Medium Curious: Spirit, Signs & Intuition Tips for Spiritual Seekers

Before Shannon Nering could talk about the ayahuasca ceremony that changed her life, her grandmother arrived first, pulling the conversation somewhere none of them expected. What started as an interview about Shannon's memoir, The Mother Vine: How I Healed My Heart with Ayahuasca, opened into a spontaneous, emotional reading connecting Shannon to her late grandmother, before moving into the heart of the book itself. 

Shannon, a former TV producer and director who walked away from a career in television to move her family to Kauai, talks about the identity crisis that came with that move, the layered "mother" themes in her book (her grandmother, her mother, motherhood itself, and the "mother vine" — another name for ayahuasca), and how writing became a way to process grief that had been held in her body for years.

She shares her first ayahuasca ceremony with the Shipibo tradition in the Amazon, contrasts it with gentler Kauai-grown medicine, and talks through what integration actually looks like day to day.  The she shares about The Living Lab, her seasonal reset program for women in midlife and beyond.

Key Takeaways

Grief doesn't just fade with time — it can live in the body for years, and creative or ceremonial work (writing, plant medicine, ritual) can finally move it through.

Integration after a profound spiritual experience isn't a single moment; it's a daily practice — journaling, stillness, returning to the insight again and again.

Fear passed down from a parent or grandparent often comes from love and protection, even when it later needs to be examined and released.

You don't need to dive straight into strong plant medicine to access stillness, presence, or an open heart — there are gentler on-ramps.

True healing touches four quadrants — mental, physical, emotional, spiritual — not just one.

Notable Quotes

Shannon, on plant medicine and ego: "You do not get to use your logical mind... it's an ego death."

Shannon, on what she took from her ayahuasca ceremony: "The journey is actually inward... that's where it all happens."

Links & Resources

The Mother Vine: How I Healed My Heart with Ayahuasca by Shannon Nering — Simon & Schuster | Bookshop.org

Shannon Nering's website: shannonnering.com

My Big TOE by Tom Campbell (referenced in conversation)

Connect with Medium Curious

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Jane Morgan Medium: Jane Morgan Medium 

Sarah Rathke: SarahRathke.com

Instagram: MediumCuriousPod (@mediumcuriouspod) 

Substack: https://mediumcuriouspod.substack.com/

NEW EPISODE: Jane and Sarah are still flying high from their astounding chat with Gary Temple Bodley and Christy Levy, the channels and mediums behind the podcast An Unimaginable Life.

Gary fills us in on how Christy's mediumship abilities came online and what it's like to channel some of history's most recognizable figures. Christy explains how her gifts activated rapidly after taking Gary's course, despite having aphantasia, and how the two of them developed a practice of allowing well-known souls to come through using clues and categories rather than direct names. 

The conversation moves into a live demonstration, where Christy connects with Albert Einstein and C.S. Lewis, delivering messages about duality, perception, and the idea that the universe is far friendlier than fear leads people to believe. 

You don’t want to miss this episode!  It’s not just sensational – it’s full of wisdom from greater consciousness and transmits the highest vibrational energy!

Key Takeaways

Psychic and mediumship abilities often expand alongside a person's broader belief system. Christy's gifts came online as she did inner work to raise her perspective of herself, suggesting that development in one area of consciousness work tends to unlock others.

Not being able to verify a connection doesn't mean it isn't real. Several mediums describe having to consciously choose belief before the evidence catches up, rather than waiting for proof first.

Judgment of any experience, whether it looks difficult or painful, may be based on an incomplete picture. Spirit communication consistently points to the idea that no experience is inherently good or bad, only interpreted that way through a belief structure.

Shifting your perspective changes your entire experienced reality, even when outer circumstances stay the same. This reframes personal growth as less about changing conditions and more about changing the lens.

Fear can be mistaken for truth. Strong emotional reactions like grief, anger, or regret are not necessarily revelations about reality, but can be fear "borrowing your voice."

 

Quotes
"The universe is infinitely friendlier than our human fear has led us to believe."

