[00:00:00] Safrianna: Welcome back to another episode of Living Luna where we dance every beginning for some reason and it just has stuck forever.
[00:00:07] Ikenna: I wish that the song wasn't popular because remember the song I sang earlier today? I'm gonna link it. In the, like, the, just play that song.
[00:00:16] Safrianna: Look at the episode notes for the song.
[00:00:17] Yes. And imagine our living luna crab dance. Exactly. Yeah. That's what it is, it's a crab dance. It's a crab dance. So, we are back today with a very special guest, Charmaine Neighbors, who is an incredible intuitive medium and a channel for light languages and introduced me to a brand new, uh, energy modality that I'd never heard of before called spinal energetics.
[00:00:41] And Kenna and I were both lucky enough to be able to have a session with Charmaine privately to go through our own stuff. And we're just so excited to have her as a guest today and to get into her story and share this work with the world. So let's bring
[00:00:59] Charmaine on.
[00:01:05] Boop! Welcome, Charmaine!
[00:01:07] Charmaine: Hello! Thank you!
[00:01:08] Safrianna: So, let's just start. If you want to, you know, I just very briefly introduced you. as sort of this intuitive being, but what else do you want to say about you?
[00:01:20] Charmaine: I have so many passions, and I have explored so many things, I think, consistently. I just like learning new things all the time.
[00:01:31] I paint, which I'm just recently getting back into, which is what's behind me. Um, I have... I have a passion for figuring out what I don't know. So, if anything like scares me especially, if something is like weird and scares me, I have to figure out everything about it. Um, and one of those things, like growing up in a Christian house, which was actually a very cool Christian house as far as Christian houses go, but like, you know, what, what is there beyond the veil?
[00:02:03] Since we talk about it all the time when we're talking to these, you know, these spirits that we, Do before we eat or whatever. Like who is it that's actually listening and whatever is that? So I think growing up in that, um, environment, I was really had a lot more questions than anybody could answer. And so that's kind of like also been how I've went through life is finding out.
[00:02:32] The. answers to my questions, even though there's really no the right answer. I look for all the answers to the questions. So
[00:02:42] Safrianna: yeah, like collecting different perspectives to see what all the possibilities are.
[00:02:49] Charmaine: Absolutely. Like, because, you know, everybody has a different perspective and everybody has a different experience and everybody has a different way of articulating something.
[00:02:57] So. I love, um, hearing specifically from, you know, different cultures, different people, all that.
[00:03:03] Safrianna: So, yeah. And I know we really appreciate that because a big thing that our brand is all about and the Living Luna podcast is all about is like diversity and inclusion. And we haven't seen a lot of movements for that in our culture.
[00:03:24] Ikenna: Yeah. I mean, it's like we, we go back to. Um, like, we'll, we'll leave the, the oppression, uh, like, the oppressive environment of one culture, um, and then kind of like create our new... Like, be like, we're gonna be inclusive, but then we're gonna completely gatekeep as well. Which, I mean, has happened in multiple communities.
[00:03:51] Like, the, you know, whenever there's like, oh, yeah, um, gay rights and whatever, but not for trans people. Like, there's, or women's rights, but not for people of color. Like, there's, yeah, there's so many exclusions to that concept, to different concepts of, like, Rights and inclusion and all of that that we are like, Oh, well, we mean, we mean this, these conditions on top of it, and then we completely lose the point of what inclusion is.
[00:04:28] Charmaine: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:04:29] Safrianna: So people, people like you that really have that passion for learning, right, to learn as much about different people, different cultures, different modalities, just, you know, what don't we know, and there's so much that we don't. We, ego, doesn't know that we can connect to. So, how did you, you asked these questions about, um, you know, who are we, who are we praying to at dinner time and things like that.
[00:04:59] How did that end up leading you down your intuitive path?
[00:05:04] Charmaine: Um, I, so I have to give like so much credit to my auntie. I have a unicorn behind me. There's a
[00:05:15] Safrianna: face! She's over here like, so cute!
[00:05:21] Charmaine: And, uh, she's just always, she's like my inspiration for art. Um, I have her work all over my house. And she always gave me art supplies and stuff for every birthday, every Christmas. And she also is queer and, um, very into, just like me, and I, maybe I get it from her, that she completely is, her relationship to Spirit is so important.
[00:05:53] And luckily in our family, because we have such like a long history of queer people, that like, that was never an issue, ever. Um, at least when I was alive, it was never an issue that I'm aware of. And so, she was totally accepted, um, by the family. And, um, she also used, you know, her passion for spirit and prayer and stuff that, Y'all grew up with, um, to explore more, uh, along the line of spirituality.
[00:06:30] And she, um, had sent me books and stuff like that, like channeled stuff from like the fifties, you know, 1950s, like way before it was what it is today. Hi. Um, and, you know, introduced me to like, uh, Hinduism in a way. Um, and all different types of Christ consciousness is really her specialty of like studying his Christ consciousness.
[00:07:03] Um, and so, but because she was so open about it and not looking for the right answer, just looking to see like what was out there and really, you know, keeping it personal, um, and not looking for someone to tell her what is The way to be doing things, you know, um, so that's kind of like how I was influenced in that way.
