The Wayfinders series, with Rachael Magowan

Ask Jenn Castillo Staats what she does and the answer depends on who's asking. Strip away the credentials, though, and she'll tell you plainly: she cultivates safe spaces and loves people for a living.

Jenn is the founder of The Essence, a wellness studio in Cincinnati. She's a professional practitioner of the intuitive arts, a crystal healer, an intuitive coach and educator, a Reiki master. She also spent almost twenty years as a social worker and therapist before any of that, and she retired at the height of that career because something in her knew it was time.

In this episode Rachael talks with her about the whole arc.

Jenn grew up mixed indigenous in a place that was mostly white and mostly comfortable, while her own family was neither. Her gifts showed up young, and at first they frightened her. She'd wake in the night in an old house full of activity, not yet understanding what was happening. She spent whole days alone in the woods, which she'll tell you was never really alone. She had her first reading from an elder at eleven or twelve.

What she wanted, for a long time, was to be normal. So she found a way to help people that looked acceptable from the outside, and she was good at it for two decades. All the while the other work carried on quietly in her personal life, referrals passing hand to hand the way they always have. Ninety-nine percent of her business still arrives that way.

The conversation goes into what it actually took to make the leap. Not the clean version. The years of her own healing that had to happen first, the people who told her long before she was ready, the fear she had to move through anyway.

She also speaks about her cancer diagnosis, and the thing it exposed in her that years of practice hadn't: how bad she was at receiving. A whole community showed up to care for her and she resisted it. Out of the middle of that came her course, Alchemizing Pain into Power.

What we talk about

Growing up with gifts nobody around her had language for

Assimilation, and wanting to be normal more than wanting to be seen

Twenty years in social work, and why she left at the top

Why she believes we should have many teachers, including plants, animals and the moon

Practitioners doing their own work, and what happens when they don't

Empowerment as the primary healing tool

What an actual session looks like, start to finish

Her clients: CEOs, priests, doctors, stay-at-home parents, people who are unhoused

Starting where your hands are, and why the ripple counts as doing something

Cancer, receiving, and where Alchemizing Pain into Power came from

On feeling helpless

People come to her overwhelmed by everything happening in the world, convinced that nothing they do matters. Her answer is to start where your hands can reach. Clean up your own side of the street. Look someone in the eye at the petrol station and mean it when you wish them a good day. The ripple is real, and it counts.

The Wayfinders question

Every guest finishes the same sentence: I know I'm finding my way when…

Jenn's answer comes back to authenticity. She knows she's on the right path when she can show up completely as herself, to herself first and then to everyone else. When she doesn't have to hide or make herself small.

She says if she could go back to the pivotal moments, she'd tell her younger self one thing. Just be who you are. That's enough.

The Essence, Cincinnati. Jenn works with clients around the world, travels to teach, and runs classes and in-person sessions.

If this one resonated, share it with someone who's looking for their way. And if you have a moment, a review genuinely helps others find this corner of the forest 🤍

Every August, social media fills up with talk of the Lion's Gate portal. Manifest your dreams. Raise your vibration. The portal is opening. But what does any of that actually mean, and what is it asking of you?

In this episode Rachael walks through the symbolism behind August 8th, and offers a gentler way to hold it.

The Lion's Gate brings a few things together at once. The sun is moving through Leo, the sign of courage, creativity and heart-centred living. The date itself, 8/8, carries the numerological weight of the number eight: abundance, balance, personal power, infinity. And some traditions connect this time of year with Sirius, long associated with wisdom and renewal.

It's worth saying plainly that this is a modern spiritual tradition rather than an astronomical event. That doesn't make it less useful. What it offers is an annual invitation to stop and ask a question most of us avoid: who am I becoming?

Leo isn't asking you to be louder. It's asking you to be more honest. The sun doesn't apologise for shining, doesn't compare itself to the moon, doesn't dim because someone nearby might be uncomfortable. It just does what it's for. So where have you been hiding? Where have you mistaken shrinking for humility?

Less a doorway opening somewhere in the cosmos, more a doorway opening in you.

