Internal Upgrades with Leah Marie

Episode 109 Transcript

All

Hello!

 

Megan: Oh, welcome! Thank you for joining us again. Today we are talking to Leah Marie, who, you likely remember from our episode 77. Interview with a Shaman.

 

So we chatted with her. She was absolutely delightful. She was very I and I just re-listened to it. I think we all did, and she was just so like. Her voice is so peaceful like she should do like meditation.

 

Amy L: She needs a podcast.

 

Megan:

She does, because it's just so like I was driving home, and I had to change it, cause I'm like I'm gonna fall asleep to Leah’s voice cause. It's just so…but she was wonderful to talk to, and when Amy said we were talking to her again, I was very, very excited.

 

Amy L: Yep. so I wanted to mention, the reason that we are talking to her this time is that she recently went on a big, huge trip.  I believe it was. See, I have it written down here somewhere.  

 

AP: London, Thailand, Bali and Vietnam

 

Megan: Vietnam. She ended in Vietnam. I think.

 

Amy L: Yeah, I think so. So it was

 

Megan: It was like six months!

 

Amy L: 2 months. I think it was.

 

AP: 6 weeks, I think, she said, on her...

 

Megan: There was a 6 somewhere in there.

 

AP: She said six weeks and 2 months in different posts.

 

Amy L: Yeah, “4 countries, 12 locations, 1 million memories”. So I asked her if she would like to come on and share with us because we've been we're friends on Facebook. All of us are friends with her on Facebook. And so we've been watching her post and seeing her beautiful photos.

 

Amy L: And she's gonna talk about some of the photos. I will put them in the blog for people who don't like our video versions. And in the video versions for people who do. So. That's what we're doing.

 

Megan: People who don't like our blogs. Just kidding.

 

Amy L: People don't like to look at our our mugs.

 

Amy L: When we talked to her last time, we also did talk about how we were going to. We didn't really talk about anything ghosty because we were so interested in what a shaman is.

 

Megan: I know. Like, we were Fan girling.

 

Amy L: I know.

 

Megan: hard, over her.

 

Amy L: We were.

 

Amy L: And so I did say to her this morning I emailed her. And I was like, you know, we said we were. Gonna talk about ghostie stuff. But I really wanna talk about your travels. So we're we're gonna try and fit it all in. But we'll see if we don't, we'll have her back again, and that's perfectly fine.

 

Megan: Oh, darn!

 

Amy L: Oh, darn it!

 

Megan: Guess darn tootin’.

 

Amy L: So one of the…

 

Megan: Excuse my language.

 

Amy L: This is a family podcast.

 

Megan: This is a family podcast.

 

Amy L: No it’s not.

 

AP: I mean it can be if your kids understand it,

 

Amy L: If your kids don't mind swear… you don't mind your kids hearing swearing.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

AP: I grew up with it.

 

Amy L: Oh, I didn't.

 

Megan: I didn't.

 

Megan: I said, Oh, my!

 

Amy L: Oh no!

 

Megan: Oh, my! Gosh, Amy , AP there went your camera!

 

AP: Yep.

Megan: Allan!

 

Amy L: I know I already….

 

Megan: Are you here?

 

Amy L: Come on. I already said not to do that. I said, Don't mess with our equipment.

 

Megan: Yeah, not with AP’s.

 

Amy L: No, which reminds me, um…

 

Megan: are you trying to light your candle like Practical Magic.

 

AP: Blowing the scent.

 

Megan: Oh there goes AP.

 

AP: Yep.

 

Amy L: and it's I'm I'll probably have to send her a new camera.

 

AP: I’m still here.

 

Amy L: Okay. Okay.

 

Megan: Oh shoot.

 

Amy L: We can't see you,.

 

Megan: Amy, don’t talk about her. She can still hear us.

 

Amy L: Okay, be careful.

 

Amy L: No. I so this morning I see this. This what's that? Called a hat?

 

Megan: Yes. Yes.

 

Amy L: I that's my dad's hat.

 

Megan: Oh!

 

Amy L: I gave it to him many years ago, and mine and Jackie's favorite picture of him is with him, wearing that hat.

 

Amy L: And this morning, when I had it hanging on the my curtain rod, and you know the edge of the curtain rod, and it was hanging up there. When I closed the curtain it fell off, flipped around, and landed on another hook on the wall.

 

And I was like…and Greg was standing right behind me. I'm like, did you see that? Did you see that.

Megan: Oh, don't even.

 

Amy L: I didn’t touch it at all.

 

Megan: Skeptic Greg was like. It was gravity. It was a wind.

 

Amy L: He was like, “That's cool. That’s cool.”

So I decided to bring it down here and put it here so that he can be a little closer to us, because.

 

Megan: Yes, he's always welcome, and I hope he knows that.

 

Amy L: Yeah, because, like one thing we talked about last week is that the the handprint on my dining room table that we talked about.

 

Megan: We have an update.

 

Amy L: We have an update. Zoey said that is my dad. Zoey is our friend and patron said that was my dad, and that he wants us to start doing Allanisms again. So we're gonna have to do that. I didn't pick one for this week. But maybe we'll do that. But anyway.

 

Megan: We'll have to.

 

Amy L: Well, yeah. Well, I'll maybe just record it later, or something.

 

Megan: Was probably like what the fuck? Why did you stop?

 

Amy L: That was so much fun.

 

Megan: Same. I, Allan, I have no answer for you. I really don't.

 

AP: I just love that when you were talking about last week, I'm like, that's your dad. That’s gotta be your dad.

 

Amy L: I know. Yeah, Amy's like, that's your dad. I know what's him. And I was like, oh, I don't know. I mean, it's maybe it's just something weird. I don't know. I mean, like I still don't don't wanna 100% believe it. But I mean, I mean I do. I do wish I do hope it's him.

Anyway, back to business. So we wanna welcome. We have a bunch of new listeners and want to welcome people.

 

Megan: Yay!

 

Amy L: I know our stats like doubled.

 

Megan: Welcome, you guys! Oh, my gosh! We're so glad you found us.

 

Amy L: Yes, so some of them are from the Dead Files discussion group, I believe at least. No, I know at least one or 2 are. And then, because we did, the guest host not guest, host, guest, spot with History Goes Bump. I'm just…

 

Megan: Guest host?

Amy L: ..Inviting ourselves into their podcast.

 

Megan: Diane just erases us from her list in the future.

 

Amy L: She’s like, I don't know what to do with these girls.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Amy L: So, yeah.

 

Megan: Have them one time, and they're taken over.

 

AP: There’s one that one actually knows history..

 

Amy L: Yeah Exactly so we got a bunch of new listeners from them, and one of them became a patron and her name is Cindy, and she...

 

 Megan: She’s a delight.

 

Amy L: …has a story for us. A shorty. So I'm going to read that one real quick if I can find it.

 

Megan: Real quick.

 

Amy L: Real quick like, and then we have a review from another new listener which Megan's going to read. But I'm gonna I'll read, Cindy's right now. Okay.

 

Megan: I'll try to do a dramatic reading. But the last time I tried that it did not go well, cause we were drinking champagne.

 

Amy L: Oh, that was so much fun, though.

 

Megan: My God! It was.

 

Amy L: Episode 100, you guys, if you want to listen to that.

 

Megan: We need to do that again.

 

Amy L: We do for sure, except that I rearranged my office. And now the part that with 3 of us are sitting on is a little shorter, so we might. We might have to sit out at the bar.

 

Megan: Okay, oh darn.

 

AP: So darn I know.

 

Amy L: Shoot!

 

AP: Will our bartender be there?

 

Amy L: I don't know, maybe, but.

 

Megan: No, if he Is, he'll be there groaning the entire time.

 

Amy L: Yeah, you'll hear in the background. You guys are so dumb.

Anyway, here's Cindy's story.

 

“Okay, I have a story for you. I just listened to your episode 33 Left For Dead about season 14. Episode 3. The Seether and I have to tell you about this. We currently live in Southern Tacoma and have been house hunting.

About a year ago I was searching redfin for locations, and I wanted to see I and had The Dead Files on for company.”

 

Megan: As you do.

 

Amy L: Yeah, “the episode popped up and I thought, Oh, hey, I know where Graham Washington is. That's not too far away. So I'm watching the show, and I'm looking up houses for sale online. When the outside of the house for the episode came up, I clicked on the next button and on Red Fin, and the same house in Graham came up on top of our searches.”

 

Megan: Oh my god! You guys, I have read this. I just don't remember.

 

Amy L: Oh, really you have.

 

Megan: Didn't she send it in the patron?

 

Amy L: Did she send it in the chat?

 

Megan: I thought she sent it in the in the patron chat.

 

Amy L: She's she might have, I asked her to, but I didn't see it show up there. She sent it to me privately.

 

“So so I'm watching the show and looking up houses for sale online. When outside, when the outside of the house, for the episode came up. I clicked on the next button on Redfin, and the same house in Graham came up on top of our searches.” There's like 7 exclamation points there.

 

Megan: Crazy. There should be 7, there should be 8.

 

Amy L: At least

 

Megan: I don’t know why she stopped at 7.

 

Amy L: I don't know why. She stopped at 7

 

Megan: Easily. An 8 exclamation mark sentence.

 

Amy L: Going easy on the ink.

 

AP: Seven's a great number, it multiplies into 21, so.

 

Amy L: That is true is that a prime number.

 

Megan: I don't know what that means.

 

Amy L: And okay, yeah, I don't. I don't understand prime numbers.

 

AP: Yes, it’s divisible by itself, only by itself. That is a prime number.

 

Megan: See, that's that's way. Too bad we have Ap on here, because.

 

Amy L: I know, right.

 

AP: And math is my weakest subject.

 

Megan: Not for me, my strongest.

