The Journey On Podcast with Warwick Schiller

Episode: Rachel Pfotenhauer
Date: December 19, 2025

Episode Overview

In this transformative episode, Warwick Schiller sits down with Rachel Pfotenhauer: licensed professional counselor, energy healer, channel for Earth and Sun, and former documentary photographer. Together, they explore the intersections of trauma, healing, embodiment, and the wisdom of the natural world—and how following synchronicities and embracing unconventional paths can lead to profound personal transformation. Rachel’s compelling journey from a strictly religious upbringing through war zones and shamanic experiences to deep Earth-channeling work offers listeners a rich tapestry of stories, insights, and practical wisdom.

Key Themes & Insights

1. Identity, Trauma, and Embodiment

• Rachel’s Core Work
  Rachel combines counseling, energy healing, and “channeling Earth and Sun” to help people find coherence in their bodies, release density/trauma, and reconnect with their deeper selves.
  • She works both individually and in groups, using somatic and energetic practices.
  • Her approach helps unravel not just trauma, but also engrained societal conditioning.

“It’s called identity shifting... I was born with the DNA of thousands of years of oppression and we're born into what’s called the good girl trap…”
—Rachel Pfotenhauer (05:18)

• Unraveling Cultural Conditioning
  Warwick and Rachel discuss how much of what needs to be healed is simply “the way the world says you’re supposed to do things”—not always classic trauma, but also the unconscious, inherited behaviors that keep people out of true connection and embodiment.

2. Channeling Earth & Sun: Healing Through Connection

• What She Sees and Hears
  Rachel describes being clairaudient (hearing voices), and being able to see auras and energy from a young age.
  • As a child she didn’t realize others couldn’t see energy, mistaking mystical experiences for ordinary reality.
  • Her eventual acceptance and understanding of these abilities was gradual, supported by mentors and teachers on her path.

“I didn’t know that people couldn’t see energy everywhere.”
—Rachel Pfotenhauer (14:05)

• Healing Density
  Rachel’s practice involves releasing “density”—the psychic and somatic residue of fear and trauma—through connection to the Earth and Sun.

“When we bring in Earth’s energy...it releases density, and density is stuck fear and trauma in the physical energetic bodies and in the soul.”
—Rachel Pfotenhauer (35:23)

• Comparing Traditional Approaches
  She contrasts Earth medicine (soul-first healing) with Western (body) and Eastern (energetic system) medicine, advocating for working on trauma first through the soul:
  • “Earth medicine looks at your soul first. Because what Earth informs me is that the soul can carry our trauma from lifetimes.” (38:14)

3. Mystic Experiences & Synchronicity

• Rachel shares multiple stories of mystical encounters, guidance, and even a near-death experience, each integrating into her life’s purpose.

“There’s been many times when I’ve wanted to walk away from it because it’s challenging...as you go deeper you’re going into the shadowlands, beyond what might be considered normal or sanity.”
—Rachel Pfotenhauer (29:09)

• Near-Death Experience:
  • Her own brush with death during a severe infection in Mexico led to an even deeper sense of agency, new insights about healing, and a renewed relationship with her body and spirit (102:36–110:28).

4. Work with Indigenous Cultures and Trauma Survivors

• Rachel details time spent with the Navajo/Diné people as a counselor, learning from their ceremonies, humor, and trauma resilience.
• She underscores the complexity of working cross-culturally and the value of humility and openness to being corrected.

“Thank god there were two families that pulled me aside and said, ‘Can you come down and spend some time with us? We want you to do ceremony with us so you’ll understand us better.’”
—Rachel Pfotenhauer (97:52)

• She also describes her time documenting child labor in India and Cambodia, witnessing the aftermath of genocide and the resilience (and trauma) of those communities.

5. Bifurcation & The New Earth

• Rachel channels that humanity is currently in a “bifurcation,” an era of split energies requiring conscious connection to Earth and Sun for stability and harmony.
  • Those who consciously engage with these energies find embodied peace and resilience as global energies accelerate and intensify.
  • Indigenous perspectives echo and reinforce this relational, reciprocal worldview.

