Being Seen as Shadow Alchemy With Emily Iris | Penetrate Radio, Episode 12
In Episode 12 of Penetrate Radio, Lucy Baldwin speaks with Emily Iris, a certified Existential Kink coach, astrology mentor, content mentor, and spiritual entrepreneur whose work centers on helping people bring back their spark and become more fully seen.
Emily’s work lives at the intersection of shadow work, social media, erotic visibility, spiritual business, astrology, sex work, feminine power, and the Promethean joy of letting yourself be too much. She speaks openly about being a stripper, a coach, a conduit, a “monstrous angel,” and a person who has had to integrate the parts of herself that did not fit the image of the polished spiritual entrepreneur.
This conversation is about visibility as Shadow Alchemy. It is about the sweat of being seen, the kink of telling the truth publicly, the freedom of refusing to shrink back into a more acceptable form, and the strange medicine of letting your full self become the permission slip.
Watch or listen to Episode 12 of Penetrate Radio here:
Key Takeaways
In this episode, Lucy and Emily explore:
visibility as a form of Shadow Alchemy
Emily’s work helping spiritual entrepreneurs bring back their spark
the friction between sex work, spiritual business, coaching, and public identity
stripping as temple work, performance, power, play, and energetic exchange
why hiding taboo parts of yourself drains creative energy
the Promethean archetype of stealing fire and bringing inspiration back to others
being seen online without shrinking, sanitizing, or over-polishing
social media as a place to polarize, provoke, and wake people up
the monstrous angel as a conduit, messenger, and reality-shattering archetype
Existential Kink as a practice of integrating yucky yums and recurring devils
the importance of community when becoming freer and more visible
why you cannot go back once you have expanded into more of yourself
Bringing Back the Spark
Emily describes her current work as helping people bring back their spark. This came through her astrology, but more importantly, it came through her life. She has known what it feels like to let the world become a wet blanket over joy, fun, inspiration, and creative fire.
That spark matters because spiritual work can easily become heavy. Many people begin the path because they find beauty, meaning, connection, insight, and magic. Then, if they try to build a spiritual business, the whole thing can become loaded with pressure. Suddenly the work that once felt alive is tangled in performance, anxiety, marketing, self-consciousness, and the fear of being seen.
Emily’s medicine is simple and fierce: if you are not having fun, something is off. Spiritual business does not have to become a joyless ordeal. Your work can have resonance, aliveness, humor, heat, mischief, and spark.
That is not frivolous. It is part of the magic.
The Spiritual Entrepreneur and the Taboo Self
One of the richest threads in the conversation is Emily’s honesty about being a stripper and sex worker while also working in spiritual and coaching spaces.
She names the friction clearly. Some part of her believed that to be taken seriously as a spiritual business owner, she needed to be ascetic, polished, meditating for an hour a day, and behaving like an acceptable spiritual authority. But that is not who she is. She is wild, explicit, funny, provocative, embodied, and uninterested in pretending to be more ladylike than she is.
That is exactly where the Shadow Alchemy lives.
When a person tries to hide the taboo part of themselves in order to fit a spiritual image, the hidden part does not disappear. It creates friction. It drains energy. It makes the public self feel false.
Emily’s integration is not about choosing between sex work and spirituality. It is about refusing the split. She can be spiritual, magical, serious about her work, and also an absolute freak. There is no reason the sacred should require her to become less alive.
Stripping as Temple, Play, and Energetic Exchange
Emily speaks about stripping in a way that is playful, irreverent, and energetically precise. She describes the club as a kind of temple: men come in, worship, bask in feminine energy, and give money to be in her presence.
That framing is provocative, but it reveals something important. The strip club becomes a place where power, desire, performance, projection, money, sexuality, shame, healing, manipulation, devotion, and play all move through the room at once.
Emily does not flatten the work into a single moral category. Sometimes she is there for fun. Sometimes for money. Sometimes to practice healing with men. Sometimes to play with the con. Sometimes to be worshiped. Sometimes to watch human psychology unfold in real time.
That complexity is the point. Shadow work lives in the places where clean moral stories break down and the raw play of human desire becomes visible.
The Naked Person in the Room
Emily describes something fascinating about being the naked person in the room. Because she is visibly vulnerable, other people often become vulnerable too.
Clients ask what she likes to do, and she talks about astrology, books, psyche, and studying people. She jokes that she likes to crack into people’s psyches and look under the hood because she is a voyeur of the human experience. That kind of honesty opens people. They begin telling her things. They become available to be seen.
This is one of the ways Emily functions as a conduit. She is not necessarily trying to heal everyone. She is simply being who she is in a field where people are already charged, exposed, desirous, ashamed, curious, and looking for something.
Sometimes healing happens because the person in front of you is embodied enough to say the thing you did not know you were allowed to say.
Protecting the Energy That Makes Visibility Possible
Emily is very clear that her work as a dancer requires enormous energy. She does it about ten days a month and plans those days around the phases of her cycle when she has the energy and patience for men.
