The Writer’s Island – 6 Authors, One Powerful Conversation

SPEAKER_00 0:00

As a creative, I've learned that emotions are very essential to be in touch with. To create is to access the right side of our brain where our emotions live.

SPEAKER_06 0:08

To be adults and all the responsibility, we kind of forget to be creative again. And we forget what we love when we were young, what we wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Things are wanting to get disrupted. Patterns are wanting to get disrupted. And new patterns are wanting to be created. But like it has to break up in order to come back together in a more way that will serve us all better.

SPEAKER_06 1:00

Today, we'll explore not only their latest books, but also the purpose behind their writing and what they envision for their future careers. As they prepare to participate in the TV show Writer's Island, we'll uncover their feelings about the experience, any nerves or excitement that may be facing, and what they hope viewers will take away from their creative process. Join us as we get to know these authors and gain insight into their literary worlds. So welcome. Welcome, Taylor and Kristen. I'm so honored to have you both here. And I just want to dive right in, Taylor, and tell me about your recent book and the purpose behind it.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Sure. So I'm very excited to be going back to the island next week as I wrote my first book on the British Virgin Islands with Kira. And it's a fantasy novel called Lily's Locket, and it's about a young girl's healing journey of becoming. And it's a nine-year-old girl named Lily, and she has a lot of different core wounds and struggles that she's navigating. And she winds up being led into the forest one night where a series of events happens and she gets to meet her higher self and then be able to go back to her younger versions of self and start to heal her wounds within. And it's a beautiful fantasy novel that incorporates creativity and magic and is very whimsical. So it's inviting to all reader styles, but is able to lay a foundation down of really deep, rich healing work in a very creative way.

SPEAKER_06 2:28

And that's what you do as well, right? Tell the viewers you're a very talented artist.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yes, thank you. I'm a full-time artist. I do a lot of murals for commercial clients and private clients here in the valley, but also throughout the United States. And I love being able to take someone's message or image and bring it through in large-scale artwork. And I also do a lot of portraits or different types of canvas art as well. And as a creative, I've learned that emotions are very essential to be in touch with. And that's actually going to lead into my next book that I'm going to write on the island is all on creativity as a tool for healing in a more direct line. So this isn't a fantasy novel realm, but I'm I'm also looking to be able to help people navigate their own creativity. And my desire is to continue in the retreat space and being able to hold that for individuals and be able to do some group work as well as one-on-one coaching in the creative space.

SPEAKER_06 4:30

I think that's so important because I find as we get to be adults and all the responsibility, we kind of forget to be creative again. And we forget what we love when we were young, what we wanted to do. So you're kind of bringing that back, that outlet. And actually, my mother-in-law, she's a she got into painting, and uh that's been a great outlet for her too. And she was teaching my daughter as well. Are you planning to work with children as well?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

As far as um I I love children. I actually have a degree in early education. I went to school thinking I was going to become a kindergarten teacher, and so again, this kind of weaves all that together. And I believe in in helping children, and then also for adults, we all have an inner child, so how do we access that? And there feels like that's the overlap for me. Um, but I've held quite a bit of workshops and retreats for kids as well, being able to bring creativity into the world. And I think it's so important to foster that because they come in with their innate genius, and it's through society and schooling that a lot of us have that squashed or kind of rinsed out from us. And I think it's important because it's it's essential for self-esteem, for self-trust, for problem solving, being innovative. And if we're entrepreneurs, we need creativity in order to have that be a foundation for our business. So there's lots of different elements to it that I'm very passionate about and like a self-expression.

SPEAKER_06 5:44

Because if I think of my own son when he was six years old and his dad passed, died by suicide. He couldn't use words. He couldn't use words, and actually, we were put up in a different hotel room, and he grabbed the pad of paper that was in that room and he drew. Yes, and he drew it was him snorkeling with his dad the day before, and the fish that he brought, and he brought it to me, you know, and that's how he could express himself. So I continued always having that in a basket where it will draw it for me. Yes, you're feeling, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Oh, I feel I mean, I currently even find that I struggled sometimes to speak or to express myself or to share in conversation. But if I have pen and paper, that's a great way to be able to express, whether that's writing or art. And I almost daily still will just have a practice of scribbling. It's like not even to produce something or to have a product of art, but to be able to just allow my emotions to purge through. And I think that's beautiful. Your son innately knew to do that.

SPEAKER_06 6:40

Yeah, I love that you're bringing that to the world. And I can't wait to join one of your retreats. I think that'd be fantastic. I'll be a blessed. Well, not only that, now I'm going to the island with you, Rider's Island. We're gonna be on a docuseries together in like a week. In a week. In a week. So how have you been feeling about it? Like, have you been nervous or have you even had time to think about it?

