In this radiant, real, and sometimes ridiculous episode, I sit down with my luminous friend Franca—spirit-channel, clarity-weaver, queen of sequins and silence. We talk about what it really takes to speak your truth in public, the invisible risks of visibility, and the awkward tension between “I want to share this” and “What if I get cancelled?” (Spoiler alert: block and bless, darling.)

We cover everything from commenting on Instagram posts with actual courage, to the truth about menopause (hint: it’s not always a liberation parade), to channelling spirit in the kitchen with a pot of bean soup. It’s raw, deliciously witchy, and full of technicolour permission to be in the mess and the magic.

Franca shares her journey with HRT (and the surprising reconnection to spirit that followed), the birth of her alter-egos Queen and Chiquita, and how the art of being seen is always shapeshifting.

Whether you're someone who’s mid-transformation, hiding drafts in your reels folder, questioning the vibe of “wellness perfection,” or just here for the petty rage and the sequins—this one’s for you.

In this episode we explore:

• The art of sharing your voice without self-censorship
• Why we second guess our intuition 
• Losing and reclaiming your spiritual connection in midlife
• Dancing in the dark as a portal to channelling
• Chiquita & Queen: Franca’s fierce, funny, illustrated alter-egos born from menopausal chaos
• What it really means to channel—and how to trust it, even if it feels made up
• Why creativity is a fun, messy, divine transmission (yes, even when the phone hits your face)

___

🌿 Resources & Mentions:

• Franca’s website and her instagram – follow for on point biz and life guidance with a side of sass and glitter
• Africa Brooke’s book The Third Perspective
• The College of Psychic Studies website
• The Joy Witch’s substack

___

Ancestral Awakening is open for applications, my most honest and transformative offering yet, opens this September. If you’re ready to go deep into your lineage, roots, and ancestral memory, so that you can build a spiritual spine (trust me, your business doesn’t need another funnel) there’s a spot for you in the circle. 

JOIN HERE

It’s here!!! The Joy Witch Cacao is now available to buy, from El Salvador to the world!

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

It’s not a ladder, it’s a spiral case! In today’s episode we have a layered, spiralling exploration of artistry, creative integrity, and the sacred economics (can economics be sacred!?) of living a life paid for by your gifts.

What do you call it when your work doesn’t fit into the boxes of “business” or “hobby”? When it’s too magical to be reduced to content, too alive to turn into a funnel, and yet—yes—you still want to be paid? And be paid well.

This is a love letter to the shapeshifters. To those who refuse to call themselves content creators, CEOs, or scalable machines. Who build altars and communities. Who trace their business model back to the ancestral fires, not marketing dashboards.

Join me as we explore:

• Calling vs. Content: Why your work is not content and why calling it that might make your body recoil.
• Redefining Success: How to live a life paid for by your gifts without turning your creativity into a machine.
• The Voice of Doubt: Giving space to the inner critic obsessed with metrics, funnels, and “doing it right”… and offering it a wise response. Yes, I’m literally shifting between voices and personas here!
• Sacred Trade: Why exchanging your magic for money isn’t sleazy, it’s part of your legacy.
• The Spiral Staircase Model: Building a life and body of work that grows inward, outward, and upward—at your own rhythm and in cycles that flow.

For the artists, mystics, witches, and misfits who:

• Feel allergic to strategy but still want to thrive
• Want to be profitable without selling their souls
• Have a “thing” that moves others, not because of a CTA but because it’s real, ancestral, and alive

This one is for you.

You don’t have to call yourself a CEO to be taken seriously.

Your work is sacred. And yes, it can pay your bills, feed your family, and buy you that ticket to the Orkney islands.

___

🌿 Resources & Mentions:

• Rena's sacred scarves
• Episode 7 – Don’t Require Your Art to Pay Your Bills
• The Somatic School – Body-Oriented Coach Training (get in touch if you're curious)

__

Coming soon: Ancestral Awakening, my most honest and transformative offering yet, opens this September. If you’re ready to go deep into your lineage, roots, and ancestral memory, there’s a spot for you in the circle. 

Join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

It’s here!!! The Joy Witch Cacao is now available to buy, from El Salvador to the world!

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What if the real question about AI isn’t what it can do—but what it will never be able to feel? In this episode of Shapeshifter, I wade through the noise of automation, convenience, and productivity to reflect on something deeper: what makes us human, and why that matters more than ever.

