Body Wisdom Rising

The Death—Rebirth Portal And 2026: What This New Era Is Awakening

• Alyssa Stefanson

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The ground just shifted beneath our feet, and for many of us 2025 made sure we felt it. We break down why the Snake Year felt like a ruthless audit—identity shedding, relationship endings, and long-buried lineage patterns rising—and how that clearing sets the stage for a rare ignition in 2026. With the Fire Horse energy arriving alongside an eclipse and the Saturn–Neptune conjunction at zero Aries, we explore what “make the vision real” looks like in practice: less spiritual theory, more embodied leadership and brave, proportionate action.

We connect the big sky to daily life. Pluto in Aquarius, Uranus entering Gemini, and Chiron moving into Taurus sketch a new terrain: decentralised systems, leaps in communication and education, and collective healing around value, land, money, and the body. Rather than choosing between doom narratives and “love and light” bypass, we take the middle path—staying informed, regulating our nervous systems, and building the new while acknowledging what’s breaking. If the descent brought your oldest fears to the surface, the void is your compost heap and the rebirth is quieter than cinema: fewer triggers, clearer boundaries, more honest choices.

You’ll get a practical map for the death–rebirth cycle—descent, void, rebirth—and somatic tools to help you move through each phase. We share grief work with water, mobilising anger safely, simple daily anchors, and accessible rituals to invite ancestral support with sincerity and reciprocity. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s capacity. When you can hold uncertainty without grasping, the Fire Horse momentum becomes rideable, not overwhelming. If you’re ready to move from shedding to sovereignty, tune in, bring your journal, and decide your next honest step. If this conversation lands, subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick five-star review to help more people find the medicine.

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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Body Wisdom Rising podcast. I'm your host, Alyssa, and my intention here is to deliver grounded embodied insights alongside practical tools and resources to help you heal, awaken, and remember your sacred nature. This is rooted spirituality, bringing people back to their bodies, back to their roots, and back into connection with the ancestral ways that have always carried us, not spiritual fluff, not disconnected theory, weaving together the best of ancient wisdom and modern science, living, breathing practices and conversations that integrate healing, wellness, earth-based wisdom, and conscious growth. Each week I share space with experts in trauma recovery, holistic health, and ancestral ways of knowing, as well as voices with lived experience and powerful transformational stories. Together we explore what it truly means to rise rooted, embodied, and whole. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a moment to leave a five-star review as it helps these conversations reach the people who need them most. And let's get into the episode. Welcome to anyone that is new here. Thank you so much for tuning in. And to every one of you who keeps coming back and listening to each episode, I appreciate you all so much. And I have a little favor to ask. So if you haven't already, if you can take a moment, if you are getting value from these episodes, just to leave a review. It really helps the podcast grow and uh reach more people. I don't make any money off of these episodes and I put hours into it every single week. So that I would really greatly appreciate that. So thank you so much. And uh so today we are talking about navigating death and rebirth cycles. So specifically the big shedding of 2025 and the energies we're stepping into in 2026. And I'm gonna start by breaking down the key astrological themes of this time. So we'll look at why 2025 has felt so intense for so many people and what the energies of 2026 are inviting us into. So you have a clearer map instead of just feeling like you're being tossed around by life. And from there, we'll explore how to actually move through and complete the cycle of 2025. So the death and rebirth process, the shedding, the void, and the integration that has to happen. So you can really step into 2026 with more intention instead of dragging old patterns and survival strategies with you. We'll also talk about the doom and gloom narratives that you might be hearing. So some people are saying everything is collapsing and we're entering an apocalypse versus those who are saying it's all love and light and a golden age. As always, it's a bit of both. So I do want to offer a more balanced lens. Yes, there are real challenges and intensifications. And at the same time, there is huge potential for positive change. And woven through all of this, I'm going to share why I keep coming back to inherited and ancestral burdens in my work. Because so much of what's getting stirred up right now isn't just your personal stuff. It's patterns that have been carried for generations. When we understand that, it becomes a lot easier not only to have compassion for ourselves, but to actually work through these cycles on these patterns so they don't keep coming back. And finally, I'm going to give you some practical tools that you can use to feel more supported in all of this. So simple somatic practices to help your nervous system move through intensity, ways to work with grief, fear, and uncertainty without getting stuck, and a few accessible rituals to help you release what's ready to go and call in the support you need for 2026. So this episode is really a mix of cosmic overview, grounded integration, what's happening energetically, what it might be bringing up for you, and how to walk through it in a way that feels more resourced, less alone, and more connected to the bigger story that you are a part of. And before