Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Have you ever had a strong gut feeling you just couldn't explain? Has a dream you've ever had been prophetic? Or have you ever thought of someone and then they suddenly call you? Or have you even ever gotten chills when you've thought about a passed on loved one? I used to think that these things were possibly just coincidences. I used to think intuition was about gut feelings. But in this conversation you're about to hear, I learned it's so much more. Today's guest is Marianne DeMarco. She's a spiritual teacher, motivational speaker, psychic medium, and the author of the brand new book, The Guides, Mapping Out Life's Journey with Spirit, which is out now. She has a gift for making the mystical feel approachable, grounded, and even funny. She's just super real. And in our conversation, she shares how to tell the difference between your own thoughts and divine guidance, why releasing expectation leads to deeper levels of self-trust and intuition, how to work with your guides to break through fear, and even how your phone might be blocking your intuition and connection to spirit. From today's episode, you'll also learn how to begin meeting with and working with your guides, why curiosity is your best tool when fear shows up, how to stop letting disappointment derail your dreams, and how to co-create your most authentic life with the other side as your collaborator. It's a powerful conversation, and it's also a lot of fun. So let's get into it. Here's the great Marianne DeMarco. So I already love you so much. I'm so, so grateful to have you on the show. So thank you for coming on and sharing your love and your light and all your gifts with us today. Thank you for being here.

• Speaker #1

  Are you kidding? It's my pleasure to be here. I'm so grateful. I love talking to you. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  I'm so grateful. And I want to start out by sharing the power of what you do. So I had the gift of having an incredible reading with you and you shared so much wisdom from the great beyond. But one of the things you said, we had the reading on a Friday. My grandmother came through and my mom's mom. So my maternal grandmother. And on that Sunday, we were having a pre-wedding celebration. Basically, you'll appreciate this being Italian. All my third cousins that I couldn't have at my small wedding in California, we had to have a little celebration for them in Michigan. So it was all my third cousins, like family, friends, friends of friends, a lot of different beautiful people. And it was kind of like a hybrid between a a bridal shower and a wedding. So you had said to me and my grandma came through that she was going to find a way to be part of my wedding and to be walking with me. And I had my music on shuffle as we were driving up to the place, the venue where the wedding pre-wedding celebration was. And I've probably like 10,000 or more songs on my, on my phone. All of a sudden I hear my own voice. And I realized the recording that we made of her funeral has come on.

• Speaker #1

  Wow.

• Speaker #0

  On shuffle. And it's all I ask of you is forever to remember me loving you. So and then it goes into. And so I instantly started sobbing. I'm like, OK, grandma's here. And my mom's like, oh, my gosh, that's a sign. And so we're all just sitting in the parking lot crying before we go in. So thank you for giving me that.

• Speaker #1

  Oh, my gosh. She gave it to you. I was happy to share it with you. I love, I, I never, I very rarely get to hear the validation afterward of something that might've been come off prophetic. So thank you for sharing with, with me. They never cease to amaze me how clever they are.

• Speaker #0

  Oh my gosh. Well, I'm just, I'm here to tell you, you've got a quick turnaround because you're not even, not even a full business day.

• Speaker #1

  That's the Italian American that that's, you know, we don't have time to waste. No, let's just get right to it.

• Speaker #0

  And my grandma was certainly that way. So it was very on brand. She wasted no time. She was like the Energizer bunny. So anyway, I just want to start there by letting my sweet creative cuties know that you are the real, real deal. And I've already seen other parts too, but that was like gut punch right away. So I want to get into this and, you know, I just think you have an incredible creative journey too. You obviously do such incredible things out in the world, but. I would love to talk about how you came to this work. I know you share that when you were a kid, you were already getting all these messages and intuitions, but do you remember, because I believe creativity is connected to the inner child, do you remember the first time you got an intuition or a hit or a message?

• Speaker #1

  I remember the first time I had a feeling. Yeah, something was going on. And I remember trying to meditate when I was about five and six years old. My mom used to take me to these meditation classes with her because she, you know, no one else was around to watch me. So I got dragged to these meditation, you know, at that time, too. You're talking about like the 70s. And it was really very wooey and out there. And there I was, oh, Ming. saying all these types of chants to just keep myself busy. But I remember feeling and knowing that I should be working on seeing the third eye. I remember really struggling that I knew that it was there and I just wanted it to be open. And I really think back about as much as I denied all of these abilities as a teenager and maybe even in my early twenties, not denying that I had it, just kind of putting it on the shelf. Like, I don't know what to do with any of that. But at that young age, I just felt like there was something to it. I knew that there was a truth to it. And I remember saying, it's my mom. I really want to see my third eye. And she's, you know, very excited over that. It's just, just that knowing, you know, that was it. That was probably the first time after that it was through dreams. It was through seeing some things. I saw some pretty unsettling things as a kid, because, you know, kids are kind of running around random. I talk about that in one of my books of seeing kind of heavier type energies or smelling sickness off of my grandmother as she was passing. I remember smelling it off of her. And I can remember those types of things that I think really, honestly, Lauren, they were just working to get my attention, not trying to scare me in any way. I think they just wanted me to know, look, you signed up for this. At some point you're going to be doing this. So,

• Speaker #0

  right. It was like foreshadowing. Yeah. Did your, did they in this class talk about the third eye or did you just have an intuitive, intuitive knowing that the third eye existed?

• Speaker #1

  I remember my mom maybe saying, look to see what you see, you know, try to remember what you see. But I just was like struggling. I just wanted to open myself up. I don't, I didn't even know what that meant, you know, what for, but my little soul knew she was really into it. And I think Part of that instruction from my mother, who's still alive, thank goodness, and still so into all of this. She's so well versed. She can write 10 books over about what she knows. But she just instilled something in me that enlightened that inner knowing. And I think that that was coming through her was a beautiful validation of what I knew to be true.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. And I'm so intrigued because you are Italian American, just like me. in our culture, there's some people who are very. open and interested in the mystical. And there are some who, despite Catholicism being quite mystical, okay, let me just say that part, but who are very deeply entrenched in the straight edge Catholic faith and really see that, think of this kind of stuff as being like against the norm or against what the religion teaches. Did you or your mom or anyone within your family struggle with that dynamic. And I'm just curious, like what your advice would be for somebody who is very intrigued by this, but afraid because of their religious background?

