“ This choice to sacrifice your soul - in order to gain security, control or approval - is often deeply unconscious as the sacrifice you are making by not choosing yourself.  ”

~ Nicole Barton

One of the common fears that has magical women dance around beginning to walk the path of soul and magic (which I love, by the way - imagine, in your head that I’m dancing with you) is that the cost of living in soul alignment can seem expensive.  

This fear can be of the time investment, financial investment, or the deeper costs of the energetic commitment to showing up to do the deep work - or it can be in the other ways it appears to cost us to step fully into our vision.

Examples of these costs could be us having to give up the way of being that we know feels safe - in the case of our Naja crucible, we have have to be willing to step into the mystery, the unknown, and be willing to give up the shield of armour that we wear to protect ourselves from deeper intimacy - to show up vulnerably. 

 “ Because it is our STORY that connects with others and creates an ENERGETIC RESONANCE that provides HEALING (or expansion).”

~ Nicole Barton

The core principle of our work here at Archetypal Apothecary Mystery School is that ‘like cures like’ - and this basis is grounded in the Universal law and magical principle of “similia similbus”.

It essentially means that to have IMPACT in this world as leaders, we have to show up in the fullest EXPRESSION of our souls and shine our light so that it reaches others.

Because it is our STORY that connects with others and creates an ENERGETIC RESONANCE that provides HEALING (or expansion).

This is why reclaiming our unique and true soul expression is a requirement for us to share our gifts in the world.

“ Sharing, vulnerably, the deepest truth of who we are, courageously - is the most terrifying thing there is - And yet it’s also the most impactful thing we can do, if we are here to be healers and make a difference in the world. ”

~ Nicole Barton

I was labelled “mute” when I was in my childhood trauma.  That label stayed with me for most of my life - I remember crying every day I went home from school and had been asked to speak in class, I hid from other children and kept myself to myself - armoured up, just in case I’d be rejected again (because my Dad left, when I was 4 and I was doing everything I could to not have that pain again).

And so, when I came to creating a magical business, it was a real journey of liberating my voice.

I remember firstly starting with writing - that felt safe, and I had a lot to say, so I started sharing on a blog.  And then came the social media criticism - 

 “ In our business, if we wait to take action until we have clarity, then we will never have clarity - because it’s in the action and expression that truth is revealed.”

~ Nicole Barton

Oof, that’s a bit of a potent and triggering one, if we feel into it honestly, isn’t it?  I meant it’s probably one that will mess with your spiritual paradigm for sure, so I’m here to love you in that.

And, I mean, on one hand, there is a truth that the Universe and spirit often does actually choose for us - because we’ve not taken the aligned action to choose for ourselves…

But is that REALLY how we want to be living?  Floating around, ‘seeing what happens’ and ‘waiting to see what clarity we get’ but not hearing any ‘inner guidance’?

Lost, confused in our transitions, without an inner sense of guidance?

 “ What’s more vulnerable to admit is I look back and see how I blamed them for that, instead of taking the beautiful lessons that came out of it and owning my power.  I had one really big initiation with this, in which I outsourced my power to a guide, and paid tonnes thinking that they would ‘fix’ my problems.  And the biggest takeaway I got from that was that I was giving my power away to someone else.”

~ Nicole Barton

Oh have I journeyed with mistrusting my Guides over the years?  And this is a really common fear that comes up when magical women are thinking about joining our Mystery School to discover their purpose + create a business from them.

I have had many a Teacher, Spiritual Guide, Mentor, Coach + Soul Guide over the years, ranging in investment from a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands - and in truth, when working with many of them, I’ve hit up against not creating what I wanted to create.

It feels vulnerable to share that - and against the grain when I’m here to guide women myself, but in my journey with guides from the self-help and personal development world I took away very little of what I’d hoped to gain.

 “ One of the challenges that magical women hit up against in creating their soul business is intimacy in their RELATIONSHIPS - where they fear their full expression not being welcome, and shut down. If this is a struggle, it’s really a sign we need to heal our Witch Wound.”

~ Nicole Barton

Here’s our survival guide…

Open your heart + lean in to your triggers- know that intimacy triggers are part of the process of your Divine Feminine liberation + welcome them with open arms to reveal more about how you can step into leadership from soul purpose.  Triggers are happening FOR us, not TO us.

Go gently on yourself - remember the key to liberation is LOVE - whatever comes up for you as a block as you learn to express yourself is wanting you to learn how to hold your expansion by being more loving to yourself - and lean how to be your full self in relationship.

 “ You’ve a unique set of healing gifts - your Medicina - that you were put here on earth to serve to the collective.  It isn’t your tools that are your gifts; it’s YOU.”

~ Nicole Barton

Realise that you were born here for a reason - you’ve a unique set of healing gifts - your Medicina - that you were put here on earth to serve to the collective.  It isn’t your tools that are your gifts; it’s YOU.

Set an intention - it sounds obvious, but if you’re not being intentional about aligning with your soul purpose, it won’t happen - let’s get specific.  Show up every day with an intention to align - and then it’s inevitable that you’ll become the woman you’re meant to be.

 “ In the journey to true soul expression, we often move through different stages of relational healing until we arrive at true soul expression.  It’s not linear - it’s likely we will bounce around moving between the different stages - but it IS likely you’ll be in one of them more often then another. ”

~ Nicole Barton

Three Stages of Soul Expression - for Magical Business

These are three common ones that filter into the way we relate: Good Girl, Rebel, Soul

 “ In peeking, courageously, into that mirror she saw her own power to fully express her own magic.”

~ Nicole Barton

It takes a deep level of courage to choose into this work - often the choosing of the work itself is an initiation. And I'm here to love you in that.

I felt such a depth of love this morning for a magical woman who courageously opened to share with me, very powerfully, that she was feeling triggered by me. She's given me permission to share this, as it feels deeply serving.

Her message arrived to my inbox to let me know she was considering joining Naja, because she'd been feeling strangely drawn to it and was being nudged by magical synchronicity - a Snake arrived at her front door (she's not the first woman to share this)

 “If a union is to take place between opposites like spirit and matter, conscious and unconscious, bright and dark, and so on, it will happen in a third thing, which represents not a compromise but something new.”

~ Carl Jung

🔥💫IT’S NOT SOUL VS BUSINESS💫🔥

Something that magical women often fear is that they have to make a choice between living from soul OR creating a business. As if the business side of things will have them quivering in the corner, a nervous, burdened and burned out mess.

And I saw this week that one of the gifts I've not yet owned very boldly out loud as part of my soul-business support is my branding and PR expertise.