Episode 100: Susannah Stokes

Susannah Stokes Episode 100

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast, where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sport, industry, or life's mission.

Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Gennari.

Angela Gennari: Hello and thank you for joining us for another episode of the pretty powerful podcast. My name is Angela Gennari and today I'm sitting here with Susanna Rose Stokes. Hi Susanna. Hi Angela. So good to be here with you.

So glad you're here. You have such a great background and such a cool story and I'm really excited to share it with everybody. So after serving two combat tours in Afghanistan as a Marine Corps officer, Susanna experienced a spiritual awakening that has [00:01:00] changed her life forever. Since then, she's dedicated her life as an energy priestess and embodied consciousness guide.

Uh, she has founded the House of Embodied Metamorphosis, a 508C1A faith based organization, That utilizes the metamorphosis method and our community cultivated strain of psilocybin, psilocybin. I'm trying to get that right. Known as Trinity. Uh, so she's also a graduate of the U S Naval Academy and speaks Mandarin, Chinese, and Spanish all in service of creating a more.

More peace and connectedness in the world. That's such a lovely story. I love this. So, oh my gosh, so there's so much to unpack here. So first of all, do you come from a military family? Because U. S. Naval Academy is, it's a pretty high bar.

Susannah Stokes: That's a great question. Yes. Um, people ask me cause they're like, Like, you're, you do spiritual work, but you were in the [00:02:00] military.

Like, why in the world did you want to go into the military? Yeah. Um, my father was in the Marine Corps for a brief time during Vietnam. Um, he was an attorney in the Marine Corps. And then most of the men in my family had been in some kind of service. I mean, this is also, you know, pretty standard among those.

The older generations, right? Everybody served during all the, all the world wars.

Both: So,

Susannah Stokes: um, so I did have a legacy of that, but my father was the one that kind of planted this seed of the Naval Academy in my mind.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. And the Naval Academy is gorgeous. By the way, I went to university of Maryland and I lived maybe 20 minutes from Annapolis.

And it is one of my favorite. Favorite places. I've always said, like, if there's anywhere that I just like to go and just walk around and be in the energy of, it's the Naval Academy. It's, it's, it's Annapolis. It's a beautiful place. It's just so like, I love the energy there.

Susannah Stokes: The campus is stunning and we're right on the water.

Um, it's, it's an [00:03:00] interesting juxtaposition to be right next to like a town. A lot of the military academies are further out. So they're a little more secluded, but the Naval Academy is right there. So you have not only like this little town, but there's also another school right next to it called St.

John's, which is like if you could have the opposite of the Naval Academy,

Angela Gennari: that

Susannah Stokes: would be it. It would be like, it's like the hippie academic, you know, kind of philosophy based school. And then, um, and then you have the like very structured rigid environment of the Naval Academy. So we had the yin and yang, um, very, very present.

Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Very cool. And my son wants to go to the Naval Academy. So we actually just did a little visit there. So it's one of his like, Things that he's, he's right now in the process of he's a senior. So he's trying to take all of his tests and get his recommendations from a Senator and all the things. So, yeah, so very cool.

Um, so you go to the Navy Naval Academy [00:04:00] and tell me about that experience and what that was like for you.

Susannah Stokes: Yeah. Um, You know, I decided I was going to be in the Marine Corps when I was very young. I watched my brother graduate from boot camp when I was about four because he's a half brother. So he's much older.

And so I watched him graduate and I saw the women walk across the field and I just had this moment and I was like, Oh, I could do that. You know? And, um, by the, by about the time I was 12, I was pretty set in that. I was, I was like, that's what I'm doing. I'm going into this because I really want to get.

High quality leadership training. Cause I know I want to be a leader in this world. And my father had always said it was the finest leadership training that existed.

Angela Gennari: Yes.

Susannah Stokes: So the experience of being at the Naval Academy, of course, getting in is a very, very competitive. Isn't it like

Angela Gennari: 5 percent of people or applicants?

Susannah Stokes: It may be less than that. It's, it's a very, very, very small [00:05:00] percentage. It's, you know, tens of thousands of people apply and then they allow in about 1200. So, um, so it is, you have to stand out in, in a lot of ways. And I've been on a few selection boards as well for senators and things to help with the selection of, of people to get their nominations.

Both: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: And. I think just the like oomph and the, and the energy to put into that process

Both: was

Susannah Stokes: a commitment in and of itself for several years. I mean, I really like changed my lifestyle in order to make sure that I was like highly qualified for it. And then being there, um, I, I enjoyed it. And I would say that in general, being at, in the academic environment of the Naval Academy itself was a place I thrived because at the time, first of all, I was sort of like very, In the, like, structured, rigid [00:06:00] mindset of, of that, by being raised by a father who was in the Marine Corps, um, and I excelled academically, and I, I didn't feel as much of a responsibility.

