Willow’s Journey: Healing the Mother Wound & Finding Love After Trauma
Episode 16 — From Toxic Relationships to Spiritual Renewal
In Episode 16 of The Yearning Heart Podcast, Jennifer J. Lehr, LMFT, speaks with Willow Light, an herbalist, healer, and intuitive who has transformed a lifetime of wounds into resilience and hope. From foster care to toxic relationships, Willow’s journey reveals how even our deepest pain can become medicine for healing and new love. Learn more about Willow and her skincare here: https://willow-ish.com/
Explore how early wounds shape our relationships, why we may be pulled into toxic patterns, and how true healing opens the door to interdependent love.
https://weconcile.com/yearning-heart-podcast
Willow’s story is both raw and inspiring. Growing up in foster care with a mentally ill mother and absent father left her carrying the wound of “not being chosen.” Her search for safety led to a stable but spiritually mismatched marriage, followed by a painful six-year relationship with a narcissistic alcoholic that forced her to confront her deepest wounds.
Through meditation, therapy, psilocybin journeys, and the support of community, Willow broke free from toxic patterns, reclaimed her worth, and began to heal. Now in a new, spiritually aligned relationship with someone she has known since childhood, she embodies resilience, self-love, and the promise of interdependence.
This episode is a modern-day myth of descent, transformation, and renewal — a reminder that the hardest relationships can lead us to the deepest healing.
Takeaways
How the mother wound and father wound shape relationship choices
Why we sometimes attract narcissistic or toxic partners as “medicine”
The seductive hook of being told, “You’re special”
The link between alcoholism, narcissism, and emotional unavailability
Using psilocybin, therapy, and spirituality for deep healing
Moving from dependency → toxic entanglement → interdependent love
Chapters
00:00 Healing Through Relationships: Willow’s Journey
01:04 Willow’s Relationship Overview
02:36 Introduction to Willow’s Story
04:24 The Impact of Early Trauma
09:53 Seeking Stability: The First Marriage
10:59 The Wound of Not Being Chosen
14:23 Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage
17:39 Co-Parenting and Collaboration Post-Divorce
20:58 The Guilt and Shame of Leaving
23:37 The Hook: “You’re Special”
27:11 Trapped in a Toxic Relationship
29:40 Red Flags and Reckless Behavior
33:57 Alcoholism, Narcissism, and the Mother Wound
37:02 Beginning to Leave
41:13 Co-Dependency and Addiction to Love
44:23 Psilocybin Journeys and Grief
49:52 Choosing to Heal
51:12 New Relationship: Reconnecting with Childhood Friend
59:35 Finding a Healthy Connection
01:02:01 Interdependence and Freedom
01:04:58 The Relational Arc as Mythology
01:05:49 Gratitude and Closing
Thank You
💗 If Willow’s story gave you hope for your own healing journey, please share it — or explore more stories on The Yearning Heart Podcast.