I get into the episode any further, I do want to share a bit about what I have going on in case you do feel called to go deeper with me. So I first of all, I have a Sedona retreat coming up in April, April 18th to the 22nd. It is a woman's only retreat. I am so excited for this. It's going to be a small intimate group. So if you feel called to, please visit the link in the bio where you'll find, or sorry, in the show notes, not the bio, where you'll find all the information about that. And then if you're interested in working one-on-one with me, so I do work with people long term, but then I do offer one-on-one ancestral healing breath work sessions, which are super powerful. They're two-hour journeys that I take you through to help clear old ancestral burdens and patterns and reclaim and call in ancestral gifts. And uh before the session even starts, I actually send you prompts to prepare for the session, uh, to ask, you know, to really start to dive into these legacy burdens that you might be carrying that many aren't that we are not even aware of that we are carrying. And then after the session is over, I send you an integration plan. So you can find more information on that in the show notes. And um also I have my ancestral alchemy program coming up January 11th. I am so excited for this. This is the first time I'll actually be running the program. So it is the lowest it will ever be. So it's half of what it will actually be uh going forward. So it's a really great uh time to join. And um, we go deep into ancestral healing to really prepare for uh the energies, to be able to take advantage of the energies in 2026. So if you want to hear about the program or learn about the program, uh definitely go uh check out the link in the show notes where you'll you can learn all about it. Uh you can enroll now. Right now, I actually do have a Black Friday deal on. If you are listening to this before December 10th, you can take advantage of that. So$200 off. That code is BF200, and you'll find that in the show notes as well. Um, but if this is after December 10th, 2025, you can still use the code. There's another code there for$100 off in the show notes. Um, so you can use that as well at any time that's always available to you. So that is it. Let's get into the episode. So let's start talking about why 2025 was so intense. So before we begin talking about 2026, we need to understand 2025 because this year has been a major initiation for so many people. So in the Chinese lunar calendar, 2025 is the year of the snake. So snake ears are always about shedding old skins, death and rebirth, uh, exposing what has been suppressed, releasing what cannot continue. Snake ears are not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to be honest. They strip you down until only truth remains. And if you've been feeling like your life, your relationships, your identity or emotional world has been turning inside out, this is why snake energy is not soft. It forces truths to the surface. It brings up the fears and wounds we have avoided so we can finally face them. In astrology and in symbolic terms, 2025 has carried three major themes. So the first one is massive excavation and revealing. All the things that were buried, avoided, or held in the shadows have been rising up. So ancestral wounds, inherited patterns, relational cycles, survival strategies, not because you did anything wrong, but because the foundation needed to change. Number two is collective nervous system activation. So this wasn't only personal healing. 2025 stirred old fear responses and trauma that wasn't just yours. So family conditioning, generational burdens, scarcity wiring, identity patterns. That's why so many people have said, I don't understand why this is happening again. Like, why am I repeating this cycle? Why is this resurfacing for me? Because most of what has surfaced uh this year originated generations before you. You know, in our Western culture, we focus so much on the individual and our own personal healing, which of course is an important layer, and we do need to focus on that as well. But uh, so much of what uh we move through and what we carry never began with us. It became began generations before. And number three, breakdown before breakthrough. So this has been a year of endings, relationships dissolving, career changes, identity shifts, grief, fear, contraction. The snake year is always a dismantling year. It strips away everything you can't take into the next chapter. So, in simplest terms, 2025 was not chaotic without purpose. It was a clearing year, a year of shedding the old identity, not stepping into the new one quite yet. So it marked the death phase of the cycle. And so um, just going a little bit deeper into the themes of the stake year. So shedding old skins. 2025 wasn't about adding more, it was about releasing. So old identities, roles, coping strategies, and even relationships were asking to fall away. Transformation dissolves the familiar. So it changes you from the inside out, it reveals the unseen. So patterns in your lineage, fears, survival responses, emotional truths you've avoided, they all started to rise to the surface. It was deep emotional and ancestral clearing 2025. So it activated inherited wounds and nervous system patterns that came from long before you were born. It was a year of endings and release. So snake year's closed chapters. It was also a nine-year. So not because something is wrong, but because its purpose is complete. So what 2025 brought up in many people's lives. So for many people, 2025 showed up in their lives, um, in their actual lives, not just energetically. The Snake Gear themes uh didn't stay abstract. They moved into relationships, emotions, identity, and daily experiences. So many people did experience sudden shifts and disruptions, such as relationships ending, partnerships changing or dissolving, job loss or career changes, unexpected challenges, major transitions, old patterns resurfacing. It wasn't random chaos. It was the old story breaking down. And