Join me as we explore:

• The Rise of AI: What ChatGPT and other AI tools are doing for us—and to us.
• Feeling vs. Function: Why the body matters, and why AI’s lack of a nervous system means it can never truly blush, tremble, or fall in love.
• Textiles, Memory & The Goss: How women have passed ancestral wisdom through threads, gossip, and sacred mess for generations.
• Ceremony vs. Simulation: The danger of replacing embodied ritual with digital efficiency, and why presence still holds the power.
• Choosing Slowness: Why in a world that’s speeding up, artists and shapeshifters are being called to zag—to slow down, gather, stitch, and remember.
  
  

This episode is a love letter to the handmade, the heartfelt, the imperfect, and the deeply human. If you’ve ever felt like your soul is whispering “don’t forget the pulse,” this one’s for you.

Coming soon: Ancestral Awakening, my most honest and transformative offering yet, opens this September. If you’re ready to go deep into your lineage, roots, and ancestral memory, there’s a spot for you in the circle. 

Join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

WILD ART JOURNALING in my garden – we’ll next commune with the art of making, led by the wonderful Moyra Scott, find out more here and book your spot

It’s here!!! The Joy Witch Cacao is now available to buy, from El Salvador to the world!

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What if food was more than nourishment—what if it was a language of belonging? In this heartfelt episode of Shapeshifter, I share a story about beans, grief, and the tenderness of loneliness—woven together in a conversation that’s part memory, part ritual, and part invitation to see your own table in a new light.

Join me as we explore:

• Ancestral Language of Food: How cooking—no matter how simple—can awaken memories and reconnect us to those who came before.
• The Ache of Loneliness: Reflections on the quiet sadness we carry and how moth energy reminds us to honour it, not fix it.
• Beans as Portal: The magic of gathering around a pot of beans, where honesty and shared stories nourish more than just the body.
• The Hummingbird and the Moth: How joy and grief can coexist at the table and why tending both is essential.
• The Power of Gathering: Creating spaces that honour our ancestors, feed our communities, and remind us that we are never alone.
  
  

If you’ve ever felt the pull of a memory in the kitchen, the ache of loneliness at the dinner table, or the quiet knowing that the ancestors are always near, this episode is for you.

Coming soon: Ancestral Awakening, my most honest and transformative offering yet, opens this September. If you’re ready to go deep into your lineage, roots, and ancestral memory—there’s a spot for you in the circle. 

Join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

DREAMSCAPE aka the coolest cacao gathering ever – we’ll next commune with abuelita cacao during the summer solstice on the 21st June, book your spot here

It’s here!!! The Joy Witch Cacao is now available to buy, from El Salvador to the world!

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What if the question “Who do you think you are?” wasn’t a judgment, but rather a curious (and rather philosophical) exploration on being seen or not. Join me as we meander through the vast fields of Glastonbury alongside some sheep and other insects – to ponder on this question.

In this episode of Shapeshifter, we take a look at both sides of the tortilla, the wound and the awakening. Many of us first may have heard it as a shutdown, a silencing. But what if it could also be a key to deeper self-understanding, ancestral connection, and creative liberation?

Join me as we explore:

• The Dual Nature of the Question: How “Who do you think you are?” can be both a dagger and a doorway—and how to recognise which one you’re facing.
• Ancestral Amnesia: Why forgetting where we come from is a survival strategy and what it takes to begin remembering.
• Identity Beyond Labels: The tension between naming ourselves and remaining expansive in who we’re becoming.
• The Danger of Certainty: How the pressure to be “clear” or “certain” about who we are can actually limit our growth.
• Embracing the Unknown: Why not knowing is a powerful part of our becoming—and how to be with that mystery.
  
  

If you’ve ever felt like you had to shrink, contort, or explain yourself just to belong—this episode is your invitation to reclaim the question “Who do you think you are?” and answer it on your own terms.

Coming soon: Ancestral Awakening, my most honest and transformative offering yet, opens this September. If you’re ready to go deep into your lineage, roots, and ancestral memory—there’s a spot for you in the circle.

Join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

DREAMSCAPE aka the coolest cacao gathering ever – we’ll next commune with
abuelita cacao during the summer solstice on the 21 st June, book your spot here

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

Be the first to know when the Joy Witch's Cacao from El Salvador lands!

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What happens when visibility comes at the cost of integrity? In this fiery and raw episode of Shapeshifter, I share a story I’ve held in my body for years—a story of revenge, rage, and ultimately, reclamation. This is a journey through fashion as portal, identity as power, and the deep ancestral roots that help us remember who we the f*ck really are. 