[00:07:30] And then, once I graduated, I went and traveled, um, all over, and I love anthropology. And so, a huge part of cultural anthropology is, you know, what are the religions, or the, um, spiritual practices that inform the community of, you know, who they are beyond. Being themselves in this physical body, um, and so I went to like Hindu temples and I've tried to just like figure out it was before the internet was what it is today, obviously, and, um, you know, went to a mosque and, you know, went to all these things and I hung out with, um, mostly I was very interested in like what I call modern primal culture.
[00:08:17] So I'd hang out with tribes that are still kind of intact. Yeah. I mean, obviously every culture is evolving over time, but intact and not too much influence from like colonialism or like, you know, Christianity. And so what are their pagan beliefs? You know, like what is their intact beliefs of, um, their relationship with nature and their relationship with their ancestors and stuff like that.
[00:08:43] So I just found it super fascinating and being intuitive and traveling to these different places. I had real interactions with spirits. And it was, oftentimes, very shocking. It was, I, it was like, very, um, intimidating. And I feel like, you know, after a lot of reflection over those, those times, I came in as, like, a person.
[00:09:09] And, of course, I always try to be respectful. If there was any, like, superstitious things, I would always be like, Okay, I will, I'll do this when I enter the jungle. I'll, you know, do all these little things that are respectful for the, you know, beings that live there. But I wasn't always met with, um, welcome from the spirits.
[00:09:29] And so, and I think probably cause I'm just a fricking white girl, you know what I mean? Like I didn't, I looked weird being there. I was like, I very much stuck out. And so I think that, you know, maybe the spirits were like, Hey, it's a white girl. Like we better put her on our guard because other white people have come here.
[00:09:44] And. You know, mess with our people and mess with their nature and I and I feel like those are mostly ancestral spirits that I've interacted with that had had those like confrontational, confrontational experiences with, um, and actually, one time, I had a very intense experience and I was with my friend, um, who was indigenous, he was Iban and I was in Borneo, and um, that was the first time that my, my late language came through, and um, so strongly, and I'd never done it in front of anyone, and it was like my whole body was channeling, and um, you know, I was doing mudras with my hands, I was speaking like language, I could See in my third eye the spirit being that I was communicating with and in my heart I was like, oh no, like we could literally die like that.
[00:10:42] It was a very sketchy circumstance and We made it out and I like really I'm like, I won't come back here You very much, was also him, you know, so yeah there's been a lot that has informed my path and also helped me to articulate more questions. Um, and now, since I have started writing, um, I can communicate with the spirit realm through writing, where I ask a question and I write it down, and then I hear word by word what I'm supposed to write down, and I just write it word for word, and then after I'm done, I'll re read it, because I don't really, I'm not trying to, like, focus on what's happening in that moment.
[00:11:29] I totally get that. It's helped me answer a lot of questions, and I think it's super important also to be very, like, discerning. Um, that's one thing I've learned a lot, and I'm really grateful for the experiences I've had of, like, territorial spirits. It's discerning. There's no, like, good or bad in my experience.
[00:11:47] Like, it might feel bad to me or feel scary to me, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad, you know what I mean? It's boundaries. What? It's boundaries. It's boundaries, exactly. Like, hey, phew, nope. And I'm like, okay, I get it. And so... Um, yeah, I just feel like discernment is so important and allowing the freedom to explore spiritually without being afraid is so beautiful and so important to me, and I wish it upon everyone that they could really move through their experiment back to remembering without the fear of Um, what they'll find and learning how to have boundaries themselves, you know?
[00:12:33] Safrianna: Yeah. And so you've kind of learned along your path how to build those boundaries. I'm curious, like, if you were to give a newbie some advice, right? They're starting to, uh, explore their spirituality and they are coming in contact with spirits. What do they need to keep in mind immediately so that they protect themselves and are in integrity with themselves?
[00:13:02] Charmaine: That's a great question. And I think for me, the, what really allowed me to like settle any fear that I have is that like, yes, I'm in this body, but I also have like my higher self that's more conscious and attuned to everything else in the spirit realm. And so I, as long as I am connecting to my higher self, and then I also have like a team and everybody has at least one person on their team and that those That your higher self and then your team they get to be like bodyguards if you let them You know what?
[00:13:37] I mean? Like like hey, please filter out all Interactions, you know like they have to come through you and you have to allow that to enter my crown and third eye in order for that to be A communication that I am aware of in this body Um, and I think that a lot of people I've heard that have interactions beyond the veil, it can be very uncomfortable for time at times, and they don't know what to do about it.
[00:14:10] And I am very clear about who I speak with, and I, I only am open to me to communication with the spirit realm in In very, in non subtle ways, right? Like in speaking or like, hearing like messages or whatever. When I'm like, okay, I am open for business for this right now. Okay, who wants to come in for the appointment right now?
[00:14:34] Like, that's it. I'm not, I'm not available when I'm walking through the grocery store and someone's... Grandma's there and they're, you know, picking out their produce and the grandma's trying to tell me something, tell them, I'm not, I don't do that. That's not me. So, there are people that do that and they love to be of service in that way and like, awesome.
[00:14:56] But that's just not, that's not me. So, that's how I do it.
