Speaking My Truth - Episode 1

I grew up in a Pentecostal home, deeply rooted in Christianity, prayer, and tradition. And while I will always be grateful for that foundation, I knew early on that I had questions. Questions about God, about spirituality, and about whether there was more beyond what I was taught in church.

In this first episode of The Spiritual Realest, I’m speaking my truth. I’m sharing how my spiritual journey evolved from a traditional Christian upbringing into exploring deeper spiritual practices like Palo Santo, tarot cards, astrology, and connecting with my ancestors.

I open up about a powerful spiritual reading that changed everything for me, when my grandfather came through and affirmed who I am, what I carry, and what I was called to do. That moment helped me release guilt, embrace my spiritual gifts, and understand that my path was never meant to look like everyone else’s.

This is not about leaving God. This is about understanding Him more deeply.

I still pray. I still stand on the Word. I still believe in God as the ultimate creator. But I have also learned that spirituality can include multiple tools and experiences that bring you closer to Him in a more personal and intimate way.

If you have ever felt curious about spirituality, questioned your beliefs, struggled with guilt for wanting to explore things like tarot or astrology, or felt like you did not fully fit into traditional religion, this episode is for you.

We are talking about faith, spirituality, Christian upbringing, personal growth, energy, manifestation, and what it really means to walk your own path with God.

Follow The Spiritual Realest on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review if this episode speaks to you. That is how we grow and reach more people who need this message.

Make sure you are following and engaging with me on Instagram so we can continue the conversation and build this community together.

I’m Scarlet Draught. Heavenly minded but earthly good.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This is the Spiritual Realist, and I'm Scarlett Drown. This is a space for honest conversation about spirituality, individuality, and growth. Welcome to opening your mind without pressure, performance, or pretending. From views to poor heavenly minded, but earthly good.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

From church fans to creed Mama had a Bible open. Grandma had a jar of roots.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

But the church still knew the truth.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Let's begin.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Let the spirit speak.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

So first I'm going to atone us with a single. And this will help us be connected in our spirits and our mind and kind of get away the negative thoughts or the negative energy that may be around. So today we're going to use and talk about Palo Santo. This is Palo Santo. This came from Brazil, and this is what you burn when you're trying to keep and bring in positive energy. It's a lot of times it's misused because people use it as a sage, and it is not. Sage has a whole different property to it. Sage takes away negative energy. Sage gets rid of things that are stagnant in that sense. But Palo Santo, it keeps all of the positive energy in. This brings about great vibes and high energy. It keeps you grounded. It keeps you in a space of high vibration. So if there's stagnant energy in your house and you can't get rid of it, or if it's something that you feel a little stuck and you just need a little pep in your step, you grab you some Palo Santo. So today we're going to use the scent in our air diffuser. And you can get it if you're in a space where you cannot burn, you can get the essential oil. And this will help you have the same energy, but in an essential oil form. I'm going to pour some in there. And then we're going to put it back in our handy dandy alabaster box. Then you just replace the lid, wait for the vibes, and take it all in. The reason why I am doing the podcast is because I grew up in a Christian home Pentecostal. My parents are very heavily religious, which I love. You know, I am grateful for my upbringing and my childhood. But I had a lot of questions as a kid. I believed in other things that my parents may have shot down when I was younger. For instance, I'm a big on astrology. I believe in the signs. I believe in the stars. I believe that those things exist. But it's something that I really couldn't get into, you know, as a younger person. So this podcast is for me to show how I got into other things spiritually, not just Christianity. I still use the Bible, I still use Psalms, I still sing Christian music. However, I do use other means of tapping into my spirituality to manifest and get the things in the life that I desire. So I will start telling you how I got into this. I went to a Christian university for my four-year degree, and I still questioned, you know, is there something more than what I know and what I was taught? And there was fast forward in my life, and I ended up owning a restaurant with my spouse and one of my customers, they saw me starting to get into crystals, right? They saw me starting to do things and ask questions that were outside of the biblical terms of what we know as God. And he gave me a phone number. He said, Hey, I think you'll be interested in having this reading done with this guy who beats bones. And I'm thinking, bones? Bones, really? And I go and I was like, it took me a while, but I made it my birthday gift. And I said, okay, and I paid him. And I sat in the car on a break after the lunch rush, and I called him up. And the first person that came through was my grandfather. And let me give you a little history. My grandfather was the hog man from King Street, South Carolina. And for those of you who know, that's the Gulla Beachie corridor. And so a lot of things that I grew up in and around, you know, started coming back to me even before this. And he just came through in these readings and he said, Hey, we're readers, and you need to get some cards because you need to bring us back. You need to bring our lineage back to reading. And now my whole life, I was very interested in tarot, like my entire life. But everybody knows in a Christian home, that's not getting ready to happen. So I happened to be parked in the parking lot where there was a used bookstore. And I walked in and I brought my very first deck of tarot cards. It came with a little book with the explanation on the cards and a deck of cards. All I know is he was like, put them under your pillow, and everything else will work out naturally. And here we are. But I have a lot of tarot cards, and that just begot one thing from another thing to another thing. And that opened me up to a whole different aspect of spirituality. I do not, under any circumstances, condemn any religion for any reason because I feel like God is in everything. And so if it's what brings you faith and it's what keeps you going, then by all means, that is what you should practice. That is what you should live. That is your truth. For me, this in different elements is my truth. And it's how I live and it's what I need to move forward in life. So let me take you back. The reason why him mentioning my grandfather's name was so comforting for me, it's because my grandparents were a pinnacle in our lives, and they're a pinnacle in my family's lives. And so for him to have mentioned my grandfather, especially those particular sets of grandparents, that literally eased my soul at accepting what he was saying to me. Because at the end of the day, we don't want to be disappointments, right? But for my grandfather to come to me and say, hey, I know that you've been different your whole life. I know that you've been different from your family your whole life. This is why, and this is what it means for you. So don't hold the guilt of what you feel is a sin or what you feel is bad against yourself. Have peace that you were born for this. This is what made you. This is why you were created, so that you could bring our lineage, which we're very proud of my grandparents. I mean, our whole family, we still talk about them consistently to this day. My grandparents ended their lives with us. So they were a staple and a rock in our family. And so when he started talking about my grandfather, and there's no way this guy knew that. Like it's impossible. It's impossible that he knew this is how I grew up, these are the things that happened. There's no way I've never met him. I still have never seen this person, literally to this day, with my own eyes, right? So there's no way this had to be of God for this person to tell me these things that he had no earthly way of knowing. And that alone was a comfort to me to let me know, okay, God, this isn't just me wanting something. This is you guiding my path and guiding my way to the next step and the next journey of my life. And I got a lot of sovereignts in that. And to let you know how real this was, I had a grandmother on my father's side. These are my mother's parents. And so when I'm talking about the ones that showed up, these are the Gulla Geechee grandparents that