Spiritual Awakening with Shaz

Spiritual Awakening, Dark Night of the Soul & Mediumship with Nicole Pope
Episode 103 - Spiritual Awakening Podcast with Shaz
What happens when the spiritual gifts you never knew you had suddenly switch on, and the life you thought you understood begins to unravel?
In this episode of Spiritual Awakening with Shaz, I’m joined by evidential medium Nicole Pope for a deep, honest conversation about spiritual awakening, mediumship, the dark night of the soul and what really happens when Spirit begins calling you towards a completely different life.
Nicole spent much of her life in the corporate world, working in technology, project management and private equity. Mediumship was nowhere on the career plan. Then her young son began seeing what he described as shadow people in their home.
What initially looked like childhood imagination eventually led Nicole to a medium, who gave her an answer she certainly wasn’t expecting.
Her son wasn’t the only one connected to Spirit.
Nicole was a medium too.
Once she began developing that ability, the door opened quickly. Mediumship, the clairs, Akashic Records, Shamanic study and a completely different relationship with Spirit began unfolding, eventually leading Nicole away from her corporate career and towards the work she now feels called to do. 
But this conversation goes far beyond how someone becomes a psychic medium.
In this episode, Spiritual Awakening, Dark Night of the Soul & Mediumship with Nicole Pope, we discuss:
Nicole’s unexpected journey from corporate executive to evidential medium
her son seeing Spirit and how his experiences became part of her own awakening
what happens when mediumship abilities suddenly begin opening
clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience and how different intuitive abilities communicate
why your strongest intuitive gift may not be the one you expect
the everyday signs from Spirit people often overlook
why developing mediumship involves much more than simply “seeing dead people”
the importance of discernment when connecting spiritually
vibration, frequency and what you may connect with when you open spiritually from fear, grief or emotional distress
Nicole’s experience of the dark night of the soul and having Spirit come through intensely
why spiritual awakening can initially feel more like a breakdown than an awakening
the difference between being gifted and believing the gift makes you special
moving beyond the spiritual ego and understanding yourself as the channel rather than the source
why ethical mediumship requires boundaries, integrity and consent
respecting sovereignty and free will when receiving information about another person
why Shaz and Nicole refuse to treat mediumship like a performance
the danger of practitioners feeling they need to prove their gifts
recognising when your own intention or ego begins interfering with intuitive information
personal responsibility as part of spiritual development
shadow work and learning to become curious about the parts of yourself you would rather avoid
inherited behaviours, childhood conditioning, lineage and past-life patterns
Nicole’s journey with her parents and the lesson Spirit brought through about no longer allowing another person’s behaviour to determine who she becomes
boundaries, forgiveness and the difference between healing something and allowing harmful behaviour back into your life
releasing survival patterns that once protected you but no longer belong in the life you are creating
moving from constant doing and productivity into trust, surrender and receiving
why healing does not mean pretending the past never happened
the idea that the experiences you survive can become part of the wisdom you eventually offer others
soul lessons, reincarnation and whether some of our hardest experiences form part of a much bigger journey
trusting Spirit when the road towards your purpose looks nothing like the route you expected
why your soul purpose keeps finding ways to get your attention until you finally listen
One of the strongest conversations in this episode centres around ethics in spiritual work.
Nicole and I talk openly about consent, boundaries and the responsibility that comes with being able to access information intuitively. Having the ability to read someone does not automatically give you permission to do it. We explore the difference between receiving information and believing you have the right to deliver it, why practitioners need to examine their intentions, and what can happen when ego becomes involved in spiritual work. 
We also go deeply into the dark night of the soul.
Nicole shares how opening so rapidly to Spirit became overwhelming and contributed to what she describes as a mental breakdown. That experience forced her to understand frequency, discernment and the parts of herself that still needed healing. Rather than treating spiritual awakening as endless love, light and beautiful signs, we talk about why awakening can expose everything within us that is asking to be faced. 
From there, the conversation moves into shadow work, ego and healing.
We discuss why the goal is not to destroy the ego, but to understand it. As we develop spiritually, the focus begins shifting away from look what I can do and towards understanding that we are channels through which the work happens. The deeper work becomes clearing our own patterns so that fear, wounds, ego and expectations interfere less with what we receive. 
Nicole also shares one of the most personal lessons from her own awakening. After distancing herself from difficult family dynamics, Spirit challenged her to recognise that true freedom would come when she stopped allowing another person's behaviour to change who she chose to be. It becomes a powerful conversation about boundaries, family patterns, healing and becoming emotionally sovereign rather than continuing to react to somebody else’s journey. 
And, naturally, Nicole and I wander into past lives, soul contracts, reincarnation and those sliding-door moments that seem insignificant at the time but may completely redirect your life.
The underlying message becomes beautifully simple.
You might resist your calling. You might take the scenic route. You might even convince yourself you have chosen the wrong path.
But if something genuinely belongs to your soul’s journey, it has an incredible way of finding you again.
Nicole’s final message is to trust the process, give yourself grace and find people who can support you through your development. Mediumship kept finding her until she finally said yes, even though saying yes eventually meant leaving a successful corporate career behind. 
Episode Highlights

This episode explores mediumship from both sides of the journey. Nicole discovered her abilities later in life, while I grew up experiencing Spirit from childhood. Those very different beginnings create a fascinating conversation about how spiritual gifts can present differently while still leading us towards the same fundamental lesson: learning to trust ourselves and the connection we have with Spirit.

We also strip some of the glamour away from spiritual awakeni...

What If Your Life Falling Apart Is the Reveal?
Episode 102, Spiritual Awakening with Shaz

What if the thing you think is falling apart is actually showing you what can no longer stay the same?

In this episode of Spiritual Awakening with Shaz, I explore the idea that some of the biggest breakdowns, endings, losses and setbacks in our lives are not always punishment or failure. Sometimes they are the reveal. They expose what is no longer aligned, what has run its course, what we have outgrown, and who we are being asked to become next. 

I share parts of my own journey, including losing my business, watching plans fall apart, rebuilding my identity and learning that what looked like failure at the time often became the very thing that redirected me towards the work I now do. This episode is about looking at your life through a different lens and asking what your current challenges may be trying to show you. Podcast 102

In this episode, we discuss:
Why life falling apart can sometimes be a reveal rather than a failure
How awakening can involve removal, endings and redirection
Why relationships, jobs, friendships and business models sometimes stop fitting
How identity changes as we grow and evolve
Why grief is not only about death, but also the loss of a future you thought you would have
The difference between a setback and a deeper misalignment
Why some cycles have to end before something new can begin
How losing a job can become an opportunity to ask what you actually want next
Why comfort and familiarity can keep us stuck in situations that no longer serve us
How breakdowns can expose the truth about relationships and support systems
Why the role of “the strong one” can become part of your identity
The importance of allowing grief, anger and pain instead of spiritually bypassing them
How unresolved trauma can sit in the body and affect your wellbeing
Why freedom can feel scarier than staying with what you already know
How to question the identity you have built around work, relationships, family and responsibility
Why awakening is not always about more, but sometimes about less
Letting go of people pleasing, self-abandonment and living for other people’s approval
Why your life may not be collapsing, but becoming more honest
How to ask what you are ready to build next
Highlights

One of the strongest messages in this episode is that we often judge a breakdown too quickly. We call it failure, punishment or proof that something has gone wrong, when it may actually be the moment that exposes where our life has become misaligned. 
Sometimes the ending itself is what forces us to stop and ask what we truly want. 
I also share how losing my business years ago became one of the biggest identity shifts of my life. At the time, I could not see what would come next, but that loss eventually led me towards creating my cards, journals, books and this podcast. The version of me that exists today would not have been created without that breakdown. 
Another major theme is identity. We can become so attached to roles like partner, parent, rescuer, business owner or employee that we forget who we are underneath them. This episode asks you to look beyond those labels and reconnect with your values, your truth and the life your soul is actually asking you to create. 
The episode closes with one of the most important questions you can ask yourself when life feels uncertain:
What am I ready to build now?
🎧 Listen now on:
🔹 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ShazCini
 
Enjoying the Podcast? Leave a review & share it with someone who needs to hear this!

🔗 Follow & Connect with Me:
Instagram: @shazcini
Facebook: @shazcini
YouTube: @shazcini

You can also join me for regular healing tips and sessions in Skool - Shaz Cini Healing Hub

📩 Subscribe for exclusive tips & guidance → www.shazcini.com
 
Did you know that when you join the mailing list, you get all future guides and downloadables from the podcast sent to you straight away?
 
🔔 Subscribe & turn on notifications so you never miss an episode!
💖 If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review - it helps us reach more souls on their healing journey!
☕ If this episode resonated with you, you're welcome to buy me a coffee.

My new book, Journeys with the Archangels: A Practical Guide, is now live on Kickstarter, and if this podcast has supported you, inspired you or helped you trust your own spiritual path, I’d love you to support the book and help bring it into the world.

Books-Presale

Why Self Love Is So Important

 Episode 101, Spiritual Awakening with Shaz
The most important relationship you will ever have in this lifetime is not the one you think it is. It is the relationship you have with yourself, with your own soul.
In this episode, I unpack why so much of our pain, our anxiety and the trauma we carry in our bodies comes down to the way we speak to ourselves every single day. I share why the harshest critic most of us ever face lives in our own head, why criticism from other people is really a mirror of how they feel about themselves, and why the way we treat ourselves as adults so often echoes what we absorbed as children.
I also talk about one of the hardest patterns I see in my work as a psychic medium and healer, mothers who gave everything to their children, only to be told later that they weren't loved enough. I walk through why that happens, what it actually means to pour from a full cup rather than an empty one, and why one hundred percent of five percent will always only be five percent.
Alongside the harder truths, I share the practical rituals, affirmations and mindset shifts I use every single day to keep my own cup full, including the exact words I use when someone tries to criticise or put me down.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why the relationship with yourself matters more than any other relationship in your life
Why your inner critic so often echoes what you absorbed as a child
Why someone else's judgement or criticism of you is really a reflection of how they feel about themselves
The "hurt people hurt people" analogy and why people who are in pain end up lashing out
Why becoming an adult means becoming the caretaker of your own soul
Why celebrating your own wins is essential to your soul's growth, not egotistical
Why we celebrate celebrities and sportspeople but discourage ourselves from celebrating our own achievements
The exhausted, unappreciated mother pattern, and why external validation can never fill an internal void
The cup metaphor, and why one hundred percent of five percent is still only five percent
The heartbreaking pattern I see in readings, mothers who gave everything only to be told by their adult children that they weren't loved enough
Why love given from an empty cup is felt as hollow, even when the words themselves are right
Why real self-love means accepting your faults and your shadow side without holding them against yourself
How repetition changes your inner dialogue, the same way repetition teaches you anything else in life
Morning affirmations and rituals I use to reset my mindset each day
Why chasing love and appreciation from outside yourself leaves you feeling empty, even when people are pouring into you
Why boundaries and refusing to accept unkind words are genuine acts of self-love
My go-to response when someone tries to criticise or put me down
How grief and self-love can exist together, and how I honour my own loved ones every day
Why every challenge can be reframed as an opportunity to grow once you stop resisting it
The three and a half year self-love journey that changed how I show up in the world
Highlights

 One of the strongest themes in this episode is that your relationship with yourself shapes every other relationship in your life. When your own cup is empty, no amount of love, appreciation or reassurance from someone else can fill it, and that hollowness is always felt, even when it isn't spoken.
I also share one of the hardest things I sit with in my work, mothers who poured everything they had into their children, only to be told later that it wasn't enough. The truth underneath that pain is almost never that they didn't try. It is that they were giving from a cup that was already empty.
Most importantly, I want you to walk away from this episode with real, practical ways to start filling your own cup, through the words you use, the affirmations you choose each morning, and the boundaries you're willing to hold, so that what you give to the people you love comes from fullness rather than from empty.
🎧 Listen now on:
🔹 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ShazCini
Enjoying the Podcast? Leave a review & share it with someone who needs to hear this!
 🔗 Follow & Connect with Me:
Instagram: @shazcini
Facebook: @shazcini
YouTube: @shazcini
You can also join me for regular healing tips and sessions in Skool - Shaz Cini Healing Hub
📩 Subscribe for exclusive tips & guidance → www.shazcini.com
Did you know that when you join the mailing list, you get all future guides and downloadables from the podcast sent to you straight away?
🔔 Subscribe & turn on notifications so you never miss an episode!
 💖 If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review - it helps us reach more souls on their healing journey!
☕ If this episode resonated with you, you're welcome to buy me a coffee.
My new book, Journeys with the Archangels: A Practical Guide, is now available for pre-sale, and if this podcast has supported you, inspired you or helped you trust your own spiritual path, I'd love you to support the book and help bring it into the world.
Pre-order Journeys with the Archangels

Journeys with the Archangels: Why This Book Matters
Episode 100, Spiritual Awakening with Shaz

Episode 100 felt too important to simply look backwards.
Instead, I wanted to share the journey that brought me here and the deeper story behind my new book, Journeys with the Archangels: A Practical Guide.
This episode is about my personal relationship with the Archangels, the ways they have shown up throughout my life, and why I believe learning to work with them can help you strengthen your intuition, feel supported through difficult times and build a deeper relationship with your own spiritual guidance.
I also share why this book is not designed to sit untouched on a shelf. It is meant to be used, written in, highlighted, opened when you feel lost and returned to whenever you need guidance, healing, courage, protection or clarity.
The biggest message throughout this episode is simple. The Archangels can support you, but you have to ask, remain open to receiving, and still take responsibility for your own life and choices.
In this episode, we discuss:
 Why Episode 100 felt like the right moment to talk about Journeys with the Archangels
 Why Archangel Michael became such an important guide in my life 
 Why Michael encouraged me to write this book 
 Why the Archangels cannot override your free will 
 The importance of asking for spiritual assistance 
 How Archangels can support grief, healing, courage, relationships, communication, creativity and decision-making 
 Why you do not always need to know an Archangel’s name before asking for help 
 The 15 Archangels I chose to include and why personal experience mattered to me 
 How Archangels can appear through warmth, movement, breeze, dreams, visions, colours and physical sensations 
 My experiences with Archangel Michael, Ariel, Jeremiel, Haniel and others 
 How Archangels can work together to support specific situations 
 Why spiritual support does not remove your personal responsibility 
 The importance of taking action after receiving guidance 
 Why discomfort can sometimes be part of growth and transformation 
 Working with Archangel Azrael during grief and transition 
 Why Journeys with the Archangels is designed as a practical guide 
 The invocations, meditations, visualisations and journaling prompts included in the book 
 Why shadow journaling can help you understand what sits underneath the need for support 
 How signs and synchronicities can be subtle rather than dramatic 
 How dreams, repeated messages, songs, bodily sensations and intuitive knowing can become forms of spiritual communication 
 Why building a relationship with an Archangel is similar to building any other relationship 
 How the book can help strengthen your own intuition rather than make you dependent on outside guidance 
 Why your relationship with the Archangels does not need to look like mine 
 How I want readers to use the book in real life, especially during grief, fear, overwhelm or uncertainty 
 Why the podcast and the book ultimately come from the same purpose 
 How to use the book intuitively rather than feeling that you must read it from beginning to end 
Highlights

One of the strongest themes in this episode is that the Archangels are there to support you, but they are not there to take over your life.
You still have free will, choice and personal responsibility.
You can ask for courage, healing, clarity, protection or guidance, but you still have to participate in the change you are asking for.
I also share how differently the Archangels can appear. Their presence is not always dramatic. Sometimes it is warmth, a breeze, a repeated message, a dream, a body sensation, a song or a quiet thought that seems to arrive at exactly the right moment.
The book itself was created to make these relationships practical. Each Archangel has ways to connect, including invocations, meditations, signs, synchronicities and shadow journaling prompts so you can explore what support you need and how that support may already be showing up around you.
Most importantly, I want you to build your own evidence and your own relationship with the Archangels. Your experience does not need to match mine.
🎧 Listen now on:
🔹 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ShazCini
 
Enjoying the Podcast? Leave a review & share it with someone who needs to hear this!

🔗 Follow & Connect with Me:
Instagram: @shazcini
Facebook: @shazcini
YouTube: @shazcini

You can also join me for regular healing tips and sessions in Skool - Shaz Cini Healing Hub

📩 Subscribe for exclusive tips & guidance → www.shazcini.com
 
Did you know that when you join the mailing list, you get all future guides and downloadables from the podcast sent to you straight away?
 
🔔 Subscribe & turn on notifications so you never miss an episode!
💖 If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review - it helps us reach more souls on their healing journey!
☕ If this episode resonated with you, you're welcome to buy me a coffee.

My new book, Journeys with the Archangels: A Practical Guide, is now live on Kickstarter, and if this podcast has supported you, inspired you or helped you trust your own spiritual path, I’d love you to support the book and help bring it into the world.

Support Journeys with the Archangels on Kickstarter

You Don’t Need Another Sign. Make the Decision.
Episode 99, Spiritual Awakening with Shaz
There comes a point where asking for another sign stops being guidance and starts becoming avoidance.
In this episode of Spiritual Awakening with Shaz, I talk about what happens when you already know what you want, but fear, doubt and overthinking keep you stuck in analysis paralysis. We look at the difference between guidance and permission seeking, why constantly outsourcing your decisions weakens self-trust, and how to reconnect with your intuition, body and spiritual sovereignty.
This episode is about learning to stop asking everyone else what you should do and beginning to trust yourself enough to choose.
In this episode, we discuss:
 Why asking for another sign can become avoidance 
 The difference between guidance and permission seeking 
 How language such as “should I?” can hand your power away 
 Why spiritual tools should support your intuition, not replace it 
 What spiritual sovereignty actually looks like 
 How constantly asking other people for advice weakens self-trust 
 Why intuition is often simple, while the mind creates complexity 
 How your body can help you understand what feels aligned 
 Why empaths need to learn their own internal signals 
 The difference between excitement, anxiety and intuitive warning signs 
 Why asking the same question repeatedly creates more confusion 
 How failure gives you information and helps you make better decisions 
 Why certainty is rarely available before action 
 How research, experience and testing create greater clarity 
 Why signs are confirmation rather than a substitute for decision making 
 How taking action builds confidence, momentum and self-trust 
Highlights
One of the strongest themes in this episode is the idea that you already know more than you think you do.
We can become so focused on cards, pendulums, repeating numbers, spiritual guidance and other people’s opinions that we forget the most important source of information, ourselves.
I also explore how the body communicates with us through expansion, contraction, tension, relief and subtle physical reactions. Learning your own patterns can help you recognise the difference between fear, intuition and old conditioning.
Failure also gets reframed in this episode. Making a decision that does not work out does not automatically mean you made a mistake. Sometimes it gives you the information you needed in order to take the next step with more clarity.
Most importantly, your spiritual tools are there to strengthen your relationship with yourself, not replace it.
🎧 Listen now on:
🔹 Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | ShazCini
 
Enjoying the Podcast? Leave a review & share it with someone who needs to hear this!

🔗 Follow & Connect with Me:
Instagram: @shazcini
Facebook: @shazcini
YouTube: @shazcini

You can also join me for regular healing tips and sessions in Skool - Shaz Cini Healing Hub

📩 Subscribe for exclusive tips & guidance → www.shazcini.com
 
Did you know that when you join the mailing list, you get all future guides and downloadables from the podcast sent to you straight away?
 
🔔 Subscribe & turn on notifications so you never miss an episode!
💖 If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review - it helps us reach more souls on their healing journey!
☕ If this episode resonated with you, you're welcome to buy me a coffee.

My new book, Journeys with the Archangels: A Practical Guide, is now live on Kickstarter, and if this podcast has supported you, inspired you or helped you trust your own spiritual path, I’d love you to support the book and help bring it into the world.

Support Journeys with the Archangels on Kickstarter