[00:15:00] Ikenna: Yeah, I, I, as someone, cause like, you know, I'm witnessing Like, two, like, intuitive healers, like, having this conversation, and I'm, I'm like, kind of like, I feel at the very beginning of the journey of the exploration past, you know, my being raised in the, the Christian church, and it not being a place of necessarily exploring past what the church was saying, um, and So, it's kind of stunted, this, and like atrophied these intuitive muscles, and so it's like, what do you tell someone who's first getting started how to discern whether it's intuition or ego?
[00:15:56] Charmaine: I would love Safrianna's take on this too because I feel like we have, um, we have similar kind of things that we are aware of and we have different processes and stuff like that. Um, I think that it can be very confusing and I've definitely received messages that made no sense and it wasn't necessarily my intuition.
[00:16:22] It was someone else telling, like you can be influenced. by other things that are not your intuition, that can seem like your intuition because it's coming from inside you, but those are, it's not my essence speaking to me. It's not my intuitive essence. It's something else trying to influence me. Um, and that's the real thing in my experience, you know?
[00:16:45] Um, so it's a very, I mean, you really just got to practice and I feel like Setting very clear expectations, like today I want to see it, like, and make it very physical so it's tangible for you, like, not out there, but like, today I want to
[00:17:07] find, um, a penny from 1982, or something like very physical, and it might not happen for you that day, but you keep looking for it like it's going to happen, and then when it happens, Then you can like explore the circumstances around how that happened and feel like was this influenced by my Intention and then once you start kind of building that in the physical realm, like I I want this to happen And then looking for that and then building up your trust in yourself.
[00:17:44] I feel like then you can kind of explore the more subtle That are not necessarily physical.
[00:17:51] Safrianna: That's so interesting, because I do come in from a different angle. That makes me really wonder what Do you know your natural number, Charmaine?
[00:17:59] Charmaine: I I think I'm a two.
[00:18:02] Safrianna: Hmm. I I'd be curious to double check if you're a two, because you're coming in from a very physical, body based perspective.
[00:18:11] And as a nine, I am more in the spirit realm. So the way that I would approach it for a beginner would probably be What comes to mind for me is the affirmative prayer. And one of the steps of affirmative prayer is dropping from your head into your heart. So you can kind of feel the difference. And I, you know, body based people can feel the difference in a more tangible way probably.
[00:18:41] But of when you are egoically in your head with an intuition, Versus receiving something from the heart. So I last year was a prayer chaplain for a unity church, which is a, they are a spiritually unlimited Christian congregation that sees the Bible as a metaphysical text and invites in all. all spiritual perspectives and practices, basically.
[00:19:09] Um, and so I was prayer chaplain for them for a year. And that was the training is like to pray and to receive from spirit instead of from our mind, our ego, we had to get in the practice of centering in the body and feeling, you know, feeling that ego and then dropping, literally dropping into the heart space to receive from the energy of love or spirit instead of out of here.
[00:19:36] So that would be, you know, discerning the feeling of ego versus like love even, uh, could be a really good beginner way to experience the, um, the stepping into getting out of ego mind. But then what Charmaine was sharing, that sounded like that sort of tangible manifestation of proving to yourself that focusing the thoughts on certain outcomes that you can begin to bring into your world.
[00:20:09] Ikenna: Um, Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm also like I'm hearing you to also talk about so there's intuition, there's ego, there's guides, and like spirits that you can interact with. Um, and I, like intuition, like, in terms of like a therapist, I've never been vocaloid. I work with internal family systems and intuition if you, there's self, self energy, um, which you know is intuition and, um, but then there's also self like parts which are, which are egoic aspects of us that are trying to prove that they are self energy.
[00:21:01] Like they're trying to be like, oh no, no, no, like you're, I, I, yeah, I'm self. Like, this is.
[00:21:07] Safrianna: Trust this.
[00:21:07] Ikenna: Trust this. Um, or like, yeah, so like there's that, and then on the, on another terms like the spirits piece, it's like, you can, I, you can usually figure out that it's a, it's a part that's trying to convince you that it's self because it has some, um, opinions versus self energy is, you know, very just, um, like an, like an observant, compassionate, loving.
[00:21:40] Presence that's not going to be critical or Judgmental so it's like it's kind of easy to kind of work through that But then when it comes to like working with spirits and guides and trying to discern that from ego Like how can you tell that like is ego just presenting itself as you know, like oh, here's a Like, my, like, if there's an animal spirit that comes in to speak to me about something, um, is it not just a part of me or ego trying to mask as a spirit, telling me, cause like, don't spirits, aren't those more opinionated, like, cause, like, I don't think every spirit that you interact with is going to be, like, spirits have boundaries, like, the ancestral spirits have boundaries, so it's like, how can you tell whether or not that's, like, a spirit from.
[00:22:35] Somewhere else or just ego within you projecting on to some concept.
[00:22:44] Charmaine: Um, I can feel energy in my body. So, and my hands will like turn on. I have Reiki, and like the first time I experienced my hands turning on is when I got my first Reiki attunement. And so when my hands turn on, they're They're, they're picking up on some things.