 

Amy L:  So she says “I wasted far too much time rewatching the episode for shots of the house and clicking through pictures on Redfin. I'm almost positive it was the same house.”

 I'm sure it was.

 

Megan: I'm sure it was.

 

Amy L: “So while all that's going on, I got a text from our realtor who we're working with, and she sent me a listing. She thought we'd like to check out, and that house was on the list.”

 

Megan: Oh, my God!

 

Amy L: “I responded and sent her the link to The Dad Files episode and said, No, we're going to skip that one.”  I would have still gone.

 

“Later that day, when my husband came home, I logged in to show him the whole thing, and the listing was on Redfin was gone, which is odd, because they usually keep those up for a while even after the house is sold and off the market.”

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Amy L: which yes, they do.

 

Megan: Yeah, they do.

 

AP: The Realtor told them. Hey, maybe you should take that down.

 

Amy L: Yeah. The realtor was like, yeah, maybe you should wait till that, you know.Smoke clears from that one.

 

“Additionally in the episode, Steve talks about Fort Lewis and says you wouldn't expect the military base to be involved with the dumping ground, or whatever. He clearly knows nothing, because military bases are always full of crappy stuff. But that's another story.”

 

And then she says, “our base houses have always been haunted like every time. So much crime.”

 

and then she she also has a skeptic husband. “My husband isn't spooky at all. He's a total non-believer, and won't watch the shows with me. Same with the kids. I'm on my own with the spookies, sigh.”

 

Megan: Not anymore, Cindy, not anymore.

 

Amy L: Yup, you found your tribe so.

 

Megan: Welcome to the fam-.

 

Amy L: Welcome. Yep.

 

Amy L: So, Megan, do you want to read that?

We have a review on Facebook from Shanna? Okay, take it away.

 

Megan: So Shanna recommends The Activity Continues Podcast.

 

Amy L: Woohoo.

 

Megan: “I just found your podcast this week, and I have binge listen since Monday (two exclamation marks) you ladies are hilarious, and the Bffs I’d love to have.  I just started episode 26. By the way, I'm from Florida, and when when y'all talked about the muggy weather and shit I was like nailed it. I fortunately am near Panama City beach, but it still gets hot as balls. Anyway. Love you, and can't wait to hear more. 5 stars.”

 

Amy L: Sweet. Thank you.

 

Megan: No, we give YOU 5 stars, Shanna.

 

Amy L: Come on over to our Patreon. We got a lot of cool people over there.

 

Megan: Yeah. You can join …

 

AP: We’ll be here when you catch up.

 

Amy L: Yeah.

 

Amy L: yeah. So she probably hasn't heard you yet. AP. She's only.

 

Megan: Probably has it? No.

 

AP: No, she's only heard. Well, AP. Is probably yelling.

 

Megan: Mad now. Well, AP. Is doing this. And AP was like. You're fucking right. I am.

 

Amy L: Alright. Well, Leah is here, so I'm gonna let her in. So here we go.

 

Megan: 1, 2, 3, go!

 

Amy L: 1, 2, 3, go!

 

Megan: It's a phoenix, a golden phoenix.

 

Amy L: I love it.

 

Megan: I hope she could hear that, Leah, could you hear me singing.

 

Leah Marie: I did.

 

Amy L: That's your new theme Song.

 

Leah Marie: Thank you.

 

AP: Gee I wonder if your background is from one of your travels.

 

Megan: It's so. Oh, my God! I just feel so much calmer looking at it just.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.

 

Amy L: where’s it from.

 

Megan: So jealous.

 

Leah Marie: One of my favorite places that I was that I visited within Thailand. So I'll I'll share about that, too.

 

Megan: Awesome.

 

Amy L: Well, thank you. So.

 

Megan: Welcome. Back. Yeah.

 

Amy L: Yes, welcome

 

Leah Marie: Thank you.

 

Amy L: We all listened to your episode again yesterday, and we were like, Oh, that was so nice. I can't wait to talk to her.

 

Megan: And I was, I did message you earlier. But I was telling the girls that one of my coworkers, when I was talking about she was talking about finding a she was. She's like I did, Reiki something, something, and I said, Oh, did you do you have a Reiki master, and she goes. No, I'm looking for one, and I was like, ‘well, you know, I know a shaman, so let me reach out to her and see if she has any suggestions’, she goes ‘you know a Shaman?’. I was like, ‘yeah, I interviewed her for my podcast.’ ‘You have a podcast?’  I was like, ‘yeah, I do!’

 

 So I gave her all your information, and so hopefully she reaches out to you cause she's just a delight.  

 

Leah Marie: So it's always nice to have people come in and be referred. That's why connecting in these ways among other ways, of course, is so nice to have people that you know can kind of share the skill, sets and Specialties.

 

Megan: Yeah. I will say I felt like such a bad ass, just like casually dropping like, Oh, my God! I know a shaman so like.

 

Leah Marie: Just so happens.

 

Amy L: Well that’s what Mary did.

 

Megan: That's what Mary did.

 

Amy L: Does our friend UFO Mary, or Abductee Mary

 

Megan: Abductee Mary

 

Amy L: I don’t remember which one she prefers.

 

Megan: Abductee Mary, yeah.

 

Amy L: Yeah. And we were like, Oh, wait a minute. What repeat that.

 

Megan: Yeah, I know there's Shaman, and we're like ‘rrrrgh’ that was the record scratch.

 

Leah Marie: I still totally believe that even that synchronicity of me meeting the that Mary and the Marys not something I intended. The woman that that contracts with Golden Phoenix and does energy healing with me. She knew them, and like volunteered to do a house clearing for them, cause I also will go into people's houses when they buy new homes. I help clear the energy, set a really great set of intentions for new spaces.

We go in and clean, clear houses, to sometimes help with the spirit activity that might be unwanted along with other things. Right? So she volunteered me to go to their house because she's like, oh, I wanted to gift them this, but I don't know how to do it yet, so can you come with me and show me how to do it and meet these people. And so that was kind of fun, that that was actually how I ended up meeting her, that, Mary, and then all of you.

 

Megan: and us!

 

AP: Do you with doing that? Do you do like when people get attached? When spirits get attached to people? Because we've interviewed someone, Dawn, who has a creeper who has been attached to her for a couple of years, and she's been trying to figure out a way to get rid of him.

 

Leah Marie: I do. I help with individual. If it’s spirits that are essentially attached to people, and some objects, and sometimes to places.

 

AP: She's pretty sure she picked him up from an investigation.

 

Leah Marie: OK And that's entirely possible. I know a variety of other people who used to do more ghost hunting kind of things. Which is great, but depending on what your background is going into it, you can unintentionally bring things home with you, and then, you know, you just need to have the awareness of how to clear it and prevent it from happening again.

 

Megan: That's why I don't even want to do like haunted walks or haunted tours, because I'm just so scared that something is gonna attach to me.

 

Leah Marie: And you're likely to attract it with that sort of mind Space.

 

Megan: What have I been saying, you guys? Thank you. Leah.

 

 

AP: Most of that for me is the history tour, the history walk. You get so much in unique information.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.

 

 Megan: It's very interesting, and I'm not saying I don't want to do it, but I don't want something to attach to me.

 

Amy L: Isn’t there something she could do ahead of time to.

 

Leah Marie: Yes, those are one of these things like.

 

Megan: Tell me.

 

Leah Marie: Super simple golden bubble exercise. It works great for a lot of different things, but you set it up, and you like, imagine yourself completely encased in a golden force field under your feet, above your head, left, right front, back, kinda dynamic.

 

And you set the intention for what is okay crossing that barrier and what's not. And you do that before you even go to those kinds of things saying, Okay, this is my barrier. You know, like only things that are kind and loving can communicate with me absolutely Nothing is allowed to come through it or come with me. And so you you do that in preparation to going to something like that, and then you just keep coming back to that space of I'm safe. I'm protected, and internally only say the things that you want, not I don't like. You're there, and I'm like nothing better attached to me.

 

And then it's like, well, you want to say, oh, “I'm here, and I'm safe, and you know I can engage with with whatever is here, and I'm totally gonna be fine, like everything that's here is. Gonna stay here.”

 

Megan: So just by having that fear there, they would be more attracted to me.

 

Leah Marie: Correct.

 

Megan: That is some baloney,

 

AP: I mean, that makes sense though I mean.

 

Megan: it does

 

AP: Same thing as bullies in real life and in finding that sort of thing. But I love what you just said Leah, because.

I don't realize that, but I do those things because I like. When I went to the Lutsen lodge a couple of years ago, I I walked in, and I said, ‘Hey, I know there's someone here, but only positive vibes, only good things. You can talk if you want. You can show me you're here, but it can only be good positive things, and I'm only leaving with good positive things.’

 

Megan: Not your shirt.

 

AP: I, and I lost a shirt. I I've never found it.

 

Leah Marie: Maybe it was an offering. They were like.

 

AP: It did say “girls, trip 2021 is cheaper than therapy.” So somebody obviously thought it was awesome.

 

Leah Marie: That's fantastic.

 

Amy L: Well, I think the first main question, I think I already told you is like, what like, what prompted this trip. What made you decide you wanted to do this? And how did you pick where you're going, and who you were going with, and all of that like. How did this all come to be.

 

Leah Marie: Well, so I feel like I've mentioned, and maybe I didn't on the last podcast. But I have kind of been an avid traveler since. Sheesh 2014, so I had never left the country before 2014. I decided to go to India to do some studying at like a spiritual, esoteric school.

 

And that sort of cracked open, this whole desire to learn about other cultures, to experience other parts of the world. And so that trip essentially opened this whole driver for me to wanna, travel to more of the world, and to connect with some of these ancient sites and different temples and different just bodies of land.

