Meet Amy Miranda, a wonder witch, medium, and internationally awarded Executive Producer turned healer and author of “What We’ve Forgotten.” In this insightful interview, Amy shares her personal journey of confronting trauma, the transformative power of healing practices, and the impact of her work on individuals and communities. Through her unique blend of shamanic healing, creative expression, and spiritual exploration, Amy invites us to reclaim wonder, embrace healing, and rediscover the limitless potential within ourselves.
What was the turning point in your life that led you to confront your trauma and embark on a journey of healing?
Like any good origin story, I think there were a few turning points that led me to finally dig into the trauma I’d been carrying around. Most times for survivors of trauma, especially childhood trauma it takes us a few runs at it to finally have it stick. I’d had issues with addiction but chalked it up to trauma, and like most of us, I thought I could just know it was there vs. actually moving through it to heal. Spoiler: That doesn’t work for very long. So there finally came a time where I realized that the only way out was through. I finally had to actually look into this dark backpack I’d been carrying around all of my life and unpack it. Name what was in there. It turns out this happened a few years into becoming an entrepreneur. I think it was finally being responsible for my own livelihood and for the first time not working in someone else’s structure. By that point I’d worked for some really big companies in media and advertising, two kinds of businesses definitely not known for their trauma informed approach, or being a safe space for women. So when I was finally under my own roof so to speak it was clear it was time to unpack the Trauma Shed. As it wasn’t really a backpack anymore, it was it’s own building and it was time to look inside.
Can you share a pivotal moment or experience during your healing journey that significantly impacted your perspective or approach to life?
To expand on this idea that when our trauma goes unnamed, unexplored, and avoided it becomes hard to notice the amazing parts of life as we tend to be so deep in the flight, fright, fight response that we can’t imagine slowing down. For most trauma survivors slowing down is not usually a safe place as a result we miss out on a lot of pivotal moments because we’re braced for impact. I’d spent my whole life running and when I finally slowed down, that was where the magic was. I was able to see things from a new perspective and rather than blaming or shaming myself for not doing the work sooner, I was able to see how the events of my life lead me to a place where I was finally safe enough to name what I’d survived. It was that moment that was the key realization for me with my particular trauma, I’m a CSA survivor of my father, and I realized part of how the abuse occurs in the first place is really the abuser removing autonomy, and control of our own moments. That’s how they commit the abuse. That isolation and separation from our own inner voice, or inner knowing. When I was able to see my trauma not only from my own 10,000 foot view, but the 10,000 foot view of my family, my ancestors. I was able to see not only the trauma, but the triumph. I was able to see the higher purpose and finally have some wonder enter back into the picture. That concept of perspective is a big part of my book, my practice, my life. We humans tend to get caught in the undertow of emotions a lot, but when we zoom out we can see the wider pattern and make more sense of the things we’ve survived to glean our purpose.
How did your background as an internationally awarded Executive Producer and Entrepreneur influence the creation of “What We’ve Forgotten” and your work as a healer and medium?
If you asked me this a few years ago I’d have said it didn’t. Now that a book has been produced and that I ended up contributing so much artwork and visual language and brand into not only the book, oracle deck and retreat, but into the forthcoming digital experience. I realized during the process of concepting and really, channeling the book that so much of the process of creativity is energy work. In bringing What We’ve Forgotten to life, it was really a merging of all of my skills. Bringing in the experience of working with some of the best artists, creatives, designers and art directors in the business throughout my career in media and advertising. They really trained me for this. It wasn’t until I was working with Nic Taylor at Thunderwing Studio on the artwork and direction for the book that I realized it was kind of a symphony of sorts bringing all of these different pieces of my experience, into the art – my art. It made me realize, with his encouragement and help, that I’d always listened to my instincts in creative, even when I was locked in my trauma, it was the one part of my life that felt safest. Being in creative spaces with other creative people. It’s the same thing I do with healing and mediumship work really, I’m a translator. I work with a lot of creative people as a producer and as a healing practitioner these days, and it’s solidified the idea that they’re really no different. When I’m working as a producer I use my gifts, I always have. I’ve always seen the future, or been guided by creative energy itself. I think it’s just that I’ve finally come out of the broom closet so to speak and finally came to a point where, like any alchemist I merged my skills to create the kind of work I was trained to create. I just never envisioned I’d have come out of the closet as an artist myself, that was a surprise. So even when you see the future, you get surprises, that’s the joy of creating – and life.
What challenges did you face while writing your book, developing the retreat, and creating the oracle deck? How did you overcome them?
