are like gold. And to honour that and to also say, I'm in relationship with this. This is this is like, I'm going to share this with you, you know, this is like, I mean, what would you rather have, like, Oh, these cookies that I learned to bake this year, or these cookies that my great, great grandmother, you know, this is a recipe that all all the people of my family had been creating. And here I have it, and today, you get to taste it. What one of those storylines feels exciting to engage with as a person who's receiving it? Yeah, yeah. And, and, you know, I think of someone coming to the table and offering these cookies as a gift, or selling these cookies. Yes. You know, like, you wouldn't you want to know, the story behind those cookies. Yeah. Yeah. truthful story, not like the 15 second blip, right? Yeah.
Alexandra Hughes 16:43
It's yeah, yeah. And then the other the other two words that you put together that I want to dive into? Let's see if we could do all of our
shamanic modalities?
Yeah, I want to know all about
More about that...
what that means to you. And I'm curious, because I think I've learned one of them. But I've never put
you know, it wasn't presented to me in that way. And also, I've never put those two words, like I've never really liked. But I think that in a way. It's what I've done. And I think sometimes things that are trained like for it's called Beyond quantum healing the modality that I do, and it involves like theta meditation and visualisation. And but I when I, the more I learn about witchcraft and the wisdom of the Ancients, and the work that the healers in those communities did, even even, you know, I'm not a big practitioner of plant medicine, but even in terms of plant medicine ceremony that, that I wonder if things weren't captured in writing some of these so called New trainings that draw somehow on these ancient modalities. Somehow, were either orally passed or maybe divinely passed, or remembered through, like the epigenetics. I don't know. But so so I'm really curious to go there, too. But first, first, first, let me ask you, and this is a way of jumping into like the whole witchiness piece. What What made you say yes, to come on to a podcast called Witch Hunt? And how do you define the word or the experience of being a medicine woman or a witch or priestess? Or maybe a shaman? Would you use that word? I don't know.
Amber Jane Arquette 18:41
Well, I come from a lineage that I would never claim that name for myself, my community would give that to me as an honouring and acknowledgement that I have brought healing to that level. So that is one of the interesting things of that I feel like honouring and it feels really in integrity to me that I don't go around calling myself that. But I do help people understand what I do through saying like, Yes, I use core shamanic modalities. I was trained in core shamanism, so there's an element of, or maybe a descriptive word that helps them understand like, what can I expect with working with this person? Right and how is it different than other home healing modality so I thought I would just touch on that a little bit. So if I'm not using the word shamanism, or shaman as a title, then I often just I say healer I say medicine woman, every once in awhile I think it's fun to play around with like, quantum galactic medicine woman because I definitely feel like I work with the star nations and and yet feel so connected to the earth. So to me like when we talk about being a witch, it's an inverse actually want to go back to your question of like, why would I
I think the podcast name is brilliant witch hunt.
And I just listened to over October. In the fall, I listened to another podcast called which that was ran on BBC. Yeah, I figured you would know that one. And so it felt so enlightened, like, I had just listened to that. And then I was introduced to you and your podcast and listen to a few episodes and love the conversations that you're bringing forward, because I think they're really necessary for the evolution of holistic healing, that, again, isn't positioning people into that Guru place, right? Because the guru isn't serving us anymore. We don't need someone who's going to be the outside of authority that tells us what is right good in alignment, you know, we actually need to learn how to invoke our, our own and each other's divine wisdom. And you know, what needs to be cleared out of the way so that that channel is crystal clear, you know, so that that's an easy, it's easy to sit in a moment and be like, okay, is this like a decision for me?
Or is there something else I need to be patient for or look out for, and having our own spiritual connection, whether that's to specific guides, or deities, or, you know, however, that or it's just a higher conscious self, that we're communing with or communicating with. So I love the the wit chant, because it's really spinning the name, right, it's bringing back power to something that was so disempowering, and so harmful, so it's a mixed the word which is still feels very mixed to me. And, but I think, as we harness this divine feminine, that
we're peeling off the layers of kind of the not to, like, insult anybody, but there's this there has been this big, like love and light kind of persona of this bright, divine beautiful goddess. And the witch to me, starts to kind of bring
a medicine that is practical, and connected and understands that there is dark and light, and neither is better than the other that they both have wisdom, and we're learning how to channel both of these, you know, elements. And, and to me that, that feels like Where, where, hopefully, that we're going is we're understanding to live in both and
both and place that this and that, and that not everything has to be labelled good and not everything has to be labelled bad.
