So what happens when you reach this point?

Not many people arrive here, to be quite honest with you.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely part of the 1-5%, and that’s a small percentage.

We are a very tiny minority. Although there is no clean universal statistic for “people who do healing work and step into leadership”… yet this would be my best guess.

If you are a women who is:

• consciously doing your inner healing work

• actively choosing your purpose over conditioning

• and actually stepping into visible leadership / service

…you are well under 10% of the population in any embodied, consistent way.

And if you are a woman who truly:

• faces her shadow

• leaves behind the script

• builds something soul-led

• and takes responsibility for leading others

…you are probably closer to the 1–5%.

Why is this so rare?! Because most people:

• want comfort more than truth

• want change without death of identity

• want purpose without responsibility

• want healing without surrender

A lot of people are “interested” in healing.
Far fewer are devoted to it.

And even fewer are willing to let that healing reorganize their whole life.

That’s where leadership begins.

There are four levels:

1) Healing-curious

Reads books, listens to podcasts, talks about growth.

2) Healing-engaged

Actually in therapy, coaching, ceremony, deep self-work.

3) Embodied initiates

Their healing starts changing:

• relationships

• career

• nervous system

• boundaries

• identity

4) Leadership path

They stop healing only for themselves
and begin asking: How do I use this in service?

That last category?
Very rare. & these are the kind of women I’m speaking too.

Super Niche. I know, right!

But it’s my greatest calling to be in service to new earth leaders.

This is the deep truth. I am not trying to speak to “everyone.”

I am speaking to the woman who is part of that tiny percentage who can feel:

“I cannot go back to my corporate job.”
“I’m here for more than a soul-sucking job in the matrix.”
“My life must mean something more than feeling stuck.”
“I’m ready to lead and be of sacred service to others.”

That’s why my work won’t resonate with the masses.
And that’s not a problem.

I only want to call forward the women who are ready to commit and go ALL IN on their path. If that’s you, keep reading as I have some exciting news to share!

📸: @gladysgavantxo
📍: @raicesinkas

PS. Click on the photo above to see more & connect with me on Instagram.

Today is an exciting day 🎉⬇️

It’s the first of April, a new portal & a full moon as we are in the middle of Aries Season (my birthday coming up on Monday April 6th!) 🙏🏼

& after many months in the making, my new website has officially launched today!

Visit My Website Here!

I’m excited to share two pathways with how we can walk together more deeply this year. 2026 is the year of the fire horse, which means it’s time to take aligned action, without burning ourselves out. 🔑🔥

This means more conscious new earth leaders are on the rise and need support & accountability to go all in on their path. It’s a deep honour and joy to offer the work that I do, with a lot of humbleness, integrity and love.

Comment: BECOMING ⬇️ to join our one day new moon ceremonial container on April 17th, live on Zoom. If this post speaks to your soul, you’re meant to be inside.

PS. You can click on the photo above for the link or click HERE!

Trust the calling. Don’t miss this window of energy and opportunity to take leaps with us. A replay will be available. Will you sit in sacred space with us?

& please take a moment to check out my website that my beloved and amazing husband @themedicinecouple built for me (with a bit of my own sparkle + sprinkle) ✨

Visit My Website Here!

Sending all my love ❤️ Karina

I’m not saying put yourself in a box, or all your eggs into one basket…

What I’m saying is choose commitment to your path as a whole… with two secret sauce ingredients called: discipline and devotion.

Many of us are wearing many hats and feeling burnout.

Many of us are also putting ourselves into one box and feeling stuck.

This is nuanced, to say the least. We’re all different. What works for one person, may not work for others, but you’ll know if this is speaking to you.

If you’re like me (Manifesting Generator, Aries Sun), you might get caught up in doing 100 things at once because you feel this fire within you. There’s always a new creative idea, spark or project that comes in as a vision… and you just want to bring it all to life.

And when it comes to execute it and put it into practice, you hit a ceiling point. You lack the follow through and commitment on even just one thing…

The forward momentum stalls, and you get bored or burnt out.

Maybe you feel overwhelmed because you’re juggling 5-10 things at once. I get it… I’ve been there more times than I could count on my hand.

Maybe it would be better to choose one streamlined path, where 3 things maximum can fit under that one umbrella. I’ll give you an example by sharing more of my story…

Feel free to respond to this email or comment below to share your thoughts.

There was a moment where I realized…
I was trying to hold too many directions at once.

I was trying to make things work in order to feel safe. I was trying to prove I could sustain myself.

And underneath it all… I honestly didn’t fully trust that my work could hold me.

Even after over a decade of being on this path, where I haven’t relied on the system to receive a steady pay check, I questioned myself and my path.

2025 was a year of shedding skin, breaking cycles and releasing old identities. And I believe that many of us felt this. We were stuck in the void, the in-between and felt lost. In these last few months, I stopped pushing.

I chose one path. And now I am staying with it.

I brought my energy back home. Back into my voice. Writing & Making Music. I remembered the woman that was already within me.

And everything began to land and become clear. I’m here to go all in on my path as a musician, and that doesn’t mean I can’t be of sacred service to women through my online & in-person offerings, or co-create with my husband for our in person sessions, ceremonies and retreats… but I’ve learned how to streamline it all under one umbrella.

Now I walk with women who are in that same space…where the old life no longer fits…and the new one hasn’t fully formed. If you’re standing at a crossing…

We don’t rush through it.
We cross through the threshold, together.

BECOMING is a 1 day online teaching transmission & ceremonial container happening on Friday April 17th at 12pm EST 🌱

Comment ⬇️ BECOMING to join us LIVE for the new moon in Aries, where we will harness this new energy post equinox as we enter a new cycle into a higher timeline together. This is for new earth leaders, entrepreneurs, healers and mystics. Share this with women walking the path of the heart, that are ready to take leaps in 2026. ❤️

Click HERE to Join Becoming!

PS. My new website rebrand is launching on April 1st! I’m so excited. Stay Tuned.

For now, you can visit my website & feel my offerings HERE!

The other night my husband and I had our own private plant medicine ceremony.

I was given the vision of two pathways:

Pathway 1: living in constant fear of the future or ruminating on the pain of the past.

Pathway 2: living in the present moment and embodying that everything is here now.

Many people are subconsciously creating a fear loop that what they deeply desire and dream of will never come true, OR worse…they stay stuck in the pain of the past ruminating and living in resentment, victimhood, blame and shame.

I get it. It’s not easy to choose the second pathway, because the conditioning and programming of our wounding runs so damn deep. So many humans have dug themselves into the grave, where their souls have started slowly dying on the inside.

As a collective consciousness, we’ve forgotten how to truly live. How to be present.

What are your greatest childhood dreams?

The only person that is standing in your way, is you.

Your limiting beliefs and fears. They are the biggest killers of your dreams.

Any subconscious thoughts and beliefs that are keeping you stuck in a loop or staying small… are the greatest blocks you will ever have. I know this sounds like what we’ve heard hundred’s of times…yet why do so many struggle to break free?

I truly invite you to sit down and reflect on this today. It’s the New Moon in Pisces after all. It’s an opportunity to give yourself permission to dream big today:

What dream do you have that you’re not going after?

Where in your life are you staying small?

How are you creating a block for yourself with your own thoughts/beliefs?

For the past six years I have been refining my craft as a medicine woman and musician in sacred service. For the past 12 years, I have been a nomad, chasing my dreams and creating my reality. After going all in on myself and starting my online coaching business in April 2020, I’ve pivoted and shifted directions many times.

I lived in Tulum, Mexico for almost five years, and now I am based in the Sacred Valley of Peru with my husband and our three fur babies.

I’ve taken many leaps of faith. I’ve wanted to give up more time’s than I can count, yet I am still here. Writing to you, weekly. Never giving up on my dreams.

This is a game that we are in.

How do you want to play?

So many people are struggling and suffering right now…

Living in the present moment and taking aligned action towards your dreams sounds like a simple hack, yet what’s missing is actual lived embodiment of putting in practice.

Not everyone is willing to create change in their lives, because it’s unfamiliar. The unknown scares the shit out of so many people operating from fear.

I’ve been reflecting on how I’ve gotten to where I am today, living and following my dreams… and it’s not only because I’m doing the inner shadow work, believing in myself, staying disciplined and taking action each and every single day…

But because I have mentors and teachers that support me and believe in me.