one of the biggest shocks for a lot of people was that old wounds came back around. So unworthiness wounds, not enough, abandonment wounds, rejection wounds, feeling alone or misunderstood, scarcity patterns, fear around stability or identity. Even for people who have done years of inner work, these themes were resurfacing. I know it was for me. Um, you know, actually things started to fall apart. Things were collapsing for me in 2024 towards the end of it. But 2025 was like a deep internal alchemical process for me. Like all these uh wounds and um fears were like crippling and coming to the surface so I can actually face them and work through them. So I don't have to bring those old wounds and those old patterns and those old beliefs and those old fears with me into the energy of 2026. So it didn't mean that you were going backwards. It didn't mean that you were failing. This was the snake energy revealing what was still held in the nervous system, the lineage and the subconscious. Uh, it's so important to do somatic work to work through this. This past year, like I went all in on my practices and my rituals. That's what has really supported me to fully move into these energies. I'm already feeling them. Like I'm already experiencing massive uh positive shifts in my life. I'm really tapping into that energy of 2026 because I was so devoted to doing the work in 2025. I was aware of what was happening. I was very tapped into the energy. So I was able to work with it. And that's the important thing of like being aware of um these energies available to us because then we're able to work with them. Then we can take advantage of them. I also was in like a really hard Saturn cycle. So I had um, I was going through four Saturn um transits actually at the same time. So it's a year of discipline. It was really, really heavy, but it was helpful for me to know what I what energies were uh there to support me because I was able to utilize them. So that way I can really step into uh 2026. So I'm really excited about that. So 2025 asked you to face patterns from a new level of consciousness. It wasn't repeating so you could suffer. It was repeating so it could finally be seen, worked through, and released. So this is what the snake does. It exposes, it strips away, it brings truth to the surface so that what you're carrying into the next chapter is honest and aligned. Now let's get into 2026. So the year of the fire horse. So this is not just any horse year, it's the fire horse. So it happens only uh every 60 years. So that alone makes 2026 a rare ignition point. So the energy of the fire horse is unstoppable. It is fast moving, it is bold and courageous, rebellious and independent, willing to take risks, refuses to stay small or held back. If 2025 was the shedding and the dismantling, 2026 is the charge forward. So this is a year of acceleration, clarity, and bold action. And across ancient cultures, the fire horse symbolized sovereignty, freedom, movement, taking territory and new ground, power and leadership, moving beyond old limits. So this is the kind of year where you start things, you take leaps, you take up space, you show up in your life differently. Mistake year strips you down, and the horse says, now ride forward. So there is a repeating core metaphor across this tradition. So the fire horse burns away the old form so the new identity can rise, not in a destructive way, though it may feel and appear destructive at times, but it's in a rebirth way. So it's about stepping into new terrain, expanding your world, claiming your power, acting from your soul rather than your fear. So whatever the snake revealed you in the past for you, whatever wound it revealed, the horse brings the breakthrough. So the horse asks you to explore emotional expansion, financial expansion, spiritual expansion, career or purpose expansion, relational expansion, not expansion for ego, but for alignment. So the snake really stripped away anything that um was not in alignment. So it was very much like an ego deflation, an ego death year. Horse year, stretch your capacity and your vision. So you will likely feel more momentum going into this year, more clarity, more urgency to move or shift, more courage, more confidence, the desire to change something in your life. So this is a year where you will feel the impulse. Something new is calling and you want to move uh towards it. You feel called to move towards it. So it is really important to know that when we go through such deep shedding, if we haven't fully uh integrated those experiences, if we haven't been doing our somatic practices or grounding practices, it can feel a little bit chaotic going into that horse energy. So it's really important to make sure that you've taken that space to integrate all the lessons from 2025. Um, you know, there I talk often about that void in between the fertile soil where we plant new seeds, which we will go a little bit deeper into this episode when we talk about the death and the rebirth process a little bit later. So the transition into the fire horse year, it begins on February 17th. And that's the moment the energy officially flips. It's also around the same time as an eclipse, which we'll get into as well. So it's perfectly aligned after a year of shedding, breakdowns, voids, and identity release. So if snake energy brought up your patterns, fears, and wounds, horse energy brings movement, liberation, breakthroughs, taking action, rebuilding, rebirth. So where the snake made you face yourself, the horse makes you become yourself. So the snake stripped away the false identity. The fire horse now carries the true one forward. So 2025 was a nine-year. So we have a nine-year ending and going into a one-year, which is beginning in 2026. So numerolog uh numerologically, 2025 was a nine-year. So it's a year of completion, endings, purging, death, and karmic cycles closing. So that's why 2025 felt like such a year of shedding, identity collapse, emotional upheaval, timeline closing, relationship shifting, destiny redirecting. So