 

And so when it came to this trip, there's a couple of different components. I'd actually been wanting to go. So I guess I'll I'll pre-frame this way. So I went from here to London, from London to Thailand, Thailand to Bali, and then finished off a couple of days in Vietnam.

 

And so out of all of those places, Bali was the one I wanted to go to first. I'd actually been looking to travel there and researching it, probably. oh, man! Almost 15 years ago, so kind of before I had ever even left the country to go to India. And so I just there's something about the energy of it that seemed similar to India, which is just this, very like spiritually rooted, very connected, very much like you go there, and it's healing just to be there like miraculous healing happens.

 

And it's partly because of their rituals of daily offerings to their version of you know, gods and goddesses, the divine, and through that cultivation it just is like so saturated. So I wanted to go to Bali. But then I'm like, well, you know, it's like over 20 hours of travel from the Us. So then I'm like, what else would I like to see in that part of the world in Asia that I could sort of create this little chunk of time, because I like to do things where I can be more saturated.

 

So I like to be able to have more time in the environment, so that I can really get a feel for not just the super touristy version, but like somewhat touristy cause, it's always gonna be a certain amount of that for us as foreigners. Right?

 

Megan: Right.

 

Leah Marie: Be able to feel into the land, go to multiple places, connect with some of the locals, connect with some of the other people traveling from there. And so it was just one of those things where, intuitively, I was like, Okay, well, I've never been to Thailand, and that kind of tapped into like. I do believe in past lives. And I was having these inklings of like having been sort of a monk, or something in that realm where I just kept getting these flashes of different temple, like Buddhist style, temples.

 

Which, of course, when I went there, I had a really a set of really beautiful experiences in Thailand, specifically Bangkok. around that.

 

So like, the motivation was kind of like, okay, what other places do I wanna see? So and interestingly, London ended up just being up an add on, because the woman I traveled with who is also one of my partners in business here. So I own GPH, and she's contracts with me. So she and I kind of use that as a team building trip. And also you learn a lot about people and what they are and aren't capable of when you travel.

 

Megan: Yes, you do.

 

Leah Marie: I, you know, I'm so particular about who I'll bring into my business that it was kind of like the next stage of how is this gonna work? What is it gonna feel like? And I want to be able to explore the world with my team. Any any members of my team that want to do that. And so it was a great exercise in that, and she just happened to have friends that lived in London. So we coordinated that to break up the travel time.

 

Megan: Sure.

 

Leah Marie: Interesting tidbit. I start talking to my family about going to London, and I knew my one of my great grandfathers is English, but it didn't know what part of England he was from. So about a week and a half before leaving, talking to my grandmother, she tells me, cause it was her father is from England, that he was literally from a town just outside of where I was going to be traveling to.

 

Megan: Wow!

 

Leah Marie: And so I was like, Okay, well, I don't really believe in coincidences personally, like all these things, synchronize for reasons. And so Then one of the friends that was there was actually born in the same town my great grandfather was born in. So it was like, Okay.

 

Megan: That is so cool.

 

Leah Marie: This is part of why I had to go there, and of course loved it only a few days there, but quite a number of really cool experiences in all of the places, you know, kind of collectively, but also some really specific stand alone things in each. So yeah, so it just is. I just. I'm very passionate about travel period.

 

Leah Marie: Think that it. It gives us insights and perspectives that we can only get when we are outside of our normal space, and whether that.

 

Megan: Like right.

 

Leah Marie: Traveling to a different state or traveling to a different country. It gives us different layers of perspective that I feel just as as a shaman, as a practitioner, as a person who's, you know, very focused on how can we unite as people and find our commonalities and our ability to come together. It's difficult to do that if we don't understand, like what other people in other places of the world are actually going through, not what our news shows us, but like what.

 

Which is legitimately happens on the ground in those other places, and it's eye opening for me every time and also very like humbling, and generally makes me very grateful to be living here for certain reasons, and also, you know, just kind of is like, Oh, well, I really being born in the us affords us a lot of things that a lot of people in the world don't get, especially as it pertains to even access to other countries. We can get into almost everywhere with a US Passport, and it doesn't work both ways.

 

And that's definitely something I have been learning deeper and deeper about as as I've traveled, because I've communicated with a lot of locals who are like, Oh, that's really great that you can do that. But we actually it's really hard for us to go to the United States, or it's really hard for us to go here here, here, that kind of thing. So, and had I not. Don't, don't do this kind of stuff, you know. I would never know those difficulties that other people deal with and I like to be able to come back here and share more awareness and insights with whoever's interested in hearing about it or talking about it. You know.

 

Leah Marie: So.

 

AP: you talking about that makes me think of. So I follow football, Minnesota Vikings. One of the players. His wife is Filipino and was unable to… She never saw him play in person until after one of the games this year that the Vikings won.

 

Kind of pleaded like we've been trying to get her over here for two years or you know, or for a while. And so they finally by doing that they had. They had gone through all the processes, everything they had done every paperwork, all the things, and she just kept getting like denied or pushed off.

 

 And they finally were able to get that through. But it was like he had to plead on a national level.

 

Leah Marie: Right.

 

AP: For Assistive.

 

Leah Marie: How many people actually have that access? Right?

 

Megan: Yeah, yeah, and that reach.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.

 

Amy L: And he’s a famous person with money, and it look how hard it was for him. So imagine what it's like for regular people.

 

Leah Marie: Yes, and it's like I. I get it in certain respects right. But that's like just to visit. That's not even like to try to immigrate. It's literally just a visit in many cases, which is just like, Wow, okay.

 

Leah Marie: And it’s like, I get it and in certain respects, right but that’s like just to visit, right, that’s not even like to try an immigrate. It’s literally just to visit in many cases.

Which s like wow, Ok, you know, we just. It's the things I think that I always come back with a I'm really grateful that I have this and this and this, and just even in going to so many other places that are, you know, maybe established differently than we are here, or the infrastructure is different than it is here. Cause All of that makes a difference, that again, we can only know to a certain degree until you're like in it experiencing it with locals and seeing the impacts that you know the everything is having on people. So.

 

Amy L: Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: It's it's a powerful space. I feel.

 

Amy L: Yeah, that's great that you're able to do that, travel.

 

 

Leah Marie: Yeah

 

Amy L: So we just have a few other like little things questions. And I mean, if it, unless you would just want to run with it. But one thing I remember mentioning that I wanted to to check in with you when last time we commented on your earrings.

 

Megan: Oh, my God! I wrote that down too.

 

Amy L: Okay. And you had said, Oh, I love to pick up things on my travel as I need I got when I was traveling. So I'm just wondering, like I don't You don't have to tell us everything you've got. But maybe your favorite one or 2 things that you got on.

 

Megan: I wrote that down, too, and then I'm like.

 

Leah Marie: I was actually going to put on one of up the pairs of earrings, and I totally spaced on it before hopping on. I did get some really cool new earrings, mostly in Thailand but Bali is known for their batiks fabric. So they it's like hand dive process where they're these really vibrant colors, and then they make different tapestries and dresses, and all sorts of cool things out of that.

 

And so I might have come home with quite a few dresses, which we need a lot warmer weather for me to wear. However, like the batiks I just. I'm a fabric. I I like to sew, and I like to do fashion related things. And so it was just like heaven, and the prices were fantastic. This this time of year when I was there. So that was really cool, and I think I can actually see if I can reach it. One of my Thailand finds is this amazing dragon bracelet.

 

 

Megan: Oh, my God! That is so cool! That is gorgeous.

 

Amy L: Is that a cup?

 

Megan: It‘s a Bracelet.

 

Amy L: Oh yeah.

 

Leah Marie: It‘s a Bracelet and I think it's like...

 

Megan: Like a cuff.

 

Leah Marie: I'm not entirely yeah. It's like one of the cuff type Thing.

 

I'm not sure exactly what it's made out of, but they had. I have a hair clip that I got, and this really beautiful bracelet. And it's the year of the dragon in the Chinese calendar. So there was a lot of celebrations being in Asia for the year of the dragon. So that was really cool, too, to be able to get some cool dragon stuff, and also to see a lot of the extra extravagant decorations that they only put out at the New Year.

 

Megan: Oh, beautiful! Gosh! I'm sure it was just like once in a lifetime, views of just amazing. I'm so jealous I can't even find the words. It just.

 

Amy L: Your pictures on Facebook. Every time I saw those I was like ‘ohh I want to go there’.

 

Megan: Oh, my God! That's I know.

 

Leah Marie: Oh, that's part of… I like to be a proponent for travel, too, and to let people know like it's not as scary as some people think. You know, I came from a family that didn't really do a whole lot of international travel. We kept to mostly the Us. As a kid. And so it was just not something we really did. And you know I still have. You know, people that I know that are kind of fearful about me going internationally, which makes sense. But I will say that everywhere I went on this trip felt safe for women and for even a solo woman traveler, so had I not have had a travel buddy, I feel like I could have gone to the places I went without really having any issues.

 

So I think that that was kind of a huge just, you know, nice to feel safe even when in other countries. And again, you know, using relative common sense for what and doing your research ahead of time. There were areas that we avoided because of their reputations, especially in Thailand but most of the other places it was very welcoming, felt very safe. And you know, very beautiful on top of that. So

 

Megan: yeah, no kidding.

 

AP: And there's places in the US that I avoid going.

 

Amy L: And that we're probably the least safe country.

 

Megan: Like every place after dark

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, I've I've had a few conversations with people in my life where I'm just like, yes, and how many people got murdered in your city this week, and they're like, Oh, blah! Blah! Blah! I'm like exactly. So it happens everywhere.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: Generally speaking, yes, there are more prevalent places where there's issues. But you know the the places I was at It didn't feel that way at all. In fact, there was many very friendly and helpful people that, you know, we're not expecting anything. They were just literally trying to make sure that we were okay and where we were going, or we're taken care of. And so that felt pretty awesome to to just kind of feel that safeness well, abroad. Because, yeah, it's always it's different. Home territory, you know.