Alexandra Hughes 22:50
Yeah, yeah, I really feel that as well. But the when you were referring to like the light and love and the two words that came to me were toxic positivity. You know, I think in many in, in many narratives in the this sort of self help personal development, manifesting Law of Attraction kind of world, it there hasn't been talking about the difficult feelings and the shit that we actually go through as humans. And the gift in that darkness. Right. You know, and the, which my understanding is a person who knows how to navigate all of that. And I, I've said it more than once, you know, the darker the shadow the brighter the light. Yeah, yeah. So
Amber Jane Arquette 23:44
just to kind of share a personal story, it was really towards the end of my training, I think it was like 2022. And something kind of blew up in my life. And I felt so betrayed, like, at this core level of my being, and I knew that the situation was a catalyst to something hidden within me and I got sick. And then I went into this just super dark place and went into that, like, I'm questioning everything. And I tore apart everything in my life, my, my gifts, my training, my practice my future goals, like it was a, you know, I went to that dark night of the soul process. And what I found in that was claiming of a part of myself, that was raw, that was almost like, looking at the world, not at this higher vantage point, but at the lower vantage point. And I got to reclaim something within myself and have a deep healing on especially that level of like betrayal and who do I trust and you know,
it and also seeing people as who they are. And it's okay that they're that way. I just get to decide where I position them in my life, versus having to be all in or all out right again, that this or that thing, instead of finding, maybe a more creative way of living together, even if we're not totally aligned and all the things. So, yeah, I just wanted to share that because I feel like often, well, there's a couple things there like we can glorify that dark night of the soul. But we can also be in this place of avoiding the negativity like, Oh, if that feels really uncomfortable, let's just go to a place that's more comfortable. And try to eliminate that thing that is discomforting or challenging or freaking us out? You know, instead of being curious about like, wow, hmm, I wonder what that has an in for me, you know, what, what there is for me, and who can also jump on board of helping me see it? And who are my healers, who my supporters so I really am an advocate of us not doing all of this on our own anymore. I'm an advocate to having a team of of cheerleaders are people who love you, people who trust you, your healers, your confidants and all that to help you get through the process, and not be too scared to go into the dark? And look at what magnificent treasure because I had some power in there that I needed to bring back. Yeah. Yeah, I've also recently found more community here, which community here and the difference it's made in my life is incredible, you know, is very different from trying to navigate the dark nights of the soul by yourself. But I so I wanted to I wanted to circle back around actually and asking, you said, the community that you're a part of, or the lineage that you come from isn't one, that you would present yourself using the word shaman, but it's one in which the community would bestow that to you is an honour. Can you tell us about your lineage and about that community that you're talking about? Yeah. So Michael Harner, brought core shamanism from all around the world, and started teaching at the university. And then he left the university and he created a school to teach people how to kind of use core shamanism, which, for people who don't know what that is, it's basically that every indigenous culture around the world has these commonalities. They have a drum, use drumming, they have a medicine wheel, they use song, they use sound healing, and they work with the unseen fields in some form or another. And I think there's a few more than I'm missing there. But he had this idea that, Oh, my gosh, there's this, this core theme of these things that everybody is using on the planet, and how do we and you know, much of it had been lost. So he was like, kind of helping to bring it back into understanding. And my teacher went in Jan Engel Smith, she went and trained with him. And then she also trained with some African shamans. And she went to Peru, and she also, you know, became a Reiki Master. And there's when Oh, and then she got adopted by a local Lakota family. And she started learning these very native American indigenous ceremonies.
And for me, this was, I feel like this combination of everything Oh, and she had initiations with ISIS and Egyptian ceremony. So this I feel like was the combination I was really meant to experience and learn because I myself, and my mom was very new age hippie. And she brought us to a Rosicrucian Church, which is Egyptian be a Gyptian based religion, and I remember being in what is it sent like a Sunday school thing? And they were teaching us Reiki, you know, and hands on healing.