nine is the year where the universe strips away what cannot continue. And 2026 is a one-year. So that is the reset, the ignition, the rebirth. So nine clears the field, one plants the seed. So 2026 is a doorway year. So think new identity, new direction, new systems, new leadership. It's the energetic handoff from endings to beginnings. So we also have uh an eclipse, February 17th, which falls on the same date as the Chinese New Year. So eclipses always uh bring, you know, sudden shifts, their activation points. So think timeline shifts, sudden awakenings, collective transitions. My spiritual awakening actually was triggered uh during eclipse seasons. So um starting my life actually fell apart August 2017, during like right after that eclipse of August uh 2017. And then I actually had my spiritual awakening right at the time of uh the February 2018 eclipse. And um also I ended up losing a job like the day after the August 2018 eclipse. So for me, eclipses have brought a lot of changes, transformation, endings, that's for sure. Even this last one in 2024, when I was talking about um the end of 2024, was a time for a lot of changes for me. So September 24, when things started to crumble, that was right after we had an eclipse um, which hit my um hit Pisces, the exact degree of my rising sign. So that really impacted me. So things really started to kind of crumble and shift then. And then I also had the eclipse this past September right on my vertex, which was uh a destiny point activation. So I've definitely been uh feeling that for sure. I also had Saturn crossing my ascendant and my uh in Pisces um just recently. And um my north node is in Aries. So I'm definitely feeling a lot of destiny activation during this time. So the eclipse activates the Aquarius uh Leo axis, which means uh community versus individual, leadership versus dependence, awakening movements, new social structures. We also have a lot of like outer, all the outer planets are making shifts. So we have Saturn entering Aries. So Saturn is structure, responsibility, building foundations, leaderships, karma, discipline. And then Aries is asking, what are you building? What are you committed to? What identity moves into action this year? It's a collective maturation. And we also have Neptune entering Aries as well. So this only happens every 165 years. Neptune is the spiritual vision of a generation. Aries is rebirth and ignition, leadership. So together uh there we're really going to see spiritual um leadership. So spirituality and action, visions moving into movements, actually like grounding these visions into uh reality and taking action with them, dreams manifesting. So this is um where a lot of new philosophies, um, religions, cultural paradigms often emerge. So the we also have Saturn Neptune conjunction at zero degrees Aries. This is really, really big. This is happening around the same time as the eclipse as we move into the new Chinese uh new year, into the force uh the horse year. So this is very, very significant. And the last time Saturn and Neptune aligned at turning points, we saw uh collapses of empires, um, spiritual awakenings happening, political revolutions, major cultural rebirths, uh, changes of uh systems. So this conjunction is the start of a new collective timeline. So Saturn really makes it real and Neptune gives it the vision. So this is why I keep saying that 2026 isn't just another year. It really truly is a global shift. Uh, we also have Uranus entering into Gemini. So Uranus governs technology, breakthroughs, disruption, revolution. Gemini rules communication, information. And so when uh Uranus moves here, we see major leaps forward often. So new education, knowledge systems, new media, new internet, new ways we connect, speak, think, organize. So it's the next wave of quantum technology and collective intelligence. I'm sure we're already seeing that and feeling that, that's for sure. We also have uh Chiron entering into Taurus. I'm really looking forward to this. Chiron has been moving through my second house over the past nine years. So it's really affected me and my self-worth and finances. So I'm really looking forward to it shifting out, that's for sure. So Chiron shows a collective wound and the path we heal through. So 2008 to 2006, Chiron was in Aries. So the wound of identity, sovereignty, the I am. Now Chiron moves into Taurus. So the wound of value, worth, and resources is collectively land, money, the body, the earth. So this cycle historically brings a financial system collapse and reform, inflation and economic realignment, ecological and food systems changing, return to soil, earth, herbal medicine. Chiron and Taurus heals through embodiment, grounding, simplicity, nature, ancestral wisdom. That's why I keep saying that that's so important to do that work if you aren't already engaged in somatic and ancestral practices. So we also had Pluto entering into Aquarius last year. So this has already started. This is the backdrop. So Pluto is transformation and dismantling. Aquarius is collective systems, technology, community, and decentralization. So we are leaving the edge of institutions, hierarchy, centralized power, and entering the age of networks, community, innovation, decentralization. So Pluto and Aquarius always correlates with revolutions uprising, new social structures, new technologies, power shifting to the people. So 2025 was really the purge year. It stripped away what couldn't continue. So people experienced endings, identity shifts, shadow work, emotional release, spiritual breakdowns and breakthroughs, relationship, career, health realignments. So it wasn't punishment, it was initiation. 