SPEAKER_00 7:00

It just it I will say I feel a little bit of overwhelmed within the excitement. I just launched my first book, Lily's Locket, uh, beginning of this month. And so to be now, it feels like I gave birth to this beautiful creation and now going back to the island to get pregnant all over again. Not a lot of downtime. I'm like, I'm in postpartum right now. And uh and I will say it's been a very tender process. I don't have children of my own yet, but this is the closest I feel I've gotten to that. And there's been this huge like vulnerability space of I just I spent months being in labor with this, and now it's out in the world, and I almost had a moment of I want this back in my body, or like it's I'm a mother to this thing, and now it's it's outside and in the world, and I I'm not able to protect it or you know, advocate for it at all times. And that's been an interesting thing. I've never had that with any of my paintings or works of art. Um, so I've been riding that vulnerability and the emotions that go with it while knowing that I'm about to step into a whole nother creation portal. And I I feel that tenderness and the in-between, but I'm really looking forward to what I'm being called for next.

SPEAKER_06 8:04

Probably also like, oh, I just want to sit, have time with this one, but you're already moving on to another book. Exactly, exactly. But also kind of already in that mode of writing and that whole process. So it hasn't, you know, you're you know what's coming ahead.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

I know what to do, and that feels good. I'm sure that's if I'm following the track of becoming a mother in terms of writing books. I now that I know what to expect for the next one, and that does feel more assuring, which is nice.

SPEAKER_06 8:30

And I know you've been on the island before. Yes. So is it true that it's so sacred and you hear God?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yes, you hear messages that you need, crystal clear. It is unbelievable. It's all the noise goes away, you're able to drop and then feel centered, and it's uh an experience unlike any other. It's really truly one of those, like you have to experience it to understand it. But once you have, it sits in your cells. I mean, it's something that it continues with you. And I feel grateful that I've had that magic already, but that I get to return to it as a gift.

SPEAKER_06 8:59

So do you find you have those expectations a little bit? Cause now you've gone there, but but you trust that you're not sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yeah, I think my nervous system feels grounded knowing what to expect. That feels nice. The first trip was all about what is it to like to write a book? What is it, the island going to be like, who's gonna be there? And it feels way more nourishing this time around of I know all of those things. I know us ladies who are going, I know what the island's like, I know what to expect in terms of writing. And I feel an actually even more openness of now another layer of what do I get to receive or what newness do I get to bring into a space that I already have a relationship with. So that's beautiful. That's another layer of opening, which is nice.

SPEAKER_06 9:36

I can't wait for to see what the next book will be. So how can people find you?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Yes, they can find me on my website, tailorvictoriaart.com, and then also on Instagram at tailor.victoria.art. And then Lily has her own page too, which is Lily's Locket Official or Lily's Locket.com. And those are both great ways to be able to find me. Oh, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 9:55

And I love that I get to drive around Phoenix and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's my friend. I can see the murals. And you can see you can find me through artwork as well on walls throughout the valley. Beautiful, very talented. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_06 10:10

And I have Kristen Mern here, and I'm so honored. I've met her actually when I first moved to Arizona, and I was, I remember when I first moved, I just needed space and it was a lot of the self-healing. And I have found this grief healing retreat in Sedona, and actually that's how I met Kristen. She you were at that retreat. Yes. And I can't believe it. That was um February of 2023, right? I believe two years ago. Yeah, two years ago. Yes. And now here we are. We're about a whole different circle.

unknown 10:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:47

Whole different circle. And uh you were holding so much space for me there, and I remember connecting right away with you and what your dream and the books that you have uh that you're creating for your children.

SPEAKER_05 11:00

Yes, I think I had just started writing Magic Mountain. I can't remember, but I remember talking to you about it.

SPEAKER_06 11:08

Yes, I remember the characters. You already had the characters that you had created and whatnot. And uh, but yeah, tell us about uh Magic Mountain.

SPEAKER_05 11:16

Well, those characters were act they are a part of the curriculum that I wrote for kids. So I'm a resilience coach for kids and teens. Um I said I didn't want to coach teenagers, but I at one point that's all I have is teenagers. Um, and so there is seven characters all representing mindsets that I found I was coaching over and over again, and so I wrote one that was customized for um each child, and it's called Seven Magic Mindsets. And as I coached, um I had gone on a retreat and we were writing books there, and so I wrote this book, Magic Mountain, and it's based on actually the story of me kind of getting lost for myself, um, finding my way back to myself, but the the story is based on Magic Mountain, and it's a little girl who gets lost from the mountain, and I brought my little stone here that is in her pocket in the story. Um she gets lost from Magic Mountain. She realizes that someone has tucked this stone into her pocket, and through the stone, the all seven characters one by one begin to appear to her and give her clues on how to get back home to Magic Mountain. And then at the end, she finds out. Well, do I do I share the ending? No, that's up to you. That's up to you. At the end, she finds out that the characters were never coming from the stone, the magic was within her.

