Spirit School

Spiritual Gatekeeping: Boundaries, Scarcity and Red Flags

In this episode, we unpack a powerful listener question: Can students also become gatekeepers in spiritual spaces?

From mentorship secrets to withheld resources, we explore where "healthy boundaries" end—and where scarcity, secrecy, or ego may begin.

This isn't a call-out episode—it's an invitation to look deeper at how we share, protect, and pass on spiritual knowledge. We talk transparency, reciprocity, cultural protection, and why some teachings are guarded for good reason.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Gatekeeping vs. Boundaries: How to tell whether someone is protecting themselves—or protecting exclusivity.
• Scarcity and Insecurity: The hidden fears behind withholding teachers, tools, or lineage.
• Reciprocity in Community: When sharing is medicine—and when it must come with respect and responsibility.
• Cultural Protection: Why some teachings must be guarded to preserve tradition and fight colonization.
• Business Spaces: What happens when entrepreneurs gatekeep strategy?
• Personal Accountability: What to do when someone else's secrecy triggers something in us.

If this conversation stirred something in you, please share your thoughts on Instagram or leave a comment where you’re listening—your experiences help shape future episodes.

Exploring AI in Business & Spirituality

This episode explores how technology is reshaping creativity, business, and spirituality. From first reactions of resistance to embracing AI as a practical tool, Danielle S. and Danielle B. reflect on its opportunities and risks, test it in spiritual contexts, and ask what it means for connection, empathy, and the future of work.

 

Key moments:

• What our very first reactions to AI were—and how our views shifted

• Why “more content” doesn’t always mean deeper connection

• The surprisingly practical ways we actually use AI every day

• Where AI still gets it wrong (and why you need to double-check it)

• Can technology really ease loneliness—or just pretend to?

• What happened when we asked AI to read tarot and astrology charts

• Why mediumship and human connection will always stand apart from machines

• How AI-generated podcasts are changing the landscape right now

• Our hopes (and worries) for AI’s future in creative and spiritual spaces

Unpacking Weaponized Spirituality

When does spiritual teaching cross into control? Danielle S. and Danielle B. explore “weaponizing spirituality”—the moment channelled messages or confident truth claims become decrees that override your agency. They unpack pandemic-era examples, business-space tactics (such as blind offers, urgency, and the “you’re not ready” approach), and gatekeeping in training. You’ll hear how humility, transparency, and psychological safety create healthier containers for learning, plus quick cues to spot red flags and practices to restore balance—like shared authority, longer decision windows, and clear expectations. If absolutist language, guru-centering, or pressure to buy now make your nervous system spike, this episode offers a grounded reset and questions to bring your power back online.

 

Highlights:

• Defining weaponized spirituality and its impact on personal agency.
• Business tactics: blind offers, urgency marketing, and inflated payment plans.
• Gatekeeping in training with labels like “untrained” or “unqualified.”
• Mediumship as an interpretive art with room for error and growth.
• Humility as the antidote to absolutism in spiritual teaching.
• Psychological safety built through clarity, transparency, and time.
• Restoring balance with shared authority, alumni access, and peer learning.
• Red flags: absolutist language, guru-centering, urgency, and pressure.
• Self-check prompts to notice when you may be giving away power.

The Art of Boundaries: Navigating Friendship and Business

Danielle S. and Danielle B. pick up their conversation about ethics, boundaries and the evolution of their client → collaborator → friend relationship. They trace the arc from a first evidential reading to working together for the past five and a half years — interspersed with stories about grief, postpartum, entrepreneurship burnout, spiritual tools, and how to keep a working friendship healthy.

 

Highlights:

• The first reading: Danielle B. remembers coming for grief support after her father’s death — and getting future details that have since come true.
• Evidence first: Danielle S. explains why she always brings through verifiable mediumship details before offering psychic predictions.
• Teaching empowerment: how Danielle S.’s mentorship changed Danielle B.’s relationship to spirit work and gave her permission to trust her own intuition.
• Pendulum experiment: a revealing anecdote about discovering tools, the doubting mind, and how the two Danielles use quick yes/no messages to validate readings for each other.
• Boundaries in practice: concrete examples of how they negotiate work rhythm.
• Containment vs. bleeding: a key phrase — containment — used to describe emotional maturity in their working friendship, and how it helped when postpartum or business overwhelm showed up.
• When closeness changes readings, both note how intimacy can shift mediumship, and why friends sometimes become less likely subjects for readings.
• Why they stay: treating each other like professional clients created space, clarity and longevity.

 

This conversation is weekly—leave a comment, tag and share on social, and send in your questions for future episodes.

Serving with Integrity in the Spiritual Space

In this episode, Danielle returns to Spirit School after a season of filming and welcomes a new co-host. Together, they explore what it means to serve with integrity across spiritual work, business, and everyday life, offering real stories, practical reflections, and invitations for your own practice.

 • Meet the co-host: how Danielle and Danielle Baker first connected, and why shared values and accountability matter on the mic
 • Integrity in the spiritual space: boundaries in client care, energetic capacity, and separating mentoring from mediumship
 • People pleasing, energy sickness, and prioritizing health to sustain spiritual service
 • Consent and need: why gift certificates can misfire, and how readiness can shape better readings
 • Bypassing versus responsibility: intention as the compass, and owning choices and consequences
 • Parenting and business parallels: transparency, self-responsibility, and modelling integrity in everyday roles
 • Cultural teachings and spiritual maturity: decolonized transparency, lateral kindness, and accountability when repair is possible 

Listeners' reflection: how do you recognize when you're in integrity, and what helps you course correct?

Surrounded by Creatives: How Emotional Support Became Medicine

This episode of Spirit School is a little different. It is raw, unedited, and straight from my heart. After a summer of filming, I have been reflecting on the surprising ways my nervous system has healed and how being surrounded by a team of supportive, passionate creatives became medicine for my spirit.