2026 is the next phase. And I'm not saying that there isn't going to be a lot of dismantling or things won't feel chaotic because I believe that they definitely will as well. That will continue. But there will be a lot of forward energy. And as we know, you've experienced it, you know, these changes, these collapses is really what uh births new systems, new ways of being. So the themes many people are talking about. So 2026 to 2020 or 2030, sorry. Um, so the era themes are leadership and sovereignty, dismantling old systems, new forms of spirituality, AI and intelligence evolution, communities, co-ops, collectives, ancestral and land-based healing, value systems changing, um, money transformation, economy transformation, new visionaries emerging, innovation, speed, acceleration. So this is the beginning of the new era story we're stepping into. I break this down really clearly because a lot of people are moving through a death and rebirth cycle and don't actually have the language for it. So a death and rebirth cycle isn't just a hard season, it is a full identity shift. So it usually moves through three phases. So there's the descent and shedding. So everything unhealed rises to the surface. Uh, things that aren't aligned need to fall away. Then there is the void, the limital space, the in between where nothing feels clear or certain. And then there's the rebirth. So the new version of you actually lands. And let's walk through each and then I'll share how I've navigated my own recent cycle. So a death and rebirth cycle always starts with the descent. So think of it as the contraction before the expansion. So this is when old patterns that you thought you healed come back. Relationships or work situations start to fall apart. Money feels shaky or uncertain. Your nervous system is more activated, anxiety, jaw tension, insomnia, racing thoughts. You're questioning everything. What am I doing? Who am I even more? This is where the shedding begins. And everything unhealed rises to the surface, such as shadow, unworthiness, fear, uncertainty, old survival patterns. Not to punish you, but to show you what can't come with you into the next chapter. And right before we expand, life will often remove what's what isn't aligned. And I see this as tests. Like that's the way that I look at it now. It's super supportive when we can reframe the way that we look at it. Um, perspective is everything. So everything that's not aligned needs to be removed, including the version of you that's too small for where you are going. So this can feel brutal because it touches your deepest fears. I'm not enough. I'm going to lose everything. Maybe I made a mistake. Um, we often want to go back, right? Like we want to revert backwards. But um, you know, it's helpful to name what phase that we're in. It's like, okay, I'm in this descent. Uh, this is a clearing phase. I know it's helpful for me when I know that I'm in it, that's for sure. Rather than just unconsciously going through it. We need extra nervous system care during this time. So just simple practices that were doing consistency. Consistency is really, really important. There is so much free tools that you can find on the internet, right? There's tons of somatic practices if you go on YouTube where you can work with a practitioner. I've invested so much money working with practitioners over um the past several years. But there were times where I didn't have any money. So initially, when I started this path when I lost everything in 2017, I had no money for support. I had no job. I had, I was in living in an empty apartment with no belongings. So I went to the library and I really wanted to heal. I went uh to um YouTube and I binge watched YouTube videos and I actually applied the tools to my life. We actually have to do them, right? So it's not enough about learning or watching YouTube videos or reading the books. We actually have to do the work. And letting yourself feel grief, anger, disappointment instead of numbing or bypassing it, you know? And I know initially, even when things happen when we feel rejected, it's like we don't want to feel it or we want to act like we don't care. It's okay to give yourself some space to feel it and then just give yourself an expiry date. So for some people, they avoid negative motions altogether. They distract, they numb. Um, this used to be me. So I actually had to carve out space and time to feel. Like I would literally sit in my bathtub and I would do somatic awareness practices. And it was so, so helpful. Just knowing that we don't have to go into the story. And so many people fear going into the emotions because they're scared that they're gonna get stuck there and trapped there. You absolutely will not. Um, and if it does feel too overwhelming, you can get support, absolutely. But just noticing your sensations, noticing the breath, um, getting behind the emotion, not becoming a mesh with the emotion, allowing the emotion to move through you is super helpful. When we're working with grief, working with the water element is super helpful, using cleansing smoke and herbs. Uh, I like to use the fire element when I'm working with anger, and anger wants to move. So even just like shaking, um, giving yourself space if you feel called to just like scream and just like get it out. And knowing when you've stayed in it too long, because there are some people get engulfed in their emotions. Um, they stay stuck in the story, they wallow in it. It becomes their identity. Know that um we just want to give ourselves an expiry date and know have I stayed this in this long enough? And is it time to shift my state? Is it time to call in something new? Right. Once we pull out the weeds, we need to put something in its place or the weeds start to grow back. So letting yourself feel the emotions and um creating space to receive. You know, me personally, I got really good at feeling the dense, heavier emotions, but I had a lot of uh challenge when it came to allowing myself to feel good. I had this fear that it would be ripped away from me. I'm like, I don't want to feel good, I don't want to. Feel expansion and love and receive all the good things because it's so painful when it gets ripped away. But I it became a self-fulfilling prophecy when I wouldn't fully allow it in. It's like I would self-sabotage because I wouldn't fully allow all the goodness to come into my life. So I've had to build my capacity