"The Secret Witch didn't come here for a mundane life...”

~ Nicole Barton

It might sound a strange thing to say but my wedding, in my previous marriage, was a huge trauma for my sensitive soul - one that actually, at the time, had my soul bounce out of my body, because I didn't know how to regulate my nervous system back then and tend my little girl. One that had me deny my sensitivity and magic, and power, in order to stay safe, in control and approved of.

I remember being told by my in-laws-to-be that they "didn't like me, but they'd try", as my then partner apologised to his father for me asking for everyone to get along. My "witchiness" wasn't really welcome, my magic and my voice described as "weird" and my power having to be given up in order to fit into a family where men made all the choices (I later saw how I'd created this, that's one for another day).

Some women would have batted this off, but I was sensitive. My heart breaks, when I think back, for the younger version of me who simply hugged them and thanked them for "trying" to like me, and strived to do more to be loved and worthy and fit in, whilst she felt like she was out of her body, watching over as it all happened - literally having an "out of body" experience.

"A healthy woman is much like a wolf: robust, chock-full, strong life force, life-giving, territorially aware, inventive, loyal, roving”

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés

We are so delighted to share a feature we curated for Kindred Spirit Magazine all around our Archetypal Apothecary Remedy She-Wolf 🐺✨

We all know Clarissa Pinkola Estes' work with the Archetype of the wolf is hugely impactful, and working with She-Wolf (or more specifically with Archetypal Remedies, 'Lac Lupinum' - She-Wolf's milk) helps us to reclaim our inner wild woman wisdom.

This is magically timed as, in our recent group journey with Archetypal Rosa, the reclamation of our wildness made itself known as both a desire and medicine needed in the world - and I had no idea this would be the case when I wrote this article.

"But more importantly, there's a practical way we can learn to tend ourselves in the fears that *will* inevitably arise along the journey deeper - and that is the work of learning to have self-compassion, love the parts of our little girls that are trying to keep us safe.”

~ Nicole Barton

How to tend the fear of healing yourself and choosing a more meaningful, soul-led life of *more* purpose...

One thing I hear the most from women who are feeling the call to healing themselves magically and creating their lives differently - perhaps opening to their deeper sense of purpose and meaning, or some secret hidden healing gifts they sense they have (but feel terrified of) - is that of "can I really TRUST magic?"

There's often a preference for ‘logic’ in these women - and an (understandable) resistance to trusting the unknown. 

"Healing isn't something to 'go to someone else for' and expect a "quick fix"; it's about learning how to *integrate* what comes up in our healings for ourselves.”

~ Nicole Barton

I was having a rich conversation with one of my previous guides, and now dear friend, Lian yesterday in which we were talking about what had unfolded since I had a shamanic healing with her a few months ago.

I've been in the deep work, since then, of reclaiming a lost part of my soul from young adulthood - and I have found myself being nudged back to old devotions from that time, including movement, yoga, music and horse-riding (see her post about devotion in the comments).

And what stood out in our conversation for me was something I've been saying for a while about how healing isn't something to 'go to someone else for' and expect a "quick fix"; it's about learning how to *integrate* what comes up in our healings for ourselves.

"This work with Archetypal Remedies is the work of two of the most powerful ancient wisdom bodies I know of, working in union. It is a potent unity of the work of Homeopathy combined with Jungian Archetypal depth psychology. Two of the most powerful ancient wisdom bodies helping you to unite with your soul and *become* a medicine woman - firstly for yourself, and then for others.”

~ Nicole Barton

I was struck this morning at the reminder of the level of courage that's truly required to walk the path of magical healing - for both personal healing and the path of becoming a healer (which are really one and the same).

Often, women arrive at the path of magic after an initiation of health of some kind - whether physical, mental or emotional - where they've struggled to create any long-lasting change within the mainstream medical system.

And I know in my bones that 'The Way' for these sensitive ones is always to be found in magical healing.