• Speaker #1

  That's such a great question, because I have so many people who come to me afraid because of how they were raised. My mom grew up Catholic and we were baptized. I mean, my name is Marianne. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  You know,

• Speaker #1

  after the saints. I mean, right. So, you know, it was there. And I think she started to feel resistance, if I remember correctly. her story was when she started teaching catechism, she couldn't answer the questions that the children were answering. She couldn't answer them about reincarnation and things that she was starting to discover herself. My grandmother, her mother was very into this. She used to read playing cards. And my great grandmother, who I had the privilege of knowing until I was about 12, she was also very into mysticism, but had rosaries by her bed. So I was brought up on my mom's side with this great balance. And that's what I would say to people. If you can find some sort of balance in your religious teachings, in other religious teachings and spiritual teachings that resonate with you most, try to formulate your own belief system in that way and move out of something that feels like it doesn't belong to you. And that's the best advice that I have given people throughout the years, that it's okay to have questions and it's okay. that you have been, it's not okay that you've been taught fear, but it's okay to start to maybe try and undo that in a way. Because from all the years that I have been doing this, I've been called lots of different things, you know, charlatan and whatever else. And people pray for me all the time and tell me to find Jesus. And I mean, I hear it a lot, but I've never felt resistance to it. I've always known that there is something greater going on and that we ourselves are part of it. And if we're made from the light. And if we're made from a godly likeness, then why can't we ourselves participate in communicating and feeling their presence around us? And that's always been my translation of it.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I'm so with you. I always believe in taking a step toward the spiritual buffet, like take whatever works from all the different facets. I love that.

• Speaker #1

  The spiritual buffet. I'm going to share that. Yeah. because I'm always grabbing what I find really interesting and applying it to. my soul. It just feels like it resonates within me. And so there's no resistance there. And I encourage people to do that.

• Speaker #0

  Such great advice. So tell me about this journey to becoming a professional psychic medium and spiritual teacher, because it's really, I mean, it's an incredible story. I'd love to hear it.

• Speaker #1

  I wanted to be like an actress when I was little. I wanted to be a teacher. and an actress and a foreign language teacher. That's kind of where my mind went. And in some ways, I am teaching a foreign language. I have no problem being out on the stage because I find that it's fun. And I am playing with this type of different part of myself that isn't really what's always my human self, but the spiritual self comes forward all the time. So it's pretty interesting that this is what I do for a living. Really, the way it came about was honestly just always having this calling. of wanting to do it. No one could ever teach me. I read all the books. I went to psychics. I would beg them to teach me. And crazy enough on Long Island, I couldn't find anybody to teach me. You would think we're all running amok, you know, just having like dances under the full moon or something, but we're not. And I finally, I went through this, you know, really tough time. I went through a divorce and I, I went through. Uh, losing a close family member. My father-in-law passed at that time. And even though my divorce was, you know, amicable, it was very hard. And I had these two small children and all the things I didn't know what to do. And I wanted to go to a psychic. And so I wound up in the hands of this woman that I thought was a psychic, but she wound up being a spiritual teacher and her name was Pat Longo and she's recently passed. And I know my beautiful Pat, but I called her up and I said, hey Should I bring pictures of my loved ones and all things? And she said, oh, I'm not a medium. I'm a healer. I am a teacher. I teach you people how to do these things. I teach you how to wake up. And I thought, oh. And I said to her very automatically, I think I'm supposed to see you now. And I wound up taking classes with her. Yeah. And there was something about it. I remember even asking my mother-in-law at that time, what do you think of this? And she even said, which was kind of unusual for her, she said, I think you should go do that. So there's spirit working through somebody else that I wouldn't really expect to say it with such confidence. She just had this way of saying it to me. So there I went. I drove on Long Island. I'm about an hour away. And I started taking classes. Just in a couple of weeks, I was reading some people. I just finally understood. She said one thing to me, that spirit comes in your own voice. And the way she said that, I always describe it as like from Nemo. Like, what is that? 42 Wallaby Way? Like everything just started like making sense. It all just came rushing at me. And I was able to put all of this information together and read for other people. That's how it started. Wow. Yeah, it was fun.

• Speaker #0

  I love this thing you share about when you said, I think I'm supposed to see you now and your mother-in-law saying you should do that. Do sometimes, because I've had friends tell me like, you said this thing to me that changed my life. I'm like, I said that? Like, I don't even have a memory of saying it to them. Yeah. And I wonder sometimes if those things aren't even like me saying them, if it's something else speaking through you, is that a thing that happens?

• Speaker #1

  Totally a thing that happens. I used to think I was just really opinionated and I just knew, I mean, you know, we're sassy, we're sassy kind of people. Yeah. And I really just thought like, why aren't you listening to me? And that's really was the delivery was sort of like, why are you doing that? Can't you see how wrong it is? Don't you know, everybody likes this person. I'm telling you there's something going on with this person. And I would had such conviction in these deliveries. And now I know that that was channeling. Wow. Yeah, definitely. And I, and somebody, I get it all the time now, like, you know, you told me this, or you said this to me. And how did you know that? How did you know that this was going to be the outcome before I was a psychic? And I would say, I just knew it.

• Speaker #0

  So is there a difference between what is your own opinion and what is? a channeled message. Can you feel the difference in that?