to hold good things, to hold expansion, to hold abundance and just remind yourself that this is temporary, this is making space. So there's always a void in between after that death, after the shedding comes the silence, the void, the liminal space, the place between who you were and who you're becoming. And this honestly can be the hardest part for so many people because the old life is gone and it just feels empty. It feels like a void. It feels uncertain. We don't know who we are. There's a new life, but it isn't here yet. Um, our usual ways of getting control, we that's when we start to revert back to these patterns. We start gripping and grasping and trying to control things, right? Like I do this. I know that I noticed and I've been doing this work for so long. So it's like these patterns will still come back. The difference is I don't stay in them long now and I'm able to witness them and observe them when I'm in them. And then I'm able to um shift. So it's like these old survival patterns will come back, right? Like, oh, I need to grasp, I need to do something, I need to take charge. And we do want to take action. Like, we don't want to stay complacent. Of course, it's not, we don't want to stay there, we don't want to stay stuck. Um, but knowing that just allowing yourself to be in that uncertainty is actually super, super healing because that is where surrender comes in. That is where we start to build our faith and our trust muscle. Super important to say. So, this is the fertile soil where new seeds are planted. So, if you're in that void and it feels really uncertain, start planting new seeds. So, start visioning and getting excited about a new life that you want to call in. One of my favorite practices to do is like um get right down. So I love to journal like this full vision of like what I'm wanting to step into, not gripping to it tightly because often it changes from my initial plan or how I see it. It always ends up turning out better. But I really like ask myself, okay, how what would my state be like? How would I um hold my body? How would I show up in life if I was this person that I'm wanting to step into? Like what things would I be doing, right? And um starting to step towards those things gradually, right? So it doesn't mean grasping and like um trying to control things, but start taking action steps towards that, right? So if you're for me this year, I'll just give an example. But like, I mean, things are really starting to fall in place already for me, uh, which feels really, really good because I've gone through many death and rebirth cycles over the past eight years. But my practice was like actually taking steps forward to being that person. So participating, I I, you know, I the work that I do uh as a ceremonial guide and as a somatic practitioner, as an ancestral healing guide, it calls on me to devote myself to that work. The more I devote myself to my inner work, the more that I'm able to show up for the people that I work with, and the more opportunities start to come in. So, you know, for me, the the devotional practices aren't even an option. There's something that I absolutely have to do and take action towards. And it's taking action towards, you know, my own healing as well. So um, yeah, in in and this void, it can feel flat, right? So it can feel like nothing is happening, and this is really building your trust muscle, is is the way to look at it. Um yeah, and then um, so just going into, you know, when I went through my own death and rebirth, you know, walking this path for so long, um, what's really pushed me into this past year is uh leadership. So I'm an Aries North Node. So I really feel the impact of what's coming in. So that's leadership and initiation. That's what I'm meant to step into in this life. I'm also an Aries, or sorry, I'm an uh Pisces Rising, an Aquarius Sun. So Pisces Rising, it's like that spiritual leadership with my Aries North Node. And I have old patterns of people pleasing, codependent tendencies, um, just wanting to focus on collaborations or partnerships, not believing in myself enough that I am good enough to really step into leadership roles. And so this year, life was saying no more, and especially with my Saturn transits, like it was pushing me into uh this leadership position. And it felt so hard. And now I'm actually seeing why. Like now I'm actually seeing the fruits of my labor because it was it was a lot of hard work this past year and a lot of shedding and a lot of going inward and a lot of uncertainty. And now things are starting to fall into place. You know, and I went through a period of partnerships shifting and collaborations falling away and uh money feeling unstable and deep unworthiness and scarcity wounds were triggered in coming to the surface. There were nights when my jaw was so tight I couldn't sleep, like my body was processing a massive amount of fear. It was crippling. Um, it was intense. It felt like everything was on the line. And I knew I had two choices. So either go back to the smaller, familiar version of myself or treat it as an initiation and give it meaning because it helps so much when we start to give it meaning and look at it in that way. And I chose to treat it as an initiation and I doubled down on my inner work, on my daily practices, on my somatic work, um, on being in nature and staying connected to nature, staying connected to community, staying in honest contact with my fear instead of numbing it and trying to run from it. And um, you know, most importantly for me, it's calling in that ancestral support. And I got very intentional with ritual this year. So I started specifically inviting my ancestors into my business for support. And um, you know, I just I put it all in the line. I said, this work is in alignment, clear what needs to be cleared and open the doors for what's meant for me and let my ego step aside so the medicine can move through. And I built a simple altar and I made regular offerings and I committed to this prayer, not just once, but consistently, like