So there were like, all these things that were planted in my life that when I met this teacher, I was like, Oh my gosh, here she is bestowing I love that word that you use, bestowing on me. The is very beautiful, traditional, which some of them I get to share with others, and then some of them are not mine to share, right. So there's a little bit of permission that I pay attention to. But I think a lot of the indigenous methods of healing and ceremony
and honouring and connection to the earth really did does need a little bit of translation into the modern world right with all this tech in this busyness and just the conversations, political, non political, current topics that are being addressed right now and questioned. And so I feel like that's been something really on my heart and lights me up is like how can we take like the Medicine Wheel teachings, for example, and help people understand that we walk through these spirals in our lives, where we create things, we harvest things, but then we walk into you know, review, and then we walk into actually dying to the self Right? And how do we do that? How do we let go of identity and be again be curious about ourselves to walk back into recreation from a new point of our ever becoming this so to me, like, helping people reconnect to the earth and ceremony and these cycles of our lives because right modern world is like create harvest, create harvest, which you have probably seen a lot in, in your previous work of
the constant Go Go Go get get get learn, learn, learn BBB.
Alexandra Hughes 31:30
Yeah, yeah, I mean, for me, the very first thing that brought me into onto this path, I think, was cyclical living. And the reason I was attracted to it was because, like, you're gonna laugh, because it would boost my productivity. Oh, yeah.
Amber Jane Arquette 31:51
It's right. It's the it's the antidote to burnout. We get that time to rest and reflect and feel ourselves and be like, Wow, and we also get that time to celebrate, like, my goodness, how many people are graduating with bachelor's degrees or this degree or that degree? And they're like, well, but it's not a master's, or it's not a doctorate. So I'm going to dismiss it. You're dismissing joy. You're dismissing celebration, you're distancing yourself? You know. So I feel like those when we slow down, it does allow us to have more pleasure, and it allows us to create with big energy.
Alexandra Hughes 32:31
Yeah, yeah. But it was the wrong reason.
You know what I mean. Like, it was like the socially prescribed right reason that took me to this other path, but you don't like it, the way you describe it is, it's again, it makes it reminds me, the darker the shadow, the lighter the light, like, the more you rest, the more you'll have to bring into the light. Like for me, for instance, one way that I do honour these spirals in these cycles, is, for example, I really took time to rest over the Solstice to the darkest times of the year. And and I know that there will be a payoff on June 21, right, just like when I'm in my bleeding cycle, I really slow it down, because I know that that's going to support the follicular and the ovulatory phases. And I I know that that's, it's true in terms of productivity. But there's the the piece about pleasure and joy I think is even more important because we've completely forgotten about it.
Amber Jane Arquette 33:45
Yeah. Yeah.
Alexandra Hughes 33:47
So it's, it is really, thank you for sharing, like the, like everything that you've just said about about the community. And I'm, I'm, I'm really quite fascinated. My my maternal grandmother is indigenous Quechua, and, like, from the Andes, and so I would, and I'm also careful, right, like, about, you know, appropriation, there's an appropriation and appreciation, a woman called Emily Anne Brant who was on the podcast. I don't know if I shared that what episode we did. Oh, I did. Yeah. So she speaks like directly to that and how important that is. And also, I think, you know, just it's such a reminder that we also come like, it may be 1000s of years ago, but even my settler ancestry as an indigenous has an indigeneity. And learning what that is and reconnecting to that is just so important. Yeah. And empowering. There's a book. Are you the one who recommended it Before We Were White?
