Episode 145: Fire, Grief, and Becoming: Betti Rooted Lionheart on Shamanic Healing and Reclaiming Your Voice

In this episode, Zach Randles-Friedman talks with Betti Rooted Lionheart, a shamanic healer, minister in the Church of Earth Healing, and founder of Braided Root Waters Healing Sanctuary in New York.Betti shares how becoming aware of environmental destruction at just seven years old shaped a lifetime of grief, despair, and undiagnosed depression—and how everything came to a breaking point in 2015 after traumatic birth injury, a failed surgery, and the collapse of a long-held dream of building a sustainable, farm-based community. From that low point, poetry and spiritual exploration became lifelines.She explains shamanic journeying in accessible terms, including her first powerful encounter with Grandmother Moon, and how that experience led her to reclaim her voice, step into her purpose, and embrace her role as a fire priestess—a guide rooted in transformation, sacred fire, and community healing.The conversation also explores Betti’s later-in-life queerness journey, discovering her sexuality at 45, navigating divorce and co-parenting, and finding love and alignment after choosing herself. Betti introduces her Queer Despair & Resilience Circle, a monthly online space created to help LGBTQ+ people process grief, rage, and exhaustion in a world that increasingly targets their existence.The episode closes with reflections on death, reincarnation, past lives, and the continuity of the soul—offering listeners a grounded yet expansive look at healing, identity, and purpose.Learn more about Betti: sacraltransformations.comPlease complete our audience survey. It helps me learn more about you and what you like most about this show. I am always looking for ways to improve our content/podcast/show. http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=0qI0Tj7TBKvS&ver=standardFollow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre   Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.