[00:23:08] Sometimes I'm not aware of it, and sometimes I'm consciously doing it. But in the, in the situations where I was experiencing like an ancestral spirit, who is still pretty much bound by physical body. They're, they're pretty much still themselves as a physical body, and they're staying attached to their family union, to their, to their tribal unit, to their lands, as a, as a guide to protect.
[00:23:38] Um, so they're not ready to like move on to like different types of experiencing life as a spirit. They're still very much attached to those areas and those people. Um, and so my hands turned on first and that's how I knew it, which is like me, my energy, my personal energy going out. So it's creating like a, a boundary around me.
[00:24:04] Um, when maybe as like, and maybe as they sent. My energy was sent back to them and like, you know, kind of creating like a bubble around me. Um, so I, I can tell the difference between me and something else in that way. And I think something that I've, I've heard that is helpful, um, especially for people that maybe are like, you know, centered, centered people.
[00:24:39] are maybe, like, in between being completely in the spirit realm and completely on the earth realm. So they're kind of, like, centered. They have, like, a good balance. People that are more on, like, the spirit realm, that are, like, very, like, not They don't feel grounded in their body. They're, like, you know, way in tune with the spirit realm.
[00:25:00] That's, like, actually kind of an uncomfortable experience to be as a human. Like, it kind of Like, in my experience, it's not awesome to be too involved in the spirit realm. Um, because you're like, but I'm human now and I have to, like, do these things, like, go to work and, like, do the dishes and whatever. So, for people that are, like, more on that realm where they can find signs and, like, basically anything, I feel like, um, if things come to you in threes, so if something's, like, calling your attention and it comes maybe from inside you first, And you see a sign from, like, your intuition here.
[00:25:37] And then maybe you see something, like, outside of you, but, like, you're still experiencing it. And then maybe something else completely that is not you, like, maybe someone comes up to you and starts talking to you about that thing. Without you provoking it. I feel like that's a good guideline because you can kind of get into, like, this disillusioned, um, experience.
[00:25:59] of yourself and your ego kind of just like takes over and then in an extreme case, like you, you think you are God and not in the way that we are all God, but like you're better than someone else and you're God, you know what I mean? Like cult leader. Okay, we're gonna put cult leader right here. Yeah, exactly.
[00:26:17] Yeah. And then like the other side is like, you know, someone's completely detached from any other aspect of who they are, and their higher self, and they are totally physically bound. And they, they don't think that anything exists in the spirit realm. And so that can also be uncomfortable because then you feel like, Well, what's the purpose of this and I'm just going to die?
[00:26:39] Like, it can be just kind of become nihilistic, you know? Yeah. Um, so I think that. There's a balance and it's just a dance. You just got to keep dancing with yourself about it all, you know
[00:26:55] Ikenna: There's actually between nihilism and delusional
[00:27:00] Charmaine: Yes, you can either become nihilistic or a cult leader and then you know,
[00:27:05] Ikenna: oh boy Yeah, I mean, and then like, my autistic ass is like, black and white thinking, can only be one or the other.
[00:27:12] Safrianna: Which one are you going to be? Which one am I going to be? Cult leader? Or nihilistic? Nihilistic. Hmm. The choices, the choices. Yeah, I, I think that that is though, We know with natural number, that the physiology of the body does play a role in the end of that spectrum that one is likely to land in. So, you know, that's another thing to, to layer into your own intuition is are you going to feel it more through the body or are you going to feel it more through some cosmic connection that evades words in the physical body.
[00:27:53] Um, and you know, what was coming to mind as you were asking that question, as Charmaine was sharing, is just the authenticity of ourselves. Everything comes back to us aligning with ourselves. There's no one size fits all approach. You getting to know your own intuition is a process of you learning to trust yourself.
[00:28:15] Um, you know, learning your own method to muscle test, literally just Stand in the middle of your room, find your feet planted firmly, wiggle your arms out to your sides and get comfortable. And then say the word yes, and then say the word no, and see if your body feels different for each of those. Like we can start with these like little play tests and just get curious.
[00:28:39] What happens if I tune into my body or my energy in a different way? And that, those are literally the practices that start building intuition back up, because, you know, with my background as a trauma specialist, I think it's so important to note that we do, we can become detached from our own intuition if we experience trauma, because to survive, we had to detach from our intuition that was saying, this is bad, it shouldn't be happening, and it happened anyway, so we have to re sync our connection.
[00:29:14] Body, mind, spirit back up after we've lost it.
[00:29:20] Ikenna: My brain is like, oh yes, the, the, we have to like turn the Wi Fi off and back on. Yeah. Like, have it spend some time like re Refreshing.
[00:29:34] Safrianna: Refreshing. Relinking to the network.
[00:29:37] Ikenna: To the network, yeah. Cause it's like, it's like there's so many different places that we can Like, take this conce like, um, just because of the fact that, um, With the world having, like, this is what's right, this is the correct way of doing things, um, is, uh, not how we, like, that's not how spirituality needs to be, but, like, that's how a lot of us have grown in, like, a lot of us have grown up into those places, and So now when we're like, oh, screw that concept of, you know, being a place that's telling us the correct way of doing things, there are still parts of us that are like, like, what if I'm doing it wrong?
