Return to Radiance with Danielle Venables

080. New Age to Jesus: My Take on the Shift to Christ Consciousness

• Danielle Venables • Episode 80

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Ever felt torn between traditional religious practices and an evolving personal spiritual journey? Tune in to this enlightening episode of Return to Radiance as I recount my own spiritual odyssey—from Catholic roots to the exploration of New Age practices like Reiki, Kundalini, and the Akashic Records. We also address the current trend of individuals turning away from New Age beliefs and returning to Christianity. Through my reflections, I emphasize the crucial importance of respecting diverse spiritual paths and remaining open-minded to the myriad ways people find their spiritual truth.

Join me as we navigate the often-tense relationship between conventional Christian doctrines and the pursuit of personal spiritual authenticity. By sharing my struggles with born-again Christianity, I highlight the importance of fostering a personal relationship with God and Jesus while embracing soul-resonant practices like astrology and energy healing. This episode underscores the power of leading with love, embodying peace, and living authentically beyond the confines of any single religious tradition. Discover how harmonizing Christian beliefs with other spiritual tools can pave the way for a balanced and genuine approach to spirituality.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Return to Radiance, the podcast with one core purpose to remind you of your innate power and essence. I'm your host, danielle Venables, an Akashic guide and soul coach, here to activate, heal and empower the new wave of soulful CEOs to become radically aligned and unapologetic. In these episodes, we will be diving into all things mystic, soul level transformation, the new paradigm of leadership, business, energetics, awakening, healing and more, as well as holding potent conversations around connecting deeply to your personal power and owning your truth. If you are here for it all, be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. While I'm confident the discussions in this podcast have the power to change your life, these episodes are for information only and are in no way a substitute for individual medical, legal or mental health advice.

Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Return to Radiance podcast. Today's topic is maybe a little bit controversial. It's not going to be for everyone, and so I want you to trust your discernment and trust your own guidance on whether this episode is for you, and if it is great, stick around. And if it's not, I will catch you in the next one. And it is for you, and if it is great, stick around. And if it's not, I will catch you in the next one, and it is all good.

Speaker 2:

Today I am going to be talking about a slightly heated topic. Actually, it can be a very heated topic. I'm going to be discussing religion, and this is something that I've kind of steered clear from um, in part because I was still navigating my own journey on discerning, like, what my beliefs are, uh, where my truth really lies, and just letting things kind of ground and anchor um to a place of certainty. Before I spoke of anything from a place of wounding or from a place of um, you know, fear or even like rebellion, cause you know, I'm sure a lot of you identify as well with being rebels and doing things your own way, and so I wanted to be sure that I wasn't just doing it or just like feeling a certain type of way because of my inner rebel, but rather coming from a place of really embodied truth. And so these are a lot of my perspectives, my opinions. Obviously, that's all that I can come from, all that I can come from. And I do want to just kind of put a disclaimer here that, regardless of if you agree with me or disagree with me, it is all good, we are all good. We don't all need to share the same beliefs, the same practices, the same fundamentals in order to coexist and learn from one another and benefit from each other's energy and teachings and all of that. So, even though it's a heated hot topic, just remember that and assume that everything that I am saying is coming from a place of truth and a place of love, from where I am standing. So, without further ado, let's dive into it.

Speaker 2:

So I've noticed, over the last probably year to two years, I've noticed a huge uptick being in the space of sort of new age spirituality. You know, I've got a lot of like Reiki healers and priestesses and, um, you know people who you know do Kundalini and yoga and, uh, psychic readings and astrology and tarot and all of it and I love it. And at the beginning of my journey too, I was very into a lot of the New Age practices. You know, I went through a phase where I was practicing Kundalini. I, you know, got certified as a Reiki healer. I obviously work in the Akashic Records and so I still feel very resonant with some of the New Age practices and remembering that New Age is an umbrella right and even then a lot of it, you know, it's New Age, it's ancient. A lot of this stuff has been around for for millennia, um, especially things like breath work and yoga and stuff like that. So, with that said, I've noticed a huge uptick in people who were very new, aged, like manifestation, were very new age like manifestation, energy healing, that kind of stuff who have been shifting back and basically coming out and denouncing new age practices, denouncing, you know, oracle and tarot cards, denouncing yoga as being demonic. There's been all kinds of stuff online and not everybody's that extreme, but basically saying like I no longer believe in any of this, like Jesus is my savior and like coming back to like the roots of Christianity.

Speaker 2:

And I was raised Catholic and so I know the Bible, I know the fundamentals of obviously organized, obviously, organized religion as well as just the fundamental teachings of Christianity, um, and it's one of those things that, like my own story, I walked away from the church in 2011. Um, there was a lot of you know politics and bullshit in the church that I was going to and I just kind of became disenchanted with with that and I was like, fuck it, I don't need a church to um, you know, have a spiritual connection, to have these beliefs to um, you know, practice and connect with the divine. Like I don't need it. So I kind of walked away from religion at that point in my life. Um, and yeah, so it's one of those things like I had, I had some wounding, just like anybody.