SPEAKER_06 12:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 12:46

So, and that's my brand magic inside. That's powerful. So it continues to evolve as we go.

SPEAKER_06 12:52

And is that the story for all of us? Like we keep seeking outside of us, but then we're like, oh real, oh wait, I know within, you know, we have everything we need, of course. You know, the retreats, but the more solitude, the more self-awareness that we become. So that's such a powerful story. And I love that you work with teenagers because I know it's such a hard, you know, season of life for kids, even nowadays. Like I may see my daughter now, she's 11 by going on to I don't know, 18. You know, and and it's hard. It's uh and they there's not that many outlets for them to help guide them in that realm. So I have a lot of things pulling at them. Yes, yeah. And then so you do retreats right now for teenagers as well.

SPEAKER_05 13:42

I haven't started any of that. I'm actually phasing out just a bit from Seven Magic Mindsets and my one-on-one coaching. So I have um gotten the curriculum automated, everything is online, and I'm training coaches. And there's a summer camp next month at Seven Magic Mindsets summer camp. I won't be able to join because I'll be on the island. Um, but my dream is to start working with women and looking and focusing more on their uh inner childhood.

SPEAKER_06 14:12

Oh, I like that. I like that. Yes, absolutely. Actually, in one of my last therapy sessions, that was so much what I worked on. Really, is my the early even the years I've had blocked off. I had blocked five years old and under. Wow. But it was so powerful to go back to those times, to even in the womb, you know, because there's trauma in the womb as well. So I think that's important work. So now how are you feeling about going to the island? And is there anything new coming through for that book?

SPEAKER_05 14:47

I'm just super excited. I'm not nervous. No, good. So I'm probably gonna be the one that's a mess on the island because I'm the one that's like, well, I just feel great about going, and then I'm in the fetal position crying.

unknown 14:57

I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 14:58

I don't know. I'm sure it'll be great. Yes. I have a I have a soft spot in my heart for the wild kids, you know, the wild child and the inner child that is within women that that pops up when we expect it. When we least expect it, or when we don't understand what's going on, it's usually that inner child piece of us. And so that is really where I want to focus.

SPEAKER_06 15:24

Yeah, but probably how to recognize when it is the inner child, or is it totally that's the hardest part sometimes. Yeah, totally. I'm so clear. Yeah, well, I'm excited. I'm excited to be on the island with you.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

So, how can people find you right now? So you can go to my website, magic-inside.com. I am going to be getting back on Instagram. I'm not good about social media. Um, the real magic inside is my handle on Instagram, and that's about it right now.

SPEAKER_06 15:55

I can't wait. I want to send my kids to your camp. I know.

SPEAKER_05 15:59

We have a cabin at the top of a mountain. Wow. And I dream of having retreats there one day because it's so beautiful. And the setting, I we're purposely illustrating the book to look exactly like the surroundings of the cabin.

SPEAKER_06 16:13

Is that in Utah?

SPEAKER_05 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:15

Yeah, okay. I remember seeing you showed me pictures. We had just purchased that. I remember you showing closures. It was gorgeous. It was stunning. It was stunning. Thank you. Wow. Well, I can't wait. Thank you. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I can't wait. Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing. And I'll see you in a week on the island. Thanks, Melissa. Yes. So I'm here with two beautiful authors and they're coming to the writer's island with me. And so I have Carissa Sherwood and Lindsay Taylor. Lindsay, I would love for you to share your beautiful book that you birthed just less than a month ago, and the name of it and of your story.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

