Spirituality & Motherhood: Interview with Liz Liptan of Light Goddess Alchemy

Intro
Peace and innumerable blessings. My name is Jeannette Lancien and welcome welcome welcome to the spirituality and motherhood podcast. We're going to explore different ways of honoring your spiritual path, your spiritual gifts, and supporting your divine connection. All why you are mother and Dem littles. My intention here is to support your spiritual path, the development of your spiritual gift. And your own divine connection by sharing the wisdom and the experiences of other mothers who are on the path, just like you. So you don't feel like you're alone. I come to you. I come to this podcast as a mother of two boys who are ages four and six, a root worker, a psychic, a lay herbalist, a tree talker, and an entrepreneur, I run a little site called: simple weekly ritual where I offer full and new moon ritual to support you and your kids.

[00:00:51] We're over here, coloring and at the printer. Well, my kids are, I don't know where your kids are in enjoying divine connection and harmony and all that stuff. So I'm really excited because for this episode there's an interview with Liz Lipton, who is an astrologer out of Portland, she's a mama of two.

[00:01:13] She also offers products that support energetic hygiene, which is like, Deeply important. The energy within and around is deeply important. It allows you to flourish. So if you want to kind of like, you're curious and you want to listen and check her website out while you're listening. Um, it's light goddess alchemy.com.

[00:01:35] But before we dig into this interview,

[00:01:40] He's using Brown, red and green. It's exciting. Before we dig into this interview, we're going to do some intuitive wisdom with a ritual to support you. All right. Let's dig in.

Intutive Wisdom
[00:01:58]So, I don't know when you're going to get here, but I pray this is a blessing to you. Um, there's still a lot going on, y'all. There's still so much going on, but in this space and time, I really feel like it's important to understand that, uh, there's divinity flowing through and  guiding everything that happens.

[00:02:24] It's important to understand that, you know, there are many different ways to express divinity and there are many ways that divinity shows up, right? And that all these different paths, options, ways of being, life choices is all divinity expressing. It is all the divine having its way and coming back to itself and expressing itself.

[00:02:47] And that, you know, that means a number of things. One that like, um, our expression of divinity is no more important than anybody else's, which is really kind of important to remember as parents, because quite often we can prioritize our own stuff over our kids. I'm not gonna act like I don't do it. But I'm just putting it out there cause I'm near an ancestor altar.

[00:03:09] And they like to ping me on occasion anyway. So are, you know, every expression is equally as important because the divine is expressing through you and whoever it is.  Just because you don't appreciate somebody expression doesn't really mean that they have no right to express. It just means that you  aren't in harmony and that's okay.

[00:03:29] That's okay. It's important to know who you are and what's important to you. And it's okay. If that thing that they're expressing is not important to you, it also means that you have a right to express. Whatever is put in you is important. Whatever is put in you is put there by the divine and it needs to come out.

[00:03:45] It needs to be shared. It needs to be offered. And again, like coming back to you, if somebody does not like it, it is not for them. And that's okay. That's okay. There's like a big world out there. And if you don't like, you can choose to focus on some other things you can. Um, and also it means that like, there is a divine hand guiding all this chaos, all this, like sort of all this sort of COVID the rise of the right.

[00:04:19] God, global warming. It's crazy. It's stressful, but there's a divine hand guiding it. And there is some, some purpose and reason behind it. The challenge is as, as parents, um, and as humans, we may not perceive that purpose. We may not understand it, but there's something behind it and we have to lean and have faith into that thing.

[00:04:41] You know, you, ain't got to have faith, but it's helpful. It's helpful to your nerves. And it's helpful to your well-being to know that there's something bigger than all of this, right. And that bigger thing is functioning and flowing through you in organizing what seems, what feels like chaos. And it's okay for hurts in this moment

[00:05:04] and a lot of other moments before and after it's okay. If you know, you feel pain, it's okay. If you know if ish don't seem right, it's all okay. It is. But there's still divinity in the moment and we have to find ways to trust and believe in that. Um, and also realize that we don't understand everything as, as humans right now here in this moment, our, our vision is very limited.

[00:05:39] And that's just part of being human, right. Just because we're limited in certain ways, doesn't mean that we're still not the divine expressing, you know, for some of us, it's about pushing those limits for some of us, it's about leaning into those things, you know, but you gotta do you, so to support you in, in like, um, connecting with and enjoying the divine, expressing through you.

Simple Ritual
[00:06:02] Um, I would, I would support you in making a habit, making a ritual of moving from the space where the divine flows through you for your intuition. Now, listen, the thing about intuition can be kind of tricky because sometimes it could be like, um, Depending on where you are in life and where your, like your, your emotional and spiritual development is sometimes it could be like your issues, right?

[00:06:30] So there, there is a need for discernment here. Right? Um, but for me, my intuition is embodied and I know the divine wants me to do something like, not like the green, not helpful ancestors, the altar is behind me, the divine wants me to do something when I feel it in my body. Usually my gut. So whenever you need to make a decision, give yourself some time to feel what is the right thing to do, right?

[00:07:03] Come back to your body for me, it's my gut for you, it might be your heart for you might be your knees, whatever body part it is, whatever part of your body is. See if you can locate it in your body. And feel the divine flowing through you unfolding through you in one direction or another, or still yet a direction still.

[00:07:20] Cause sometimes it may not be clear in the moment and that might be, you know, you need to wait or like you're trying to make this either. Or, and it's not an either or, and it's not an and it's something that you have not imagined yet. And once you start working more with your intuition, knowing that it is the Divine flowing through you.

[00:07:41] Continue to flow through it. It won't be such a big deal for you to kind of move from it anymore. You may not have to wait. So yeah, if you get don't get anything from this, if like, cause it feels very nebulous. Oh yes, we were all the divine unfolding and it's like, well, you know, life is just kinda crazy now and I don't see it, but like focus on, you know, flowing more from your intuition, your embodied intuition.

[00:08:09] The part of your intuition that functions like as like your heart being like yes, or your stomach feeling (audible grunt) or your feet being like, you should turn left, turn left at this intersection, you can get there by the right way, but it just don't feel right. So, yeah, it's interesting because further on in the interview, that's coming up after this.

