**Ignite Your Inner Fire: A Sacred Space for Women**

**Speaker 1**: Hi, I’m Doctor Mary Newstrom.

**Speaker 2**: And I’m Dawn Morningstar. Welcome to Soul Fire Sisters, a sacred space where we ignite women’s inner fire, awaken their truth, and share soulful conversations that inspire, heal, and empower.

**Speaker 1**: Each episode, we dive deep into themes of self-discovery, intuition, feminine wisdom, and spiritual growth, guided by raw stories, fierce honesty, and a shared desire to live boldly and authentically.

**Speaker 2**: Whether you’re on a healing journey, seeking deeper connection, or ready to rise in your power, you are not alone.

**Speaker 1**: Dawn Morningstar, which is her given name, has been a Women’s Self-Empowerment Coach for 37 years. She is the award-winning author of *Venerable Women: Transform Yourself, Transform the World*, a former radio talk show host, a podcast host, a TEDx speaker, the creator of Radiant Face 18, and co-founder of New World Women.

**Speaker 2**: Doctor Mary Newstrom is an internationally known shamanic teacher, spiritual minister, and a keynote speaker. She founded Zenith High LLC and created Spirit Flower, a shamanic study program for women. She’s committed to helping women and men develop a strong sense of purpose as they examine and understand how to stand clearly in their power.

**Speaker 1**: Welcome to the sisterhood. Your soul showed up for a reason.

**Speaker 2**: Hey, Mary.

**Speaker 1**: Hey, Dawn. How are you?

**Speaker 2**: Good. I think we decided to call this episode “Outside the Box, Inside the Soul.” So we are very happy to be with you today for our very, very first episode of Soul Fire Sisters.

**[01:00]**

**Outside the Box, Inside the Soul: Cultivating Confidence**

**Speaker 2**: We thought it might be fun to start talking about how being strong and confident and trusting yourself is key to living a really empowered and happy life. Really. So, Mary, what do you have to say about that whole idea? You’ve been, you know, teaching shamanism. You’ve been to Peru all these times and you see people in all different kinds of states. What do you have to say about this idea of, you know, strength, confidence, trusting yourself, and how hard that can be for people?

**Speaker 1**: It’s interesting. What I’ve noticed is that, and maybe this is, we as women are told to question our confidence or question our energy. But when I think that it’s almost the self-limiting, the self-talk that’s limiting us going forward or being successful is really prevalent. And so, what I really think is that being confident and trusting yourself, think of it more too, as something that you develop. But really, it’s less about always being right and more about just understanding where you know, what are you, what are you saying to yourself that’s actually making you question everything.

**Speaker 2**: I love that. Yeah. Because we do question ourselves. And the other thing that we do as women, I’ve been experiencing this so much, and I’m really trying to break the habit. I’ve gotten better about it, but this idea of, “I’m sorry,” everything is, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” It’s like, “Excuse my existence. I’m sorry.” You know, it’s like…

**Speaker 1**: That’s interesting. I wonder, I wonder how that gets started for me. For me, I just have to tell you, full disclosure, I never got into that loop, so I don’t have to break it, but I know what you mean. And how did that loop, how does that self-talk or “Oh, I’m sorry” get going? And, yeah, with women and less with men. It could obviously still be with guys, but I don’t think I remember a guy doing that.

**Speaker 2**: I think it’s, I mean, I have seen it primarily with women. Well, I don’t think it’s that hard to understand. Over the centuries, we have been told to be small, stay in our place. Just, you know. So if we come outside, like, you know, of course, this episode is “Outside the Box, Inside the Soul.” If we go outside the box a little tiny bit, yes, then it’s like, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” And and I want to know, like, who created this box to begin with? That’s kind of what I’m thinking.

**[02:00]**

**Speaker 2**: So, yeah. And the other thing is, in regard to spirituality right now, what we’re seeing is, I’ve been hearing many thought leaders and these extraordinary teachers of higher consciousness saying that, you know, being strong, being confident, trusting yourself, and being authentic, which we will do an episode on that later. But being authentic is the highest form of spirituality because then you’re being transparent with who you are. You’re not hiding parts of yourself. And I say that we’ll do an episode on this because I’ve had people over the years say, “Well, if I’m authentic, people don’t like me,” or “If I say what I really think, people, you know, people get upset.” It’s not about, like, telling people what to do. Authentic. It’s about showing up as your whole self. And having done some of your healing work of your past wounds in your life helps you to show up authentically in bigger and more loving ways, I think. So, any, what do you think about that, Mary?

