Wild & Waking

The Wild & Waking Journey: Unraveling marks the beginning of a four-part solo series exploring the Wild & Waking Framework — a cyclical, soul-deep map for personal growth, identity evolution, and embodied leadership. Unlike linear self-help models or rigid step-by-step systems, the Wild & Waking journey is a living spiral. It’s a rhythm you move through again and again, learning to recognize where you are right now and honor that place as sacred. Across this series, Emily guides you through the four phases of this framework — The Unraveling, The Remembering, The Reclamation, and The Rise — offering language, reflection, and deep context for the kind of transformation that can’t be rushed or forced.

This first episode dives into The Unraveling, the phase that begins when the life you built no longer feels like yours. It’s the moment something feels off, but you can’t quite name it — when the roles, identities, beliefs, and systems that once felt safe start to feel constricting instead. The Unraveling carries the energy of fire: burning away what no longer fits, dismantling old stories, and creating space for deeper truth to emerge. This phase isn’t about fixing yourself or finding answers — it’s about naming what’s real, even when it’s uncomfortable.

You’ll also hear why The Unraveling isn’t a sign of failure, but the beginning of freedom — and why so many people avoid this phase altogether. Emily speaks to the relief and fear that arise when the mask starts to fall away, the loneliness of questioning beliefs that once provided belonging or certainty, and the importance of being held in this phase without being rushed toward clarity, certainty, or resolution. This conversation is for anyone who’s tired of pretending they’re “fine,” who feels split between who they are and who they’ve been conditioned to be, or who senses that something truer is trying to emerge beneath the surface.

In this episode, I explore:

1. How The Unraveling shows up as the moment when the life you built no longer feels like yours
2. Why unraveling carries fire energy — burning away roles, identities, and systems that once kept you safe but now keep you small
3. Common signs you’re in an unraveling phase, including burnout, disillusionment, identity fatigue, and feeling “off” without clear answers
4. How survival patterns like overachieving, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and good-girl conditioning develop — and why they begin to crack here
5. The relief and fear that come when the mask starts to fall off
6. Why unraveling isn’t failure — it’s the beginning of liberation
7. How grief, rage, exhaustion, and disillusionment function as messengers, not problems to solve
8. What it looks like to question inherited beliefs around success, belonging, worth, religion, politics, culture, and identity
9. Why so many women feel isolated during this phase — especially in small towns or tight-knit communities
10. How to hold yourself (and others) in The Unraveling without rushing toward clarity or answers
11. The guiding questions that help you recognize where you’re performing, tolerating, or gaslighting yourself into being “fine”

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Emily:

1. Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
2. Instagram: @emilyreuschel
3. Facebook: Emily Reuschel
4. LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
5. Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

1. Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
2. Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
3. Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

In this powerful continuation of our conversation, Annie Bertrand returns to take us deeper into her signature work: ancestral astrology, mother wounds, karmic cycles, and the soul-level patterns that shape our families across generations. In part one, we explored the foundations of astrology and how to understand your chart. In part two, we turn toward the lineage-level healing work — the real-life applications that influence how we mother, how we relate, and how we break the cycles we were born into.

Throughout the episode, we explore the real-life tension points most moms face: the self-awareness trap, the fear of “messing up” our kids, the feeling of holding three generations’ worth of emotional weight, and the challenge of navigating growth when our partners or families aren’t on the same path. Annie offers a grounded, compassionate reminder that healing our own patterns is what shifts the lineage — and that change often ripples through our families without forcing, convincing, or controlling anyone.

If you’ve been craving a deeper understanding of your family dynamics, curious about ancestral healing, or looking for tools to better support your children’s emotional world, this conversation will leave you both expanded and grounded. Annie’s approach to astrology is practical, accessible, and deeply validating — offering a map for healing your lineage, supporting your kids, and embodying the parent you were meant to be.