 

Megan: It's intimidating, especially if you don't know where you're going. And if you're supposed to be somewhere, and you're not sure how to get there. It can be scary and anxiety filled, and stress inducing and having just that little bit of friendliness can go so far.

 

AP: I'd say a fair point, too, in some of the places that you've traveled have not been portrayed necessarily the best in media or anything.

 

It just reminded me to look up on Netflix. There is a movie called A Tourist’s Guide to Love, and it is in Vietnam. It is Rachel Lee Cook. I highly recommend.

 

Megan: I love her.

 

Leah Marie: I did watch it. It's awesome.

 

AP: Yeah, it's it's not going to be like a knock your socks off kind of movie. But the scenery is amazing. And just the story telling and being able to see like what you're talking about. Another part of an area where we've always just been taught about the war torn nature of the area, and everything we hear has been from the sixties and seventies.

 

Megan: Leah, did you watch the movie going Oh, I was there! I was there. I saw that.

 

Leah Marie: I watched it before I went. When I knew I was going.

 

Megan: Okay, got it.

 

Leah Marie: I wanna see. And I you know I enjoy a sweet love story. So.

 

Megan: Who doesn’t?

 

Leah Marie: You know. So we kinda like it was very. It was very heartwarming.

So I appreciated that. And it was interesting, too, like you're saying, to get this slightly different take.

 

And I will also say that Vietnam was probably the most challenging on my nervous system, and I did find that it's very safe in the tourist designated areas, and I had a few oh, not scary, but like less than positive expressions from locals. When I was a little outside that area who were not okay with me, being there.

 

So there's still some animosity, and it interestingly, I only went to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. I was there for a couple of days towards the end of my trip, and I went to the War Museum and wanted to take a look at the Vietnamese side of things, because again, the perspectives like that was one of the themes of this trip was perspective for me. And being able to say, Okay, can I come and actually look at the honest perspective from that side.

 

And it was very enlightening, and I won't go much into that. But in terms of like you go there and you see it, and it's not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of very intense imagery from the photojournalists, and.

 

Megan: Can't even imagine that was a.

 

Leah Marie: Stories. We're just yeah.

Megan: One of the podcasts that I listen to Let's Go To Court. They started covering

this. I don't remember. It was a a massacre, or something that occurred in the Vietnam war, and this I couldn't even listen to the full episode.

 

AP: My Lai, Yeah.

 

 Megan: Because the stuff they were saying about what the soldiers did is just.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.

 

Megan: Like I had to stop. I'm like this is horrific that human beings do this to other human beings. It's just so. I can understand how there might be some animosity from them towards.

 

Leah Marie: And I think you know there's the Us. Has gone in and done some things to try to help. And I did learn about that from locals.

 

Megan: Oh, really, I wouldn't know that..

 

Leah Marie: Yeah Some the Us. Has gone in and started to rebuild and repair different villages over the years, and so there's efforts being made, but of course depending on who's affected and and wounds or wounds as a healer and a person who runs a healing practice.

 

It's important to me to see those things, because those are the kinds of wounds that go through generations.

 

And then here we have a Vietnamese person and an American person like I wasn't even alive when the war happened.

 

So like I wasn't part of it. If it happened now, I wouldn't be supporting that, you know. So it's that space of people still having these feelings and these wounds in them that haven't been healed until we take the time to actually look at the dynamic from all the sides. And so that's a way that I like to integrate my travel into. The practice is by seeing those types of wounds so that I can be more compassionate and speak more to that. And how we do like, hurt people hurt other people like that is how it works. And so

the importance of learning how to heal. Tools and doing that kind of stuff is is profound.

 

Megan: And I think it's important, too, to you know, to recognize the pain that those Vietnamese might have and understand that it's something we can't understand. And even though it wasn't us or our generation that inflicted those those wounds, they're still there, and it, you know it it to recognize them and to accept them, and not…you know. It's the same with with anybody who's hurt. If you say Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. It's not the same as you know. An actual apology, so recognizing it, I think, is, is huge, because it was the stories that I've heard about what happened are just horrific.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.  And that is, you know, part of I I guess I can say that about travel, too, is that it's not just the sunshine, rainbow and lollipop side of things. And I'm okay with that, because I like to see the full picture because we have the wounding. And we also have beauty right? It's like I go, and I embrace all of that stuff and then come back with beautiful pictures like this.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: And then I also did like. In Vietnam I took pictures of the area in town where there had been a very famous monk. I did write his name down because I was trying to remember it. Who during the war Thích Quảng Đức, if I'm pronouncing that correctly so he was a monk who was protesting for peace, and he actually lit himself on fire in the street and a American photojournalist was there. Maxwell Brown, I think his name is, and he took photos of it and brought them back to the States. And that's actually what tipped the scale to initiate more peaceful interventions and the peaceful protests here in the US.

 

And so his death was a catalyst for all these things. And so I did go to that spot, and I took photos of his monument and his. You know, shrine that they have there, and just to like tap into more of the facets of things to also educate. You know, it was like people are doing things like that to try to get peace put in place, and it doesn't always make sense with the strategies that we use. But it's it's like really powerful to be able to take beautiful pictures of flowers and plants, but also powerful pictures of places where history happened, you know, and and major things happened, and so.

 

Megan: Is that that really famous per photo of that man sitting in the street? My God!

 

Amy L: Right when you started saying that I was like, I think I've seen that picture.

 

Megan: Think it everybody has.

 

Leah Marie: I think that photographer like that set his career and.

 

Megan: Oh, I'm sure.

 

Leah Marie: Renown, world renown.

 

Megan: Yeah, that. And and yeah, and so then, like, you know, I did a guided tour with a local who then explained the whole story. And what really happened, and how there were hundreds of other monks there, chanting peace like peace-based mantras the whole time that was going on, and he just Sat there..

 

Megan: Oh my god.

 

Leah Marie: in total meditation posture didn't cry, didn't scream, didn't move like. Just so in that space of like standing for that for that cause. And so you know, it's like I wouldn't have necessarily had that same take just from looking at the pictures here in the Us. Right to like stand in that spot, and to see the locals have like they go, and they make daily offerings of incense and candles to him, and, and, you know, like continue to revere him for all the things that he did do for that time for the people. And so it's just like, I don't know. I find that stuff kind of cool, too, even when it is heavier topics, right?

 

Amy L: Yeah, yeah.

 

Megan: Well at the end of the day. It's it is. It's part of history. It's, you know. It's not necessarily a part that we want to dwell on. But it happened, and and not talking about it, not remembering it isn't going to change the fact that it happened.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.  So it's I don't know. I think it's was a powerful way to end my trip, but very stark difference from Bali cause. Bali is like almost everyone there. It practices Balinese Hinduism, which is a little different than Hinduism in India, which I also learned. They they practice in a similar way where they make daily offerings. So you go there. And it's like there's just this really, really loving, welcoming, friendly energy. And everybody's putting out their little trays of offerings that have cookies and flowers and incense and little things outside of their shops every morning, and it's just like cool to see, you know. So it's like these stark differences of like this super active major city, and then very much more, it's relatively developed in. I was in Ubud specifically the city shops and standard things, but much smaller scale in terms of the way that the community works and how things are are done there but really cool to see that like connection to their source Creator connection. So yeah, I just found oh, like it fascinating to to see the differences between the countries, but also some of the similarities in terms of how they engage with, like their communities and the temples and things like that. So? It's like

Bali was really strict. They didn't allow foreigners in their temples without a chaperone or a guide, and you could see outside, but they have apparently had a problem with a lot of foreigners going and defacing and doing some really illicit things in the temples.

 

Megan: Come on!

 

Leah Marie: Another thing where I'm just like, okay, I love traveling, but there's so many foreigners that go, and they don't respect.

 

Megan: No.

 

Leah Marie: The land and the people, and the traditions.

 

Megan: And the culture.

 

Leah Marie: Exactly, and the.

 

Megan: The beliefs and the history. I mean, we could go on. That's so sad.

 

Leah Marie: It was just interesting cause I I really wanted to go in them. And so I was talking to some people, and they're like, well, you can. But you need to get a chaperone, and then they're gonna sit and watch you the whole time, and you have to dress in the traditional Balinese, you know, sacred clothing to go in. And I'm I'm like, I have no problem doing all that because I go wanting to honor and respect and only go if I feel I have permission. And in that case I just felt like I didn't feel like it was something I needed to do enough. So I'm like, I'm just gonna respect that that's for them and their families. And if I go back I'll make a local connection, and I will, you know, work to show that I respect it and earn the ability to to go but so it was interesting, too, because, having been in Thailand first.

 

They have all the Buddhist temples open like you can just walk in off the street, and some of them charge a fee, but most of them are just wide open and anybody can go in. So it was just like interesting to see that kind of difference from country to country, and I don't know if they don't have the same challenges I wasn't able to get, you know, an answer for that kind of thing, but it was. It was kind of

just a dynamic I didn't anticipate cause. I had just been like able to go into all of the spaces. It was cool, and then, all of a sudden, it's like, No, sorry you can't. You can look from outside the gate.

 

You can't actually go inside. I'm like.

 

Amy L: Yeah.

 

AP: It makes you wonder if you know. Is it a difference to, as you mentioned like you know, in one tolerance level.

 

Leah Marie: Maybe.

 

AP: And or not saying that any of that is is good. But is it, you know? Is it that like, okay, we had 1, 2, we're done. We're just we're just gonna cut it off here.

 

Or is it you know you said Thailand was a little bit more open. Maybe, had they been open to have been people been traveling there, more then, and longer than they have to Bali or.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.