That detail matters because visibility has a cost. Being turned up to ten, performing femininity, holding boundaries, interacting with many different people, managing projections, and staying energetically alive takes capacity.
Emily balances that intensity with solitude. Outside of dancing, she is often private, protective of her energy, and not especially social in town. People joke that seeing her out and about is like spotting a favorite cryptid.
This is a mature visibility lesson. Being seen does not mean being constantly available. In fact, the more powerfully you put yourself out there, the more important it becomes to know when to withdraw, rest, and protect the field.
Performing Femininity While Being in Your Masculine
Emily names the paradox of her work beautifully: she is performing femininity while being in her masculine.
On the surface, stripping may look like pure feminine display: beauty, receptivity, softness, sensuality, movement, erotic presence. But the work also requires strong masculine structure. She is holding boundaries, making decisions, managing money, reading people, controlling the container, and refusing to collapse into whatever the room projects onto her.
This is one of the reasons the work can be so fascinating. It is not simply passive display. It is active performance, energetic command, and embodied strategy.
That same paradox applies to spiritual entrepreneurship. To be seen online, you may need both feminine magnetism and masculine structure. You need aliveness, but also boundaries. Beauty, but also backbone. Pleasure, but also strategy. Vulnerability, but also discernment.
The Monstrous Angel
Lucy asks Emily about the tattoo on her chest, and Emily explains that it is a seraphim: one of the high orders of angels in Abrahamic traditions, full of wings, eyes, light, fire, symbols, and praise.
Emily connects this to her own sense of having an angelic soul and embodying the monstrous angel. This is not the soft, sentimental angel of greeting cards. It is the angel who arrives as a terrifying, overwhelming messenger and has to begin by saying, “Be not afraid.”
That archetype fits Emily’s work beautifully. She sees herself as a conduit and messenger, someone who may say things that shatter a person’s perception of reality. She enjoys the moment when she has a key that fits a lock someone is stuck in. As a coach, and as a coach in the wild, that is part of her yum.
This is visibility as spiritual function. The point is not merely to be watched. The point is to bring a frequency that interrupts the trance.
Inanna, Descent, and Feminine Power
Emily also has the star of Inanna on her chest, connecting her to the ancient myth of the goddess’s descent into the underworld.
Inanna’s story is one of stripping away. She descends through gates and gives up symbols of power until she is naked in the underworld. It is a myth of descent, death, exposure, and return.
That symbolism is deeply aligned with this episode. Being seen is not only about becoming shiny and visible in public. It is also about letting the false protections fall away. It is about descending into the underworld of shame, taboo, desire, sex, money, pride, rage, and public judgment, then returning with a more integrated self.
Emily’s work with visibility is not superficial. It is underworld work with a phone camera.
Existential Kink and the Yucky Yum
Emily describes her first encounter with Existential Kink as a switch flipping in her brain. As someone already familiar with physical kink, she understood the concept quickly. If you already know about yucky yums, you understand that pleasure, disgust, shame, and power can be tangled together in strange ways.
Existential Kink gave her language for that same structure in life.
She describes the ongoing process as pulling a scarf out of the mouth of the subconscious. You integrate one kink, and another appears. A pattern you thought you had alchemized returns at a different level, from a slightly different angle. There is a new devil at every level.
That is not failure. That is the divine spiral of life. The same material comes around again, but you meet it from a new perspective. The work keeps deepening because the psyche keeps revealing more.
Being Publicly Sweaty
One of the most alive parts of the episode is Emily talking about posting publicly about playing men, conning men, and letting the taboo material show up in her content.
She describes it as sweaty. That is the right word. Being seen in your real shadow, your real humor, your real desire, and your real provocation does not feel clean and easy. It activates the body. It brings heat, exposure, risk, and the fear of being misunderstood or attacked.
This is especially true online. Social media rewards polarization and punishes blandness. If you say something with force, people may project, rage, argue, accuse, desire, admire, or misunderstand. That is part of the field.
Emily is interested in helping spiritual entrepreneurs get used to that sensation. You are not going to die from shame, embarrassment, comments, or trolling. If you want to be seen, the body has to learn that visibility is survivable.
Social Media as Shadow Alchemy
Emily’s current work helps spiritual entrepreneurs, healers, spicy workers, and coaches put themselves out there on social media with more courage and fun.
This is a very contemporary form of Shadow Alchemy. Social media brings up enormous charge: visibility, judgment, jealousy, comparison, shame, performance, imposter syndrome, polarizing truth, envy, desire, and fear of being too much.
For many spiritual entrepreneurs, the block is not that they do not know what to say. It is that they cannot tolerate the sensation of being seen saying it.
Emily’s perspective is refreshingly direct. If she can stand topless in a room full of people staring and not tipping, and yell, “Are you not entertained?” then a spiritual entrepreneur can get on camera and say who they are and who they help.
That is both funny and true.
Polarization Is Part of the Game
Emily is not trying to help people become universally liked online. In fact, part of what she teaches is the willingness to polarize.
