Finding Your Soul Calling and Remembering Who You Really Are – An Interview with Teja Wood

What if the life you carefully planned was never the one you were meant to live?

Teja Wood was studying law and fully intended to finish her degree when a mystical experience showed her two very different futures. One was the life she had been working toward. The other meant letting it all go and following a path she didn’t yet understand. She closed her books that day and never opened them again. The decision cost her friendships and the life she knew, followed by nine difficult months of trying to understand who she was becoming. Later, an encounter with a manipulative spiritual teacher taught her an equally important lesson about the difference between guidance and control.

This conversation is about what can happen when the direction that makes sense on paper stops feeling right. Teja shares what she has learned about spiritual calling, the changes it can ask of us, and why the quiet feeling that something needs to shift may be worth paying attention to.

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I want to hear what you sense is happening in the world right now. You bring a unique perspective: You grew up in Slovenia, lived in England, and now live in Australia. What do you sense is unfolding on our planet?

Teja Wood: I feel we’re going through a tremendous shift in consciousness, as many people have been saying for a long time. Old structures are breaking down, and the old consciousness is literally being dismantled. Even when people try to navigate reality in the old, much more negative way, it no longer works.

It’s almost as though we’re being collectively called to raise our consciousness, which requires us to make profound changes within our inner world. A great deal of healing is happening. Some people are very conscious of it, while others are not.

One thing I see through my work is a great deal of generational healing. People are healing ancestral trauma, often without consciously realizing it. They may be going through certain changes or challenges in their lives, and when I look intuitively, I might say, “I see this coming from your mother’s lineage, perhaps three generations ago.” They’ll respond, “Yes, that’s exactly what happened.”

We’re experiencing ancestral healing while also receiving ancestral gifts. It’s all part of this enormous shift in consciousness.

I also see a profound change in how we relate to one another. A deep healing is taking place between feminine and masculine energies, and in the way we exist together. I feel we’re returning to the energy of the heart, becoming much more heart-centered, and learning to navigate life as one large family.

That might sound a little romantic, but I truly see it happening. People are transcending the old ways of being. I think relationships are the key.

It’s wonderful to speak with people from different parts of the world. Most of my conversations are with people in the United States, but talking to those who live elsewhere makes me wonder: Who drew these borders? Who created these separate cultures?

Of course, different cultures have their own beauty. But then we create sides—people we’re for or against, along with all these different alignments. How could I ever be against you? We’re both human beings.

Teja Wood: I had a fascinating experience on my own journey more than 15 years ago, when I encountered material about the ancient land of Lemuria. I won’t go too deeply into that story, but I experienced a profound sense of recognition and a memory of Lemurian times. I felt that many of us had been part of Lemuria.

Many people don’t consciously know that they were part of Lemuria, but they do remember a sense of paradise—an understanding that the world should be different and that we should live in harmony. It’s as though little children are born with this template in their hearts. They say, “This isn’t fair. We shouldn’t fight. We should be kind to each other.”

For most people, it’s only later that we learn from our environment to become more negative or close our hearts. My memory of Lemurian times, thousands and thousands of years ago, is that we lived in a heart-centered society. We still carry both an individual and collective memory of that society, reminding us of how life can be.

After the fall in consciousness, all these borders appeared and polarity intensified. In Lemurian times, polarity was very balanced. Now everything is based on opposition.

We’re healing that concept and returning to the heart. We’re learning to see through the heart rather than only through the mind, because the mind contains all sorts of constructs and beliefs we’ve been taught to accept.

Those ideas don’t arise naturally from our intuitive selves, souls, or spirits. They’re taught and conditioned through the matrix of this reality. I strongly feel that we’re now stepping outside that conditioning and breaking free from it.

Thank you for sharing that. I’ve read a little about your story, and I’m excited to hear more. You began having intuitive experiences at a young age. What is the first experience you can remember, and what happened?

Teja Wood: It’s an interesting story, and I’m sure many people have had similar experiences. It isn’t an isolated phenomenon, but this is my story.

Why are you downplaying it before you’ve even begun? You’re almost saying, “It’s not that amazing, and I don’t know whether you’ll judge me, but let me tell you.” Just tell us!

Teja Wood: I say that because I speak with many people who tell me, “I experienced that too, but I thought it was a dream,” or, “I thought I was going crazy.” If we’re honest with ourselves, I think many of us have had these experiences, especially as children.

Well, I haven’t—or at least I don’t remember anything!

Teja Wood: I have a somewhat unusual story. I’m adopted, and when I was born, I was left at a hospital. I remained there for about a year. I was supposed to go to an orphanage, but because I had a health problem, they kept me in the hospital.

My earliest memory is of my little body lying in a hospital bed. I was a baby—a newborn—but I remember experiencing myself as a fully adult consciousness. I was outside my body, moving around it and then coming back in. I remember it completely.

I also clearly remember one person in the hospital who cared for me. I was severely neglected there, and by the time I was adopted, I wasn’t in good health. But there was one nurse who truly cared for me. I still remember that she had red hair and wore glasses.

Years later, when I was perhaps five, six, or seven, I told my mother about these memories. She said, “No, you can’t remember that. Nobody remembers the first year of their life.”

I told her, “I do remember. I was fully adult and completely aware.” Then I described the nurse.

My mother said, “What? That’s exactly right.”

I said, “I’m telling you—I remember everything.”

I have many memories from that period of my life, but that was the first time I experienced myself as a fully mature consciousness, distinct from the body into which I had incarnated.

My next intense memory is from when I was about five. My mother had just celebrated her 50th birthday, and because our house was full of guests, I slept in her bed. I woke in the middle of the night and said, “Someone is robbing our house.”

She told me, “No, everything is fine. Go back to sleep.”

I insisted, “No, I heard a voice in my dream telling me that someone is robbing the house.”

She reassured me again, but when she woke the next morning, the house had been robbed—even though it had been full of people. All the gifts she had received for her 50th birthday were gone.

After that, I began having dreams about people crossing over. We wouldn’t yet know that someone had died, but they would come to me in a dream. Once, a family friend appeared and told me he had crossed over. He explained where and how it had happened and said he was incredibly happy. He wanted me to tell everyone that he was happy and that the other side was wonderful.

How old were you?

Teja Wood: I think I was about nine. I woke the next morning and told my mother what had happened. She looked at me and said, “Of course not. He’s alive and well.”

I replied, “No, he has crossed over.”

Two hours later, we received a phone call describing exactly what I had told her. She was astonished, but I said, “I told you—I spoke with him.”

I didn’t choose to be intuitive, and I didn’t choose to be a medium. At the time, there was no language for what I was experiencing. I’m approaching my 50th birthday in a few years, so I grew up before the internet. Things simply happened to me, including visits from spirits.

I have to say that these were always beautiful, blissful experiences. At first, deceased loved ones would visit and tell me how happy they were. Animals and departed pets came through as well, and I also felt a strong angelic presence when I was young.

During my teenage years, something else began to happen. Almost every night when I went to sleep, I had incredible experiences with beings I now understand to be ascended masters. At the time, I had no name for them. They were simply beautiful beings and teachers.

They usually didn’t show me their faces. They would remain behind me, guiding me through different experiences, showing me other worlds, and taking me to what I would now call halls of teaching and remembrance.

This continued throughout my teenage years, while I tried very hard to be normal. I wanted to live an ordinary teenage life, go out, and spend time with my friends. In many ways, I was leading a double life. At night, when I went to sleep, I knew I was going to journey.

When I was about 16, I decided that I had to understand what was happening to me. Until then, it had been such a normal part of growing up that I simply thought, “This is great.”

Did you tell your mother?

Teja Wood: Yes, and she loved it. She’s naturally very psychic and is a healer, although not in any formal sense. If I had a headache, for example, she would place her hands on my head and heal it.

Before you continue with what happened at 16, I’m curious about the cultural context. You grew up in Slovenia—and before we began recording, you gave me a wonderful education about the country. Tell people a little about Slovenia and the spiritual or religious environment in which you were raised.