• Speaker #1

  I think you can. I mean, I think when your ego's in it or your own agenda is in it, that's us. Okay. You know, and so I always, even when I channel for others, anytime I'm even giving advice as a mom or a spouse or a friend, I'm saying, you know, dear spirit, give me the words to serve because this energy is working through us, not from us. So when that information is coming from us. maybe can run into a problem. You might be on your own agenda. So I try to have it come through me and I've done both, you know, given advice where I knew maybe it was more about me than spirit, you know, in the past. And now I know how to make the distinction and do it better.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Well, one of my favorite things about you is how human you are. You're always like, listen, I'm a person still, you know? And I think that that's so important to acknowledge in this work, because I don't know, sometimes when I think about doing anything, aligned with this work, there can be a fear that comes up of like, well, I don't want to be this person. It's like, oh yes, just become one with the wind. And like, I'm, you know, I, I'm,

• Speaker #1

  please don't do that ever, Lauren.

• Speaker #0

  I won't, but you know, it's like, I think that people kind of can have a fear of like, wait, I am having a physical experience. So I still need to be a human being. And I love the way you show up so authentically in that.

• Speaker #1

  Thank you so much. I couldn't really do it any other way. And honestly, when I tried to be love and light all the time, and I'm receiving what you're saying, and I thank you for holding me in your space. It doesn't resonate with me. And I always say, you know, you hear this term, raise your vibration, raise your vibration. Raising our vibration is an area that we visit, but we don't reside there. We are earthly. And what we want to do is go to these higher spaces. vibrations, planes, whatever works for you and get the tools that we need and use them here because we're meant to be here. I write in the book, I'm a spiritualist. I'm not a saint. I have no interest anymore in trying to be people pleasing and to be perfect and to get it right. And I found that when I surrendered over to doing not only my work often in an authentic way, but my whole life with more authenticity, it was so freeing. And I find a lot of people to your point who get into this spiritual space, especially, or they're trying to start a spiritual practice, they think that's what it's supposed to look like this, Oh, love and light all the time. And I must think positive all the time. And I have to answer everything in a great way. And that's exhausting and it's not sustainable.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I love how you talk about removing the ego because the ego is such a big block to our intuition. Can you speak a little bit more about that.

• Speaker #1

  Oh, she's so tricky, isn't she? Yeah. I mean, the ego wants to get in there and protect us. Once I understood that the ego was coming in to protect, to say, are you sure you want to go outside of your comfort zone? I don't think you should do that. Let's just play it safe. Or it says in my case, like, you know, you might have to do a little better in order to feel like you're doing something good. Right. Gets me a little competitive. Gives me a little bit comparison syndrome. Once I started to realize that if I could recognize those parts of ego, especially. I can do great work on self. I can hold myself accountable for how I think. I can hold myself accountable for what I believe and how I work with my guides on the other side. And I started to do this more and more and more and teach others how to do this. And what happens is you move out of the ego and you start moving into the voice of your higher self when you do that. That's not that the ego isn't going to pop up, it does. But you get to answer it in a different way, in a way that feels more in alignment with who you really are.

• Speaker #0

  And how does the ego specifically block intuition?

• Speaker #1

  It's going to mess with your clarity. It's going to make you second guess. In some case, it might just keep you in the same spot, but your intuition is saying, let's take some steps and move forward. And you're like, no, no, no. I'm just, I want to stay here because it feels safe. It's stopping us from, if we don't acknowledge it, it can stop us from growth. It can stop us from hearing energy with clarity because our our foggy mind is going to get in the way. But once we acknowledge it, it kind of shudders. It's like, oh, they're onto me. And then you get to work with it. And that's super powerful when you could do that.

• Speaker #0

  You know, I'm always curious about this because you worked in sales before, then you were a stay at home mom, then you became a psychic medium and a spiritual teacher. All of us at some point have to come out in our lives. You know, whether we're coming out as a creative, we're coming out as a psychic, we're coming out as a new business owner. We're literally coming out because we're gay. Like there's so many different facets of coming out. And I think that's another place where you really have to be like, OK, I'm all right with being my authentic self and the possibility of getting judged because being my authentic self is more important. But I wonder if you you have any stories of coming out as a psychic medium. And advice for other people who are coming out in some way in their life.

• Speaker #1

  Thanks for that. Yes. Coming out of the spiritual closet is not always easy for everybody. I mean, some people just do it and they really own it. It took me some time. I think my advice for that would be the more you say it, the more you believe it within yourself to be so much part of who you are. And it feels so good to release it and say it that when people start to judge and they will, and when friends shift out of your life and they will, and when family members judge in a way that really feels uncomfortable or is fearful for you, that will happen. You, it's okay because it feels so good to be true to yourself that you just kind of don't lean into those spaces with them. You, you, and then what happens is you start to clear. space. And then people have like mine come your way. I have met the most wonderful people in this genre of my life. And I'm so grateful for it. I can't believe the people that have walked into my life that are into it, that are accepting. You will find the more you believe it in yourself, that is exactly what you will attract. You manifest the people around you that just get it. And then everything else is just kind of like fades.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I also, as I was prepping for you, I got curious because I feel like I have not been able to hear my guides, my intuition. We're going to get into the difference between those two because I want to get into the whole book. But since my phone has become a more prevalent part of my life, and I'm curious about your opinion on how our phones, how social media, how phone addiction may be blocking our connection with spirit and with ourselves.

• Speaker #1

  really good questions. No one has asked me that question before. You know, I can, I can be a doom scroller just like everybody else. You know, I can definitely hop onto TikTok and scroll and scroll. And it is a way, what I've noticed is because I'm always connected that I shut down. I, my, it's like my whole body and my whole being honestly has to just shut down for a little while, especially if I've been channeling, channeling a lot. So there's a little bit of balance there. If you're constantly scrolling and constantly looking at the phone, you're not really giving yourself an opportunity to have your mind go on its own and make that connection in a way that is truly part of self. You're not being fed anything from social media, from any type of content. What you're finding and what you're discovering is the information that lies within you instead of an outside resource. by all means, scroll and have fun with it. But if you're really looking to make a connection, carve out time that is just for you and for spirit, meditation, walking, whatever it looks like, what it looks like for you. I'm not always the greatest meditator. I'll put some music on, I'll write, I'll take a walk, anything that just takes you out of that tech part of life. Yeah, because it's not realistic to think we're not going to look at our phones.