this devotional practice. And then um, after a while of doing this, I had a day where I went out to the park and uh there was an eagle flying high up ahead above me, um, circling over me, and it stayed there for quite a while. And so many indigenous teachings um say that when an eagle um is flying high above us, it's carrying our prayers to the creator. Um, and then uh when it flies low, it's a sign that our prayers have been received. And so a few days after I had seen that eagle at the park flying high above, I actually went outside to throw up the garbage and an eagle flew above me, above my home. Um, low. It was flying low just above my head. And I looked up, I'm like, is that an eagle? Um, and I've never, I never see them in the city like that. So I knew that that was a sign that my prayers had been uh delivered, that they had been received. And within the next week, my Instagram started really taking off. Uh, my podcast started growing, creative blocks were just lifted, right? Like I opened up that support for my creativity to flow through me because I was connecting to the gifts of my ancestors. Um, so new ideas, new offerings, and new uh clients began to flow in. So um, that's the power of doing this work. You know, when I first started my healing process, I had a mentor that I had been working with. This was eight years ago, and she would often talk about ancestral healing. Like that's what she was so, so into and so devoted to. And she knew most people didn't want to hear it because most people just care about their personal stuff. And um, you know, she kept like really trying to drill it in how important this work is, and it's the ultimate manifestor. So, like, literally working with your ancestors is like the ultimate manifester, but it can't be for that reason. Like you have to show up to this work with a sincere uh heart, with offerings, with reciprocity, with wanting to cultivate connection. And it is mind-blowing what can happen to in your life. And I've invested so much money in like so many of subconscious rewiring programs, um, so many manifestation programs over the years, like so, so many. Nothing has shifted my life like ancestral healing work. So uh it is powerful, powerful work. And it is, I believe it has the power to change the world. I truly do. And so we go into the rebirth after. So, rebirth isn't usually fireworks and like a movie montage, it's quieter than that. So um, it can suddenly start, it can suddenly start with you realizing that you're not reacting the way that you used to, noticing you no longer tolerate what you once accepted. So, really noticing those shifts happening internally. So, keep in mind that the internal shifts happen first and then the external. So, this is like part of that void where it's like, oh, okay, I start to actually notice how I'm not reacting like I used to, or I'm not crippled with fear, or I'm trusting more, or I'm so more surrendered. My nervous system is more regulated. Like it starts internally. Then all of a sudden we start seeing opportunities come in. Um, you know, new connections are being made. Like that's when we start to actually see our external start to shift. Like old wounds start to disappear and these patterns, these um that we held for so long, become um unblocked and we start actually manifesting and creating, you know, the life that we're wanting to really step into. So it's a new level of ease or alignment in your work, your relationships or creativity. And so practical tools for moving through your own cycle is it's super helpful just to name what phase that you're in and just asking yourself, am I in a shedding phase? Am I in the void? Am I starting to rebirth? Knowing that um nothing lasts forever, you know, there's stages for everything, it's really helpful for me just to uh, you know, repeat to myself this two shell pass. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's going to, but it always does. And I honestly find that the longer that I'm in it, like the longer that I've been in like a rebirth or sorry, a collapse, a death phase, um, the more painful it is, the bigger the blessings and the gifts on the other side. And just creating simple daily anchors is um super, super helpful. So five to 10 minutes of breath and body check-in in the morning, you know, writing out what's actually happening versus the story that you're telling yourself, you know, doing weekly rituals. Um I go to uh sweat lodges weekly. That's super supportive for me. I love being in community and um, you know, just being in devotional uh prayer in that way. But you can do a little weekly ritual at home. So candle offering to your ancestors, prayer, uh, getting outside. We need to be connected with nature, even if it's cold. I live in Manitoba in Canada, one of the coldest provinces, and I'm committing myself to getting outside as much as possible and just connecting with the land, connecting to the, connecting to the fresh air. And work with your emotions, not against them. So give yourself space to feel. And this might even be putting it in your schedule. I'm going to have a bath and I'm gonna let myself feel what I haven't let myself feel. You know, it could be that. I'm gonna let myself um move through this anger. I'm gonna shake my body. I'm gonna put on some rage music and like punch a pillow, like whatever you need to do, whatever you feel called for. Let the energy move through your body. Emotions are energy in motion. They want to move. And so giving yourself the space to do that cry, shake, journal, talk to someone. Um, and notice if you're looping in the same story without any uh new movement. That's the one thing that I often watch is like the story that I'm telling myself and not getting stuck in my head. Like if I'm stuck in my head, it's like, okay, how do I get back into my body? Because often I'm not wanting to feel something. If I'm holding a lot of tension in my body, then I'll go into my head, thinking I can solve it in my head, but I never solve it in my mind. So we need to bring that energy back