The Woman Behind The Work
Meet Sydney
Hi!
I’m Sydney, a Shamanic Healer, Ceremonialist, Soul Alignment Coach, and Psychic Medium.
But beneath those titles, I’m a woman who knows something about the wild, messy art of losing yourself in the chaos of being human… and slowly finding your way back.
I spent a Long Time Trying to find My way Back to Myself. I Never expected
it To Lead me Here...
Breakdown to Breakthrough
I’m someone who spent most of her life trying to stay afloat in a mind that never seemed to quiet down. My mental health didn’t wobble now and then- it gave depression, anxiety, and PTSD the steering wheel. For years.
I got really good at looking like I was fine. Holding everything together. Being dependable, capable, calm, all while constantly navigating a storm that no one else could see.
It took me a long time to realize that strength and 'powering through' isn’t the same thing as being healthy, well, or even okay. And it took even longer to admit I was living in survival mode, and it wasn't sustainable.
Sparks of Remembering
Before I ever touched a drum or journeyed to other realms, I found my way into spiritual wellness- psychic mentorship, spiritual coaching, Reiki, meditation, and intuitive development.
And honestly? It helped way more than I ever imagined!
It was the first time I felt even a small sense of "me" returning. Like the fog lifted just enough that I could breathe again.
Those practices didn’t “fix” me, that's not what it was about. They gave me space to slow down, get curious, and begin paying attention to myself in ways I hadn’t before. I started exploring my intuition, questioning what I believed, and discovering a spiritual life that felt increasingly like my own.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t just trying to get through my life. I was becoming curious about it again!
By the time I encountered shamanism, I had already spent years exploring different ways of understanding myself, the world, and my spirituality- but something still felt unfinished. My life wasn’t in crisis; it was muted. Numbed. My business was running, but uninspired. My days were full, but I wasn’t.
I felt like I had climbed halfway up a mountain and suddenly realized I had no idea where the peak was. Then I met a Shamanic healer and had my first shamanic experience.
It didn’t just shock me; it awoke something deep within me. Like someone switched the lights back on. Like I suddenly remembered a piece of who I was.
Shamanism was the full-body “Oh yes, there you are. I remember you. I’m ready to come home.”
It didn’t mean I suddenly had everything figured out- if anything, I had more questions than before! But for the first time in a long time, those questions felt alive.
And I wanted to follow them.
I wanted to understand what I had experienced. I wanted to learn how to journey, to deepen my relationship with spirit, and to understand this practice beyond that first profound experience.
So I did.
Shamanism Didn’t make The
Darkness Disappear...
It Taught me That I could Enter it, Listen to What was There, and Find My way Back out.
From Healing to Holding
By the time shamanism entered my life, I was already holding space for others. I had been practicing Reiki, completed my coaching certification, working intuitively, and supporting people through their own healing for years. That part wasn't new.
What changed was how alive the work felt.
The deeper I went into shamanic practice, the more strangely familiar it became. Journeying. Working with spirit. Ceremony. The drum. Listening to the natural world. Trusting what I sensed before I could explain it.
I was learning new practices, absolutely- but I was also finding language for ways I had already been moving through the world.
Looking back, I can see threads of it long before I ever knew to call any of it shamanism. Ways I connected with nature. Experiences with spirit and the unseen. The way intuition moved through me. Things I had felt, noticed, or simply known without understanding where they belonged.
Maybe that's why that first experience felt less like discovering something new and more like recognition.
The more I trained and practiced, the more naturally it wove itself into the work I was already doing, and into my life beyond it. Shamanism didn't replace everything that came before. It gave those pieces somewhere to meet.
It changed how I listened. How I trusted myself. How I understood my relationship with spirit, nature, and the parts of life that don't always fit neatly into words. It gave me a practice I could return to when life was beautiful, when it was uncertain, and when it was deeply uncomfortable.
And over time, the work I was offering began to change too. Reiki, intuitive work, coaching, and everything I had learned before didn't disappear; they became part of something that finally felt more whole. More alive. More aligned with the way I naturally worked.