[00:08:32] There's discussion around like how to get in the body and how to cultivate a relationship with your body. Um, so that your intuition is much more embodied because I mean, you can like, you know, you can be claircognizant, that's amazing be clairvoyant and that's amazing. You might hear things, but knowing things in your body  it's helpful.

[00:08:57] Having your body as a means of discernment is helpful. Remember like your body houses, your soul, your spirit is connected to the earth. You need your body as a means of discernment. So allow it to help you. All right. So let's dig into this juicy juicy interview and I'll see you on the other side.

Interview with Liz
[00:09:23]Jeannette: Thank you for being willing to do this and talk to some stranger over the internet. 

[00:09:27] Liz:  I feel like when I looked at your website, I was like, this is like one of my people over there.  It's so cool to connect virtually and where, where would it be difficult for our paths to cross otherwise, just because we're in such different physical spaces, like we're really distant from each other. 

[00:09:50] Jeannette: I cannot believe that we did not cross paths in Portland. Yes. Which is really kind of weird 

[00:09:57] Liz: Will you remind me when you left? 

[00:09:59] Jeannette:  Good lord. I don't even remember because we moved so much. We left in 2014.  When did you come back? 

[00:10:07] Liz: I have been back in Portland since 2004. 

[00:10:10] Jeannette: Okay. That's weird. 

[00:10:12] Liz: Yeah. Well, you know what, maybe it's not so weird is that I was really lost at that time.

[00:10:18] So maybe I couldn't find my people then. I think like my, uh, what I was transmitting, you know, coming out of me was not this. It was really confused and it was a really hard time in, um, my little family and I was still with the boys, dad and Grayson was small that my sort of like spiritual awakening, well, ever since I was really young, like a small child, my life didn't

[00:10:48] make sense compared to other people's. And I was pretty confused about what I was experiencing when I would share, like with my mom or my dad, or even my siblings. I have older siblings. It was like, what I was going through was not real or, um, I would have these really interesting dreams and talk to people that nobody else could connect with.

[00:11:11] And I'd be walking outside in the middle of the night. My mom would find me on the porch and I scared her so many times, but, um, I really did have these like trance middle of the night walks when I was very, very young. And sometimes they were accompanied by a fever that would only last for like an hour.

[00:11:33] And then it would go away. Yeah, it was pretty wild, but I put that all away. 

[00:11:39] Jeannette:  Yeah

[00:11:40]Liz: I could see it was not, uh, it wasn't safe to be myself. And so, yeah. I mean, it's been sad too. It was sad then. And then like, Looking back on it as an adult doing like the inner child healing work, seeing that has been really sad.

[00:12:01] And there've been so many tears, but now it's just like, okay. Yeah, I didn't feel safe. So I became someone else. I became Capricorn.

[00:12:11] I became Capricorn because that worked. I was very serious. I was very studious. I gained weight. Um, to, I think to protect myself as a small person, I then developed like an eating disorder throughout. I had all kinds of stuff that was not, uh, healthy, like in response to not being myself, all of these things that I can see now, like, Oh, that was a coping mechanism to deal with like how uncomfortable it is to not be yourself.

[00:12:42] But. I did keep a little bit of Aries in like quick decision-making, I've always been a helper, like helping the Libras make a decision so we can take a step in any direction. But, um, I kept that. So I've ran that programming for a long time and then began having some sort of like unusual experiences. Oh, and I labeled myself as like anxious social anxiety is what I had decided that I had.

[00:13:14] And that is how I explained the very strange sensations in my body. And like what it would be like for me out in public with other people, or even, even in home space with people, because I was not allowing myself to understand what was coming through. So I was shutting it down and turning it into like, I feel so uncomfortable because I'm so anxious and I

[00:13:36] like anxious around people. How I kind of tricked myself. So motherhood happened and with the first pregnancy, I was starting. Like I just began to suddenly think about God and I had been an atheist for awhile. I went through like this whole existentialist phase when I was in college and was like too cool for God and too cool for Buddhism.

[00:14:04] And my parents are Buddhist. I was just like, no, you're wrong. Like, it's all about what you can learn through books and intellectualizing. And so, um, It was like, God is dead. So I had that phase for awhile, also this whole like punk rock, uh, group that I not a group of like a band, but like these people that like to go to punk rock shows and they were anarchists and atheists, and that was part of my teenage life.

[00:14:33] That was then part of my early twenties in Southern California. But anyway, so all of that going on. There was no spirit at all. And there was no like, love and compassion. I wasn't thinking about that. Although I was a pretty, pretty loving person, kind of, I was very sarcastic. That was just like my, how I moved through the world.

[00:14:54] But having a baby. The baby, the baby broke my tailbone as he was born. And we were like moments away from having to have a C-section The doctor's threatening if he's not out in the next minute, like I'm taking you to the, O.R., and it was so scary, but then there he was, and he was okay. And he was chubby and healthy and pink.

[00:15:18] And, um, my ex-husband is Afro Cuban and this baby had blonde hair and blue eyes. And you can see my coloring, I don't have, blue eyes, but I know how science works. I know it's possible, but it still felt like who is this kid born on the spring Equinox. And so he is an Aries, but just barely just by hours.

[00:15:41] And, um, I all of a sudden started thinking about God, I had this baby. He felt like a miracle sort of, I wasn't really connecting to it. I just felt like different. And I put that away again, um, until, well, actually I brought up my desire to connect with like a nondenominational church, like the, um, Unitarian church.

[00:16:05] Jeannette: Yeah

[00:16:05]Liz:  And my husband at the time was really appalled by the idea. And he had come from communist Cuba, where though his relationship with religion was mainly only through very, um, extreme Christian. I'm not even sure how to label it, but like his sister was speaking in tongues and belonging to this Christian group, that to him was like so extreme.

