Ever dreamed about making a radical career shift? One that aligns with your heart's calling and moves away from the conventionality of nine-to-five jobs? Join India Leigh and Susan Reynolds, karmic astrologer, as we uncover the beauty and complexity of choosing the professional path less traveled. We delve into the unique challenges and rewards of embracing spiritually minded professions, the pressures we face, and the importance of aligning your work with your passion.
Susan and India will be teaching a 4-week online class on this topic starting August 24 (details and signup at indialeigh.com/events-classes)
Find out more about Susan Reynolds at exploreastrology.com
Learn more about, book a session with or contact India Leigh at indialeigh.com
Ever dreamed about making a radical career shift? One that aligns with your heart's calling and moves away from the conventionality of nine-to-five jobs? Join India Leigh and Susan Reynolds, karmic astrologer, as we uncover the beauty and complexity of choosing the professional path less traveled. We delve into the unique challenges and rewards of embracing spiritually minded professions, the pressures we face, and the importance of aligning your work with your passion.
Susan and India will be teaching a 4-week online class on this topic starting August 24 (details and signup at indialeigh.com/events-classes)
Find out more about Susan Reynolds at exploreastrology.com
Learn more about, book a session with or contact India Leigh at indialeigh.com
Hi, I'm India Lee, intuitive Reader and Coach, and this is the Oracle of the Mystic Podcast. In this episode it's me and Susan Reynolds, who's a karmic astrologer. So our jobs are Intuitive Reader and Karmic Astrologer, and if you have been at all playing with the idea of your job being something a little less than traditional or conventional or, you know, just kind of different that way although it probably won't be that different for very long this is definitely the episode for you. So in this episode we talk about what it takes and what it means to make that leap from a job that most people understand in a word or two to something that you might have to explain, or maybe you don't, maybe you just say this is what I do and you place the responsibility on them to learn what that means.
Speaker 1:You know that's something we talk about. Susan talks about being in a dinner party and the first time she kind of owned being an astrologer with a group of people and certainly you know, with me making the transition from being a lifelong journalist in newspapers and magazines and being a writer and editor into quite suddenly being an intuitive in my 40s. Yeah, it's a shift. So that's what we're going to talk about in this episode and we're diving in right now. I'm going to talk about what she's doing Susan Reynolds and I. She is the amazing karmic astrologer for many decades Not many, but she has several, many decades.
Speaker 1:And we have to say, yes, that she has done it for a while. We've been talking about all the you know, wonderful ups and sometimes challenges of doing this work full time, doing readings, full time working with people, holding hands, you know, with them on their spiritual paths, and it is unlike anything else as far as the amazing rewards and the things we get to feel, and also we were just saying. You know, there are times when it's like, oh, this is raw and real and you know it's intense and we have different ways of dealing with that. You got it, you nailed it, and so this episode is for anybody who, even after I say that is like I want to do that, I want to do that full time.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be readings, but you know anything in the realm that is not your typical. You know occupational track that we all learned when we were younger, but something a little different, like I want to do energy healing, I want to do, I want to do readings, I want to do healing, I want to do Akashic records. You know work whatever it is, if it's sort of departing from the typical career track and it's your passion, then you know we're definitely we get it because it's. It is different. You just yes, we still have to pay taxes, yes, we still have to, you know, make it up to pay our bills and all that stuff. But it's just different in the way it works.
Speaker 2:You know, nishin, I absolutely would, because somebody once said a long time ago the secret to happy life is to discover what it is you love to do and find a way to get paid to do it.