What we cover:

• What the Lion's Gate portal is, and what it isn't
• Leo, the sun, and why authenticity matters more than volume
• The number 8 in numerology and the significance of 8/8
• Sirius and its place in the symbolism
• Why fear shows up loudest right before growth
• A simple two-letter ritual for August 8th
• Why transformation is usually quieter than we expect it to be

The two-letter ritual:

1. Find somewhere quiet. Light a candle. Breathe slowly. Hands over your heart.
2. Write two letters.
3. The first is to the version of you that you're ready to release. Thank her. Honour everything she helped you survive. Then let her go, kindly.
4. The second is to the version of you who's coming. Describe her life. How does she feel? How does she love? What boundaries has she learned to hold? What has finally come true?
5. Read the second one out loud. Not because saying words makes magic, but because hearing your own voice claim something changes how you hold it.
6. Then put it somewhere you'll find it again in a few months, and see what's shifted.

Sit with these:

1. What version of myself am I ready to leave behind?
2. What dream have I been postponing because I'm afraid?
3. What would courage look like today, not someday?
4. What lights me up from the inside?

Don't rush the answers. Sometimes the soul speaks quietly.

Take what resonates and leave the rest 🤍

If this one spoke to you, share it with someone who needs it, or leave a review. It genuinely helps others find their way here.

The Lion's Gate Portal opens on August 8th, and this episode is your full guide to working with one of the most potent energetic windows of the year.

In this episode of The Path Less Traveled, Rachael is joined once again by Kara Sage for a deep dive into the 8/8 portal: what it is, why the number 8 makes it so significant, and how to use this window to release fear, set intentions, and step into the most authentic version of yourself.

As a numerologist, Rachael breaks down why this date matters. The 8 is the number of abundance, balance, and power. It is the infinity sign. And this year, the portal arrives during a Numerology Week 4, all about building foundations for a stable, abundant future, inside a Universal 9 Month, the energy of releasing what no longer serves you. The timing could not be more aligned.

In this episode, we explore:

• What the Lion's Gate Portal actually is, its symbolic connection to the sun in Leo and the star Sirius, and why it is celebrated every year on August 8th
• The numerology of 8: abundance, balance, power, and the infinite cycle of giving and receiving
• Why abundance is not just financial. Sometimes it is drinking your coffee without screaming children, or doing the work that lights you up
• Kara's story of discovering the Lion's Gate during the summer of 2020, grounding barefoot on stones for days, downloading energy she could not yet name
• The star Regulus, the heart of the lion, and why this portal calls you back to heart-centered authenticity instead of ego
• How the Aquarius Full Moon, Lughnasadh, and the Lion's Gate weave together into one story of harvest, expansion, and becoming

A collective tarot reading for the 2026 Lion's Gate, featuring the Devil, the Lovers, the Moon, and the Eight of Pentacles, and the message they carry about moving from fear into love

The Year of the Fire Horse halfway point: what to reflect on, what to change, and which weeds to pull before the second half of the year

Reflection questions for the portal:

1. What am I ready to release?
2. Where am I being called to be braver?
3. What future am I ready to create?

This episode is for you if:

• You have been feeling the intensity of this season and want to work with it instead of against it.
• You are curious about the Lion's Gate but want it explained in a grounded, practical way.
• Or you are ready to release the fearful, looping thinking that has been keeping you from the abundance that is your birthright.

🎁 FREE 8/8 PORTAL WORKBOOK:

Rachael is releasing a free workbook to help you work with the energy of the Lion's Gate Portal. Head to divinefemininecollective.com/freebie and subscribe to the email list to receive it, or grab it directly on the website.

