Medium Curious: Spirit, Signs & Intuition Tips for Spiritual Seekers

What if the thing standing between you and divine light is your nervous system?

Trauma therapist Rachel Pfotenhauer has spent more than 25 years as a licensed professional counselor, and just as long as an intuitive channel. She didn’t start out in therapy. She started as a photographer documenting child labor and social injustice, which took her to Cambodia in the 1990s just as its borders opened. Survivors of the Khmer Rouge camps began sharing their stories with her, and they became her first clients. From there she worked with genocide trauma in Diné communities, then with children and teens, then in private practice. Her intuitive gifts opened after a psychic she found through a gas station brochure looked at her and said, “We’ve been trying to get you in here for six months.”

In this conversation, Rachel shares the near-death experience that changed everything. She left her body, traveled through a tunnel into a vast, soft-lit space, and felt completely unshackled. Her parents met her there. Her father told her to stop being dramatic because she wasn’t going anywhere. Her mother stroked her hair and told her to tell her body it was going to live. Rachel came back, and the back pain she had lived with for a year was gone the next morning. Recovery from the sepsis was another story: two years at the bottom of the nervous system ladder, in collapse.

Rachel now channels Earth, Sun, and the primordial divine feminine and masculine, and she brings that work into nervous system healing. She explains fight, flight, freeze, collapse, and fawn in plain language, and she makes a case that will stop a lot of listeners cold: much of what we call ambition, opportunity, and drive may actually be survival. Once the nervous system finds safety, she says, the body becomes a beacon of truth. Boundaries appear. Reactivity softens. And a quiet, physical sense of “I’m enough” moves in, the same feeling she met on the other side.

Sarah and Jane also talk with Rachel about the difference between grief and suffering, why so many sensitive and connected people feel exhausted right now, and what self-acceptance actually feels like in the body.

Key takeaways

Fawning is a survival strategy, not a personality trait. Putting everyone else’s needs first so you can feel safe can become as automatic as blinking, and noticing it is where change begins.

Healthy boundaries and less reactivity are among the clearest signs that the nervous system is moving out of survival.

Grief and suffering are not the same thing. Connecting with loved ones on the other side can help people set down the suffering while still allowing the grief to move.

It is worth asking whether a goal comes from real desire or from the need to feel safe. Some passions fade when survival drops away, and the ones that return feel more aligned.

Healing tends to oscillate. Feeling great, then feeling rough, then feeling great again is part of the process, not a sign of failure.

Confidence and acceptance can look alike from the outside, but acceptance is quieter and doesn’t need anyone’s approval.

Connecting with Earth can be as simple as putting your feet on the floor in the morning and saying hello.

Quotes

“The nervous system is the plug to the divine light.” (Rachel)

“It might look like confidence, but it’s acceptance.” (Rachel)

“When you get into safety, you’re a beacon of truth. Your body tells you the truth.” (Rachel)

“You have to tell your body it’s going to live.” (Rachel, sharing her mother’s words from the other side)

“I’m enough. Just as I am. Which is exactly what I felt on the other side.” (Rachel)

Links and resources

Rachel’s website: vast-earth.com (free Earth connection meditation, group nervous system sessions, and individual sessions)

NEW Session for nervous system healing coming up soon!

Session Dates
Friday Group – 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time (Zoom) November 20. 
December 4, 11, 18
Saturday Group – 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time (Zoom) November 21 and December 5, 12, 19

Rachel on Instagram: @vast_earth

The Words Beneath Our Feet, Rachel’s channeled book from Earth (available on Amazon)

Sun Raya, Rachel’s botanical perfume line: sunrayaperfumes.com

Follow Medium Curious on Instagram: @mediumcuriouspod
Medium Curious Website: MediumCurious

Jane’s Website: Jane Morgan Medium 

Sarah’s Website: Sarah Rathke

Jane and Sarah celebrate the season of the thinning veil with a Halloween special built around a new story from beloved returning writer Rebecca Barry,  a published author who was recently featured again in the New York Times.

