Latest / The Trauma Therapist / Guest Host: Julie Stevens interviews Sarah Knapik. Sister Spirits: Collaborating with Psychedelics for Growth and Healing

Transcript

Guest Host: Julie Stevens interviews Sarah Knapik. Sister Spirits: Collaborating with Psychedelics for Growth and Healing · The Trauma Therapist

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the special guest host series of The Trauma
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  Speaker 1: Therapist Podcast, where I'm going to be handing over the
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  Speaker 1: mic to some incredible guest hosts. In each episode, you'll
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  Speaker 1: hear fresh perspectives and unique insights to inform and inspire
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  Speaker 1: you in all the while keeping the heart of this
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  Speaker 1: podcast alive. So sit back and enjoy.
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  Speaker 2: Three two one and we're on. So I'm so happy
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  Speaker 2: to be here on this beautiful day in Northern California.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Trauma Therapist podcast where I am a
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  Speaker 2: guest host, and I thank you to Guy and all
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  Speaker 2: the listeners out there through this community. I'm so so
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  Speaker 2: grateful to have this opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: My name is Julie Stevens.
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  Speaker 2: I am a somatic spiritual coach that trauma informed. I'm
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  Speaker 2: also a psychedelic facilitator, and today it is my pleasure
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  Speaker 2: to interview on this podcast my dear friend Sarah Knappik,
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  Speaker 2: who I'll give you a little bit about who you
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  Speaker 2: are and then we'll do some questions and kind of
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  Speaker 2: get into it. So Sarah is not only my friend,
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  Speaker 2: she's a Buffo priestess, spiritual coach, and she's also Stuarting
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  Speaker 2: stewarding Oakland's first five me DMT church called the Altar
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  Speaker 2: of the Heart. And I'm super proud of you and
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  Speaker 2: inspired by you and excited for this opportunity. So I'd
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  Speaker 2: love to get into it by asking you some questions.
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  Speaker 3: How's that sound sounds great?
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  Speaker 4: I'm super happy to be here and excited to be
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  Speaker 4: interviewed by you.
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  Speaker 2: Right on, right on my new my new coat that
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  Speaker 2: I'm putting on. Okay, So I'm excited to ask you
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  Speaker 2: about the church where the idea came from, and also
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  Speaker 2: about the name, and then we'll talk about our collaborations
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  Speaker 2: and the things that we're up to.
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  Speaker 3: So why don't you start leing the viewers about your church? Well,
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  Speaker 3: I'm super excited.
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  Speaker 4: The State of California just approved my church as a
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  Speaker 4: religious incorporation, so I feel like I can be more
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  Speaker 4: of my authentic self and speaking about this beautiful sacrament,
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  Speaker 4: this medicine of the toad that has helped me completely
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  Speaker 4: change my own life and help.
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  Speaker 3: Me find my purpose.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like this medicine has brought me into
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  Speaker 4: my own heart and help me find God inside. After
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  Speaker 4: this a lifetime of looking outside of myself for love
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  Speaker 4: and for validation, and it brought me back within where
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  Speaker 4: everything inside of me already lives. And I know we
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  Speaker 4: hear that all of the time, but to actually feel
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  Speaker 4: it and embody that truth is what I want to
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  Speaker 4: really represent as the priestess of this church, and that's
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  Speaker 4: my mission of the church as well as to help
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  Speaker 4: others embody their authentic self and what that means for
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  Speaker 4: each person on their own individual path.
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  Speaker 3: That's so beautiful.
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  Speaker 2: That's such a such a beautiful prayer for yourself and
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  Speaker 2: for others.
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  Speaker 3: And how did you?
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  Speaker 2: I love I know the story of how you came
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  Speaker 2: up with the name, but I'd love for you to
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  Speaker 2: share it with people.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was actually on a journey with watch Tuma Medicine.
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  Speaker 4: And for those listeners who don't know what that is,
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  Speaker 4: that's the San Pedro cactus that showed me that God
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  Speaker 4: is in me, and God God is me, and I
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  Speaker 4: am God and we are the same. And it got
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  Speaker 4: like downloaded this image of a tattoo, which is my
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  Speaker 4: logo of two snakes that are direct reflections of each other.
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  Speaker 4: So as and so without right, we're the ones that
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  Speaker 4: are creating. It's all conscious energy, and we co create
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  Speaker 4: with the energy so whatever we think and believe to
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  Speaker 4: be true is what is true for us. So God
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  Speaker 4: speaks to us through our heart by coming back to
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  Speaker 4: this place within ourselves, the altar of the one heart.
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  Speaker 4: We connect back to the one God that is everything
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  Speaker 4: and everyone. And it's from that place when you really
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  Speaker 4: truly understand that, Yeah, what do you want to create?
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  Speaker 4: When it's not being created off of stories of a
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  Speaker 4: wounded child anymore, someone who doesn't think they're good enough
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  Speaker 4: or lovable or safe or whatever the old stories are.
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  Speaker 4: The medicine helps clear those out, and when you really
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  Speaker 4: see the truth of what you are, it's like, go
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  Speaker 4: create what your heart is asking you to do without
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  Speaker 4: the limitations of the mind.
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  Speaker 2: That's so beautiful, well said, Well said, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: like a mirror right showing us I'm just you.
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  Speaker 3: It's all the reflection. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: I really am inspired by your strength and your courage.
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  Speaker 3: To go into those places.
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  Speaker 2: It's not always easy and right, and I've watched you
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  Speaker 2: over many years doing that and keep coming back to
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  Speaker 2: the altar of your heart.
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  Speaker 3: So I think that's such a beautiful thing.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of like holding courage and stepping into divine
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  Speaker 2: feminine leadership can you speak to that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's going to be scary, right because we have
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  Speaker 4: to face all the parts of ourselves and all the
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  Speaker 4: rules that have been implemented upon family or society that
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  Speaker 4: we're currently operating under, and realize, like, do I want
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  Speaker 4: to keep fallollowing this limitation and stay where I'm at?
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  Speaker 4: Or am I going to follow my heart? And you know,
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  Speaker 4: when I left my menage seven years ago and I
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  Speaker 4: just had had my spiritual weakening and none of the
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  Speaker 4: life that I'm living right now existed, one message came
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  Speaker 4: through very clear, and it was like, your work in
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  Speaker 4: this world is going to be to teach people how
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  Speaker 4: to follow their heart. So I feel like what you're
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  Speaker 4: seeing in me is that devotion and commitment to follow
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  Speaker 4: my heart no matter what.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, it is scary.
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  Speaker 4: It's the unknown, and this path required getting comfortable with
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  Speaker 4: not knowing. But yeah, keep growing, right, Like, embodied leadership
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  Speaker 4: and feminine leadership is so needed right now because we
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  Speaker 4: wake each other up. When you see someone in their
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  Speaker 4: true essence and their authenticity and living their life, then
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  Speaker 4: it gives other people permission naturally, you know. And I
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  Speaker 4: do want to add like I had to overcome a
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  Speaker 4: lot to apply for that church and to feel comfortable
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  Speaker 4: calling myself a Boofo priestess and like is this okay?
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  Speaker 3: And goes for all of.
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  Speaker 4: That societal programming. And I really had to normalize that
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  Speaker 4: this is just my path.
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  Speaker 3: It chose, I chose it, it just happened. Yeah, definitely.
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  Speaker 4: Might it would be an authentic for me not to
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  Speaker 4: step forward at this point into it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I And I love how creator spirit is always like, Okay,
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  Speaker 2: you might not know the next step, but here, here's
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  Speaker 2: this one. You might not know all the steps, but
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  Speaker 2: here's the next one. And we followed those yeses, and
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  Speaker 2: when they're lining up, it might be this kind of path.
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  Speaker 2: It might not always be straightforward. Uh. And watching that,
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  Speaker 2: watching that and walking alongside of you has been so wonderful,
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  Speaker 2: and that brings me to working. Yeah, you're so welcome
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  Speaker 2: working with you in collaboration here at the Urban Rechi
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  Speaker 2: treat Center and watching the women who you are working
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  Speaker 2: with come, you know, come from their starting point to
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  Speaker 2: their first time working with the medicine, the buffo and
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  Speaker 2: then coming back like three months later, six months later,
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  Speaker 2: and the trans transformations that are so palpable, like I
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  Speaker 2: can see it on their skin and their energy, And
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  Speaker 2: I'd love to hear anything you want to say about
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  Speaker 2: working in collaboration and how that's been for you.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm so glad you brought this up and that
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  Speaker 4: you've been You've been a witness to seeing the true
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  Speaker 4: testament of continued support and mentorship alongside the use of
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  Speaker 4: this medicine, because it really does take take down your
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  Speaker 4: barriers of belief systems and perspectives and heal the trauma
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  Speaker 4: coat that we're all walking around carying. Like you're watching
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  Speaker 4: them start to take it off and realize, like I
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  Speaker 4: don't need to have this identity anymore, and like getting
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  Speaker 4: to work together has been one of those gifts on
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  Speaker 4: the path of the unknown, right, Like if you follow
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  Speaker 4: your heart and you take the one step, God has
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  Speaker 4: a little present on that step for us, and then
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  Speaker 4: we get there and we unwrap it, and then we
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  Speaker 4: receive it, and then we take the next step and
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  Speaker 4: there's another gift there. And I'd always wanted support in
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  Speaker 4: serving and someone alongside me and community and like a
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  Speaker 4: group of female leaders to help me steward this church
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  Speaker 4: and hold space and by following my intuition and reaching
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  Speaker 4: out in the ways I did to you. The Urban
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  Speaker 4: Retreat Center has now become the home of the church
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  Speaker 4: until the Fuller Vision manifest And Yeah, the way that
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  Speaker 4: you get to hold space with me, it's just like
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  Speaker 4: it's beautiful and it's perfect, and you have the deep
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  Speaker 4: calm presence that all of my clients love having you there.
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  Speaker 4: They ask me to make sure that you're there. Like
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  Speaker 4: it's integral now, like I don't want to serve the
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  Speaker 4: medicine without you, and I just love the space that
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  Speaker 4: you have and we get to have fires and take
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  Speaker 4: hot tubs and it's like just a perfect, sweet little
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  Speaker 4: retreat center here in Oakland where we live.
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  Speaker 3: Really is thank you for that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm really looking forward to New Year's Eve
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  Speaker 2: Day and the ceremony that we're holding together with the
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  Speaker 2: Wachuma Plant Medicine. I'm really honored to do that with
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  Speaker 2: you and walk the walk and let us come back
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  Speaker 2: to not only that place of surrender being if you
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  Speaker 2: have nothing else and faith or trust that you come
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  Speaker 2: back to surrender around what these medicines are here to
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  Speaker 2: show us, and also knowing like all of the things
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  Speaker 2: that you know, the the allopathic I call it the
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  Speaker 2: industrialized medical.
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  Speaker 3: Industry, whatever. For lack of a better.
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  Speaker 2: Phrase, I'd say ninety nine point nine percent of those
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  Speaker 2: pharmaceuticals are based on plant medicines, herbs, or minerals that
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  Speaker 2: are here provided to us by Mother Earth. And so
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  Speaker 2: getting back to like, how do we heal through using
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  Speaker 2: these natural medicines is paramount to all of our healing, right,
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  Speaker 2: And when one of us.
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  Speaker 3: Is after the earth exactly, that's why we're here.