Topics covered in this episode: Lion's Gate Portal, 8/8 portal, Lions Gate 2026, numerology, number 8 meaning, abundance, manifestation, star Sirius, Leo season, Regulus, heart centered living, collective tarot reading, the Devil card, the Lovers card, the Moon card, Eight of Pentacles, Universal 9 Month, Year of the Fire Horse, releasing fear, setting intentions, portal ritual, spiritual growth, The Path Less Traveled, Kara Sage, Into the Woods podcast, Divine Feminine Collective

Connect with Rachael:

Instagram: @divinefemcollective

Website: divinefemininecollective.com

Free 8/8 portal workbook: divinefemininecollective.com/freebie

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could use it, follow the show, and leave a review. And let us know in the comments or DMs: what are you bringing in through the 8/8 portal?

Into the Woods with Rachael Magowan, new episodes weekly.

The Wayfinders continues, the interview series inside Into the Woods featuring the practitioners, healers, and guides who have personally illuminated Rachael's path.

In this episode, Rachael sits down with Zarina Tariq, the integrated clinical hypnotherapist, energy healer, and coach who has been a huge part of her own healing journey. Rachael started with traditional talk therapy, and after she felt like she had talked everything out, one question remained: now what? Zarina's work is the answer to that question. Kara Sage also joins the conversation.

Zarina spent seven years in the corporate world, in marketing and market research, ticking every box on paper while quietly ignoring her own truth. When there was no more room to sweep things under the rug, she found herself on the client side of this work, and it changed everything. Nearly a decade later, she now guides others into the subconscious mind, where 80% of how we think, feel, and behave is actually decided.

In this episode we explore:

Why you can intellectualize your patterns and still stay stuck, and why reason and logic fail to make a dent where the subconscious is running the show

What hypnotherapy actually looks and feels like (no smoke, no clucking like a chicken, and you are aware and in control the entire time)

The half awake, half asleep state where the conscious mind softens and real change becomes possible

Why repetitive patterns are the clearest sign something subconscious is running: same issue, different faces, different jobs, same trigger

Sleep as the number one marker of what's going on in your subconscious, and the "too many tabs open" analogy that will change how you think about your restless nights

Chakra readings and energy clearing as diagnostics: how the energy body reveals what you think you've moved on from, because energy never lies

Carrying energy that doesn't belong to you, why women especially absorb what isn't theirs, and the nightly energetic hygiene practice Zarina teaches her clients

The marinade analogy: how conditioning soaks into who we think we are, and how this work reconnects you with who you were before survival became your personality

Parenting and the subconscious: why everything before age 7 is absorbed directly, and how doing your own healing changes what you pass on

Being lost as a beginning: why the moments right after feeling lost are often the biggest transformations of your life

Zarina's answer to the signature Wayfinders question: "I know I'm finding my way when I make decisions out of alignment and not out of fear or reactivity."

This conversation is for you if:

• You've done talk therapy and felt like something was still out of reach.
• You keep finding yourself in the same patterns with different people.
• You struggle with sleep, anxiety, or emotional reactivity and can't explain why.
• Or you're simply curious what hypnotherapy actually is, without the TV myths.

Topics covered in this episode: hypnotherapy, clinical hypnotherapy, subconscious mind, subconscious healing, energy clearing, chakra healing, chakra reading, energy work, inner child healing, repetitive patterns, sleep problems, anxiety relief, emotional trauma, nervous system healing, reclaiming your power, empath boundaries, releasing energy that isn't yours, conditioning, self reconnection, women's healing, spiritual growth, personal transformation, Zarina Tariq, The Wayfinders, Into the Woods podcast, Divine Feminine Collective

Connect with Zarina:
Instagram: @zarinatariq11

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zarina-tariq

Zarina sees clients in person in Cincinnati/Loveland and virtually worldwide.

Connect with Rachael:

Instagram: @divinefemcollective

Website: divinefemininecollective.com

Free 10-minute meditation: divinefemininecollective.com/freebie

If this episode sparked something in you, share it with someone who needs it. Follow the show, leave a review, and keep finding your way home.

Into the Woods with Rachael Magowan, new episodes weekly.