Rebecca takes listeners through Halloween night in her village. She shadow-dances under the street lamps with her ten-year-old niece, wanders through a haunted house run by her friends from the coffee shop, and ends at an ancestor altar lit by candles, where she invites her mother and grandmothers to come sit at the table. In a tender second part, her cat writes her a letter describing everything she couldn’t see that night. Rebecca takes listeners through Halloween night in her village. She shadow-dances under the street lamps with her ten-year-old niece, wanders through a haunted house run by her friends from the coffee shop, and ends at an ancestor altar lit by candles, where she invites her mother and grandmothers to come sit at the table. In a tender second part, her cat writes her a letter describing everything she couldn’t see that night.

Afterward, Jane and Sarah talk about how our awareness might strengthen Spirit’s ability to reach us. They share stories of altar objects moving on a loved one’s birthday, and of a reading in which a spirit had Sarah speaking in a Canadian accent as evidence. 

Then they share a wonderful story by Valerie Fowler called “Spirits of Halloween” - the story of a young girl who learns how to manage all of the hard and unusual elements of Halloween with the power of intention.

The episode closes with a replay of part of Jane’s first solo episode, a deep dive into Day of the Dead and how to build your own altar for the loved ones you miss.

Key takeaways

Your loved ones in spirit are not only reachable on Halloween. Seasons like this one give us a shared moment to pay attention.

An altar is a focused invitation. Photos, flowers, and their favorite drinks tell your people “this is for you.”

The more we notice spirit, the more room we may be giving them to show up. The relationship can feel collaborative.

Evidence can be playful. Humor, mannerisms, and old inside jokes are often how spirit proves it’s really them.

Grief and joy can share the same night. Celebrating life is one way of honoring the dead.

Sometimes the sign you’re longing for is already inside you, in your stories, your habits, and the way you see the world.

Quotes

“What if everything in the universe thinks everything else is lucky?” (Rebecca Barry)

“You don’t need a visitation because I’m in you.” (Rebecca Barry, from the cat’s letter)

“The monsters really are your friends.” (Rebecca’s niece)

“My mom said if the spirit comes around and you don’t want them, just say no and they flicker out” - Valerie Fowler

“The more that we can sense spirit, we kind of empower them to do more.” (Sarah)

“Your loved ones love you. We love you.” (Jane)

Links and resources

Rebecca Barry: https://rebeccabarry.substack.com/

Perdita Finn; Substack article

Valerie Fowler on Facebook

Medium Curious Collective: join at any tier to attend live spirit demonstrations on November 1 with Jane and Sarah

Clair Club

Help us reach 100 ratings on Apple Podcasts. Rate, comment, and share this episode with a friend: 

Medium Curious Website: MediumCurious

Jane’s Website: Jane Morgan Medium 

Sarah’s Website: Sarah Rathke

Podcast Instagram: MediumCuriousPod (@mediumcuriouspod)

In 2008, neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander fell into a week-long coma from a rare and severe case of E. coli bacterial meningitis. His doctors gave him almost no chance of survival. What he experienced during that week changed everything he believed as a scientist, and became the bestselling book Proof of Heaven.

In this conversation, Sarah and Jane sit down with Eben to talk about what his near-death experience revealed about consciousness, love, and the nature of the soul. He describes the brain as a transceiver rather than the source of the mind, and shares why he believes life reviews, shared death experiences, and children’s past life memories all point to the same truth: we are never truly separate from each other or from the divine.

Eben walks through his journey in vivid detail, from the murky “earthworm’s eye view” to the Gateway Valley, where he rode on a butterfly wing beside a mysterious young woman with sparkling blue eyes, and finally to the Core, a place of pure oneness. He explains how music became his way of moving between realms, which sparks a lovely exchange with Sarah about the connection between musical flow and mediumship.

He also shares the moment that brought him back: his ten-year-old son pleading at his bedside. And he tells the story of discovering, months later, who his spiritual guide really was. It’s a tender, goosebump-filled ending that brings the whole conversation right back to mediumship.

Along the way, Eben talks about his daily meditation practice with sound, the idea of doing a “daily review” instead of waiting for the life review, and why he believes humanity is moving toward a more compassionate future.

Key takeaways

You don’t have to wait for a life review to make amends. A daily review, reflecting on your interactions and sending love from your higher self to theirs, is a practice anyone can start tonight.

The voice chattering in your head isn’t your soul. Learning to quiet the ego mind is what opens space for deeper connection and intuition.

Those who have passed often come to welcome loved ones over. The welcoming presence of a departed loved one is one of the most commonly reported elements of near-death experiences.

Difficult people may be some of our most devoted teachers. Seen from a soul perspective, the hardest relationships can carry the biggest lessons.

Music and mediumship share a doorway. The same open, flowing state a musician enters can help anyone thin the veil.

Spirit guides aren’t always who we expect. Sometimes the unexpected presence carries the message we most need to receive.

Connection doesn’t require special gifts. Meditation, prayer, and sound can help anyone begin cultivating their relationship with the unseen.

Direct quotes 

“Why save it for your life review?” 

“The voice in your head is not your soul or your consciousness.” 

“Nobody ever dies alone. The loved ones are there.” 

“Treat others as you would like to be treated is written into the very fabric of the universe.” 

“I think memory is most naturally encoded in frequency and vibration.” 

“You are deeply loved and cherished forever. You have nothing to fear.” 

Links and resources

Dr. Eben Alexander: ebenalexander.com

Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander

Living in a Mindful Universe by Eben Alexander and Karen Newell

Sacred Acoustics (free 20-minute OM recording): sacredacoustics.com

Shared Crossing Project, founded by William Peters: sharedcrossing.com

Windbridge Research Center (medium research with Dr. Julie Beischel): windbridge.org

University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies (Dr. Bruce Greyson’s NDE research and the children’s past life memory studies)

Life After Life by Dr. Raymond Moody

Glimpses of Eternity by Dr. Raymond Moody and Paul Perry

The Boy Who Knew Too Much by Cathy Byrd

Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani

To Heaven and Back by Dr. Mary C. Neal

If you or someone you love is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available by call or text at 988 (US).

Medium Curious website: mediumcurious.com 

Jane's website: janemorganmedium.com

Sarah's website: sarahrathke.com

Instagram: @mediumcuriouspod

YouTube: @mediumcurious

Content note: this episode discusses the loss of a partner to suicide.

Jennifer France never set out to write a book. In the year after her partner Ann Marie died by suicide in 2019, Jenn was isolated, shut out by Ann Marie’s friends, and unable to lean on her family. So she started writing to Ann Marie every day. Those journals became Faith, Hope and Love, a record of her first year of grief told through journal entries, photographs, and transcripts of readings with three psychic mediums.

Jenn tells Sarah and Jane about the signs that started arriving within days of Ann Marie’s death. A small purse she’d been told to leave behind turned up hanging in a shop window hours later. A vivid dream visit brought an odd phrase that her hairdresser repeated word for word the next day. Through all of it, Jenn began to notice a pattern: whatever she wrote in her journal seemed to get an answer within a day or two.

They also talk about Jenn going to her first medium as a guarded skeptic and leaving a believer. She describes how three very different mediums delivered the same information in their own styles, and how music became one of Ann Marie’s favorite ways to say she was still there. Jenn explains why she was never angry with Ann Marie. Eight years on, she feels like herself again, only bigger. And yes, Ann Marie may have had a hand in bringing Jenn her new partner, Shannon.

It’s a tender, honest conversation about surviving the unsurvivable and the love that keeps going.

Key takeaways

Writing directly to a loved one in spirit can become a two-way conversation. Many people find that answers show up in the days after they put a question on paper.

Dream visits often feel different from ordinary dreams: vivid, linear, and remembered in full detail. Writing them down right away lets you recognize confirmations when they arrive.

Going to a reading as a skeptic is fine. Holding back reactions and letting the medium bring specific details only you and your loved one would know can make the experience more meaningful.

Different mediums can bring through the same message in very different styles. Each reader’s personality shapes how spirit comes through.

