Jenna Monaco is an intuitive psychic and medium. She is a modern mystic, writer, and host of the Spark Intention podcast. Along with being certified as a stress coach, Jenna is also a meditation and mindfulness teacher.
“Our shadows are uncomfortable. If it’s uncomfortable, then it’s working. Once you really sit with that shadow, our emotions don’t have to be a threat. “
What is a "modern mystic?
Jenna: Long story short, a mystic combines science and spirituality in the quest for truth. We basically adapt traditional spiritual practices to today’s world to address modern problems such as stress, anxiety, adulting, and starting your own business.
How can we change the way we tend to look at the terms like "witch" and "mystic"?
Jenna: Part of that mystical element is questioning all of the terminology we use and really discerning what resonates or fits with us. As far as mystics and witches go, it’s all about educating yourself on the history of decolonizing practices. That’s where you start. From there you start to see that all of these “witchy” practices are really just self-care practices. Witches are also a signifier of the feminist.
How did you end up becoming a modern mystic?
Jenna: If somebody told me even a year ago that I’d be using the labels “psychic” or “mystic” for myself, I would have laughed in their face. There was a lot of deconditioning that had to happen upfront. The thing is, we can all be mediums. A lot of the time, we just disregard what we’re capable of channeling. For me, this is part of my anxiety journey. I started meditating and, as it happens with meditation, my intuition started coming through. Our psychic abilities are really just heightened senses. As you start getting attuned to yourself and using those heightened senses in the present moment, you start to receive more information. I just wanted to stop my panic attacks; but, then I realized that there was an emotional part of me that wanted to heal. I created emotional resilience by really sitting with the shadows and facing the thoughts that aren’t. Moving into ancestorship was really where my mediumship started to form. I ended up taking a mediumship class with Emily Greene. I worked one-on-one with people in that class, and it was amazing to see them heal right in front of my eyes. That’s why I added it to my work.
What gave you the courage to do ancestral work?
Jenna: I was the type of person who had to experience things and not just see things. After working with my shaman, I went to six different doctors, including a heart doctor, and there was no diagnosis of panic attacks. Modern meditation had failed me that way. And that’s what drove me to truly buy into meditation and everything else that followed. I do believe in epigenetics and that we carry ancestral trauma in our DNA. And I believe that we can heal that because our cells regenerate all the time and our thoughts inform our cells.
What advice would you give to someone who is going through this work right now and is struggling to keep going because they are being faced with their shadows?
Jenna: Our shadows are uncomfortable. If it’s uncomfortable, then it’s working. Once you really sit with that shadow, our emotions don’t have to be a threat. That’s what you learn when you face your shadow. Get support. There are a ton of mentors and groups out there. Even therapy is an option. But support is so vital, especially nowadays.
What ritual do you suggest for those who want to live a life of abundance and improve their wealth consciousness.
Jenna: When we dive into wealth and prosperity and abundance, it’s all tied back to your own self-worth and healing that self-worth. A practice that has been really important in healing my own self-worth is receiving: Anytime you receive something, sit in how uncomfortable that is and then you can finally get into the joy of receiving. It’s these little things that make a huge difference over time. Affirm every day: “I am worthy of receiving.” The movement, the motion, the effort, and the energy that you’re bringing out into that affirmation is critical to changing your body.
What were the most pressing limiting beliefs that you had that caused you to struggle to get to where you are today?
Jenna: “I’m not enough.” “I’m never enough.” “I’m worthless.” “I’m unlovable.” We have five emotional needs at any given moment: Feeling loved, feeling like you belong, feeling safe, feeling like you’re heard, and feeling like you’re seen. Any experience you have that does not fulfill one of those five needs is going to create a story—a neural pathway—inside your head of receiving or not receiving that need emotionally. I have so many stories from childhood, from experiences as simple as my mom not letting me join her at the grocery store. We have to give space for that inner child who had that story and rewrite it. That’s how we create new neural pathways. All that, coupled with my religious upbringing where I was taught to feel unworthy to receive, deepened that feeling of unworthiness. “I’m not enough.” “I’m never enough.” “I’m worthless.” “I’m unlovable.” We have five emotional needs at any given moment: Feeling loved, feeling like you belong, feeling safe, feeling like you’re heard, and feeling like you’re seen. Any experience you have that does not fulfill one of those five needs is going to create a story—a neural pathway—inside your head of receiving or not receiving that need emotionally. I have so many stories from childhood, from experiences as simple as my mom not letting me join her at the grocery store. We have to give space for that inner child who had that story and rewrite it. That’s how we create new neural pathways. All that, coupled with my religious upbringing where I was taught to feel unworthy to receive, deepened that feeling of unworthiness.
When did you have your personal breakthrough that you are enough?
Jenna: Last year, when I was working on my shadows, my whole focus during that 10-week session, that deep dive, was to heal my unworthiness. Coming through that, the realization that worth is a human concept really hit me. There are a lot of people who benefit from me feeling unworthy, because I keep myself small so that they continue to grow. Then I got mad, and my sacred rage really took hold and burned through the rest of those old stories that were man-made—fake. That’s where I changed, dramatically.
Which projects are you most excited about this year?
Jenna: I am writing a chapter in a book that I’m co-authoring and it dives deep into my story, a lot of which I didn’t share here. That will come out October-ish. I’m also working on a non-fiction that I can’t really talk about right now, but I’m really, really excited about it because it covers a lot of what we talked about here. I’m also working on an oracle deck. I love sending mail to my Patreon people and so I’m making the shift to sending more physical mail rather than digital mail. Start looking out for that around September.
Learn more about Jenna Monaco:
Her website: https://www.jennamonaco.com
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenna.monaco
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