In this episode, we explore:

1. Ancestral astrology as a tool for understanding inherited patterns, family karma, and the soul contracts we choose before birth
2. How mother wounds, generational trauma, and lineage stories show up in the Moon sign, Saturn, Chiron, and the IC (lineage axis)
3. The difference between talk therapy vs. energy healing, and why emotional patterns must be addressed through the body and nervous system
4. How past-life imprints, karmic memories, and unexplained fears can resurface through motherhood and parenting
5. The ways parents unconsciously repeat generational patterns — and how to break cycles with awareness, compassion, and energetic work
6. How to navigate sibling dynamics, emotional mismatches, and conflicting personalities through family astrology
7. The “self-awareness trap” and why mothers often feel pressure to parent perfectly when doing lineage-healing work
8. Why children under seven are especially attuned to their mother’s emotional field — and how your healing directly shifts their subconscious
9. How to show up as the energetic invitation when your partner or family isn’t on the same growth or healing journey
10. How astrology helps you honor your unique blueprint, break free from conditioning, and parent from intuition rather than fear

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Annie:

1. Website: anniebertrand.com
2. Instagram: @astrology_with_annie
3. Threads: @astrology_with_annie
4. Ancestral Astrology Course
5. Free Family Karma Masterclass
6. Free Moon Guide

Connect with Emily:

1. Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
2. Instagram: @emilyreuschel
3. Facebook: Emily Reuschel
4. LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
5. Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

1. Episode 177 | Astrology 101: How to Read Your Birth Chart with Annie Bertrand
2. Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
3. Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
4. Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

In this grounded solo episode, Emily shares five transformative truths to support you at the edge of any new season, identity shift, or fresh start. Whether you're beginning a new habit, exploring a mindset change, considering a business pivot, or simply feeling the pull toward growth in the new year, these insights offer clarity, encouragement, and direction.

Emily unpacks why we often overcomplicate new beginnings, how perfectionism disguises fear, and why small, simple steps are far more powerful than grand plans. She explores the role of fear in personal evolution, the importance of getting out of your head and into conversation, and how lived experience prepares you for whatever you're stepping into next.

This episode is a reminder that meaningful change is nonlinear, intuitive, and deeply personal, a refreshing alternative to “New Year, New You” pressure. If you're craving practical mindset support and grounded guidance for your next chapter, this conversation will meet you right where you are.

In this episode, I explore:

• Why new beginnings feel overwhelming, and how perfectionism, over-planning, and pressure often mask fear rather than support real change.
• How to simplify your first steps so you can build momentum without needing a full plan, strategy, or end vision before you begin.
• The role of fear in personal growth, including fear of failure, fear of success, fear of judgment, and why fear often shows up even when a path is aligned.
• The power of community and conversation in gaining clarity, and why you can’t evolve, pivot, or create solely in your head.
• How your lived experience prepares you for new seasons, identity shifts, and fresh starts even when you don’t feel “qualified.”
• Why waiting for permission keeps you stuck, and how cultivating self-trust becomes the true turning point for any transformation.
• Real examples from coaching conversations, cyclical living, identity work, and your own Wild & Waking journey that illustrate how change actually unfolds in everyday life.
• A grounded alternative to New Year pressure, offering a more intuitive, sustainable, and compassionate way to approach personal growth in January and beyond.

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

What happens when you’ve done everything right, hit the milestones, followed the plan, built the “good life” and still feel like something’s missing? In this week’s episode, I’m joined by transformational coach and spiritual mentor Hélène Caniac for a powerful conversation about what it really means to move from achievement to fulfillment. Together, we explore the embodied, lived-in practice of self-trust, pleasure, and presence; how to sustain your power and purpose without burning out or betraying yourself.

We dive deep into the systems that have systemically severed our self-trust, from capitalism and productivity culture to patriarchal conditioning and the ways spirituality itself can become another form of performance. Hélène unpacks how disconnection has been woven into our collective DNA for generations, and why rebuilding trust with ourselves is one of the most radical, world-changing acts we can take.

If you’ve been craving a softer, truer way of living, a way that honors both your depth and your belonging, this episode will feel like a homecoming.

In this episode, we explore:

• The shift from achievement to fulfillment — how to move beyond external success and create a life rooted in alignment, joy, and embodied purpose.
• The systems that sever our self-trust — unpacking how patriarchy, capitalism, and performance-driven spirituality keep us disconnected from our power.
• Expanding capacity for joy and freedom — practical tools to cultivate presence, discernment, and nervous-system resilience through seasons of chaos or change.
• Pleasure as a path of leadership — how enjoyment, play, and authenticity become fuel for purpose, creativity, and sustainable impact.
• Embodiment in everyday life — living your spirituality “in traffic,” in your relationships, and in the ordinary rhythms of work, motherhood, and leadership.
• Redefining success — shifting from output and performance toward integrity, connection, and fulfillment that actually feels good in your body.
• The power of collective healing — remembering that true transformation happens in relationship, through community, curiosity, and shared humanity.