Teja Wood: Slovenia is a religious country, and the primary religion is Christianity. However, it isn’t an intensely religious place, and I would say there is room for other beliefs as well.

These experiences were such a deep part of my inner world that I naturally shared them with my mother and immediate family. I received a great deal of support because my mother comes from a lineage of highly psychic women. This kind of feminine intuition ran through our family, so my experiences didn’t seem drastically different to them.

Socially, however, I didn’t share this part of myself with many people. I didn’t feel a need to. When I eventually did, around 18 or 19, people called me crazy, weird, and all sorts of other things. My peers pushed me aside and rejected me.

I interrupted you earlier. Let’s return to the age of 16, because it sounds as though something pivotal was happening then.

Teja Wood: At 16, I began to realize that not everyone was having the experiences I was having. Until then, I had assumed other people experienced similar things. I didn’t talk about it much because it was such a deep part of my inner world, but I thought it was normal.

Some of my friends did have similar experiences, but not to the same extent. Because there was no internet at the time, I went to the library and found several fascinating books about Tibetan Buddhism. They gave me insight into what might be happening.

Most importantly, I discovered the books of Carlos Castaneda. When I read about his shamanic experiences and the different doorways he moved through, I realized, “This is happening to me.”

The remarkable thing was that I could take a book from a shelf, open it, and find a description of precisely what I had experienced in a dream the night before. I felt completely guided through a process of remembering who we truly are.

At the same time, I had to integrate these experiences into an ordinary, day-to-day life. I remained grounded, practical, and engaged with the world while becoming more awakened or activated in relation to our true essence.

As you were having these experiences, how did you process or compartmentalize them? Did you have language for what was happening? If not, when did you begin developing that language?

Teja Wood: The books I read about Tibetan Buddhism and Carlos Castaneda’s work began giving me words, concepts, and a genuine understanding of what I was experiencing.

Interestingly, before I discovered those books about Tibet, I had many dreams in which I saw myself as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. I saw myself performing various practices that I knew nothing about in this lifetime.

Later, I might see a television program about Tibet and think, “My God, that was in my dream—the stupas and everything else.” Until then, I hadn’t encountered any of it in my present life. It all felt guided. The television programs, books, and other materials gave me context and language.

But I think the fullest language came much later, when I began working with people. It was as though the connection had always been open and activated, but I didn’t yet completely understand what it was.

When I was around 20, I found the books of psychic medium James Van Praagh and the work of Louise Hay. As I read them, I thought, “This is what’s happening. This is called being a medium. This is called being intuitive. This is universal intelligence. Now I understand.”

This may reveal my ignorance, but I ask about the things that genuinely interest me. When books like those were published, did they reach Slovenia right away? Was there a delay, and were they translated? How did that work?

Teja Wood: They were translated. Slovenia is now a very international country, but even when I was growing up, those books were being translated.

The interesting thing about Slovenia is that it’s a tiny country, yet its interest in spirituality really took off when the first books by Louise Hay arrived. Do you remember You Can Heal Your Life? That book changed the consciousness of the country.

My mother had it, all her friends had it, and they were all reading it and practicing affirmations. It was significant. I’m not saying everyone was doing it—far from it—but those books were available in translation.

Spiritual consciousness is very much alive in Slovenia. Remarkably, a country with a population of only about two million has so many healing centers, healers, and therapeutic modalities. Healthy living is also very important there.

You’re becoming an ambassador for Slovenian tourism! I can tell you’re trying to persuade people to visit.

Teja Wood: Absolutely! It’s such a beautiful country.

You said that something shifted when you were about 20. Was that when you began to sense that you were called to use your gifts to help others?

Teja Wood: Yes. As I said earlier, I was trying very hard to have a normal life. I wanted to preserve my spiritual side while also having a boyfriend, moving in with him, finishing my degree, fitting in, and following a conventional plan.

Then I began experiencing what I would call a spiritual activation—that moment when your soul takes over, and your human self has to move into the background. My human self was trying to create a safe, normal, acceptable life, but my soul said no.

I struggled with that, as many people do when their soul calls them. When a soul calling arrives, people think, “I don’t want to leave my job. I don’t want to let go of my relationship.” Intuitively, they know they’ve outgrown those things, and it’s time to move forward, but none of us wants to leave our comfort zone.

I didn’t want to let go, either. I decided, “No, I’m going to finish my degree and do what I want.”

Of all things, I was studying law. One day, I was preparing for an exam with these enormous, thick books in front of me, completely determined that this was what I would do with my life. Then an energy came through me—an absolute shower of consciousness.

The experience probably lasted only a few seconds, but I was shown two potential realities. In the first, I continued my studies and followed the path my human self wanted. That life had no meaning or purpose for my soul.

Then I was shown the other path, in which I let go of everything. I saw myself traveling around the world, working with people, and teaching them about light. That was the only concept I received: teaching about light. In that reality, I felt completely fulfilled. I knew, “This is it.”

At that moment, I thought, “My God, I remember now.”

I closed the book and never opened those law books again. I knew my path. It was a complete activation, and it was incredibly powerful.

Because I was still living at home, I walked out of my room and announced, “I’m dropping out of university. I’m going to travel around the world and teach people about light.”

You said that to your mother?

Teja Wood: Yes, and it created a tsunami of destruction in my life. The experience had been so powerful that I couldn’t downplay it and say, “Maybe I’ll do this.” I knew I was here to teach about light.

My mother is a beautiful, incredible soul—an angel—and very open-minded. But even she said, “Teja, calm down. Just finish your degree, and then you can do whatever you want.”

I told her, “No, I have to do it now. I saw it. Spirit spoke to me.”

She said, “Oh my God.”

I lost all my friends overnight. My entire old life was taken away from me. I went from having friends and relationships to being completely alone at 19 or 20. No one called, and no one wanted to spend time with me.

For approximately nine months, I went through a dark night of the soul. My soul was coming fully into my body, while my human self became smaller and moved into the background. It was a painful process.

At the same time, it was beautiful because I had an incredible spiritual connection. I could communicate with Spirit, and every night, I could journey anywhere. These beings took me to different places, training and preparing me for my work. But the daytime was extremely difficult because I had lost everything and felt profoundly disoriented.

Eventually, I began traveling and met teachers who showed me exactly what not to do and how not to behave when working with people.

Tell us more about that, because it’s important. You began connecting with people who weren’t helpful. We don’t need to name anyone, but people need to understand what happened.

Teja Wood: I knew I had to understand this calling. I had been told that I needed to teach about light, but what did that mean in practical, human terms?

I was guided to a teacher in New Zealand. When I arrived, I realized she wasn’t an honest teacher. She manipulated her students and tried to keep them under her control. I knew something was wrong and that this wasn’t how a spiritual teacher should behave.

Yet I also felt that I had been guided there for a reason. That’s important for people to understand: Sometimes our souls or intuition guide us toward experiences that are unpleasant or even deeply painful because they’re necessary.

I was sent to that teacher so I could clearly see what she was doing wrong. Instead of empowering people, she was taking their power away. To make a long story short, I eventually reported her, and the entire organization collapsed.

Did you report her to the police?

Teja Wood: I reported her to the appropriate authorities.

How long were you there?

Teja Wood: Altogether, probably a year and a half—perhaps two years at most.

That’s quite a long time. When you describe control, do you mean physical restrictions, such as being told where you could or couldn’t go?

Teja Wood: To some degree, but the control was primarily energetic. I learned that when it comes to spiritual teachers, gurus, or similar figures, there can be a very thin line between someone who is genuinely aligned, humble, and working from the heart and someone who is self-serving.

A self-serving person can be incredibly charismatic, but that doesn’t mean they’re authentic or empowering others. They may actually be taking people’s energy.

I learned that lesson early, and because of that, I can now recognize these dynamics easily. Some people have enormous audiences and are unfortunately very self-serving, although they may not even realize it. Others also have large audiences but genuinely work from the heart.

That experience taught me how to conduct myself when working with people. I learned what it means to work from the heart and to understand that the work isn’t about you or about celebrating you. You are simply the messenger. You’re still human, with all your shadows and imperfections.

I always tell my students that I’m in no way perfect. What comes through me is guidance from Spirit and teachers on the other side. I have the ability to communicate it, but I’m also a student. We’re all students of this higher wisdom.

After I managed to free myself—and consequently helped other people leave that situation—I met an extraordinary teacher. Her name was Margaret Birkin at the time, and she later became Margaret McElroy. She passed away approximately 10 years ago.

Margaret was a deep-trance channel for Ascended Master Maitreya, and she was well known in Australia and New Zealand. She was incredible.

I emailed her to book a reading. She knew nothing about me or my circumstances, but she replied, “Master says I need to help you. You’re in a situation where I’m meant to assist you.”

She sent me this entire email, and I thought, “My God.”

When we spoke on the phone, Maitreya immediately told me, “You were there because you needed to learn that lesson.” Margaret didn’t know anything about me, so it was astonishing.

Through her and the spiritual guidance she provided, Margaret helped me free myself from that situation and assist others as well. I later spent time with her in New Zealand, and she helped me immensely.

I would say that Margaret clarified my path and that Ascended Master Maitreya truly placed me upon it. I was only 22 or 23, and what I felt guided me to do was completely different from what most people my age were doing. I was on an entirely different trajectory. Most of my friends were in their 50s, 60s, or 70s because they had the life experience I was seeking.

I’m immensely grateful to Margaret and Maitreya. The information, confirmation, and energy I received changed my life.

Maitreya sent me back to Slovenia and said, “It’s time for you to begin teaching.”

I asked, “Teaching what?”

“Meditation.”

I said, “What? I don’t even know.”

“We will give you everything,” he replied. “It’s time for you to start working with people.”

And that’s exactly what happened. I returned to Slovenia, and circumstances arranged themselves around me. I began teaching groups, and people came to me.

I had never given readings before, yet the right information came through. I practiced mediumship, and the right information came. I led meditations, and all the energy arrived.

That’s why I always say my work is fully guided. From the very first day, Maitreya told me, “The masters and all of us in Spirit will give you all the answers and all the energy.”

I said, “Okay.”

I’ve never prepared for a workshop or anything else because I’m not allowed to.

I wish it worked that way for me! I prepare for everything. Maybe I need to stop preparing. That’s amazing.

Thank you for sharing that. It’s incredibly powerful. One thing I love about your story is its uniqueness, even though you tend to say it isn’t unusual. You had these experiences when you were young, with turning points at 16, 18, and 20. Most people I interview don’t enter this world until after their first divorce or bankruptcy. That’s when they have a dark night of the soul and become ready for spirituality.

Perhaps they had experiences as children, too, but it’s fascinating to hear the trajectory that led you to begin serving people in your 20s. During the past 20 years, have there been seasons when you thought, “I don’t know whether I want to do this anymore. This is too difficult”? Or has it been smooth sailing?

Teja Wood: We’re all human. I’ve always known this was my path. I didn’t have to try very hard or put in a tremendous amount of effort because I simply followed my guidance. All the doors opened, and everything seemed to be waiting for me.

But as a human being, I had my own struggles. Many of them involved trying to fit in, because when you begin this path so young, no one understands you.

I was in my 20s, and I wanted a partner, perhaps a child, and a nice life. At the time, I couldn’t find anyone who shared that level of understanding. When I look at people in their 20s and 30s today, they seem very different. They’re much more spiritually activated.

In my time, I was incredibly lonely. I went through periods when I desperately wanted to fit in. It wasn’t that I wanted to abandon my work, because I knew it was my path. I struggled to align that work with the rest of my life.

Even when I met someone interested and supportive, I often knew they weren’t meant to remain with me because their path was different. Yet I still tried to hold on. That was an area in which I struggled greatly.

Friendships were also challenging, especially in the early years. People sometimes entered my work and befriended me without having the best intentions. I was very young, naive, and inexperienced, yet I had this gift. It was a difficult journey because I always saw the good in people—only the good. It took a long time to develop discernment.

There were periods when I was deeply heartbroken. I would ask Spirit, “Why did you allow this to happen? You give me all this guidance and all these answers, but when it comes to my own life, why do I have to go through this? Why didn’t you protect me?”

I had to go through it because I needed to grow and evolve. Being intuitive doesn’t remove the journey you’re here to experience. We’re all on a hero’s journey. You still have to face your fears, empower yourself, and work through your challenges.

Looking back now, I’m genuinely grateful for every one of those experiences. My work includes a great deal of archetypal exploration, helping people understand their shadows and inner worlds so they can transcend their challenges. In many ways, I underwent all the archetypal initiations myself.

You can’t embody your soul’s purpose and true energy by skipping the lessons. You have to become fully human, enter the rawest experiences, and find your way through them. My experiences of heartbreak, betrayal, and loneliness were essential to my growth and embodiment.

Now, when I guide people through these processes, I don’t paint a picture suggesting that living your soul calling and purpose is always easy. It’s a journey—a deeply archetypal path of transformation and alchemy. You transmute your greatest pain and sorrow into your greatest wisdom. That is the only way.

Those were the times when I truly struggled.

Thank you for sharing that. You mentioned the term “soul calling,” which is also the name of your business, Soul Calling. How would you define a soul calling? Do we all have one, and can we have more than one?

Teja Wood: People interpret concepts such as soul purpose, life purpose, and soul calling in different ways. To simplify it, I believe we all have a soul purpose, but we don’t necessarily all have what I define as a spiritual calling.

Every soul comes into this world to learn and evolve. We have soul contracts with different people in our lives, along with unfinished karma, lessons, and healing. A person may also be here to do something meaningful in the world. Everyone has that layer, which I sometimes call a life purpose.

When people try to determine what to do with their lives, they may examine their skills and gifts. That falls within the area of life purpose. Our relationships and the lessons they contain can also be part of that purpose.

A spiritual calling is different. It occurs when you undergo a spiritual activation, experience a dark night of the soul, and awaken to the point that your soul begins to take over. It’s almost as though the soul says, “You’ve had enough human experience in this lifetime. You now have enough material to transmute into higher wisdom. It’s time for the soul to lead.”

That’s when people begin to feel that their old lives no longer fit. They know they’ve outgrown certain things and may want to go back, but they can’t. It can be a highly dramatic awakening, or it can be a subtle awareness that you no longer fit into your former life, even though you don’t yet know what comes next.

A spiritual calling often arises when, through your own process, you realize that everything you’ve learned—along with your skills and spiritual gifts—isn’t only meant to help you create a comfortable life. It’s also meant to serve and support others on the journey.

Perhaps you’ve lived through a devastating loss, divorce, or another profound experience. You undergo your spiritual awakening and eventually realize, “My God, I helped myself through this. Now I can help others.” Then you begin supporting people who are facing similar experiences.

At the beginning of our conversation, you asked what I believe is happening in the world. This is part of it: We’re helping one another transcend and alchemize old, heavy karmic experiences so that we can move into a more elevated and aligned way of being.

A spiritual calling is the need to serve something greater than yourself, and it can manifest anywhere. You might be the CEO of a very conventional corporation but feel in your heart, “I need to create this for these people. I need to support them.” That can be a profoundly spiritual calling.

It can emerge in any area of life. Your soul’s purpose might be expressed through your experience as a parent and your desire to help other parents. It doesn’t have to become a vocation.

I resonate deeply with what you’re saying. I love the language you use, especially the idea that the soul can take over and guide us in those moments.

Do you believe every person has that kind of soul calling? I appreciate the distinction you make between a life purpose and a spiritual calling. Why don’t some people activate the latter during their lifetime?

Teja Wood: I think of Earth as a school. The souls incarnating now—especially during this period of enormous transformation—are arriving at many different levels. We don’t have one synchronized consciousness on Earth. It’s chaotic because so many levels of consciousness coexist here.

Many souls are here to complete their learning. The energies present now allow them to undergo whatever experiences they need—to resolve conflicts, heal, face their shadows, or complete other lessons.

At the same time, many souls have lived many lifetimes. We might call them old souls, although I prefer to think of them as experienced or mature souls. They don’t necessarily come into this world because they’re karmically required to. They choose to come here to serve.

From the way I experience and perceive it, when we’re in the spirit world planning our next lives, some souls know they need to return. Others feel called to serve and have a spiritual calling. They design their lives around the question, “How can I best arrange my life so that I can serve?”

If you’re a more mature soul who came here to serve, you may spend one portion of your life immersed in very human experiences. But eventually, as you described, that sense of service becomes impossible to ignore. You feel, “This is what I need to do.”

People often say we have free will here. But in many ways, those of us who came to serve have surrendered our free will. We don’t have the same kind of freedom as someone who came here primarily to complete their own lessons.

Of course, we still have free will in certain ways. But we have surrendered it to a higher will: “Thy will be done.” That is really the will of our higher self.

I do not like that answer! It’s crazy to hear you say that I don’t have the same free will—and yet I resonate with it. I can’t escape this sense of calling. It doesn’t feel as though I’m trying to make up for something, prove myself, or earn anything. I simply want to create things that make the world better or help people.

I haven’t done that perfectly. I’ve made some real mistakes, but the underlying current has always been a desire to serve. When I was a pastor, that calling was mixed with the thought, “If I can grow this church large enough and help enough people, I’ll finally be somebody.” I was also trying to fill a place within me that felt inadequate.

Over the years, I hope that need to prove myself has diminished. The most compelling force that remains is the soul calling—the desire to serve. If someone feels that call but fears they’ll have to surrender something, perhaps even an old identity, the cost can seem too high. What advice or encouragement would you offer that person?

Teja Wood: A soul calling enters people’s lives in different ways. For some, it’s dramatic—a tsunami. For others, it arrives as a whisper.

If yours is a whisper rather than something dramatic, and you still feel you have a choice, I understand the desire to hold on. We’re all human. But you don’t have to force yourself to change everything overnight.

As you follow the path, things begin to shift organically. The path of service starts with your own inner work. As you move through clearing, healing, shadow work, and everything required to come into alignment, you reach stages at which releasing certain things becomes natural.

We undergo many smaller identity shifts to expand our capacity to embody our soul’s light. Identity work is very important because we’re all attached to who we’ve been. Over time, as you explore inner-child work, ancestral healing, and other practices, you begin to change. Eventually, you realize, “I need to release this.”

You don’t have to force yourself. Letting go arises naturally through your inner work.

However, if we don’t listen when the universe or our soul whispers, that gentle nudge eventually becomes a tsunami. I always say, “Listen to the gentle nudge.” If you ignore it, the tsunami is inevitable. It might not happen now, but it could arrive in two years.

That doesn’t mean you’re being punished. Your soul is simply saying, “Darling, we’re wasting time. There’s a reason you’re here. It’s time to get on with it.”

What role does grief play in the process of letting go and shifting your life and identity?

Teja Wood: Grief is a significant part of the process, so I’m glad you brought it up. As you move along this path, you’re constantly releasing certain things. Eventually, you may reach the state of nonattachment described in Buddhism.

You begin to understand what this world is and how your soul is meant to manifest its gifts and talents here. The grief that felt so strong and deep at the beginning doesn’t remain quite as raw. It becomes more like a quiet companion.

When you first make major changes—or when life takes charge and makes them for you—you can experience immense, raw grief. Grief is powerful because it takes us into the depths and breaks down the ego, including our personalities and identities.

We often think grief means everything is over: “This is it. The game is over.” But we’re actually being guided through a profound initiation. When we reach the other side, we experience rebirth. We’re renewed and regenerated if we allow ourselves to follow the process.

Some people become stuck in grief, which is different. They may not have moved through the entire process because part of them is unwilling to let go and move forward.

At this stage of your life, how do you serve people who are going through that process?

Teja Wood: I teach a variety of courses, and I’m about to introduce an entirely new way of working. In November, I’ll launch a membership circle that brings together everything I’ve developed over the last 20 to 25 years.

The work combines inner-child healing, past-life healing, and ancestral work. These are the roots we need to clear first.

From there, we move into the trunk of the tree, which represents archetypal work. We explore the different archetypal stages, including the maiden and the adult. Once we’ve completed that deep clearing of our roots, we begin redefining ourselves as human beings with practical, everyday lives.

You redefine the way you live. The process begins with clearing, followed by activation and the awakening of your spiritual gifts. It doesn’t happen overnight.

I guide people through trainings, the membership circle, and a limited number of one-on-one mentorships each year. The circles are beautiful, deep, intimate, and often life-changing.

Many students I’ve worked with have gone on to open healing centers, become therapists, offer this work to others, or lead women’s circles. It’s beautiful to witness the consciousness spreading through these tools for healing and empowerment.

You also have the Soul Calling app, which is nearly ready to be released.

Teja Wood: Yes, it will be released in just a few days. Over the years, I’ve created so much content and accumulated so many recordings that I wondered what to do with it all. I decided to put everything into an app.

The app contains years of work—my entire body of content. People can complete different trainings, access membership content, and listen to approximately 150 meditations. It’s designed to help people activate and embody their purpose.

I love the accessibility of it. You might be on a train or commuting to work, and you can simply put on your headphones, listen to something, or do a meditation. It becomes much easier to remain on your path and stay aligned.

Many people attend retreats, trainings, or weekend workshops and then Monday morning arrives. They experience a significant energetic drop and think, “I have to return to reality now.”

But what if it doesn’t have to be that way? What if you could live within your material reality at a completely different frequency—and that frequency could begin changing your reality?

That’s why I created the app. It’s accessible to anyone who wants to cultivate deeper alignment in daily life and progress, step by step, toward full embodiment. I’m very excited about it.

Can people find it in the iOS and Android app stores?

Teja Wood: No, it works a little differently. Visit SoulCalling.com, where you’ll see a large banner inviting you to download the app and access the free membership.

I’ll be offering many beautiful free meditations, mini-workshops, and other resources. If someone isn’t ready to make a significant commitment, engage with a large amount of content, or delve too deeply, the free membership offers a wonderful place to begin.

It gives people a little taste—an easy starting point without feeling overwhelmed. You also offer a two-year certification to become a Certified Soul Purpose Mentor. Who is that for, and how would it benefit someone?

Teja Wood: I primarily work with women. They’re beautiful souls who feel the profound spiritual calling we’ve been discussing. They’re here to serve and have extraordinary gifts. They’ve faced many challenges, but they also feel they’ve outgrown their current lives.

They’re looking for the next step and asking, “What do I do with my life? I know I’m meant to do something else, but I don’t know what it is.”

The Soul Purpose Mentorship takes them through every stage of the inner work needed to come into alignment. It also teaches them how to share what they’ve learned with others. By the end of the certification, participants understand exactly how to work with people.

I’ve developed my own archetypal system centered on Soul Calling and soul-purpose archetypes. It relates to the distinction we discussed earlier between life purpose and soul purpose.

Graduates learn to work with these archetypes and incorporate the system into their own practices. They can use it to coach and support others as they step onto their true paths.

People can find that program at SoulCalling.com as well. That’s such a great URL—I’m glad you found it!

We’ve recently been ending our conversations with a fun question: What purchase under $100 has recently made a difference in your life?

Teja Wood: It would obviously be a crystal—I buy many crystals! This one is a Himalayan quartz. It’s small, but I absolutely love the color.

I felt guided to find a Himalayan quartz. I suddenly knew I needed one, found it online, and thought, “This is the one.” I purchased it from a local seller here in Australia.

I collect crystals and have so many of them. I feel deeply connected to them.

I love it! Visit SoulCalling.com, explore the app, and sign up for the free membership to experience Teja’s work and get started. Thank you for everything you’re doing in the world. I resonate with your heart, your perspective, your desire to serve, and the way you’re bringing that service to others.

Teja Wood: Thank you. It’s wonderful to meet people who feel the same way. There’s such a strong resonance, and I’m deeply grateful to be part of this. Thank you so much for having me today.