Speaker 2:And we have done that because India, you and I have both followed our heart, followed our dream, and when there is something inside of you that is your passion, that you just know is what you're meant to do, you have a talent for it, you have a calling for it and you put that out there in the world. There are going to be some special challenges that come with that, but the rewards are unlike anything else that you're ever going to find in a job where you're just kind of phoning it in and showing up every day. I worked in corporate America for 25 years and it was a good situation for me. I had a nice boss, I had good benefits, I had nice salary. It wasn't that I hated corporate America, but my astrology work called to me and for many of you, this very special time in life right now is awakening that calling that whatever I'm doing isn't enough. I want to follow my heart and I want to do this and that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and I guess it was about six years ago now I was. You know, my entry into doing this as doing it full time was really raw and organic. I had been a journalist and editor and then, you know, had become a mom, and so the intuitive stuff just kind of came through and I was sort of just offering it to anybody around me, going, hey, I think this is for you, hey, I think this is for you. And then it just grew into doing readings and about a year or two after that started, I came to you and I was like and you know, thank my guides that they led me to you for for readings. And then I started working with you and learning from you as a mentee, and you gave me the guidance around the practical aspects of it. And that was honestly something I didn't expect.
Speaker 1:You know, when I was doing, when I had started doing the readings and I was like, wow, I can do intuitive work with people and this can be what I do. Because it was so guided by spirit and because it was so out of my head, like not having to do with my mind the way journalism had been, I was of the mindset that that's just the way this is going to work. I'm not going to have to deal with the real world anymore, I'm not going to have to. You know, spirits going to just kind of take all that stuff away now and I'm sort of just going to be like, you know, like sort of on a Tibetan mountaintop but maybe not, you know and just not live by the rules of our, of our practical world anymore. And you helped At that time you just said, yes, you do need to think about all these things. You do need to think about how you're going to tell people what you do and what you are going to ask for what you do, and all those kinds of things. And then over the years after that really helped me to braid that in with the spiritual guidance. So now it does feel like an ever-growing balance of what spirits saying to do and not worrying about it from a physical aspect, but also being aware that, oh, this stuff is still happening.
Speaker 1:Because what I did notice? I used to interview people who worked in the spiritual field 20 years ago and I was always very interested in it, and I noticed that a lot of the people who had been doing this for a long, long time, like maybe since the 1900s, had developed this sort of underdog or devalued mentality, so where they really were in a place of lack and not even expecting or aligning with having a bunnet. So it's sort of like I've chosen spiritual work and so therefore I've sort of taken a vow of poverty and which would be fine, except that many of them I met were pretty bitter about that and you could kind of feel it, you know, you could kind of feel this resentment because that's natural, of course. You'd get resentful if you're giving everything you've got and not getting what you need. That's natural.
Speaker 2:So I think that's the number one fallacy in doing our work or doing any kind of work that is a calling of your heart, you think you're aligning with spirit.
Speaker 2:This is what I'm called to do, this is what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 2:So you are putting yourself out there, you're ready to do it, and when you sort of make that commitment, we think if it's a spiritual calling or spiritual higher energy, but it's just supposed to happen, we sit back and just, you know, review the clients and rake in the money and do our work. And we don't realize that if we want this to be our livelihood, if we want this to be our full time profession, it requires care and feeding. It requires us to look at that and many people think that if they look at it in a business like way, they're going to lose the magic of it. Yeah, they're going to taint it with the things of the earth. And if you just want to sit there and let spirits speak to you at nights and weekends, great that, there is nothing wrong with that. But if you want to move that front and center to being your full time work, then it is going to require some effort. It's going to require balancing the things of the earth with the work of the spirit.
Speaker 1:And knowing that spirit gets that completely. I mean it's not like spirits watching us and going, oh, oh, tisk, tisk, you know they're worrying about money and stuff or trying to trying to receive that. No, that's all part of it. And what my guides have helped me to understand over the years is that when you receive, when you open up to receive, you know abundance, however, it comes in inflow with your sole purpose work and you do bring that effort and awareness and action to your work and you take it seriously, then spirits like, oh, they're ready for lots of abundance, and then the abundance can be shared. I mean, you know, instead of being kind of dried up, bitter and resentful and going, oh, I do this work, but I don't have what I need to survive, being like, wow, I have so much more to give and I have, you know, and I can do this in such a joyful way, and then that you know spills over into everyone you interact with and becomes part of the gift, of that you're giving people Is absolutely you know absolutely.