Difference between women and men there good. Um, it wasn't until I I joined the marine corps out of the naval academy because they serve both The navy and the marine corps because the marine corps is is in the department of the navy Um, which a lot of people don't know

Both: but

Susannah Stokes: that you know, I fed into the marine corps and I and I of course you know that that was also a legacy of like Going away.

My father did and my older brother, but, um, it was then that I started to face a little bit of the shadows of the military, but the Naval Academy itself was a pretty, it felt like a more safe, um, and curious environment where I could really expand.

Angela Gennari: Okay. Fascinating. Okay. And [00:07:00] you, did you study Mandarin at the Naval Academy or did you decide after, or, cause that, that's a huge, um, That is a huge benefit of being in the military, is being able to speak Mandarin, right?

Susannah Stokes: Well, um, the interesting thing is, the military is not super great at using people for their talents. How interesting. Um, the, the military will sometimes, place people in a position based on the talents they have, but most of the time you are going to get what you get. And most of the time the military will just train you in whatever it is, right?

They'll just, they don't actually care what your existing talent pool is. Um, and that was something that was, this was the first. Experience of surrender that I had. So I started studying Chinese, um, in high school and went to Cornell and did a program over the summer and an immersion [00:08:00] program. And then I lived in China for my senior year of high school to study Chinese in Beijing and, um, went on my own.

I've, I've always been a little bit of a, of a, of a rebellious one when it comes to education.

Angela Gennari: I love it. I love it. And a trailblazer too. That's fantastic.

Susannah Stokes: I try. I'm trying for sure. And so that set me up. I was already fluent in Chinese, um, before I went to the Naval Academy and to be honest, um, part of the reason I chose it as my major was because I knew I would get straight A's in it.

Yes. And I wanted something to be easy. Uh huh. Uh huh. Yes. Um, because, uh, engineering is not my forte and the Naval Academy is very focused on engineering. So, um, so I had to work a lot extra hard on some of the required classes while my major classes were kind of a breeze. I was, it was much easier for me.

And I started, you know, in like the highest levels, they had to keep [00:09:00] making classes for me, um, so that I could keep going in Chinese because I was one of the first classes that had access to that as a major. Um, they only allowed, they only had Arabic and Chinese as. As language majors, because most of the students there are studying engineering.

Angela Gennari: Um, and the CIA didn't come knocking on your door after the academy, because that's kind of the thing is like, if you, if you know a language like Russian or Mandarin, they come looking for you and they want you on their team.

Susannah Stokes: You know, I, I thought for many years about the CIA and the other three letter, you know, things like that.

And, um, what I learned over time was I really, I actually want to be in the public eye. Yeah. Yeah. Not in the shadows. Not in the shadows, not fighting. And I think that I sort of energetically manifested, um, them not [00:10:00] ever wanting to, you know, engage with me in that way. Um, and being, you know, being a white woman, um, I don't blend in as well in China.

Even though I speak the language. So I think they often want people who speak the language and look like the culture. Um, and I don't look like that culture at all. But, um, I think there's, there is a misconception around, like, that the government will say, Seek out. This is mostly because of Hollywood, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Right. That, that the government is like watching every person that comes through their pipelines and then they like pull out special people. Um, I think this happens much less than we think it does. And, um, it's sort of, uh, uh, You know, a wish that, that the government would be that intelligent.

Well,

Angela Gennari: that, that efficiency also. That efficiency,

Susannah Stokes: that is not the experience that I've [00:11:00] had. Most of my experience was that you get what you get and you are a number. And if you, um, yeah, and, and, and it will, it very likely won't match your skill set at all. That tracks. I don't have to learn anything.

Angela Gennari: That tracks.

Yeah. That's about it. Yeah. Highly inefficient. And, um. I, in

Susannah Stokes: the report. Yes. I mean, it's the same thing that you know from paying your taxes and all the other things. Going

Angela Gennari: to the DMV. Going to

Susannah Stokes: the DMV. Right. It's the same. It's the same government. It's not. It's no different. And ultimately, I find that, um, in the Marine Corps, they have a saying, which is bloom where you're planted.

And that has, I've had different feelings about that, about that phrase over time. Um, but most of the time I've felt like, um, I am a believer. I personally am a believer in, People having a very particular role and purpose, which is what, yes, one of the topics that I teach a lot [00:12:00] about is purpose. Um, and I think the reason I probably teach about it is because I was taken so far out of my purpose and shown what it's like to be so far off your path in some ways.

And, and you can still find elements of your purpose no matter where you are, of course, but life showed me, um, This, the importance of aligning yourself with your natural born talents.

Both: And

Susannah Stokes: one of the, one of the biggest, um, disappointments that I experienced in the military, which also led to my understanding of, of how to surrender, how to fully surrender to just like the flow of things, um, was, you know, realizing how far away from my purpose I actually was in this lifetime.

Wow,

Angela Gennari: that's amazing. So you graduate from the academy and then you are deployed twice to Afghanistan.

Susannah Stokes: Yes, they [00:13:00] got their money's worth out of me. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I was actually one of the first people from my class, my graduating class at the Naval Academy to go to Afghanistan on that first deployment.