We can’t walk this path alone. It becomes very lonely, very quickly.

This is the year new earth leaders will create change…

In their own lives, relationships, careers & businesses.

As I mentioned, walking this path alone will not get us to where we desire to be.

For me, mentorship has been one core pillar of this path. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for investing thousands of dollars in myself, having accountability and being called forward to step into the woman I am now (before I ever felt ready).

I’m speaking to women who are already starting to take steps on this path, that are on the fence between leaving behind their old identity, are going through career pivots, leaving their corporate jobs, escaping the matrix…

But also deeply afraid of what’s on the other side.

Welcome to the unknown. This is my favourite arena. I’ve been devoted to playing at this level of the game for over 12 years now. It’s not for the faint of heart. And the women I walk with don’t hesitate to take the leap.

The Equinox and Aries season is around the corner. It’s a new beginning.

A time to nurture and watch the seeds you’ve planted bloom. I would be honoured to support you on your path. I’m calling in women who are new earth leaders, ready to be seen, witnessed and held through their becoming. I’m now opening new applications for my 1:1 high level + integrity mentorship called: The Crossing.

If you’re a woman standing at a threshold: no longer the woman you were, and not yet the woman you’re becoming, I’d be honoured to walk with you, if it’s in alignment.

Comment or DM me: CROSSING & drop a comment if this message spoke to your soul today. Share this with a friend.

Special savings when you commit to 6 or 9 months and a bonus 25% savings when you commit to Threshold Retreat Private Immersion as well!

Visit my Website Here to feel my offerings and book a connect call to Apply Now!

See you on the other side. Wishing you a blessed and beautiful day.

Karina

Earlier this week, I had a vivid dream that spoke to my soul.

In this dream, I was clearing out my iCloud, google drive, and social media posts. What happened next was shocking. Everything got completely wiped out. Surprisingly, I woke up feeling a sense of relief. I no longer had to carry these old versions of myself.

I knew that this was a dream that carried a deeper symbolic meaning. So I grabbed my journal and started to interpret it. What emotions did I feel during the dream?

At first there was fear, sadness, then frustration… but soon it turned into peace.

I knew that this was showing up in my subconscious, because I was actually doing a bit of a digital detox and cleanup already. I believe that clutter can block us, not just in our physical space but in our energetic space. This is why it’s so important to go through the process of clearing out the old, so that we can make space for the new.

Spirit was trying to speak to me in subtle ways. What I received from this dream, was that it was time for me to bury the woman that I was.

I’m a manifesting generator, and I’m guilty of pivoting and evolving every six months. Whether in my personal life or business, there’s always an expansion happening.

Which means that I cannot carry the old ways of being with me into the now.

For me, the message I received was to archive all the old social media videos and posts on Instagram, Youtube, and even here on Substack that no longer resonate.

Deep down, I knew they were blocking me in many ways.

Six months ago, on the last eclipse in September, I started speaking my truth and sharing more of my story that I had never shared publicly before. After coming out of a dieta in the Amazon of Peru in mid-June, I couldn’t stay silent any longer.

There were secrets that I was holding for over a decade about my past and who I was.

I felt ashamed for a long time, yet something shifted for me last year. I could no longer stay quiet, because it was eating me up inside. I needed to liberate myself, and free myself from the shame that I carried of the past. It wasn’t easy, but I did it.

I’m not going to re-write my entire life story here.

If you know me, or have followed me for a while and read my previous posts or watched my YouTube videos… then you would have witnessed this unfolding.

I am done with telling the trauma story and speaking about the pain of the past.

I’ve done it. I’ve liberated myself. I know that I’ve inspired other women too. But I’m no longer going to be the woman who holds onto an identity that has expired.

Now, I am moving forward.

It’s time for a new identity, that has been forming as I’ve embodied more of who I really am over the last five years, since I stepped onto the shamanic path.

Yes, there have been lessons to learn, huge tests and initiations to pass, and now I am on the other side. I was the woman who was at the Crossing. I was stuck in the in-between for a long time: no longer the woman I was, and not yet the woman that I am becoming. But now… I am the woman who chooses to embody the version of herself that goes after her deepest dreams and desires. I am a medicine woman and musician.

@karinakoryakhina

Karina | Medicine Woman & Mentor on Instagram: "Just over here …

This has been my calling for a long time, and I have been walking this path by dedicating and devoting myself to my craft and my art. And now, I am choosing to go ALL IN on this. To show up on social media from a place of writing a new story.

This doesn’t mean I will never speak my truth or share my story. But it’s clear that my past no longer defines me and holds me to an identity of pain and suffering.

That’s the old paradigm, the old version of me who had to be forged through the fire. I had to cross through that threshold, and liberate myself and my truth.

Now that I’m free, I’m no longer going to be known as the spiritual abuse girl who had a black magic spell put on her or endured abuse within narcissistic relationships, or the woman who lived a life of secrets through stripping to survive or working for the rich and famous on Super Yachts. Those chapters are closed.

Once upon a time, that was who I was…

But now, I am the woman who is reclaiming her ancestral voice.

With this, I am excited to share more about my music, the medicine work my husband and I do together, and to ultimately put ourselves out there in a whole new way.

And with this shift, I have noticed that the type of women I have been calling in to work with me are the one’s who are also ready for this new beginning.

They are no longer stuck in a process, victimhood, or rehashing the past.

They are now focusing on the present moment, reclaiming their personal power, and leading their legacy for all of the future generations to come.

This is who I have ALWAYS been speaking too, but somewhere this got lost in translation, when six months ago I shared so much of my past self.

Energetically, I felt blocked. I attracted women who were stuck in a loop of fear, and weren’t ready to ask for support, or taking the leap by investing in themselves.

And now, I feel a whole new energy. I’m currently working with women who are saying YES to themselves and their mission by reclaiming their ancestral voice.

Recently, I have launched a facilitator pathway which opens with my newest offering called: Voice of the Drum - a liberation & initiation for women on the shamanic path.

PS. I’ll be launching my new website rebrand soon as well as more invitations on how to walk these pathways together.

This is for all the women who need a permission slip to go all in on their dreams.

We have been going through a collective identity death and rebirth. An awakening of consciousness, a shift in our perspectives, and a remembrance of who we are and why we came here. There is no coincidence that you chose to incarnate on earth in this lifetime. We are witnessing a great purging, a great unfolding, and a bold reclamation.

And while the world will continue to operate in chaos, we have the opportunity to choose peace. We just had a powerful purge after the eclipse, and hopefully an opportunity to look within ourselves and shine a light on our shadows.

If you’re a new earth leader ready to be held, seen and witnessed as you take the leap to go all in on your path, I’d be honoured to walk with you inside of The Crossing.

I’m now enrolling new clients inside The Crossing: My High-Level Mentorship for New Earth Leaders. Applications are now open and you can visit my website to APPLY HERE!

PS. I’ll be shifting to sharing a story + teaching transmission once a week every Wednesday —to give myself time to go all in on my music & service with the women I’m walking with.

Have a blessed & beautiful day. Thank you for being here.

I used to care so much about what others thought of me.

Whether it was family, friends, co-workers, or even strangers. It didn’t matter.

When I started to share on social media over a decade ago, openly and vulnerably speaking about my travels, teachings and takeaways through the lessons I learned as a nomad, this opened up the floodgates to learning how to give less of a f***.

It wasn’t always easy, because I had to go through the depths of darkness, and sit with my shadows to see that I was the one creating stories of separation in my mind.

Not everyone will like us, get us, resonate with us, or vibe with us.

It’s just the reality of life. And we have to accept this.

Once we do, we can begin to understand that the only validation we need is our own.

No one else can give us the love and approval we need, until we are willing to give it to ourselves. When I learned this principle, my entire life changed.

I’m not saying I am perfect, nor am I saying that my life is perfect. I am human, I have bad days, I have flaws, I have shadows, and some days will test me more than I like.

During this eclipse season, I observed how many of these old karmic soul contracts were being played out as tests from Spirit to ultimately close cycles.

There were uncomfortable conversations had, shadows that surfaced, truths & revelations revealed, and boundaries that needed to be set for new ways of being.