 

AP: And I mean truthfully. We all have seen places all over the place where people desecrate on rocks where it's like. please stop. You know all the stone stacking that people do in state parks and and national parks where they're like, actually, please please don't do that.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, you're moving the landscape and changing it.

 

AP: Yeah, you know, let's there's a lot of other things that can do that. You don't. You don't need to go and build, you know 20 stones high on something.

 

Leah Marie: Right? Yeah, it'd be interesting. I mean, I know, for Bali. One of the things I thought was cool that I learned there, culturally speaking is, every family has their own temple.

 

and so a lot of the ones we were seeing like you would just walk down the street, and there'd be these statues and these beautiful entryways, and often they had, like a Ganesh, like the elephant headed Hindu god, like sitting in there. That was one of the main ones that they utilized or a a Hindu version of Buddha, like there's a Buddhist Buddha, and then there's Hindu Buddha, and they look a little different.

 

so they would have one or the other of those, generally speaking, and so each family had their own. And then you have the community temple, and then you have like the city. So there's all of these different brackets. So most of the ones that I was seeing and thinking, Oh, I wanna go in that they're actually private families, so like, if you don't know the family, you have no like, no right to just like oh, I can just walk right in there. It was like, Well, I don't. I don't know the family, so no.

 

 So I did think it was kind of interesting that they have that structure, and they also will, like the tallest buildings in the town have to be the temples. No houses or other structures can be made taller. And so I thought that that was kind of fascinating, too, to be able to see that their architecture is set up in such a way. That town by town that's the standard.

 

So it was like, oh, that's kind of cool.

 

Amy L: Yeah, that is cool.

 

Leah Marie: You know just those little things where.

 

Megan: That is really neat. Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: Wouldn't have known. I'm just like, Oh, just don't build tall buildings here. I don't know why.

 

Megan: Yeah, lumber is expensive. I don't know.

 

Leah Marie: Exactly Like anyone's. Guess so.

 

[break]

 

Amy L: Alright. Let's see, we. I must see if there had any other questions.

You already answered some of them.

 

Leah Marie: I can always tell the other tale.

 

Amy L: If you just want to tell us stuff. And then I know Amy has some questions written down, Megan. You might, too. But yeah, yeah, just go ahead and things you want to make sure that our listeners and and us hear.

 

Leah Marie: This Well, this one, because it feeds so much into the general or more common theme of your podcast so while in my goodness, it was Thailand. And so we decided to go on a river tour kayaking because, you know, love rivers love kayaking totally down.

 

Megan: Remember seeing some pictures from that.

 

Leah Marie: So, and I I might have.

 

Megan: That's beautiful!

 

Leah Marie: I haven't put a ton of the ones up. So from the full trip. So we got to Kayak through the mangroves, which was so cool like just ridiculously cool, like tooling through and frogs until like in the trees. So you kinda had to like watch. So that like, and crabs like crabs crawling up the trees and around which was super fun.

 

But so they're like, Okay, we're gonna go through here. And then we're gonna go over to this cave, and I don't know. I don't think you can access it any other way than on the river like. There's no other way to get to it.

 

So we dock at the little dock and we get off, and we go like to start looking and then they start talking about it, cause. There's hierog… There's petroglyphs from the ancient people. And then they're like, actually, this was… And we didn't know any of this ahead of time. Which is why I love this so much more. I mean, it's cool to begin with. But we didn't know this ahead of time.

 

And they're like, Okay, well, this was a cave where shamans, you know, Thai Shamans lived, and they maintained things here, and they have these, you know. They have their drawings or cave paintings and things on the wall. And they're like going through. And they're like, yeah. And here's the Phoenix. And I'm like, Okay, well, obviously, my business being Golden Phoenix Healing. I was like that's super cool. What's up with that? A little further over. And it's like. And here's drawings of aliens and their connection with some aliens in here, and so.

 

I'm just like what is happening in here right now. And so they go through. And I'm like reading all the stuff on the. You know they've got their little placards with the information about the history of it, and it would…apparently the water level would rise. So there's a lot of them are up in a way, you can't even access them anymore, because the water level is so much lower than it once was.

 

And they yeah, like groupings of shamans lived in there and did practices, and have, you know, aliens, and Phoenix's just so happen to be on the walls and.

 

Megan: What are the odds.

 

Leah Marie: It was just a very powerful and unexpected place to find when we weren't even trying and really cool, because it just continues to stack. Like all the shamanic training I've done over the years. All indigenous cultures have history of communicating with extraterrestrial life forms.

 

So to us, this is super normal, because we've been talking about it as long as we've been doing shamanic work. And so it's kind of funny, because that was always such a hot button for so many people in my life like they could handle that I'm a medium, and that I'm intuitive, and all these other things. But the second I bring out the “E.T.”  word. They're like, And I'm out so.

 

Megan: You're weird.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, you're super weird, what? No.

 

Megan: Sorry.

 

Leah Marie: Cross my line in the sand on this one, and so I just.

 

Megan: Are fine, aliens.

 

Leah Marie: Not so much

 

Amy L: Aliens are, I think, scarier than ghosts in a lot of ways, because we don't understand. We don't know anything. We know more about ghosts than we do aliens, and so.

 

Leah Marie: For sure.

 

Amy L: That's probably why that is. It's just the fear of the unknown, really.

 

Leah Marie: It totally is.

 

AP: Spirits being potentially people or animals or things that were here before. So it's easier to grasp onto.

 

Amy L: Yeah.

 

AP: Than something else. But I mean come on, the universe is ever expanding. There is.

 

Amy L: No possible way. It's just us here.

 

Megan: Yeah. These are just, it's just numbers. And if I know one thing I know numbers.

 

Amy L: Yeah, that's right.

 

Megan: Just kidding.

Amy L: Megan the mathematician.

 

Megan: That's what the that's what they call me. Yeah.

 

AP: mathematician, or magician.

 

Megan: Yes or Ma. Yeah, I don't know. It's one I I don't know.

 

Leah, I did write a question down.

 

Leah Marie: Absolutely.

 

Megan: That you sort of touched on so I remember when you were on last time you were talking about your gifts, and you know how you would like start talking to somebody, and no information that you weren't supposed to know and like. Oh, I'm not supposed to know this about your grandpa so doing, your your travels, I mean, how does does that? I assume it's not something you can just turn off. So when you travel, do you experience it, and you know, how do you kind of deal with it? And and how does it present itself to you?

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, that is a fantastic question through which I have a really fun little story.

 

Megan: Oh, my God! Great.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, so it's fantastic. Cause I actually kinda I not that I forgot. But I wouldn't have thought to share this component with you guys.

 

Megan: We forget a lot on this. Podcast, so you fit right in.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah. And one of those. Things right? So yes, so I have. Spirit communication happen pretty consistently other than my non office hours, which is.

 

Megan: You mean they don't just recognize that at 5 you're done.

 

Leah Marie: No.

 

Megan: And come back tomorrow.

 

Leah Marie: I found that they didn't, so I had to set parameters many years ago, in which I was like we are not doing in the middle of the night Shenanigans, by the way, and here's my office hours, unless it's an absolute emergency. Then please be gentle and kind about the way you wake me up when you need to communicate…so yes,

 

Cue, me, I’m in Ubud Bali, and I'm having a nice dinner and sitting across from my travel partner and next table this woman comes and sits down. And so she's like essentially facing my direction, and the chair across from her is empty, the one that's essentially next to me.

 

And I am sitting here. And I just keep feeling this presence, sitting in the chair with her. And I'm like, Okay, cool. I feel spirits around all the time. If they don't try to get my attention, I just let them do their thing, cause. If they don't need me to translate something. I you know it's I'm not forcing anything right? So the energy gets stronger and stronger. And so then I start like connecting with her energy cause. I'm like something's going on here, and I'm not really sure what it is yet. And I just was feeling like this sadness in her, even though she's in this beautiful country.

 

Just like this sadness. And so I'm like, Okay, some internally right? I'm like, is somebody here to something going on here? And sure enough. I start hearing a ‘yes, I need you to tell her that I'm really glad that she took that. She's taking this trip.’

 

And I'm like, Okay, mind you, I do my mediumship for people that are either paying me for mediumship sessions, or friends and family, who have given me consent to communicate. I don't know that I have ever, actually, just randomly, had someone's loved one come up to me at a restaurant and be like, ‘Hey, I need you to talk to this total stranger at the table next to you, and tell them give them this message’ right.

 

Megan: And really freak them out. Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: Exactly. I'm like cool. So of course I sat with it for a little bit, and then, you know, I I'm trying to relay this to my friend that I feel like I need to talk to this woman at the table next to us who's like Super close. So it's not like, I can really say a whole lot to my friend without also having this person hear. And so she was like, my friend was like, Okay, I'm just gonna go like the we're good. But we had paid our bill like she's like, I'm just gonna go take a little stroll over here. I'll give you a minute.

 

Leah Marie: And so  I ended up just testing the waters, and was just like, ‘Excuse me, can I? Can I talk to you for a second?’, and she was like, ‘sure’, and I was like, ‘so I know this might be a little strange and I don't normally do this.’ I was like, but ‘I continue to feel a presence sitting in the chair across from you, and I am hearing that someone is just really grateful that you chose to take this trip. They're super happy you’re here. They're here with you. They're having dinner with you. They want you to know how much they appreciate this. And so I hope it's okay that I've just said this to you, but like it really felt like I had to…’

 

 and her eyes start tearing up. And she's just like. ‘Oh, my gosh, thank you so much. That means so much to me like I can't even tell you how much I appreciate what you've just said’, and she just shared a few other little nuggets. We didn't exchange names.

 

I don't even remember the other like sometimes when I'm channeling and communicating, I don't

always have conscious recollection of what's being said like after the fact for me.