Aquarius Full Moon, the End of Mercury Retrograde, and Lughnasadh: What This Week Is Actually Asking of You
The Path Less Traveled with Rachael Magowan and Kara Sage

Mercury retrograde is finally over, and if the last three weeks felt heavier than usual, there's a reason. This one moved through Cancer, a water sign, and water signs don't disrupt your calendar so much as your insides. Flooded basements, leaking appliances, travel that fell apart, and underneath all of it, a lot of feeling you didn't ask to feel.

In this episode Rachael and Kara walk through what the retrograde was actually surfacing, and where the next few weeks are pointing.

The Aquarius Full Moon on July 29th is the illumination point. Full moons don't demand anything of you. They just bring what's been sitting underneath up to the surface where you can finally see it. Aquarius adds a particular flavor to that: authenticity, independent thinking, community and belonging, and the freedom to break from habits and expectations you've outgrown. It sits opposite Leo season, which is asking a very different question. Aquarius says what does the collective need. Leo says but what about me. This week you get to hold both.

Then on August 1st comes Lughnasadh, also called Lammas. It's the first harvest, and the least talked about point on the wheel of the year, which is a shame because it might be the most useful one. It asks you to look at what you planted in January and be honest about what's actually growing.

What we cover

• Why this Mercury retrograde hit differently, and what the shadow period is asking of you now
• The Aquarius Full Moon on July 29th and what it's illuminating
• Why Aquarius is an air sign, not a water sign, and what that changes
• How Leo season and an Aquarius moon work together instead of against each other
• The numerological week 3 energy and why it supports speaking honestly right now
  Lughnasadh on August 1st, the Celtic god Lugh, and the first harvest
• The Seven of Pentacles as the card of this season, and why it's a manifestation card
• Simple ways to mark Lughnasadh: baking bread, sharing a meal, the farmers market, a gratitude altar
• A preview of the Lion's Gate portal on August 8th

Sit with these this week

1. What has actually come to fruition this year?
2. What no longer supports where you're going?
3. What have you planted with your thoughts, emotions and actions, and is it growing the way you hoped?
4. What do you want to nourish in this next season?

Start with gratitude. Not because it's a nice idea, but because you can't honestly assess what you've built while you're busy being disappointed in it.

If this landed, or if someone came to mind while you were listening, share it with them. And if you have a moment, leaving a review genuinely helps these conversations reach more people.

Back soon with more!

We're standing at one of the most beautiful turning points on the wheel of the year, and this episode is your guide through it.

On July 29th, the Full Moon reaches peak illumination in Aquarius. Just a few days later, we celebrate Lughnasadh (Lunasa), the ancient Celtic first harvest festival. Together, these two energies ask three powerful questions: What am I ready to harvest? What vision for my future is asking to become real? And what no longer belongs in the life I'm creating?

In this episode, Rachael wanders through both energies and how they weave together: the moon that illuminates your future, and the festival that honors everything you've already grown.

In this episode, we explore:

• What the Aquarius Full Moon actually asks of us, and why Aquarius is one of the most misunderstood signs in the zodiac
• The beautiful tension between the Leo sun and Aquarius moon: be yourself, but let your authentic self contribute something meaningful to your community
• What this full moon may be surfacing for you: outdated identities, friendships you've outgrown, people-pleasing patterns, and dreams you haven't let yourself dream yet
• Reflection questions for the full moon, including "Where have I been shrinking to fit someone else's expectations?" and "What future version of myself am I afraid to become?"
• The story of Lughnasadh, the first harvest festival named for the Celtic god Lugh, celebrating the harvest of the land and the harvest of your own efforts
• Why your harvest doesn't have to be measured in money. Peace, boundaries, healing, confidence, and forgiveness count too
• How these two energies bridge together: Aquarius envisions the future, Lughnasadh honors the past. You cannot truly create what's next without acknowledging everything that brought you here
• A gentle ritual for honoring both: candle, seasonal offerings, three gratitudes, three releases, and three dreams to nourish through the coming season

This episode is for you if:

• You've been feeling restless, like you've outgrown an old chapter.
• You've been sensing that your life is quietly shifting.
• Or you simply need the reminder that you are not behind, you are not beginning from nothing.
• You are standing in a field filled with evidence of everything you've already grown.