Amber Jane Arquette 34:53
No, but that's a an I know of that book. I haven't read it but it's it's amazing, right. I too come from mixed indigeneity. So, Blackfoot and Creek are Muskogee Native American. And yet, my whole life has been predominantly white culture. And, and even in my family, there is a disconnect for me because my mom, my mom and my dad separated when I was super young, but I had my card and I would go to the, you know, indigenous or the, the native clinics. And I was part of the native club, but nobody else in my family was right. So like, my father and my grandfather, my bio dad that I didn't have much of a relationship with. And that whole family had totally disassociated, because my great grandfather kind of, you know, went through a ratio, like he was trying to erase any history that he was native. To be safe probably is my assumption. And so nothing was handed down. Yet there was this always feeling like I didn't quite have all of me. And so going through my training was a huge, I mean, I had so many moments of being in very, you know, Lakota based ceremony and just feeling like, oh, my gosh, there's huge healing happening for me, on, you know, biological level most. And I remember when I first sat with my drum after a weekend of being with my teacher, and I was drumming, and I just did that for two weeks. Because it was so healing to, it felt like my whole body and my whole soul was coming back. And since then I have like, really done a lot of journeying, so shamanic drum journey to my ancestors, and kind of asked how can I walk in this world where I have you, and yet I also present and passes white, and yet my healing modality is very indigenous, you know, so it's like this, this dance. And I think the thing I always ask myself is, how, how good am I am in relationship with myself and others? Who is in the room with me. And again, it's not about positioning, who I am to be the smartest, or to be the most native or to be the whatever, it's how can I be in in really good relationship with the people I'm present with? And then how can I be in really good relationship with myself? And how can I be in really good relationship with my lineages? And that's probably to me like the best way that we can be. So even as we are calling ourselves medicine, women or witches or quantum healers, or shamanic healers, you know, all boils down to me, like how, how are we in integrity, and in celebration, and in authenticity with that relationship?
Alexandra Hughes 38:11
Yeah, yeah, that that makes me think a little bit about the spiritual industry that you were sort of distanced from so what were the circumstances that lead you to say that, you know, you weren't, that you were distanced from that, but you weren't kind of subject to its influence for a long time?
Amber Jane Arquette 38:35
Well, it's interesting, because I was raised like, my mom had the Louise Hays books, you know, so we'd always be asking our body a lot.
Alexandra Hughes 38:44
I love that, my mom did, too.
Amber Jane Arquette 38:46
And super big on affirmation. So by the time I like, hit my 20s, I was like, Oh, my God, law of attraction. And another affirmation. I'm gonna like, so I did. I feel like I started questioning really early, like, what's missing here? You know, so I stopped being maybe a I don't want to label is a bad thing. But I stopped following and kind of consuming things that maybe I could say it in a way of that were really trendy. So even, you know, like, right now what's super on trend is like talking about the galactic realms talking about the star nations talking about aliens talking about the Palladian trance, you know, like people who are channelling all that info. And so when something gets really almost like hot topic like that, then I stepped back a little bit. And I asked to be an observer and really check in with myself like, am I supposed to be focusing on this? Because when we focus, right, we're energetically connecting and often contributing to that thing that we're focusing on. And so from a really young age, I always wanted to make sure that I was empowered in the process, and then it was authentic to me. So even though somebody might have amazing insight, or you know, like, this big teaching coming through, or they're getting a lot of popularity for what they're saying, I always think it's great to question how does that resonate with me? Is it lighting me up? Is it building me up? Is it empowering me? Or is it making me feel like I've been doing everything wrong, and I need to change myself to become this thing that now is good. Right? Like, even when I'm teaching people about spiritual practices, you know, and I am moving away from morning practice to like, when does it work for you? And in what season? And in what week? And in what day? You know, today, is it morning? Is it midday? Is it three o'clock is it 2am. So that practice that spiritual practice, right now, I feel doesn't need to be placed in a in a specific spot in your day or your life, unless that specific spot in your day in your life enriches you more, right? So some of us need flexibility. And other of us need to thrive on showing up at 4am in the morning, every morning. And I feel like that's where when we just question and then ask like, how does that resonate with me? And how would I shift it so that I feel even more empowered and authentic in this? Participation?
Alexandra Hughes 41:37
Absolutely, yeah. And again, it goes back to the prescriptive versus like, self questioning self knowing going into your body, you know, or your intuition for the answers. So in a way, your answer was that it's kind of just the way I was like, yeah, it was sort of like a natural way for you to perceive things you always just checked in.
Amber Jane Arquette 42:06
Yeah. Yeah.
Alexandra Hughes 42:08
Is there anything else you want to add to that?