[00:16:35] He was really worried about me getting too into it. So he more or less asked me not to go repeatedly. And I remember like driving around the church, trying to find parking. I wanted to go to this church service, but it was downtown. And so there was no parking and I just like, couldn't do it. Like I couldn't find anywhere to park.

[00:16:57] And then I just left. I never went in, but when I started getting into skincare, making my own skincare and connecting to plant essences through essential oils and suddenly being like interested more in nature. So turning away from like books and all of a sudden like, okay, nature was kind of beckoning and plants were almost talking to me, like inviting me to, to connect.

[00:17:26] And that felt like good. I was into it. Like it really, I, when I started playing with the oils, I spent like hundreds of dollars on all this stuff to make my own serum, because I had been using the super fancy serum that was so expensive . It was  like $200, but I was so into it. And then I spent about 300 to get all the stuff and make my own.

[00:17:49] And then I gave away the bottles, the extra bottles to people for, um, a holiday gift thing. And that was really neat . Then. Okay. So I'm getting, I needed like one thing and I needed to get it locally. Cause I needed it right away. I had been ordering from this warehouse, but I needed to go get it. So I went to this local store over on Alberta and it was called Clary Sage Herbarium .

[00:18:17] And so I get this, I get the oil that I need and there's a man working there. And Christo. Oh, the, the, he was maybe three, three years old, my first son and he's there and the man who's working, like doesn't usually work there or only works there one day a week because he does other stuff. And I have no idea what's going on here.

[00:18:39] He just suddenly starts like having this sweet conversation with my son and it's so nice. And he's like very intuitive and, um, Christo was nervous about swim lessons and this man sprays the stuff around him, like protection spray, and it was just so sweet and I just will never forget it. So I had that experience and then I go to this tea shop, maybe....

[00:19:09] Hmm.... The next year, which was probably like early 2012. Or maybe late 2011. I can't really remember. And he's there and he's an astrologer. So I've been into astrology when I was a kid, but then I put that shit away when it was just too weird. Right. So, cause I used to like read the Bible, read astrology books, like do all kinds of like eight years old, just reading really strange things going and asking my mom, if I could go to church, I was super into spirituality and religion, but anyway, like I said, that had been put away, but then I meet this astrologer and, um, Thought. Oh, okay. Well, that's interesting. Like I ended up buying a book, just kind of thinking maybe astrology is back up for me again, or like I'm feeling intrigued.

[00:20:02] So I start reading a book and then I'm like reading like eight books and I crossed paths with him again, because he has moved his astrology business to the neighborhood where I work. No, no, that's not true. We moved. We moved from one location, way out on Hayden Island, like just almost to Vancouver, right.

[00:20:22] Um, to the Hollywood district and I'm walking. And then I see that the Portland astrology school is right there. So I was like, what's going on? I finally, I get a reading with him and then I'm also connected to randomly. Um, evolutionary astrology. And then I just like went full boar, like crazy obsessive watching, uh, doing workshops, finding like every video that I could, every book that I could read about evolutionary astrology, because it was, it was really speaking to what I had grown up with around like the idea of reincarnation.

[00:21:05] Through my parents' belief system of Buddhism, it was taking, talking about that and like the unresolved karma and also like the gifts and talents that we bring with us from our other lived experiences into this incarnation. And I was like mesmerized by it. I got too into it, according to my husband and was, um, It was interesting because like the more I moved in that direction, the further away I got from my who, who is now my ex and it was not a good time in our relationship.

[00:21:42] There were lots of struggles and continual experiences I had with spirit attempting to help me get on the right path and be myself like accidents, injury, illness, chronic pain. I hesitate to say that it was like, I don't never want to diminish anyone's experience with chronic pain. And I don't want to get into too many details about it, but I will just say that like for a decade, it was part of what was, it was part of my experience to be in pain all the time while I was also not being myself.

[00:22:22] And so part of really stepping into who I am and who, who I want to. It's not even like who I want to be necessarily. It almost feels like who wants to be me? Who wants to be me through this body and the oils and the skincare and the astrology and woo, woo. And like understanding, I know things other people don't know and just allowing that to be true.

[00:22:50] And people don't get it. Most people don't get it. I talk about it with people. They're like what some people are like, Oh my gosh, that was me too. Or that's my grandma or whatever, but like understanding that I don't have to have it reflected back to me for it to still be true for me. Right was a big piece.

[00:23:07] And, um, it happens to be true for me that as I really stepped into. Uh, really allowed for space to be real, like my own realness in space to happen. I also had like a spontaneous, miraculous, chronic pain healing experience where it just went away right after I fell down the stairs. So I had this kind of thing.

[00:23:33] I had this chronic pain.That was, um, nerve pain that was constant and also like lightening. So it felt like, uh, like a hot knife in my face. And then sometimes it felt like electric shocks shooting through my face and it was awful. 

[00:23:50] Jeannette: Yeah. It sounds awful. 

[00:23:52] Liz: I fell down  the stairs when Grayson in 2013, when he was an infant, it was the second day of school for Cristos kindergarten.

[00:24:01] So second day of school for him ever real school, we called it and I was trying to fill out the paperwork for the, to be a PTA member. And my stapler was in the basement. I go to the basement, I'm coming back up the stairs and I just like fell. And I broke so many bones on the left side of my body. And after that was over and I was off the pain meds for the accident for the injury injuries from accident, my nerve pain was also gone, just gone, and it felt like a miracle at the same time.

[00:24:44] My uncle had. Passed away. And I was with him on the day that he ultimately passed. He passed that evening. I was in his hospital room and he thought I was his ex-girlfriend. So my uncle he's, must've been like 68, I think at this time. And he's hallucinating thinking that I'm his ex-girlfriend, I'm wearing jeans and a raincoat, like a, like a North face rain jacket thing.

[00:25:13] And he thinks I'm in a red flowing dress and he's telling me how beautiful I look. He beckons me to come to him. So I go over right next to his bedside and we'd been keeping it from him that he was dying because his dementia was manifesting as being very angry. Yeah. Hostile. And he would, uh, get, um, violent like with the nurses.