The reminder at the heart of this episode: "Honor your harvest. Celebrate your becoming. And don't be afraid to imagine an even brighter future."

Topics covered in this episode: Aquarius full moon, full moon July 2026, Lughnasadh, Lunasa, first harvest festival, wheel of the year, Celtic festivals, full moon ritual, moon cycles, lunar living, seasonal living, full moon in Aquarius meaning, Leo season, letting go ritual, gratitude practice, harvest ritual, moon journaling prompts, spiritual seasons, earth-based spirituality, manifestation, releasing what no longer serves, Into the Woods podcast, Divine Feminine Collective

Connect with Rachael:

Instagram: @divinefemcollective

Website: divinefemininecollective.com

Free 10-minute meditation: divinefemininecollective.com/freebie

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could use a little moonlit encouragement. Follow the show, leave a review, and keep finding your way into the woods.

Into the Woods with Rachael Magowan, new episodes weekly.

The Wayfinders continues! The interview series inside Into the Woods featuring the practitioners, healers, and guides who have personally illuminated Rachael's path.

In this episode, Rachael sits down with Casey Frazee Katz, trauma therapist, breathwork facilitator, Reiki practitioner, and founder of Intentionally. Rachael and Casey met at the beginning of this year in a breathwork class with Erica Hull (The Wayfinders Episode 1 guest), and Casey has since become both a guide and a dear friend in Rachael's healing journey.

Casey has been a practicing therapist for 12 years, specialising in trauma and impactful experiences. She's an EMDR practitioner and EMDR-approved consultant, meaning she trains other therapists in the modality. Earlier this year she opened Intentionally, a practice where she brings together the spiritual tools that conventional therapy doesn't always reach: breathwork, Reiki energy work, and soon, intentional dream work.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why understanding your trauma intellectually isn't the same as healing it, and what "going under the hood" of your own nervous system actually looks like
• What EMDR is and how it accesses what's stored in the body beneath conscious awareness
• How breathwork reveals what's stuck in your system, like realising you can't take a full breath, or struggle to fully exhale
• Dream journaling as a practice: how to start remembering your dreams (it's a muscle), why voice-to-text at 3am works, and what your dreams are trying to tell you
• The collective unconscious, symbolism, and the dream circle Casey is building for group dream analysis
• Soul recognition, the people and animals we meet and feel like we've known forever
• Casey's answer to the signature Wayfinders question: "I know I'm finding my way when I just feel so excited, so enthusiastic, so optimistic, and honestly just feel a deep sense of love and gratitude. That's really where I've been existing."

This conversation is for you if:

• You've done talk therapy and felt like something was still unreachable.
• You're curious about EMDR, breathwork, Reiki, or dream work but don't know where to start.
• You've ever woken up from a vivid dream and thought "that meant something."
• Or you're a practitioner weaving multiple modalities and wondering if you're allowed to be more than one thing. (You are.)

Connect with Casey:

Instagram: @hello_intentionally

Intentionally: hellointentionally.com

Book a New Moon Breathwork class: anooway.as.me/schedule (New Moon Breathwork)

Casey's therapy practice: galiacollaborative.com/about/casey-frazee-katz

Topics covered in this episode: EMDR therapy, trauma healing, breathwork, Reiki energy healing, dream journaling, dream analysis, dream work, the unconscious mind, subconscious healing, somatic therapy, nervous system healing, spiritual awakening, holistic healing, trauma-informed care, women's healing, New Moon rituals, collective unconscious, Jungian symbolism, archetypes, intuition development, finding your way, Into the Woods podcast, The Wayfinders series, Divine Feminine Collective

Connect with Rachael:

Instagram: @divinefemcollective

Website: divinefemininecollective.com

Free 10-minute meditation: divinefemininecollective.com/freebie

If this episode sparked something in you, share it with someone who needs it. Follow the show, leave a review, and keep finding your way home.

Into the Woods with Rachael Magowan. New episodes weekly!

Introducing The Wayfinders, a brand new interview series within the Into the Woods podcast!