6. Books & Resources

• Rachel recommends two powerful books:
  • Her own channeled work:
    The Words Beneath Our Feet (soon available on Kindle and paperback)
    “It talks about everything we’ve talked about here...how to be in connection with Earth... It gives meditations, explains why cyber reality is not good for us, how you benefit... talks about how to talk to children, covers a number of things...” (112:17)
  • Unbound by Kasia Urbaniak
    “It’s a book I highly recommend for women who have a hard time finding their voice and feeling the power behind it.” (113:59–114:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I have been blessed in that I have found excellent senseis, excellent teachers. Or, well, they found me...through either synchronicity...or through this embodiment of longing, of being pulled there.”
  —Rachel Pfotenhauer (29:09)

• “It’s felt very much like the universe put its finger on me.”
  —Rachel Pfotenhauer (30:54)

• “When you connect into Earth’s energy...it brings you clarity about priorities in your life. It brings you security...and community. I’ve never known anyone that’s connected deeply to Earth who feels alone.”
  —Rachel Pfotenhauer (32:47)

• “We need the energy of Earth and Sun to help us acclimate and elevate with the energy that is elevating now.”
  —Rachel Pfotenhauer (32:44)

• “I want the veil to drop for about five seconds for everyone so you could see the truth behind so much.”
  —Rachel Pfotenhauer (110:28)

• “You could connect to Earth in a prison cell. You don’t need to be outside. Anyone can connect to Earth.”
  —Rachel Pfotenhauer (41:36)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Segment | |:---------:|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:44 | Warwick introduces Rachel and her unique combination of clinical and spiritual work | | 03:47 | Rachel explains her approach: somatic therapy merging Earth/Sun energy | | 05:18 | Discussion of identity shifting and the "good girl trap" | | 09:00 | Rachel’s strict Lutheran upbringing, early mystical experiences, hiding her abilities | | 14:07 | What does “seeing energy” look like?—Rachel describes her childhood perception | | 23:07 | Karate as a martial and spiritual practice; how synchronicity guided her path | | 31:50 | Rachel’s understanding of her life’s true purpose | | 36:30 | Density, trauma, and the metaphor of ice-water-steam: becoming “lighter” | | 43:14 | Mystical ‘jump time’: channeling Earth, soul’s journey, and writing her book | | 51:38 | The concept of ‘bifurcation’—splitting energy, New Earth, implications for collective healing | | 59:51 | Transition to Rachel’s work as a photographer—documenting child labor, genocide | | 65:08 | Working as a therapist with the Diné (Navajo) people; integrating energy healing with Indigenous trauma | | 86:07 | Decompression and “re-entry” after witnessing trauma abroad | | 100:17 | On failure: losing all her savings and the transformation it precipitated | | 102:36 | Near-death experience in Mexico, the wisdom received from her parents “on the other side” | | 112:09 | Book recommendations | | 117:07 | How to find Rachel and her offerings |

How to Find Rachel & Her Offerings

• Website: vast-earth.com
  • Individual and group embodiment work, retreats, energy channeling
• Natural Perfumes & Serums: sunrayaperfumes.com
  • Botanical products intentionally imbued with Earth and Sun energies

Rachel’s Story: A Quick Journey

• Early Life: Raised in a family with 14 generations of Lutheran ministers; hid mystical experiences as a child.
• Martial Arts & Meditation: Karate, Buddhist chanting, and early energy experiences shaped her mystical development.
• Photojournalism: Documented child labor and genocide (India, Cambodia), which deeply influenced her transition to service and trauma healing.
• Therapy & Healing Work: Became a counselor, integrating somatic methods with channeling and energetic healing, especially for transgenerational trauma.
• Mystic, Channel, Healer: Now works as a channel for Earth and Sun, offering sessions, retreats, and empowering others to connect directly with healing energies.

Listener Takeaways

• Deep, reciprocal relationship with Earth is not just spiritual comfort; it’s a living, healing path toward embodiment, resilience, and coherence—especially essential in turbulent times.
• Healing is more than fixing trauma; it’s undoing layers of conditioning and density, returning to the “original state.”
• Synchronicities, mystical encounters, and even failures can be deep initiations, revealing new purposes and directions.
• The wisdom and practices of indigenous cultures and nature connection are not remote or exotic—they’re available to all who listen and open.

For full details, energetic stories, and Rachel’s beautiful perspective, listen to the episode directly.