I share:
• How clairsentience and nervous system sensitivity show up in mediumship
• The hidden costs of spiritual work on our energy and health
• Why holding space for others can tax us more than we realize
• The radical shift I felt from letting go of control and scaling back my business
• How being with a crew of artists, storytellers, and creatives repaired my nervous system in ways I never expected
• A powerful “before and after” moment that changed how I see love, support, and belonging

Whether you are a medium, healer, or simply someone navigating burnout, my hope is that these reflections give you both comfort and inspiration. Sometimes healing does not come from solitude. It comes from being seen, supported, and surrounded by others who bring out the best in us.

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✨ Mentions in this episode

https://www.daniellesearancke.com/ 
• Spirit School Collective (membership community)
• The Declaration program on ethics and integrity (coming this September)
• Asha Frost workshop at Spirit School for the Equinox
• Sacred Spirit Retreat in June 2026

Returning to the Sacred with Asha Frost: Simplicity, Burnout, and the Call to Ceremony

In this heartfelt and nourishing conversation, Danielle welcomes back Indigenous healer and bestselling author Asha Frost to explore what it means to simplify—not just our lives, but our spiritual paths. Together, they reflect on burnout, ancestral responsibility, reclaiming joy, and how ceremony becomes a lifeline when the world feels heavy.

They also share behind-the-scenes insight into their upcoming Enchanted Equinox Weekend Retreat, happening September 20–22 in Squamish, BC—a powerful gathering to reconnect with your inner spirit, the land, and the divine.

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Join Us In-Person This Fall
Enchanted Equinox Weekend Retreat
September 20–22, 2025
Spirit School, Squamish, BC
A sacred weekend of ceremony, channeling, healing, and reconnection.

Register here:
https://www.daniellesearancke.com/enchanted-equinox-weekend-retreat

Save $150 with code: SPIRIT150
Limited to 20 guests

The Raw Truth About Change, Fear, Courage, and Becoming Who You’re Meant to Be

In this deeply personal episode of Spirit School, I share what it’s really like to walk through massive life change while staying spiritually grounded. This is the messy, tender, transformative part of the journey we don’t often talk about.

I reflect on the signs Spirit gives us before change arrives, the discomfort that often pushes us forward, and what it feels like to be in the void - the space between who we were and who we’re becoming. I also share stories I’ve never told before about stage fright, quitting my job, self-sabotage, and finally choosing courage over comfort.

This episode includes a soft update on a life-changing experience I’m currently navigating. I’ll be sharing more when the time is right, but for now, I hope this conversation helps you feel less alone in your own season of transition.

If you’ve been struggling to stay centered while everything shifts, this one is for you.

In this episode, I talk about:

• The early signs of change (and why we often resist them)
• What the void really is and how to move through it
• My personal relationship with fear, visibility, and self-sabotage
• The importance of spiritual tools that actually work when you’re overwhelmed
• Why it’s okay to take up space even when it feels unfamiliar
• A soft announcement about what’s unfolding this summer

Want to follow this journey in real time?

Come join me inside the Spirit School Collective with our new limited-time Seasonal Pass.
You’ll receive exclusive weekly updates, behind-the-scenes reflections, group readings, and live teachings that support you during times of big spiritual and personal growth.

If this episode resonated with you, I’d love if you left a review or shared it with someone else walking through change. We grow stronger when we walk together.

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should: Mediumship, Capacity & Ethical Service

In this episode of Spirit School, I’m answering a beautiful question from listener Jackie, who asked how I sustain my energy as a medium -especially as a working mom starting her own animal communication business.

I share the real behind-the-scenes of what it’s looked like to serve Spirit for 12+ years while raising a family, navigating burnout, recovering from an audit, and building a business rooted in ethics and capacity - not just hustle.

You’ll hear me reflect on:

• The difference between what I can do and what I should do

• My energetic boundaries and why I rarely book more than 4–6 readings a week

• How I use my calendar as a psychic tool to know when I should and shouldn’t work

• The role of compassion fatigue and spiritual integrity in my decisions

• How I’ve diversified my work beyond readings to honour my own sustainability

If you’ve ever asked yourself “How much can I really hold?”—this one’s for you.

A Spirit Message for the Courageous - What If You Said Yes Next Time?

After a healing break following surgery, I'm back at the mic sharing a heartfelt Spirit Message inspired by a listener's question: How did you get started in your work as a medium? In this episode, I walk you through my earliest days of development, the unexpected (and terrifying) moment I said yes to doing paid readings, and the powerful lessons Spirit has shared with me along the way.

We explore what it means to answer the call of your own spirit—even when you're not sure you're ready. And we look at the quiet courage it takes to say “yes” to opportunities that stretch and grow us.

This is a real talk episode, recorded in the sunshine with my dog Luna nearby, and I’m sharing it raw and unedited—just like life. I hope it brings light to your path and reminds you that the next time inspiration whispers... you get to say yes.

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In This Episode, I Share:

• My journey from spiritual development to serving as a professional medium

• The surprising moment I stepped into public service (for $20!)

• How personal growth is deeply tied to spiritual connection

• A humbling failure that taught me to teach through storytelling

• Why we often fear being witnessed in our failures

• A Spirit Message about saying yes to yourself and your callings

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Mentioned in This Episode:

• Spirit School Free Community: https://www.daniellesearancke.com/spiritschoolcollective 

• My dog Luna, who makes her podcast debut with background sniffles 🐾

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Join the Spirit School Community!
Connect with like-hearted souls off social media inside our free Spirit School Mighty Network. It’s our cozy online home for sharing stories, spirit messages, and inspiration. https://www.daniellesearancke.com/spiritschoolcollective