For spiritual entrepreneurs, this can be hard. Many people in this world want to be loving, helpful, generous, healing, and good. They do not want people upset in the comments. They do not want to be misunderstood. They do not want to be accused of being too much, too provocative, too sexual, too intense, too direct, or too strange.
But if your real work is alive, it will not be for everyone.
Polarization does not mean being cruel for attention. It means telling the truth strongly enough that the right people can feel you and the wrong people can move on, argue, or reveal themselves.
Sometimes being disliked is a sign that your signal is finally clear.
Rage Bait as Wake-Up Spell
Emily speaks openly about trolling men online and rage-baiting people into realization. She is not imagining that every person who reacts angrily will understand immediately. Some may simply project, get mad, and leave. But maybe a year later they wake up in the middle of the night and realize she was right.
This is a very specific flavor of magical communication. It is not gentle. It is not universally appropriate. But it is one form of public spellwork.
The point is not only to provoke. The point is to interrupt a pattern. Sometimes a person’s worldview is so sealed that a polite explanation will not enter. A sharp, funny, outrageous, embodied post may slip through a crack that niceness never could.
Again, discernment matters. But for Emily, this is part of the Promethean spark: stealing fire and bringing it where it needs to go.
Becoming the Permission Slip
Lucy notes that Emily’s presence itself can become permission for other people.
Emily agrees. She has spent time in communities where people were freer than she was: nudists, naturists, playful people, naked friends at pool parties, people who were comfortable in their bodies in a way she had to grow into. Being around freer people helped her expand.
Once she broke through that and learned to feel safe around people who were not there to take from her, she could not go back.
This is one of the hidden gifts of community. We do not only learn through content, teachings, or explicit practices. We learn through exposure to people who embody a freedom we do not yet have. Their nervous system gives our nervous system evidence that another way is possible.
Then we become that evidence for someone else.
Refusing to Go Back
Emily tells a story of partners asking whether she could be less. Could she be less exposed, less free, less topless on beaches, less herself?
Her answer is no.
Not because she wants to be difficult, but because it took too much to get from there to here. Once you have fought for your freedom, integrated your taboo, expanded your capacity, and discovered that you can survive being more of yourself, going back feels like death.
This is a crucial part of visibility work. Some people around you may prefer the smaller version of you. They may not mean harm. They may simply be accustomed to who you were before. But your work is not to become smaller so they can stay comfortable.
Shadow Alchemy is not only about accepting who you have been. It is also about refusing to betray who you have become.
The Real Gift of Being Seen
The real gift of this episode is not that everyone should copy Emily’s exact path.
Not everyone needs to be a stripper, a rage-baiting content creator, a monstrous angel, or a spiritual entrepreneur who posts about conning men. That is Emily’s medicine.
The deeper teaching is that visibility requires integration.
Whatever you are trying to hide may be the very thing that makes your presence powerful. The taboo part, the weird part, the erotic part, the sharp part, the funny part, the too-much part, the part that does not fit the professional image, the part that makes you sweaty to post about.
Being seen is not just a marketing strategy. It is a shadow practice.
The camera, the stage, the strip club, the Instagram post, the coaching session, the naked beach, the comment section, and the spiritual business all become mirrors.
The question is: can you stay with yourself while the world looks back?
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Lucy Baldwin (00:01.304)
Hello and welcome to another episode of Penetrate Radio. I am your host, Lucy Baldwin, and I'm here today with Emily Iris, who is a certified EK coach, I think. At least, yes. And I'm like, I know you went through the program. Did you actually get certified? Amazing. I can't remember perfectly who didn't, who didn't.
Emily Iris (00:13.902)
I am.
Emily Iris (00:19.94)
I did.
Lucy Baldwin (00:26.124)
Anyways, Emily is, yeah, you've been coaching people. I wanna hear more about what you do. I know that I've been seeing your content, you're talking about like bringing back the spark, which I definitely wanna hear about. So tell us more about yourself.
Emily Iris (00:43.054)
Yeah, thank you. So this whole idea of bringing back the spark is something that I discovered in my astrology, but of course, like it's what I've lived. And I've had various periods in my life where I just let the world kind of be a wet blanket on my spark and my joy and what brings me fun. Like as we were saying right before we started the podcast, like our work, because it's self-development work.
It needs to be fun. And if we're not having fun, there's no resonance. And why would anyone want to do that? So for me, I was looking at my point of fortune for my astrology girlies, and there it is, like Prometheus energy in Aquarius Deacon one. And I was like, shit, like that's me. I'm the light bearer. I'm the fire bringer that steals inspiration energy.
and infuses it into people's lives and just gives them permission to like have so much more fun. And right now my work has gone from, you know, being an EFT tapping person for everyone to doing EK, to being an astrology mentor. And right now what I really am passionate about supporting is helping people just put it all out there on social media and have fun. Like.
we're bringing the spark into our business. And if you're not having a good time, you're not doing it right. And why do it?