Join me as we explore:

• Rage as a Compass: What it feels like to connect with your ancestral fury rising through your body and what it teaches us about betrayal, both from others and from the self.
• The Cost of Compromise: Ignoring clear red flags in pursuit of visibility, compromising your own voice and diluting your creativity.
• Fashion as Medicine: How a red hoodie became a sacred object, holding both the wound and the wisdom of my creative journey. Fashion, when held with intention, becomes a sacred portal for remembrance and return
• Rooting Instead of Reacting: How choosing integrity over popularity leads to inner power and leadership.
• Beyond Labels: Why I no longer identify as a “woman of color” and what it means to root in lineage instead of language.
  
  

🧶 This story is a weaving — of red threads, ancestral fire, and deep feminine knowing. May it remind you to stay rooted, stay true, and never shrink your magic for palatability. 

When the world shakes you, your roots will hold you. – Caro Gomez

Coming soon: Ancestral Awakening, my most honest and transformative offering yet, opens this September. If you’re ready to go deep into your lineage, roots, and ancestral memory—there’s a spot for you in the circle. 

Join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

DREAMSCAPE aka the coolest cacao gathering ever – we’ll next commune with abuelita cacao during the summer solstice on the 21st June, book your spot here

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

Be the first to know when the Joy Witch's Cacao from El Salvador lands!

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

In this powerful episode of Shapeshifter, we dive deep into the heart of ancestral awakening — an urgent and beautiful journey from feeling spiritually adrift to reconnecting with the wisdom of our ancestors. If you’ve ever felt that ache of disconnection or the longing to return to something deeper, this episode is for you.

We explore the idea of spiritual orphanhood, a term that beautifully captures the sense of loss many feel when there’s no tangible connection to their ancestral roots. This conversation is an invitation to step away from external spiritual seeking and begin the work of remembering — remembering the land, the rituals, the songs, and the people who came before us.

Through personal storytelling, ancestral wisdom, and embodied practices, this episode speaks to anyone who’s ever wondered where they truly belong. If you’ve ever felt the pull to dive deeper into your lineage, uncover your roots, or find a sense of home in the invisible threads of your ancestry — this is your invitation to join the journey. 

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• The powerful journey of moving from spiritual orphanhood to a deep sense of ancestral belonging
•  Why so many are drawn to external traditions (South East Asia, Africa, South America) and how that can sometimes distract from the rich wisdom in our own bloodlines
• The deep ache of not belonging and how that feeling of longing is actually a sign of remembering
• The wisdom of the land and how ancestral lines in the British Isles — and beyond — were violently severed and yet are waiting to be reawakened
• How we can start working with the body as a vessel of memory to build rituals and altars to reconnect with our ancestors
• Personal stories of how remembering our lineage can transform our relationship with the world around us
• How Ancestral Awakening is a living work of art, requiring communal engagement and reverence for the process, not perfection

Join the Ancestral Awakening journey:

If something in this conversation stirred something deep inside you, you might be ready to take the next step toward your own ancestral remembering. Ancestral Awakening begins in September is a space for spiritual orphans to come home — a sacred journey that goes beyond timelines and limits.

Join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Franca's work – A special thank you to Franca, whose clarity, insight and oracle magic sparked the term “spiritual orphanhood”. Check out her work here
• DREAMSCAPE aka the coolest cacao gathering ever – we’ll next commune with abuelita cacao during the summer solstice on the 21st June, book your spot here

 This episode is more than just words, this invitation is a LIVING WORK OF ART —to feel the pull, the ache, and the remembrance of your own roots. Your ancestors are waiting for you to remember them. And you already know the way back. 

Let’s walk this path of remembrance together.

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What if healing wasn’t about the self, but about the whole? In this powerful conversation, I sit with Eda Zavala Lopez, an Amazonian medicine woman, ayahuasquera, and community elder, to explore the true meaning of reciprocity, ancestral wisdom, and the modern world's obsession with self-help. Following on from my last episode, this one is a moving call deep from the Amazonian jungle. 

Join us as we explore:

• Honoring Indigenous Knowledge: The importance of respecting and dignifying the wisdom of Indigenous elders rather than extracting from it.
• The Myth of Self-Help: Why Western spirituality focuses on the individual rather than community, and how we can shift toward collective healing.
• Sacred Reciprocity: How we can approach plant medicine, Indigenous traditions, and spiritual exploration with integrity and respect.
• Reclaiming Ancestral Roots: A call to remember the magic and wisdom already present in our own lands and lineages before seeking it elsewhere.
• The Journey of a Lifetime: Eda’s deeply personal story of visions, destiny, and how her spiritual path led her from the Amazon jungle to the UK.

