The Skeptical Shaman "Special" Season 4

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Season 3 of The Skeptical Shaman podcast has come to an end with yesterday’s release of our interview with the "Woo Woo Woman" herself: Shelly Saunier of the Woo Woo Woman Podcast.

Season 3 was a banger, and we explored a variety of topics with incredible guests of all colorful varieties:

• We dug into what it’s like to have a dragon totem animal—and the potential power the Year of the Wood Dragon may hold for us-- with Nichole Bigley of A Psychic’s Story podcast. We even went full weird about UFOs and aliens—and had a blast doing it! Check it out HERE.

• We had the unique pleasure of chatting with Yolanda Williams of Reiki Radio HERE about what reiki and energy work are really like—both for the practitioner and the client. And guess what? The (digestive) struggle is real.

• We got into the brass tacks of what it’s like being a professional tarot card reader with the lovely

  Theresa Reed | The Tarot Lady
  . Spoiler alert: it’s not all kittens and rainbows, and new clients usually book a session when they’re dealing with real life stuff: breakups, layoffs, grief, and life’s most critical crossroads. Check our our discussion HERE.

• We talked with Bonnie Piesse of the I Am The Sky podcast about what it’s like to come out of the psychic closet after surviving the infamous NXIVM cult. Long story very short? It wasn’t great, but she’s got a new perspective and a shit ton of resilience—a fact obvious to anyone that has watched The Vow. You can find our discussion HERE.

• We chatted with Lesley Logan of the Be It ‘Till You See It podcast HERE about the myths of solopreunership and the truth of what it’s really like to leave a cushy gig to go out into the wilds of business ownership. The trick? You have to be it ‘till you see it.

• We explored the Business of Intuition with Dean Newlund, host of the same-named (and incredible) podcast. We talked about the Fourth Turning, the return of the Annunaki, and how to leverage intuition in everyday, mundane life. The upshot? Intuition isn’t just for psychics anymore, and you can get the details in our interview HERE.

• We explored the world of philosophy, critical thinking, cognitive dissonance and the thought structures that underpin our belief systems with the help of the inestimable mind of

  Matthew Gindin
  — the freelance writer behind the Therapy As Philosophy Substack. Check out our discussion HERE.

• And we traced the unique architecture of a spiritual awakening with

  Natalie Fehlner
  —including the yuck of disillusionment that so often comes with seeking a spiritual mentor or community. Spirituality, as it turns out, is actually not an aesthetic, and cannot be achieved by LARPing in a crystal hippy lady outfit😉 You can listen to our interview HERE.

We love making The Skeptical Shaman podcast, and I’m increasingly passionate about opening up discussions about “the Woo” in a way that generates transparency, discernment, and empowerment for all listeners— not just the “inner circle” of gatekeepers that want to word-salad us all into a daze.

The Skeptical Shaman podcast is a big part of the mission of TOTEM Readings: to democratize spirituality and serve the spiritually homeless, and I’m incredibly grateful for all who listen and support our efforts.

Review Raffle Kicks Off 4/1/24

But… as free as The Skeptical Shaman podcast is to listen to, it’s not free to make. To this end, likes, shares, subscriptions, ratings and reviews are crucial to enabling us to continue to book great guests and bring you fascinating— and unique— conversations about the big, wild world of spirituality.

If you haven’t yet, please rate or review The Skeptical Shaman on Apple, Spotify, Google, or anywhere else you listen. And, as a thank you for your time and efforts, we are initiating another Review Raffle starting on 4/1/24. While we’ll be posting in more detail about this Review Raffle on Substack and on Instagram, just know: there will be incredible gifts for EVERYONE THAT ENTERS that feature not-yet-released art prints from our yet-to-be-published TOTEM Flower Essence Deck. One “grand prize winner” will secure the FIRST copy of the TOTEM Flower Essence Deck— well before it’s available on Amazon and Etsy for purchase.

So, if you rate or review The Skeptical Shaman podcast, please screenshot it and email it to me at rachel@totemreadings.com with your name and mailing address.

Other ways to enter the Review Raffle include:

• Writing a review of a recent service or session with TOTEM Readings on Yelp HERE

• Writing a review of the TOTEM Tarot Deck on Amazon HERE

• Writing a review of the TOTEM Tarot Deck, any of our TOTEM Flower Essences, or any of our totem services on Etsy HERE

To proceed with sending you a thank you gift, I’ll just need the screenshoot of the review sent via email (above), your name, and your snail mail address. After all, I can’t send a present if I don’t know where I’m sending it to. Also: please do not DM these to me on Instagram— email is best for organizational purposes!

This Review Raffle is designed to help us widen our reach ahead of self-publishing The TOTEM Flower Essence Deck. Because I’m not a “spiritual hustler” or grifter or fortune telling prostitute, TOTEM Readings, The Skeptical Shaman, and our self-published decks and hand-bottled tinctures all rely on old school word of mouth. Your reviews and ratings make a HUGE difference for us, and enable us to keep on making stuff and talking shit.

And there is no nobler a mission that talking some much-needed shit!

What’s in store for Season 4?

Season 4 of The Skeptical Shaman podcast is going to act as a capsule collection of solo episodes focused on “The Business of Woo”. The first of these episodes hits this coming Saturday, April 6th, and will address the various nuances of owning and operating a Woo-based business. As with our other seasons, you can find these episodes here on Substack, Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen!

We’ll be busting outdated beliefs and nefarious myths while offering some earned wisdom and best practices gained from actually, ethically doing the work for more than a decade— all while not building another pyramid scheme! And yes, one of the episodes features a deep dive into “The dry hump of content creation campaigns”, so I’m continuing our legacy of using offensive sexual metaphors to explain stuff.

It’s who I am.

If you want to learn more about our Business of Woo Mentoring Program that sparked the podcast episodes, you can read about it on Substack HERE and HERE, our website HERE, or via a free consultation with me HERE.

…and Season 5 is already underway!

We’ve already recorded several incredible interviews about Inner Child work, Lucid Dreaming and more with dynamic, engrossing guests for Season 5 of The Skeptical Shaman podcast, with more interviews scheduled in the weeks ahead.

I expect that Season 5 will be coming out in June or July, and that we’ll be featuring some fun new guests and projects— like our TOTEM Flower Essence Deck— later on in the summer. So, there may be a bit of a gap between seasons, but as a band I saw live as a twelve year old once said, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”

Until next time:

-Rachel