Lucy Baldwin (02:16.46)
Yeah. Yeah. Because I feel like we, so many people get into this because we get really into the spiritual journey and we have so, we find so much beauty and insight and connection and then we want to share it with the world. And then that somehow sends us down this, I mean, I've just seen this happen with so many people. It's like going down the spiral of then that becomes the thing that is like so much friction and tension and like just angst and struggling about trying to
have a spiritual business. And so I love what you're saying. It got to enjoy it. Yeah.
Emily Iris (02:53.003)
Yeah, and I've been really open about this in our coaching container that like I'm a stripper, I'm a sex worker, and that's what I do for my like bread and butter money and when the coaching is slow. having that like be part of my identity and being in the spiritual world has been so full of friction.
And it doesn't really feel like a lot of it's coming from the outside. Like it's me. It's me integrating my parts that believe like to be in the spiritual business, in the coaching space. I need to be like ascetic and you know, like taking my one seat and meditating for an hour a day and like acting like a fucking man. And I'm not. I'm a wild woman. The coaching program I chose was existential kink.
It's like there's not really a drop of I don't know like lady like perfect in society in my public image and what I bring to the spaces and that is the Promethean spark it's like You can be spiritual you can be a magician. I mean magicians are some of the most wonderful weirdos I've ever met and Have a serious business
have a real life business and also be an absolute freak. Why not? Yeah. If you're not having fun, I know. And I'm still having fun shaking ass and conning men. Like it's still a good time for me. So I'm still doing it. And when it's not fun anymore, I'll take a break. I'll retire, whatever.
Lucy Baldwin (04:41.015)
I love that. I love the idea of… I just love the framing of being a stripper as conning men.
Emily Iris (04:50.485)
Yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (04:52.909)
Because that's how I've always felt about these things. Like, I'm like, it is a woman's, like, we have so much power.
Emily Iris (04:55.565)
Yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (05:00.427)
This is what I've always felt actually. I'm just gonna go out of limb here because I had a really powerful mom who I guess was arguably kind of a feminist. I didn't really realize it when I was growing up, but like she was a software engineer and she was just like very dominant and like intense. And I remember when I first started to hear the idea of like women as being, I don't know the word, like having...
prejudice against us. don't know the word, like, what's the word? Let's lower status than men. I remember, like, when I first came across that concept, it seemed so crazy and so foreign to me because I was like, we have so much power over men. Like, what are you even talking about? And I feel like stripping is kind of like the essence of where that power comes from.
Emily Iris (05:47.842)
Right.
Emily Iris (05:52.703)
Yeah, like come to the temple. I mean, everyone does it for different reasons, but my perspective has been come to the temple, worship, bask in my feminine energy and give me your energy, your money to be in my presence. That just makes a lot of sense to me. You know, and of course there's like all of this nuance and like mind fuckadiness coming in where it's like,
Lucy Baldwin (05:53.749)
Maybe, I don't know, I don't know.
Emily Iris (06:22.336)
You know, I'm conning you, but you're also trying to con me and like, we're all just in this divine play. Or are we? Are you serious? And you know, some of us have had periods where like, we're there to stick it to our dads or like, we're there to get validation or we're there like, just for the bag purely and there's like no compassion. And I've had periods where I was there like, to practice some healing.
with men and myself. And that's been wild. I've had some experiences that I would not assume are common. Like being hired to teach yoga in the strip club was key. Peak experience. And by the way, they pay so much better than any yoga studio I've ever worked for.
Emily Iris (07:18.754)
like singing Om Mani Padme Hum, chanting with a Buddhist Hell's Angel in the strip club. What? Talking about Bodhisattva vows with people like, you know, we're all just humans and it's all about connection. So it's really been
such a playground for me to like play with all of these concepts and to just like drop these little seeds of awakening into people's lives and have something that supports the growth of my coaching business as I integrate it. Like when I was trying to hide it and like feeling ashamed that I was still having to work a job.
while growing my coaching business, like that was not fun. And the job being something so taboo, like, my God, how could she? And I remember Layla in our training talking about how when she was a waitress and growing her business, she like, EK'd it.
And it was like, oh yeah, like I'm a coach. Like, I'm just a little con artist, scammer, selling my snake oil. I'm really just a waitress. And I totally received that and have played with it. And I'm like, okay, cool. We're con artists, beautiful con artists.
Lucy Baldwin (08:46.859)
Yeah. I'm so curious. This is a totally random, maybe slightly off topic question, but like, do you find that, do you ever come up against, do you ever find yourself sort of healing men? Like in your job, like coming up against their stuff and kind of like inadvertently having these like healing experiences with them and their shame and whatever's coming up for them and being in a strip club. Like, I'm curious if you have anything.
Emily Iris (09:16.961)
Yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (09:18.253)
Yeah.
Emily Iris (09:19.906)
And it's like when you're a conduit, you can't help who you heal. You can't like even help what you say sometimes. And that happens to me a lot, honestly.