I think this ties back to the previous question, I really faced myself in the process. At my company, Lunch, I’ve produced work for brands from Pee-wee Herman to Paramount Pictures and I’m known for a certain level of finish and quality. I learned from working as a producer for some of the best designers and creatives in the business in Advertising that it really is in the details. I have been so lucky and honored with a number of Cannes Lions for all kinds of digital work in advertising and those kind of global shows are really tough as they’re rooted in both results and quality of work. I was lucky to be trained in the process of doing that work, both award winning and not, to really pay attention to things most people don’t notice. I’m neurodivergent so that’s actually where a lot of pattern recognition, and consistency of colour, or creative direction sings. I leaned into that with the book, there’s a lot of visual language and easter eggs in there, and I really tried to honour all of the amazing inspirations, teachers and collaborators I’ve had in my career and life. They’ve all helped shape the standards I tried to bring into the work. They also taught me, and reminded me through the process that nothing is ever perfect, and that each project wears the marks of the process it was produced in and that we can really meet our audience with hidden treasures for those who look. That has always been a big part of my work, there’s always been easter eggs in my projects. That’s the biggest challenge I think as a creator, there’s always gatekeepers, and I like to think those challenges of getting the brand, – the book , the retreat, the oracle deck to where it is – is really standing by your experience and your instincts. It’s really easy to get chewed up in the publishing or studio process in media, and I overcame that really by remembering my experience producing projects and campaigns, they always end up telling the story of the piece – and the process and the energy that goes into them is as important as the word and image and there’s always ways to get your vision in the work. The feedback from people on the “feeling” and “energy” of the book, or finding some of the easter eggs I hid, shows me that it mattered and that it was worth that push.
In your opinion, what are the most important lessons survivors of trauma can learn from your story and your work?
I hope the most important lessons survivors of trauma can learn from my story and work is that we’re never “too broken” to be fixed and I think hopefully sharing the stories of my own healing journey as well as the actual practices and tools for moving through life will move from the feeling of victim to survivor, to warrior. We’re all surviving a lot right now. We are all experiencing trauma in the world on a daily basis. A lot of us move through life looking away, or thinking that the wounds are too deep, or that the road will be too painful and long, or that it’s all too hard to fix. That’s what abusers, or The Uninvited as I like to call them, want us to think, as that mentality inherently keeps us sick, it keeps us quiet. Us moving through the process and actually reclaiming our power and gifts is their nightmare. Us figuring out that the trauma was our own personal superhero origin story is what gives those kinds of people nightmares. I hope that’s what survivors of trauma take from my experience and work, I know from working with clients 1 on 1 that the shift from seeing the trauma transmuting from poison to medicine is one that tends to change the healing journey from arduous to adventure.
When we begin to do the work to become captains of our own lives and energy, things change quickly, and this is how collective liberation occurs, and we get more global change. I hope the work brings more connective tissue between people and that we can liberate ourselves collectively from this cycle we seem to keep finding ourselves in as humans. Fight the Power as Chuck D, would say. That was why I asked him to blurb the book, there’s still no better soundtrack for collective liberation than Public Enemy.
How do you incorporate shamanic healing practices into your work, and what role do they play in helping individuals reclaim their wonder and heal from trauma?
Shamanic healing and journey work are really the core of my practice working one on one or in groups. There were breadcrumbs for this connection and how they’ve always been part of my life in different forms. I’m a nerd, I grew up in early days of the internet and the 90s rave scene. I loved jungle/drum and bass, and always loved the community, connection and higher state of consciousness, of course I am in recovery so part of it was substances. I knew that was part of it, but there was something else that happened in those times. This sense of community and connection that I couldn’t really explain. Fast forward 20 years or so and I found myself in the midst of my healing journey entertaining the idea that a Shamanic practitioner might be able to help me. I understood it at the time as a restoration of power. All I knew at the time was that I could really use that, I was feeling stuck. When I saw the man who would become my teacher he drummed. Something happened, I felt peace and connection – the same thing I’d felt listening to drum and bass at raves so many years earlier. When I got into the nerdiness of shamanism, I found out that when the human brain hears a beat of approximately 220 bpm, we can go into a shamanic state of consciousness. Of course I loved drum and bass. Of course I always wanted to play drums as a kid. Of course jungle was the soundtrack for most of my life, it probably helped me get through the times when I was spending too much time in the Trauma Shed.