• Speaker #0

  No. Not at all, but creating those detox moments or those reconnection moments, you know, even for me, like starting my day with journal, I start with every day with meditation, but journaling is something that like, I can let that go if, if I feel like I'm too busy. But when I do meditation and journaling, I feel like I at least have a buffer between me and the day, you know, like the day could still kick my ass, but there's like a little bubble wrap between me and the day and the form of my foundation.

• Speaker #1

  You can also look at your day and ask yourself, did I do something spiritual today? And I think your perspective on that can change based on what's going on in your lives. I have a lot of young moms who will say to me, I used to be able to get up and journal and take a walk or feel the sunlight on my face and ground. And now I feel like I've got a little face in front of me as soon as I wake up. Right. And I'll say to them, what did you do this week? well I took one to the doctor and I made their food and I I don't took them to the park and we played and we laughed and all these things. And I say to him, well, that's very spiritual. So you were a caretaker. You were a healer. You laughed. You found joy this week. All of those things are very, very spiritual. And you can find balance in your daily routine too. It's just a shift in perspective.

• Speaker #0

  I love that revamp of what we look at as normal to seeing the spirituality and the, um, yeah, like the magic in it. Like Like especially when you said playing with your kids, I don't know why I picture this, but I saw like a mom on like one of those little things on the playground where you like spin the kid around. And I'm like, yes, that is a form of meditation. You're away from your phone. You're totally present because you have to be present with your child. You're reconnecting to your inner child. How is that not spiritual? And I think like if you don't view those things as being part of your spiritual practice, you're robbing yourself of. an accolade that you actually deserve, number one, but also like seeing the magic and like what you're creating in the world.

• Speaker #1

  That's beautiful. Well said. Yes. It's, you know, human to human connection, love connection, expressing love, showing love, giving it to one another. I know I was teasing about love and light and all that things, but that is doing something kind. Kindness is really something that I've been talking about a lot. That's very spiritual work and it could be part of your spiritual practice. And maybe it's not formal. But if it's all that you could fit in was, I don't know, holding the door for somebody and telling them to have a great day, that's very spiritual. You are paying it forward in a way that is even more tangible than meditation sometimes.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Oh, I love that. I love that. I was thinking like, it's not the right framework, but something like spirituality in the mundane, like looking for spirituality in the moments of life that you think are just normal. but are actually like magical and spiritual and connected.

• Speaker #1

  Totally.

• Speaker #0

  I love that as a prompt.

• Speaker #1

  As a prompt. And yes, it is great as a prompt. And gratitude is a great prompt. That's a very big spiritual practice. I'm grateful for. Every day somebody can say I'm grateful for. And that's enough. That's all really spirit wants you to do.

• Speaker #0

  Okay. Well, speaking of what they want us to do, this new book you have, The Guide's Book, Mapping Out Life's Journey with Spirit. It's all about the spirit guides. And I'm... For anyone listening who doesn't know or who maybe not is not familiar with your particular definition of it, what is a spirit guide?

• Speaker #1

  So we all have a universal team on the other side that are here to help guide us in our lives. We have come here with, I think I say in the book, an Amazon cart of different lessons that we swiped and put in our cart. How those lessons come into fruition is at the good grace of the universe. I don't think we sign up for the experiences. And I've been saying this a lot. because who would come back? Honestly, I don't think that I would. I don't think that I would.

• Speaker #0

  Tell me more what that means. It means that

• Speaker #1

  I might sign up for fear, but I, let's say I signed up for, um, I think one of mine, I talk about it as scarcity. Okay. I think I really came here to work on fear of losing, you know, being without. And, but I don't know that I signed up for the experiences that came along with that lesson. In other words, my parents got divorced at a very young age. Home was always feeling a little unsettled after that. I moved a tremendous amount from the time I was 13 until the time I was 20, like I think like 15 times or something like that. Yeah. So those lessons, I don't think I came in and said, yeah, you know what, let's add the divorce and I'll take, you know, moving around and never feeling good about it. You think something like that, I think, but the scarcity. it's easier for me to hold on to quite honestly, because I think the universe is really creative in how they can show us in various ways, the lesson maybe that our soul came here to learn.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  And our team's here to help us with that.

• Speaker #0

  So like, who are these beings? Like, who are they? What, yeah, what are they?

• Speaker #1

  Where are they doing? What are they doing over there? What do they want from us. Yes. Well, if you've ever heard the term ascended masters, if you've heard the term of light beings, light workers on the other side, those are general terms. When I see them, I see them in all types of figures, figures of faith. Yes, if that resonates with you, I've seen all types of Egyptians and indigenous people and healers, all types of images that are shown to me for translation and representation of why they are here in our lives. Plus you have angel energy, a little separate than the spirit guide for me. So a little bit more, they have a more pointed job, right? So it's Archangel Michael for healing, excuse me, for protection, Raphael for healing, Gabriel if you want to work on communication. They are like, the angels for me are like, look, I can't think, I really need, I need you to come with me and can we, can you help me, help me. Guides we're co-creating with. They're coming in and they're saying, here's what you signed up for. We're going to give you the breadcrumbs to try and figure out your life, good and bad, all of it, because we have to celebrate as well. And if you say yes, we can co-create together. That's where we get manifestation and how we carry our energy and all the lovely things. And then you have loved ones. Loved ones are coming in and they are encouraging. They're comforting. I will be with you. I will send you a sign.