Of course, like recommending books to people, you know, people ask like, what do you like to do? I'm like, I like to read. like to study astrology and like, I do all those things because I like to crack into people's psyches and look under the hood because I'm a sicko voyeur of the human experience.
and it automatically like opens people up to want to share things with me. And I think there's something too about being like the naked person in the room. Like I'm vulnerable and now you can be vulnerable and like look at the Manosphere right now. Like men don't have a lot of places where they can be vulnerable.
and there's not a lot of people that they trust with like their sticky, shamy secrets. But like, we are one of the demographics that receives a lot of it. And should we get paid double for that? Yes. And yeah, the especially people coming in with like sexual kinks and fetishes.
Though I really love working with people like that, because they're like, listen, I'm into something really weird. You would never know it about me. It's so heavy. Yeah. And I'm like, show me your purple panties, man.
Lucy Baldwin (10:49.29)
We're like.
Emily Iris (10:57.536)
Yeah, like people you would never expect admitting to me like, I think I might be bisexual or I like to wear women's lingerie or like I'm just like really into feet and I know I'll never find a normal woman to be with me because of it and I'm just like.
Honey, you're with the right person right now. Total radical acceptance for all of you. And just, I think being witnessed and not shamed and not icked out by someone else is yum. Like that is healing. Like, but have I also done reiki on someone who told me they have cancer in their shoulder? Sure. Like we're just, we're doing it all because I really can't help it.
It just happens. I think the confusing part can be when they're not really understanding what happens and like there's a consent piece that sometimes gets a gray with like receiving healing work. I do my best, but also I know just like being around me can shift things for people. So, sorry, you're welcome.
Lucy Baldwin (12:08.653)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Well, I'm just, thank you for sharing about this. I'm just so curious because, you know, I spend a lot of time in my house around my husband and my children. And I just feel like you spend a lot of time around other people, in person, like bodies together in a room, you know, naked.
Emily Iris (12:41.088)
Yeah, yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (12:41.454)
So there's just a lot of, it's just a very different experience from the experience that I have. I love hearing about it. I find it so fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. Because you were interacting with so many people all the time.
Emily Iris (12:54.188)
Yeah.
Emily Iris (12:57.77)
Right. All different kinds. Like a lot of men, but like you never know what you're gonna get. It's really fascinating.
Lucy Baldwin (13:07.532)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Emily Iris (13:09.088)
Yeah, and I will say, because I push energetically so hard for 10 days a month, like that's as much as I dance. And I do it during the phases of my cycle where I have energy and patience for men. Or else, like, mean girl, she's mean.
The rest of my time, I'm pretty solitary. I protect my energy. I'm working with people online, but I'm not out and about and super social. Every time someone sees me in town, they're like, my god, it's my favorite cryptid. You're out and about. I'm like, yes, hello. So there's definitely a trade there because it is such big energy. To be the dancer, you're...
Lucy Baldwin (13:36.782)
more.
Lucy Baldwin (13:52.686)
over.
Emily Iris (14:00.458)
turning up your personality to 10 and you're blasting it and you're holding boundaries and you're performing femininity while being in your masculine.
And what I do really like is that I don't have to mask at all. my, what I have to say, it doesn't get filtered at all. And sometimes, yeah, I get myself into a little bit of a foot in mouth situation, but it's like, I can never go back to corporate now since becoming self-employed, becoming a coach and becoming a dancer. I'm just like, I'm a menace now, I see.
Oof. Good luck.
Lucy Baldwin (14:42.414)
Well, I really love what you're saying about how you do it specifically like X number of days and you know the days where it's going to work for you and that's so structured and so smart. Yeah, that makes total sense to me. That's that's a good way because I could see how you could get like burned out doing something like that. You experienced that at one point.
Emily Iris (14:57.568)
Yeah.
Emily Iris (15:06.237)
Yeah, and building co- yeah, yeah. Like, and building a business on the side. Like, that is no small task. When I first started, I worked in a club that contracted us as employees, which like has some perks because you get your W-2 and can, you know, have proof of income. But they require you to work a certain amount and it was four days a week. And
I'm in my 30s. I started in my 30s and I'm still in my 30s. And I've been dancing my whole life, classical styles and belly dance and stuff. like, I've, my body's been through some things and I was like, I can't do this. Like my bones hurt, my joints hurt. I cannot continue at this pace. And when I started cycle syncing and just like working smarter and not harder, my income doubled.
Yeah. And I'm working instead of what 16 days, 10 days and making twice as much. Crazy. Most clubs, it's just like a come in when you want to and you're an independent contractor. And so I switched to that style and no burnout. And of course, once in a while, like an injury happens or
Lucy Baldwin (16:11.086)
Mm-hmm.
Lucy Baldwin (16:15.235)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Iris (16:34.867)
I know, I went to like some festivals and I was like, I can't go back. Like I got all expanded and in my hippie world, I'm like, I don't want to shave my armpits. I'm not coming back. And I didn't shave my armpits and I went back and no one even noticed, which was really disappointing to be honest. And hilarious, like so hilarious. But yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (16:51.694)
my god.
Emily Iris (17:01.119)
because of the independent contractor status and the nature of the work, like you can just not go in for a couple of weeks and go back. And that's it.
