I’ve heard people describe their awakening symptoms as pressure in the body that’s trying to push its way out. My symptoms are vibrational energy. It’s electric and sometimes travels up my spine. Recently, it traced my back muscles causing me to shiver. I feel it most during the witching hour.

When I was in the MFA program at Goddard College, I was fascinated by Paul Selig’s story of a spontaneous awakening that gave him the gift of channeling. Mine was not spontaneous. I have to practice connecting to spirit. I’m a three dimensional being that is has five dimensional experiences.

When my kundalini energy started to rise in my spine, I thought something was wrong with me. From my yoga practice I had heard of kundalini rising but I was unsure if this was it. So I googled, how do you know… and one response said, if you’re googling, it must be happening.

In August of 2024, I had a spiritual awakening. Since then I’ve been shedding everything that no longer fits into my life. And rereading this book after 25 years is helping me reawaken the memories of my soul.

Lisa Sterle's incredible Ten of Swords tarot card from the Modern Witch tarot, depicting a woman with long hair lying on a jagged landscape under an ominous sky. She's stuck full of swords and looking at her phone. It's captioned EVERYTHING IS FINE.