Amber Jane Arquette 42:11
Well, I think it, I think it just happened. I think that I think, especially when I was learning with so my other two teachers is Karen Hafner, who is an amazing woman who does firewalk. And she also is a sole healing, soul retrieval, and a teacher, and then Pamela Rico. And I just felt like I was so contained in all of their magic in their teaching, I felt so protected in my own process of honing these modalities. And I really just feel like it was almost like, a blessing. Because I have friends who are really hip to like all the spiritual conversations, and they're like, do you know this guy who talks about, you know, the ancient Egyptians? And this guy who talks about Pleiadians? And I'm like, No, I don't, I don't know that name. I don't know that book. But I feel like it is allowed me to be maybe a different voice that's coming through. And kind of dismantling the idea that we need to know all the things again, back to that, like, I need to read the book on that, or I need to follow this person and understand all of their wisdom. And I guess, to like, just as a, as a topic of conversation, I think that us talking about spiritual spirituality, and talking about spiritual practices, has actually been a lot of lip service, that now people are really hungry for community support and things that actually work. You know, like, the missing piece in the gratitude practice, is that we're not filling a sheet of paper with things to be thankful of. We're invoking the feeling of gratitude in our bodies. It's an embodiment practice. It's not a mental practice of how many things can I be thankful for today, that is when we change when we can change our vibration, we harness a resiliency and then empowerment that is so much more protective and sovereign and sacred in the world and allows us to navigate through all of the chaos, the negativity, the density of the earth. So I feel like spirituality for a really long time, has found this very shallow level of theory of mental capacity and understanding of how to articulate all the things and you know, even one of the things that I offer is like altar creation. Because a lot of times we have thought that altars are putting pretty things together in a place that then we maybe go and try to meditate, right? And what if altars were around understanding symbolism, creating your own cosmology, your own beautiful language with this 3d interactive space that builds Shakti as you come to it.
Alexandra Hughes 45:33
What's Shakti?
Amber Jane Arquette 45:34
Shakti is the building of energy. So it's kind of like, if you have a little spark, then you have a little flame, then you have this beautiful, brilliant fire, and then you have this magnificent light, right? So as we continue a practice, or as we work with a sacred tool, or as we give offerings or light a candle or interact with our altars, they will create an energetic potency and build on themselves, because we're giving energy and in a amplifies itself.
Alexandra Hughes 46:09
Yeah, and I think my experience with altars in My Altars aren't pretty and often they're very messy, is that there has to, for me, like they just come to be through an intuitive guidance. Like there's almost, I mean, maybe sometimes I'll think, okay, where are the directions here? And, you know, sometimes there's some brain involved. But for the most part, it's like, Oh, yes. Oh, that. Yeah. And so it's even the practice of construction, and returning and ongoing kind of growth is very intuitive lead.
Amber Jane Arquette 46:48
Mm hmm. Yeah. And I think that's beautiful. And it's like, on point of, how, if, yeah, if we can stay in touch with our own intuitive knowing because many of us have lived many lifetimes, which means we have had healers, we've had our own folk being medicine, people around us, some of us have been healers. So because we come here, not remembering, right, with massive amnesia. Sometimes the process of awakening is remembering, like, oh, yeah, I know how to do this. But yeah, I, one of the things that I love to help people do is to unlock the power and the method and the intention behind the practice that they're doing. So using that example of altars, again, is that when we, when we are asking the altar to become a tool, whether it's a doorway to our ancestors, or whether it's a place that's going to create this bubble of peace that we can tap into, so we're putting things on the altar that have a broadcast of frequency broadcasts of peace. So when we come near, it helps us attune to that broadcast of peace. So when we know those things, it can unlock the powers within the altar, instead of having this like, this should Oh, I should have an altar because I have a meditation practice. Or a I'm supposed to put all my pretty things here and call it an altar. Right? There's so much more to connect and work with.
Alexandra Hughes 48:35
Yeah, I know. And I want to and I'm looking at the clock and I want to talk about your magic and your definition of magic and your offerings. But can we begin through like those two words, shamanic modalities, like when you were speaking about, I can't remember exactly what you said. But oh, you were using the word remembering. And it made me think of the story you told of the drum. And how you were for Did you say seven days you were drumming?
Amber Jane Arquette 49:09
It was like two weeks.