Lucy Baldwin (17:10.254)
Lucy Baldwin (17:14.84)
Wow, sounds so free.
Emily Iris (17:15.84)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's one of my core values. It's just like time and geographic freedom. So important to me.
Lucy Baldwin (17:25.678)
Mm-hmm.
Can you tell me about the tattoo on your chest? I'm so curious.
Emily Iris (17:31.073)
yeah well I get this one a lot too so it's a seraphim and seraphims described in Abrahamic religions so Judaism Christianity and Islam are one of the top orders of angels and their job is just to praise
They just like sing and dance and they have a million eyes and wings and they're just like, woo, heaven energy. We're going into the deep end, okay. I discovered a couple years ago that my soul is angelic. I have an angelic soul. And so started really connecting with like the monstrous angel.
the angel that comes to all these people in the Bible and is like, be not afraid because I'm a bunch of eyeballs and spinning wheels and symbols and light and fire. And like, by the way, I have a message.
And that's like really an archetype that I've integrated as a conduit and a messenger where like, yeah, sometimes I do say things to people who are like in the matrix that like shatters their perception of reality. And I'm like, oh, like, yeah, was that too much? Are you okay? Do you want to take a deep breath, feel your feet on the ground?
And I also love it. Like it's kinky for me and fun. And I kind of live for those moments when like I have a key on my ring that fits the lock that someone is stuck in. And as a coach and as just like a coach out in the wild, that's my yum.
Emily Iris (19:22.791)
it's so beautiful and it's such a gift so yeah the seraphim is just a delightful reminder that that's what i'm doing and of course the star of anana because she's the original jesus
Yeah, do you know The Descent of Anana? my god, there's an amazing movie called Split and it's an independent movie but it shows it really really well. So if you look up Split The Descent of Anana you'll find it but...
Lucy Baldwin (19:42.094)
Mm-mm.
Emily Iris (19:58.067)
It's an old, old ancient myth, like pre-Christian, pre-everything, where she's the goddess of heaven and she descends into the underworld to be with her counterpart, her sister, and she has to like strip herself of all of her finery, all of her lapis lazuli, all of her gold, and she has to come in like naked, humbled, and like downtrodden.
into the underworld to reclaim that connection with her darkness and like with her hell energy to then ascend as an integrated goddess and like I have chills talking about it because she's just it's like original goddess energy where
It's really integrated. We haven't like pulled the war and darkness and shit out of her. Like she's all of it. Very earthy and super powerful. I'm in love. Absolutely. And when he gave me this design and I was like, that's a seven pointed star.
Lucy Baldwin (21:11.599)
Mm-hmm. So tell me about when you sort of discovered, came across EK.
Emily Iris (21:23.04)
I was hoping you'd ask. So let's see. The short background is that I grew up in a conservative Christian home and I'm adopted so took that on very deeply as part of my identity and part of how I could keep people around me and not be abandoned again.
When I was going through my Saturn return, 27 to 31, I fell in with a bunch of circus people. And I don't know if you know, but circus people and burners, like they're all witches. And they're all super magical. A lot of them are polyamorous. Most of them are queer. All of that kinky. And all of a sudden I was surrounded by these people that were just like blowing my mind with their freedom.
And one of them that I knew through a kink circle and like a moon circle maybe introduced me to EK and it just like flipped a switch in my brain. And all of a sudden I was like, okay, Kali, feminine rage, magic, burn the patriarchy. It totally shifted things for me.
And I think the first time I discovered it, I didn't even read it. I just like read the concept and I was like, I get it. That was enough. Like it hit me as someone who's like also kinky. So then, I don't know. I think it's easier for people who are kinky to understand it. If you already have some yucky yums, you get it. But.
it hit deep and then when I finally went and read it, hit deeper again on another level. And then of course, going through the coaching program and reading it again, another level. It just like keeps going and that's what I'm so obsessed with about it. And I see the parallels when you look at like physical sexual kink and fetishes and existential kinks and fetishes.
Emily Iris (23:30.686)
Like as you unkink them, new ones arise. So it's just like this ever like ongoing pulling the scarf out of the mouth of your subconscious. And it's so fun. It really is so fun. There really is a new devil at every level. So love to discover them.
Lucy Baldwin (23:55.022)
Yeah, yeah, it's so true. It's like you, and even stuff that you've integrated or gotten off on or healed or whatever the word is, like I have found they come back around, but like with a slightly different feeling. And that kind of happens sexually too, doesn't it? It's like, yeah, yeah, you're like, you revisit something and you're like, yeah, I forgot this is Catoosie again.
Emily Iris (24:10.89)
They do.
Emily Iris (24:17.275)
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily Iris (24:24.48)
Yeah, that's like the divine spiral of life. Like we may be spiraling upward or downward, but we're like going past the same things from different perspectives. Yeah, that's so fun. I know. I'm totally in a phase right now where I'm like integrating, as you would see on my social media, my like playing men, just conning men.