**Speaker 1**: Well, totally, because the fact that that’s what helps you connect to your tribe. Being authentic. So if you’re not truly yourself, I think you might be, a person might be feeling more disconnected in the world. And then you have to hide yourself even more because you’re not with your people.

**Speaker 2**: Exactly.

**Speaker 1**: Yeah. Yeah.

**Speaker 2**: Exactly.

**[03:00]**

**Simple Practices for Self-Empowerment and Growth**

**Speaker 2**: So how do we get to that place of strength and confidence? How do we get there and how do we tap into our soul to hear what our path is?

**Speaker 1**: Well, those are that’s, those are multiple questions. But I, I think starting out with, if you have some, I use the word “self-talk” because I studied in sports psychology, and that’s a big thing with athletes. But doing more positive affirmations. That’s a good word, actually. Affirmations. And so if you’re noticing though, that you are having something that’s an automatic response, it’s maybe negative. Flipping that around, reframing it, looking at it differently. But I think a way to start is to, in the morning, look in the mirror and, you know, “You are spectacular. You’re beautiful. You’re strong.” And people might listening to this might go, “That’s too simple,” or “Pooh-pooh it.” You know what? All these secrets that we’re going to share, they’re not really secrets, but they’re simple. And actually, the things that get more complicated usually is because someone added that complication to it. But really being your authentic self, being strong, a strong woman is really just taking your power back in a very simple way.

**Speaker 2**: Oh, I really, really have a lot to say about that idea of simplicity. Because when I studied in India with enlightened monks for 21 days, I spent in the silence. I was shocked at the simplicity of the practices that they taught us. And I thought to myself, “Why have we been led to believe that something has to be really hard in order to take effect or make a difference?” Yeah. And so that, for me, was a real eye-opener. And I thought, well, you know, like, for example, I’m thinking of James Doty’s book, Doctor James Doty’s book *Mind Magic*, where he has that exercise in there, really examining our beliefs about things. So he has you first think about this thing that you want to manifest or experience in your life. And then he has you, on the left side of the page, you fold the paper in half vertically. And on the left side, you put, you know, “What are the somewhat negative beliefs you have about that thing?” And then on the right side, you put, “What is the real truth?”

**[04:00]**

**Speaker 2**: So, for example, in, when I was doing it, it was about my Radiant Face 18. I wanted to manifest having more people know about it and all of that. So on the left side, one of the things I wrote that was a negative belief, self-belief, is that, “I am too old. And if people look at my skin, I mean, they’ll know that I’m older and that they, that I would not be a good salesperson for my own product, right?” And then on the right side, I asked myself, “What is the truth of this?” And the truth of it is that, yes, I am older, but my skin looks really good for my age. And it’s because I use a product that’s all natural on my skin. And so just flipping it. But the thing that I’ve had a problem with in regard to affirmations in the past is if we say something that doesn’t ring true to us, we’re not, it doesn’t, it doesn’t help us. You know, for example, when people say, “I had somebody say, ‘Oh, you know, if you, if you’re, if you’re short on money or your prosperity is low, just look in the mirror and say, ‘I have all the money I need. My bank account has $1,000,000 in it.'” And it’s like, you look at your bank account and it doesn’t. And so, for me, affirmations have make the most sense if you can get to a true nugget and then say that as your affirmation. You know, like for me, looking in the mirror, it’s like, “Yeah, Dawn, you don’t look like you did when you were 30, you know, but you look damn fine for how old you are now, you know?” So that is an affirmation. That’s a way to do an affirmation. It goes back to authenticity. It needs to feel like it’s authentic.

**Speaker 1**: And these affirmations, you need action. You need action. So that, I think that’s what you’re saying, Dawn. You can start seeding the universe with, “Hey, I have all the money I need,” but you got to need then you need to go out there and, and, and do that too. So do the work to bring it in. Like if you’re going to have abundance, yeah, you want to have an idea that you know what you’re going to get to your end goal is abundance. And there’s lots of different definitions of abundance. But then, then setting out with, “What does that mean?” Working on that promotion, working on starting that business, bringing in those groups. So it’s that affirmation can definitely be honoring that. And, and what’s that saying? “Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.” And, and that goes back to that. It’s kind of like, “Yeah, I have my students do a three-year plan, visualizing where they want to be in multiple years as if it’s, it’s there.” But then, yeah, then they set off on and do the work and put the pieces together. And the universe will bring people together to, to create what you’re, you’re putting out there. For example, I put out there that I wanted to bring someone in that would help me and Spirit Flow and Zenith go to the next level. And that’s when Dawn, you came in. And after a few different meetings, we were like, “We should do this. We should share our wisdom and have a conversation and record it for this podcast.”