"Reality has never stood opposite you. It has always stood beside you and quite often it's secretly cheering."

"You have discovered what fear sounds like when it borrows your voice."

"Life is living through you. It's experiencing through you. You're not living life."

 

Connect with Gary and Christy

Christy Levy  https://christylevy.com

Gary Bodley https://theteachingsofjoshua.com

An Unimaginable Life   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-unimaginable-life/id1707752987

Joshua Live  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joshua-live-and-the-law-of-attraction/id1154555202

 

⭐️Receive a free audiobook of Joshua's first book "A Perception of Reality" for free!  Use the coupon code garyfree at checkout. Here's the link: https://theteachingsofjoshua.com/books/

 

Connect with Medium Curious

Medium Curious:  MediumCurious.com

Jane Morgan Medium: Jane Morgan Medium 

Sarah Rathke: SarahRathke.com

Instagram: MediumCuriousPod (@mediumcuriouspod) 

Substack: https://mediumcuriouspod.substack.com/

Talk about the ultimate story-teller! Rebecca Barry has Sarah and Jane completely spellbound.

In this replay episode of Medium Curious, Jane and Sarah welcome intuitive counselor, storyteller, author, and whale communicator Rebecca Barry for a heartfelt conversation about intuition, synchronicity, emotional healing, and learning to recognize the subtle messages the universe is constantly sending.

Rebecca shares how more than two decades of studying mystical traditions, meditation, yoga, and intuitive practices shaped her understanding of life, grief, joy, and our connection to something greater. Through powerful stories, she reminds us that healing doesn't come from avoiding our emotions—it comes from allowing ourselves to fully experience them.

Together, they explore how intuition often arrives as a quiet whisper, why synchronicities deserve our attention, and how the natural world—including whales—can become profound teachers when we're willing to listen.

Whether you're exploring your spiritual path, strengthening your intuition, or looking for comfort after loss, this conversation is filled with wisdom, hope, and practical inspiration.

In this episode you'll discover:

How to recognize messages and signs from the universe

Why storytelling can be one of our greatest healing tools

The relationship between intuition, synchronicity, and spiritual guidance

How joy and grief can exist together

What whales have taught Rebecca about consciousness and connection

Why emotional intelligence is an essential part of spiritual growth

How gratitude creates space for everyday miracles

The importance of trusting the quiet whispers of your intuition

Why money is simply another form of energy

How courage allows us to share our intuitive gifts with the world

Memorable Quotes
"Stories are where most of the medicine is."

"Joy holds everything."

"You were a miracle in someone's life."

"Money is just energy."

If this episode resonates with you, we'd love your support. Please download the episode, subscribe, leave a rating and review, and share it with someone who could use a little encouragement from the universe today.

Connect with Rebecca Barry

RebeccaBarry.net

Rebecca’s Substack:  Out of my Mind

Connect with Medium Curious

Medium Curious:  MediumCurious.com

Jane Morgan Medium: Jane Morgan Medium 

Sarah Rathke: SarahRathke.com

Instagram: MediumCuriousPod (@mediumcuriouspod) 

Substack: https://mediumcuriouspod.substack.com/

Jane and Sarah love a good spiritual awakening story, and Amanda Elemental has a fascinating one. We're bringing back this beautiful conversation with Amanda from a few years ago! (Episode 38)

Amanda joins us to share her journey from a career in corporate advertising to becoming a Reiki Master, medium, and conscious DJ. During the pandemic, Amanda began looking for ways to heal her trauma. As she went deeper into that work, she unexpectedly found herself moving into a profound spiritual awakening.

And as we all know, awakening isn't always easy.

Amanda talks about following the signs and connecting with the people who helped support her through a huge time of change. She also shares how her spiritual journey led her into sobriety, something both Jane and Sarah know something about!

Amanda describes moving through a dark night of the soul and the practices, resources, and people that helped her along the way. She also talks about the importance of taking trauma healing slowly and being gentle with yourself as you move through big changes.

But wait! Don't worry - the conversation turns to music and dance.