[00:25:36] And so one of the strategies I thought was helpful was to not disclose to him that he was dying. I wasn't okay with that. I couldn't handle it. I was freshly postpartum and like, I couldn't lie. I still can't lie. I thought it was cause I was freshly postpartum, but that was like a shift in myself where I just stopped lying.

[00:26:00] I just like stopped pretending. So it's been kind of challenging, I think for my family members, but, um, he says to me, Hey, I want to die. Right. I'm like the fuck you want. 

[00:26:14] Like, well, we can't talk about this. This is not okay. But no one else was in the room. So I was like, you know, just kind of letting him say whatever he wanted to say.

[00:26:23] And he told me, he asked me to promise that I would do whatever I could to help him die. Right. And I said, okay, I will. And it's going to be okay, it's going to be perfect. And he just like, kind of held my hand and I don't know if he could see me for myself or if he really thought I was this other yeah.

[00:26:43] Or woman. Um, but then I went and sat down and I was breastfeeding Grayson, and this window was over to my right and this tremendous golden light. I was seeing, and then I couldn't see a physical specimen or representation of my aunt, but it was like, she was talking to me, my great aunt who is deceased.

[00:27:08] And she was like very fond of Mike. He, I feel like she thought he was her favorite nephew, but I don't know if she would ever say that there were lots of, there were four boys, four nephews, including my dad, but, um. She was like telling me just kind of, that everything was going to be all right. And she was there and I didn't ask her, but I was like, I didn't verbally ask her, but I was thinking like, well, where's grandma, where's Mike's mom.

[00:27:39] And she's also deceased. And it was like, she couldn't, you know, this is not, she couldn't be here, but it's okay. Like, everything is okay, this just isn't for her. And that's sort of, all those things kind of happen at once. Like accepting astrology, um, healing, the pain, seeing and hearing voices, seeing the light, hearing voices, connecting with my uncle in his, whatever he was experiencing and then stopping the lies was like my spiritual awakening that in the moment.

[00:28:17] For real felt like a mental breakdown because in the moment you can't, I couldn't like, see, Oh, this is spirit guiding me. It was like, I'm losing my shit. Like I take it. I'm seeing a psychiatrist. I was. And she was the, so woo-hoo I had no idea. So I was just looking for someone who specialized in postpartum anxiety, because like I said, I thought I had all this, all these anxiety problems, but, um, She was working with me and she's like, do you know about your Enneagram and blah, blah, blah.

[00:28:52] She was, her name was Dina. And she was telling me about her aunt who was a sear. And it was just like, wait a minute. That's not what I was expecting at all. So that was really curious that I ended up with that psychiatrist who just wasn't 

[00:29:10] um, perfect. I mean, she really was kind of unprofessional. So some people may have experienced it that way.

[00:29:19] Jeannette: She was what you needed. 

[00:29:20] Liz:  it was absolutely what I needed. Yeah. 

[00:29:24] Jeannette: That is a lot to process all at once. So how are you able to, I guess, slowly assimilate that information and allow it to kind of pull you into a deeper relationship with spirit? Hmm. Cause that's a lot, like, I mean, just starting with breaking your tailbone. I mean, like that's a lot.

[00:29:47] Liz: Yes. It was alot. Um, there were a lot of material situations that, that were problematic at the time. And one thing that started happening, or I suppose that I started allowing to happen was that I began to understand that I could feel my ex husband when he was engaged in his, uh, addictive, problematic. He does not use substances, um, in that way, but his behavior had a tremendous financial impact

[00:30:25] repeatedly on us, where we lost everything repeatedly and ended up in, um, thousands and thousands of dollars of debt, like all told by the end, maybe, maybe like $60,000. And. Uh, so one step was understanding that I knew what he was up to. I couldn't hear his thoughts, but I could feel him like I was in his body.

[00:30:52] And so I began there, I think by necessity, I didn't, well, didn't deliberately do that, but like I began to contact him when I started having these feelings that didn't make any sense for me. And it became clear that it was him and that I could just like, basically. Well, he was like sending me messages-- I think he didn't know it he's like sending me messages.

[00:31:16] And then also I began to understand that I could just like tap in and that was one, what that was like, uh, you know, getting thrown into something and like learning, um, experience for sure. 

[00:31:31] Jeannette: Yeah. 

[00:31:32] Liz: So that, and then he also couldn't deny. So this was cool. He couldn't deny what was happening for me, because I'm getting into some witchy, like spiritual stuff that he's uncomfortable with, but then he couldn't deny that I knew stuff I shouldn't know.

[00:31:49] Right. Because I'm like messaging him and calling him at these moments where things are going wrong for him. And he's like, Oh, okay. So that was. That may be helped out. But then I also got, you know, years went by, uh, I stabilized my, we were constantly working to stabilize our financial situation and I was constantly working to try to fix him and for years, and then I just, gosh, I just wanted to be happy.

[00:32:29] I made a determination, literally. I just said, I want to be happy and I want you to be happy with me. And I invited him to do that. He had something happened in his life. That was a positive thing that he'd been hoping for for a really long time, like over a decade. And once it came true. Once it happened, there was this idea that everything was going to be better and that he was going to be happy, but our relationship continued to suffer and he continued to suffer and he became controlling in a way that is like not his true self, but he was just going through so much that it was coming out as, um, manipulation and control of me and the kids.

[00:33:18] And it, I was just done. It was just like, this is it now you're... I don't choose this anymore. And on my birthday. So my birthday's at the end of this month, it'll be the four year anniversary that, uh, after we saw a movie for my birthday, we were walking to the car. It was raining at nighttime, and I asked for a divorce.

[00:33:43] And I knew I'd already, I'd been working toward that, but I also had gotten back into my body, not just with the skincare, but with movement and eating real food, like real food from the earth. And that had been going on for a couple of years. So there were really basic things, really basic, like choosing happiness.

[00:34:04] Jeannette: Yeah 

[00:34:04] Liz: Choosing real food, getting up outside, like super basic stuff. That was all a part of me connecting to self and to spirit. Um, And also like spirit throwing me down the stairs. Yeah. And then not for everyone, but through the evolutionary astrology, I have come to understand my experience. As I was avoiding gentle signs.