Yeah. So my book is called The Rise of a Soul Soldier. Um, and really, it was born from my own uh deep grief of losing my son to a fentanyl overdose. Um, but beyond that, I work with individuals struggling with thoughts of suicide. And so I see I've seen the struggle with the darkness, if you will, and battles that we all face. And every single one of us has been affected by either suicide or addiction. Every single one of us, whether we struggle with it personally or we know somebody who has. And so I just felt called to bring a book forward that really acknowledges this battle, but also the fact that we can overcome these battles and that there is a light that saves. Um, I'm not afraid to get into the darkness with people and to bring that light and to help them tap into the miracle that they are. So in my book, I talk about the odds of our existence being one in 400 trillion. And I talk about how that means that we're not a mistake, we're not an accident, we're here on purpose with a purpose. We're a living, breathing miracle, quite literally. Um and it really just um helps people tap into that and the light within. And I it's a little bit of my story and how I my grief, I was shown through my grief that there's something far beyond our human comprehension to all our lives and stories. And so I really came to find that there is purpose to pain through my own journey, and so it's also helping people find their purpose and their pain. So shares a little bit of my story. Then I share some stories of those that I've worked with or have become friends with and their struggles with either suicidal ideation or addiction and how they overcame that battle. And then the last part of the book, the book's written into four parts, broken into four parts, is people exploring their own cave, is the third part, and how they can overcome their battle. And then the fourth part is like, how do we move forward from these struggles? I talk about, and I think this is really profound, um, a hundred and on average, 132 people lose their life a day to suicide and right around 130 to opio weight-related overdoses. So the number is very similar. And Jelly Roll, love him, he actually did um a speech to Congress for fentanyl, and he compared that to a 737 airline jet crashing every single day, and that really hit me. And so when I looked at the opioid related overdoses and suicide, that's two 737 airline jets crashing every single day. Could you imagine if we had that happening? Like it would be considered a national emergency. They would not let that go on for more than a couple days, and they would be working very hard on a solution. So I think we need to acknowledge what an epidemic this really is. I feel like it's grown into a very silent epidemic in many ways. Like we all know it exists, but we're just not talking about it.

SPEAKER_06 19:50

Do you find sometimes people don't even want to acknowledge that it was fentanyl or suicide? Because I've had so many people they won't own, they won't say it. It's so much shame, right? Or they won't believe that that's how their loved one lives. Exactly. The stigma.

SPEAKER_04 20:03

The stigma is is very hard for that.

SPEAKER_06 20:06

When you said that, that analogy of the two 747 737. 737 airline jet at your book uh launch that it was at, when you your speech, I mean, it moved all of us, the whole room. It was so beautiful. And then your daughter speaking as well, it really touched her heart. And I see your light and your passion, and I know you're gonna save so many people from with your book, with your message, and I know you're going far. I know you're out there on a mission and uh right there supporting you as well. And so, what is your dream right now going forward? It's big.

SPEAKER_04 20:46

Um, it's to overcome this battle. Um, but I really do believe that there is a light out there that saves and restores, and I'm gonna just say it, it's Jesus. And that's really bold for me to say that. Um, but I think it's it's it's bigger than that too. Like I think when we talk about Jesus and we talk about Christ, we think of religion, but I'm not talking about Jesus with religion. And so I'm just talking about that light source that saves and restores. And so my vision from here is to um support those struggling with grief, suicidal ideation, addiction, and life's deepest challenges is what I say. But just anybody in the darkness, anybody battling and helping them to tap into that miracle that they are and the the being side of them, because I believe that's where true healing comes in. And so that's ultimately my mission is to overcome this battle and to save lives.

SPEAKER_06 21:36

I love that. And I know you have your own podcast right now as well, and it's called Soul Soul Soldier Speaks Speaks. And you share people's struggles and their um stories as well to provide hope. And I remember I dove into reading books about people that went were in the dark, how they got out, because I wanted to know okay, how am I not gonna fall too? What are people doing? And And I got so curious. I started diving into listening to podcasts. And that really helped me because I started incorporating some of these tools that people were doing. You know, I started seeing synchronicities and that they, and it truly does help and does provide a lot of hope. So, how are you feeling going to Rider's Island right now? There'll be in a week. We're all going to be on this island together. 16 authors, Rider's Island. It's a docuseries. I keep telling people it's not reality TV because I'm like, oh, are you going to be exiled? We're like, no, no, no. This is different. It's a docuseries truly showing how we channel our books from God, the divine. We call in upon our angels, our guides. And I think Hollywood is ready for God. I think it truly is. And we're going to show how we pray and bless our bodies every day and how we receive these messages. So how are you feeling about going? Because you you've been to the island, right? Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

That's where I wrote the first book. Um gosh. As you're saying this, I'm just feeling into it. And first and foremost, it's I'm just so grateful. I'm so full of gratitude that I even had the opportunity to get there. And Melissa, you know this, but it was totally God that got me here. Um, and so above all, I'm just super grateful for the opportunity. And I think the island was incredibly life-changing the first time I went. I mean, it is the most sacred place I've ever been. And so I'm super excited to go back. I feel like what Taylor said, I relate to like, I know what to expect. I know the people. So I think going there, it feels good to my nervous system this time. Like I know what to expect. Um, but this island and this everything that we're all doing is so much bigger than us. It's so much bigger than us. And I'm just listening to the calling. Like, I don't know fully why I'm here yet. I mean, I have an idea, right? But like I don't even know all that God has in store for me and for the lives that I'm gonna touch. But I'm just listening and I'm following the calling. So I'm super excited and just super grateful.

SPEAKER_06 24:10

Yeah, I'm excited as well. So how can people find you?