Amanda's years as a DJ have evolved into a more conscious approach to music, energy, and healing. She talks about ecstatic dance and the way movement can help us reconnect with our bodies, our joy, and ourselves.

Because we're here to be embodied.

We're here to experience ourselves.

And what better way to do that than by dancing?

This is another fun-filled episode with plenty of laughs, honest conversations, and a few epiphanies along the way.

In This Episode

Amanda's journey from corporate advertising to Reiki Master and medium

What led Amanda to begin healing her trauma during the pandemic

The unexpected spiritual awakening that followed

What it can feel like to move through a dark night of the soul

Amanda's journey into sobriety

The importance of community and finding the right people during times of change

How Reiki and energy work can support the development of mediumship

Why trauma healing needs to happen slowly and mindfully

Learning to recognize and trust the signs

The connection between music, energy, movement, and healing

Amanda's work as a DJ for ecstatic dance

How dance can help us reclaim joy and freedom

The importance of being present in our bodies

Creating safe and inclusive spaces for people to dance and connect

Amanda's vision for combining mediumship, music, movement, and healing

Quotes
“Community is so important right now.”

“I know that trauma is something that happens fast and is meant to be healed very slowly.”

Connect With Amanda Elemental
Amanda Elemental

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Buckle up sweet listeners, this one is extra special. Sarah and Jane sat down with Davis Haines, an artist, musician, and near-death experiencer who is an exceptionally sparkly human. Tear stained and soggy from the conversation, by the end both of us are convinced he is emitting actual light beams.

Davis grew up in a wonderful but chaotic, art-obsessed family in Alabama, an identical twin who found himself through theater, poetry, and a barbershop quartet. Davis he woke up at 5am in High School to rehearse with (the devotion!). He fell in love young, coined his own spiritual identity as a "love-ist" because why not just make up the word you need, and lived that glorious, broke, funk-band-and-feather-boas artist life in Chicago in his early twenties.

Then, on July 11, 2011, a bike ride took a dark turn. Davis went under the back tires of a truck, and was given a 1% chance of survival. During emergency surgery, he died. And what he found on the other side was not tunnels or visions, it was love, love and love capital L.

The rest of the episode is a joyful wander through what Davis calls integration, the long and winding thirteen-year-average process of putting himself back together. There is a vision quest, a skydive, some ayahuasca, a whole lot of learning to just be, a stray backyard cat named nothing in particular, and a soul mantra ("thank you, I love you") that will bring you all the feels.

Key Takeaways

Integration takes time, sometimes as long as a decade or more, and there is zero shame in the slow, messy unfolding. Let it be a whole journey, not a weekend project.

Rest is not the opposite of a spiritual life. It might BE the spiritual life. Chill guilt is real and worth releasing.

The universe has a flair for the dramatic. When something feels too perfectly symbolic to be a coincidence, it might be worth paying attention to.

Chasing the big cosmic feeling through extreme experiences often leads right back to something delightfully small, like a baby waving hello or a cat on the compost bin.

Healing generational wounds does not require a big dramatic showdown. Sometimes it just looks like raising a kid who has never once doubted her own magnificence.

You do not need a tunnel of light or a dramatic vision to have a real, life-rearranging near-death experience. Sometimes love shows up as pure feeling, no special effects required.

Direct Quotes

"God is a feeling... this was one of those things where I was like, oh, oh, oh, God is everything, like everything."

"It was like sinking into a warm tub after a long cold day in the snow, times a thousand."

"I say that Art saved my life."

"Thank you, I love you. Thank you, I love you. That has actually become my prayer, my mantra."

"Actually, this is it... I can't believe that I am happily living in my hometown doing this."

Links and Resources

Bruce Greyson, After — referenced regarding memory and near-death experiences under heavy medication

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron — the book that shaped Davis's creative and spiritual practice

Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning — read during his solo vision quest

Ram Dass — referenced re: his stroke and the phrase "being stroked"

Davis’s Instagram @davismacleod 

Davis’s Website davishaines.com

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