[00:34:32] I was ignoring and avoiding like the gentle nudges and what will happen because your soul, my soul. Our souls want to evolve. So there will be cataclysmic events where you have failed to, to kind of follow the nudge. Right. And so that's what happened. Okay. That's what happened to me. Um, I can see that now and more than once, because losing everything financially is also a cataclysmic event.

[00:35:00] So it was, it took a lot. I was, I was a stubborn Capricorn program running person thinking that was just like I was working in corporate healthcare. That was the next thing that had to go. It was like, all right, no more of this either. I knew that I wanted to be, um, happy in relationship with self or other person, but that I no longer wanted to be part of, uh, an unhealthy relationship.

[00:35:27] And I knew that I wanted to work in soul aligned work. And then things just, it just happened and it took a long time. It wasn't, it was not overnight, but that's, that's kinda my life story. I was also born on a dining room table. I feel like I should throw that in. 

[00:35:47] Jeannette:  Wow. Wow. 

[00:35:52] Liz: Yeah. 

[00:35:53] Jeannette: Wow. That's a lot of adventure. Then again you are an Aries. So. So like one of things, I guess you said so simple, basic things like choosing happiness, like simple movement. What other things like your, you know, you mentioned skincare, eating real food, those sort of things, kind of grounded you helped you get into your body and make different decisions. So as you are like moving forward with like a business with two kids, COVID living with Libras.

[00:36:34] How are you continuing to stay, um, grounded in yourself rather than kind of being pulled everywhere, which is yeah. 

[00:36:47] Liz: Yeah. Well, sometimes I'm not grounded. 

[00:36:50] Jeannette: That's real 

[00:36:51] Liz: Right ? Sometimes I'm not, but a lot of times I feel good even through all this stuff. Through all the pandemic, anxiety and all of that. And the stress of trying to, so I, I, I had not been, I launched the business

[00:37:13] like August of 2019 and doing yoga teacher trainings and that I had signed up for, Oh, this is another, this is a cool thing because the universe is so mysterious. Right. So, or not just not like the universe, but just the way that we participate in our reality can then reveal such mysterious things that happen.

[00:37:39] So, yeah. When I said, I told myself, like, I'm going to leave this job maybe in 2016. I said that perhaps. And then I started just thinking like, how is it going to happen? I'm not sure I'm not going to take risks too much with involving the kids, but whatever. So. I had a little bit of money at some point. I can't even remember where it came from.

[00:38:01] It just came like a few thousand sort of extra dollars that I hadn't been expecting. And I decided that I was going to do a yoga teacher training, but I also just knew I was like ready to quit. I was just going to do it. Like I was all, I was okay financially feeling like, I guess by, okay I mean, stable. I had no debt.

[00:38:25] Um, after the divorce, like  he took all of the debt and I came out of the relationship with, I still had good credit. It was like really a wonderful situation. So I was feeling stable and I was feeling brave and I was going to quit my job. I had decided, but this was in early 2019. I had made, like, I was like, okay, it's um, it's April.

[00:38:54] I decided after my birthday, that's when I want to quit. And I contacted my boss and told him my boss was out of, um, Santa Monica and he said, He was really sad. We'd been working together for eight years and I really like him. He's a Scorpio. I love Scorpios. I think there's so strange and mysterious and intense, and they can usually handle my intensity.

[00:39:20] So working with him, he, he could handle my intensity. We had a good relationship. And he said, listen, I'm doing this thing through the summer. He was continuing his education and he really didn't want to replace me at that time. And I could hear that. And I thought like on the one hand I felt almost like I needed to just move through like do the Aries thing and just like move through it.

[00:39:44] But when I stopped to consider what it would mean, it really wasn't going to harm me to wait and he was saying that he'd be very flexible around my usage of vacation time and being with the boys and just like, he needed me to show up in a certain way, but I was salary and it was sounded actually like a really good deal.

[00:40:05] Okay. So that happened. And then things got really strange at work. So I'm getting some bizarre phone calls from our corporate headquarters asking some questions about inventory evaluation. And this is so he was in Santa Monica, but corporate headquarters was in Kentucky. And I'm start, they're asking me these questions and I can tell he doesn't know that they're asking these questions and I can just real fast.

[00:40:34] I can I know what's up before anything is said, it's like, we're going down. And I just knew. But I couldn't, like, I kind of tried to talk to people about it, but it was like, I had no evidence. It's like, wow, the tone and so-and-so's voice. And the, these questions don't make sense. And I could just feel it. I can feel that he's keeping things, something from me, not my boss, but this other person.

[00:41:00] It, but anyway, it didn't, didn't really matter. I needed to just kind of go through all the different motions and wait, wait for it to play out on the material plane. Right. Sometimes that's the thing is that things just have to play out. But they closed our company. And at first it seemed like we were, well, we were being sold and we were all under the impression that they would want to continue running the business with the same employees, although I was going to be leaving in August.

[00:41:28] So they didn't know that though. None of the executives knew about my plan because my boss just didn't want them to know until four weeks before my end date. Okay. I get laid off. With everybody else ultimately, and get a small, but helpful. Uh, what do you call it? Severance and then unemployment. 

[00:41:54] Okay.  Okay. 

[00:41:56] Jeannette: Right. 

[00:41:59] Liz: While, I'm going through two yoga teacher trainings. I'm getting help. 

[00:42:06] Jeannette:  Yeah, 

[00:42:07] Liz: It was really interesting. It was really special. And then the yoga community I was connecting with sort of blew up later in 2020 anyway, through, um, I'm sure that you have heard the various different, uh, tales in different yoga communities around abuse of power and ended up finding my way out of that group, not to mention the, um, white centered Portland yoga community didn't feel safe. 

[00:42:39] Jeannette: Hey. 

[00:42:42] Liz: So that was like another shift, you know, another help. I was definitely going down the path of spiritual bypassing. I was like with the groups that I was associating with and the ways that they were interacting in the world with like real life issues, lack of inclusivity, definitely tokenizing people of color.