Both: Um,

Susannah Stokes: and I, I got put. Directly into training, did three months of training for my job, which my job was to, um, control a team that controlled all the airspace over Helmand province above 16, 000 feet. So we essentially were like air traffic control, but it was local control. So it was, um, it was like battle space control and there's a lot more things that happen.

Yeah. Um, in a battle space, um, above in, you know, in the air because you have hundreds of aircraft going in different directions, doing different things, taskings and things like that.

Angela Gennari: And is it mostly practicing? Is it just, um, uh, it's not, it's not specific to fighting it, right? I imagine [00:14:00] there's drones. Is there drones?

Is there other airspace concerns?

Susannah Stokes: Yeah. And I mean, in a battle space, nothing is practice, right? We are there and we are doing things, every single aircraft is doing some sort of tasking. You're not going to be doing training evolutions over a battle space, um, like in Afghanistan, for example. However, in Afghanistan, for example, for those listening who understand airspace, um, we had air supremacy, which means.

the Taliban doesn't have aircraft, right? They don't have, they don't have those assets. So we're not doing like Top Gun, where you have dog fights, where you're fighting other aircraft. That wasn't happening because they don't have, you know, they don't have, uh, uh, uh, F 18. Right. Right.

Angela Gennari: Right. So,

Susannah Stokes: um, so it's mostly just the Americans and then other NATO forces that were there.

So we're all friends, um, to some extent, [00:15:00] but everyone is doing something. So someone, for example, the little propeller planes are doing ISR, which is intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, they're literally just watching the ground

Angela Gennari: and

Susannah Stokes: flying in circles and watching to see what's going on so they can report to the ground troops, what they're seeing.

You do have good, you have drones, you have you at what we call UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles. That are up in the sky and they are usually also doing that type of thing. They're watching and a lot of them are armed. So they have things like hellfire missiles that they're dropping on, on, um, you know, people on locations of high, you know, targets, things like that.

And then we do have like fast flyers that fixed wing, um, more like close air support, which is, you know, F 18s Harriers, um, And then lower down to the ground, you have some of the army stuff that's more like, um, helicopters and, um, [00:16:00] uh, warthogs, A 10s, my personal favorite aircraft, because it's just huge and ridiculous.

Um, but, but ultimately the, and then you have tankers, you have all the tankers that are flying in a circle waiting for any aircraft that need to be refilled, like a gas

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: Up in the middle of the sky. And we're controlling You know, about 23, 000 square miles of airspace. Wow. Which is most of the center of Afghanistan.

And it's hundreds of aircraft that are going 200 to 600 miles an hour. And you're making sure that they're all not Anywhere near each other.

Both: Yeah, exactly. Wow.

Angela Gennari: That's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah. So, so is that what you did on both of your tours?

Susannah Stokes: The first one, I was more on the ground with the, with a team leading them in, in actual control of the airspace.

So you're [00:17:00] sitting Basically in a little tiny black box

Both: with

Susannah Stokes: headphones on looking at the radar screen and then talking to aircraft and making sure that they're following all their flight plans and things like that. Um, and then, um, and it was on that deployment, actually, I'll, I'll speak to the second one.

The second one, I was more in a, um, in a managerial role where I was, I was in a higher echelon of that group and I was helping to design the airspace. Um, and as we were pulling out of Afghanistan, I was helping to, uh, yeah, basically redesign and redistribute airspace control,

Angela Gennari: um,

Susannah Stokes: so that they could potentially do it.

Of course, the Afghanis have almost no experience doing things like this,

Both: so it

Susannah Stokes: was like a pretty steep learning curve. And, um, One of the things that [00:18:00] I, that I had trouble with on the second deployment was on the first deployment. I, you know, speaking of those drones and UAVs, I, I had a moment, basically, that was, that, that kicked off my existential crisis.

Both: Okay.

Susannah Stokes: And, you know, being sort of programmed into the belief that everything that we were doing in the military was necessary, and I'm fighting for freedom, and I'm doing all these things that are to support, um, A war effort that, where we're the good guys. Right. I saw a drone, you know, we're watching the footage from a drone.

Both: Mm hmm. Um,

Susannah Stokes: and they, and it's following a guy on a motorbike who had just implanted an IED, an improvised explosive device. Mm hmm. And he just dug one into the ground and we watched him do it. And, That then makes him the bad guy, right? Because he's trying to target our troops. [00:19:00] And, um, and of course we know where it is, so we can undig it and take it out and all of that.

And, you know, as we're, as we're, as we're following him and we drop the Hellfire Missile on him, um, He, he gets away, he runs away, like, wow, big explosion of this person that's been targeted by a multi hundred thousand dollar missile. Um, and then, and there's a huge explosion of heat and then he, he actually gets up and, and, and, and it escapes.

And I thought to myself in that moment, you know, who is that guy? How old is he? Is he really a bad guy? Is there a bad guy?