Shamanism Didn't Turn me Into a Space Holder. It helped Me Recognize the Kind of Space Holder I was Becoming.
And That Eventually Became the Work I
Now Hold through Hollow & Hearth.
Enter the Hollow, Tend to the Hearth
This is why I do what I do now.
The practices that helped bring me back to myself are the ones I now guide others through. Not because I have everything figured out (does anybody?!)- no, I do this because I know what it is to lose touch with yourself, to question what comes next, and to slowly find your way home again.
My approach is grounded, intuitive, warm, and of course a little witchy!
I don’t believe in quick fixes, forced positivity, or bypassing the difficult parts of being human. This work is about meeting what is actually here: the patterns you’ve outgrown, the parts of yourself you’ve learned to hide, the instincts you stopped trusting, and the life beneath the version of you that learned how to simply cope.
I’m here to tend the space while you do that work. To walk beside you as you reconnect with your instincts, your softness, your courage, your clarity, and the parts of yourself that have been waiting underneath it all.
To help you remember who you were before you learned to leave yourself behind.
The Door is Open,
If something in my story feels familiar- if you know what it is to lose sight of yourself somewhere in the noise of being human, to question what comes next, or to feel curious about what might be waiting beneath the surface...
Maybe this is the doorway you've been searching for.
And if you choose to step through it,
I’d be honoured to walk beside you.
What is Shamanism?
Learning to see in the dark
Shamanic practices have roots reaching far back into human history, appearing in different forms across cultures around the world. While these traditions are distinct- each with their own histories, beliefs, and ways of practicing- many share common threads: relationship with spirit and the natural world, ceremony, healing, and exploring realities beyond our ordinary awareness.
Within the shamanic practice I have been taught is an understanding that we exist in relationship with a living, spirited world. The Earth isn't simply a backdrop to our lives; plants, animals, land, water, and the elements are approached with respect and an openness to the wisdom they may hold.
Through practices such as drumming and shamanic journeying, we also explore what is often called "non-ordinary reality"-the unseen or spirit world, where we may encounter helping spirits, guides, imagery, symbols, and perspectives beyond our everyday way of seeing.
Translated from Siberian Tungus, Shamanism can be roughly translated to "the one who sees in the dark". Within this work, the darkness doesn't always hold an easy answer, but the practice invites us to enter what we cannot yet see clearly, listen to what we find there, and return with something worth carrying into our everyday lives.
The Soul Behind
the Practitoner
I take this work seriously. But myself? Considerably less so.
You've heard about the shamanism, the spirits, the journeying, and how Hollow & Hearth came to be- but being a practitioner is only one part of who I am.
So before you go, here is a glimpse into the person I am outside of the work...
Glencoe: my home away from home
My shadow, Oliver <3
Did someone say
Practical Magic?
🏴 My Heart Lives in Glencoe, Scotland
Scotland has an enormous piece of my heart, but Glencoe in particular feels like somewhere my bones recognize. If I could disappear there for 6 months every year, I would.
🐾 Oliver
My dog, my little shadow, and almost certainly convinced that Hollow & Hearth exists primarily to fund his treats.
🎃 Spooky Season is a Personality Trait
Autumn. PSL. Ghost stories. Halloween. Haunted things. Dark evenings. If it feels even remotely like spooky season, I am thriving.
🍰 Baking Over Cooking
I cannot cook to save my life. Give me flour, butter, sugar, and an unnecessarily ambitious baking project, though? Suddenly I know exactly what I'm doing.
📖 Currently in Prythian
Saying I “like” ACOTAR would be an irresponsible understatement. I am obsessed, and have a tattoo inspired by it. This is a safe space for unnecessarily detailed discussions about the fae.
🎬 The Comfort Movie
Pride & Prejudice (2005 version, obviously). The hand flex alone deserves its own award.
🏰 Disney Girl, Always
Magic doesn't have to be profound to matter. Sometimes it's spirits and ceremony. Sometimes it's walking down Main Street and immediately becoming eight years old again.
Peak yearning
Reach out and find your
Happily Ever After
Lets go to Velaris!
Lavender earl grey cake
yum!!