Speaker 2:Being poor or financially challenged does not make you more spiritual.
Speaker 2:It does not make your gifts amplified. It does not make you more holy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a nice living, doing the work that you love, and this is something that people struggle with all over the place at every level of being and doing any kind of work that speaks to their heart. And you have to find that balance. How much is enough? And how do you share you know into it talked about us sort of working together and that was one of the ways of my sharing you know and us doing this course about turning your passion into your profession. It's another way of sharing. It's saying here's our story and we're going to share some things we're going to say might not be too good for you to do. It's a don't step there. We step there. We can tell you that is not a good idea.
Speaker 1:I stepped all the places, oh yeah, I stepped everywhere. Oh yeah, oh yeah. And knowing to that you can choose what you are wanting to do. It's not something where it's like you have to do it. This way you can choose. You know what.
Speaker 1:I would like to work only with people who need this specific type of whatever it is. If you wanna work just with people who are needing help and maybe don't have lots of money, you can align to do that in a way that's abundant for you because you'll align with other things that can support that work. If you wanna align with I just wanna be, you know, I just wanna work with the stars, the celebrities, and just have like five clients a year, you can do that. It's just being open to the ways that you're aligning with it all coming in. But knowing that there is not gonna be a recipe that has all advantages, zero challenges there's not. I mean you are going to have no matter how you do it. I mean let's just say you do everything Susan and I are talking about and you're like okay, now I wanna be an energetic healer and I want to align with abundance and I'm going to, you know, ask for what I'm worthy of and all that. Well, you're still okay. That's great. You're still gonna have a lot of challenges that come with this, just like with anything. So everything's still gonna balance out.
Speaker 1:I feel like sometimes, with working with things of spiritual energy, we do get into magical thinking, self included. I think my magical thinking past only just expired, like six months ago, and with something that shifted in my astrological chart. But you know, we think that that magical thinking means that no rules apply and that this is just going to be all good and no challenge. And if we're always striving for that, we're always gonna feel like we're doing something wrong because we're always gonna hit another challenge. But that's really just showing you that you're either ready to level up or you have leveled up in whatever you're doing. So, for example, if you're someone and you have worked in the corporate world for so long and now you're wanting to do this kind of thing and you take those steps, then you do it.
Speaker 1:And I talk to a lot of people in readings who are doing that kind of thing, saying, okay, I'm taking my steps, I'm doing it. And then they'll say, well, it's not working, and nobody's coming to me, or you know this didn't work or somebody else stole my idea or whatever it is. That is not a message that's saying no, you shouldn't do this. That is just a message from within yourself saying, oh, that thing you've aligned with we actually have some blockages to clear around. That. You know, you might subconsciously not really believe that you can do it, or you might subconsciously not really be aligning with this work. Maybe it's scary to your ego. You know there's usually some block within you that's in place or you were programmed to believe that this, that and the other was wrong. So then you got to get to the work of clearing that out of the way. So you can receive the next thing I'm gonna say when I moved to North Carolina.
Speaker 2:I moved here from Georgia and I had every single thing working against me that you could think about. I knew nobody. I knew my 91 year old mother and my sister. I had no support system, no friends. I knew nothing about the Mind, body, spirit community and this state, much less than the city. I had no money. I'd spent a lot of money to move up here. I had no clients, I had zero income and I had next to know technological know-how and India knows how challenged I am with anything to do with technology. So there was sort of I was like swimming upstream. There was every reason to fail, but over the years I built up a business that supports me in a profession that is notoriously difficult to do. That, as Indy and I both know, and it does take effort, it does take commitment.