Angela Gennari: Isn't

Susannah Stokes: he someone's brother? Isn't he someone's maybe father or, and the chances are that he's a local farmer that was either [00:20:00] paid or threatened by the Taliban to do this. And, and they said, we're going to kill your family if you don't do this.

And then what he, what happens to him is that he gets, he's it's between a rock and a hard place. He either gets killed by this. Fighting force or this fighting force

Both: and his

Susannah Stokes: whole life and his whole country has been, you know, taken over by this battle and he gets, um, thrust into it. And so that whole experience of just having that moment of like, Oh my gosh, there is no bad guy, there is no good guy, this is all war, and war isn't working the way we think it should, um, because killing is not going to create more peace.

That followed me into my second, um, Into my second deployment. And that's when I started to really, my, my whole world kind of, um, came crashing down and a lot of the belief system that I grew up in, in the [00:21:00] South and outside of Georgia, outside of Atlanta, um, just started to dissolve. And I went through the beginning of my disillusionment process.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, yeah. So that's fascinating because, I mean, you're right. And. No matter what side you're fighting on, you feel like you're, you're fighting the bad guys. Right. And so, um, the Taliban with as, you know, horrible as they have been and, you know, the atrocities that they've, they've done, they look at us as the bad guy.

And so we, you know, there, there's a lot of just really hard stuff when you really look at it and you talk to people who have been through wars in their communities. And. You're right. I mean, kids who grew up in certain situations, they're taught a certain thing. We are taught a certain thing. We believe our way is best.

And so, you know, you're right. Absolutely. So tell me [00:22:00] about what happens when you have this spiritual awakening and what, what, what that feels like and how you're dealing with it in the middle of a deployment where you have a very set certain rules that you must abide by. How does, how does all this transpire?

I'm so, I'm, Curious how this all worked.

Susannah Stokes: Yeah, it was, uh, like a ton of bricks, you know, as, as everything starts, like as the basis of your reality, like the rug is sort of like ripped out from under you and you're like, well, if that's not true, if that's not a fundamental truth, what is a fundamental truth?

Like what is real? What is reality? And growing up in the Methodist church and, and also being exposed to like the Baptist church and other. Christian churches, um, Protestant mainly. I had a very particular view of God and what God is, and who he is, and there was a [00:23:00] masculine, you know, presence. And what ultimately happened, happened in my physical life was, um, I started to question God and my belief system.

And I remember like going to church on Sundays, even on the base in Afghanistan and listening and just being like, I am so checked out. Like, this is not, none of this resonates anymore. Um, and then questioning all the, all the scriptures, all the things that I had been taught, and then. my marriage started to fall apart.

Um, and so that year was the year I ended up getting divorced. I had an affair with a man that I met in Afghanistan who is currently my, my partner and the father of my child that I am pregnant with. And then, um, and, and so everything, just like a cascade waterfall just, and I ultimately, [00:24:00] um, Realize very quickly that any hope or desire that I had to stay in the Marine Corps for, for 20 years or grow in the ranks was absolutely out of the question and I needed to move on to, to the next chapter as, as quickly as I could.

And of course I had to write out my contract. Yeah. Um, and, uh, That was, that was also an exercise in surrender because I had to stay there and sit in because the government kind of owned me at that point, you know, I could have been. I could have potentially done something really bad to get kicked out, but that wasn't really in my, in my DNA.

So I was still main trying to maintain performance and to show up and also, um, to just have these, um, epiphanies [00:25:00] of realizing that I want to commit myself to peace and bringing people together and that I want the complete opposite side of war. Um, and it led me to do a lot of, um, it also led me to, to kind of, go into my activist movement around women.

Um, and so I started to volunteer a lot, uh, related to women's empowerment and, um, did a bunch of work supporting Lean In, which was Sheryl Sandberg's. Organization.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: And that is what ultimately led me to a meeting with Sheryl Sandberg of all things. Wow. That's amazing.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: Surreal. And she was like, you should come work at Facebook.

Angela Gennari: Wow.

Susannah Stokes: And so that's what that's, you know, I, I had the intention of actually going more into the state department after the military. And after a 15 minute call with her, um, [00:26:00] I was convinced that, you know, the corporate world was the place. So the first thing I did,

Angela Gennari: I found this. We're

Susannah Stokes: going to go

Angela Gennari: next.

Interesting. Wow. So yeah, what a massive transformation from military to Facebook. I don't think there gets there. There's no blurred line. It's like one far end of the spectrum or the other.

Susannah Stokes: It feels like it. And what's, what's so funny is when I got there, um, I realized how many overlaps there were. Like it was an unbelievably small.

Similar environment, um, but of course with a more liberal flair, right? We would say with a more, um, with, with that purpose of bringing people together, of connecting the world versus dividing the world or, or protecting and, and, and keeping us separate. So being there was interesting because I ultimately, um, Found that there was the same same types in general of like camaraderie.