• Speaker #0

  I see what's going on and I love you. The reason why I discern the difference too is between loved ones and guides is not everybody has had a wonderful relationship with their loved ones. Some people don't wanna talk to them. Maybe they didn't have the greatest time. Your grandmother is absolutely lovely. We wanna talk to her all the time, but not everybody has that. So I have made this kind of, I don't know if I want to compartmentalize, but for me, they have different energies. Yeah. And that's how I address them.

• Speaker #1

  It sounds like it. It sounds like different containers but in a way that's very helpful because you can actually picture it. A lot of times when people speak about spirit guides, it does sound like all these like floating ghosts around you just being like,

• Speaker #0

  I always say like, it's not, if you hear a disembodied voice, please leave the house. Like you shouldn't think that's not what we're talking. If you hear hello and it's outside of yourself, like get your guides in there and tell them clear that space up. It's, it's really, All it is, is hearing the energy and people say to me, how do I know if it's me or if it's them?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Actually, I had that question. So thank you for people.

• Speaker #0

  It's a big question that I get. This helps discern the difference. We know what our loved ones sound like, right? We can go and visit them. I do meditation in my other book, Media Mentor, where you do meeting hours in heaven and you go and you meet with your loved one. Very easy to kind of make that connection. Helps exercise the third eye and all the things. When you're meeting with your guides, they're far more directive. And if you think about a five-second rule in your thoughts, should I take the job or not? And you hear, I'm not going to take that job. Or you hear it being said to you, you should take the job. But then you say, yeah, but what if I take that job and it doesn't work out? Or what if the salary's not? You start really just going over and lamenting over decision-making, and it's getting you into a rut. That's the mind. That's us kind of coming in there with everything that we carry in this earth. And it's messing with our clarity. I always say hindsight's a great way to remember how you've heard your guides because it's that feeling of, I knew I wasn't supposed to do it. It was that initial thought. What is the first thing that came to you is a great way to start in what they sound like.

• Speaker #1

  Is there a difference between our intuition and the guides guiding us, or are those one in the same?

• Speaker #0

  Well, we are all psychic. Every single one of us has psychic abilities and psychic abilities to me are really just honing in on your intuition, honing in on what you know to be true, the claircognizance, what your guides are doing are trying to get you to trust that. They're saying, we're showing you, can you match up with the feeling? You want to feel flow or do you want to feel resistance? And it's just like any other muscle. When you start to really exercise it and trust them. that you are being guided and you're following the breadcrumbs and you yourself are doing your part by saying yes or no, or really leaning into the feeling of what you should do. Now you're using your intuition. Yes. Your psychic abilities, of course. And you're working on this relationship with these great beings on the other side.

• Speaker #1

  So there are like coworkers, your intuition.

• Speaker #0

  Okay. And they're, they're great coworkers too. They're like your, they're like your hype coworker. Like they're here to hype you up. You know,

• Speaker #1

  they're here to see you.

• Speaker #0

  You know, you've got this, you know, or we see you really struggling. We still have got you. They always have your back. I would say they're like your team of besties on the other side. They're your biggest cheerleaders. And all they're doing is highlighting what you know to be true. The answers are not outside of yourself. They live within you and they're trying to get you to remember what you came here to do.

• Speaker #1

  Do they ever get frustrated with us? I do. I know. Sometimes I swear to God, I can hear them saying like, oh, LaGrasso, not again. You know?

• Speaker #0

  I sometimes picture mine like with their, yes, exactly. Very annoyed, you know, like massaging their temple and the head is in the hands. Yes. I would think that they, I think they get, I can only say because of my own personality that I think that they get frustrated, but that could just be me getting frustrated with myself.

• Speaker #1

  No, I mean, I feel the same way. I've kind of like, you know, I don't think that they love me any less. But sometimes when I've made the same mistake in like so many just different containers, but it's the same exact mistake, I can feel them being like, OK, we're doing this again.

• Speaker #0

  I argue, you know, I am by nature. I like a good argument.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And if I have to learn a lesson over and over again, and I'm kind of tired of my own story where, you know, lessons are soul contracts. These are contracts that we came here to learn and to resolve. And I'm getting aggravated. I mean, I'll say to them, really, again? I have to learn this. I write about going into the boardroom. I've kind of created this soul guide boardroom. And I'm like, look, and I'll just like put the contract right on the table. Like how many times are we going to go through this? I don't want to renegotiate. I don't want, I've come in with a red pen and everything. Can we just scrap line 57, part five? No. You know, things like that. You have to have a little fun with it.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And I, you know, to think that they're a little frustrated and all of those types of, yes. I mean, you know, that's just highlighting what we feel about ourselves probably in the moment, but I think they love us unconditionally, Lauren.

• Speaker #1

  I do too.

• Speaker #0

  Yes, they do.

• Speaker #1

  So how do we meet them? Do you, Marianne, actually know each individual one or is it just like a collective energy that you feel?

• Speaker #0

  It can be both. So anyone who's to please, guys, don't struggle with trying to see them as individuals. If it's not coming to you, don't don't force it. It will if it's supposed to. And yes, it can absolutely feel like a collective energy. I have one guide that I always say we have one guide that ushers us in and ushers us out. I call mine Joe. He's the typical kind of white bearded, you know, white gown. It's actually Mikkel's deck. I didn't realize that until I looked through one of Kyle Gray's decks. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's Joe. I write about it. Yeah. I was so amazed. I'm like, there he is. I don't get too hung up on at this point because I've been working with them so long. I don't get too hung up. But when I first started, yeah, I really wanted to see them. I wanted to understand the imagery that I was getting and downloading and why. I did a ton of automatic writing from them. And the voice is different. Some of them can speak very flowery. I remember one of the first automatic writings I did, they were rhyming. And I thought that was really cheesy. And I said to them, can you stop rhyming? And they answered, we will rhyme right on time. They just mocked me, which I thought was really funny. So they understand who you are, too, and your own personality. And then I have others that sound incredibly. Like it's all business. And they say to me, if my ego is getting in it or whatever, they'll say, just go do your job. When I look at them for others. And when I have seen them for myself, they come in a variety of images. Like I said before, indigenous Egyptians, but they're all symbolic Romans, Grecians, other planetary like beings, lots of different forms. Some of them are just pure light for me. It really depends on who I'm, if I'm reading somebody who's probably going to speak to their spiritual language. And for myself, I'm just willing to see anything. So I've seen lots of different things. I remember one time I had one that kept flashing all different faces in front of me from all walks of life, changing images into animals, everything. And I heard a very feminine voice say, I am all things and I have been all things. And I thought, well, that's cool. You know, I look at it with kind of curiosity. I'm more curious about. what they are here to teach me, what I can learn from them, how I can pay it forward, and what I'm supposed to be developing on within self by using them.