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with  Hélène Caniac:

• Website: helenecanhelp.com
• Instagram: @helenecanhelp
• Join Le Salon — Hélène’s free Telegram community for thought-provoking seasonal musings, voice-note journal prompts, and early access to upcoming offerings. It’s a soft place to land for ambitious souls unlearning the hustle and returning to embodied fulfillment.

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

This week, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my own evolution through one of my favorite portals: reading. In this end-of-year solo episode, I walk you through all 26 books I read in 2025. These are the ones that cracked me open, challenged my assumptions, expanded my worldview, and quietly shaped the way I’ve shown up on the podcast, in my work, and in my life this year. Rather than sharing a quick top-five list, I take you on the full chronological journey, because the order matters. When you hear these books in the sequence I read them, you’ll notice the threads of curiosity, deconstruction, healing, and spiritual expansion that guided me month by month.

From faith and deconstruction, to ancestral wisdom, to the divine feminine, to creativity, to the witch wound, to energy work, to nature, to body literacy, these books formed a kind of breadcrumb trail for me — each one helping me ask bigger questions, soften old assumptions, and step deeper into the Wild & Waking journey we’ve been walking together. Some I devoured. Some I wrestled with. A few I didn’t finish. And all of them, in one way or another, became teachers in my own unraveling, remembering, reclamation, and rise.

Whether you want to expand your 2026 reading list, reflect on your own year of inner growth, or simply follow along with the journey behind the journey, this episode is a deep, thoughtful companion. And if any book sparks something for you, trust that. Pick it up, explore it, and see where it leads. The books that call to us often arrive right on time.

The full list, with links, photos, descriptions, and author podcast episodes, is available HERE so you can revisit any title or conversation that catches your attention.

In this episode, I explore:

• A full breakdown of all 26 books I read in 2025 and how each one shaped my personal growth, spiritual awakening, and inner transformation
• The reading themes that defined my year: deconstruction, spiritual healing, feminine power, ancestral wisdom, and embodied self-trust
• How books on Christian nationalism, faith deconstruction, and religious trauma supported my journey into a more authentic, expansive spirituality
• Titles that introduced me to ancestral healing, Indigenous wisdom, earth-based spirituality, and reconnecting with the cycles of nature
• Books exploring the divine feminine, goddess history, the witch wound, and women’s empowerment across history and mythology
• My honest reviews of astrology books, lunar cycle guides, moon-phase practices, and beginner resources on energy healing, Reiki, chakras, and auras
• Parenting and nervous system resources that helped me understand emotional regulation, generational patterns, and conscious parenting
• Nature-focused books on ecological consciousness, reciprocity, forest science, and our spiritual connection to the land
• Creativity and artistry titles that supported my writing process, mindset, and the shift from consumption to creation
• The books I didn’t finish, why I stepped away, and how I decide what’s aligned for my season
• My top five book recommendations of 2025 and who they’re ideal for (faith deconstruction, divine feminine, ancestral wisdom, midlife reinvention, spiritual identity work)
• How my 2025 reading list influenced the Wild & Waking podcast, The Coven, my coaching, and the wider conversations we shared this year
• An invitation to reflect on your own 2025 reading journey, personal evolution, and the topics you want to explore in 2026

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Get the complete 2025 book list and guide here
• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

​​In this conversation, Emily sits down with author, educator, and speaker Caroline J. Sumlin to explore the ideas behind her groundbreaking book, We’ll All Be Free: How a Culture of White Supremacy Devalues Us and How We Can Reclaim Our True Worth. Together, they unpack the systemic and cultural roots that shape our identity and self-worth, and how the beliefs we’ve inherited from society have kept us striving, performing, and disconnected from our inherent value.