 

But it was a beautiful exchange, and I just said, Okay, thank you for letting me share that. And what about when about my evening.

 

So in that space, like I didn't anticipate that. But I'm starting to see how that's my next level invitation from the universe that's like, not everybody's gonna be someone you know, not everybody's gonna pay you for the service. If you feel a calling to do this, you just need to trust it, and you know, and I felt it out, but just even asking her if she was okay, talking to a stranger in that moment.

 

and knowing that like if she thought I was crazy, or whatever that also comes with the territory.

 

Amy  L: Yeah, for sure.

 

Leah Marie: Being a medium in the first place. So.

 

Megan: What a special…. that's really beautiful. I'm sure you made her entire trip, too.

 

Leah Marie: Just yeah. The look on her face. And and then the energy that I felt it was just like she needed it in a way that I might not ever even understand. And what what could have flowed from her from that space is beyond me. So it's it's just that, you know, realizing we don't ever know our full impact, either, when we're traveling, when we're living our normal lives right?

 

And I know a lot of people do go to Bali for healing and for connection, and you know I had some great conversations with other travelers who were there looking for healing. When they had run out of options in other realms, and there's a lot of alternative healers there, and just the land itself was healing. I had, like some of the most profound dreams and dreams that helped me like get to unearthing deeper layers of things in myself.

 

And I've had that in India as well, and I think one or 2 other places I've traveled where it's like the land was conspiring to give. Give us the things that we needed in order to like step into the next stage of our own life and healing journey. So.

 

Megan: Sure, sure.

 

AP: That plays really well into a question that I have for you. Which was, what did you learn about yourself On your journeys?

 

Leah Marie: Well!

 

Megan: The nice light question.

 

Amy L: Real, easy. Real light, just a softball question.

 

Leah Marie: Like how much more time do you have? For me, this particular one leveled me up for living in the present moment, like I practice that as a technique all the time as a concept, right? But this was probably one of the biggest spaces where  I can. I lost track of how many times we made plans to go a certain place or do a certain thing.

 

and then the map stopped working, or we couldn't get in for some other reason, or we ended up in a different part of town. And so it was this space where, if I wasn't super present in the moment, I could have gotten angry, frustrated. There could have been fights between me and my travel, Buddy, and, like all those sorts of things right where it could have gone sideways very easily.

 

So I think the biggest thing was, it helped me live in the present moment and release a greater degree of expectation for outcome and flexibility. It was like next level flexibility to be able to pivot from one change after the other, and instead of getting upset, like actually looking for what are the beautiful reasons this happened.

 

Amy L: Exactly. Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: For me.

 

Megan: I think.Yeah. And I, I think being traveling anywhere, you have to be flexible like that, because, no matter you know, you could be going somewhere and miss a train, or a plane, or.

 

AP: Or there could be a flood in the village that you're gonna go visit Amy.

 

Amy L: Yeah, that happened to me.

 

Megan: Oh, that's amazing. That's that sounds yeah.

 

Leah Marie: So I mean lots of internal upgrades. But that like just that ability to just know that if you're present, no matter what's happening, I didn't like I if I was upset at all, it was for like 5 or 10 s, and then I just was like boom right back into the heart space, and it was like, Oh, everything's cool, cause there's like.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: I mean, it's huge, like beautiful stuff everywhere.

 

Megan: What?

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, own. It.

 

Megan: I mean, your trip could have been horrible if you had not had that mentality. If you had just been like we were supposed to do this, and it didn't happen, and this and it didn't happen, and it could have been completely an awful trip. But having, you know, having the ability and the mindfulness to say, to stop and be like, you know what? I'm not going to let it ruin this trip. I'm going to just take it and and appreciate where I'm at right now, I think, is is just amazing.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah. And then the beauty is mapping it into quote, unquote, normal. I'm back in the Us. Life right. So it's I do always try. It's different when you're traveling. Because, of course, I was only connecting with a few clients online while I was gone. And so I was doing a minimal amount of work. So it was a different environment than what I'm normally in, right. But it's like so important. I feel when we learn new things from these experiences, to then apply them to our day to day life when we get back. So it.

 

Megan: That's the tricky part.

 

Leah Marie: Go to this cool place, and we have these fun experiences.

 

I make this analogy with books all the time. People read all these self-help books, especially in my realm of things, and then they don't apply any of it. And then they're like, well, none of it works. And it's like, well, are you using what you learned.

 

Amy L : You actually have to do something,

 

AP: I read a lot of murder mysteries

 

Leah Marie:  you really have to take action.

 

Megan: Yeah. Well, it's like getting medicine, not taking the medicine and being like, well, I'm still sick. Well.

 

 

AP: Taking only half the dosage, because you start to feel better than 2 weeks later like. Why do I? Why don't I feel great again, or why is my dog still sick when I.,,you know, they were fine after three days on the medication.

 

Megan: So I stopped giving to them.

 

AP: Well you were given 14 days of medication. Now Leah, too…

 

Leah Marie: Yeah.

 

AP: This again was leading into. Do you make resolutions during the New Year, or do you set intentions? I don't do resolutions. I set words. So I choose a word for my year. And so I'm just curious. I always find it interesting. What others do, especially with going on a journey like that..

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, it's a great question. I actually, I don't really do resolutions anymore, either. I just don't resonate with them. I generally what I like to do is I close out the year with a reflection exercise, and it's something I'm throwing this just out as a seed. It's something I have recorded, and worksheets that I provide to people that are interested in that.

 

Megan: Awesome.

 

Leah Marie: You like. Reflect on the year, the things, the challenges you had, this, the successes, the things that you did overcome or achieve. And then the things that you're still in process. With that you want to take active, you know active actions. So.

 

Megan: For those who can see. AP just held up a book of notes on her phone.

 

AP: Yeah. My New Year's reflections that I wrote for the past year.

 

Leah Marie: So. Reflection is such a huge part of the journey. I think a lot of times, and I I'm notorious for this. I am just like a breakthrough break through breakthrough. But it took me a long time to get to the place of actually pausing to reflect, to see how far I'd come to actually be like holy cow. I broke through this and I transcended that, and I updated and upgraded this.

 

And so I feel like we need to reflect. And then from that space set intentions and do it in a way that's gonna support, like goals that we have or things that we're trying to work towards and then also get realistic about like, what am I gonna need in order to achieve this and actually have sort of a game plan in place, and then also be super compassionate about the fact that we're gonna do our best. But we might still muck about a little bit on our way there. And that's okay, too, you know.

 

So I did set some intentions for myself, as I do for all travel, I said intentions consistently throughout the year for different things. But I said an intention just to be really open to having experiences to being guided and led to places that would surprise me in beautiful ways, cause I… Reconditioning. I've had in my life a lot of less than positive surprises.

 

I actually, neurologically have needed to change my whole structure around surprises, so that when people are like Oh, I got a surprise. I don't go into like a.

 

Megan: Yeah

 

Amy L: Terror

 

Leah Marie:  I don't want that, thank you.

 

AP: hey, can we Talk. Mode?

 

Leah Marie:  Yeah. Oh, yeah.

 

AP: It's really true. Your brain categorizes cause it's a protectionism mode.

 

Leah Marie:  Exactly

 

AP:  So when we talk about like any bias of any sort of thing, our brains, there's 11 million pieces of information that we get every minute we consciously process 40.

 

Leah Marie:  Yeah.

 

AP:   So like, if you think about all the senses that you have and everything that's going on. Our brain has to protect us somehow, some way. So it's those negative triggers. It's like that. Surprise catalogues as bad. Surprise catalogues as bad. And now it's having to let the little people in the brain go. It's not.

 

Leah Marie: Actually…

 

AP: It's not always bad. What if we thought that it was gonna be positive.  I really resonate with with what you say, because I had to several years ago, after I left teaching, I really made a choice to

focus on the positive side of things, because I got into my lowest spot of like after the way that teaching ended for me. Yeah. And everything was really rough and I had to make a choice of. I can either keep going on the negative route, and that everything is going to happen poorly.

 

Leah Marie: Hmm.

 

AP: Or I can choose to be positive in whatever comes, comes this way and I will say there has been a huge shift. and even just the way that I like approach things. I still have my realistic view on a lot of things

 

Leah Marie: Of course.

 

AP: where I've had people come up to me at work and be like, how are you always so positive about things? And now I’m finding it funny, because it's always the ‘well, we don't want to let the leaders focus too much on negative things. We gotta make sure we put the positive in’. I'm like. ‘put me in coach’

 

Leah Marie: Yes, and it. There's so much to be said right? It's a huge component. And I always like to also do a little. Add on to that is, it's not just about positive thinking, because a lot of people in like the healing and spiritual realm will just tell you to focus on the positive, but the reality is is, we have to address the negative and the sha... You know our shadow side or our shadow wounded energy. We have to address it consciously and we do that. We can only really do that in a healthy, connected way when we're in a positive mindset.

 

Otherwise we're still in the state that created that stuff in the first place. So it's that. And you take that state, and you build that state, and then you can do anything you want and heal and address anything you want from that positive state.

 

And it's a heck of a lot more fun to be around people that are more positive when they're doing it In way like it sounds you are, you know, versus the like. I've seen the faux positivity where it's like I'm really positive in front of everybody. But then, when I am angry, I won't allow myself to express my anger.

 

 Because I just throw a band aid of positivity over it. Right? So it's.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: It's a layered thing, but it is a huge mindset shift which, you know what we focus on. We get more of point Inc. Universal law, like.

