The Shame of Success: The Confession of a Psychic

There’s something I’ve never said aloud.

Not fully. Not publicly.
It’s hard to even write these words.

But I have to.
Because I believe in showing up as who I am — not just the strong version, but the honest one.

So here it is:

Sometimes I feel ashamed of my success as a psychic.

Yes, I’ve helped thousands.
Yes, I’ve studied, trained, healed, and worked for over two decades to offer real spiritual service.
Yes, I have degrees, mastery, and global recognition.

But underneath the reverence, the titles, and the beauty of it all…
There is a quiet ache.
Because my gifts were not born from joy.

They were carved by pain.

The Unspoken Origin of the Gift

I didn’t become psychic because I wanted attention.
I became psychic because I had no choice.

I grew up surrounded by addiction, instability, and broken systems.
My nervous system learned to scan every room for danger before I could even write my name.
I heard voices before I knew the language for them.
I felt others’ emotions like they were my own — often confusing love with chaos, empathy with survival.

My gift wasn’t handed down like a treasure.
It was etched into me through trauma.

And yet…
This same sensitivity, this same deep empathic channel — became the doorway to Spirit.

Through healing myself,
Through listening,
Through meditation and the guidance of the Lwa and the Ancestors,
I turned survival into sacred service.

But Service Isn’t Always Celebrated

Here’s the part that makes this shame so heavy:

Sometimes the very people I help…
question why I charge at all.
As if the pain I endured to become who I am should have been the only price.
As if being psychic is a gift I owe to the world for free.

I’ve heard:

• “If you were real, you wouldn’t charge.”
• “This is a gift, not a business.”
• “You should do this out of love.”

And yes — I do this out of love.
But love has never paid the rent, never rebuilt a home after a hurricane, never fed a child on its own.

Behind the scenes of every reading, every ritual, every healing…
is a woman who carries her past in her bones,
who studies the sacred with discipline,
and who has made her trauma into a profession that holds others in their darkest hours.

“To be successful with your pain is to walk the razor’s edge — part celebration, part scrutiny.”

Expected to Heal Everyone

There is a dangerous mythology around healers —
That we should always say yes.
That we are available for everyone.
That we are immune to burnout.
That we are somehow above pain, frustration, boundaries, or exhaustion.

But the truth is:
We’re still people.
Many of us were never taught how to say no.
We were taught that our worth was in what we gave — even when it was everything we had.
Even when it nearly cost us our lives.

And that’s the trap:
To be psychic, to be a healer, to be spiritually gifted —
Is to be both revered and expected.
People want our help, our time, our energy, our spirit.
But they often don’t want to look at the cost of how we got here.

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Living With Both Sides of the Coin

There’s power in what I do.
There’s pride in it.
There is also, sometimes, shame.

Not because I’ve done anything wrong —
But because society teaches us to hide our wounds.
To be psychic is to already be “other.”
To succeed with it? That’s where it becomes complicated.

I don’t ask for pity.
I don’t need applause.

But I do ask for understanding.

This is what success looks like for many psychics and healers:
Not a glittering gift, but a life rebuilt from ashes.

Why I’m Writing This

Because I know I’m not the only one.

I know there are others — sensitive, gifted, wounded souls —
who feel ashamed for being different,
ashamed for charging,
ashamed for succeeding,
ashamed for still carrying the echo of pain even after they’ve healed.

To you, I say this:
You are not alone.
And you don’t have to be ashamed of who you’ve become.

Can We Celebrate Together?

Can we celebrate the power of overcoming?
Can we celebrate the courage to turn trauma into a lifestyle of service?
Can we honor those who walk with reverence, even when misunderstood?

Because to be psychic is not always a blessing.
It is often a reckoning.

And yet, we show up.
We do the work.
We walk with the spirits.
We heal.
And we hope.

So today, I offer you my heart —
Not as a psychic.
Not as a priestess.
Just as a woman who has known darkness…
and chose to become light.

Thank you for seeing me.
Thank you for celebrating with me.
And thank you for honoring what it really takes to live this sacred, complicated, beautiful life.

With love and truth,
Priestess Shoshana
Temple de la Luna | Spiritual Teachers Voodoo
www.spiritualteachersvoodoo.com