Alexandra Hughes 49:13
So two weeks here you know the drum is so I'm I'm only recently realised the power of the drum and the drum beat and what it does to my body but I really believe like there's major memory happening or major remembering habit because all of our cells know the drum right? Yes. Yeah. So maybe if you could talk a little bit about what what do you what how do you define magic and what's your unique magic and then and then we can jump into I want to talk about sacred sovereignty and a little bit about the the shamanic modalities that you use to support people. Okay. So to me, magic is really building
Amber Jane Arquette 50:00
That ability to feel sense, know, or communicate with the natural world with the kind of unseen world because the world that I live in, like I said, I was kind of born into an awareness that there was other things around us and happening that our I can't catch. And I love that my teacher always She came from a science background. So she brought in a lot of science stuff. And she would bring out this, like, this is what the human eye can see, this animal can see. And you know, this is like the light and energy rays. And so we're only, you know, that whole idea that I didn't see it. So it must not have happened, like, can be debunked with science, like we only see like this much of what's going on around us. And then we have this brain that literally filters that out, right. So, to me, when I think of magic, I think of literally magical things happening, like a tree waving to me, like the feeling that. And I really feel like there's a lot of magic to be had in nature, because it's so alive, and so conscious, that we can have deep conversations with a bed of flowers, or, you know, that's the clouds in the sky. So those, to me also magical happenings is when something shows up all the all the time. So for me that looks like triple or quadruple numbers on licence plates, oh my gosh, sometimes it will be happening so much. I'm like, it's just every licence plate, three numbers or four numbers the same, and then it will stop. So universal be like see, it doesn't happen all the time. And then it'll come back. But a really magical moment. So we can ramp it up to something even more than synchronicities and things like that. But I do feel like there's a lot of magic and synchronicities. It's when is when spirit is trying to talk to us in and connect with us in a way that we can see or sense or know or feel. I just did a solstice ceremony. And I'm starting to do them solely on my own, I always did them with my teachers or with other people. And now I'm starting to host them just on my own. And I'm starting to also bring together like my own spiritual community and helpers. But anyways, the magic that I saw in this Solstice ceremony that I did was, we were using the fire sign a real fire as a place to burn our fears. And I told the group, we only have so much time with this fire, normally, we would burn our fears, we would go back into the main circle, and then we'd come back to the fire asking the fire to shift the energy so that we can honour our ancestors. And I said, but we can't do that in this place. So we're gonna do back to back, we're gonna have this fire, like shift energies for us. And so I'm tending the fire. And I'm like, Okay, now we're going to shift and, and give our offerings of the ancestors. And I went to grab the tobacco and I put it around the fire, and I acknowledge the fire. And I said, Okay, we're, we're shifting now. And all of a sudden, there was like these few flames. And they went down to this one tiny flame, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, the fire is going out what is happening. And so I grabbed one of the pieces of wood, and I flipped it over to like, kind of catch more of the flame and get the wood going again. And it went all the way out. And I was like, oh, no, are we not supposed to do this? Because that was spirit saying. And then as if I asked the questions to the spirits, it started up again, and like went wild. And the energy of it, like the way the flames were burning was different. And I realised, wow, this fire was like, oh, no, I need to go out and I need to come back as something different. So I was just floored. So to me, though, that's like magic when we are really in relationship and communication with the elements with the spirits. Like that's the level of magic that we can experience. But I think the warm up to those big experiences, is not dismissing the little things that happen. Like that is so important if you just did one thing around wanting to experience more, like almost paranormal, mystical magic. That is unbelievable. Is don't dismiss the little things. If you see butterflies all day, be like Thank you. Thank you for visiting me. Thank you for letting you know coming to love on me or show me your beauty? Yeah. So I think it's really important. You know, did you hear your voice on the wind? Say yes, yes, I did hear my voice on the wind. You know, did I feel, you know, just some magical connection to the flowers I picked or the tea that I'm drinking? Did I feel my grandmother's presence? Did I see a rainbow in a place that like, wouldn't have been? is, I think, when we just say yes, yes, that's possible, is when we open up for more of that to to come true to happen to us?
Alexandra Hughes 55:38
Yeah. Yeah. And again, that requires presence, which requires slowing right down.
Amber Jane Arquette 55:46
Yes, yeah,
Alexandra Hughes 55:47
you know, the hustle and bustle is not going to get you to appreciate the butterflies because you won't even notice them.