Speaker 2:And one of the things that I tell people all the time, when I have to periodically check in on this, is what does success look like to you? Because we all have a different idea about what is success, and for some it's a certain dollar figure oh, when I make six figures, when I get that first million, I'll be a success. Or for other people it's a title in the office or some sort of perk when I can afford a Bentley, I'll be a success. Or for other people it's a respect of their peers. Or for other people it's being able to do the work that they love and being able to make a living. Looking at what to find success for you is going to help you have success in a way that is most meaningful to you. Now that may change and morph and grow as you change and morph and grow, but in the beginning you have to look at what is that success look like, because otherwise you may be a success and not even know it. You may have gotten there already and you're still striving because you don't even see it in front of you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, such a great perspective and point. And what I would say, with this type of work too, is that you don't get to sort of stand on the platform that's already there for that field. Like if we look at, okay, I've decided I want to be a doctor, then when I tell people that, when I go and I do everything that's involved in that, I've already got a certain amount of perceived cachet or whatever it's like I'm doing this and it makes sense to people. You know, I'm going to go and be. I don't know if it would make sense to people by saying I'm going to be a doctor at 50, but you know, bad example. But there are things where you could say I'm going to do this, I'm going to go train to do it, and people are like, oh, I get that. Yeah, good, good, good idea, it's very successful. Yes, very good.
Speaker 1:If you say I'm going to be a full-time card reader, I'm going to be, you know, and I'm going to make this my full-time profession forever and I'm going to plan to, you know, do it this way and have, you know, our full-time astrologer. You're going to get some eyebrows, you're going to get some worries, you're going to get some reactions. You know it's definitely in addition to those inner blocks of you know do I deserve this? Am I good at all those things, all those questions. You then contend with the perceptions of the outer world which are changing.
Speaker 1:I feel like if you're someone who's very young, like if you're a, if you're a 17 right now, you might be like, well, I'm going to be a full-time intuitive and there's absolutely no issue with that. That's probably true for you, you know. But for those of us who are a little bit later in life and there are many of us who are, you know, 36 to 80, who are reexamining the way we've lived versus how we want to live, and Susan would tell you that has everything to do with your North node and that switch of direction. But it's a little more challenging, wouldn't you say, to say this is what I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:Because sometimes families don't support that. Sometimes families are actually afraid of what you're going to do. Depending on their level of religious understanding, they may think you're doing the work of the devil, or they may just be embarrassed by what you do. You know like. All right, we're going to grandma's for dinner. Don't talk about this stuff.
Speaker 1:Or just that it's not real. You know it, just that it's not a real thing, that it's silly or whatever.
Speaker 2:When I first started out professionally, I had left corporate America. I went to the wedding of a friend, of mine's daughter, and it was a very beautiful, very fancy wedding, was on a yacht that was cruising around the New York Harbor and fireworks over the center of Liberty and everybody's, like you know, all dressed up and we're sitting at these tables and the table on one of the gentlemen at the table has the bright idea well, let's all go around the table and say what we do for a living and tell how we know the happy couple. So everybody's going around the table and like, oh, I'm a lawyer and I'm a CPA and I'm an accountant. And I'm saying to go, oh my God, oh my God, they're going to come to me and what am I going to say? And how am I going to handle this? And I think I'm just going to tell them I'm a counselor. And then I thought, no, I'm not going to do that, I'm not ashamed of what I do, this is what I do, this is what I want my profession to be. I'm not going to sidestep it, I'm going to own it. This is who I am now.
Speaker 2:So they came to me and I said, well, I'm an astrologer and the whole table fell silent, I mean forks paused in midair, nobody said a word. I jokingly say I could have told them I was a stripper or an exotic dancer and gotten a better reaction. Everything just stopped and then everybody started talking like I hadn't said anything, and I remember that because it was the powerful moment for me. It was a moment that I own doing this professionally. Yeah, and you're going to run into challenges that more conventional professions are not going to run into. Chances are your dentist has never had somebody ask them for the winning lottery numbers. Chances are your mechanic is not going to have somebody come in and say can you make my husband come back to me Because I have and no, I don't know how to do that Magic.