**[05:00]**

**Speaker 2**: Absolutely.

**Move Beyond Paralysis: Discovering Your True Passion**

**Speaker 2**: And, you know, circling back to that idea of confidence, part of the reason that I believe we’re not, we can be unable to manifest something that’s important to us or create it is because we don’t have confidence that it can really happen. I’ve met so many women over the years, you know, after having coached, coached women’s self-empowerment for 37 years, I’ve met so many women. And some of these women were, to the outside world, they looked so successful because they were, in that regard. But they had this lack of inner confidence. And so, in some cases, they might have been called to perhaps leave the corporate world and do something that felt more aligned with their soul, but they didn’t trust what they, their own intuition. They didn’t trust their own path. And, and, and the other thing I encountered so much was women who said, “Well, I’m going to do this thing toward, you know, in the direction of my, you know, my, my goal or my, you know, thing that I want to manifest after I take this next class and after I read this book.” And it’s like, what do they call that? Analysis paralysis. Where you just, it’s, you’re always finding some other thing you need to do before you do the thing you really want to do, you know?

**Speaker 1**: Yeah. And, you know, I find that too. What is that saying? “Jack of all trades, master of none.” And you don’t have to become a master of something. But I would encourage people to find your passion and go deeper. Because I think that is something that we’re seeing in the world today. And that might just be my perception. But more people are, are they, they want a little bit of everything. And they’re maybe looking for the magic bullet. I don’t know. Where I really advocate going going deeper. And that’s why I feel like I’ve done that in my life with my shamanic work. But also then being a master naturalist and going camping, loving outside. No, it aligns with who I am. And I realize that someone could say, “Well, Mary, that’s who you are. But isn’t that with everybody? I mean, I mean, yeah. I mean, find what your passion is. And if you, I don’t want to camp.” Like Dawn doesn’t camp.

**Speaker 2**: Not camping. Never camping. I even have a little plaque that hangs on the side of my refrigerator. It’s like a 1950s image of a 1950s woman laying back in her bed with soft pillows and one of those old-time phones next to her. And the caption is, “I love not camping.”

**Speaker 1**: Now, I want to put it out there to everybody listening. I go to the state parks and I then I’m able to drive up to my site. I’m not going to be hiking my things in, but I, I love to do it. And I visited all the Minnesota State Parks. And actually, the state gives you a little plaque. I have mine. So I think it’s a good balance. But yes, I have endlessly been kidding Dawn that she does not like to or doesn’t so.

**Speaker 2**: And you know what? That’s why it’s so important for each one of us to claim who we are. That’s just not something that brings me joy. I love nature. And Mary, I tell you all the time, I’m over by the Mississippi River. I’m walking. You know, there’s this great little forest. I love walking and being in nature, but I just don’t want to sleep in nature. It’s just my thing.

**[06:00]**

**Women’s Role in Co-Creating a Loving New World**

**Speaker 2**: And plus, I grew up in Baltimore in the city, and I never knew anybody who camped. I mean, it was just not a thing. My daughter’s camp, and they love it. They camp with their husbands. But and that’s the thing, to claim who we are and not apologize for it, you know? And to say, “This is who I am. This is how I show up in the world.” And, you know, also maybe keep, keeping an open mind about things. Who knows? I’ve had friends who said they were going to kidnap me and take me camping. So we’ll see if that happens.

**Speaker 1**: Wow, I would like to be…

**Speaker 2**: Fun. The little…

**Speaker 1**: …in the tent or wherever you’re keeping. I have a feeling it’s, it’s probably going to be glamping for you.

**Speaker 2**: Yeah, I, I could get down with that. I think that’d be kind of cool. But yeah, you know, I, I really love this idea of you had mentioned, you know, “What is your passion?” In order for women to, you know, be able to move forward and get out of the stuck place, whatever that is. And, you know, some people say to me, “Well, Don, how did you know you wanted to work with women your entire life and help them with their self-empowerment?” It was really paying attention to what brought me joy. And early on, early, early on, I loved being in groups of women and seeing an “aha!” where a woman goes, “Oh my gosh, I can do this differently. I can live my life differently.” And then when they do, they have all these magical things happen that brings me so much joy. And then, you know, in the individual sessions I’ve done and the group sessions I’ve done, watching women remember who they really are. I don’t think there’s any greater gift than that.

**[07:00]**

**Speaker 2**: Because, you know, let’s face it, our world is in kind of a mess right now. Not kind of, it is messy and horrible in many regards. And we, I believe women are here to bring that love energy, that light, that connection, that creativity, that intuition, and to really truly create a new world of love for everyone. I believe that with my entire being. I know it’s possible, and I know we are on our way. And part of what we’re seeing right now with all this, you know, I, I, I, I ugliness is the word that comes to mind, you know, greed and unkindness and all of that. It’s, it’s coming up so that it can be replaced with loving and kind energy as we move into a new era, a new world. And we will definitely get into that in a later episode. It’s a time to be hopeful. And it starts. I believe this new world starts with the lives of women.

**Speaker 1**: Yep. And, you know, I, you know, I totally agree. I think what really spurred me on to make my shamanic pro training program, the multi-year program, women only, was actually what we’ve already talked about: just the negative self-talk and women keeping themselves down because of the system and because of systematically what we’ve been hearing. Is I really want to break that cycle? Because the fact that women are not encouraged to to be out there, be their best, go for it. And that’s, I really, I think that’s really a theme that I will, you’re going to hear me saying this more and more: “Don’t wait, go for it.” And, and you’re worthy. You’re worthy of really being a, you know, living in sovereignty and being your own authentic self, not an extension of your family or kids or partner, but being in your own power. And that’s with, with the circles and the program that I advocate in training and workshops, really help the women just stand in their own power and know how powerful they are. And we hope to get that across too from in this podcast as well.

**Speaker 2**: I love what you just said, Mary. I, it’s, it’s the core of everything that we’re doing: that idea of self-sovereignty and standing in our own inner power. And when we talk about power, we’re not talking about power over others, which is the way power has really been used a lot. But we’re talking about that inner power that each of us has. The power to make good choices for ourselves. And we’re also talking about power, the power that we have with one another. And that’s the part that I believe that helps us to truly do the things we want to do and fully be the people we want to be, is by not doing it alone anymore. We have been silos unto ourselves for many years. Women have, you know, especially if you think, like, during the ’40s and ’50s when women were really kind of isolated inside their homes as housewives. And of course, they’d get together with, I think they’d call it a coffee klatch or something like that. But in these times, I believe that women coming together and supporting one another, having conversations like this, and saying, “Not only is it possible for you to do this, but This is why you’re here. You are a part of truly, truly making this world beautiful for yourself and for those around you and for those you may never ever meet.”

**[08:00]**

**Speaker 1**: Yep. Yeah. And we’ll get, we’ll go deeper into understanding what our soul’s purposes, our soul contracts, the agreements. But when we came down, we came down with ideas of where we work to create change, either through raising our frequency, our vibration. But as Dawn mentioned, it might be people you never meet. I mean, I realize that I might be interacting with someone, and they go interact with someone. And so that ripple effect is out there. And we can create really a lot of change, positive, by being our authentic self and standing in our power and raising our frequency. And that’s how you do it is really living in balance and harmony with each other, the earth, and so on.

**New World Women: Community for Higher Consciousness**

**Speaker 1**: Yeah. And with each other, that is the keyword. Is, of course, some of the work we do, we call it work sometimes, is meant to be solo, is meant to be solitary. Yet when we come together is when we can really practice being a higher version of ourselves. That is why five years ago I came together with Mecca Page and Sean Bujo, and we created what is called New World Women. It’s an international, beautiful women’s self-empowerment organization, and we learn ancient teachings and modern teachings together that help us awaken and increase our consciousness, as well as, you know, coming together in person and online. And, and we also, we share our revenue that we bring in with our members. So you can see that Mary has her very beautiful, unique way that she is serving people. I, I, I will say women, some of your programs, Spirit Flow is just women, right? And some, but some of the other programs you do, you open to males and females or any, any, anyone, however they express, I’ll say it that way. And so what I’ve seen happen is some women don’t have anybody in their lives that they can talk to about these higher, these higher concepts or these ways of, you know, awakening and higher consciousness. And when they don’t, then sometimes they’re just confused by it, or they don’t know what to do with it, or they feel like, “I better just keep this internal, right? Not express.”

**Speaker 1**: It, yes, it’s true. That’s true. And actually, that’s why I know that that we put such an emphasis on having time for, for the women to share, for women to share because of everything that we’re going through and feeling. It’s not validated maybe outside of these, these times and circles and meetings. And we would value your feedback if, what is your reaction to this podcast? What the things we brought up? What are your thoughts and what are your feelings? We’d love to hear your feedback on that.

**[09:00]**

**A Practical Exercise for Authentic Self-Reflection**

**Speaker 2**: Absolutely, we would. And as we begin to wind down, we, in this particular episode, we’d love for you to do a version of the, the exercise that Doctor James Doty has in his book *Mind Magic*. We were calling it a “Truth of Me” list. And what we mean by that is, you know, taking that piece of paper, or you could do it on your computer if you want, or your laptop or your phone, probably. But maybe take three things. Three things that you maybe say to yourself or that you find that you repeat in some way. Three things that hold you back. You know, they’re holding you back, but you just keep saying them to yourself. So list them 1, 2, 3. And then opposite that, go really deep and look at what the real truth of that is. You will be very surprised because we have come to really berate ourselves, play small in the world, do all of these things that just hold us back. And I know Mary and I have talked so much about society, culture, and religion, they, they really keep women small.

**Speaker 1**: Look.

**Speaker 2**: At it. I mean, across the board. And so, “What is the truth of you?” Write your three untruths that you say about yourself on the left side, 1, 2, 3, and then go deep and look at that extraordinary part of yourself and list what the real truth is opposite it. And that becomes your, those become your affirmations. Mary, did you want to add anything to that?

**Speaker 1**: I love that. And keep in mind too, that keep it simple. It doesn’t have to be anything really, you know, deep, that’s that. So if you’re thinking, “Oh, I don’t know what to put down,” keep it simple. And keep the affirmations simple as well, and try to do them every day, the positive affirmations every day, just to, just to get your, the reframing going on.

**Speaker 2**: I love the reframing idea. So I’ll give you one more example of one that I personally worked with. And I have to say, and I’m happy to say that by doing this exercise, I have totally reframed this. So Mary and I are very blessed to spend time with extraordinary, very high conscious, high consciousness women in the different circles that, that we spend time in. And I remembered through the years meeting some of these women in these circles and thinking, “Oh, my God, they’re like angels. You know, when they speak, I always feel like there’s like there’s a harp playing in the background. And they’re very gentle and they’re very loving and they’re all of these things.” And I would think to myself, “They are the right kind of spiritual.” You know. And so the, the, you know, the opposite of that for myself was, “Well, I’m just not spiritual enough or not the right kind of spiritual, you know?” And it’s that comparison thing. And I know Mary and I said, we definitely want to talk about how, how unhelpful it is for us to compare ourselves to others. But, you know, I’m human. I did it. So on my list, I had put, “I’m not spiritual enough” on the left side as one of those things that I’ve been telling myself. And then I took some time and I got very real with myself. And opposite, I put, “I’m just the right kind of spiritual,” or excuse me, I said, “I’m I’m the right kind of spiritual.” And what I mean by that is I am loving. I am kind. I am always working on healing any wounds from my past so that I can show up whole. And, you know, what they say is hurt people hurt people. And so by dealing with my own past hurts, I find that I don’t have any desire to ever hurt anyone else. So hopefully, that example can be helpful for you as you do your “Truth of Me” list.

**[10:00]**

**Embrace Your Power: A Call to Action**

**Speaker 2**: Mary, did you want to add anything before we close out?

**Speaker 1**: I think we have filled our time perfectly, and I hope everyone does the “Truth of Me” list because it will be so beautiful, lovely.

**Speaker 2**: So, when we live as our confident selves, we actually become happier people. And our, when we’re happier, more joyful, more peaceful, our frequency or energy rises. And the goal is to be in the highest frequency possible for as much of your life as possible.

**Speaker 1**: Farewell for now. If you have comments, we’d love to hear your feedback. Email us at Mary@zenithhigh.com.

**Speaker 2**: Or, or don@newworldwomen.com. That’s New World women.com. Or you can check out Radiant Face 18, the beautiful high-vibe facial serum that I have been making for many, many years. Thank you, and every blessing to you, dear.

**Speaker 1**: Blessings, everyone. Hey, Soul Fire Sisters, we hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. Please share Soul Fire Sisters with your friends.

**Speaker 2**: Until we meet again, reflect on the changes you want to make, feel the fire in your soul, and live from that fire.

**Speaker 1**: Our world needs your passion, your gifts, your heart. Don’t wait. Do it now. Whatever your “it” is, do it now.

**Speaker 2**: Let’s use our power to create a world we actually want to live in, a loving new world for ourselves and for future generations. We’ve got this.