It's true. Yeah. And some of that, I think, is a level of healing. Like, if we're in states of, of trauma, and stressed out, you know, emotional nervous system, all of that. And we're in this like, survival mode function of our body, mind, and spirit, it's really hard to feel safe enough to slow down. So that's to me, where it's like, if, if this is so difficult for you to, to slow down to create spaciousness, then that's a beautiful sign saying, there's something that needs healing. There's something that needs resolved clearing and there's an empowerment in you that needs to happen. And that was my own personal experience as well. Like, the more soul retrieval, the more I healed on a soul level, the more present, the more calm and the more empowered I felt in my life. And so throughout my training was also my personal experience. And that was just profound evidence to like, wow, this type of healing and these modalities, the shamanic modalities really work in it in a jaw dropping li effective way that I still find delight with. Some of my friends are like you still find delight and wonder in your work. And I'm like, Yeah, it's amazing. So tell me about sacred sovereignty and how we your work. Are these some I don't know, if you do, actually the teaching the shamanic teach. Yeah, there is a bit of shamanic teachings in sacred sovereignty. I don't label it as that because I think that sometimes one, when you say when you use the word, shamanic, people can instantly think you're talking about plant plant medicine or plant journeying, you know, and some people have kind of a resistance. So I really like to talk about its energy mastery. You know, if we were to really translate, like, what are the shamanic modalities, it's mastering energy, and it's soul healing. So in sacred sovereignty, what I noticed was that after a lot of my clients tend to identify themselves as empaths highly sensitive or healers in some right or they know that they're here for a reason they know that they have something to do, and that they either have, you know, big intuition, or they feel like they have some type of healing ability, but maybe don't know what it is yet. So when we do the shamanic healing sessions, we're clearing away energies that are stuck in them. Sometimes that can be entities that are influencing them. One of my colleagues calls them milk, pro spirits, where they kind of get stuck in our energy fields or even in our body. And it can wreak havoc from sickness to not really being able to feel yourself, sometimes you even feel like you're witnessing your life versus being the one in charge. We can also unravel things. So if you have been coming to so many incarnations under contracts, of servitude or service, you can often feel like you don't have the ability to harness abundance, or you can't manifest or you're just always helping others and not helping yourself or creating. And so through the shamanic or through the soul healing, we kind of clear out what's not yours. And then we go and look for, you know, where's the personal power, which is also a soul piece, which is also soul essence, which is also your Divine Source Energy. Where is that either lost, stuck stolen, or where have we given it freely without realising that we're giving our personal power away? And, and so we go into the quantum fields, we go through the time fields and ask for that piece that you're needing that personal soul piece that gives you personal power in this lifetime right here right now. So that you can, you know, have the life that you want to live. So I noticed after clients had gone through a number of healing sessions, that then they got to this curious point of like, I feel so good, how do I maintain this. And I realised, oh, I'm starting to teach people about how to master their energy fields, how to have energetic boundaries, and what I call sacred sovereignty. And so it's a five week course, we start out really simple, of like, how to create, and how to use in vocation, as a daily practice, where you don't have to walk in this world, by yourself, right, we can walk in the world with our spirit guides, with our benevolent ancestors, with our guardian angels before, you know the religious times those ones that are committed to our well being in this lifetime, because that is a thing that I have been taught, and I believe in, and we have this kind of team around us. And because of freewill, we actually need to invoke them. And we need to call them in. And so when we do that, every single day, there's this beautiful relationship that starts to form. But there's also this ability to, to ask for protection. And to build this beautiful resiliency of protection, that is your energy combined with your spirit guide. So we practice that then we talk about the vibrations of words, we talk about sound, we talk about intentions and how to, you know, this idea of law of attraction and manifestation. It's not that we want it's that we desire to be create or generate something in our life. And even though it has a physical component, it's the energetic component that will get us that that actually opens up the possibilities. So we kind of talked about how when we use our words and various specific ways, we open up the possibilities versus trying to demand the universe to show up, you know, in a specific way. The second important portion of sacred sovereignty is learning how to use our words in a powerful way, how to connect into the energetics of what we're wanting to do be create or generate. And then we move into understanding how we receive information. So instead of using those big words like Empath, and intuition, so those are big umbrella words, there are the Claire's so there's clairvoyance, clairaudience, and how, how does what did that? What does that look like? What does that mean? So we unpack all of that. And then we help people understand like how they're receiving information, and what's that what that looks like, and how they can cultivate that, in a better way to get clarity build up, the sacred sovereignty course teaches you that you can have these daily practices that builds energetic resilience and energetic boundaries. And one of the things that I realised is that when we journey to meet a guide, and I facilitate, like the process of really revealing this guide to you that you can build this very personal and strong relationship. And with that one guide, like opens up to so many other relationships in the unseen world. And again, it kind of the, the course really is focused on helping you have these really beautiful containers for you that you can build for yourself, so that you can navigate through life and really become like the creator being that I think we're, you know, evolving into that that's part of our ascension process.
