Ouja Boards, Witchy Sh*t, Prayers & Biz
Welcome to Pleasurable Profits, the podcast where we empower owners and leaders of unconventional businesses to redefine success on their own terms. I'm your host, Leslie Lyons, an embodied leadership and sales coach. Today's episode is a special Halloween edition, where we delve into a personal journey that combines the mystical and the business world.
In this episode, we'll be exploring my past experiences with the occult, ouija boards, and the pursuit of power. From my introduction to spellwork in 7th grade, seeking solace from being an outcast, to the strange events that unfolded in my house due to my dabbling in dark arts. We'll also discuss the encounter I had with a Ouija board at my grandmother's house and the eerie moment when it began to move on its own.
But why am I sharing these stories with you? It's not just about the spooky tales, but it's about understanding the allure of the unknown and the desire for control outside of the conventional. As a business and life coach, I've guided many incredible women through challenges, and now it's time to take you on a journey into my own past.
So, if you're ready to explore the intersection of the occult and business, join me in this thought-provoking episode of Pleasurable Profits. Let's discover the hidden secrets, lessons, and insights that can be found in the world of witchy sh*t, prayers, and, of course, creating a soul-driven and pleasurable plan for profitability. Stay tuned, and let's get started.
[00:10:11] Power lies within; avoid external seduction.
[00:11:43] Tap into authenticity, resilience, compassion, power. What's worked in pursuit of power? Spiritual practice from a place of wholeness. Authenticity is key for true strength.
Find me on Instagram or LinkedIn or email me at hello@lesliedlyons.com.
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Transcript “Ouja Boards, Witchy Sh*t, Prayers & Biz”
Leslie:
Hey, boss. I am Leslie Lyons, your embodied leadership and sales coach, and this is Pleasurable Profits. This podcast is ideal for owners and leaders of tattoo shops, cannabis businesses, movement studios, sex toy shops, and other industries too often left out of the leadership conversation. If you're looking for no BS approach to defining your strengths and values, designing a business that supports you, and creating a soul driven and, of course, a pleasurable plan for profitability, then let's get started. Hey, party people. It's Leslie. I am here with a special Halloween episode. I was going to download some creepy music to play, but then I decided I wasn't spending $20 to play 30 seconds worth of music.
Leslie:
So insert creepy Halloween music here. Dan. Dan. I hope you all doing well. It's freezing here in Chicago. We got snow, the first snow of the year today. And so it was the perfect day to stay in the house. But I was like, oh, you know what would be cool is for me just to drop a special Halloween episode and really kind of share some personal past experiences that I think might relate to some of you and kind of where we are today.
Leslie:
So, if you're new to this podcast, my name is Leslie. I'm an embodied sales and leadership coach. And on Pleasurable Profits, we talk about a variety of things. Number one, we talk about how do you achieve the type of life you desire? Second of all, how do you make the money to do that? So we talk about sales, and then we also talk about leadership, because I'm an embodied sales and leadership coach. And so today, this topic is going to be kind of unique and personal, but I want to delve into it. And so, as a business coach and a life coach, I've guided many incredible women through various challenges. But today, like I said, I want to take you on a journey into my past, a time when I was seeking something more. And that something led me into the world of the occult.
Leslie:
Now, my first exposure to the occult was when I was in 7th grade. I had transferred to a Catholic school from the public school system, and I felt like a complete outcast. I had no friends. I couldn't make friends there. I was bullied. It was really a tough year for me. And 7th grade, you're what? Twelve years old? So I was also starting puberty and all the awkwardness that comes along with that, and it was just miserable for me. And I remember that while I felt like I had no friends, a young lady by the name of Jennifer befriended me.
Leslie:
And she was a very how can I say it? She's kind of like Wednesday Adams. I think that's the best way for me to put it. But her family was into the occult, and she started introducing me to spellwork. And because a lot of it was a lot of the girls who were really mean to me, who treated me like an outcast, I felt powerless. And she introduced spells to me as a way to take some power back, right? To reclaim some authority in my little 7th year, 7th grade life, right? And that was my first exposure to it. And what was funny about it was for those of you who know, you know, I'm a Christian. What was funny about it though, at that time, I was not. And so I was a kid and I was just open to things.
Leslie:
But the Lord intervened even then. And the librarian called my mom up to school and told her that the Lord had revealed to her that I was playing around with dark magic. And so for those of you who don't believe in the spiritual realm, you might think, well, this is crazy. Maybe you don't believe in demons and imps and darkness, and maybe you don't believe in God and angels either. But I'm telling you, I was dabbling in some dark stuff. It was revealed to a Christian woman who brought it to my mom, and that intervened and stopped that. But it didn't stop my pursuit for power. And so when I got into high school so my mother actually took me out of that school because I was already having a bad year.
Leslie:
It was the worst year I ever had, academically, behaviorally, and then when you added the occult stuff on it and I'm just keeping this short so that I don't go into all the details, but it was strange shit that was starting to happen in our house because I was dabbling in dark arts, as the old Christian folks would say. My ass opened a portal, okay? I opened a portal. I'm laughing, but the shit ain't funny. And so we had to close that portal. And part of that was getting me out of that school. Well, fast forward to my sophomore year of high school. This time it's not brought on by being an outcast. I'm actually pretty popular in school now.
Leslie:
It was introduced to me through my grandmother. So I was at my granny's house and we were cleaning up. She had these basement stairs, so this long staircase that went into the basement, but above it was kind of like, I don't want to say a crawl space or attic space, but just a little storage space, if you will. And it was pretty dusty up there. And so she was like, Leslie, go up there and hand me that stuff down. Let's dust it, get all of that cleaned out. And so when I went up there, I pulled down and it was a Ouija board, okay? And I was like, what is this? And she was like, oh, it's a Ouija board. And I was like, what's that about? And she was like so she starts to explain to me what it is.
Leslie:
But the thing that she shared with me. Was she's like, yeah. This is how I knew your mom was pregnant with you. I was like, what? Because my mother got pregnant with me when she was 16, guys. So it wasn't like my mother was around there. She didn't run home skipping through the lily fields to tell my grandparents that she was pregnant. So she hid it for a while. But my grandmother said that the Ouija board told her that my mom was pregnant with her.
Leslie:
So again, that peaked that seed that had been planted in me in 7th grade. And my grandmother was like, you want to play it? You want to do it? I was like, sure, totally. And so she showed me how to use it and all the things. And then she bought me one for Christmas that year. And I'll never forget that. My brother and I were playing with it one night and it wasn't working for us. Like what happened with me and my grandmother and how it moved on its own and all of that. When I got my own, it didn't do that right? So me and my brother, we're just sitting there and we're like, oh my gosh, this is so stupid.
Leslie:
This is so stupid. And it was one evening, I was just like I was like, just go ahead and pull it out. We're going to try it closer to midnight. So long story short, we pull it out, nothing's happening. Like normal. We pushing it around ourselves. Ain't nothing happening. And as sure as I'm talking to you all the clock struck midnight.
Leslie:
We asked it a question and the planchet started to move on its own. It scared the crap out of us. It scared the crack up out of us. And we jumped up, we threw that damn board across the room and we were like, we are done with this. And next day, I told my mother. Long story short, she was super pissed at my grandmother that she had introduced me to that, especially knowing what had happened to me in 7th grade and all the things. So they got rid of it. But why am I telling you this story? You might be asking yourself that.
Leslie:
I'm so glad you asked for me. It was like looking back on it, I realized that this wasn't just curiosity. It was truly a quest for power. The allure of the unknown, the desire to control something beyond the tangible. It pulled me in. And little did I know it would be a journey fraught with negative experiences that I'm not going to go into in this podcast. But it took me a while to pull myself out of that. And what seemed thrilling at first, we knew with our hands on that plant shit, we felt a shift.
Leslie:
It was a dark undercurrent that left us feeling uneasy. And it became apparent that the power I sought wasn't coming from that board, but it was coming from something more sinister. The power I sought wasn't coming from those spells. It was coming from someplace very dark. It's easy to mistake external symbols for personal power, y'all? And the lesson I learned was profound. True power doesn't come from manipulating the supernatural. It comes from within. It's about understanding ourself, our strengths, and embracing vulnerability.
Leslie:
Now, before you all think I'm shitting on witches and just I'm hating on witches and all of the things I'm not, okay? Because I know Christians who try to do the same thing with their prayer, life and scripture, it's anything that you give your power to. Externally, you run the risk of getting full power, something that is temporary when I want to encourage you to look within. Because external for you might not be a Ouija board or it might not be reading the psalms every day and praying a certain prayer, but you'll start to look at for power in different realms in your career or your relationships. And anything that is contingent upon something not in you and not a true connection, you put yourself at risk for wasting your time. So let my experience be a reminder that true power lies in self awareness. It lies in harnessing our strengths and acknowledging our vulnerabilities. So this Halloween, I want you not to be seduced by external forces. Instead, let's celebrate the power that we hold within ourselves.
Leslie:
You, boss, are capable of incredible things. And when you tap into your authenticity, your resilience and your compassion, you can't lose. So I'd love to hear from you. What have you done to try to get power in your life? And how has that worked out? I will say this. If your spiritual practice comes from a place of wholeness devotion and loyalty, it's your choice to pick what that is. I'm talking to the person who's on the quest to fill themselves with something. So, like I said, whether you do that with witchy shit or if you do it with Christianity, it's going to fall flat because it's not authentic. It's not in alignment with your true strengths and power.
Leslie:
So take this wisdom and search your heart this week. All right, my love? Quick little episode just to encourage you to find your true power, a power that will last. And until next week, hope you had a great Halloween, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.