The Wayfinders features the practitioners, healers, mystics, guides, and teachers who have personally illuminated Rachael's own path of healing, remembrance and transformation. These are intimate conversations with the people who helped her find her way, and who can help you find yours.

In this very first episode of The Wayfinders, Rachael sits down with Erica Hull, founder of Anooway and a breathwork facilitator, intuitive guide, and psychic mediumship practitioner who spent 15 years as a medically trained provider before her own life unraveled, and led her somewhere she never expected.

In this episode, we explore:

• How Erica went from conventional medicine to breathwork after navigating divorce with young children and feeling completely lost
• What breathwork actually IS, and why it's not what most people think
• The moment Erica felt something shifting beneath the surface and knew there was more to life than what she could see
• What psychic mediumship breathwork is and how it differs from traditional breathwork practices
• Why you are your own guru, and how to find teachers who give you the codes without holding power over you
• The ripple effect of healing: how one person's transformation changes everyone around them
• How synchronicity works and why the right people, practices, and teachers show up exactly when you're ready for them

Erica's powerful sentence completion: "I know I'm finding my way when I release my grip and allow myself to fall backwards off that cliff, knowing that I am held and supported. I inevitably know that the way will find me. I do not need to be the one that finds the way."

This conversation is for you if:

• You've ever felt lost in the woods of your own life.
• If you've gone through a major life transition, divorce, motherhood, career change, spiritual awakening, and felt that pull toward something you couldn't name.
• If you've been searching for the next step on your healing journey and aren't sure where to look.
• If you're curious about breathwork, somatic healing, intuitive practices, or psychic development but don't know where to start.

About Erica Hull + Anooway:

Erica Hull is the founder of Anooway, a breathwork and spiritual healing practice that helps individuals reconnect with their own inner guidance, process stored emotion, and access deeper states of awareness through breathwork. After 15 years in conventional medicine, Erica found breathwork during one of the most difficult seasons of her life, and it changed everything. She now teaches breathwork facilitation, hosts psychic mediumship breathwork experiences, and guides students to become their own source of healing.

Find Erica and explore her offerings at anooway.com.

Topics covered in this episode: Breathwork healing, psychic mediumship, spiritual awakening, somatic healing, nervous system regulation, divorce recovery, life transitions, finding your purpose, intuition development, spiritual practitioners, healers and guides, personal transformation, self-healing, spiritual community, embodiment practices, breathwork facilitator training, psychic development, inner guidance, healing journey, holistic health, alternative healing, mind body spirit, spiritual growth, women's healing, motherhood and healing, letting go and surrendering, synchronicity and signs, finding your way, Into the Woods podcast, The Wayfinders series, Divine Feminine Collective

Connect with Rachael:

• Instagram: @divinefemcollective
• Website: divinefemininecollective.com
• Free 10-minute meditation: divinefemininecollective.com/freebie

If this episode sparked something in you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Leave a review, follow the show, and keep finding your way home.

Into the Woods with Rachael Magowan, new episodes every week!

On this episode of the Into the Woods Podcast, we step into the potent energy of May 1, 2026—where Beltane’s sacred fires meet the Scorpio Full Moon, a Universal 9 Week, and Uranus’ powerful move from Taurus into Gemini. Together, we explore seasonal ritual, astrology, numerology, release, rebirth, and the deeper spiritual meaning of this transformational moment. Join us for a mystical walk through ancient wisdom, cosmic shifts, and the wild path ahead!

Step into a powerful turning-point week in astrology.
As we approach April 20, 2026, the energy shifts dramatically, from fast-moving, bold Aries fire into grounded, reality-checking Taurus energy.
In this episode, we break down:

•  Sudden clarity, bold decisions, and breakthrough conversations
•  Aries momentum: Why you feel pushed to act NOW
•  The karma window: How past choices are showing real results
•  April 20: The emotional and energetic shift that changes everything

• Clarity replaces confusion
• Action meets consequence
• And your next chapter begins to take shape

This is the week where:
If you’ve been waiting for a sign... this is it.