My interest in science began at the earliest of ages, before I knew I was conducting experiments. Luckily for me I had an understanding parents that didn’t mind me melting crayons on the slide to compare melting points of different colors, mixing food dyes into various liquids to see how they diffused, or writing on the dining chairs to see how often they came back to the same spot after the floors were cleaned. I decided I wanted to be an astrophysicist after watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos over and over as an adolescent. I did an internship in high school with a Solar Physicist at Nasa Ames Research Center, and then again later in college with another Scientist studying plant canopies. Half of my college career and all of my grad school career was funded by a fellowship from the NIH. After completing a Masters in Applied Physics, I taught at the University of Portland while waiting for the new PhD program in Biomedical Engineering to open at the Oregon Graduate Institute. Instead, I got struck psychic fairly dramatically and had to put that on permanent hold.

In 1995 my first husband bought me the Artist Way by Julia Cameron for my birthday. He knew that I had always wanted to write books, but had never had a chance to sit down and get started. At that point in time I was an unhappy atheist looking for more meaning in my life. Working through Julia’s book transformed my life. Giving some consideration to a Higher Power, I started having immediate synchronicities that indicated spiritual help was right there for me and ready to answer. By following more of what my soul wanted I became happier and started trying new things like martial arts and rock climbing. A few years later Julia came out with her second book on creativity. In the last chapter she spoke of how creativity and intuitive gifts were inextricable linked; you couldn’t have one without the other. She recommended her friend, Sonia Choquette, as a good guide for dipping a toe into exploring intuition. I picked up Sonia’s Your Psychic Pathway and started doing the exercises. But instead of dipping a toe in, I took a plunge and was struck psychic to the point where I was seeing auras, feelings people’s feelings and physical symptoms, and even hearing their thoughts. The nervous system overload made me physically ill with stomach upsets and panic attacks and I couldn’t leave the house for a year. During that time I began seeing my relationships more clearly and gave up several close friendships and a marriage. At that point I wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into. However, I had made room for better-suited-to-the-new-me relationships, including a new husband and a return to scientific research.

After settling into a new marriage, a return to research, and a move across country, my research team decided to move out of state to a new university. That gave me the opportunity to start fresh since I couldn’t go with them. I had a reading from Sonia Choquette, who told me I should be giving intuitive readings, I was married to the right person, and that I’d have everything that I wanted in this life time if I’d just relax and stop trying to control everything. I didn’t find this reassuring. Still attached to my identity as a scientist, I didn’t really want to advertise as a psychic. So, I chose Coach for Life and thought I could use my intuitive gifts as a life coach. The moment I decided on this course of action, my research team decided to stay put. I had to laugh at the nudge Spirit had given me to get going again in the intuitive direction.

Coach for Life was transformative for me—the method was unconditionally accepting, which was perfect for me at the time, given that I had grown up in a highly logical and critical setting. During that time all my classmates started asking for intuitive readings, which felt like another joke from Spirit for trying to hide myself. I began teaching workshops on how to attract your ideal mate. One workshop turned into how to attract your ideal job instead. On the phone with one participant, she told me of how desperate she was—she was almost out of money and no one was calling her back. Looking at her field I saw a heavy object in her first chakra and reach in and pulled it out. She called me the next day and told me that she had been offered the perfect job and hadn’t even applied for it. I was stunned—what if I had hurt her instead of helped her? I didn’t really know what I was doing. It was time to get some training in energy medicine.

I spoke to my very first shaman mentor, Debra Grace Graves, a good friend of Sonia Choquette’s. Debra recommended I study at Alberto Villoldo’s school, The Four Winds. Alberto had designed an ingenious combination of Q’ero from the high Andes and Peruvian jungle shaman rites and interventions. I had already listened to all of Alberto’s recordings, read his books, and loved his teachings. Feeling like I didn’t have that many options I decided to go. The experience was a lot for my nervous system, but highly transformative. I met my mentors Greta Holmes and Marv Harwood there, as well as fellow shaman Irina Dittert. I completed the Four Winds Training, and took classes in Advanced Divination and Soul Retrieval—everything that I could get my hands on. I also took a destiny retrieval workshop, which allowed me to bring in my long awaited for and longed for son.

A few years after my son was born I traveled to Alberta to go through the Four Directions again, this time with Marv and Shanon Harwood. Since that time Marv and Shanon have been mentors and guides through different aspects of shamanism, from the Blackfoot tradition, to working with the Organizing Archetypes of Reality. I highly recommend to anyone interested in training similar to mine to go to Marv and Shanon, who still work in small groups in person. Marv and Shanon were given the task by the Old Man and Old Lady to carry these traditions and knowledge and bridge the gap with the western world. During the last few years we lived in Portland Marv and Shanon traveled to us and taught three Portals workshops—introducing us to the animal archetypes of Raven, Buffalo, and Coyote. It would be wonderful to be able to start these workshops again.

During this whole time (over 20+ years) I have been meeting monthly with Greta Holmes, shaman, homeopath, psychologist, and pranic healer, learning from her skills and also getting feedback on my own work with clients.

When I first began coaching, a fellow classmate introduced me to the enneagram so I could gain better insight into some of the relationship troubles I was having at the time. The enneagram was fascinating to me because it was based on what motivated each type rather than how they behaved. It turns out that these nine lenses are very helpful in working with shamanic clients, because both systems look at the internal belief system of the client in order to effect real change. I devoured all I could by authors Riso and Hudson. Later, I attended a writing workshop given by a student of the enneagram who based characters and relationships on various combinations of types. He spoke of his teacher, Katherine Fauvre, who had observed that each person actually had three types, a head, a heart, and a gut type, but led with one. These combinations fell into a tri type. People with the same tritype had more in common than people that led with the same type. I of course had to learn more. I studied with Katherine for over ten years. I highly recommend her work to anyone who wants to go deeper into the Enneagram.

More recently I have delved into Gemmo Therapy, a powerful plant medicine. Gemmos are made from the buds of shrubs and trees, in other words, from the stem cells of the plant. This gives the gemmo the full information spectrum of the plant. Just one drop of a gemmo can have an immediate and profound effect on the nervous system. Multiple drops can be used for acute symptoms from colds, etc. But for Empath clients, who are usually high strung with sensitive nervous systems, gemmos can be a life changer. Lauren Hubele has developed a system of Gemmo Therapy that addresses the nervous system first from the lense of Polyvagal Theory. First the central nervous system is harmonized, then another gemmo later is chosen to harmonize the autonomic nervous system. Later, a third gemmo can be added in to organize the autonomic nervous system when we are under stress but need to perform. What makes gemmos essential in my mind for my clients is that most of my clients do not feel safe in their bodies given past trauma, or just a sensitive nervous system. Gemmos allow a return to safety at the nervous system level. Finally the body can relax. From a relaxed and safe state, clients can start deep healing work with support from this special plant medicine. Some plants will directly help with generational trauma, with heart break, with grief, etc. I am working through my certification from Lauren’s school, and cannot wait to learn more about gemmos