Speaker 1:Don't ask me yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not always just for us. Sometimes the people that are coming to you are putting enormous expectations on you, especially for those in the healing professions. I have AIDS, I have cancer, I have, you know, some sort of inoperable. Somebody fixed me healing. The expectation sometimes of what is coming to you from other people is sometimes a little daunting because there aren't a lot of books and classes and education out there says how do I handle this? How do I handle people sort of pushing on my time or being inappropriate and I don't mean sexually inappropriate, I mean sort of like I've had a lot of clients say oh well, susan, let's go for coffee, I'd love to keep talking to you, but they don't want to keep talking to me about the weather or politics. They want to keep talking to me about astrology, which I love, but they don't realize I would be working.
Speaker 1:Having those boundaries. Well it's an energetic bound.
Speaker 1:Also, when you're working with energy, you can find yourself depleted quickly. You have to really become very conscious of your own energy. Now, on you know the plus side, I will say that when you're doing this kind of work and it really doesn't have to be this, it can be it can be you're being a personal chef and you're doing it in a way that you know is from your soul and it is your soul gift and your calling. When you are doing what is from your soul and doing it in line with your calling and you are listening to your guidance and as you do it, there is no obstacle that won't be moved. There is nothing that will stand in your way for very long, you know. And so there is that special sort of advantage, because when you're working and you're sort of at the mercy of what your mind says, what the structure outside of you says a company or something like that you got to play by their rules. You know, you got to do this this way or you're out. I would say when you are working from your spirit and this would even apply within a company structure but you're considering spirit, your boss, your higher self is your boss, you can. You will be maneuvered around anything that seems to stand in the way, so you're not going to find yourself going. I just don't know how to deal with this and spirit is going to show you. So I've had situations where something is just not working. My mind is like I don't know how to, and spirit will just move it out of the way or show me something new or make a new door open when I ask. Because the whole point is you're doing this from a different place than the ego and the mind and what makes sense to the ego and the mind. So it is a blend of using those mind tools but really deferring to that guidance.
Speaker 1:I have to say, just this morning in the shower I was, I had done some work before my shower and then I got in the shower my mind was still trying to work, because I have a mind that's very much like it always wants to multitask. It always wants to be like okay, this on the stove and that over here, did it, did it, did it, did it, did it. Just mentally, even when I'm not doing anything, just like did we talk to so-and-so? Did we do this, did we do this? Oh, we got to do this later. That's just my brain. That's why journalism worked so well for me.
Speaker 1:But I'm learning now and Spirit showing me that that's fine, as long as I'm coming in during you know, those times during the day and going okay, time for that part of me to step aside. You know we're going to create a safe space where that part of me is not yammering away and being in control. And I would say that's the biggest difference, no matter what you're doing, between doing it consciously and doing it unconsciously. If you're doing your work unconsciously, you're not creating any space for that sole voice to come up, for the guidance, to come up for the higher wisdom to guide you in your work. You're just letting that mind voice kind of well, this and then this and then this, just the way it works, and then we have to do this.
Speaker 1:But you're not questioning it at all. And that's really the difference. That's really what we're talking about from when we say from you know, make your passion your profession. That's what we mean Doing your work from that sole place. And yeah, when you're doing spiritual work, it's a natural you're going to do it that way, but you can do it with any work, right.
Speaker 2:There's those moments when I'm in a reading and the information is just coming through me and it's just coming out and you know, like something wonderful or magical is happening and I cannot describe it's like a perfect 10. It's like the perfect dive off the high board. It's it all comes together. All the work, all the training, all the effort it comes together. It's like, yes, you know it is, it is spiritually orgasmic, it's the way I want to say this. It's like, yes, you know you're in exactly the right place, you're in exactly the right flow.
Speaker 2:And there are times that clients have come to me later on and they will say, susan, my reading with you changed my life. And I'm humbled when I hear them say that. But wow, it makes me think. Something I was doing from my heart, from from my my love of doing this has made an impact on somebody else's life. The kind of rewards that you get when you follow your passion and are able to work with it consistently are beyond anything. There are things you don't get the time that you write the perfect chapter, the time that you create the perfect meal, the time that you just know you're in tune with the energy flowing through you.
Speaker 1:Those people in, those people in the grocery store where you get that one checkout person and you're like, oh good, I got them because they brighten my day when we interact, because that's their, them following their soul, calling us to bring light to people's day as they're interacting with people. That's profound spirit work.
Speaker 2:For Auntie and I, both what we are doing is our passion and we created a profession that supports us. And if we did it, you can do it, because sometimes people see doing this professionally or as a full-time job as an unattainable dream, like, oh yeah, that would be nice but that'll never happen. Or, oh yeah, they can do it, you know, as if somehow it just happened for us. If we did it, you can do it. Finding what you love to do and making it be your profession is doable for all of us. If you have some kind of passion in your heart that you want to explore, that you wanna see where you can take it, what you can do with it and feel called upon to work with, then, yes, you can turn your passion into your profession.
Speaker 1:And that's what this class is gonna be about, that we're gonna start in a couple weeks. It'll be Thursday evenings and I'll post all the details about signing up, but it is a class that is going to be an opportunity for you to feel through. You know what are my next steps in doing this and what's most important for me to know and remember as I feel into this, and even you know how, am I sure that this is the thing that I wanna be doing. There are ways you can, you know, be sure that you're not being led astray by parts of you that are not as in tune. I know.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I've talked to people who might say you know, I want to be an astrologer. You know, and then the more you listen to them, the more that they really reveal themselves, the more you're like you're not an astrologer, you're an amazing. You know reiki healer, I mean, you know your mind's perception of the way you want to show your gifts might be different from how it's actually coming out, but really knowing how to listen to that course, like Susan said, if you want to do that, you can do it. You can do whatever you decide you wanna do, but it does help to kind of work with what's coming out of you, naturally too.
Speaker 2:We are sometimes our own worst enemies. We get into our own way. We have our own particular blockages. We have our own psychological crap to deal with kind of thing. We can keep ourselves from success because we don't think we deserve it. We can accidentally punish ourselves. When you move into something, there's your calling, there's your passion. It's gonna help you move past those. But you're gonna face them quicker and faster and be able to work through them easier because you're working with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll say that in the time that we've known each other, susan, we've definitely helped each other reveal those blocks. I mean, I know I'm always telling you you need to value yourself more, you need to do this and that, and you know, or you can do this technological thing. And you're always telling me take yourself more seriously and get focused. You don't have to let yourself be pulled in all these directions and be a victim of what's coming at you. Get in your confidence some more, and these are things we need to be shown, you know, either by each other or by ourselves, or I mean, I know I need some more, never stop learning.
Speaker 2:We never stop growing. We never get to there, wherever there is you know, oh, and I'm there, I won't worry about this anymore, I won't have to deal with this anymore. Nope, it's just gonna be the next thing that you have to deal with, and it's a continual growing process. But you grow faster when you're working with the passions of your heart, with your calling, with what speaks to your spirit.
Speaker 1:I'll say the best way to know if you're on the right track. If you make a big decision, like, let's say you sign up for this class, or let's say you get your business license or whatever it is, and you do that thing, you take that step and then, like the next day, you're in a cold sweat and you're terrified and you're like what have I done? That's the right thing, because it typically Lots of them are born. Yeah, the fear is part of it. So, yes, definitely. Oh. Thank you, susan. This has been a really fun conversation, my pleasure.
Speaker 2:And it is joyful for us to kind of tip the glass to share what we know. Yeah, this is what we've done. This is what's worked for us. This is sort of some guardrails and some boundaries ways that it can make your path a little bit easier, a little bit smoother and a little bit faster.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and I'll put all the information in the description and we'll connect again soon and all the info is on my website, exploreastrologycom.
Speaker 2:It's on India's website, my website, and we'll be talking about this more and sending stuff out. Absolutely Bye, bye.