[00:30:36] Like, how do I know if I'm doing it right? Like, you know, so it's like we're, it's, we're
[00:30:41] Safrianna: second guessing ourselves based off society again.
[00:30:44] Ikenna: Well, yeah, like the, like the religious concepts that are saying you need to do this right or else. Even if we're like, I'm detaching from that concept, it still follows us in that doubt of, of the intuition.
[00:31:01] Like, as soon as I have any sort of, man, I'm crazy for thinking this, or this is, like, stupid, that I'm even trying to, you know, work, like, figure this out, or, you know, any sort of cynicism that comes up. Is like, just the background, just the 18 to 20 plus years of living in a culture that was like, It's the right way or else you're not welcome.
[00:31:27] Safrianna: My way or the highway, kid. Yeah. Says all of society and religion, pretty much.
[00:31:35] Ikenna: So, it's beautiful that you've been able to explore that a lot and, you know, I'm inspired by both you and Safrianna about Like, you have experienced, like, different people have experienced different levels of, um, society, uh, causing the doubt, but, like, you both have done the exploration work to become really strong in your intuitive healing, and that's really powerful to witness, and know that I can, like, potentially get there one day.
[00:32:16] Charmaine: I think that they're, like, learning history about religion specifically throughout time and like just the further back I went, um, it just got more clear that it's always been that it's a personal relationship, um, until someone wants to hijack that and say, no, you have to come through me in order to find God, you know?
[00:32:46] So, um, the, so with spinal energetics, which is one of the modalities I do and with Reiki. It's really, um, connecting, it's not about, me as a practitioner, I'm not doing anything for you, like, I am assisting you, but it's your own innate wisdom, you know, like, I'm no one's savior, I would never want to be anybody's savior, that's not even a thing, um, no, um, I don't want anyone to be reliant on me for their own personal intuition, I would never want anyone to be looking to me for answers, Because I will always come back to the reality that you have all the answers.
[00:33:34] And you have a path here as a human where you forgot everything. And, you know, some people don't forget everything, which is, you know, maybe nice. But a lot of us just come here like, whoa, I don't remember anything. And then you go back to the path of remembering who you are. And then eventually when we're done with our physical bodies, we go back to remembering.
[00:33:57] And... Um, but we can also bring that remembering back to us, call it in, um, as humans in this physical body, and like literally, that's kind of like the purpose of being a human is forgetting in order for us to remember, that's my belief anyways. Um, and so, with like the spinal energetics, which I really love, because It's I literally just help people's own innate wisdom activate inside them and so that they can connect more clearly with their higher self and with their guides and release all those things that are no longer serving them that have become blockages that is, um, affecting their ability to trust themselves.
[00:34:45] Because of the trauma, and you don't even have to relive the trauma, which is so great with Spinal Energetics, it just comes unwound, and then, like, given back to Mother Earth, to compost, is the way I think of it. And, so I just, I love being able to offer that to people, because I feel like so many people come up to me and ask me questions similar to the ones we've been talking about.
[00:35:11] And I'm like, how about I just give you a session and like, you just connect with your higher self and like, what is your question? And then you talk to your higher self about it and you integrate that and I sure I could like channel a message for you if you want. I still, and also I think discernment and questioning is super important.
[00:35:32] So I feel like having doubt in yourself and doubt in your intuition is actually very healthy. I don't think that there ever should be a time in your life where you have zero doubt. about your intuition or about your gifts because that can lead to dangerous things, you know?
[00:35:49] Ikenna: To cult leader.
[00:35:50] Safrianna: That's the cult leader path.
[00:35:51] Charmaine: Yeah, that's the cult leader path. Um, so anytime I, like, do my writing and I am receiving messages from the spirit realm, I am, I'm like, especially if I'm going to give it to someone, if I'm doing it on behalf of someone else, I don't know about what any of this information is. and how they're going to receive it.
[00:36:15] And if any of it will resonate with them at all. And so my self, I'm like, Oh, okay, I'm really nervous about this, but here, you know, and sometimes the messages come through. It's also, I want to note that not every spirit in the spirit realm is an all knowing spirit. They are, I literally treat spirits just like human beings.
[00:36:37] Like. I, they have their own intention, they have their own agenda, they have their own perspective, they have their own, um, will, they have their own, like, desires, and, you know, they might be a higher level spirit in some way, but that doesn't mean that it's going to align with what I am personally. Um, so, I know that they are, they have their own faults, in a way.
[00:37:05] Not a judgmental fault, but like, for example, I gave, uh, I did a channeled writing for someone. And she, the one, the person that received it was like half of this resonates, half of it doesn't resonate. I feel like this message was for someone else. Like, I think it was that spirit coming through, but he was talking to someone that wasn't me.
[00:37:30] And I don't know what he's talking about. And I don't know if she ever, like, figured that out, you know what I mean? But... So, and then other people are like, Oh my gosh, every single thing that you wrote resonated. And I'm like, okay, great. Like I have to be detached honestly, from the way that they receive it or what the information that I channel even is.
[00:37:51] Cause it's not about me. So.
[00:37:55] Safrianna: Yeah. So I'm, I'm curious, like who do you feel like is a good fit for spinal energetics? sessions, like who, what kinds of things do people usually come to you for, or what do you find yourself working on when you're doing spinal energetics?