 

Megan: Yes, 100%. You put out. You get what you put out. So if you put out negativity, you're going to get negativity. I'm a firm believer in that.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, it's just it's why it's so important. Again, all, all of the travel and the perspectives help me have a better mindset with which to hold space for so many other things to support the community and people that I work with. So I think that it's it's awesome, Amy, that you're doing that, too, in your in your realm, and that you can see like you literally saw, the shifts in your life just by something that on one level is very simple, but it probably if I asked you how easy it was to pivot from the negative to the positive, you'd probably have all kinds of fun stories.

 

AP: It was a good amount of time to shift to that.

 

Megan: I'm sure.

 

AP: To now it’s like, you know, we're going to get snow this week and next week, and everyone's like, I don't want snow, whatever it's like. Yeah. But we need the moisture.

 

Amy L: We do.

 

AP: You know, it's in March. It's not like it's gonna be here in January.

 

Megan: OK I am of the negative mindset in this because I don't like snow. So I'm gonna be first to say that. And I said that in our group.

 

Amy L: It’s pretty!

 

Megan: It is pretty, but it's cold, and I don't like being cold.

 

AP: You know what? This is a great time to just grab a blanket, grab your kiddo, huddle up with a movie. Maybe some tomato soup and a grilled cheese. It’s gonna be snowman building snow.

 

Amy L: Don't go outside. That's why I said. I'm stocking up on wine and popcorn.

 

Leah Marie: Yup

 

Amy L: got my dogs.

 

Leah Marie: Have your, you know, house stocked with the things you need.

 

AP: Pretty sure my dogs are going to get some snowballs thrown. That's my favorite when they have to go and chase snowballs, and they're like? Where did it go?

 

Leah Marie: It’s become one with the snow pile again.

 

AP: Briggs used to actually find the snowballs and bring them back, and then he'd crush them in his mouth. It's just drool coming down everywhere. I see snow.

 

Leah Marie: Oh! So fun!

 

Amy L: Yeah.

 

AP: So I'll also ask, what advice do you have for anybody who's whatever their travel plans may be, whether it's international or just down to Lanesborough, or up to the boundaries.

 

Leah Marie: So I always encourage people to do a little research and really feel into like is especially international. But like a lot of people in my community like to do nature activities and adventures. And I'm a huge proponent of educate yourself first to make sure that your skill set and your supplies are what you're gonna need for the travel that you're making.

 

And that's the same thing with other things. It's like research where you're going, check out what is going on in the society, in the government. To, you know. Just kind of test the climate of where you're going. And not the weather climate necessarily, but the political. And, you know safety for Americans thing.

 

And really being able to again, what is a person's intention for going, you know, because I'm so grounded in my intentions when I go I always have a positive experience, and I've not always had great experiences in other countries. So I, you know. And so generally, though going into it like being willing to learn 100% respect the cultures.

 

So I always go on And I research like, what are the major religions? What is the dress and the clothing that people wear? What are the expectations? If I'm gonna go to temples like in Thailand.

 

You had to have certain clothing on to get into those places. So if you wanna actually go, it's so important, I feel to honor, the culture and the things that they have in place, because you get so much more respected. I have gotten nothing but gotten totally taken care of, gotten to go and explore a lot of things other tourists couldn't, because I did the research ahead of time. And I went in knowing that like I'm a guest that needs to be invited.

 

And so I think in our culture we tend to think that we can just go and do whatever wherever which is what it is right. But that doesn't translate in a lot of other cultures where there's different religious beliefs and clothing, expectations and stuff like that. So I just think educating ourselves ahead of time is powerful, and then setting your own intentions for what you want to get out of the travel, you know and being able to you know, also discern who you're traveling with.

 

And if you're local, going local, that's one thing. If you're traveling 20 some hours across the world. You probably wanna make sure you're doing it with someone who you’ve spent a fair amount of time with ahead of the curve, so.

 

AP: I told my parents, as they get ready to go to Switzerland next year. I can't afford to fly their bodies back, so they need to get along. And then my mom just looked to me and goes, well, actually, you could. So.

 

Megan: And then you're like, not the point, mom, right?

 

Leah Marie: You’re like, I don't wanna have to.

 

AP: Sarcasm runs rampant in our family. Second language.

 

Leah Marie: That's awesome. Yeah. So I think those are probably the key. The key things is just to having, I guess. And I say that with the frame. If you wanna have the most like broad experience and be able to access more of the places and get people that are willing to communicate like I had locals that were sharing their personal stories from their lives with me because of how I show up and respect them and their culture, and I don't go in there flailing around that I'm a tourist, and therefore I should get to do whatever I want. I go in like I'm going into someone's home, and I'm respecting that this is their home. And so.

 

Megan: It's amazing how much respect gets you. I mean.

 

Leah Marie: Huge.

 

Megan: It's such an easy thing to do, but it it goes so far in.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, and that's.

 

Megan: Everything, even here in in America and respecting people. It's just like how it's so easy, like it's such an easy thing to do.

 

AP: And that's such a big piece, too, with the education and respect is you're not gonna you're not gonna know everything. And you're you're probably gonna get it wrong at some point, or you're gonna you're gonna have egg on your face at some point.

 

But you just kinda oh, well, thank you for thank you for informing me. Thank you for letting me know.

 

Megan: I didn't know.

 

AP: As much as I'm a dog person going to Amsterdam and Scotland, and there's dogs all over the place. You can't just go run up to them and pet them. But and you shouldn't in America either, you know you should be talking to the owners.

 

Amy L: We sometimes forget there's a human attached to the animals we see on the street that we want to talk to.

 

Megan: Sometimes I don’t want the human to be attached to the animal.

 

 

AP: I only want to talk to the dog.

 

Amy L: Yeah, I'm more interested in the dog.

 

1:15: Add photo of dog!

 

Leah Marie: There is no human either. That was something. So in Thailand. I was in Southern Thailand in this town called Karabi, and one of the beaches that we went to. They had a like think they were technically a pack or 2 packs merged of wild dogs.

 

 So it was interesting to see how some people responded to those dogs. Oh, they need this, only they need that. And as the shaman and someone who like knows the name knows nature in the cycle and the way things work, I'm like, no, they're a pack. If you watch them you can see how they're working all their things. They're totally cool. You shouldn't actually feed them, because that makes it harder for them to survive in the wild.And, like all these other things.

 

But that was one of my favorite experiences, because I went there, laid my blanket down, sat down, and a pup one of their head. They had a brood that was maybe 4 months old at best of these pups, and one just came over and laid down and cuddled up right next to me didn't want food.

 

Amy L: Oh!

 

Leah Marie: Didn't want water, it just literally wanted to cuddle me. Then a second one, then a third one.

 

Megan: You're you're speaking about AP’s, and Amy's like dream.

 

Amy L: Dream vacation.

 

Leah Marie: Just like I'm like I don't even understand, like my friend walks away for a minute she turns around, and this puppies next to me, and she's like what what is happening right now. I'm like.

 

Amy L: when did you get a dog?

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Leah Marie: I don't really know!

 

Megan: You're like, ‘30 seconds ago’.

 

AP: most of them have up ears and curled tails?

 

Leah Marie: Yes.

 

AP: yep That's typically what happens when they start going back into the wild away from the down-eared dogs. And that is one of the ways that they do believe that wolves became domesticated.

 

Leah Marie: True.

 

AP: Dogs. Is that the more the ones that followed the pneumatic peoples and had got scraps, so the nicer you were the better scraps you got, and so if you were nice, then you were now eating out of their hand, and now it makes more sense than going and stealing puppies out of a den and trying to raise them that way. People do that. It doesn't really work, or you know.

 

So that is.

 

Leah Marie: They’re wild.

 

AP: I mean one of the main things that they real, they think is how dogs became domesticated.

 

Leah Marie: Interesting.

 

AP: Or wolves became domesticated into dogs.

 

Leah Marie: It makes sense. I mean, yeah, it's just it's fascinating.

 

Megan: Leah, Are you a dog person or a cat person?

 

Leah Marie: You know I grew up with dogs so innately. I am more of a dog person from that perspective. But there hit a point in my adulthood, where I became a cat person and had a cat in my house for years, and now, as I travel, almost all of my friends have cats. So if you are following, like my Instagram stories, you might see random, weird pictures of me with cats, none of which are my own cause I do not cat or a dog, or any animal at this point in my life. But they they just come to me from from different places, and it happened in the wild, too. Dogs were coming up to me, cats, monkeys.

 

 AP: Well if you ever needs some puppy, love, we can hit up a patio.

 

Leah Marie: I love it. Yeah. And that's just it. It's like I have friends that have them. And so I'm I'm an equal snuggle opportunist when it comes to If I get my cuddles from kitties or my cuddles from dogs.

 

you know I'm I'm good with with.

 

Amy L: A cuddle is a cuddle.

 

AP: I got with, I’m a dog person, but I might be a cat at heart where I'd like to just knock things off the countertop and like.

 

Leah Marie: Yes, yeah, I mean, when it comes to the differences they are so much more their own beings than dogs. In terms of we do what we want, and we really don't care how you feel about it. So I have a certain respect for that, like, they're just very.

 

Megan: Fuck you attitude?

 

Leah Marie: Exactly.

 

Megan: Cats are assholes.

 

Amy L: Like your cat last week that just kept walking in between this she, that cat, just kept going back and forth.

 

Megan: Such a douche.

 

Leah Marie: Like Literally right now. My door has to be cracked because there are a few cats that I'm cohabiting within the place that I'm staying now, and so they, if I had the close door closed, would be scratching the whole time, and decided they needed to be in here when I hopped on with you guys. So it's like, Okay, cool, we're just gonna be flexible and know that this is how it works. We share space.

 

AP: Every time I turn my head I'm looking for one of my dogs, or at my feet, or whining to go outside.

 

Megan: But you don't share the space with the cats. They you're in their space right now.

 

AP: They share it with you is what they say.

 

Megan: Yeah, they're granting you access to their space.