The drum is still a central part of the healing work I do, more so than ever and I bring it into every session I do with clients. It’s my collaborator and is the real star of the show in ceremony. It’s been that for human beings all over the world for thousands of years. Energy responds to vibration, and I find a lot of times when I’m working with clients to reclaim wonder and heal from trauma after a few minutes of quiet with the drum, they remember… Hence the idea of What We’ve Forgotten.
What advice would you give to someone who is hesitant or afraid to confront their own trauma and begin their healing journey?
If you’re someone who is hesitant or afraid to confront your trauma, look through the shed, or begin your healing journey. The first thing I’d say is that -You’re not alone. You’re not the first person to be afraid or hesitant, and although there may be a voice inside of you telling you that you can’t heal, I promise you’re not going to be the only person in history who can’t move through their trauma and reclaim their power. When we do healing shamanically we’re not bringing back the trauma, we are bringing back the power and we’re working with the soul. The soul has your back, it’s got millions of years of experience, we just have to invite it to become the driver of this part of our journey. We deserve to have that kind of experience at the wheel to move past the traumatic part of town and into the wonder and magic where we can find the treasures that are unique to us. It may seem like a dark road but in speaking it out loud, in seeking healing, in finding peer support, other survivors we find the others, and a journey that seems shadowy and dark is easily illuminated by the torches of the others. I can say with absolute assurance that trauma survivors who are on a healing journey as a community are the people you want on your team. They are the special ops of humanity.
Can you share a story about a client or participant in your retreat who experienced significant transformation or healing? What was their journey like?
I can share that in each iteration of the What We’ve Forgotten retreat there has been significant transformation and healing, usually both. From the first instalment to the session I finished in March 2024 the energy of the group really informs the transformation and healing, the topics and practices in the retreat expand on the book and obviously bring together practice in a group format. Typically we go from the first week where people regardless of their experience tend to all feel those first day at school vibes, to not wanting it to end by the time we get to week 3. The connection of the group really makes the process and adventure more powerful. I’ve seen miraculous healings where people experience a physical healing for chronic illness or pain, we’ve had people experience incredible connections with different beings in nature as a result of the work, increased synchronicity and from the testimonials on the work – life changing transformation and discovery. I describe it as a bit of an archaeological dig, we work through what we knew we might be looking for and sometimes unearth amazing treasures we didn’t know were there. The biggest thread through the experience is that people have fun. I believe light work should be lighthearted, obviously this is sacred stuff but approaching it with a sense of humour as much as ease and grace are important. An increase in magic and wonder typically has a side effect of bringing in more fun or a light hearted attitude about the path we’re all walking. https://amymiranda.com/index.php/testimonials/
As a wonder witch and medium, how do you navigate skepticism or misunderstanding about your abilities and practices?
As a witch and medium I encounter a fair amount of skepticism and misunderstanding, especially around the word “witch”, which is exactly why I use it. To remove the stigma. Witches have been villainized, yet male prophets and healers are at the forefront of most spiritual thought… We all know the stories of miracles and a guy who walked on water. I like to remind people of the science of energy. Quantum Entanglement is a great representation of how not everything in science can be explained by science. Einstein himself referred to this as “spooky action at a distance”, so I like to remind people that we’re literally on a ball in Space, and that the Universe is expanding in every direction at different speeds faster than previously thought, so we live in a system that has to account for wonder. As the truth is, we as human beings still don’t really know much about what we’re doing here or what else there is. So we can stand in skepticism, or we can simply entertain the idea that there is scientific evidence that we are literally made of star stuff, we have no understanding of what dark matter is and it’s worth leaving ourselves a little room for wonder. I also remind people that those who can’t accept new information aren’t in alignment with science OR wonder, being indoctrinated in a system that we have no instructions for isn’t how we’re meant to live. We’re seeing how that is impacting everything now. Not so great.
What are your hopes for the impact of “What We’ve Forgotten” on individuals and communities, both now and in the future?
My hope for What We’ve Forgotten is that it reminds people of who they are, and what they’re capable of, and that it provides an instruction manual of sorts for remembering how to employ wonder in your own life, be open to the idea that all of this is much simpler than its been made out to be and that we can reclaim wisdom that will get us out of this bind humanity is in, and fast. That’s the great thing about energy and space time. It’s all moving already and it’s faster than light, and as we continue to build more community and actual human connection, we will change the trajectory of this whole human experience. That’s part of the joy of being a witch, and seer. I get to see the future, and it’s amazing what can happen when we reset and begin again with the same information. We remember what we’re capable of. We remember what we’ve forgotten.
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