EPISODE 29

What if the darkness wasn’t something to fear, but a place to play, feel, and grow?

In this episode, we sit down with Laura Giles—trauma therapist, spiritual guide, and intuitive healer—for a rich conversation on navigating uncertainty, reconnecting with nature, and trusting the wisdom within. From the importance of play in adult life to the power of intuition in healing, Laura shares stories and insights from her own nonlinear journey as a truck driver, belly dancer, and therapist.

We explore:

🌑 How darkness can be a teacher, not just a trial

🌿 Nature as a mirror for the soul

🌀 Why intuition and play are vital for healing

🛤️ What it means to live a path that defies convention

This episode invites you to slow down, listen inward, and discover how your deepest challenges might just be invitations into wholeness.

For more on Laura, visit lauragiles.org

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Key Themes

– Nonlinear Career Paths –

Laura’s journey from unconventional jobs to trauma work highlights how diverse life experiences can lead to unexpected callings.

– Scorpionic Depth and Shadow Work –

A strong resonance with Scorpio energy informs her comfort with exploring darkness, grief, and transformation in healing spaces.

– Animism and Nature as Foundations for Healing –

Her upbringing in animist traditions shapes a grounded, spiritual approach to emotional and energetic wellness.

– The Power of Safe Spaces and Play for Adults –

Laura emphasizes how safety, imagination, and play are essential—even (and especially) in adulthood—for healing and freedom.

– Intuition as a Guide for Professional Growth –

From therapy to life choices, Laura discusses how getting out of our own way and trusting intuition allows transformation to unfold naturally.

ASTROLOGY SNAPSHOT

With Laura’s Mercury in Pisces, her communication is intuitive, poetic, and often guided more by feeling than logic. She speaks the language of symbols, emotions, and energy, making her a natural translator of the unconscious.

Neptune in Scorpio deepens this mystical edge, infusing her thinking with a raw, emotional intensity and a fascination with death, transformation, and the hidden layers of reality.

Her Sun in Pisces reinforces her identity as a sensitive, imaginative soul—someone attuned to the unseen and unspoken—while her Moon in Cancer grounds her in deep emotional wisdom, nurturing presence, and ancestral intuition.

Saturn in Aries gives her the grit to forge her own path, balancing her softness with a strong sense of self-direction and resilience.

Pluto in Virgo adds a precise, discerning edge to her healing work—she doesn’t just intuit the wound, she helps refine and transform it with care and clarity.

The result? A spiritual healer who moves fluidly between shadow and light, guided by intuition, depth, and a fierce commitment to authentic transformation.

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INTUITION & INTELLECT

Laura shares that while her path has been anything but traditional, intuition has always been at the center of her work.

Q: “Would you consider intuition as valuable knowledge?”
A: “Yes—when it resonates on three levels: mind, body, and spirit. For me, knowing happens when all three click into place. If it doesn’t, I might think something, but I don’t truly know it. Most of the time, I operate from that space of I know. So, intuition is my guiding compass when all parts align.”

Q: Do you think intuition development should be taught in schools?

A: “Absolutely. The way education is structured now tends to teach intuition out of us. But we’re all born with it. I believe mine developed because it wasn’t suppressed early on.”

THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION

Q: If you could design your own education, what would it look like?

A: “It would be hands-on, natural, and organic—learning by doing, not sitting in a chair all day. I’d want to be out in nature, watching how things work. That’s the kind of education I wish I had—and the kind I’d love to give to others.”

LEARNING FROM NATURE

Q: Has nature taught you a lesson?

A: “Nature is the ultimate teacher. I grew up animist, so being connected to everything—rooted in life itself—was just natural. It’s hard to say what nature hasn’t taught me. It’s always been part of everything.”

JOURNAL PROMPTS

1. What parts of myself or my past have I avoided—and what might they be trying to teach me?
2. When have I felt safe in the dark, either literally or metaphorically? What made that possible?
3. If I trusted that darkness was a space for transformation—not fear—how would I move through it differently?

ILA INSTITUTE CONNECTION

ILA Institute is a revolutionary education model that blends intuition and intellect through real-world, curiosity-led learning.

Rooted in the belief that wonder is the foundation of wisdom, ILA brings students into museums, parks, and libraries as living classrooms.

Museums, in particular, serve as portals for connection—offering historical depth, artistic perspective, and space to explore identity and meaning.

At ILA, museums aren’t field trips—they’re frameworks for how we learn: inquiry-based, interdisciplinary, and alive.

MORE INFO COMING SOON

Q: If your life were a museum, what’s one part you’d want every visitor to see before they leave?

A: “Honestly, my museum would be empty. I’m not a legacy builder. I believe we’re here for the time we’re here—and when I’m gone, I’m gone. I don’t really think about what’s left behind. So there wouldn’t be anything on display.”

Curious how simply visiting a museum can spark deep learning? Follow us on TikTok to explore how we turn curiosity into knowledge.

ABOUT THE HOST

Laura Alyn is an educator, intuitive PhD researcher, astrologer, spiritual practitioner, and founder of the ILA Institute. She blends spiritual insight with academic curiosity to build new pathways of knowing—for individuals and for the future of education. To learn more about her, click on her below or click here.