Grief doesn’t follow a straight line. Healing often comes in small steps forward and back, and tears can return years later.

Choosing compassion over anger after a suicide loss is a personal path, not a requirement. For some people it opens the door to peace and continued connection.

There is no single right way to grieve. The support that helps one person may not fit another, and finding what fits is part of the process.

Quotes

“I really do believe that journaling opens up some type of door.” (Jenn)

“I went in as a skeptic. But I came out a believer, a total believer.” (Jenn)

“The other realm is not that far away.” (Jenn)

“Grief has kind of a big faucet. It really doesn’t ever turn off.” (Jane)

“We come here to grow and expand our consciousness.” (Jenn)

“It’s a whole body feeling. You just know it.” (Jenn)

Links and resources

Faith, Hope and Love by Jennifer France

Jennifer France https://jennfrancewrites.com/

Life With Ghosts documentary 

Induced After-Death Communication (IADC)

Life After Suicide: Finding Courage, Comfort and Community After Unthinkable Loss by Dr. Jennifer Ashton

If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US)

Medium Curious website: mediumcurious.com

Jane's website: janemorganmedium.com

Sarah's website: sarahrathke.com

Instagram: @mediumcuriouspod

YouTube: @mediumcurious

Rachel Stewart is back, almost exactly a year after her first visit, and this time the reunion started in person. Jane ran into her at the IANDS conference, a meeting Rachel almost skipped until two different podcast hosts, hours apart, told her it was happening in her backyard. That kind of nudge sets the tone for the whole conversation.

Since we last spoke, Rachel and her husband Shane have launched the 411 Together community, built around what they learned while finding their way back to their daughter Kennedy, who passed in 2018 at age ten. Rachel shares how it took her over a thousand days to accept a connection she now lives with daily, why she believes the little moments matter more than the big signs, and how Kennedy keeps showing up, including at her little sister's softball game in a very specific way. She also tells the story of a broken boat, a bee that wouldn't leave her window, a bank sign reading 4.11 percent, and the Jeep that convinced Shane to walk away from commercial fishing. Along the way: a manifesting practice that finally clicked for her, the case for raising kids who don't have to unlearn their connection to the other side, and why a "man's man" crying on camera about his daughter may be one of the most important things they share.

Key takeaways

Grief and connection can coexist. Continuing a relationship with someone in spirit doesn't erase the loss, it gives the loss somewhere to go.

You don't need a perfect meditation practice to stay connected. Small, everyday moments of openness, like talking to a loved one on a drive, build the relationship over time.

A sign is often about timing, not the object. A feather is just a feather until it arrives at exactly the right moment.

Hearing other people's stories lowers our guard. Many people connect faster once they see that it's real for others too.

Kids who grow up with this as normal don't have to break a whole worldview to believe it, and adults can help by treating their experiences as real.

Acting as if something has already happened can shift how you show up while you wait for it.

Fear is part of the leap. Most people following their guidance don't know where it leads; they go anyway.

When men talk openly about grief and connection, it gives others permission to do the same.

Quotes

"I want every single person to know that they can continue the relationship if they want to. It's allowed, it's beautiful, it's natural." Rachel Stewart

"It was her light that was missing. And I just didn't know I was allowed to let it back in." Rachel Stewart

"You don't have to be doing those things to be connected to your loved one, because life is busy." Rachel Stewart

"Sure, you could say that's just a feather, but it's the timing of everything." Rachel Stewart

"There's fear in the unknown, but we do it anyways." Rachel Stewart

"I do not feel alone, even if I'm standing in a very lonely spot." Jane Morgan

"People need to be able to see these practices in motion." Sarah

Links and resources

Rachel's first Medium Curious episode 

411 Together community: https://for11together.com/

Rachel and Shane on Instagram: @for11_together

Rachel and Shane YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@For11_together

IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies): iands.org

Medium Curious website: mediumcurious.com

Jane's website: janemorganmedium.com

Sarah's website: sarahrathke.com

Instagram: @mediumcuriouspod

YouTube: @mediumcurious