What I learned from all of this, was that I can’t convince certain people to walk with me, understand me, see from my point of view or perspective, because that would never work. Trying to control or change someone’s opinion or projection of me, is a waste of both my time and their time. I’ve learned to accept this and let them go.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is to walk away and to focus on our own path.

This is what I am doing now.

I’m here to write from my heart, because the heart always speaks the soul’s language.

SIDENOTE - AI GENERATED CONTENT RELATED TO SEEKING APPROVAL

And I have to admit something: I have been putting some of my content through AI to save time, condense my thoughts, eliminate any sort of over-processing that may be apparent in my language, and polish my words just a bit to do “better in business”.

But what I’ve recognized, is that AI can never truly be me.

It cannot write like me, speak like me, sound like me, or express like me.

Because it’s a robot. It doesn’t have a soul.

And I am not a robot. Nor do I want to be.

While I still acknowledge that AI is a tool, I will use it as a tool for other aspects of my business, but not for my writing anymore. It’s felt like a bit of an addiction if I’m being honest. I’ve gone back and forth - using it/not using it.

Trying to sound polished. This isn’t reality, though.

In a society that is so focused on perfection, I choose to be messy.

Speaking from a real and raw place is what I’ve always done, and this is how I’ve always attracted my soul tribe. AI really took off in this last year, and everyone started sounding like everyone else. So I am done polishing my writing. I’m done editing my drafts multiple times. I’m done trying to perform and please an algorithm.

I’m here to speak from my soul, and to share my story from my heart as teaching transmissions and wisdom gained and earned on my path.

I’m here to call in my soul tribe and trust that you will feel the call when it comes.

So if you’re like me. Tired of trying to be someone you’re not. Done boxing yourself into a place you don't belong. Over being the one who stays small and silent. No longer allowing fear to keep you stuck in a loop or cycle of not sharing your story…

Then you’re the kind of woman I want to walk with.

I’m calling in a handful of women to walk with me inside of my 1:1 mentorship called: The Crossing. This is a high-integrity 3, 6 or 9 month container where we don’t do surface-level spirituality. We dive into the depths of your soul blueprint as a new earth leader, where you are supported and seen every step of the way through your journey.

I would be honoured to walk with you, when it feels like a full yes in your body.

PS. I’ve also recently opened up a facilitation pathway for women who feel the call of the shamanic drum, voice liberation, shamanic drum journeying and women’s work.

Please Visit My Website & Book a Connect Call to Apply Now.

Woman, you were told that you are too much to hold.

Too intense.

Too fiery.

Too sensitive.

Too emotional.

But that’s because they weren’t able to meet you,

Where you needed to be met.

You were never too much.

Yes, you are are ALOT.

And that’s a good thing.

Because you are NOT for everyone.

Don’t dim your light,

Because they want you to stay small.

Don’t hide who you are,

Because they’re afraid of your power.

Shine your light,

Because the sun would never apologize for being too bright.

Remember who you are.

Remember why you came here.

Remember your path.

You are NOT too much.

Written by Karina Koryakhina

This is all I have for you today. I’m keeping it short and sweet because eclipse season be eclipsing and I’m feeling my energy drained and depleted from certain interactions and huge lessons I’ve been learning this week. Stay tuned for the full integrated story on Monday.

For the woman that is ready to be witnessed, held, seen. The Crossing: my high-level and integrity mentorship for women will meet you where you’re at.

If you feel curious and called, Please Visit My Website and Book a Connect Call!

An aha-moment or light bulb moment, so to speak.

I realized I have been living in the shadows longer than necessary.

Even though I was speaking about liberation, embodiment, sovereignty, breaking generational trauma… I was still orienting my energy toward what I survived.

And I felt it in my body.

Tired.
Exhausted.
Depleted.

Not because the work wasn’t important.

But because I was complete with it.

This chapter is now closed.

Moving on is not bypassing.

It is integration.

I have sat with my shadows.
I have taken radical responsibility for my choices.
I have told the stories of stripping to survive, chasing highs, addiction, narcissistic abuse, spiritual abuse.

I have broken silence.

And now, I am done building my platform from exposure.

The first memoir I ever wrote was raw, confessional, filled with secrets and survival.

And I’m grateful it disappeared into the void. That version of the story was medicine for me and my own healing process…not a manifesto for the world.

I no longer need to retell my trauma to prove I’ve healed it.

I no longer need darkness as contrast to feel powerful.

Attention is a contract.

Where attention goes, identity forms.

And I am no longer contracting my identity around pain.

The real question is not:

“What is my new story?”

The real question is:

Who am I when I’m not fighting anything?

This is the threshold.

I am a sovereign woman who is no longer oriented around survival.

I am building and leading my legacy.

I am reclaiming my ancestral voice: through music, through leadership, through the drum, through embodied truth.

I am not the woman who stays silent.
I am not the woman who relives the scar.
I am not the woman who fights to be understood.

I am the woman who builds.

And the women I am calling forward are not looking to process forever.

They are ready to cross.

To move from survival to sovereignty.
From trauma identity to legacy identity.
From exposure to creation.

This is the work we do inside The Crossing.

Not revisiting the wound.
But building from the wisdom.

If you feel that shift in your own body: that quiet knowing that you are done fighting…

You already understand.

The future version of you is not telling the same story.

She is writing a new one.

And she’s not asking for permission.

When you’re ready, I would be honoured to walk with you inside The Crossing: my high-level and integrity 1:1 mentorship for new earth leaders and conscious entrepreneurs who are ready to lead their legacy starting in 2026.

Visit My Website HERE & Book a Connect Call HERE!

Last night, my husband and I opened the space in our community for our weekly gathering, Voices of the Valley. We gathered in prayer and truth.

Not to escape the world, but to take responsibility for how we shape it.

This is how new paradigms are built.

One room.
One circle.
One honest conversation at a time.

This is for the New Earth leaders who know we cannot build the future with the same unconscious patterns that have been keeping us stuck for thousands of years.

Everywhere we look, systems are crumbling and being exposed.

In spiritual communities.
In wellness spaces.
In government.
In finance.

Money. Power. Sex.

Corruption thrives anywhere ego goes unchecked.

This isn’t fear-based.

It’s reality.

And reality is clarifying.

What’s happening right now isn’t random chaos.

It’s exposure.

Predators are being revealed.
False gurus are collapsing.
Institutions built on manipulation are cracking.

Good.

Because what is hidden cannot remain and be reformed.

But here is the part most people miss:

Exposure alone does not create change.

Outrage alone does not create change.

Burning it all down does not create change.

Transformation requires something far less dramatic, and far more difficult:

Radical responsibility.

Before you misunderstand me:

This is not spiritual bypassing.
This is not “everything is a mirror.”
This is not excusing harm.

Predators are responsible for their actions.

But we are responsible for the consciousness we operate from.

If we want a different world, we cannot replicate the same distortions inside our own leadership.

Unprocessed rage.
Unhealed shame.
Unconscious power dynamics.
Projection.
Pedestal culture.

If we do not confront these shadow aspects within ourselves, we rebuild the same systems with prettier language.

This is why inner work is not optional for leaders.

It is structural.

If every person committed to daily shadow work (real inner work) our systems would shift faster than we think possible.

Not because of magic.
But because consciousness builds culture.

And culture builds institutions.

True conscious community is not aesthetic spirituality.

It requires:

Integrity.
Accountability.
Emotional maturity.
The ability to sit with discomfort without deflecting it.

Most people would rather blame the world than examine their patterns.

That is how cycles continue.

That is how scarcity, fear, and separation repeat themselves generation after generation.

But something is changing.

More women are speaking.
More healers are refusing to be put on a pedestal.
More leaders are choosing truth over image.

This is not the year to hide your gifts.

This is not the year to dim your light because it makes others uncomfortable.

But hear this clearly:

If you rise without sovereignty, you will unconsciously recreate the old paradigm.

This is why the work must begin within.

This is the threshold.

For the women who know they are here to lead differently.
For the mystics who refuse to bypass.
For the healers who are done performing purity.
For the entrepreneurs who want integrity over influence.

This is the work we do inside The Crossing.

Not surface level empowerment.
Not spiritual bypassing and theatrics.

But dismantling inherited silence.
Reclaiming voice.
Rebuilding leadership from embodied sovereignty.