This is a conversation that will challenge, inspire, and open your heart to a new way of seeing the world. If you've ever questioned how to engage with spirituality in a way that truly honors its origins, this episode is for you. You will stop fooling yourself after this, and will be able to know when something is ‘adoption’ and when it's out-right appropriation. 

Exciting news: Eda will be returning for an in-person gathering next year in 2026! Sign up to my mailing list here to hear all about it

Eda is a Wari-Ashaninka medicine woman, ayahuasquera, community elder and activist from Peru deeply committed to the Amazon Jungle and her people to protect sacred indigenous territories. You can read more about her and The Shawi Project here.

My meeting with Eda has profoundly shifted my work in a deeper direction, one that has been a long time coming but wasn’t quite ready to be shared. Until now. 

If you want to connect and start building a relationship with your ancestors in a way that feels playful, deep and healing that will totally transform the way you do life come and join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

Be the first to know when the Joy Witch's Cacao from El Salvador lands!

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What happens when the part of you that has been hidden for decades finally emerges? In this deeply personal episode of Shapeshifter, I share a transformative journey through psilocybin, ancestral wisdom, and the realization that shook me to my core. This is a story of identity, joy, grief, and the spirit animals that guide us all along.

Join me as we explore:

• The Power of Psychedelics: How a week-long mushroom retreat in Costa Rica opened a door to self-discovery I never expected.
• Hummingbird vs. Moth: The revelation that a lifelong connection to joy, color, and movement was also a way to protect myself from sadness and grief.
• Ancestral Guidance: How spirit animals, ceremony, and deep introspection can reveal long-buried wounds and new ways of understanding yourself.
• Embodying the Full Spectrum: Why joy and sorrow are not opposites but part of the same journey, and how allowing space for both has shifted everything.
• What Comes Next: How this experience is reshaping the way I move through the world, my work, and the way I show up for you in my community.

This episode is raw, vulnerable, and a true turning point. If you’ve ever felt like you’ve been running from a part of yourself, I invite you to listen with an open heart.

Exciting news, the first DREAMSCAPE aka the coolest cacao gathering you’ve ever been too, with cacao made by yours truly is on February 22nd in North London. 

We’ve got a few spaces still left, don’t leave until the last minute ;)

BOOK HERE

There’s more. If you want to connect and start building a relationship with your
ancestors in a way that feels playful and will totally transform the way you do
life come and join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here 

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

Be the first to know when the Joy Witch's Cacao from El Salvador lands!

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.

What if the things we call distractions are actually invitations? In this episode of Shapeshifter, I dive into the age-old struggle of multi-passionate creatives: how do we know if we’re experiencing “shiny object syndrome” or if we’re being called toward a curiosity worth pursuing?

Join me as I explore:

• Reframing Shiny Object Syndrome: Why this term might be demeaning to your creative spirit and how to see it differently.
• Following Your Curiosity: How to tell when an idea is just a passing thought or
  something meant to be integrated into your world.
• The Power of Creative Satellites: Understanding how new passions can add depth and richness to your work rather than distract from it.
• Trusting Your Creative Evolution: Why it’s okay to change direction, step away, or explore multiple passions without feeling like you’re “quitting.”
• Building a Legacy on Your Terms: Honoring the many facets of who you are and allowing all of them to coexist in your creative journey.

Let go of the guilt and embrace the magic of your many passions. Tune in to Episode 15 of Shapeshifter and give yourself permission to create on your own terms.

Exciting news, the first DREAMSCAPE aka the coolest cacao gathering you’ve ever been too, with cacao made by yours truly is on February 22nd in North London. 

We’ve got a few spaces still left, don’t leave until the last minute ;)

BOOK HERE

There’s more. If you want to connect and start building a relationship with your
ancestors in a way that feels playful and will totally transform the way you do
life come and join the waitlist for Ancestral Awakening here 

Get your Mayan horoscope sign here

Be the first to know when the Joy Witch's Cacao from El Salvador lands!

✨ Want more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram @carogomez_joywitch for deeper conversations on unconventional thinking, creativity, and spirituality!

Spread the joy! Did this episode leave you feeling empowered or inspired? Help others find the same magic by leaving a rating and review on your favourite podcast platform. Your feedback is like fuel for the show, and it helps others discover the power within themselves.