SPEAKER_04 24:13

Um, social media is probably best. Instagram underscore soul underscore soldier is my handle. Uh, I do have a website, soulsoldiernetwork.com. Those are probably the best ways. And your podcast too.

SPEAKER_06 24:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Soul Soldier Speaks podcasts. Yeah, I I really believe that um a big part of how we heal too is hearing other people's stories who have overcome these battles. And I weave those throughout my book because I think that's a huge part of healing. So I love my podcast, very passionate about that.

SPEAKER_06 24:43

So, yes, that's I I listened to so many stories and read a lot of books when I was in my own healing as well.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

And you know you're not alone. Yes, and the full point of your podcast, not alone, it's huge. People need to know that.

SPEAKER_06 24:55

Yeah, well, thank you. Thanks for sharing. Excited to be there with you. Thank you. Now, Carissa Sherwood, I I loved your book. I absolutely loved your story. When I first met you and went to your book launch, I didn't know you know your story at all. But I started reading your book and I was like, oh, wow. I didn't know from such a young age, you know, what you had gone through as a mother and the bravery that you had to write your book. I just have to really honor that. And I've been recommending all mothers to read your book because I think we feel so much of that shame sometimes. But I I just wanted to say thank you for writing that book and having the courage. So tell everyone what is the name of your book. And thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah, thank you. Um, I just want to start by saying, like, I am already emotional just witnessing this whole conversation, and I hope it translates through the screen and through anybody listening to this, just the feeling of what's happening here in this room. Like the power that's here, but also this soft nurturing that's here and the power that came in, something shifted in the room when she spoke Jesus and you spoke God. Like something just shifted within me, and I think probably with everybody in the room, and there's a truth piece there. And that piece connects to both of my books, actually. So my first book is called Mothering Marley, and I started this book three years ago. I'm one of Cira's, our publishers' OGs, and I'm probably one of the last in that first wave to finish a book because it took me so long to write. It took me almost three years to bring it into the world and have it holding it in my hands. Um, because it's like the most tender pieces of my heart. Like it is my most sensitive subject matter, anything regarding Marley, because um it's a circumstance that I couldn't control. And I think a lot of people can relate to experience a circumstance that was far beyond our hands that we had no control over, and how much resistance we often hold. And tell the audience what does Mark towards that. So my daughter Marley has a genetic disorder, it's called CHD2. Um, but she was undiagnosed for 14 years. So the the only markers that she had for like developmental delays was she was smaller, she was behind in school and um development developmentally delayed. And so because she had no clear diagnosis, and we did a bunch of tests to try to figure out, you know, what does she have? Or and I would just say, like, she's behind, she's behind, you know, she'll catch up, she cat she'll catch up. And that was kind of the theme that was um Marley's whole life. She'll catch up. And I did all of the things to try to help her catch up. I took her to all the therapies and did the in-home therapies, and I tried everything. I took her to herbalists, I took her to the doctors, I did everything to try to fix what I thought was broken. And I thought that that's why she was sent to me.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

It was because I could heal her or heal these parts of her that she was sent to heal me. She is reflected back to me so many unhealed parts that I had, and I was constantly projecting my own wounds onto her.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

And I could not accept this circumstance because I could not accept all the pieces of myself. And once I started doing my healing work, which looked like a bunch of different things, but it started with therapy and diving into these wounds that I had carried for so long that I really wasn't even present to, honestly, it shifted the lens through which I saw myself. And that's the truth piece. Like I was able to see the truth of who I really was. And in turn, then I was able to see that actually Marthy's fine. She's just fine. Nothing's wrong and nothing's broken. Her life looks different, and in turn, my life will forever look different, but there's nothing wrong with that. And so my lens has shifted on what a happy, joyful, fulfilled life looks like. It's totally shifted. And so she disrupted a lot of patterns in here, a lot of patterns for the better. And so this book is my entire journey of that. All these things I pushed away, and then all these things that I pushed, pulled in closer as I learned. And my hope with this book, it's it's for every mother, honestly. Like my daughter has special needs, and so it's uh very particular, like our struggles um pertaining to that. But really, this is a template for how to move through pain. And this is something that every single mother can relate to, whether you have a special needs child or not, because I would dare to say that every single mother has a child that probably challenges them a little bit more than the others. Oh, yeah. Right, right. And so, you know, they don't want to kind of go with the rhythm and like fall in line or say yes all the time. And so it's just like, oh God, like what happens within us when we get challenged in that way, when when how we want things to go get disrupted, like it stirs things up in us. Um, but things are wanting to get disrupted. Patterns are wanting to get disrupted, and new patterns are wanting to be created, but like it has to break up in order to like come back together in a more way that will serve us all better. So I'm hoping that this book will create more unity, love, and acceptance between parents and their children, mothers and their children, because mothers have chosen to accept all the pieces of them first.

SPEAKER_06 30:40

Oh, it does. It did that for me. When I read it, I it reflected me. And I was like, oh, you know, my relationship with my daughter. That is one definitely that will push me more and not follow kind of what I my guides, and she'll but again, I I do believe our kids are our teachers, right? And she's trying to teach me something, right? And reading your book, oh, it really allowed to reflect it was coming from me. I need to work on something, and that's why I was like texting all my friends. I was like, you need to, you know, read this because it was a beautifully written reflection. And I know a lot of mothers, all mothers, I I believe our kids all come in for a purpose. Yes, and a lot of it is for our own reflection. Yes, and and so I have to say thank you. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_06 31:34

And now I have to ask, I know we're going to the island next week, and how you've been feeling about going in because you, you know, it took three years, you know, to uh write your book, and now we're gonna go to this island and we're gonna take five days to write our books.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Right.

SPEAKER_06 31:53

So, yeah, how you've been feeling leading up to it's so interesting.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Like when you work with God and when you channel, um, which I've been asked before, like, what does channeling even mean? And I feel that we're connecting to a higher part of ourselves, but also connecting to the divine part of ourselves. And so there's information that comes through that's sometimes bigger than us, but it helps us access these deeper parts within ourselves to help uh connect with our audience. Um, and so the day I finished this book on the island, a new one was right right in the birth canal. Wow. Well, right in the canal. And uh it started coming in really clear. And I thought it was um, it's called code keepers. And so I thought it was all about like our patterns and how our patterns are codes, and they really are queuing us how to behave, how to show up in life. Um, and it's usually based off our own wounding. You know, we create these belief systems and operating systems, and so I kind of thought the book was all about that, but in the last couple of months, woo, it's really shifted. And um it's called Codekeepers, but then the subtitle is Rebuilding Spirituality and Activating the Christ Codes Within. Wow, powerful.

SPEAKER_06 33:05

Yeah, because you you also do these beautiful events at your home. I've seen pictures, I've been to your home. It's absolutely stunning, and you have these candles all around the pool, but you guide people back to kind of their heart and tell me a little bit about those events that you do.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

I just in everything that I do, I want to create a space or a setting or an opportunity for people to experience the truth of who they really are. So, like, we hold so much judgment towards ourselves. We are so hard on ourselves, and uh, but when we can shift the lens just a little bit and experience our essence, we're like, oh, this is who I am. Actually, I'm not that. I'm actually not this super controlling, like tyrant of a mother that has to have every drawer and sandwich bag organized and in order. Like, I'm actually like really intuitive and I'm really soft and I'm really kind and I love deeply like when we can shift, it shifts something within us. And so, like you were talking about that backyard experience, it's an outdoor meditation experience of sound healing and meditation and journaling and a chance for people to just come into their own energy and feel what it feels like just to be with them. But we are so overstimulated and we are so highly influenced by outside sources, and so when we can when we can turn the noise down on all of that, it's like the answers come in so clear and so fast. And I feel like this island that we are going to, everybody talks about it being so sacred and it is very, very sacred. But the thing that makes it so sacred is it is so clean. It is so the energy of the island. But there is no trash, you won't find a speck of trash anywhere. The food that we eat is so clean, but what we drink is so clean. Like that is a metaphor for how to receive the clearest information from a source that's bigger than us. So I feel so grounded in going. I cannot believe I'm feeling so old enough to speak this kind of information because I'm not I'm not saying any words like I believe or I feel or I think. I'm saying I'm declaring the truth. And I came from organized religion and high-demand religion, and I was in it for 40 years, raising my family in it, and my whole faith deconstructed when I left religion, and I think that's a very relatable thing happening in our world right now. And but then there's a choice that we have to make. Like, am I gonna stay in this thing and like turn away from anything divine, anything God? Um, or can I can I rebuild? Or like, is there truth in any of these pieces? So, like I pushed away God when I left, and I pushed away Jesus because I was like, I don't know what the hell is real. I have no idea. I thought all this was real, and now none of it is. So I just threw the whole thing out, the whole thing out. And it's beautiful to have the freedom to choose when you don't have that before, or you don't know that you do. But then it's like, okay, well, what is true for me now? And I wanted to rebuild only on what was true for me now, and I am finding through my own experience that there's truth to God and there's truth to Christ, maybe not in the way that we once thought and not connected to religion at all. But like the Christ piece is the most true piece, and that light is so clean, and so that is what I will be writing about.

SPEAKER_06 36:24

Oh wow, I'm excited, so powerful. Thank you. And I hope one day I want my kids to read all everybody's books, because you know it's important and it to have the bravery too to speak uh about this topic and from your heart, but you know it's bigger than you and um it's needed. So, how can people find you?

SPEAKER_02 36:45

So on Instagram and I'm at the mothering medium and my website, www.themotheringmedium.com. Those are the two place best places. I work as a medium presently, um, kind of a bridge between worlds, and it's powerful. And I connect to Christ every single time I do it, and then I can trust absolutely that every bit of information coming through is pure and clean. And um is that what you want?

SPEAKER_06 37:12

Like, what's your dream leading up to this? Is that what you'd like to do?

SPEAKER_02 37:15

Melissa, I don't know how to dream. I don't know how to dream. So that's my work. It's like learning how to dream and just following the breadcrumbs that are in my heart. I don't quite know. Like I presently work as a medium and I do one-on-one work, but I want to expand that in some way where I can help more people using that same gift or like waking up those pieces in them. I don't quite know, but I'm I'm open to being guided as to what that could look like in a way that feels very fulfilling to me, also.

SPEAKER_06 37:40

Well, thank you so much for sharing. And thank you so much for being here today. Uh, I hope all the listeners, you know, buy your books, connect with you because you are both so powerful. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yes. All right, my other author is Christy Crabtree, and she's a dear friend as well, coming to the island with me. Uh, she wrote the fantastic book, Sacred Revolution, which I every minute that I have, I I want to read it. I'm always like, oh, maybe I have some downtime. And I go sneak away. I'm like, I cannot put it down. It is so, so good. I feel like everybody needs to read that. Um, just tell everybody a little bit about yourself and uh what this book is about.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Yeah, thank you, Melissa. So um I am Christy Crabtree. I'm a psychedelic psychotherapist, and you know, this book really is part memoir, part manual for getting through hard things, big traumas. I tried counseling myself. I went to therapy because it always felt like there was something more that I needed to figure out or remember within myself, but I never knew what that more was. And I couldn't get to it in therapy. And as a therapist, that's really discouraging. Yeah. You know, I was using and trying the modalities that I used with clients, and I still felt like there was something I couldn't quite reach. And when I tried psychedelics, it opened up something in me. And I realized I had repressed trauma that was pre-verbal. And I am so grateful that I took this leap in trying psychedelics because without that, I think I would have never unlocked what was keeping me stuck. And after my own experience with psychedelics, I got trained in MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies for MDMA, which is showing the most promising healing capacity for trauma and for PTSD. I'm trained to use psilocybin and I'm trained to use ketamine, but unfortunately, only ketamine is legal right now at this time. But the book is about this journey. And it's not only a journey through healing trauma, it's really a deep dive into spirituality because what I discovered in my own healing process was that once you overcome the wound, it opens something up. And that something that it opens up is who you truly are, your absolute most true spiritual essence. But to unlock those aspects of the self, you have to unlock and release what's weighing them down. So spirit gave me four phases of healing. So we, so gnosis is the first phase. You have to know who you are. And I don't mean on a surface level, like, you know, I like sushi. I mean, you know, who am I? What patterned and programmed my brain? What are the beliefs that I carry around that aren't mine? And then the next phase is to deconstruct it. And that's hard, right? Because the next phase is letting go of who I thought that I was and who I am supposed to be. And that means taking emotional risks in life and in relationships and potentially, you know, there's some loss that we face there. But then after that phase, we get to rebirth ourselves, meaning, okay, I don't, I know who I'm not, but I really don't know who I am. I'm just trusting God and I'm walking towards that and stepping into who I'm becoming. And that is this aspect, this time of just building faith and saying, I may not know what this road is that I'm walking, but I'm being shown these steps and I'm gonna take it. And that's that's this rebirth process. And the last part is know yourself as creator. You know, I came to realize we are all a fractal of God. We are divine. I believe that.

SPEAKER_06 41:16

Yeah. Yes. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

Yes. And so then we get to know and embody our divine nature, and we aren't victims to anything. We are co-creators of our reality. And when you get to experience what it feels like to be a co-creator in your reality, now you're living. Yes. And I think we do this again and again and again. It's a spiral pattern until we shed all the layers and just meet ourselves in that in that deep space of who we truly are.

SPEAKER_06 41:39

Yeah, I love the way that you explain that process because for me, I read it, I was like, oh my gosh, that was my process. And I also read, I'm like, oh my gosh, I read your story. I'm like, very similar patterns that we had, you know, and um in the patterns that we carried from a young girl, you know, into our marriage, into how we didn't want to see our husband's addictions, you know, or and and bury that. And so I really see so much of myself and the patterns. And I'm I'm already, you know, done so much therapy as well. And I got curious as well with, you know, um plant medicine. And because why got curious, you know, because I would got curious to what are people doing through their healing, yeah, and all types. And I kept on hearing uh veterans using, you know, uh um psilocybin or MDMA to um for their PTSD. I also had postpartum uh women that said psilocybin is the only thing that got them up to take care of their children. But because, yes, it is you know illegal in some state, it just has to be so underground, but which is so sad because it is not addictive. It is not this, and you and for me, why I got curious because I kept on seeing this pattern showing up and showing up, and I couldn't figure it out. I felt very self-aware where I'm at now through the counseling that I have done, and I couldn't pinpoint it. So finally I said, okay, I'm gonna try. And it became so clear. It was generational. It was me in the womb. So, how am I supposed to remember that?

SPEAKER_03 43:16

How do you access? And I, you know, God put these spiritual gifts and technologies on our planet for us to use. And my opinion about it is that our consciousness has been made illegal and underutilized. You know, it's been demonized, it's been made wrong through the legislative system, through the church, through so many different systems of control. And it breaks my heart. Yeah. And um, I wanna I wanna touch on something you said that I think was so critically important. You said these medicines are not addictive. Um, and that is so true. And I want to make this distinction because you and I, we both have people we love who have suffered from addictions and it's impacted our lives greatly. And I want to be so clear that there's not a way. Size fits all healing for anybody. However, with addiction, we use drugs and alcohol to numb. It's a medicine that people use to take them away from themselves because they can't cope with their realities or the traumas that they've experienced. But psychedelics do just the opposite. They are a hero's journey and they make you face yourself in a way that's not shy. And it doesn't sugarcoat anything. And you look yourself in the eye and you get to know yourself at the deepest levels. It really is brave. And it requires bravery and to say, okay, I'm willing to take an honest look at who I really am and what my patterns are. And so there's such a distinction that I think is so important to be made there because that's one of the big arguments against keeping it illegal.

SPEAKER_06 44:47

Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. There's, I was reading, I think Australia, it's legal. Uh, I think MDMA was starting to be legal there, and same as psilocybin. So hopefully that'll be, especially with uh, you know, trained therapist like yourself, that would be so powerful. I have, you know, family members that have gone through uh, you know, so much trauma, and they they are stuck. They told me I saw them at Christmas time, like I've tried everything, and I and I kind of nudged them and saying, Well, have you tried plant medicine? I think you know, she deals with a lot of uh PTSD and all that, and and she's a rape victim, and and I think I truly think that's would be allowing her to to deal with that as well, you know, and and find some peace, you know, in that trauma. And now tell me how you about you're feeling about Ryder's Island. Uh I am excited.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

I am so excited. I, you know, when Kira presented the opportunity, I didn't know if I was ready. I had just birthed this book. The manuscript was still on my laptop, and so I didn't know if the timing was right. So I prayed about it. And the minute I slowed down and stopped worrying and prayed, it was like just started coming in hot. And so um, the next one is is speaking and I'm ready to receive it. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_06 46:07

Yeah, I'm excited as well. And now I yeah, so you have five clinics here in Arizona, right? Yeah, so you've been able to employ like 40 different 40 employees or clinical therapists as well. So you have so much knowledge when it comes to trauma through your experience. So I I know this book I'm also recommending it. All the books, all the authors. Everybody needs to read. And you do have it on Audible as well, right? It's coming out on Audible this week, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

Yeah, this week it should be out on Audible, but it's on Amazon now. On Amazon now, and how can people find you as well? Uh, they can find me at www.sacredrevolution.com or my Instagram is uh at Christy Sacred Revolution.

SPEAKER_06 46:52

Now I want to hear what is Christy gonna be doing? What's her dreams in like 10, five, 10 years from now? What do you envision for her?

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Well, that's a great question. I would love to run retreats outside of this country where it's legal and um where I can work, you know, having a license, it's obviously I I can work with ketamine legally and that's about it. But I would love to work with other medicines and I'd love to do it in a way that was legal and in integrity. So I'd love to be hosting retreats for people outside of the country so that they can meet themselves and uh have their mind blown when they learn who they truly are. Yeah, powerful.

SPEAKER_06 47:29

I love that. Well, I cannot wait to be on the island with you. Thank you. So much fun. I feel so grateful for the whole experiences. I'm pinching myself. I know this will be life-changing for me and for all of us. And I think for the 16 of us on this island, we'll forever be bonded. I think uh it'll there's something that we're gonna feel so sacred on that island in all of our message will create such a shift in the world. I know that in my core core of my heart that all of our messages are here for a pivotal time in our lives in this world. Absolutely. So I'm honored to be there with you in a week. Thank you. So thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

Absolutely.