Photo by Tanja Lupari
You mentioned you’re a medicine woman, but I’ve also heard people talk about you as a energy healer. How do you relate to these titles?I got this ‘title’, Medicine Woman, many years ago from my Spirit Guides and that’s why I’ve never seen myself as an intuitive energy healer, which means that the name doesn’t resonate with my soul’s energy. But yes, working as a Medicine Woman is who I really am and who I’ve always been. Before there were a lot of fears and shame towards this title and towards who I really am – but not anymore. Now I feel so blessed and very grateful to be able to do the work that I love.You also talk a lot about following your soul guidance. Can you tell us more about that?Following my soul guidance for me means that I listen to my heart, my feelings, my intuition and act upon them even though it would be scary and even if it wouldn’t please others. For me, it’s about being true to myself and loyal to the things I feel are important to me. And surely this does not please everyone, but following my soul guidance for me is most of all about integrity and boundaries. Loving myself enough to follow my own truth, follow what I feel is the right direction for me. When I listen to my guidance and go to the direction it points out, everything else follows. It’s acting upon love, not upon fear. And by love I mean honesty, and the integrity to tell how I feel. Not this ultra spiritual “it’s all love but let’s hide all the emotions” -notion, which seems to be so popular nowadays.
Photo by Tanja Lupari
Can you tell us about a time you were guided by your soul?
Well, there are many, but one very significant time was when I decided to stay in this place where I’ve now been living for the past 16 years. I had just divorced my husband then, received information that I could finally get the horse I really love, and only a few weeks from that I found out that I don’t have a job anymore because of my agency’s bankruptcy. Logically, it definitely would have been a good idea to move and my mind told me to move somewhere more “cheap and convenient” and that “it’d be totally insane to stay here”, but I just had this very strong feeling that I wasn’t not supposed to leave. Luckily I followed my soul guidance and didn’t act upon my fears and that’s how this Healing Ranch got started and how I got the horses here to live with me.
What is your biggest lesson in life or at the moment? How do you work with your lessons?At the moment my lesson is absolutely to become more and more visible in every way and more loving towards myself. I’ve been very merciless earlier to myself: I’ve felt that I don’t have the right to express how I feel or say out loud if something bothered me. Now I have to be very alert that I don’t diminish myself any longer and that I take care of myself. I also respect my values and my feelings and set healthy boundaries, which is to express clearly what I want and don’t want and be clear about what kind of energy and behavior nourishes me and what doesn’t. I very much work through writing and through inner-journeying, that’s how I get a lot of insight. It’s kind of a trance state where I get information from my soul, Spirit Guides and from my Cosmic Companions and the Angelic Kingdom. I also go and spend time with the horses and trust their wisdom. I’m learning to ask for help, that’s also a big lesson for me because I’ve always used to take care of my own stuff. “I don’t want to bother people” has been my guide line for a long time. But of course the balance is important, to give and to receive. So if I feel I’m stuck with a lesson and feel that it would be a perfect time to ask help from someone, then I just follow my guidance and act upon it.I have to tell our readers that while we were having this interview, I had the privilege to witness your skills as a horse whisperer. A horse had gotten scared of something and run away from its rider at a ranch nearby, and you managed to calm down and capture the horse with the help of your own horses. It was a beautiful thing to see. Can you tell us more about your relationship with horses?Horses are my biggest teachers. They are great souls who are here to help us humans grow and to raise our vibration and move from our minds to our hearts. This means speaking less and listening more; doing less, and being present more. Horses can help us open up our sensitivity if we are ready and humble enough to truly listen and receive their help and guidance. There is this old-fashioned thinking that we humans teach them, but the learning can be mutual. Horses are our mirrors and oftentimes it can be painful to look at that mirror and see our true reflections, so we make up excuses and say that the horse is dangerous and wants to be difficult on purpose. I don’t believe that any animal is dangerous in its core, there’s a big difference between being dangerous and acting dangerous. I’m always interested in finding the root to an animal’s behaviour, I want to know why is it defending itself from a human, why is there so much mistrust etc. With horses, this is often caused by the human who has acted out on fear, or has no clue how to approach a horse and tries to ‘teach the horse manners’ by being violent towards it, or by unintentionally triggering an aggressive behaviour. My soul’s mission is then to help horses and other animals be heard by humans, so that humans see the warning signs before making hasty assumptions. To help them move from listening to just their mind to their heart. Of course it’s always easier to blame the animal and much harder to look inside, admit the fear and ask: “What did I miss? Was I really listening? Was I really present?”. Without that humble attitude the vicious circle is ready.
What is the best part about your way of life? Would you like to change something? What is important for you in life and what do you enjoy?The best part is definitely freedom and doing what I truly love, which is living with these beautiful dogs and horses. The fact that I can see the horses from my window every day and be in connection with them is a huge blessing. I’d like for the horses could have even more space to wander around. They do have very good circumstances now, but of course I’d enjoy it if they could have even more freedom to move. And different grounds as well – fields, forests, valleys, hills… Maybe also a lake so they could swim if they want. My man Mikael is also very important to me, I truly love him and love to be with him, he’s supportive and kind and has wisdom of the heart. And he’s a wonderful person to have genuine conversations with. For me, love, freedom, joy, health, and authenticity are important pillars in life, that is the nurturing soil to build on. I also enjoy being in nature a lot, I enjoy good movies and travelling to new places, and life’s little luxuries such as good food and cakes.
Trust your soul guidance – it’s worth it!
You can find out more about Nona and Villa Larimar at www.horselistener.eu. All other photos by Nona Maaria.