It is a private 1:1 high-integrity container for women who are ready to lead and bui.d the new earth… without replicating the distortions they claim to stand against.

If that is you, you already feel it.

You don’t need to be convinced.

You need to decide.

When you’re ready, Visit My Website & Book a Connect Call to Apply!

It’s my bleed.
My body is asking to move slowly.

And still… I’m here.

Not from force.
Not from performance.
But from devotion after deep rest.

I committed to showing up consistently.
And leadership isn’t about posting only when it’s easy.
It’s about showing up aligned.

This past week, something shifted.

What I shared reached further than I expected.
Women wrote to me saying they are ready to speak.
Ready to stop staying small.
Ready to stop being the “good girl” who keeps the peace at the cost of her truth.

And I realized something:

My voice is refining.

It’s becoming less diluted.
Less careful.
Less concerned with being liked.

2025 has been a year of endings for me.
Closing contracts.
Releasing patterns.
Cutting cords that were long overdue.

Not from rage.
From clarity.

And if there’s one thing I know now, it’s this:

This is not the season for shrinking.

It’s the season for sovereignty.

The women I am calling forward are not looking to be saved.
They are ready to stand.

Ready to speak.
Ready to build differently.
Ready to lead without inherited distortion.

I trust the ones meant to walk with me will feel it.

And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Today, instead of another story or teaching transmission…
I’m leaving you with a poem.

Because sometimes leadership isn’t louder.

It’s deeper.

Wild Woman

Wild one,

You were not meant to succumb,

To the pains of the past,

It’s time to free yourself at last.

Woman, have you forgotten your power?

Falling for fairytales and locking yourself in the tower,

Waiting to be rescued by your Prince Charming,

Have we not recognized that Disney is alarming?

These small stories that keep you stuck,

Following the path like a maiden duckling behind her mother duck,

Playing out the archetype of the wounded maiden,

Afraid to ascend to the archetype of the mother…

Because no woman before you paved the path,

No one showed you how to do the math,

And see how much time you’ve spent crying,

How much heartache you’ve caused by lying,

To yourself and to others…

To all your sisters and brothers.

Every time you choose to remain a victim of your circumstances,

You disempower yourself and take no more chances.

To rise into the wise woman that you are,

I promise you that despite your age, you’re not that far,

Away from embodying the wild woman within,

It’s time to unleash her and forgive your sins.

You are a warrior and fighter,

You are a leader and igniter,

It’s time to recognize your gifts,

It’s time to create spaciousness and shifts.

To let go of the old patterns and programs,

And make way for new beginnings.

Responding instead of reacting,

Being authentic and never acting.

A part in a play that isn’t real,

Peeling back the layers and making a deal,

With yourself to choose the empowered story,

And revel in your new life and all its glory.

You will now walk the rite of passage,

A ritual to symbolize this initiation,

From child, to maiden to mother, To crone.

The wise woman that beckons you home.

Thank you for reading until the end. Invitation to go deeper:

For the women who feel like they are standing at a threshold:
no longer willing to betray themselves,
but not yet fully anchored in their power…

This is the work we do inside The Crossing.

Not surface healing.
Not performance empowerment.

But dismantling inherited silence.
Reclaiming voice.
Rebuilding leadership from sovereignty.

It’s a private 1:1 container for women who know they are meant to lead, and refuse to replicate the old patterns while doing it.

If you feel that edge in your body,
you can message me “CROSSING.”

Visit My Website HERE!

Book a Free 30 minute Connect Call to Apply Now!

How can you live a little more loudly and proudly?

How can you be a little bolder?

What legacy are you being called to leave? How can you truly live?

Monday Mantra Invocation & Oracle Card Pull by @rebeccacampbell_author 👉🏻 “I’m ready to live my life boldly and sing the song I came here to sing.”

Medicine Woman: My second single and soul song is now live on Spotify to stream and on my YouTube Channel to watch the music video. Links Here or Below 🫶

SHORT STORY: Medicine Woman

I’ve always dreamt of being a star one day.

Growing up in the 90’s, I would plug my cassette tape into my recorder and blast Spice Girls, Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. I looked up to these pop stars, and placed them on a pedestal. I wanted to be like them when I grew up. They were my idols.

When adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said a singer.

I would write songs, stories and poems in my journal at the ripe age of 5, and I dreamt of being on stage one day, sharing my music with the world.

Little did that girl know… that she would grow up and put her dreams to the side.

She would focus on school sports, study hard to get good grades, go to University, and follow the cookie cutter path that was paved for her by her parents. Like most of us do.

She would graduate with a Bachelors of Arts Honours Degree in Psychology & English. She would travel down under to attend Teachers College. And then, she would get hired for her first six month temporary teaching contract in Australia.

After staying small and playing it safe, she would be introduced to a world of chasing the high by working at strip clubs and on super yachts for the next six years.

Soon after, her life would take a turn. A dark night of the soul, a spiritual awakening.

Her new life was awaiting her. The life she’s always dreamt of.

To her surprise, working with sacred plant medicines would awaken the medicine woman within her. Her voice would return. Her childhood dreams would become a reality.

After spending two decades silencing her voice out of shame, she would reclaim her personal power and follow the path that was always destined for her. Her destined life.

From the ages of 10-30, Karina stayed silent. When she was 10 years old, a girl in her dance class told her to stop singing.

She remembers that day like it was yesterday. That mean girl said: “Can you stop singing out loud. You sound tone deaf. It’s giving us all a headache.”

After that, Karina never sang again, until 2021, when she would open her voice.

She played piano for a decade, played competitive tennis and was a dancer. She was always curious about the guitar, but her parents told her to stick to what she knew.

After arriving in Tulum, Mexico in January 2021 after the pandemic hit, she went deep into her healing journey by working with sacred plant medicines such as psilocybin, peyote, san pedro, and ayahuasca. These medicines changed the trajectory of her life.

And with these medicines, her voice re-emerged. She was given her first shamanic drum in 2021, but for the first few months it just sat there and stared at her.

Waiting and wondering if she would have the courage and the confidence to pick up a new instrument and sing again. After all those years…

A few months later, she started to sing medicine music songs in the Temazcal (Mexican Sweatlodge). It was dark and nobody could see her, so she felt safe.

In August 2021, she hosted her first Full Moon Women’s Circle.

In January 2022, she hosted her first spiritual retreat and shared songs with more courage and confidence. By December 2022, she wrote her first song.

It’s called Medicine Woman. It releases on all platforms on 2/2.

TODAY (the day of publishing this post). Over three years later, it’s been recorded.

And today that little girl inside of her heart is smiling with joy. She is happy to see her adult self going after her dreams, after so many years of putting her path to the side.

This is a reminder to the little girl inside of you, to follow your passions. Don’t let them die for too long. And if it’s been a while, don’t worry…it’s never to late to light that fire within and start now. With every stumble and every step, we begin again.

Love, your inner child. Reminding you that the medicine woman is within you.

In these last few years, Karina has proudly shared over 25+ original songs in private sacred shamanic mushroom ceremonies in the five women’s retreats she has facilitated up to this date, hundreds of women’s circles she’s hosted, and dozens of private and group mushroom ceremonies her and her husband have held in Tulum, Mexico in their sanctuary space. She’s shared on stage: mantra music at Kirtan gatherings in the Sacred Valley of Peru (where she now lives), and has continued to share her medicine in circles and ceremonies in spiritual communities and beyond.

While she is just getting started with her music career and her dream of singing on stages, she is excited to call in women to walk with her.

Recently Karina has birthed a new offering called: Voice of the Drum. It’s a 4-week online liberation and initiation for medicine women ready to come out of hiding. It’s for those who know they are healers and have gifts to share with the world.

If you’re curious, please visit my Website for More Information HERE!

3/5 Founding Spots Left with Significant Savings in Exchange for Feedback/Testimonials!

SUPPORT MY MUSIC:
To support independent artists and share this with your loved ones, please take time to listen to the song today and share it with loved one’s.

🎧 Listen, follow, download, add to a playlist & share on Spotify. Feel free to stream it on repeat! Click Here for the Link!

🎥 Watch the music video on YouTube: and if you enjoy it, please like, comment, share & subscribe. Click Here for the Link!