Lucy Baldwin (24:33.739)
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Emily Iris (24:53.458)
and being like, you're so stupid, give me your money. You're using all of your resources so poorly, give them to me. You fool. And doing that out in the open publicly on social media, I'm like, it's sweaty. It's really sweaty business, but this is the challenge right now and we'll see where it goes.
Lucy Baldwin (25:19.533)
Yeah, there's a lot on the internet. There's a lot of subcultures on the internet, but it seems like there's a really big male versus female subculture war happening on the internet, which is interesting. Yeah, I don't know if you... Yeah, so I'm like, that was probably doing really well. There's a lot of people on the internet who are really mad at men. And I like...
Emily Iris (25:37.3)
Yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (25:48.75)
I have a hard time with that because I'm like, but we're all just people. Like we're all just people. And I also, you know, I don't know, men are men, but I'm like, I'm really close to my dad. I'm really close to my husband, obviously. I have two sons. So I'm just like, it's hard for me to be like, you know, I just, I do love, I do love men. And I know there's a lot of real douchey, stupid men out there.
Emily Iris (25:51.795)
I know.
Emily Iris (26:15.282)
Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like the male loneliness epidemic. I'm like, I have no compassion actually for that. Just do your work and come back. Is it that hard? I mean, it is hard. We had to do it. Yeah, I know. It's funny because like in, in private, in my private life,
I'm like watching videos of moms teaching their sons about consent and like crying and I like watched a video of some kid watching the Princess Bride. No, the one with Anne Hathaway where she gets a glow up. Can't remember. You know what I'm talking about.
Lucy Baldwin (26:57.901)
Mm-hmm. I love her.
Emily Iris (26:59.816)
And he, yeah, he sees like the male heartthrob like giving her these like scavy, hungry eyes and he goes, mom, isn't that disrespectful the way he's looking at her? And I just like, this morning, tears. I'm like, that's so beautiful. Like, can we have more boys and sons raised like this? Because yes, yum.
So really, like my job is just to troll the ones that aren't. Like, let me just rage bait you into realization and shattering illusions and waking up. Or not. Or you're gonna be mad at me and project on me and a year later you're gonna wake up in the middle of the night and be like, shit, she was right.
in it for the long game friends.
Lucy Baldwin (27:55.894)
Yeah. So you said earlier that you're helping people with content creation. Is that what you said? Or social media? I'm curious to hear more about
Emily Iris (28:06.93)
Yeah, yeah. I love working with spiritual entrepreneurs. Like truly, this is my yum. I love working with spicy workers too. And same, same. Like I'll put them into bowls, but they're really the same. Healers. And something that I've noticed about us folks.
is that we can be really shy to come on camera, shy to have our voice be heard, and shy to like polarize people and drop truth that's like uncomfortable and gets people in your comments like upset and arguing with each other and you. And
Lucy Baldwin (28:48.939)
I shy to talk shit to men.
Emily Iris (28:51.376)
Yeah, exactly. Right? Like, they they come for me. They've been coming for me for years. my God. And that's what I want to break people out of just like this paradigm of being seen. And I have a background on stages since I was just a little tap dancing and a tutu booger and
It's not so bad for me. Like, I've been conditioned to be on stage a lot and be speaking in front of a camera, gotten used to it, but when I see the block in people that are just like, they can't do it.
Those are the folks I want to help. Just get, you just got to get used to it. Everything is practice. Everything is confidence. And if I can like stand topless in front of a room of people staring at me and not tipping me and yell, are you not entertained? Like you can get on social media and be like, hi, my name is this and this is who I help. like we are not going to die from shame and embarrassment or internet trolling. You will not.
If we're integrated and of course like, you know, my brain is like suicide awareness and watch. And if you're in spiritual business, I trust that like, you know, this is part of the game and you want to do it for yourself. And really what I'm finding is that when my clients key in on the thing that feels really fun, you can't stop them from creating content.
Lucy Baldwin (30:31.61)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Iris (30:32.627)
But when it feels like a grind and they're like looking at all of what other people are doing, what other people are saying and what's trending and how can I use this viral audio? What time do I post? It's like, no, save the strategy for later and just get comfortable showing up, being there, being seen, being heard. And that's like the essence of light feminine energy is like.
I take up space. I am seen and I am heard. I am adored and by some I'm hated and it doesn't really matter.
Lucy Baldwin (31:10.552)
Yeah, no, I love that. And I feel even just this whole like episode so far, I can feel how much you have integrated that. And I could feel how being in your presence would be medicine for people because yeah, you're just like talking about standing up naked in front of people and, and this like really like free and open and refreshing and honest. And I think that
you've broken so much of that, you're talking about this conservative upbringing and yeah, mean, you've really like...
Emily Iris (31:46.623)
Cheers.
Lucy Baldwin (31:51.599)
broken through probably a lot of internal and external boundaries to be so free. And I think that you can probably relate to the journey that people are on with that. also, yeah, just be like, yeah, you really strike me as one of those people who just your presence is like permission to just do the thing. Yeah.