I have. And so I asked when at the end, he said, Well, do you want to hear or know from any of your past relatives? So I started asking about my father's relatives. And I had a grandmother from my father's side, and she was heavy in the church. This is how I learned how to pray. She was a prayer mother. I mean, she was known throughout our region. I've never seen so much money before in my life because they presented her with this shawl full of money. This is how deep she was in the church. And I asked about her, and she said to him, uh-uh, don't come for me. I'm a Christian, and that is what I believe. Now, let me tell y'all something. The fact that she said that, and I know this to be true, right? I know who she is, and I know she was a pillar in the church. She started a prayer board, she was the mother of the prayer board. And so for her to say that even in her death, this is how I knew that we make choices in this life. And this is how afterlife for me works as well. And she made that choice that even though I was asking about her, that she stands in her Christianity. But my grandparents on my mother's side, who also grew up Christian, and I they grew up Christian, but they grew up different types of Christian. They grew up still doing African traditional things as well as serving God. My grandfather was in a quartet group for 51 years, singing around, made albums and everything. So, you know, that just presented me with it's okay. It's okay to have this belief, it's okay to have that belief, it's okay to be different in different ways and still serve God. And so this is what I was left with. I was left with the guilt of wanting to explore other forms of spirituality in with the okay and with the approval of people that I adore in a very loving way. I adore my grandparents. So the fact that I was able to experience a transactional spiritual release to explore something different was amazing to me. And I am grateful that I had the opportunity because that got me here. And I am here today because I just want other people to know that it's okay to have a feeling of wanting to do something different or wanting to explore something different or wanting to go into or try something different. It doesn't make you evil, it doesn't make you darkness, it doesn't make you wicked, it makes you open to other avenues to have a relationship with God in you. Remember, the Bible says, walk out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So there is nothing that should hinder you from having a relationship with God. So if it's as simple as burning Palo Santo, right? Or if it's as simple as getting an altar and putting some water, a flour, and a candle on there so that you can get in touch with your ancestors, so that they can help guide you on your next path. If it's as simple as assemble to ground yourself and to stay stable in this world, right? Try it. Crystals can create a great opening and avenue to keep you grounded and to keep you um focused on what it is you're trying to do and how it is you're trying to be free enough to experience God in a different way. God is not in a box. He did not create a box for us to be in. If you think about the scriptures, the most chastising God did was in the church, it was in the building. He rarely chastised or didn't chastise those outside. He chastised those in because at the end of the day, it's love. Love is what drives us, love is what keeps us, love is what has God put us on this earth for. Each of us are meant to touch somebody in a different way with different things. Each of us are meant to make a difference. If it's just one person that you saved or that you helped, guess what? You did your job. There's different ways to have a relationship with God, but there is only one God. And therefore, I wanted to be really clear on setting the atmosphere, is that when I speak of God, I speak of the same God you serve. I speak of the same God you talk about, I speak of the same God that you desire. I speak of the same God that you have a relationship with. I just have other tools and other avenues that help me in my worship and in my servanthood for God. Because at the end of the day, I want to live out my purpose by helping those that don't know, or helping those to get in touch with, or helping those that want to be closer to him in an intimate way. And sometimes it doesn't come from the church. Sometimes it doesn't come straight just out of the Bible. Sometimes it comes with experience. And I've been blessed to have a lot of experience, and I've been blessed to have gifts, and I've been blessed to be given things that will help, tools that will help facilitate your relationship with the one and only God. Again, to be really clear that God is the creator, and there is nothing above him. I do not worship my ancestors, I do not worship other deities, I do not worship things of this earth. I worship God. I speak to my ancestors, yes. I dine with my ancestors, yes, because without them I would not be here. So I wanted to be really clear on these key points. God is the creator, period. God is the creator, and therefore there should be no other God before him. So I do not worship anything other than the ultimate God. However, like angels, he has put other things on this earth to commune with us and to help guide us and to help move us through this earthly experience. Because remember, we're spiritual beings living in earthly experience. And therefore, we have tools that other beings don't have that we can tap into and be more intimate with him. So I implore you that if you have a curiosity, and maybe your curiosity is a crystal, or maybe your curiosity is an ancestor altar, or maybe your curiosity is a sambol, maybe your curiosity is sage or Paulo Santo stick, maybe it's astrology, and maybe you wanted to know: hey, what's my chart like? What is it that I can do? How can I planetorially see my life's alignment or my life path? Whatever that thing is that you were curious about getting into, I would like you to take the opportunity to just try it. You'll feel it in your gut if it's for you. You will know without a shadow of a doubt, yes, this is for me, or no, this is not for me. Don't fear the unknown. Get to know it because that is how we move forward in life. I'm Scarlet Drought, earthly minded and heavenly good. Don't forget to give yourself freedom this week to try something different. Try something that you wanted to try and you never tried before. And remember, you are earthly good and you can be heavenly minded. From church fans to create.