Thank you for reading until the end. I would love to hear how my music lands with you. If you feel resonant with my medicine, I would be honoured to support you.

Sending all my love and blessing your sacred path.

Karina

According to Kabbalah, we all have a soul correction (otherwise known as Tikkun).

Many of us have woken up in the last decade, and more and more are waking up in these last years since the pandemic hit in 2020. This time has showed us what is no longer working anymore. And I don’t mean just in our society, but in our own families.

We have seen the cost of playing it safe and small, and how it keeps us in a loop. But what we don’t often talk about, is the dysfunctional dynamics within families.

It’s been a taboo topic, until recently, where more and more people are speaking up.

Our parents didn’t have the tools we have now. They never learned how to become aware of their own limiting beliefs, unconscious patterns, and destructive behaviours. They didn’t know how to self-soothe their inner child, heal their wounds, and take responsibility for their emotions, thoughts, words and actions.

And this is why we see so many younger generations waking up right now and doing the inner work. We are becoming more aware and observing that the old ways are no longer working.

We are having conscious conversations around how we can be better human beings, better parents, better grandparents, better children, friends, and partners.

As we do this generational and ancestral healing, we are raising the vibration of the collective consciousness, even if it seems subtle. This is the mission for the new earth.

The Mother Wound is a deeply ingrained wounding that doesn’t form at one single moment… it develops in layers, starting very early from conception and then getting reinforced over time. I spoke about other similar woundings such as the Sister Wound and the Witch Wound in my previous short story, which you can read about HERE!

This one hits different though.

The Sister Wound is rooted in competition, comparison, jealously and envy.

The Witch Wound is rooted in the fear of being seen or speaking our truth, due to being silenced, judged, prosecuted, ostracized, ridiculed and shamed.

The Mother Wound is deeply layered with the feeling of rejection.

Picture a mother who doesn’t know how to give the proper love, care, and attention to her child. This isn’t to say she’s a bad mother. It’s to say that she’s likely unaware.

This is an opportunity to speak truth about the facts of how these pattern have been passed down within the lineage and continues to repeat throughout the generations.

For many of us, our mothers didn’t know how to love us, because they weren’t shown how…

This also means that their mothers never taught them how to love themselves, because their mother’s didn’t have a foundation of self-love. Again, this isn’t to shame our mothers, but to shine a light on the shadows of what is truth, reality and fact.

Our mothers were subconsciously taught that love was earned, and their mother’s were taught the same. This was then passed down to us.

And so the cycle would rinse and repeat…

We learned as daughters, that love was conditional, rather than unconditional.

That we had to get good grades, follow the rules, and say yes even when we wanted to say no. Our needs weren’t heard or acknowledged, and our boundaries were crossed, because boundaries were not taught throughout the generations.

But a mother’s love is the only unconditional love in the world.

Or so we would think…

But for many of us, the reality was quite the opposite.

Years of trauma that looked like helicopter parenting, abuse, manipulation, and gaslighting became our reality. Many of us lived with emotionally immature parents. We had to become the adults, the mediators, the therapists. We grew up way too fast, and not in the way you would imagine. But, we never got the chance to be kids for too long. We had to be serious, we had to prove ourselves, and this made us seek love and validation because we were only given love when we would be “good girls”.

We became the black sheep of the family. The one’s that got away. The one’s that searched for a new life, because deep down we knew the old life didn’t fit anymore.

So we felt shame and guilt for leaving. We felt isolated and alone. We never understood why things had to turn out this way, until we did.

We’ve had to learn how to love ourselves, reparent ourselves, tend to our inner child, and become the mother we never had. It’s not been easy, but it’s been worth it.

We’ve had to learn how to set boundaries with firmness and love, teaching ourselves how to reparent our own inner child and love ourselves unconditionally.

And so the story goes…

Does this resonate with you? I would love to hear in the comments below.

I share more about my story with healing the mother wound on my YouTube Channel. My relationship with my mother has improved a lot in this past years from doing the inner shadow work and walking the shamanic path where I’ve worked with plant medicines that have allowed me to heal this wound, forgive and accept my mother. I’ve also noticed a shift in her as well, and it’s been beautiful to witness our relationship transforming and evolving.

INVITATION

I’m calling in three women to walk with me inside of my 1:1 Mentorship called: The Crossing. It’s a 3, 6 or 9 month container that holds you exactly where you are. We go deep into shadow work, and we dive deep into all aspects of self including ancestral healing in all relationships, pivots in career, and our path in business. Many of the women that come to me are in a crossing, a void, a liminal space, or the in-between. They are no longer who they were and not yet who they are becoming.

This work requires radical responsibility, accountability, commitment and devotion to your path, purpose and mission. Whether you are already sharing your gifts as a healer and desiring support with business mastery (energetics, branding, marketing), or you know you are meant to share your gifts with the world, I would be honoured to walk with you and support you in crossing through this threshold.

This is my PASSION!

If you feel curious and called, please visit my website to get a feel of my work HERE and book a connect call HERE to apply to see if this is the right fit for us both.

Thank you for reading until the end. I am eternally grateful for the souls I get to serve.

Love,

Karina

Doesn’t it?

I get it… I’ve been here multiple times on my path as an entrepreneur (coming out of it now), and even before I started by own soul-led business…

I experienced countless dark nights, death and rebirths through: heartbreaks, job losses, career endings, pivots, life transitions and leaps of faith.

But this is what the human experience is all about.

It’s not meant to be easy, but it’s also not meant to be hard.

We will experience pain, but we don’t have to struggle.

We will feel lost and confused, but we don’t have to stay stuck.

How many times have you been here? In this liminal space. In the in-between?

Fighting with your ego, wondering when will I break free from this loop?

& then you’re told by business/life coaches, marketing gurus, your therapist, ChatGPT or people’s projections on social media…

That you have to go all in on one thing ❣️ Just focus and take action.

& this might be the most controversial opinion I’ve ever had, but to a point. I agree.

Listen, I’ve been confused by this too. More times than I would care to admit. But I’m here to be honest. This path of the heart, ain’t for the faint of heart.

New age spirituality has sold us many ideologies such as manifestation and the law of attraction, astrology, human design, star-seed channeling… and what else am I missing?

I’m tired of the noise I see on social media.

Tired of being told that I have to pivot, die and be reborn 100 times.

Maybe you are too?

What happened to sitting in circle and council with wise elders, sitting in sacred silence or ceremony with ourselves, listening to our intuition, and connecting to the wise woman within? What happened to commitment?

We’ve completely lost touch with reality.
Most of us have no elders to turn to.
So we turn to AI (I have too, this isn’t to shame us…)

Everything can be used as a tool… and it can also overwhelm us through overconsumption, leading us to distraction and detour on our path.

This is why the shamanic path speaks to my soul. Because it’s rooted in a lineage of all the wise and well ancestors that live within us. This is why I continue to be a humble student and server, and connect with more wisdom keepers on this path.

This is why my mission is to walk with women who are ready to cross the threshold from who they once were to who they are becoming.

It’s become clear to me that I’m here to go all in on this path.

To devote myself to my art, my craft, my medicine which is expressed through music, writing and sacred service through my online & in-person offerings.

If this spoke to your soul, I’m now calling in three women to walk with me inside of my signature 1:1 online mentorship called: The Crossing.

It’s available as a 3, 6, or 9 month container that holds you exactly where you’re at. This is a high-level, leadership mentorship for women navigating deep transition through the liminal space, identity shifts, and inner threshold work in their personal life, relations, work/business.

The Crossing (1:1 Mentorship)

You’re not lost.
You’re in a crossing.

There comes a moment
when who you were no longer fits
and who you’re becoming
hasn’t fully arrived.

This space can feel like:

• uncertainty

• grief

• exhaustion

• a loss of identity

• a quiet knowing that something is ending

Most women try to rush through this.

To fix it.
To end it.
To make it productive.

But some thresholds
can’t be bypassed.

The Crossing is a 1:1 mentorship for women willing to stay present inside the in-between, while also stepping into leadership initiation and conscious business mastery through their branding, marketing and offerings.

This is not your average coaching container.

This is a high-level mentorship pathway.

It’s relational, honest accompaniment through:

• identity shifts

• leadership thresholds

• inner work that informs action

• conscious business and mission-aligned decision-making

• reclaiming self-trust and authority

We meet weekly, slowly, and with depth.

No performance.
No urgency.
No shortcuts.

Just truth, presence, leadership initiation,
and conscious embodiment in business, career pivots, life leaps, and purpose.

If you’re standing at a threshold
and feel the call to be met

The Crossing is open.
3, 6, or 9-month containers.
Book a Connect Call Below.

The Crossing — 1:1 Online Mentorship Container

This container includes:

• Weekly 90-minute 1:1 online sessions

• Ongoing relational support, check-ins and accountability through WhatsApp.

• Intuitive, embodied mentorship across all areas of life and aspects of self.

• A pace that honours depth, honesty, feedback and integration.

This work is for women who feel called to:

• meet their inner world with courage and radical responsibility.

• move through endings, initiations, or dark nights with support.

• reclaim authority, clarity, and self-trust.

• lead their lives from truth rather than survival

Container options: 3, 6, or 9 months | low four-figure investment

This mentorship is offered through a strict application and discernment process.

Please Fill Out THIS Application Form & Then Proceed to Scheduling a Call With Me!

Mentorship pathway opens towards Threshold Retreat: a private in-person immersion, offered mid-way or after closing of our container through discernment.

If you’re curious and called, please click the link above to apply, so that we can see if this is the right fit. I’m looking forward to walking with you. 🫶

And as always, I would love to hear if anything inside of this Weekly Wednesday newsletter and article landed with you. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Lot’s of Love,

Karina

Today I want to speak about what it means to be in the void, otherwise known as the in-between. It’s an unknown place where our ego often feels uncomfortable. We are no longer the person we were, and we are not quite yet the person we are becoming.

Are you here right now?

I personally have experienced being in this space at least once per year. Sometimes for a month, sometimes 3 months, and sometimes 6 months. It all depends on how deep the initiation is at the time, and the depth of the inner work our soul is required to do.

It’s never a punishment, although it can feel this way often times for our human self.

I am aware that 2025 was a challenging year for many of us. Many of my friends, my family, my clients and even those that I’m meeting lately are openly speaking about and expressing this feeling of stagnation, or rather, being “stuck” so to speak.

I wonder if you can resonate with this too?

So much has changed over this last year, and the snake shedding season is not over yet, unfortunately, my beloved friends. We have until February 17th (when the official Chinese New Year of the Horse Energy kicks in). I know you’ve probably heard this 1000 times already, but just incase you’re being hard on yourself today or this week, this is your reminder + sign to stop pushing yourself and to take a pause + breath…

You’re right on track. In fact, everything is always divinely orchestrated in the Universe, by Great Spirit/The Creator/God in the most holy way.

Even if it doesn’t feel like it… I get it.

PERSONAL STORY SHARE

This time last year, my husband and I decided it was time to take the leap and make a big change. We bought our flight tickets from Mexico to Peru set for May 14, 2025. We sold/donated half of our belongings. We made a HUGE decision to leave our entire life behind that we’ve built for over 4+ years in Tulum together. I honestly thought it would be much easier than it has been. When we arrived to Peru by mid-May, we went off to do a 1 month music retreat and dieta in the jungle of the Amazon.

Our intention was to go inward, do our work and set intentions for the rest of 2025 as we closed a chapter and opened a new one in the Sacred Valley. We arrived in Pisac mid-June, landing in a temporary home for the next month, taking time to integrate.

At the time of writing this, it’s been just over 8 months since we left Mexico…and the message I received clearly from my guides is that we will be in this void for 9 months total. Meaning, we have one more month to go…hooray for us!!!

I do feel the shift happening slowly. Being in the void has meant that I’ve had to let go of many things, including old identities. I changed my last name in June, where I reclaimed my ancestral last name to honour my lineage and roots. On top of that, we let go of all of our income and in-person clientele that we built in Tulum. We’ve been supported by our savings for the last few months, and slowly we started to rebuild here. When we moved into our permanent home, I had to go into wisdom tooth extraction surgery, and it required me to pause and release the old. It’s no coincidence all of this was happening in the year of the snake. Letting go all that isn’t serving…

I’ve been in the the depths of my own darkness the last few months. I’ve cried as much as I’ve smiled in between the moment’s of grief and gratitude. My husband and I were given the opportunity to launch a bed & breakfast in our sanctuary space by the end of August called Condor’s Nest, and this has given us some stability as we got back on our two feet and have taken time to establish ourselves on new lands.

The thing is, we sometimes expect for things to be a certain way. For overnight success to happen, for all our dreams to manifest in a moment’s notice, and for all of our struggles, worries, pains, fears, and doubts to just go away and disappear.

But that’s not always the case…

While I am grateful for the new opportunities that have presented themselves, I am also aware that things take time to root. When we initially plant seeds, we need to tend to them, water them, and watch them grow (sometimes silently).

In September, I started to speak more of my truth. Specifically around spiritual abuse in plant medicine spaces within conscious communities. This brought a lot up to the surface. I faced my own shadows, liberated myself from shame, and had to stand strong to withhold spiritual bypassing and gaslighting from strangers and worse, friends who turned their backs on me. It was hard, and at times I gaslit myself into thinking, well maybe I should just stay silent and stop speaking. What’s the point?

Nothing is going to change? No one cares! So why bother? Those were the honest small stories going through my mind, where I felt alienated and alone. But recently, I have integrated all of this and realized that this is just the negative energies/entities (dark forces) trying to confuse me, so that I indeed dim my light and not shine to bright.

There’s more to say on this, that I’ll save for a future article.

But for now, I want to circle back to the timeline of the void, in the here and now, in my own personal journey that I am sharing with you. If you’re still reading this, you’re likely going through it too…

Sharing and speaking up also allowed me to be seen more. Some of my content went viral and reached more people. I received downloads of new offerings to birth, and I have… yet many of them are still landing and taking root. Meaning, that I’m focusing my energy on calling in the most aligned soul mate clients that I’m here to serve.

Because I’ve gone through another pivot in my work - moving from helping women break free from small stories through ancestral healing, to now initiating women into facilitation of women’s work, shamanic drum journey’s and voice liberation/initiation…

It’s taking time for me to figure out how I’m meant to show up and speak up about certain topics around shamanic earth centered practices and ceremonial living.

Recently I’ve taken a handful of women through my new offerings as beta clients, and I’m calling in more that are ready to walk this path of the heart and be of service to humanity. Especially during these dark times we are in. We need more light from you.

This is what’s on my heart today, and I hope it touched you in some way. I would love to hear from you in the comments below or if you’d like to respond to this email. I read every message. You can scroll down to read more about my offerings below if you feel curious and called.

PS. This is the first newsletter that I will be writing on Substack, as I’ve decided to transfer my email-list to this platform. I’m letting go of Flodesk for a number of reasons, one being that less people are actually seeing my emails, compared to the amount of people that are receiving and opening the emails that I’ve been sharing here. If you’re receiving this and you previously opted out of my email-list, you are welcome to unsubscribe or stay (I had to automatically import my entire list over the last five years, so many of you may have opted out months or years ago…incase you’re wondering why you’re seeing this. I’m by no means here to pressure you or force you to stay connected with me).

I won’t take it personally, in fact, I only desire those who truly resonate with what I am sharing here. If you decide to stay, thank you for walking with me.

INVITATION TO GO DEEPER TOGETHER:

For the women who is ready for change this year…there are multiple ways to apply to work with me in 2026. Please Visit My Website HERE!

I’m in the process of rebuilding and rebranding my website onto a new platform. Right now, I’m focusing on calling women into my two signature offerings:

1. The Crossing - 1:1 Mentorship (3-6 Month Container for Leaders)

2. Voice of the Drum - Liberation + Initiation (Facilitation Trainings)
   

   I’m here when you’re ready and would be honoured to support you.

Please respond to this newsletter and share what’s alive for you. I always read and respond and I would love to support you on your path in any way that I can.

Wishing you a beautiful and blessed day.

I knew that none of those two things would likely ever happen, neither the pumpkin nor the knight in shining armour, or should I say sailor. I was my own saving grace. I have come to make my own decisions in this life, and decided to create this reality and new chapter for myself. Whether it works out or not, at least I know that I have tried to make something of my life, even if it didn’t turn out to be the right path in the end. There is a reason for all the ways in which certain circumstances and situations unfold in our lives, and I believe it will all become clear very soon. Even though it feels foggy right now. The unknown is so uncomfortable. Yet, here I am…present with what is. Until then… I will keep my head high as I gaze out into the horizon of the seas.

Written by my 28 year old self who didn’t share this because she was afraid to be seen in her own shadows and to break the spell of her own silent suffering.

Reflecting on this now, I can see how my younger self was so incredibly naive and vulnerable. From the outside, her life seemed wild, exciting, filled with travel and adventure. But on the inside, she felt lonely, sad, and confused at times…

She didn’t actually enjoy working for the rich and famous (the 1%). Below Deck the yacht crew were often bullied by their superiors (Chief Stews & Chief Officers), underpaid by their Captains/Owners, and overworked by slaving away for 16 hour+ days when they were in the middle of charter season. The reality TV show made it seem so glamorous, but like much of what you see on TV, it’s not real... It’s fake.

What they didn’t show between the long shifts and nights out at the yachtie bars in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean seasons was how alienating it felt to be in this industry, especially as a female deckhand in a male dominated world.

Especially for someone who is an empath, a highly sensitive and spiritual being.

I remember hiding my crystal collection, my tarot/oracles card decks, and doing my meditation and yoga practice in silence on the aft deck. There was one time someone on my crew caught me on camera and shouted over the radio for everyone to hear: “Hey mate, who are you bowing to? Are you okay over there? Need a beer?”

This was the typical toxic work and hustle culture of the super yacht crew. Work hard, and play harder. This meant working slave shifts for hours on end with not enough rest or fuel at times, and then spending days and nights off getting absolutely shit faced on alcohol and cocaine. Many of these yacht crew unconsciously sold their souls in exchange for tax-free, rent-free, expense-free monthly salaries.

And not to mention the tiny cabin quarters and living situations that made you feel like a sardine stuffed in a box with zero personal space and privacy.

While I thought I was chasing freedom, what I was really doing was running from my own shadows that I didn’t want to face. My early twenties were all about traveling the world to escape my pain and problems of the past (aka childhood trauma). So I drank, I did drugs, I had casual and unprotected sex, and I sold my soul to another system on the seas. It wasn’t the high life I thought it would be, I hit more lows than I can count.

Sitting with this now, I feel zero shame for the choices I made in my past. In fact, I have so much love and compassion for my younger self. She was learning lessons along the way. In fact, this was all part of the process she needed to go through in order to fully spiritually awaken to her mission in this life.

Throughout all the heartbreaks, the ups and downs, the highs and lows, I came out alive. I rose from the ashes. I remembered who I was, why I am here, and found my true path and purpose. Although, the dark night of the soul and spiritual awakening wasn’t as glamorous as many people think it would be. In fact, there were more challenges, more mistakes, more threshold moments that tested me beyond belief.

But, I’ll save that story for another time…

For now, I’ll leave you with this. Whatever your heart is calling you to do, listen. This is your higher self, your intuition, your inner wise woman speaking to you. It may not make sense, it may feel messy, it may bring up worry, doubt and fear. But, the soul is always guiding us back home to our heart. It will never lead us astray.

Even in the midst of chaos and confusion, in the middle of darkness and despair, we can never get lost. This is all an illusion. Spirit is always supporting us and showing us a better way, a different direction to take, and ultimately: all paths lead home.

I’m grateful that I worked in this industry for three years, because it showed me how chasing money, power and sex was not the way forward for me. It showed me how I was living out of alignment and integrity with my values and my highest self. It taught me valuable lessons of self-worth, boundaries and ultimately choosing to break free from toxic, self-sabotaging patterns, relationships and work environments.

In 2020, I got let go from one yacht in March when the pandemic hit, I walked off another boat where I was being verbally abused by the owner and manipulated by a narcissistic captain, and finally I got fired from a third yacht that wasn’t meant to be.

All of this was a huge blessing in disguise for me. At the time, I didn’t see it. I had visions and premonitions of all of this happening before it did (psychic dreams). I journaled and reflected on how I was ALWAYS being guided to my destined path.

In that same year, I launched my website under the name theblacksheeptravels at the time, and started blogging about my nomadic travel experiences, super yacht crew adventures and all the lessons + teachings (and horror stories in between.)

This little nudge from the universe to share my wisdom through writing, led to me hiring my first business coach after the pandemic hit, and building an online coaching business from scratch (with zero prior experience). I launched my first e-book called: The Greenie Guide (How to Break into the SuperYacht Industry) and created my first coaching container called: The Financially Free Yachtie. This went on to generate me thousands of dollars by the end of the year, and when the Universe gave me that kick in the butt to finally pack my bags and leave the yachting industry, I felt it was a sign to take the leap, and have certainty I would be supported by Spirit.

So if you’re feeling like you’re in a cloud or fog right now, remember all those moments that your younger self went through the unknown and came out alive. Every obstacle is an opportunity. Every challenge brings certainty.

PS. Since then, I have pivoted many times in the last five years of business, from business coaching for spiritual entrepreneurs to ancestral healing through shamanic sessions, mentorship & retreats. I am now in full devotion and service to women who are ready to speak their truth & lead women’s work. I teach women who feel the call to hold sacred space, liberate their voice & embody their medicine through ancestral healing and shamanic tools + practices.

Some of my main modalities include: shamanic drum journeying sessions to heal with your ancestors, inner child, chord cutting and soul retrievals, shamanic drum and voice initiation, and my signature 1:1 mystic mentorship and women’s work facilitator training. I’m in the process of launching my new rebranded website, but for now you can feel my energy and work here: Visit My Website!

Thank you for being here and for receiving what I’m sharing with you today.

I would love to hear how this landed for you in the comments below, especially if you saw yourself within any pieces of my story and resonated with my journey.

More short stories & teaching transmissions to come soon.

Love, Karina

Photo taken in Miami South Beach in October 2020 before my life was about to change…

As I bit into what I thought would taste like a sweet and crisp apple, I was surprised to taste the bitter and sour taste on my tongue. Vivid memories began to flash through my mind, as I recalled the hot and dry summer days spent playing in the grass, picking apples at my grandparent’s dachya (cottage) in the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine. I was only an innocent four-year-old girl, who didn’t know that my childhood memories would one day be remembered as so ‘bittersweet’.

I’m now a twenty-eight-year-old, who is undeniably labeled as the black sheep of the family. My story started out quite opposite to the life that I lead now. I grew up in a conservative and Catholic family, raised by Russian-Ukrainian parents and grandparents in Canada. Their expectations of who or what I would one day become, grew exceedingly high as the years went past.

Telling you that Soviet families are complicated, is an understatement. All of my life, I have been raised to compete against myself and everyone else too, including my own little sister. I do appreciate the character building I have undergone, and I am proud of the strong and independent woman that I have become today. The tough love was truly a blessing in disguise. Even though my upbringing instilled self-confidence in me, the expectations and standards that my family has always set out for me, have led me onto this path of rebellion (or rather a remembering of who I am.)

I did what every gap-toothed, pigtailed, Eastern-European immigrant girl would do. I came home with mostly straight A’s, first place ribbons in most organized school sports, abided by my 9pm curfew, and didn’t drink or smoke until I was about fourteen. The in-between moments when I brought back an A- or a B+, a second or third place ribbon, I was ten minutes late past my curfew, or I was caught drinking at a house party, I got hit with some serious Soviet shit for disappointing and embarrassing my family.

Expectations of how to behave and present myself were only the beginning phases of what was being controlled in my early adult life. As soon as I turned eighteen and decided to go away for University, I began to taste the freedom that was far away from the path that my family wanted to see me stay on. I did what any normal young adult would do. I decided to take control of my life and venture out into the unknown. But even then, I was still being restrained like a puppy from a distance. Forging my life path wasn’t so black and white. I had my own dreams, visions and interests, but I always received my families’ two cents on what I should be doing.

Ten years ago, a deep burning fire grew inside of me. Buying that plane ticket to travel to the opposite side of the world to go live, work and study in Australia for what I thought would only be one year was the most risky and rewarding decision that I have ever made. It took an entire powerpoint presentation to convince my parents that they had to let me go. In the summer of 2014 I began my new chapter.