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  Speaker 2: And all of the other things, right, all of the
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  Speaker 2: things that are pulling us here and pulling us there,
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  Speaker 2: and the should have coulda woodves in our brain, it's
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  Speaker 2: not why we're here. And so I love that we're
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  Speaker 2: doing this right alongside each other. It's an honor to
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  Speaker 2: be a medicine woman in your life and following, sometimes
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  Speaker 2: following your lead and sometimes taking the lead. And that's
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  Speaker 2: that's that beautiful give and take and reciprocity.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we just we've been friends for years,
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  Speaker 4: but our friendship really blossomed. And this is what the
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  Speaker 4: divine is so intelligent. It often blows my mind. And
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  Speaker 4: I'll just sit with like how it arranged things for
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  Speaker 4: me even though I couldn't have planned it, and like
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  Speaker 4: us coming together and deepening our friendship and being like
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  Speaker 4: right alongside of each other as we broke off different
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  Speaker 4: things from past teachers and really learned how to believe
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  Speaker 4: in ourselves and emerge both as the medicine women that
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  Speaker 4: we both are, and that we get to constantly remind
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  Speaker 4: each other of that and reflect that back to each
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  Speaker 4: other is so much a big gift. And yeah, it's
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  Speaker 4: like meaning each person's medicine individually, and that is what
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  Speaker 4: I feel like I'm here to unlock and what I
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  Speaker 4: feel like you're here to unlock. And how can we
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  Speaker 4: help others unlock that if we don't put ourselves out
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  Speaker 4: there sometimes in an uncomfortable way to speak our truth
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  Speaker 4: or show who we really are, or talk about these
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  Speaker 4: medicines and sacraments that we're working with. And I know
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  Speaker 4: we're fortunate here in Oakland they've decriminalized psychedelics and that's
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  Speaker 4: given us both an advantage to really be able to
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  Speaker 4: come out and start talking about the work that we've
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  Speaker 4: been doing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, beautiful, So.
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  Speaker 2: In these last few minutes that we have each other
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  Speaker 2: here on this beautiful interview, I.
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  Speaker 3: Would love to ask you.
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  Speaker 2: Who you love to work with and how people can
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  Speaker 2: connect with you and I will also share my contact
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  Speaker 2: information on my website and Instagram. So tell me first,
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  Speaker 2: who do you love to work with.
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  Speaker 4: I love to work with women who just want something
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  Speaker 4: so much more for their life than they're currently living.
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  Speaker 4: Maybe it's someone who's stuck in a relationship or a job,
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  Speaker 4: but they have that pull in their heart that they
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  Speaker 4: know that they're meant for more, that they know that
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  Speaker 4: they're meant to even lead in some way, but they
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  Speaker 4: don't know what that means, or that feels scary and uncomfortable.
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  Speaker 3: Like I love.
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  Speaker 4: Helping women step into their purpose. And it's through yeah,
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  Speaker 4: unraveling the parts of ourselves that we think we are
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  Speaker 4: do we find the truth of what we really are?
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, I know.
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  Speaker 4: With Urban Retreat Center, now people can come in from
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  Speaker 4: out of town and work with me, be hosted by you,
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  Speaker 4: and we can be holding these beautiful mini retreats for people,
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  Speaker 4: which is what I love. You can find me right
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  Speaker 4: now at Alter of the Heart Church on Instagram and
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  Speaker 4: then also under my personal account which is Ceremony Vibes
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  Speaker 4: s Arah m o n Y.
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  Speaker 3: I love it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: My website's in progress. I just bought the domain this
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  Speaker 4: morning and spoke to the web designers. So it's it's
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: information that's beautiful.
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  Speaker 3: It's always information.
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  Speaker 2: Life is constant change, and if you all want to
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  Speaker 2: get a hold of.
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  Speaker 3: Me, I am.
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  Speaker 2: My website is Urban Retreat Center Oakland dot com and
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  Speaker 2: my Instagram handle is at the real Julie Stevens. Again,
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  Speaker 2: it's been an honor and a pleasure to be you know,
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  Speaker 2: your partner in medicine, your partner in crime, and walk
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  Speaker 2: beside you. Yeah, and I look forward to more, more
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  Speaker 2: and more and more.
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  Speaker 3: So thank y'all.
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  Speaker 4: Again so much, thanks for the interview today.
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  Speaker 3: I love you too. Thank you guys, Thank you to
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  Speaker 3: this community. Peace out.
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  Speaker 2: We will see you very soon. Get in touch with
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  Speaker 2: us and we'll go from there.