[00:27:00] There's a lot of in in Silicon Valley There's a ton of like kind of culty You know connection to your company and like loyalty and devotion to the company mission especially at the beginning of some of those companies And you had fierce loyalty, very similar to the military. Yeah. And then a lot of type A, um, like perform, like performance based individuals who really were wanting to achieve and wanting to do something really great.

Um, and so I was, I did, I went from an environment where people really wanted to excel and succeed. And then I went to an environment where people also had like this community cultish environment. You know, focus on one product or one thing. And they also wanted to work as hard as they possibly could to succeed just in different ways.

Yeah.

Angela Gennari: And just entirely different goals at the end of the day. So,

Susannah Stokes: and I remember the military saying to me, like, when I was leaving, they said, [00:28:00] you know, you're not going to find a, cause they always want to try to convince you to stay, right? Leave because they paid a lot of money to train you. Right, right, right.

And they're like, you're not going to find a, a company that's going to give you or a job that's going to give you all the amenities that the military has because they have, you know, it has its own ecosystem of support.

Both: And

Susannah Stokes: I remember going to Facebook and there being like, they feed you every meal,

Both: they do your

Susannah Stokes: laundry, they do your dry cleaning.

They like bus you to work. I was like, I think I found it.

That's funny.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, that's funny. Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: So a remarkable amount of, of overlap. Um, but one focusing a little more on that, like, um, Separatist, you know, warlike, warrior like environment. And then another focused on connection, [00:29:00] um, at least in some ways. Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Interesting. So then you then founded a, what is a 508C1A?

I don't know what that is. Yeah. I know what, 501C3.

Susannah Stokes: Yeah. Yeah. 501C3 of course is a nonprofit and 508C1A is also a nonprofit, but it's a church.

Angela Gennari: Ah, okay. Interesting. But

Susannah Stokes: every church, you know, every church you know of is a 508C1A. A lot of them also have a subsidiary or another organization that's a 501C3.

And the distinction is one of them is faith based and you can donate, tax deductible, but 501C3 Puts you in a slightly more trusted realm of, uh, of donations financially speaking because you're on a national register. I see.

Angela Gennari: Okay. I wasn't sure what that was. So then what led you to, to Be the founder of the [00:30:00] metamorphosis method and, um, the embodied metamorphosis, house of embodied metamorphosis.

Susannah Stokes: Yeah. So we have, we, we formed our organizations as two organizations. One is metamorphosis mentors, which is your typical corporation. And then we have house of embodied metamorphosis, which is the church, the faith based organization. Okay. And Metamorphosis Ventures is, um, you know, we, we, we use the metamorphosis method because it was birthed from the three women who founded it, myself, Jenna, and Ashley, we are the co founders of this beautiful, of both of these organizations.

And what ultimately came to be was that. Jenna and I began to do work with medicine, but with psilocybin mushrooms and, um, and to hold ceremonial spaces for them. Part of the reason for that was because I was doing my own healing [00:31:00] for myself. You know, I was really, you know, Uh, in some ways, not admitting or not even seeing that I had post trauma.

Yeah. For sure. Right? From seeing people die. I was on the base in Afghanistan when we were attacked, um, and several of, of our military members passed and of course we had, I had loads of people around me who had committed suicide and, and taken their own lives, um, which is much bigger of a pandemic than, than even.

And then I was also a victim advocate in the Marine Corps. So I was an advocate for survivors of sexual assault.

Both: And I had a

Susannah Stokes: lot of conversations and a lot of like, working closely with people who had been assaulted and harmed. Mostly women. Um, not all though. And, and by others, by either other military members or outside the, or outside the military.

And [00:32:00] all of that, even the vicarious trauma, even just being around it,

Both: um,

Susannah Stokes: really hurt my heart because I am a very sensitive, energetic being and I didn't know how sensitive I was. And so I was taking on a lot of that and my own journey while I was at Facebook being in the Bay Area,

Both: in the Bay

Susannah Stokes: Area. You know, psychedelic use is a much different energy here.

It's, it's much more loose, much more acceptable, the community. And of course, going to Burning Man and other festivals, I became exposed to these things and being the sort of straight edge, good girl that had, that had done zero substances until the Naval Academy. So I could get in. This was a whole new world for me.

And it began the very first time I sat with LSD, for example. It said [00:33:00] to me, Susanna, there's so much more than just recreation here. Like the play is great. Please play. That's important. And this is not just for play. This is a ceremonial. Medicine that is very healing and I can help heal you if you allow me to.

And that's what led me. And then of course, and then my co founder Jenna, um, to host our first retreat and Ashley came in, um, and did a lot of the operations and she's a chef and so she cooked for it as well. Okay. And after that first retreat, which we called metamorphosis, it became very clear that this was much more than just.

Okay. Um, it was a much bigger thing, and we didn't, even then, we didn't know how big it would be. But everyone at that event, um, who felt the strength of the space and the, you know, The [00:34:00] safety right of that and the intentional process of preparation and integration, um, which we now call the metamorphosis method and their particular pillars of that method.