• Speaker #1

  Beautiful. So if somebody listening right now is like, okay, this sounds great. I want to hear from my guides. What would be some steps they could take to begin to hear or whatever sense it is that they're sensing them through?

• Speaker #0

  No, it's good that you said that. The first thing that I always tell people is. believe that you can do it. Believe that they are here and that you have access to them anytime you want. The reason why I say that is because without that belief system, our brain is going to get in the way. We're going to explain it away. And if we can work on that perception and how we're perceiving things and really just lean into a space of trust and just surrender over to the idea, even though your brain is going to get in there and tell you you're making it up, just push it aside for a moment and let's just lean into the belief system. them. This changes the energy. You're immediately starting to make connection there. You're queuing them that you're ready. That's the next step you can do. I'm ready. I'm ready to start my relationship with you in a way that feels more conscious. Thank you for always being there for me, but now I'm ready to do with a little bit more intention. And then a great one of a very easy meditation you can do is create a space, a meeting space. I have one in the book that it's speed dating. I did it like where you kind of like speed date your guides. That's actually a good one. And you sit down just like you were speed dating and you have one sit in front of you. You know, every few minutes it changes and then you get to kind of see another one. Use all of your senses when you're connecting to your guides. What are you seeing? What are you hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling, all of it? What is your clear cognizance saying to you? If you're struggling seeing, what do you think you're seeing? If you're really struggling seeing, write. Write what you think you're supposed to write about. Because spirit is coming in and they're using your frame of reference. They're coming in and they're co-creating the imagery with you. So it's okay. Go for it. If you want to create a massive temple, do that. And just ask open-ended questions would be my next advice. Who are you? Why are you here? What is it that you want me to know? That's one of my favorite because it really leaves information open. And then just trust that you're receiving the information. And if you're, I always say to people, if you're a list maker, start writing lists about what you hear. If you're a storyteller, tell the story. If you're more about imagery, just describe what you saw. And just keep working with it. Just keep working with it.

• Speaker #1

  Okay. I love that. So much great advice. So use your unique gifts and point of view to start to make sense of the messages you're getting.

• Speaker #0

  Yes. And it should be, and always go with the most positive of translations. You know, so many of us struggle and we're not trying to get rid. of how that feels in that we shouldn't experience it. I don't want anybody thinking that once you start working with your guides, all of your troubles will just dissipate. What starts to happen is you understand how to respond in a more positive way. You understand how to respond in a way that feels more in alignment with your soul. You also know when to express gratitude and when to celebrate joy. You take those moments as well. You're like, wow, this is a really great moment and I want to celebrate it. I think what it does is it makes you a lot more present. And so just hold on to that. Just remember that all you're doing is working on the now and that everything else doesn't matter. You can manifest with them. Absolutely. Tell them your dreams, tell them everything, but come always come back to the now.

• Speaker #1

  And with the speed dating meditation, if somebody wanted to do that, obviously they should get your book, but also is it just literally you're sitting there and in your mind's eye, you're envisioning them sitting in front of you.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Create the scene, whatever your speed dating room looks like. So if you're in a great restaurant or you're in a hotel, like boardroom, you know, those rooms and whatever you want it to look like. If you want to do it as a Zoom call because you feel more safe that you're not like kind of sitting in front of the person. Maybe you're doing it like that. Doesn't really matter. Create the space how you want it to be. Something that feels authentic to you. And that's easy for you to create, by the way. Don't try and reinvent the wheel. Just get in there and do it in a way that feels easy. And then envision, say, I'm ready to see you. You might see one, you might see five. You might see no one. And that's okay too. And then you can say, I'll be ready when you're ready. When you're ready to reveal yourself, I'm ready. What is it that I need to do in this moment to help myself prep for our visit for next time?

• Speaker #1

  So that brings up something I heard you say on another interview, which is surrendering expectations and why that's important when it comes to. doing this kind of work or opening yourself up to getting these messages. Can you speak a little to that?

• Speaker #0

  Yes. I used to have a lot of expectations when I would manifest. I'm a little competitive. I wanted to kind of achieve and do all these things. And I realized that the more I was setting expectation on what I thought their job was or what I thought manifesting all looked like, the more I would get disappointed. And so instead I leaned into hope and I started saying things with more intention like... why I want something or why I wanted to do my work for the greater good, for the highest good of all concerned. Can you show me the way so that I can achieve what it is that I feel called to do? You know, it's just, it's in the wording and it's in the intention. I learned a lot of lessons about expectation, honestly, in all areas of my life, not in just spirituality. I just surrendered over and I just started saying things like I'll be guided and I'll know, and that's enough.

• Speaker #1

  that's enough i love that i i so resonated with that because in this interview I listened to is one with Marie Forleo. You talked about your pain over disappointment. And I've realized in my life, I have had such an aversion to disappointment that I have rebranded many disappointments as failures, even though they weren't at all. I just didn't have any tolerance for it.

• Speaker #0

  Oh, Lauren, that's so powerful.