[00:38:15] Charmaine: Um, it depends on how in tune they are with their own mind body connection and their own intuition.
[00:38:23] Um, some people have more like kind of, um, simple requests, like things that we all can identify that we need in our lives, like less stress or. more peace, um, feeling m that a lot of people can that. Um, and then there come to me with very spec physical ailments, you kn Can you help me with that? And I'll be like, yeah, like, let's, let's see what happens, you know, what your body will do for you.
[00:39:00] Um, I think the people that aren't right for spinal energetics are the people that aren't ready to give up what's no longer serving them. You know? People that are just, you know, they're comfortable being uncomfortable, but they might not even realize they're uncomfortable, you know? And everybody has their own path and I don't judge anyone on their path.
[00:39:24] Um, I have done sessions for people that maybe other people would turn away, um, because I want to meet people where they're at and I feel like the people that don't fit the criteria to some people, um, like they think, Oh, they're not really ready for this. Like I would never judge people. I think they're not ready for it.
[00:39:53] If they say they are, then okay, you know, that's it. Um, I don't care if someone's an active addiction, if they, like, come to me strung out, you know what I mean? Like, that's where they're at, and I feel like people that are really struggling in that way kind of need my work even more. You know what I mean?
[00:40:15] Like, you know?
[00:40:17] Safrianna: And self trust to be built back up.
[00:40:20] Charmaine: Yeah. And, you know, I've drank a lot in periods of my life and you know what, like, I've done Reiki on people when I was hammered at a bar and like this other person was hammered at a bar and they were like going through it and I was like, let's just do some energy work with it, come on, like, let's just do a prayer and like, who cares, like, you're still human, your higher self is still there, like, everything is still, you know, like you're, you might even be more Receptive to it in some way because your inhibitions are down enough a little bit to just be like, I actually do need help You know, so I
[00:41:01] Ikenna: mean, that's why there's there's a what is it MDMA is Assisted therapy.
[00:41:06] Yeah. Yeah, like there's more Psychoactive drug assisted therapeutics now that are like, actually, they're, like, I believe, uh, based off of different documentaries that we've watched, there's actually, like, they had paused the studies because they had originally had studies happen, like, several decades ago that then were paused, um, due to, like, the,
[00:41:35] Safrianna: Oh, you know, politics.
[00:41:36] Ikenna: Politics and capitalism, um, and But I think that they're now actually getting studies back up off of the ground and so now there's more people, um, able to actually become licensed, um, in the practice of, you know, providing those drug assisted therapies and, um, You know, that's like another, like another form, another level of providing support, um, as well as like the energetics too.
[00:42:12] I'm curious what your I'm sorry, our cats are like destroying I'm wondering if that's the
[00:42:17] cats, or if that's the, the, the other natural number two.
[00:42:21] Oh, taking care of other things, yes. Um, we're just There's sounds happening. Sounds, sounds are happening. So, I'm curious, um, Because you were saying that different people have different intentions when they come into the Spinal Energetics and both Safriyana and I went in.
[00:42:37] Um, was there, like what was your intention when you did?
[00:42:41] Safrianna: I, my intention was about peace, just integrating peace for my upcoming transitions. Because I've been in, in a lot of uh, emotional turmoil just over the fact that I'm going through like, Basically two huge life transitions right around the same time with moving.
[00:43:00] Yeah, huge. And job transitions. So like, yeah, I just wanted peace in my body. So that's what I was working with. What about you? Yeah.
[00:43:09] Ikenna: My, I was asking for peace in my body in a different way because I was dealing with horrendous, uh, period cramps at the time. So, yeah.
[00:43:18] Safrianna: Just showing up with whatever's in the moment, right?
[00:43:21] And our, our bodies. It's our spirits when we tune in and we listen, like we can pick up on what we can use some assistance with from other people. And so how did you, if you just want to kind of quickly tell us, like how you got into spinal energetics? Cause again, I'd never heard of that modality before.
[00:43:43] I'm a Reiki master and I do intuitive healing and I've studied shamanism and Druidry. So I was like, Whoa, wait, something new. Tell me about it. Yeah.
[00:43:54] Charmaine: So, I don't know how exactly I found it, but on Instagram, I started following Dr. Sarah Jane, who put this, um, modality together through her, it's, it's, she didn't invent anything.
[00:44:11] It's a bunch of already existing modalities and philosophies and stuff that she studied, and she just kind of put them all into one in a new way. That's very effective. But I saw her Instagram videos and I was like, what is happening? This looks crazy. And even with my My background and everything. I was like the only thing that I've ever seen that looks like this is like exorcism It's very it's and and it was you know They're little videos and they are made to kind of get attention on Instagram, you know what I mean?
[00:44:53] So I was very curious Um, about it, because, you know, doing Reiki for, since I was 17, I'd never seen anybody's body move with energy work in that way. And, um, and it was, the way she was doing it was just completely different. It just looked so different. And so I was like, I don't know what that is, but I have to learn everything about it.
[00:45:14] Because, obviously. Um, and I applied for a, I applied for a class that was, In North America, um, and I didn't get accepted the first time, and then I applied again the next time she was coming to North America. And, it was supposed to be in Mexico, um, and I got accepted. I didn't know how I was going to pay for it.