[00:43:03] Um, All various things that were really not in alignment with where I was coming from, but I was kind of looking the other way. So I came to an end of the road with that yoga group. Because I chose to leave it, but, um, the pandemic helped with that also because it put the pressure that the studios all closed, which is really sad.

[00:43:26] And I miss it. Like I miss being in space with other people, but I was also, I was grateful for that assist. Um, and then the pandemic is a really interesting part of my story and many people's story in that because of the what is it... the carers act and the various acts that have been passed through Congress, my unemployment was turned back on.

[00:43:53] So I am being compensated because the schools are closed and I am the primary caregiver teaching the kids. So parents in the U S at least in Oregon. And I think in many places in the US, the parent who's home with the kids qualifies for unemployment and it's been, so my business has been really challenging.

[00:44:17] It's been really hard, but I the way I'm staying happy and healthy and grounded through the pandemic, mothering and trying to run a small business is  I stopped trying to make money, I just stopped because my needs are met. My parents canceled rent. They canceled my half of the mortgage because their needs are taken care of through their retirement and they, their income is not affected.

[00:44:48] And so I just stopped trying to make money and realize I can just connect with my kids. And I'm still doing some business. I work on the weekends, but I'm not trying to make money. I'm just trying to do my thing, you know?  

[00:45:03] So I realize I ultimately want to be bringing in uh, revenue through streams that are connected to my business and that the government will not be supporting me very much longer. I think I have like a couple more weeks left. Um, And unless they turn it back on again and who knows, maybe they will.

[00:45:26] And I, and I do want to name that I'm speaking from a very privileged place where my parents have the resources to allow us to live in this home without me paying rent. And that's not everyone's experience. I'm definitely not saying that that everyone can just stop trying to work hard. And I just surrendered to the homeschooling and that's where I am right now.

[00:45:48] And the whatever happens in the next several weeks out. I'll reply. I'll answer whatever the call is. And, um, that's just, I don't know, maybe by fall, the kids will be back in school. I think that they will be, and that'll be a whole next phase where maybe my, I really try for real, like actual, um, other than engaging in things like the digital allyship course where we connected, I haven't been paying like any money for marketing or I don't pay for any marketing, because they don't even have that much time. If it did get successful, I wouldn't be able to fill all the orders. So it, so I'm doing okay with just what my community is now. And I, I fill several orders a week and I have a, um, offering similar to one of yours, I think, where I connect with folks on a subscription for we do new moon ceremonies and, um, that's been sweet.

[00:46:47] Really sweet. I have just a handful of subscribers at this time, but I just am so grateful for, for their engagement and joining me to connect to the moon and the Zodiac. 

[00:47:02] Jeannette: So can you talk more about  your connection around astrology, because I really love the fact that you're connected to heaven and earth and you're still here and embodied it feels very balanced and I would like to hear about it.

[00:47:17]Liz:  In 2015, a friend of mine invited me to go to a moon circle that was right after, um, the new year. So it was whatever, I think it was a new moon.

[00:47:28] I'm not sure, but it was just after the first of the year. And we, it was so cold because it was January. We met at this yoga studio and the heat had been turned off. Like the person who owned the yoga studio was having a fight with the land Lord. That's a terrible term with the property owner. It's also a terrible term.

[00:47:51] Um, but anyway, so I met this I'm at this place and almost every woman there is where I was in getting out of, um, an unhealthy marriage. It was bizarre how we, and we'd almost not talked about it with other people, but almost all of us had this shared experience of disconnecting from, um, toxic relationship.

[00:48:17] Not necessarily disconnecting from the person, but just from the toxic part of the relationship-- right and that was wild. So we had this like intense bond. I think that happened quickly because of our shared experience and because of how emotional it was in that, that was also connected to the moon and astrology.

[00:48:38] And I just started offering to people like I am learning this. Can I do your chart? And. I just started doing like everyone who would say yes, his chart and just talking to them about it. Like strangers, it was... 

[00:48:55] People must have been like what... 

[00:48:57] but it was interesting, you know, not everyone and is into astrology, but almost everyone is into themselves.

[00:49:05] Jeannette: Ah! 

[00:49:06] Liz: And they  like to  talk about themselves and they like other people to talk about them too. And when they have an experience where they're feeling seen and their experience is being reflected to them by me and anyone in this role, I'm sure, but this is my experience that they love it. And like they'll listen and I got very excited about talking.

[00:49:33] Talking honestly, about some of like the stuff that gets us stuck in this lived experience in these bodies where we're just like, just stuck in that inertia loop. And I wanted to talk about like, this is kind of like the thing that's fucked up about you, right? This is bothering you about you and you keep encountering it.

[00:49:58] And then we could talk about it through the South node or the position of Pluto and Pluto by house and sign, but Pluto by house for the individual, because Pluto is in the same sign for, um, you know, varies depending on the retrograde cycle. But you and I probably have Pluto in Libra. I don't know how old you are.

[00:50:20]Jeannette:  Yep, Pluto's in Libra 

[00:50:21] And then for me, Pluto's in the ninth house, which gives it a certain flavor. And I really got into talking about that and then just kept doing it. And even, uh, then in daily. So in daily life, I will talk to anyone about astrology at any time. Um, but I will, but for me, it's like checking in with so, where is everyone today?

[00:50:47] Like where's the moon or where, you know, I usually know where the slower moving planets are, uh, without having to check, but probably because I am checking all the time, I began to engage with the sun and the moon as a way to bring variety. So the slower moving planets are having this effect over a longer period of time.

[00:51:10] Right. And it's; it has a way. For me, 2020, I felt stuck. And I felt like I was a little bit too plugged into that slower collective experience that we are having. And that was reflected all around me that people are feeling oppressed. It, uh, White body people, maybe for the first time having an experience where they can't go do what they just want to do.

[00:51:38] Right. They can't go to the movie theater, they have to wear a mask and white body people not being used to that. An interesting experience of, I think. Saturn in Capricorn was this sense of being oppressed that was new to some and not new to others. And many of my white bodied community members saying this a lot.

[00:52:02] Wow. Right. Wow. So surprised. Wow. This is happening. Wow. I didn't see that that was so messed up. And I was like, Saying I caught myself saying, wow. Sometimes also when, really what I meant to say was I am so done with how some people, some people have been so oppressed for so long and I am so done with acting like I'm surprised.

[00:52:31] And I, but I was so tapped into the like Saturn struggle for a little while, just like, Oh, and then I thought, wait, like, this is actually not how I operate. I don't do this. Like for years I had been tapping into the moon cycle and connecting with the moon and the sun around the new moon and the full moon and seeing those reflections and the variety of experience.

[00:52:56] Right. Like I know how to do that. Like, why was I so stuck? This is so interesting, but yeah. But that vibration was stuckness. So it's totally understandable that I was stuck, but it was just like, whew. So I realigned, uh, to the sun and the moon. I had abandoned my, um, my moon rituals a little bit for 2020. I had been really just super into that Saturn and Capricorn vibe.

[00:53:24] It was very interesting that I did that. And so I just made the determination to reconnect to the moon and then the moon.

[00:53:34] Liz:  Any, any feminine identifying creature and masculine as well. Like if they can --no masculine later, right now, it feels like feminine identifying human beings are being called to connect to the moon period. That's how I feel. I just want, like, please connect to the moon. I'm trying to see my, have you talked to the moon lately?

[00:53:59] She is a cancer moon. She is. She's a Mooney person. Please connect with the moon. So I'm always looking at as well. I love it when I can see the sky at night when I can see the stars. And I, you know, it's cloudy here a lot, but that's part of the fun is when it's not cloudy, then I'm like, Ugh. I look, I watched them twinkle.

[00:54:23] I'm like, mom, do you see that? That one is flashing at me? She's like, I don't see anything, but it is flashing at me. I feel sometimes this sounds super woo, but I will just like, look, and I know that I am receiving information from the stars. 

[00:54:42]Jeannette: It's, it's interesting to hear you say like you're very  Clairsentient and you're very in your body and you're able to see like ancestors rolling through and like light.

[00:54:51] And then also to being able to just feel the stars as well. Like have you been able to like re- tap into your ability to do that with the earth? 

[00:55:00]Liz: So when I worked on Hayden Island, I could go for a walk next to the Columbia river during my breaks. And that was maybe a part of like reconnecting with the earth.

[00:55:10] I could take my shoes off, walk in the grass, look at the river and she's so beautiful and big powerful. Right. So that was really special, I guess. So I definitely connected through walking next to the Columbia river. And exercise sweating. Like I was maybe just a little too... I used to wear a lot of makeup, not a lot of makeup, but I'd wear makeup every day used to straighten my hair.

[00:55:39] And, you know, if you sweat your hair changes and it's whatever. So I've just like kind of avoid that and be, try to just be a certain way. Um, but moving my body, sweating, Columbia river, walking, walking barefoot in the grass was really special. It was, I mean, it's cheesy, but it's like so soothing 

[00:56:06] Jeannette: It's the simple things that  work. It's the simple things that like make the connection possible. Cause I feel like, I feel like there's this whole like, Oh, you must do this. And your third eye must explode in this certain way. And then you blah, blah, blah. And it's like, no, just take off your shoe, take off your shoes. 

[00:56:23] Liz:  And then try hugging a tree. So over here, there's so many trees at Mount Tabor and when I would be running.

[00:56:31] I would, um, stop and I began hugging trees. So I would hug the trees. And then I realized that I could get like that the trees were talking to me through sentience. And so I would hug it, greet it and hug it. And then I move away just a little bit, but keep my hand on it. And then it would just like come. And generally I would just ask if it had something to share about like the day or its experience. And then I could see, um, like energy in this way, the energy, the tree. And a lot of times it would be very vertical, I think because of the, the tallness of many of the trees that Mount Tabor and, um, sometimes the trees would tell me about like their roots and the, what they can learn through the network of their roots and like that sort of importance or, um, the, I remember one time it was like the importance of standing tall when other things around are like breaking and just standing is, is important.

[00:57:52] Just like still little things like that. So I would go um, gratefully and with reference, ask for whatever could be shared. I was never denied a message by a tree. It was just always feeling like I was receiving. And then, um, that was, yeah, so that really was a way to connect with earth and nature and like the magic.

[00:58:18]My Aquarius moon loves to go out like into the ethers and be out there. When I was a child one of the dreams that I would have was that I was out in space and there were the, these tremendous, um, Asteroids and things around me.

[00:58:40] And I would have these physical sensations when that would occur. So going out is almost like comfort zone and coming to the earth into the body was less so. Part of this embodiment and getting back into pleasure. One thing is gratitude like every day and in terms of choosing happiness, where it feels like happiness is not a choice, a gratitude practice every day, and like setting an intention every day, it's like, you may think, I know I want to be happy.

[00:59:11] No, you like you don't though. You forgot. Okay. Yeah. Every day, like you forgot as soon as reactions begin happening, especially probably, I mean, for anyone, but like my experience as a mother is that there are a lot of times where I am reacting to my environment and these little people and their needs.

[00:59:31] And so it is easy to forget that your intention is to be happy. So everyday remembering it gratitude when you can't access it. I always start with gratitude for coffee, because it's always true for me, but like, it can be a little thing and then it can become so much bigger. Um, so gratitude, but then also pleasure sensuality and sexuality.

[00:59:55]Being in a body, connecting to spirit, like this whole thing. This is juicy. Like this is a juicy life. There is no turning back now. This is the best. 

[01:00:06] And so I do think connection to body through pleasure is actually another vehicle to connect as a co-creator with source. And I think about like unmanifest energy, right? It doesn't exist. Like it can't exist without us and how beautiful, whether you're alone or with your partner that you move, you touch, you intend and you create pleasure.

[01:00:42] Like what a miracle to be in a body and to be able to do that. 

[01:00:46] Jeannette: Yes. Yes. I feel like we need more pleasure in life anyway. There needs to be the ability to enjoy some sweetness, no matter what.

[01:00:57]

[01:00:57] Liz: Yes. That vibration of pleasure can exist and can help like the collective vibration. Yes. That's how I feel about it and where there has been so much invitation to consume and purchase on capitalism has hijacked and consumerism, right?

[01:01:21] Yeah. Pleasure. Yes. Distorted the vibration. And so that's not like you don't have to buy something to feel pleasure. You are something that feels pleasure. Yes, and you can  to use it and like, Make it bigger. That doesn't mean that all of these, all of this important work that we have to do, isn't important. , things are really messed up here, they're messed up here.

[01:01:46] They messed up there. We gotta talk about it. Like, but Oh wait also. Yes, there is room for pleasure. Yes. Yes. 

[01:01:56] Jeannette:  Yes. I've been kind of feeling like that lately, especially with like being in Pisces season and realizing that like, everything could be true all at once, but you still get to gumball you're going to have in your mouth right now.

[01:02:11] Liz: Oh my gosh. 

[01:02:11] Jeannette: If you don't like it spit it back out and try again. I'm not going to do this no more. Okay. 

[01:02:17] Liz:  That is such a wonderful analogy, 

[01:02:20]Jeannette:  It's. I don't know if I kind of wonder also how that there's like, I have this theory, like it, we're all gonna kind of the people who need to do whatever they're doing in the sense of like, you know, okay, we're going to do this whole positive living thing

[01:02:33] we can all figure out how to be together and like harmony and love we're going to find each other. But like also, like you said, it's like, you've got to choose happy and you got to choose that and let the things that prevent you from being that go because like, you know, it was kinda like Pisces you could stay here and be miserable if you want, but you know, you really don't have to.

[01:02:57]Do you have any advice to mothers 

[01:02:58] as they, 

[01:03:01]Liz:  Oh, advice to Mothers I think I've already said it. I'll just say it way more succinctly. To decide if they want to, to decide that they want to be happy and to talk about it to themselves in a journal or out loud, some folks don't like to talk to themselves out loud. So in a journal is fine that they want to be happy and to make a determination that when they don't feel like happiness is accessible, that they will do the, um, Hmm.

[01:03:36] What's the word I'm thinking of? They will use discipline to connect to gratitude. It's not always fluffy bunnies. Right. And it's a disciplined practice, which means it won't always feel good even to get into gratitude, but it's to use discipline and then to find some, some part of the earth that they enjoy connecting to, and to be willing, to look silly and foolish.

[01:04:09] Uh, while they find that connection to the earth and not, everybody's going to want to hug a tree to find their thing. Like maybe it's gardening. I don't particularly like gardening. I like hugging trees. That's what I like to do. Uh, and then touch themselves. Doesn't have to be sexual, like touch their bodies, look at their bodies, especially their bellies or places where they have stretch marks as a result of if they did grow babies in their bellies, um, and get their birth chart information so that they can begin to understand some parts of their astrological calibration for the purpose of empowerment, learning some of the areas where you're like, Oh shit, right, that is me. That has been my struggle. I do feel called out right now. You know, where, you know, that's when it's right, is when you're like, Oh, that is me. And then the parts where you're like also, that is my strength and learning about strengths and qualities of self and how to use them for the highest good of self and the collective, and to be begin for those Aquarian minded people out there to begin to understand that personal self care and wellness is a part, an important part of the collective wellness. And that is actually a huge step and can't be skipped in terms of harmony and unity; living in harmony with, with others and earth. And, uh, and to, I love what I love about you. One of the things I love about you is how you were saying. Something would you say, like sponsored by a, brought to you by Lilo and stitch? So sometimes you're going to hear the TV in the background, or sometimes the kids are going to interrupt like mistakes happen and to, for mamas, just to be so graceful with themselves around like what's perceived as mistakes.

[01:06:20] And I saw the best meme. It was about like zoom calls.  And how everybody on a zoom call when a parent is interrupted by a child, everybody else should be apologizing to the parent and the child for taking the caregiver's attention away from the child and not the caregiver apologizing to everybody else for having been interrupted.

[01:06:47] Yes.

[01:06:56] You can do it 

[01:06:59] And to like not do it sometimes and realize you're not doing it and that's okay too. And then just like start anytime you have like the awareness and I love negativity. I'm such a, I'm such a silly person sometimes, but like, cause I can turn anything into a positive. It's probably annoying.

[01:07:18] I love negativity because it shows you your other choice. Like I haven't been doing that. Like you have the negative thought, right? Like it occurs to you. You're feeling bad. Having that feeling is a signal. And you can respond to it. And you, in most cases, in most cases, we have a choice and I recognize there are some instances where horrible things happen.

[01:07:50] Guns have been held to people's heads. That's not what I'm talking about in daily life, for the most part, we have some kind of choice, even if they're limited. And like that choice is empowerment. Like learning about the self is so available

[01:08:10] Jeannette: It is. It is.

Closing & Contact info for Liz 

 [01:08:12]I know, right. Liz can tell a story, now Liz can tell a story, just roping you in aye, there was a lot to tell . Anywho, it was very juicy. And the thing is like we went on, we were like, just talking about trees, being in the right places and things trees have told us.

[01:08:33] And it was, it was really juicy interview, but I hope that it blessed you because it surely was a blessing for me. Thank you so much for being here and listening. If you want to connect with Liz, you can check out her website at lightgoddessalchemy.com, where she offers astrology services, as well as new moon ritual.

[01:08:57] So if you want somebody to like lead you through the ritual, rather than just give you practices that you can do she's your woman go on over there. She can help you out. Um, Liz also offers things to support your energetic hygiene. So things like serums, skincare, ethically sourced gemstones.

[01:09:21] Things that just make it feel good and beautiful and divine and Holy. And she also offers a special rate, um, for black indigenous people of color , but you, you know, you, you know, contact her because she wants to be supportive to the people and getting de Holy and divine on.

[01:09:41] So yeah. Thanks so much for being here and listening with me. And I look forward to being in your ear again soon. Stay blessed. Peace.