• Speaker #1

  And so,

• Speaker #0

  yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry.

• Speaker #1

  No, no, you go ahead. Well,

• Speaker #0

  I was just laughing because if my husband was in here, he would say, I'd say to him, what's the one thing I hate the most? He's like, oh, being disappointed. I had to really work hard on that. Disappointment's tough. And that is because of the expectation. Do you know what I did? That's why I started working with my guides even deeper. So I started asking, why does disappointment affect me so much? Who gave this to me in the first place? Where did it start? And I was taken to moments where I was really bravely disappointed in life. And how it, I felt so let down. It did two things. It led me to spaces of forgiveness for maybe people that were around me. And it also held me accountable for maybe my judgment of them or my expectation of who I thought they should be.

• Speaker #1

  Ooh,

• Speaker #0

  it was good.

• Speaker #1

  That's so good.

• Speaker #0

  I do that most of the work that I do with my guides. now is really understanding these parts of myself. It's very therapeutic. It's a bit of psychology. I just do it in a spiritual way.

• Speaker #1

  Wow. I'm going to have to think about that. I think I need to make my disappointment map like you just described.

• Speaker #0

  Oh yeah. It's a great, yeah. It's, I mean, I was taken to times when I, my inner knowing knew that the situation was not right. But I put so much expectation on that other person. It's bound to fail, right? It was bound to not work out because I was expecting something out of them that I knew I should have been finding within myself.

• Speaker #1

  Wow. That really just opened my mind because I realized like all, all disappointment comes from putting your power outside of yourself. That's right. It's like, okay, this thing will save me. This person will save me. I will do this and finally I'll be happy. But none of that can ever save you. It's really. It's your relationship with yourself and your relationship with God. Like that's what you have at the end of the day.

• Speaker #0

  That's right. That's right. There's nothing that can shake that. If you know who you are within self and you hold yourself accountable, good, bad and different, whatever it is, and you believe in your higher source, your God, your faith, whatever that is for you. And you know that you're part of not only co-creating, but part of what they have in store for you too. And you get to say yes, and you have your free will. You're starting to live a very powerful life. When you do that, it took me years to learn those lessons and to say, wow, I guess I was wrong. I didn't like to admit when I was wrong. It's like vinegar coming out of my mouth.

• Speaker #1

  The words just don't feel right.

• Speaker #0

  It doesn't feel right. Feel good. But it's freeing.

• Speaker #1

  What's the difference between, because I'm all into embodiment right now. I don't know if you've been on that journey at all. But what does. hope feel like in your body versus what does expectation feel like in your body?

• Speaker #0

  It's a really good question because I do feel it viscerally. Hope is exciting. I feel like a little kid when I'm hopeful. It brings me back to dreaming and daydreaming and just manifesting in a fun way. And it brings me back to playfulness. Expectation, I'm immediately competitive. with either myself or somebody else. I am immediately worried that it won't be good enough, that it won't come into fruition. It leads me to worry. And I want no part of that any longer. It's not that it doesn't come up too, by the way, it does. We don't eradicate these things. I just answer it differently now.

• Speaker #1

  How do you answer it?

• Speaker #0

  With positivity and hope. I get right back into saying that's not what's serving me. And I can give myself a good 24 hours. And then I'm like, all right, enough. When I'm tired of my own story, I get to work.

• Speaker #1

  I love that. Yeah. Because pretending like it's not there doesn't make it go away.

• Speaker #0

  No. And you know, I was a suppressor. I could be still like a bit of a suppressor. You know, I don't always want to face the music, but I find that when I do, it just releases so much for me, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. It really builds up a great trust system that I have with a higher source, God and my guides. And it's unshakable.

• Speaker #1

  And all this feels very connected to fear. That's something I've talked about on this podcast from the beginning. I used to think you could eradicate fear. I was like, we're going to learn to get rid of fear. But now I've learned, okay, maybe I'll never get rid of fear, but like it at least needs to be riding shotgun, hopefully in the trunk. Like I can't be making, it can't be the driver of my life. So talk about your views on fear and how to stop feeding fear.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Fear, I used to call fear in one of my books, I said, doubt and fear are like the Bonnie and Clyde of the universe. They're just a little tag team out to annoy. I think to your point, fear is a big thing in a lot of people's lives and it is very difficult to understand, but eradicating it, I think is just exhausting. And so for me, I try to, I don't think I would say that I make fear my friend. I don't, but when it shows up, I absolutely am ready to understand why always. And just like I did with expectation or disappointment, I go back, I see what's, what kind of fear is this? What's it stirring up for me? The other thing is not only acknowledging it, yes, but don't feed it. When we feed fear. Fear gets, loves it. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. It just grows and it, it, it gets bigger and bigger and kind of takes over. I talk about in one book, I hate rats. I did this meditation and rats are disgusting to me and no, not to any rat haters. I'm sorry if you love rats, but I do not like rats.

• Speaker #1

  It's totally fine.

• Speaker #0

  You love rats. I honor you, but I do not like them. So anyway, I don't like rats. And I did this meditation. My guide showed me, they opened up a door behind the door were two rats eating each other, you know, and getting just biting each other. And they said to me, what would happen if you put out some food? Well, they would just grow and get bigger. And so what they had me do is observe the rats, but don't engage, understand maybe what they're doing, but they're not really for you. And I understood that they were talking about fear, that they were saying, the more you feed it, the worse it's going to get. So just answer it with love, answer it with the best pot. If you, even if it's just a pinpoint of positivity, because I think some people really are just, you know, I don't want to sit here and come on and say, you know, if you just do your love, it'll all go away. I think you have to do your work in whatever that looks like. Ask for help.

• Speaker #1

  Well, you're not saying to just get positive. I mean, I think the first step from what you described, cause even with the rat story, it was getting curious.

• Speaker #0

  It's always curious.