This episode digs into the hidden characteristics of white supremacy culture including perfectionism, individualism, urgency, and fear of conflict, and how they quietly infiltrate our relationships, work, and daily lives. Emily and Caroline explore what it means to resist these patterns through community, rest, and intentional slowing down, and how collective liberation begins with personal awareness and small, everyday acts of resistance.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re constantly hustling to prove your worth, this conversation will help you trace that feeling back to its roots and offer a path toward freedom, healing, and belonging. Together, they remind us that reclaiming our worth isn’t just personal work, it’s cultural transformation.

In this episode, we explore:

• How white supremacy culture quietly shapes our standards of beauty, success, and worth
• The connection between perfectionism, hustle culture, and systemic oppression
• Why so many of us feel like we’re never enough—and how that belief is culturally conditioned
• The hidden traits of white supremacy culture (like urgency, individualism, and fear of conflict) and how they show up in daily life
• How burnout, self-criticism, and overachievement stem from systems designed to keep us striving
• What it looks like to begin unlearning urgency and embracing rest, community, and presence
• How reclaiming our inherent worth becomes a form of personal and collective liberation
• The power of curiosity, discomfort, and compassion in dismantling inherited conditioning

If this conversation opened your eyes to how deeply culture shapes our worth, don’t stop here. Share this episode, start a conversation in your community, and explore Caroline’s book, We’ll All Be Free, for a powerful next step toward personal and collective liberation.

Connect with Caroline J. Sumlin:

• Website: carolinejsumlin.com
• Grab her book — We’ll All Be Free: Amazon
• Instagram: @carolinejsumlin
• Threads: @carolinejsumlin

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

If astrology has always felt like a foreign language full of symbols, glyphs, houses, nodes, and mysterious lines running across a wheel you are in exactly the right place. In this episode, I’m joined by ancestral astrologer, Annie Bertrand, for a true beginner-friendly walkthrough of the basics. Instead of staying conceptual, Annie reads directly from my birth chart, so you can follow along with your own and finally make sense of what you’re seeing.

Annie breaks astrology down to its simplest, most foundational layers: the “big three” (sun, moon, rising), what the planets represent, how houses work, and how to interpret the symbols and placements on your chart. She explains astrology as your soul’s language, and offers a grounded perspective on what your chart can reveal about your life path, innate patterns, emotional wiring, and even the challenges your soul chose to work through.

This is part one of a two-part series with Annie. Today is the foundational “how it works” conversation. In part two, we’ll dive into Annie’s signature expertise: ancestral healing, mother wounds, soul-level contracts, and how our families’ charts interweave across generations.

In this episode, we explore:

• What a birth chart actually is and how astrology functions as a “soul language”
• How to download your chart and the easiest tools for beginners (Astro-Seek and the CHANI app)
• The Big Three—sun, moon, and rising—and how each one shapes your identity, emotions, and worldview
• How to read the houses in your chart and what each house represents in your life
• What the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) reveal about your communication style, love language, self-worth, motivation, and action
• How generational planets like Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus shape collective patterns across entire generations
• What the nodes mean (North Node and South Node) and how they point to your destiny path, past life mastery, and karmic patterns
• What Chiron represents as the “wounded healer” and how it shows up in your personal and relational story
• How to interpret the lines (aspects) in the center of the chart and what they reveal about inner tension, ease, and integration
• A live walkthrough of Emily’s chart as Annie explains placements, patterns, and how everything ties together

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Annie:

• Website: anniebertrand.com
• Instagram: @astrology_with_annie
• Threads: @astrology_with_annie
• Ancestral Astrology Course
• Free Family Karma Masterclass
• Free Moon Guide

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Emily is a speaker, facilitator, and host of the Wild & Waking podcast, creating spaces for women to unravel conditioning, reconnect to their truth, and rise in alignment with who they’re becoming.

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

In this powerful and multi-dimensional conversation, Emily sits down with intuitive healer, medium, and spiritual mentor, Nicolle Merrilyne, to explore the deeper layers of spiritual awakening, energy work, and feminine reclamation. Nicolle shares the origins of her intuitive gifts, the mediumship opening that transformed her life, and the profound initiations that led her into the work of shadow integration, embodiment, and spiritual depth. Together, they discuss the collective shift from surface-level “love and light” spirituality into a more grounded, embodied era of shadow work, emotional healing, and wild woman awakening.

Emily and Nicolle dig into the difference between mindset-level self-development and the deeper inner work required to truly evolve—grief, rage, ancestral patterns, past-life wounds, and the unconscious narratives that shape our choices. Nicolle explains the astrological landscape of this moment, including Pluto’s move from Capricorn into Aquarius, and how this transition mirrors the dismantling of outdated structures, the rise of feminine wisdom, and the increasing desire for authenticity, soul alignment, and personal sovereignty.

The episode takes a fascinating turn into the world of energetic home cleansing, spiritual hygiene, and energetic protection practices. Nicolle breaks down the foundations of maintaining a clear energetic environment—how to cleanse your home, how energy accumulates in physical spaces, how to ground and protect yourself, and why certain rooms hold more emotional imprint than others. Emily and Nicolle unpack the powerful house-clearing session they did together, including the intuitive messages that came through, the repeated water incidents in Emily’s home, and the connection between home energetics, emotional patterns, and the completion of old cycles.

This episode is an invitation to explore the unseen layers of your life; your energy, your home, your lineage, your body, and the truths rising within you. If you’re craving deeper self-awareness, a more grounded spiritual practice, or a clearer understanding of your own awakening, this conversation offers guidance, validation, and a willingness to go where transformation actually happens.

In this episode, we explore:

• Nicolle’s spiritual awakening story and how childhood intuition, mediumship, and trauma opened the door to her spiritual gifts
• The collective shift from “love and light” spirituality into deeper shadow work, embodiment, and feminine reclamation
• What shadow work actually looks and feels like in the body, and why it’s foundational to authentic spiritual awakening
• The rise of the wild woman archetype, feminine power, and the deeper layers of feminine energy beyond aesthetics or softness
• Spiritual hygiene practices for grounding, protection, and staying centered during emotionally heightened seasons (including the holidays)
• How energy accumulates in physical spaces and the basics of energetic home cleansing and space clearing
• What happened during Emily & Nicolle’s house-clearing session — energetic imprints, old contracts, stuck energy, and completing cycles
• Practical tools for energetic protection, including grounding cords, shields, smoke cleansing, salt, crystals, and intention-setting
• Why seasonal transitions can intensify emotional patterns and how to use seasonal grounding to navigate overwhelm
• Nicolle’s personal season of rebirth — moving overseas, navigating health challenges, and evolving her business and spiritual offerings

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Nicolle:

• Website nicollemerrilyne.com
• Instagram @nicollemerrilyne
• Threads @nicollemerrilyne
• 1:1 Sessions
• Free Signs & Spirit Guides Masterclass
• Free 7-Day Pass to RISE (Nicolle’s online spiritual sanctuary)

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

So often we expect transformation to be loud, dramatic, or instantly recognizable. But the truth is that personal evolution rarely happens in one defining moment. In this intimate solo episode, Emily reflects on the quiet, incremental, almost imperceptible shifts that have reshaped her entire inner world over the past year, while her external life has looked almost exactly the same. Through the lens of her own growth, she explores what it really means to evolve slowly, intentionally, and courageously.

Emily shares honest stories from her spiritual awakening, identity work, motherhood journey, and the subtle invitations that nudged her into deeper awareness. From the fear of being seen differently to the unexpected clarity that comes with hindsight, this episode illustrates how small daily choices, micro-yeses, and inner healing compound over time into profound change. It’s a reminder that you don’t need to burn down your life to become a new version of yourself; you simply need to pay attention to the slow burn within.

As Emily revisits who she was just one year ago—hesitant, questioning, unsure if she’d be rejected for exploring new parts of herself—she reflects on how dramatically her relationship with herself has shifted. The values she honors, the risks she takes, the conversations she’s willing to have, the intuition she trusts, the beliefs she has released: they all reveal the power of subtle, sustained personal work. This episode is a love letter to anyone walking their own path of growth, especially when it feels quiet or unseen.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re growing fast enough, if you’ve downplayed your progress because your external reality hasn’t changed, or if you’re craving a reflection of how far you’ve come, this conversation will help you see your evolution with clearer eyes. The slow burn of becoming is real, and chances are, you’re already living it, one subtle shift at a time.

In this episode, I explore:

• What personal evolution actually looks like in real time, and why slow growth is often the most sustainable and life-changing
• How subtle inner shifts—mindset work, self-awareness, healing, and nervous system regulation—compound into dramatic long-term transformation
• The difference between external change and internal identity shifts, and why your outer life may look the same even as you become a completely different woman
• How to recognize your growth by measuring backward instead of forward, and the surprising clarity that comes from reflection
• The role of spiritual awakening, intuitive development, and softening into self-trust in shaping your entire reality
• How micro-choices, daily habits, and small acts of courage create massive inner expansion over months and years
• The fears, resistance, and self-doubt that often accompany identity evolution, especially for women navigating motherhood, rural life, or community expectations
• Why subtle transformation is easy to miss in the moment and how to honor the deeper, quieter work you’ve been doing beneath the surface
• The power of curiosity, intentionality, and aligned decision-making in rewriting your beliefs and reclaiming your authentic self

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Episode 128 | Curiosity Meets Courage: Embracing the Joy of Reinvention
• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More

What if your desire isn’t dangerous, but divine?

In this deeply transformative episode, Emily sits down with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton, an intimacy coach, scholar, and founder of UNCOVER, to explore what it means to heal from purity culture and reclaim your body, your voice, and your power. Together, they unravel centuries of conditioning that taught women to equate goodness with obedience and holiness with self-denial, and invite listeners into a radical reframe: that pleasure is sacred, not selfish.

Kimberly shares her personal story of deconstructing evangelical beliefs, walking away from a marriage that no longer fit, and rediscovering her aliveness through the practice of pleasure. Rooted in her academic background at Yale and her years of coaching women around the world, she blends intellect and embodiment in a way that feels both revolutionary and deeply human. From the theology of Mary Magdalene to the lived reality of womanhood today, she illuminates how pleasure becomes a path back to the divine, and how reclaiming it is one of the most powerful ways women can heal from religious trauma, shame, and repression.

Emily and Kimberly dive into the hidden history of Mary Magdalene, a wealthy, powerful spiritual leader erased and rewritten as a sinner by the early Church, and what her true story reveals about the fear of feminine wisdom. They explore how purity culture and patriarchy sought to silence women’s voices, sexual expression, and intuition, and why remembering the Magdalene lineage is an act of both spiritual and societal revolution.

Whether you grew up in the church or simply absorbed the cultural messaging that your worth depends on being “good,” this conversation is an invitation to return to yourself. To soften the shame, to listen to your body, and to remember that your joy, your sensuality, and your truth are not something to hide, they’re the very portals to your power, purpose, and divine connection.

In this episode, we explore:

• How purity culture continues to shape women’s bodies, relationships, and sense of worth, even outside organized religion
• Why pleasure is sacred, not selfish, and how reconnecting with it helps women return to their power
• The connection between pleasure, spirituality, and embodiment, and why they were never meant to be separate
• The hidden truth about Mary Magdalene, her role as a wealthy priestess, spiritual leader, and symbol of feminine wisdom erased by patriarchy
• What the Gospel of Mary reveals about women’s direct access to the divine, and why her story was rewritten by the early Church
• How patriarchy and purity culture weaponized holiness, shame, and obedience to control women’s bodies and voices
• Practical ways to begin reclaiming pleasure and power in everyday life, through beauty, embodiment, and self-trust
• The ripple effect of women in their pleasure, how wholeness, joy, and desire create collective healing and transformation

Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss the latest episode!

Connect & Work with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton:

• Harlots & Heretics — a three-part journey through the hidden, holy history of women labeled “dangerous,” guiding you to reclaim your own sacred power.
• Pleasure After Purity Culture — a transformative experience to release shame, rewrite your relationship with your body, and rediscover pleasure as your birthright.
• Website: www.kimberlyrosependleton.com
• Instagram: @drkimberlyrosependleton
• TikTok: @drkimberlyrose
• Facebook: @drkimberlyrose

Connect with Emily:

• Website: www.EmilyReuschel.com
• Instagram: @emilyreuschel
• Facebook: Emily Reuschel
• LinkedIn: Emily Reuschel
• Join my Book Insiders List: Sign up here!

Resources and Links:

• Sign up here to get the inside scoop to my book writing journey!
• Book me as a speaker for your next event - email inquiries to [email protected] or schedule a call here
• Wild & Waking – Produced by Jill Carr Podcasting | Learn More