Speaker 2:

Um, I had some wounding around like what does the church really represent and do I agree with it? And my thing, even as a kid, was, like Jesus said to love everybody, like why are these adults who are leading the church not embodying that Right? And so there can be a lot of hypocrisy within, uh, within organized religion. So that's just a little piece of my story. It's not like crazy relevant, but it does play a piece in how I came to the beliefs that I have, uh, the way that I see things and sort of where I'm, where I'm going with this. So, as I watched more and more people go like complete 180 from being these you know outward spiritual manifestation, energy healing, oracle and tarot card, astrology, human design, like you know everything type of people, know everything type of people, and then I've watched them like completely turn their back and just basically come out and say I denounce everything that I once said, that I once believed, and you know I am Christian and Jesus is my only truth and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2:

And while there's nothing wrong with finding or resonating with different beliefs, uh, finding a path, you know it does take experimenting. It is part of the journey to sort of find what works for you and and find where your truth lies and what uh fits best with your life, your fundamental belief system, um, all of that. And so it's great to shift and evolve and change and um, discover new truths and truer truths. Right, like there's this. This concept of truth is um, your truth is the ultimate truth until you find a truer truth and then that becomes your ultimate truth, um, which sounds kind of funny to say, but you know it has been my experience on my awakening journey and it's. It's kind of what we have to do. It's an evolutionary process that we have to be on to really find what is wholly and fully true for us.

Speaker 2:

So there's no like judgment there on my part for people who have kind of come and done that 180. Now, on the other hand, it has made me feel a certain type of way. Now I have been um on a path of sort of reconciling between what I walked away from as a kid and what I believe now, and sort of finding the commonalities, finding the truth, um, within all of it. You know, I've always believed that there's truth in the Bible. I've always believed that there is merit to all sacred texts and all religions Like there are. There are shreds of truth and if you really zoom out from the like technicalities that could have very well been lost in translation and you look at the bigger picture, there are common themes globally, uh, when it comes to different religions, and I think that's why it's so like polarizing is that people refuse to see how connected they actually all are. Um, but that's that's kind of a tangent for another, for another day, uh. But what I'm really realizing about myself on my own journey of reconciling between Christianity and new age and sort of everything in between, is is that for me, I mean never say never, but what I've been witnessing and what's been coming up for me as I've watched this, this swing back into like devout Christianity, is that, you know, these are, these are leaders in in the online space. These are mentors who have not only built their businesses on the principles of new age spirituality, um, but they've also, you know, been preaching liberation and freedom and, um, you know, the feminine power and and things like that and sovereignty. And then I feel like and again, these are my own feelings they're not, they're not judgments, um, they're not, they're not judgments, um. But what I feel like I've witnessed is then doing that 180 and kind of going back into the control matrix of the patriarchy. And what I mean by this is like, all of a sudden, it's like I'm cutting ties with every single thing that I used to do and believe in. You know, I, I won't do energy healing, I won't accept energy healing, I won't use Oracle cards, I won't, um, you know, look at astrology and and all of that, and it's just like a very like radical shift that has been happening and that's fine, like that's everybody's prerogative to, you know, find the beliefs again that work for them. But I'm finding that on my own journey and in my own truth, I'm sort of like straddling both worlds, where I love oracle cards. I adore, you know, reading for people and channeling for people.

Speaker 2:

Obviously, the work that I do is in the Akashic records and actually I fundamentally, fundamentally believe with every fiber of my being that Mary Magdalene also accessed the Akashic records. And you know there's a lot there with organized religion that has sort of silenced the feminine. And you know even someone as prominent as Mary Magdalene, her reputation, her story throughout the history of Christianity and things like that, um, it's always been a suppression of the feminine. Uh, she's always been painted in a certain light and you know she has a gospel that she wrote too, and it's not in the bible, and so there's things like that that I'm like why would we go back into the arms of that? That I'm like, why would we go back into the arms of the, the patriarchal matrix, right, like why would we go all the way back into being an obedient? And I think that's that's really the.

Speaker 2:

The distinction for me is is where are you being obedient versus where are you being devoted? And so that's kind of where I've landed with it all. It's like I'm going to maintain my energy practices, I'm going to maintain the Akashic records, I'm going to, you know, look at astrology just for fun, not as an ultimate truth, obviously, but just for fun, because I feel like it validates and helps people come back to who they really are at a soul level, and that is, in my opinion, in my belief, in my experience, that is the medicine that the world needs. It needs us to be ourselves. It needs us to show up as our soul beings right, like as close to our divine self, as close to our soul as we can. And when we're being obedient, we're suppressing a lot of that, we're suppressing a lot of our truth.

Speaker 2:

In the name of, you know, being an obedient Christian, we're, you know, just kind of shutting off parts of ourselves that maybe aren't biblically correct or that are even our church or our pastor like it's not even always. You know, you can find a, you can find a Bible quote to support any stance that you have just about. So, um, it's kind of one of those things that's like open to interpretation. And again there's this, this need and this invitation for discernment when it comes to how you apply it to your own life. And so I'm just I'm, I'm seeing this suppression, this rise in suppression, coming up with this like born again Christianity, and that's where I'm struggling. That's my hang up. I have been witnessing this now for two years.

Speaker 2:

I am very landed in my stance on this. This isn't just me speaking on a whim about something. This is me like carefully observing and checking in with myself and checking in with what feels true to me and my soul. And, um, you know, again, everybody has their own path. But I just feel like we are still in an age where we're meant to rise in our authenticity. We're meant to rise as leaders, as feminine leaders, especially to usher in the new paradigm.

Speaker 2:

And so to go back to these old, outdated structures of Christianity, as it's been practiced for the last 2000 years, just seems counterproductive to me, it doesn't feel completely resonant to me.

Speaker 2:

And so I guess I'm just here to be the person who, you know, holds a relationship with God and Jesus. A relationship with God and Jesus and, you know, honors the black sheep that he was and the life that he lived and the teachings that he brought. And you know, I, I love and honor and respect that and I cultivate a relationship with that, um, in my own personal devotional, devotional, devotional practice, but without subscribing to putting the feminine back in a box, without subscribing to the fact that you can't access. You know, astrology, something that God gave us energy healing, something that God gave us. Like you know, channeling is not inherently bad. In fact, the ancient mystics who channeled the Bible I mean, granted, some of them, some of them in the New Testament it's a little different, but you know Old Testament and some of the other books that weren't like direct, uh, storytellings of Jesus's life these are all things that were channeled, and so we're given that connection to source, to God.

Speaker 2:

We're given an intuition for a reason, and we're here at this time for a reason. It's all divinely orchestrated. Whether you believe in God or the universe or source or you know, whatever you want to call it. We're here for a purpose, for a reason. We chose to be here at this time and there's a key thing at play there, and it doesn't depend on being a Christian to fulfill, you know, your, your I don't want to say destiny, that's not the word I'm looking for but you know to, to fulfill your sole purpose and to um, live in alignment with, like, what that divine plan is.

Speaker 2:

You don't have to be Christian for that. You have to be connected to, to source, right Like to, to the bigger picture, to the divine. And it's not dependent on how well you can recite the Bible or, you know, quote the Bible. It's not dependent on if you go to church or sing, you know, praise and worship songs or denounce everything that was once helpful on your journey that could still be helpful and supportive on your journey, right Like again, if you've outgrown something and it's time to walk away, like I did with Kundalini, then that's completely fine. But to just completely 180 and be like I'm not doing any of this because it's not holy, that to me is problematic, because that feels like it's not coming from a place of authenticity and discernment, that sounds like it's coming from somebody else telling you that it's not okay, that it's not accepted within the Christian church, which doesn't sit right with me. So I don't know if I even got my point across the way that I envisioned it or the way that I would have liked to. It probably didn't come off as gracefully and eloquently as it does in my head, um, but I just want to, like, shout out to the, the leaders in this space that can hold both that, you know, can honor the, the, some of the christian beliefs and and values, um, while also acknowledging that everything outside of that isn't necessarily demonic and that it's not about, um, the tools that you, but rather how they're used or the intention with which they're used. And so we're in this beautiful space where we get to walk the in-between. We get to, you know, carry the light, regardless of how you define that light. We get to carry the light and we get to create heaven on earth. We get to embody peace, we get to, um, you know, be in this space of living as just good humans, and that is holy in itself, that is sacred in itself. Um, so, anyway, hopefully I didn't.

Speaker 2:

Actually I don't care, I was going to say hopefully I didn't upset too many of you, but that's just, that's my view, and it's it's been my view for for a long time. It's, I mean, it's been solidified over the last couple of years, but it's been my view for over a decade and I've evolved within it in terms of what it means and how it impacts the way that I live my life. But, at the end of the day, if you are coming from a place of love, that's really what matters. So I've got to run. My son just woke up from his nap, but I wanted to get that out there because if you've been feeling like why can't it be both?

Speaker 2:

You're not alone. You know, I shared that on my Facebook the other day and had so many people come forward and say, oh my God, me too. So I wanted to record a podcast episode about it, just to remind you that you're not crazy, you're not alone Just because you're not coming out and making this grand announcement about your beliefs. You're valid. Your beliefs are valid. You're valid. Your beliefs are valid, you're valid. What you're doing in this world is valid and I see you and I love you and I will see you in the next episode. Bye for now.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed this podcast, it would mean the world If you take a moment to download a couple episodes and rate the show to help it reach more like-minded leaders. If you love today's discussion and decide to share it, be sure to tag me on Instagram at Radiant Soul Coach to help expand the ripple effect of this podcast.