Well, anybody attracted to your course is on that path for sure. Yes. Yeah. Like, I mean, so my understanding is that this really is for the human who is ready to, you know, how you describe that your teacher use the scientific, whatever explanation for our limited view, right. But what I'm hearing you say about sacred sovereignty is it's putting on glasses that take you beyond the material view. And that also happened to have a cape that go along with that helps you to navigate it. And maybe cape isn't the right metaphor, but it's so that you can see beyond the material, but also you can access support from Yeah, I think the material
Amber Jane Arquette 1:05:24
Yeah. So predominantly, it's it's about the methods to the daily practice and that understanding of how to create energetic containers, which include energetic boundaries, which includes the potency of you, so that the outside world isn't influencing, throwing you off centre, overwhelming you that you can stop and have these tools and be like, wait a second, you know, even though I just heard this, or this thing's going on right now I can drop in, I can invoke my own personal power, but then I can also call on these guys, I can do an invocation I can use an intention today I intend for things to go well, at work, I intend to feel satisfied. I intend to be protected and safe throughout the whole day. So that harm, you know, isn't a thing for me anymore, right? So I am really helping people activate all the things, their words, their practices, and their ability to embody and channel their own energies and their own guides. So that yes, they are more present in the physical world.
Alexandra Hughes 1:06:37
Yes, more present in the physical world. But there's more. I feel like they're more present. But also they're connected.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:06:47
Yeah, they have more access to you because of that piece of that's how freewill works is that we can we can decide to be here on our own. Or we can decide to invoke our helper beings.
Alexandra Hughes 1:07:01
Yeah. And imagine what life would be like with helper beings.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:07:05
It's amazing. It is quite amazing. Yes.
Alexandra Hughes 1:07:10
Thank you so much.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:07:12
You're welcome.
Alexandra Hughes 1:07:13
This is really such a rich conversation, such beautiful answers to these questions. I'm so grateful that you came and that you shared your experience and your magic and your perspective. Thank you, like your experience based perspective and understanding of the vastness of this realm that we exist in and just reminding us that we don't have to be alone, actually.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:07:48
Yeah. And we're not totally not,
Alexandra Hughes 1:07:52
And that there's so much wisdom there and how beautiful that you were able to learn. Learn it I've written down you know, Jan Engles Smith, and is it Kate Hefner,
Karen Hefner...her business is called igniting spirit.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:08:10
Yeah, she and I put down Pamela Rico to. She's a more difficult one to find.. but I think I think she does have a website where you can email her.
Alexandra Hughes 1:08:23
I love that. Yeah. That's the sign of a real a real healer. Then some they're hard to find.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:08:31
Oh my gosh, yes. In Yeah. She and she's amazing. And yeah, she's just Yeah, a little bit hard to find.
Alexandra Hughes 1:08:40
Well, we'll put all of this and including your your links in the show notes. And yeah, this has been really fun. I'm really appreciative of your time, and your sharing.
Amber Jane Arquette 1:08:52
Thank you too. It's been great.
Alexandra Hughes 1:08:55
It has been great.
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Well,
Amber Jane 45:31
And
Alexandra Hughes 49:12
off my drum?
Amber Jane 55:38
Yeah.
Alexandra Hughes 1:04:24
Yeah.
Amber Jane 1:06:37
Yes,
Alexandra Hughes 1:06:47
Yeah,
And she
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