They felt the difference between that and a lot of other like medicine workers and ceremonial experiences they'd had in the past. And, um, and that's how it was born. And I'll say on top of that. I'm the granddaughter of a, of a Bishop in the Methodist church. Whose, his whole lineage were all spiritual leaders.

And Jenna is the granddaughter of a Bishop in the Mormon church. Oh, interesting. And their lineage was, was a lot of spiritual leaders there as well. And both of them were also deans of schools of, of universities. So just wild, like the overlaps and the synchronicities, but we clearly. Were designed and meant to step into some kind of spiritual [00:35:00] leadership, and that's one of the reasons why The military was such a crunchy place for me because it was so Opposite it was so polar to what my soul really wanted and needed and I needed to see that I needed to be physically in war in order to remember

Angela Gennari: Actually

Susannah Stokes: why I'm here

Angela Gennari: Yeah, it's fascinating.

So you started kind of going into this metamorphosis with the idea that you wanted to transform lives to help people find their purpose. So in doing that, these, these, is it the, the ceremony, the workshops, tell me a little bit more about when people come in. Are they dealing with trauma? Have they just lost their way?

Have they just, what, what type of people are coming in and how do you help them?

Susannah Stokes: Wonderful question. Yeah. We've been refining and refining [00:36:00] this because of course, at first it was like, whoever I knew I was like, Hey, you want to, you want to come in and try this and see what happens. Um, and what I discovered was.

Much like most businesses, the, the, the being that is attracted to working with us at Metamorphosis often looks like us and has had similar experiences to myself, Jenna, and Ashley.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: And usually these are people who are, um, who have grown up. In some kind of maybe upper middle class Western environment, typically European American, maybe South American.

Um, and they have faced a certain type of trauma because one of the things that we do in our society is we kind of compare trauma. We're like, you know, like you're like my parents always said, like, um, Oh, eat your food because there are starving children in Sudan. Right. And [00:37:00] I'm like. Yes, and the trauma that I know is very different from their trauma and their, and, and their trauma is, is important and significant and I will never fully be able to empathize with that depth.

Or that type, because what I'm dealing with is a family system that suffers from addiction

Angela Gennari: and

Susannah Stokes: opiate use and alcohol and hiding things under the rug and people fighting over finances and money, right? Because we have it.

Both: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: And, and materialism and egotistical, you know, narcissism. So these are total different.

Traumas. Yes. From these other, um, communities in the world. And that's really, right now, what metamorphosis is, is for, is for people who are ready to step into a layer of thriving

Both: in their [00:38:00] lives.

Susannah Stokes: And in order to do that, they are ready to shed layers of their ego, of the path that was laid out for them in a very strong, structured, western, patriarchal environment, right?

That said, this is how you get success, here's the road to success, follow this. And when you get there, and you think, oh, I have everything, I've got all, I've got the car, I've got the condo, I've got the job, I've got the All that. I'm miserable.

Angela Gennari: Uh huh. Right. Exactly. So many people, so many people say that.

Yeah. I mean, so many people said, I followed the steps. I did the things that I was supposed to do. Why am I not happy? I checked all the boxes what's going on. And so, you know, it's one of those things and you're so right. Trauma means something different to everyone. My trauma is not less significant than your trauma.

It's just different. Right. And so [00:39:00] you still have to

Susannah Stokes: watermelons and you still have to

Angela Gennari: honor that, right? You have to honor that because while it may be different, it's still just as impactful to me and, and what I'm going through. So, um, so how do you help people find their purpose? That's so hard, right? Is just help people discover what were you on this earth to do?

And I imagine that's got to be the biggest challenge is. You got to break the, the idea of what they were supposed to be and then help them discover what their true purpose is. Yes.

Susannah Stokes: That's what we do. Uh huh. So a lot of it is a shedding process. Okay. We help people shed, because actually I'm not going to give you anything new.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's already there. Right. It's already there. The nugget, the essence, what we call your true abundant essence, this like little light inside of you that is you, [00:40:00] that is the most authentic, essential version of you is there. But we have created mask and armor and mask and armor and mask and armor and mask and armor.

And we have all these layers. I think of it like the kid in the Christmas story with the big puffy suit, right? And you can't feel anything because somebody pokes you, but you've got 10 different suits on and no, and you can't actually feel. Feel what's in resonance and what's not.

Angela Gennari: Yes.

Susannah Stokes: And so the process of that is a shedding process, which also coincides with a sensitization process.

I call it sensitizing. Okay. And we sensitize your system so that you become more sensitive to the world around you and you go, Ooh, I don't like that. That doesn't feel good. Oh, I don't like it when they say that thing to me. And maybe that thing was perfectly fine a year ago.

Both: Right. But

Susannah Stokes: now it stings a little more because you've taken off a layer [00:41:00] of armor and that's how you start to know, Oh, I actually don't want to be spoken to that way.

Okay. Maybe I need to not be in this environment anymore.