Over the years, I’ve come to learn and realize that other people’s opinions and expectations don’t actually matter. I have come to forge my own path, living a nomadic lifestyle that I have cultivated for myself. I’ve worked in so many different industries, traveled to over 30 countries, and cultivated more wisdom than my age.

This was written in 2019 by my 28 year old self about to go through a dark night of the soul...

Looking back now, I can see how the wise woman was always within me. Yes, my life looked different back then. When I left Canada at 22 to travel the world and live a nomadic life, I began seeking spiritual experiences and deepening my practices through modalities such as yoga, meditation and connecting with nature through hiking, surfing and kitesurfing. I had my spiritual awakening so to speak when I was only ten years old. I had just gotten my first period, and I felt all alone. I was staying at my best friends house that weekend, where I had seen a spirit for the first time, and it left me feeling scared and confused. My third eye opened without any plant medicine, and by the end of high school I shut it down through drinking, drugs and dissociation.

It wasn’t until about a year after writing this short story that plant medicine would begin to call me to go deeper within my spiritual awakening. This would be the start of my real initiation through what I call the dark night of the soul.

But we’ll save that story for another time.

At the time of writing this short story at the end of Dec 2019, I was traveling in the Philippines on holiday about to get dumped on heartbreak island, to my surprise…

Also, another story for another time…

I had been boat hopping on Super Yachts, working for the 1%. I was scrubbing teaks, driving tenders and serving the rich and famous. When I wasn’t working sixteen hour shifts per day during charter season, I was exploring the Amalfi Coast, kitesurfing in the Caribbean Islands, and getting wasted at bars with the crew.

This was the yachtie lifestyle that I once dreamed about. I chased the highs of making money, partying, drinking, drugs and sex. But it would all soon come crashing down.

Like a big slap in the face. I was running from my old life, but my shadows would soon catch up with me, and I would have to face my own darkness.

I won’t give away all the details just yet. I invite you to stay and subscribe is this resonates.

More snippets of my memoir through teaching transmissions coming soon…

Written by my 33 year old self who has integrated and embodied these lessons.

Thank you for reading until the end and for witnessing my journey.

I do have a husband now (no kids yet), three furry cats, and two puppies…I don’t have a steady paycheck or job, I work for myself and follow the path of the heart…oh and I left the matrix in 2015 to go after my dreams and live the life I was always destined for.

I could see my dedushka (grandfather) standing at the front of the arrivals doors, anticipating me to come through at any moment. He greeted me with a smile, followed by his sarcastic humour, “Kulyoma (a playful way to say Dummy), I thought you might have missed your flight?” Although I always saw the light in his dark sense of humour, I knew this meant he had ample time to plot his interrogation. Seeing him again gave me a warm familiar feeling, paired with an uneasy pit forming inside of my stomach. I knew too well that the lecture would begin as soon as we got into his car.

Before he could mutter the word Kulyoma again, I could feel the weight of the disappointment that the next statement would carry. As much as I love my grandfather, there is an obvious disconnect in our relationship, as he will never truly understand why I have chosen to break free from the matrix and live a nomadic lifestyle. My throat begins to dry, and I start to feel a little bit dizzy as my dedushka begins to throw uncomfortable pitches at me. I visualize myself striking out every time I get ready to go out at bat, on the field. There is nothing I could say or do that would make him want to listen to my story. It’s a sad, yet unfortunate truth that I have had to come to terms with. Yet, I can aknowledge that all the tough love he has given to me since I was a child, is what has helped shape me into the person that I am today.

“So it’s about time you stop hopping onto boats, and rather use your degree and settle back in Canada!” he exclaims. My rehearsed response has become, “Yes, I will soon. Don’t worry.” I have had to accept the fact that there is no winning an argument with him. Rather, the easiest thing to do is just to nod and agree. At the end of the day, you have to live with your own happiness. The wisest thing to do, is to continue to fight for what makes your soul happy. For me, it means going against the grain and not settling down when society or my family expects me to. I have also become an expert at filtering through the opinions of others. I do not allow other people to dictate any decisions or outcomes in my life, even when it comes from a family member. This is a reminder that your family doesn’t always know what is best for you. The only person that does, is you. So stop seeking their love and approval right now.

Once you do, you will find the inner peace you have always been looking for.

The only validation you need is your own.

Written by the wise woman within - my 28 year old self just entering starting her spiritual awakening and entering her Saturn Return.

Edited by my 33 year old self who has exited this cycle and nods in approval of herself.

Thank you for being here. How can you sever silent ancestral ties that keep you stuck in a karmic cycle of seeking validation from your family?

THIS IS THEN…(world traveling nomad/hippie)

THIS IS NOW...(grounded medicine musician & women’s mentor)

PS. if you’re receiving this email, it’s because you are/may have previously subscribed to my email list. You’re always welcome to unsubscribe at anytime. I truly only desire to have those who resonate deeply with my writing and message here. Check out my first article on WHY I decided to start substack and who this space is for: Read the First Post HERE!

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Aspiring Author. Medicine Musician & Mentor.

If you know me, then you know that the little girl inside of me always loved to write, sing, create art and had a dream to share it with the world. If you’re new here, welcome to my little corner of the internet. Thank you for being here.

WHY I’m Writing: Because it’s never too late.

I am launching this space because it’s time to stop waiting. It’s time to start creating. I have waited for the perfect time to write, and the truth is there never will be. I started working on my first memoir over four years ago, and about two years ago when I was getting ready to self publish, it dissappeared into the void. I call it the ‘book before the book.’ It wasn’t meant to be seen. It was meant for my own healing process. I do still plan to write a teaching memoir and publish it some day, but I am not in a rush. I know that writing short pieces of my work is what feels sustainable for me right now. It’s what I have the capacity for as I am working on multiple different projects. I got brought here through a post that popped up on my Instagram feed on social media. It felt like a sign from Spirit whisphering: “don’t give up on your dreams, it’s never too late to start today!” And here I am… I am looking forward to sharing my soul with you.

THIS IS FOR: WOMEN WHO DO NOT WHISPER

The kind of community I am building and the women that I am calling in are the one’s who don’t wait. The ones who are bold and brave. The one’s who are the black sheep, the rainbow sheep, the wild ones. I am the voice of the voiceless. I am on a mission to speak for the women whose voice has been suppressed, spiritualized, or domesticated.

• Women who desire devotion, not those seeking self-help.

• Women who don’t want tips… they want truth.

• Women who know they are meant to be seen, heard, and unstoppable.

• Artists, mystics, leaders, mothers, lovers… but first: sovereign beings.

What to Expect

I publish ONE newsletter/teaching transmission per week on Wednesday’s.

Not rushed.
Not performative.
Written slowly in my own words, with intention.

Occasionally, there may be an additional short reflection, poem or prayer… but the short story teaching transmissions are the anchors.

What I Write About

This is a space devoted to:

• Voice Liberation & Breaking Free From Shame/Silence

• Truth Telling + Teaching Transmissions (Life Lessons)

• Devotion to Great Spirit, The Creator & God

• Womanhood as a Rite of Passage Sharing Your Medicine

• Music, Writing & Art as Prayer + Ceremony

• Personal Power Reclaimed Through Embodied Expression

These are not how-to posts.
They are short stories, memoir fragments, and teaching transmissions.

FREE SUBSCRIBERS RECEIVE

• One weekly short story (800–1,200 words)

• Reflection/Newsletter at the end to share about my offerings!

• Access to the full archive of public writing

• Occasional announcements related to music releases or live/online offerings

Free subscribers are here to read, witness, and feel.

PAID SUBSCRIBERS RECEIVE

Paid subscriptions are for readers who want closer proximity.

They receive:

• Everything above, plus

• An extra subscriber-only short story + reflections (raw, real & juicy…)

• Early access to selected writing

• Priority notice for live/online events, readings, or intimate offerings

• The ability to support this work directly

This is not bonus content for consumption.
It’s a way of standing behind the work.

A Note on Pace & Intention

This publication is not optimized for speed or volume.

It is built for:

• depth

• continuity

• a body of work that becomes books

If you’re looking for weekly tips, this won’t be it.
If you’re here for language that tells the truth, then you’re in the right place.

Subscribe and stay if this calls.
See you inside.

I look forward to sharing what’s next. I’m grateful to share this space with you.