• Speaker #1

  What do you, what do you have to teach me? Like what? Cause it. these things aren't popping up in us out of nowhere. It's not like, you know, it's, it's, there's some impetus that is making us feel afraid. And I think that fear can grow too, when we try to pretend like it's not there and keep like pushing it down. And so the curiosity is so key to me and then bringing yourself into reality because rarely is fear actually based in reality.

• Speaker #0

  Agreed. Totally agreed. If you get really curious with it, you're going to see who gave it you Or what situation sparked it and how it applies to this moment? What happened that you keep kind of regenerating it in different ways, but with the same theme over and over again? Why we pick certain people to be around us? Why we get into certain relationships? Why we make the choices? Are they fear-based? And once you move out of fear-based decisions, you're really starting. You're really working it very well then. You're saying. I see you fear, but I know what I need to do here. Yeah. And I'm going to do it.

• Speaker #1

  And for the creatives listening, so many of them, you know, sometimes have come up against a creative block. Is there a way to engage with your guides to ask them, what should we work on next? Like, what should I speak about? What should I sing about? How do you co-create with your guides?

• Speaker #0

  I love this. My team will tell you, I mean, I'm like, we should do this and I'll put out, you know, 10 different things. I'm talking about like my team that works with me. Yeah. And what I do with my guides, because I really feel like they're downloads saying to me, do this, do this, teach them the book, even wake them up, write this, write about guides, write about this, do that. So I write them down and I will look at them and I'll say, okay, guides, show me what you want me to do first. Show me what's a priority here. to help get this ball rolling. And either something will jump off the page or it will happen in theme around me where people will say, you know, so when I started teaching, I kept hearing, teach them, teach them, teach them. And I would write, okay, I want to start teaching classes. I didn't quite know how that was going to start. And then people would start, you know, can you teach me what you do? So people started coming to me and I say, oh yes. And then another person said to me, you know, I have this great space. If you ever want to do classes here. Okay, great. They will show you the breadcrumbs. From there, it was like teaching, write a book, you know, and then so there was teaching, then write the book, then mentor students, whatever was coming my way. Then you'll start teaching retreats. Just write them all down and let them show you the steps on how it all plays out. That's the best advice I can give because they're brilliant at it.

• Speaker #1

  And when you're actually in the creative process, so when you're writing, because you've written so many books, you're quite prolific. So when you're in this process, What part is like you versus channeling? Like how, how does the co-creation work? I'm really curious for you.

• Speaker #0

  For me, all of my books are channeled. This is my third book. All of them are channeled. I could tell you the stories that come up were, are the, cause some of this is the first time I've kind of gotten personal about my own life and in a much more personal way than I have before. Those stories I knew intuitively needed to be part of the book. All channeled, all co-creation. How they were told, my human self definitely was like, well, wait a minute.

• Speaker #1

  So the human self is the editor.

• Speaker #0

  A little bit of an editor. The human self kind of got in there. That's a little raw. Can we tell that story just a little softer? And I allowed for some of that. I definitely got out of my comfort zone, but I also kind of respected that part of myself that was a little protective.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. No, that sounds like a great collaboration. You know, you're letting your intuition and your guides flow through you. And then you are having a physical experience in a scary world. So you still have to... protect your human self.

• Speaker #0

  You do. And I think that in itself is very intuitive. You know, could I say your guides, my guides were saying, you don't really want to write all that, do you? Why don't you pull back just a tad? I mean, I could have looked at it like that. It could be both one in the same, because I always feel like, honestly, Lauren, I feel like I'm constantly co-creating with them. And the only time I'm allowing my human self in there is probably parts that I'm just working on. You know, something that wants to keep me, hold me back or keep me safe or... whatever. And I laugh for all of it.

• Speaker #1

  This has been such a beautiful conversation. I adore you even more if it's possible. It's just so fun to connect with you. And yeah, I just, I'm grateful for what you do, but even more grateful for who you are. It's so powerful. I wonder if there's any final thoughts you have on, you know, guides, intuition, creativity, anything you feel compelled to share with the listener?

• Speaker #0

  Yes. First of all, thank you for saying that. And I love being with you. You know, we have like a little thing going on and I just obsessed with you. I love you. And what I, what I would say to your listeners, because it has helped me so much today. If you could just start today, give yourself permission to co-create your biggest dreams, to go for it with spirit. Give your heart, that little person within you, the dreamer that you were born to be. Allow yourself to not only align with your guides, but to align with the most authentic and powerful parts of yourself. I promise you it will be worth your while to do the work with them.

• Speaker #1

  Oh my gosh, creative cutie. You have to. It's your birthright. Thank you so much, Marianne, for writing this book, for being here. I love you, adore you and everybody get the new book. It's so powerful. Follow her on all social platforms and unleash your inner creative. Thank you so much.

• Speaker #0

  Thank you, Lauren. I love you.

• Speaker #1

  Love you. Thank you so much for listening. And thanks to my guest, Marianne DeMarco. For more info on Marianne, follow her at Marianne DeMarco and visit her website, MarianneDeMarco.com. You can get her brand new book, The Guides, Mapping Out Life's Journey with Spirit, anywhere good books are found. Unleash Your Inner Creative is hosted and executive produced by me, Lauren LaGrasso. Edited by Blondel Garcon. Original theme music is by Liz Full. If you enjoyed today's conversation, please rate, review, and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share this episode with a friend. Podcasts are really spread person to person. So send it to somebody who's interested in building their intuition, getting in touch with their spirit guides, or breaking through fear. Also post about it on social media. Tag me at Lauren LaGrasso and at Unleash Your Inner Creative. And I will repost to share my gratitude. My wish for you this week is that you carve out a little space to connect. whether it's through meditation, a walk in nature, journaling, or just sitting quietly. Ask your guides to show up for you through something small and then stay open. You might be surprised by how quickly they respond. I love you and I believe in you. I'll talk with you next week.