Both: Um,

Susannah Stokes: okay. I need to remove myself from this and maybe I need to put myself in environments that treat me this way or talk to me this way instead. And our method works specifically. So some of the pillars of it are. Um, Glenn, we, we, we first start with that cleansing, right?

Both: And then,

Susannah Stokes: um, and then. As we're working on all of these layers, we're working on all four layers of your being. So body, heart, mind, and spirit. And this was one of the biggest things that I had trouble with when I started to look for healing, was that the medical system works on the physical layer, almost exclusively.

The therapeutic system works on the mental layer.

Both: And a little

Susannah Stokes: bit on the heart layer as well. Emotions, [00:42:00] right? Especially if you get into somatic stuff. And then the church system, the religious system, works on the spiritual layer. But who does all of it? And to me, and to us at Metamorphosis, we have to have, in order to complete a full self, Cycle of healing of trauma and trauma is just an experience that you had that you didn't have all the tools to fully integrate into your life and turn it into medicine.

Right. Cause that's what we want. Trauma always turns into medicine. If we have the right tools, that's right. Yeah. Right. It's like whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That is accurate. And even sometimes things that kill you make you stronger. Yeah. Yeah. Another lifetime. So, so ultimately. We want to do completion work, right?

And the completion work means that we have to work on all four layers somewhat simultaneously, and we have to speak to and clear [00:43:00] and shed All the extra things from all the layers of the being and the medical system doesn't even acknowledge that there is a spiritual or energetic layer

Both: and

Susannah Stokes: sometimes doesn't even acknowledge that there's a heart layer, that there's an emotional layer.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: And then, and so we have all these disjointed systems that are out there and what we found about plant medicine as a, Um, sort of capstone experience of that, right, was that if we prepared you on all four layers, and then you open and expand your consciousness, and you go into an altered state of consciousness, which gets you out of your default mode network, which is what they know psilocybin to do, it, it quiets the default mode network of the brain, which is your pattern based Behavior, a little bit like your ego, right?

Your personality, the things that you have built to like interact with the world.

Angela Gennari: Right.

Susannah Stokes: Then we open that and that's the experience. That's the [00:44:00] altering experience. And then we integrate it. Also focusing on all four layers of the being on the other side. And when we do that, that creates a full, what I would say as, you know, I call myself a priestess, a full completion cycle of like karmic completion in, in, in Christianity, they call it sin, right?

Like you are forgiven of your sin. And in, in Hinduism, we complete a karmic cycle, which allows you to fully be done. Um, whatever that thing is, whether it's an addiction, whether it is just an unhealthy habit or pattern that is, that is getting in the way from you,

Both: from

Susannah Stokes: you being the fullest version of yourself, or if it's just a limiting belief.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it can be something as simple as having, um, limiting beliefs around money. You know, around relationships, you know, where you just and and I mean, some of these things [00:45:00] are just childhood things that you heard over and over and over again, you know, we don't have enough money for this, we don't, we can't do this, we can't afford that, you know, you can't, you can't do this, you know, that that's just not possible people like, you know, people.

People will limit you. And then it starts to get in your own head and it takes effort to get that out. It's not easy. My God, my goodness. It's shredding. Yeah. I understand peeling away the onion. It's

Susannah Stokes: peel it away, peel it away, peel it away. And also identifying. And what that does is it helps you identify just like what you're saying helps you identify who you are and what your voice is versus.

When, when I hear that, Oh, we don't have enough money for that. Right, right. The voice is that. Is that my voice? Yeah. Or is that my highest self voice? Probably not. That's probably my mother's voice. Okay. That's where that scarcity comes from. Right. And we start to identify those things and then we can quite literally rewrite them.

And, [00:46:00] and with the help of plant medicine. Those things can be rewritten much faster, much more easily because the ego and the, the layers are not as in the way, right? They're not fighting you and saying, well, I don't know about that. I don't know if I believe like that side eye energy. We want to kind of clear that side eye energy so that there's just a space of open receiving trust.

Ever is possible. And I mean, that's what you, that's what you, you know, teach about on, on this podcast and, and probably in your work as well. So, and the, the program I call, I teach that's one of our signature programs is powerful purpose. So I love that this is, you know, pretty powerful because that, that inner power, that inner fire

Both: of knowing.

Susannah Stokes: That my voice is the strongest voice in my mind, in my body, in my thoughts, [00:47:00] in my heart is, um, that's power. And

Angela Gennari: that's unapologetically. So, you know, to the point where you're like, I can't people, please, I have to me, please. I have to be, I have to be true to myself. And that's one of the hardest things for us to do.

So, yeah, absolutely. So it's fascinating. So tell me, um, What would you, what, what advice would you give to your 18 year old self?

Susannah Stokes: It's like, I wouldn't change going into the military. Right.

Angela Gennari: Right.