into our body. So change your environment, move your body, put on music, call a friend, do a nervous system exercise. We want to feel emotions, not live inside them and work with someone if it's within your budget, right? Like work with a practitioner. It's it's super, super helpful to have support and to invest in yourself in that way. And just know that you don't want to go through this alone. So death and rebirth cycles are heavy to carry in isolation. So support can look like a therapist or a somatic practitioner, recovery or healing communities. You know, there's so many free um healing communities out there. You just have to look for them. And that's what I always remind people. You know, when people say, Oh, I don't have community, it's like, well, go like volunteer your time somewhere. Like what mission are you, you know, like what mission are you really like driven by and uh want to be a part of? Like go volunteer your time. You'll find such an incredible like-minded caring community when you do volunteer work. Go to uh there's so many different 12-step recovery communities out there or other company um recovery communities like recovery dharma, which I love. Like there's there's there's so much out there. You have to work though. It's not going to just come to you. You have to look for it. Uh connecting with spiritual mentors, connecting with your ancestors. Your ancestors want you to connect with them. Like that's what they're there for. They want you to connect uh with them through your own rituals and your practices. Yeah, and if paid sport isn't available, for me, it wasn't. You know, I went to the library when I started my journey all the time and YouTube, like I had mentioned. So, and podcasts, right? Podcasts are super supportive. Community groups. So there's a lot of free wisdom out there, but the key is use it consistently, apply it. Don't just listen, actually do the stuff. It's not going to be helpful if you're just binge watching YouTube or listening to podcasts or reading books and not actually doing anything with it. You need to be consistent. So information doesn't change us unless we actually do the practices. And remember that the void is part of the medicine. So if you feel like nothing is happening, I'm stuck, I have no idea what's next, that doesn't automatically mean you're doing something wrong. This isn't punishment. It is the fertile soil. And sometimes we just need to build our capacity to be with uncertainty, to shift it and to alchemize it into faith and surrender. So your only job in the void is to try to get to a place of presence and um help yourself get regulated and keep tending your practices and resist the urge to grab for the nearest distraction or old pattern or go back to your old ways. You know, these are tests. This is a time of test, and you have to look at it that way. You know, that's how surrender and real trust are built. And that's usually when doors quietly start to open again. So yeah, reframing the whole process can be super uh powerful, like I had mentioned. And um yeah, so that's it for today. I hope that you found this um helpful. Oh, another thing I wanted to actually mention was talking a little bit about um, you know, the the different beliefs that what we're entering into, whether it's doom and gloom or whether it's the you know, the the golden age. So we have one side saying that everything is going downhill, that the world is collapsing and it's only gonna get worse. They see war, political instability, climate crisis, corruption, and they assume the outcome is hopeless. And yes, there are real problems, and I'm not ignoring that. A lot of systems are breaking down. But living in fear and panic keeps you stuck in survival mode. It shuts down your nervous system and your ability to take action. Fear without direction doesn't help us prepare or lead. It just keeps us frozen. And we have another side that says we're entering a golden age and everything's going to be amazing and taken care of. And there is truth there too. We are seeing innovation, collective awakening, spiritual growth, new models of community and healing. But the shadow side of that belief is spiritual bypass. So pretending that nothing painful is happening and it's all good and it's all, you know, for the for the best, and just waiting for these miracles to come in. And that also doesn't build the world that we want. So the truth is actually in the middle. So we are experiencing growth. Breakdown, breakthrough, endings and beginnings, collapse and rebuilding. And at the same time, some things are going to get harder and some things are improving dramatically. We have to be able to hold both without spinning into fear or denial. This is why I always say find the middle path. The middle path is informed but not overwhelmed, awake but not paranoid, hopeful, but not delusional, grounded and taking action. We don't wait for someone to save us. We don't pretend the challenges don't exist. We don't give our power away. We become part of the solution. So, how do you walk the middle path? Well, a few things I personally believe are essential is stay aware, but don't obsess over the news or fear narratives. Take care of your nervous system so that you can think clearly. Stay in community and connection. Keep doing your inner work. Take action in your own life instead of waiting for the world to change. And we can acknowledge what's breaking and also build the nude. So we don't collapse into fear, but we also don't ignore what's real. And that's what it means to stay grounded in transition personally and collectively. So if you enjoy this conversation and you want to go deeper into this kind of work, death and rebirth cycles, nervous system support, ancestral healing and connection, spiritual leadership, navigating these big transitions, check the show notes. Um, I have ways for you to work with me if you feel called. So my programs, 101 support and my retreat coming up. So you'll find all the details in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening.