Light bouncing everywhere.

[AUDIO] She Loves Herself podcast.

Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and instantly feeling like you’ve known them forever and could talk for hours?

That’s how I felt the first time I met Jill Ritchie.

As soon as the Zoom room opened and I saw her face, I thought, ‘I know you.’

Then she started speaking and I realized she was a fellow Scot doing big things and bravely creating her place in the world, and I literally started cheering.

It reminded me of that feeling when you visit a far away country, and everything is new and strange. And then, quite unexpectedly, you meet someone with the same accent as you, who grew up in the same town as you, and suddenly, you feel at home.

Socrates used the word agape to describe spiritual, Universal love - a profound love and respect for all.

Agape is what’s happening when we meet another, a stranger, and immediately feel that they are kin: In sync, in touch, and speaking the same soul language.

That feeling of familiarity happens when you see the best of yourself reflected in the other person, and they see the best of themselves reflected in you. A tender spot in the Universe takes a moment to gaze upon itself, and what follows is a prismatic reflection and refraction, like placing two multi-faceted mirrors opposite each other, light bouncing everywhere.

Come to think of it, that’s what mediumship feels like too.

In this conversation, Jill and I discuss:

• What happens to our traumas and ‘negative’ life experiences when we die.

• How to experience actual gratitude (not fake gratitude).

• The role of fathers and fatherlessness in a woman’s / person’s search for their own power, autonomy and spirituality.

• The moments when God’s grace steps in and does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

• Why connecting with spirit - our own loved ones, or as a medium - requires the same discipline as any other goal.

• How to be with grief and the anticipation of grief.

While traversing the windswept outposts of death, grief, consciousness, hard-won autonomy, radical personal growth, and the vastness of eternity, it was so rejuvenating to cross paths with a kindred soul, and a familiar accent.

Listen to the episode now.

Now, I’d love to hear from you. Full access subscribers can comment and ask questions.

Who or what in your life makes you experience agape - Universal love?