[00:45:38] I didn't know how I was going to go to Mexico to do this. Like, I was like, whatever. It'll happen or whatever. But I have to learn this, right? And so, it ended up being cancelled in Mexico and going and being in LA. And I had already planned on a trip to visit family in L. A. And it was exactly timed to be at the very end of my trip that I was already going to be there.
[00:46:04] And I didn't know how I was going to pay for it when I got accepted because I literally didn't have the money. Like, yeah, you've been accepted. Congratulations. I'm like, oh great, how long do I have to pay for this? And, um, I actually received a gift from my mom who has passed away. And she, like, didn't have any money when she passed away.
[00:46:22] But she had paid for, um, These services at, like, a cemetery for her sisters and her to be all cremated and buried together and all that stuff, whatever it is. So my aunt was like, we don't actually want to be buried and blah blah blah. Long story short, I ended up getting a refund check from this, like, funeral home.
[00:46:47] Because my mom had already paid for it. And it was enough for me to go to California to pay for the class. and to pay for the hotels there and everything. So I was like, yeah, it's perfect and divine. So I call that parking diva. My mom came up with that term when I was teaching her about manifestation. I was like, Mom, just go to the parking lot because she lives in California, you have to drive everywhere.
[00:47:08] I was like, imagine you get the best parking spot. That's like how I got her to like get the proof that she can manifest things, that she can be intuitive, and she's more than just her physical body. In like a deeper level and so we just call everything that works out in our favor parking diva, or it's like perfected divine And so that was the parking diva that happened as my mom gifted me all the money.
[00:47:30] I needed to go do that I love that Yeah
[00:47:33] Ikenna: Amazing.
[00:47:34] Safrianna: So it really was a practice that you were meant to receive and and learn and Thank you for you know offering it to us and Yeah, I mean, I'm still, I feel like I'm still integrating from mine. I know yours was much more recent, but Um, I was very, very gentle with myself the next few days and cancelled all my plans and just like, let myself chill because a lot came through and I love energy work and it always does exactly what it needs to do when we trust that it will, so.
[00:48:10] Ikenna: Mm hmm. And I just painted with the, my, my period blood.
[00:48:16] Safrianna: Yes! I'm gonna get in there with this feeling.
[00:48:20] Do the thing.
[00:48:21] Charmaine: That's, that's, that's the good stuff.
[00:48:22] Ikenna: Yeah, I think I have it actually, like, nearby. Um, if you want to...
[00:48:28] Charmaine: I totally want to see it, please!
[00:48:31] Ikenna: We'll show it to our viewers if you... Yeah,
[00:48:34] Safrianna: so... You, you're helping Kenna unlock this, this relationship with their womb space, which, as a queer person,
[00:48:43] can be really hard to do.
[00:48:47] Charmaine: Yeah. Yeah. I, I totally love that one. I see like this, the movement and the energy, like the, like lightning almost up coming out from it.
[00:49:00] Ikenna: Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It was a lot of fun to do and probably, yeah, definitely an interesting way to connect with, um, with myself and like not hate myself for having a period.
[00:49:16] Like that was. You know, that's a thing that queer people can struggle with, especially is the bodily functions that society has placed specific labels for. Yeah.
[00:49:27] Safrianna: Yeah, so I want to make sure that we have an opportunity, you mentioned this, you know, beloved aunt who was queer. Um, and you mentioned that like you just in general had a very supportive family.
[00:49:41] Was there anything else that you wanted to share about your queer history, um, today?
[00:49:48] Charmaine: Yeah, um, so in our family history, we have like a lot of stories of intuitive people, um, and I've recently started receiving all of these family history stuff that, um, has been passed down, and I'm like really the only one in my generation that's interested in it, so my aunties are all sending me all the stuff, and I'm reading through it, and I'm, you know, there's like, People would say like, you know, the spinster or something like that, but there's, there's like a lot of queer people in my family that were kind of adopted into another family because, you know, women didn't have any ability to own property or anything like that.
[00:50:33] Um, so they kind of like buddied up in that way. And, um, my grandma's brother, I think. My grandma's brother's kids, they were openly gay in San Francisco in like the 40s and their Biological father had a best male friend who he spent a lot of time with And he was married to my great grandma who I mentioned in my chapter in fearless female leaders in the book that just came out on my mom's birthday The book came out, digital version, on June 2nd, which is my mom's birthday.
[00:51:21] Um,
[00:51:23] Safrianna: How about synchronicities, all these synchronicities?
[00:51:25] Charmaine: Yeah, totally. Um, and So everyone, you know, beards, potentially, in my family, you know.
[00:51:37] Safrianna: Everyone's just a beard, potentially. That is the quote for the episode right there.
[00:51:44] Ikenna: Everyone's a beard, potentially, for my family.
[00:51:49] Charmaine: And I was, I was looking forward to, you know, potentially being, like, growing up, I was like, if I ever get married, it's gonna be for, like, immigration reasons, you know, like, I'll find...
[00:52:00] Some gay person that wants to get married so they can become an American and then I'll be their beard and we'll have this like great relationship We can be married and all that and I ended up marrying a man Which everyone in my family was shocked about and he is actually American but he's fabulous and Like just the coolest person ever and that was like that's a whole nother story, but definitely spirit led and Yeah, like, no, there was never a judgment about being queer because literally everybody for generations has grown up with someone in the family that's queer, you know.
[00:52:40] And historically, my family, while Christian and growing up in like Christian church, it was always about, it was never like anything but a personal relationship with God. And yeah, there was like the Bible and different things, but no one ever said, I don't think anyone in my family believed in hell in the way that...
[00:53:00] Yeah. The Christian church that I grew up in would occasionally speak about, you know what I mean? It was always more like love one another. It was more like the Jesus principles, Yeshua principles of like love one another as yourself, like treating each other as you would want to be treated. And so that was kind of you know, and charity work and accepting, you know, there was A little bit of this and that, but it was mostly like, I'm so, I didn't realize that Christians weren't like that until I was like much older, and I was like, oof, I'm not Christian, I'm not how Christians are, you
[00:53:36] know?
[00:53:36] Ikenna: Yeah, if you are that old or two, what a disappointment. Like, damn.
[00:53:43] Safrianna: Oof. So you mentioned, um, you mentioned your chapter, and in this latest book that came out with AMA, the feat, fearless female leaders, and your chapter goes into some of your intuitive history. Can you just give us like, why should people read?
[00:54:02] Go read your chapter? Uh, from the fact that you're awesome. And
[00:54:11] Charmaine: I think that people should read the book because, well, there's my chapter in it, but there's also other chapters from like really inspiring people. And it's basically about being fearless, which is definitely not the absence of fear. And it's been really great reading everyone else's chapters as well, because we've all gone through stuff where we basically didn't know how we were going to continue on.
[00:54:35] Like our, our nervous system was so shot or, you know, we, we were so in An overwhelmed fear state, but we all got out of it. You know, terrible things have happened to us and they really speak about the things that they've never told anyone. And I, I wrote about something that only my very close people know about.
[00:54:58] Cause it's, it was so traumatizing for me to even speak about. It would, you know, bringing up the trauma, my nervous system would start feeling it again. And the anxiety would come back and stuff like that. So I just like didn't even speak about it. And then I had to. Write about it when I was writing my chapter.
[00:55:13] I really tried not to write about it I was like, I'm not writing about this. Like I'm definitely not mentioning any of this.
[00:55:20] Safrianna: I know that feeling definitely I know that feeling
[00:55:23] Charmaine: But I ended up writing about it and it was very scary for me because I actually disappeared for 10 years like My name wasn't on anything, like, I tried to make myself untraceable, and, um, because I was very scared for my life and my family.
[00:55:46] And, so this, like me coming out into the public again. And I was, I was very scared to it, but I was like talking to my team and I was talking to my higher self. And they're like, Hey, like be fearless. Like it's time for you to be no longer hiding and you need to share your gifts with the world and you need to expand beyond the people that personally know you in your real life.
[00:56:14] And so that is. It's why I wrote my chapter and why it's so important to me, um, and the catalyst that it is over the last couple months for me coming out in a very scary way, um, that isn't scary now. I'm not afraid, but like me five years ago, I'd be like, no way. There's not a chance. Like I'm just going to continue to be unknown for the rest of my life so I can stay hiding.
[00:56:43] So yeah. Yes.
[00:56:45] Safrianna: So welcome to the shining club. It's. It's, you know, shining her light is scary after that and thank you for doing that personal work and sharing your gifts with us and your chapter with the world and if you want to work with Charmaine, you can find all her contact information in the show notes because she's awesome and maybe you want to go try some spinal energetics for yourself.
[00:57:11] So thank you so much, Charmaine. This was It's a really awesome conversation with, I hope, a lot of good points for people, whether they are new to spirituality or, you know, seasoned practitioners that just are collecting perspectives.
[00:57:29] Ikenna: And trying not to go down the cult leader pipeline.
[00:57:31] Safrianna: And trying not to go down the cult leader pipeline, yes.
[00:57:34] Heck.
[00:57:34] Ikenna: Heck. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. All right.
[00:57:37] Charmaine: Thank you Safrianna and thank you Ikenna. I'm so grateful that I get to spend time with you, doing sessions with you, and hanging out with you in that way. It's my favorite. And I look forward to hanging out with you more with your offerings and meeting other cool people that want to hang out with you too and through your moon, what is it?
[00:58:01] Your... Sacred Moon Circle. Sacred Moon Circle,
[00:58:04] Safrianna: yeah. Portal Pathwalking, my Sedona Retreat. Everyone needs to come to Sedona
[00:58:10] Ikenna: and hopefully by the time this power, uh, this PowerPoint, wow, this PowerPoint, this podcast comes out. Um, I will start, um, offering different, like the art that I just showed, um, doing some neuro graphic, um, workshops, workshops.
[00:58:25] for people so they can, they don't have to use period blood, but like the line work that you witnessed. That could be a workshop though. It could be a workshop, but I'll, I'll start them off with just the line work and then we can add period blood later. So, yeah. All right. Awesome.
[00:58:42] Safrianna: Well, until next time, thank you for tuning in and we'll be back.
[00:58:47] Charmaine: Bye.