 

Leah Marie: That's why, you know, I work in harmony with them. So we have. We can have a peaceful coexistence in which nobody needs to, you know, destroy anyone's anything.

 

Amy L: Right, right.

 

AP: Sister's cats, like one of her cats, likes to retrieve socks.

 

She'll do her. She'll run down the stairs chirping to bring you her sock and then she runs away.

 

Leah Marie: Okay, cool. That was fun.

 

AP: That's her her kill when she's inside.  Bring you because you're a bad hunter, so you need to be Fed.

 

Megan: yeah, by socks.

 

Leah Marie: Rather have socks than dead carcasses.

 

Amy L: I had a cat that used to bring me those all the time.

 

Megan: Was that Charlie?

 

Amy L: Charlie. Charlie. Lazlo, yeah, I've had a few.

 

AP: Titus does that.

 

Amy L: Of course it’s the boy cats.

 

Leah Marie: You know it's their jam. They wanna they wanna offer you a gift. They don't know that you don't want to eat, you know.

 

Amy L: Yeah, I don't really want that headless squirrel.

 

AP: They look down and they think that you're starving, cause you haven't made a kill yourself.

 

Megan: Which I say to Marshy, ‘look at my body! Do I look starving to you?’

 

And then he says, ‘you know what you're right, and then he takes the bird away, and he's like, you don't need that.’

 

Amy L: I’ll just Have this myself. You don't.

 

Megan: I'm gonna eat this. You just have a salad.

 

1:20:53 [break?]

 

Amy L: Do we have time for a a ghost story? I mean. I know you already told us one at least as a spiritual connection, but.

 

Leah Marie: let me feel it.

 

Amy L: To be about your trip. It just.

 

Leah Marie: No, no, no, yeah, I didn't. I didn't necessarily have any additional ghost stories, but I guess I could share. This is sort of an interesting nugget of ghost ghost Esque stories that's related to me and the London aspect so, and and also travel. So it is a tie into that, too, without necessarily trying.

 

But so a couple of years ago I had headed to Mexico for a while, and when I was preparing for the trip I was in my car driving one day, and, like looked over my shoulder over my right shoulder to like check my blind spots. I didn't have one of those little side camera things on the car at the time, and I look over and I'm like had a double take cause. I saw someone sitting in my backseat.

 

and I'm like, it's easy like. And it wasn't that I had anything, even on the seat. It was like I saw this large, like very Mexican pattern colored big skirt, and I was like double took and then sat with it. And I was like, Okay, Cool, who's in the back seat? And I heard my great grandmother's name, Consuela, and so I never met her. She passed away, but when my grandmother was very young, but she was Mexican of Mexican descent, and she just so happened to appear in the car as I'm preparing to leave cause At that point I was moving to Mexico for an indefinite period of time.

 

And so I'm like, Okay, well, this is interesting that she's showing up. And I hadn't really had much of a relationship or connection with her. So I was like, okay, like in prep for the trip, thinking, this is kinda cool.

 

And so I get down to Mexico, and I am out to dinner with my friend, who is living there that was introducing me to some of her friends, and we're sitting at the table having dinner, and I'm meeting this new person that's across the table from me, and she's chatting with me about things. And then, all of a sudden, so we're like we're inside a restaurant And there is this large plant next to us, like in the corner. Maybe by, I don't even know that quite 3, 3, 4 feet away from us.

 

And like all the branches just like, do this huge whooshing motion as we're sitting in the restaurant. And I'm like, okay, like, did they just turn on an air vent? You know, my, my, my logical brain, even though you know, as a medium, weird stuff happens all the time. So it's like, okay. I tried explaining a way with my logical bring the woman across from me who I just met like 15 min ago. It's like did. Did you see that plant move? I was like, yeah, I thought maybe I was just seeing stuff.

 

And she's like, no, I saw the plant move. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm pretty sure someone just came into the restaurant.

 

And I didn't know at this point that she also had some mediumship skills

 

Megan: WOW

 

Leah Marie: That she was very like in the Newbie phase of right, not even really talking to people about.

 

And she's like, when I tell her I'm like, yeah, I think someone entered the restaurant. She's like, Oh, yeah, and they're standing behind you with a hand on your shoulder.

 

Oh, and so then I check in, and I'm like feeling into it. And normally I'll get a name, or I'll get some kind of like distinction, so that it's like a Here's an analogy for me to know that who it is.

 

And it was my great-grandfather, husband to the great grandmother who appeared in the car before I left for the trip.

 

So that's what that's the confirmation I got. So I say to this woman, I'm like so pretty sure it's my great grandfather, and she's like, Well, what does he look like? And I or I started asking her about that, and she starts describing him to a T with details of pictures I've seen of him because he, too, passed away before I was even born, and it was a much younger version of him that was appearing to her.

 

And so I'm just sitting there like. Okay, I don't even really know what to do with this in this moment other than like checking in. And so I started, She started relaying messages from him like that. He was here with me and wanted to help me navigate my time in Mexico, and interestingly, then, like a song came on in the restaurant that felt like him talking to me through the music.

 

Megan: Wow!

 

Leah Marie: And it's an artist that I listen to. That like is just like kind of connected to love and partnership and healing. And I was going through a big stage of that at that point in my life. And so I was just like, Wow, this is really profound. So ghost story, In a sense like it wasn't scary. It was beautiful, supportive. Go, you know, spirit.

 

Megan: That's really interesting, because to me, I always thought that mediums can just see all spirits. So the fact that that is, I never even thought of that.

 

Leah Marie: Yeah, that's Amazing yeah.

 

Leah Marie: Case, by case basis and sometimes it's my family. Sometimes it's other people's family, sometimes it's randoms, I just feel, and I don't like. I don't know who they are who they're in relation to , unfortunately for me, because again, of my parameters, they're always very positive experiences or relaying messages.

 

I don't work with it from the like fear based perspective. So I've changed a lot of my mindset and focus around that. And so I only have these more powerful experiences for the purposes of connection and communication, and helping people grieve, and, you know, work through the loss of loved ones and connect with ancestors that they may have never even met. You know, it's like, I never met these relatives in person, but I have a really great and close relationship, and it started a couple of years ago in relation to that travel, and I felt them like calling me there so kinda cool that it like works out in those fun ways sometimes that it just felt like they were driving so much of my my time in Mexico, and that continued to unfold as they led me to different sites and parts of different cities, to explore, to kind of activate different parts of my own history. So.

 

Megan: Sure. Yeah, that's really that's awesome. That's really neat. Nice to get. Like you said that confirmation tool. This is what I'm supposed to be doing.

 

Leah Marie: Yup!

 

Megan: You know, cause I'm sure, making those choices you're out. You're like, is this right? Should I be doing it? I don't know. It's unknown.

 

Leah Marie: Oh, right! And then to recently find out this is a fun keynote about that great grandfather. He immigrated to the United States with the Barnum and Bailey Circus like he joined the so.

 

Megan: Really, yeah.

 

Leah Marie: England, and then immigrated here, and he painted the Barnum and Bailey clowns, and was part of the circus lifestyle. So it was cool to see how I have this leg of my family that was more eccentric, as I often feel, and also connected to this whole other community of people that were, you know, generally circus people are kind of deemed outsiders in most communities which I have felt most of my life and outsider from the typical. You know, collective communities.

 

And so just kinda cool because it felt like he was also showing me like I traveled from here to there, and I met you. You know your great grandmother over here in this other part of the world that I had to travel to, and they were from different cultural backgrounds in different parts of the world, and yet they found a way to come together and and thrive, and so that also felt like a an important thing to know family who we really don't have a whole lot of history about even. And so it's been to get my familial history through ghost stories from my family.

 

Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Why not?

 

Amy L: Love it.

 

Leah Marie: You know, it's part of the shamanic work, right? It's like. Communicate with spirits for many reasons, personally, and for clients and things so.

 

Leah Marie: Cool stuff.

 

Amy L: Yeah.

 

AP: Again, thank you so much for making time for us today.

 

Megan: Thank you so much Leah.

 

Amy L: We’ll have you back again soon.

 

Leah Marie: Anytime, guys, take care.

 

Megan: Thank you. Bye.

 

Leah Marie: Bye.

 

[break]

 

Amy L: Oh, that was amazing! She’s the best.

 

Megan: She. I could just ask anyone talk for hours.

 

AP: I'm going with what I said before. I feel like we were meant to be friends.

 

Megan: Yeah.

 

Amy L: Yeah

 

AP: alright! Well, thank you. Everyone for joining us. Next week will be an Amy only episode, as Megan is taking the week off to celebrate her husband's birthday. So we're going to cover an episode that is not on Megan's top, I'd say 1,000 to cover. It is season 2 Episode, 16 Evil Underground.

 

This was requested a while ago by our listener Lily, from the Haunted Happy Hour Podcast so if you ever need a good drink or recommendation, go check out their Instagram and check them out for all the spooky stories and histories that they provide of the Midwest.

 

I will say that this episode is on the heavy side as it does deal with child death that it's at the time of the story, not in history. So just want to pre-worn anyone, plenty to watch ahead of next week.

 

And if you, any of you know Megan at all we think we can understand why she may not want to cover this one. Having a heart of gold and being a mama bear being respectful of Megan. We're choosing to do this while she's off celebrating with her family.

 

But we do love getting the listener recommendations, even if they are heavy episodes, or we wait on them. If you are interested in submitting an episode for us to cover. Please send those thoughts to theactivitycontinues@gmail.com

 

Again. It's going to be season two episode, 16. Evil underground, that came out over 10 years ago it should be 11 years ago, April twelfth, 2013.

 

Megan: We are so old.

 

AP: So we'll see you next time.

 

Megan: Thanks, everybody! Bye.

 

Amy L:  Bye