S2E7. Shadow work, how to forgive yourself & stories from recovery

What if magic is real, just not in the way we’ve been taught to think about it?Here are 10 spells to completely reinvent yourself.Not spells for sitting at home waiting for the universe to deliver a different life. Spells for changing the person living it.In Episode 7 of 9 Lives, we’re exploring glamour magic, identity, ritual, manifestation, discipline, symbolism and psychology, and the strange overlap between ancient magical practices and what we now understand about the human brain.🕯️ Glamour and self-perception🧠 Identity and the stories we tell ourselves🪞 Ritual, symbolism and attention⚔️ Discipline and behaviour🌒 Letting old versions of yourself die✨ Becoming someone new on purposeBecause perhaps a spell is simply an intention given a body.You don’t need to believe that magic can break the laws of physics to understand that ritual, symbolism and intention can change the way you see yourself, the way you behave, and what you believe you’re capable of becoming.The clothes you wear. The rituals you repeat. The words you use about yourself. The environments you create. The promises you keep. The version of yourself you rehearse until one day you realise you’ve become her.Maybe we’ve been practising magic all along.Here are 10 spells. Let’s see what you can do with them. 🕯️If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to 9 Lives and send it to someone who could use a little magic in their life.Until next week,Cass 🖤

There are periods where your life hasn’t completely fallen apart, but it somehow stops feeling like yours. Your routine slips, you start avoiding things, your sleep goes to shit, you stop training, you eat differently, you scroll too much, old habits start creeping back in and before you know it, the gap between the version of you that you know exists and the version of you that you’re currently living as feels enormous.In this episode, I’m sharing 10 life-changing rules for getting your life back when you feel helpless, stuck or like you’ve lost control of yourself a little. Not a dramatic reinvention, not a punishment, not a brand new personality by Monday morning, but the actual things that help you start moving again when you feel like you’ve gone backwards.We talk about shame, relapse, all-or-nothing thinking, old coping mechanisms, discipline, self-compassion, routines, identity and why one bad day so easily becomes a bad week, or a bad month, if you let the story around it get bigger than the thing itself.Because I don’t think progress is becoming someone who never slips backwards. I think it’s learning how to recognise what’s happening sooner, interrupt it earlier, and become very good at finding your way back to yourself. Until next week, Cass 🖤

What don’t you see behind the fitness feed? This week on 9 Lives, I’m answering your questions about fitness influencers and the online fitness industry, drawing on my own experience of being part of it and getting honest about the life behind my posts. We also talk about life after a depressive episode, finding your way back after everything falls apart, and allowing yourself to believe that happiness is still possible. An honest Q&A about the things you’ve wanted to ask, the parts a photograph can’t explain, and what comes after survival. If you’re in a difficult chapter, I hope this conversation reminds you that it doesn’t have to be the rest of your life. until next week, cass 🖤

What happens after you get the body you always wanted? After losing 100lbs, I was left with loose skin that no amount of training could change. Eventually, I made the decision to have it surgically removed. But this episode isn't really about surgery. It's about what came after. About learning to inhabit a body that had changed almost beyond recognition, finding my way back to my femininity after years of survival mode, and navigating dating, intimacy and trust after betrayal. Because changing your body is one thing. Learning to feel safe inside it again is another. In this episode of 9 Lives, I'm talking honestly about loose skin removal surgery, body confidence, femininity, betrayal, dating again and what it really means to come home to yourself. Sometimes the final transformation isn't becoming someone new. It's finally feeling like you again.

I spent most of my life thinking I was too sensitive, too intense, too obsessive and somehow simultaneously capable of doing extraordinary things and completely incapable of doing things everyone else seemed to find easy. Then I found out I was autistic. In this episode of 9 Lives, I’m talking about receiving an autism diagnosis as an adult, the signs I missed for decades, masking, burnout, sensory overwhelm and why so many neurodivergent women can become incredibly good at appearing “fine” while quietly exhausting themselves trying to keep up. But this episode isn’t just about diagnosis. It’s about what happens afterwards. I’m sharing the practical things that have helped me build a life that actually works with my brain: managing executive dysfunction, protecting deep focus, reducing sensory overload, communicating more explicitly, working with my energy rather than against it, and letting go of systems that were never designed for me in the first place. Because I spent years asking, “How do I make myself work?” Maybe the better question was: “How do I make my life work for me?” Whether you’re autistic, ADHD, neurodivergent, questioning, or simply exhausted from trying to function in ways that don’t seem to fit you, I hope there’s something in this episode that makes life feel a little easier. Until next week, Cass 🖤