Susannah Stokes: But I think I, I might've prepared her and like. You're going to go through some really tough things that are going to challenge everything you thought was true. Just let it happen. Don't try to control it. Just allow it to be [00:48:00] what it is and know that life and your, you, your inner guidance will keep you headed in the right direction.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Susannah Stokes: And even when it feels like it's off the path, it's not.

Angela Gennari: Mm hmm.

Susannah Stokes: You are on it. And it just takes some twists and turns that are unexpected. Yeah. Cause I mean, the more you embrace that, the more fun you can have.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Cause I mean, everything that you've gone through led you to where you are. So it's, you know, everything is with a purpose as much as it doesn't feel like that sometimes.

Susannah Stokes: And I am in, you know, they say every seven years you go through like a reckoning, like another cycle, right?

Both: I

Susannah Stokes: am in this year. I am in that for sure. I am in that, like another disillusionment of, of my, my reality. But this time I have the tools. I am in another like metamorphosis, if you will. But now that I've built the system around me, And the tool [00:49:00] set to really observe it, I can do, I'm saying to myself, that advice that I just said, right.

I'm saying to myself, Susan, I just let it happen. Like let those things crumble, let those things fall, let, let yourself be taken on these twists and turns and just be present with it. And I'm much calmer.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. This time. That's awesome. I love that as such. So it's funny because there's a whole, you know. Of the seven year itch, right?

And, and it's not like you say, it's metamorphosis. It's a, it's a, but people say it's a seven year itch because they're like, something doesn't feel right. I feel like I need to change. It's like, it's uncomfortable, but they push through that to stay the path. Whereas maybe just maybe. Transforming is the right thing to do, even though it sounds hard and even though it sounds inconvenient, you know, it's going to be a little [00:50:00] uncomfortable, but staying where you're at, maybe not the best.

Susannah Stokes: And change is the only constant and I also have some beliefs around the particular time that we're living in right now being a very, very potent time of change collectively in humanity, right?

Angela Gennari: Most of us.

Susannah Stokes: Feel it, whether it's on a spiritual level or just absolutely,

Angela Gennari: and the world reflects it right now.

But I mean, like with, if you're, if you're very spiritual, then, you know, the planets and the alignment and everything that's happening has set us up for this particular time period that we're in of, of massive change of massive disruption. And that is. It's tracking with what the universe is telling us is going on.

God is, you know, God is telling us, like, there's, there's, there's a lot of consistencies. Um, we just have to be aware of it and, and let things change us as we need to change. Right. And,

Susannah Stokes: and it does a [00:51:00] little bit like, you know, just be a conduit for it. And I think that that's what the design of metamorphosis, both our, both our church, you know, that, that protects and cultivates our medicine and allows us to serve.

Medicine legally within the United States and helps people get access to microdosing and things like that legally and federally protected. That all is in service to just helping the change be smoother, right? I'm like, I'm just lubing it all up. Like, I just want you to have the easiest, I know you're going to change.

I know you're going to have to go through that. I know that collectively we're, we're going through it. Yeah. But the, the easier and the more we just allow it to happen through us instead of to us and breaking us down. Um, yeah, just like the, the more enjoyable it can be for everybody and the more peaceful it can be.

Absolutely. Versus. resisting.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, [00:52:00] 100%. So I've really enjoyed this conversation, Susanna. You're so insightful. Um, just fascinating. Uh, love your journey. You just have so much great insight to share. So one last question for you. What do you wish more people knew?

Susannah Stokes: I wish more people knew the depth of their preciousness.

Both: Mm hmm. My grandfather

Susannah Stokes: used to say, All beings are unutterably precious in the sight of God.

Angela Gennari: Aww. I love it. And that

Susannah Stokes: is it, right? You are. You're so precious. You are so special. Everything that you came here to do and to be is already within you. And you are such a significant part of this overall system, no matter how big it is, no matter how small you feel, you are, you are [00:53:00] important.

Angela Gennari: Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. Agree. I love it. So thank you so much. You've been an amazing guest and just so much incredible wisdom to share. So I appreciate you so much and I wish you so much success in everything that you're doing.

Susannah Stokes: Thank you so much, Angela. I hope you have a beautiful day on this full moon Aquarius.

Angela Gennari: It's a full moon. I

Susannah Stokes: love it. So where can people find you? so much. They can find us at metamorphosis dot ventures. Um, and you can find access to both of our organizations from there. Um, and then you can find me on Instagram at Susanna roses. And I imagine those will be in our, um, Somewhere in the podcast info.

Um, but I'd love to meet you on, on Instagram. I'm also on LinkedIn. I talked to a lot of leaders there and then, um, and then visit our website so you can check out our organization and our gatherings and our upcoming events.

Angela Gennari: [00:54:00] Fantastic. Absolutely will do. Well, thank you again. And thank you everyone for joining us for another episode of the pretty powerful podcast.

We look forward to seeing you next time. Have an amazing day.

Intro: Thank you for joining our guests on the pretty powerful podcast. And we hope you've gained new insight and learn from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes on pretty powerful podcast. com. Visit us next time.

And until then step into your own power.