Emily Iris (32:16.104)
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for seeing me. It's an interesting thing to monetize. I'm just like, yeah, you just like spend some time with me as your coach and things will shift. It just happens or you know, as your girlfriend for the next 10 minutes. Whatever the offering is. But yeah, coming from your girlfriend for 10 minutes. You like that one? Yeah.
Lucy Baldwin (32:37.36)
Sorry.
Lucy Baldwin (32:42.756)
Yeah, it took me a minute to understand what you were saying and I was like, girl friend.
Emily Iris (32:45.76)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I know that's what I tell people. I'm like, I'm just like speed dating all night. That's all this is. Yeah, but there's like, there's a nuance too, because I had to become part of a community where people were way freer than me. And I had to like,
get used to being around people that are self-described nudists and naturists and like we're friends. We're all just friends platonically like juggling together naked pool party like whatever but since breaking through that and since learning to feel safe around people that I know like are there to protect me and they're not there to like take from me you just can't go back.
And I've had some people that have asked me to go back, like, can you be less please, like partners? Can you not be bathing topless on the beach in Portugal? And I'm like, I don't think so, no. Like, it took me so much to get from here to here. Like, I don't wanna go back and there's nothing for me here and why would I?
Lucy Baldwin (33:54.864)
you
Lucy Baldwin (34:08.066)
Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, that was a really good sales pitch for our community dominion. So thank you for that. But also for people who are these spiritual entrepreneur entrepreneurs or anyone who might want to work with you as a coach to help them, you know, put themselves out there and do this kind of work. How can they find you, Emily?
Emily Iris (34:16.928)
You're welcome. Love that.
Emily Iris (34:34.49)
you can find me on Instagram at Miss New Bodhi. That's M-I-S-S-N-E-W-B-O-D-H-I. And all my links are there in the bio. Right now I'm doing a couple of things. I have an offering for one-on-ones to make you 10K in 10 weeks for my spicy dancers and my spiritual entrepreneurs. If you want to expand in that way, let's go.
And I have the Seen Social Club, which is $111 a month, and you just get to work with me on your content and on being seen, on coming in on camera, and being unabashed on the internet.
Lucy Baldwin (35:19.696)
I love that. I feel like I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast who that might be a really good fit for. Just saying, if you're listening, I might be talking about you.
Emily Iris (35:30.994)
Right? If you feel it in your body.
Lucy Baldwin (35:35.728)
Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Emily. Is there anything else that you want to share before, while we're here?
Emily Iris (35:38.986)
Yeah, thank you.
Emily Iris (35:45.077)
Let's see, key takeaways friends, follow the fun. This is the tantra.
Lucy Baldwin (35:56.735)
it did a weird thing.
Lucy Baldwin (36:06.968)
It says, Emily stopped recording.
Emily Iris (36:33.777)
The podcast said we wanted to be ending.
Lucy Baldwin (36:36.388)
I know. That would be great. Well, thank you so, much for coming on and recording this with me. This has been a blast.
Emily Iris (36:38.225)
I want to be done. Fine. And so it is clear.
Emily Iris (36:50.673)
Thank you. I was super excited to see the little call go out in the chat. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Lucy.
Lucy Baldwin (36:55.62)
Yeah, amazing.
Thank you.
New to Lucy’s work?
Start with Lucy Baldwin’s complete overview of Shadow Alchemy here:
Lucy Baldwin’s Shadow Alchemy Hub
Penetrate Radio explores shadow work, desire, magic, embodiment, self-honesty, radical approval, Existential Kink, and the hidden patterns that shape our lives from underneath.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is being seen a form of Shadow Alchemy?
Being seen brings hidden material to the surface: shame, desire, fear of judgment, the need to be liked, taboo identity, imposter syndrome, and the fear of being too much. Working with those sensations makes visibility a shadow practice.
What does Emily Iris mean by bringing back the spark?
Bringing back the spark means restoring joy, fun, inspiration, aliveness, and creative fire, especially for spiritual entrepreneurs who have turned their work into pressure, performance, or anxiety.
Can sex work and spiritual work coexist?
In this episode, Emily speaks about integrating sex work and spiritual work rather than splitting them apart. The deeper theme is refusing to hide taboo parts of the self in order to appear spiritually acceptable.
Why is social media so activating for spiritual entrepreneurs?
Social media brings up visibility, judgment, comparison, shame, desire, polarization, criticism, and the fear of being misunderstood. That makes it a powerful arena for shadow work.
What does it mean to become a permission slip?
Becoming a permission slip means embodying a freedom, visibility, or truth that helps other people feel more allowed to express their own. Your presence becomes evidence that another way of being is possible.
Next Steps
If this episode resonated with you, the next step is DOMINION: A Field of Radical Approval.
DOMINION is Lucy Baldwin’s space for practicing radical approval, shadow integration, desire work, visibility, and the deeper transformation at the heart of Shadow Alchemy.
You can also continue exploring Lucy’s current offerings, free practices, podcast links, and other work here: