Peta Morton is a Reiki and mindfulness teacher, consulting astrologer, and international speaker known for her warm and engaging teaching style. After a life-changing illness, she began exploring the mysteries of the human experience, studying a wide range of topics related to healing and personal transformation. Peta is the award-winning author of Ancient Teachings for Modern Times and has contributed to the Science and Non-duality Conference. Currently based in France, she continues to inspire with her insights into consciousness and the unseen forces that shape our lives. Read MysticMag’s exclusive interview.
Peta, your personal healing journey began after a life-threatening illness. How did this experience shape your understanding of the mind-body-spirit connection, and how does it influence your work in Reiki and mindfulness today?
I come from quite a conventional background, and worked in a variety of high-stress jobs, including military intelligence, law enforcement, and high-end real estate sales. The constant pressure only intensified over time, whether I was juggling resource shortages or relentless chasing for sales. Recently, I’ve been exploring the possibility of undiagnosed ADHD, and I’m starting to see how executive functions —like organising and planning—added extra layers of stress at key points in my life. For a long time, I had quite an unhealthy relationship with food and alcohol, using them to numb stress rather than turning to meditation or healing. Interestingly, it’s through practices like Reiki and mindfulness that I’ve developed a much healthier range of self-soothing techniques that are now integral to my daily life.
It was only after a cancer diagnosis that I was forced to confront the deeper issues in my life. Lying in bed, worrying I might not be there for my daughters, really put everything into perspective. I realized that much of what I stressed over was irrelevant, and I needed to start truly living. I’ve since been making a conscious effort to tick off items on my bucket list and to fully appreciate life’s moments, however small.
When I learned Reiki, it was the first time I really experienced stillness. Previously, I’d always been in “doing” mode. Through Reiki, I became acutely aware of the energy moving through my body and started to experience life as more than just a physical existence. I had transcendent experiences that made me realize I’m part of something far greater than myself. Reiki isn’t just hands-on healing—it involves mindfulness, which has helped me become more aware of my patterns and emotions. I no longer react to life as quickly, and I take the time to process before responding, creating space for calm.
Today, I feel much more connected to the rhythms of nature, and have a deeper understanding of the ways in which our minds, bodies, emotions and environment are intricately linked. This awareness allows me to help others, offering guidance in how to pause, reflect, and approach life with more intention and presence.
In your book Ancient Teachings for Modern Times, you offer wisdom for leading a fulfilling life. What are some of the key teachings from ancient wisdom traditions that you believe are most relevant for people today?
What I really wanted to achieve with the book is to help people become more aware of what’s already occurring right in front of them, or within them – their thoughts, emotions, belief systems, and the subtle vibrational data that’s always present but often unnoticed. The book is designed to show people how, by simply paying attention, they can begin to make meaningful changes. It’s like when someone points something out that seems so obvious in hindsight, and you wonder why you never thought of it yourself.
I’ve included many techniques that have helped me over the years—simple, practical tools. For example, setting a reminder on your phone to check in with yourself throughout the day. When it rings, ask yourself: What am I thinking right now? What am I feeling? How am I holding my body? Just becoming aware of these things is the first step to change. From there, I guide readers through how to shift perspectives—whether it’s reframing negative situations or using breathing exercises to center themselves.
The essence of the book is about paying attention. The mind is constantly active, but learning how to engage with thoughts in a constructive way is the key. It’s simple, but far from easy—I’m still working on it myself!
You’ve explored a wide range of subjects, from astrology to medical herbalism, to deepen your understanding of the human condition. How do these diverse disciplines complement each other in your approach to healing and personal transformation?
All of these practices describe energy dynamics in some way. You might pass your hand over someone lying on a massage table during a Reiki session and feel a surge of buzziness, heat, or a stagnant coldness in certain parts of the body. Sometimes, a person’s energy feels dispersed, as if it’s extending far from their body, on other occasions it might be very localised, or can be sensed deep within the body. There are often clear correlations between the energetic state felt by the practitioner, the person’s constitution and temperament and the current astrological transits.
It’s all vibrational data—vibrational information that we can sense, energy moving through space. There’s a saying you’ve probably heard countless times: “Energy follows mind.” Blood follows that energy. There is a direct connection between what happens in your mind and your emotions, how that can affect your energy, and ultimately how your body responds to it.
I love the way astrology provides a language with which to describe many of the energetic states that become apparent during a Reiki session, and to some extent explains why clients arrive in waves, presenting with similar conditions at different periods. Like Reiki, astrology also describes energy dynamics. For instance, Mars moves quickly and can be stimulating, heating and inflammatory. A Mars transit might prompt someone to leap into action or require us to respond to a situation courageously. Saturn, on the other hand, is slow moving, cooling and consolidates, it creates boundaries, limits and structure. Neptune disperses and dissipates, Jupiter expands, and so on. Every energy has two polarities, with a range of possibilities in between. The idea is to make the best use of the available energies, and to find creative ways to mitigate any extremes or conflicting energies – ideally before they become problematic.
Herbalists recognise that plants also respond to these energy patterns, developing distinct qualities depending on the season, available light, humidity and growing conditions. Some are heating, others cooling, some tonify and stimulate, others relax, some prefer shade, others like full sun, some spread widely and so on. By understanding the qualities of each plant it’s possible to make careful choices which help correct energetic imbalances in a way that is unique to each person and the prevailing conditions – allowing them to thrive – rather than responding on a ‘one size fits all’ basis. We are not as far removed from Nature as we think. The principles and dynamics that occur within Nature also occur within us.
That’s what my work revolves around – identifying these underlying energy dynamics and figuring out how to balance them, how to bring dominant patterns back to a more centered state. I’ve practiced Reiki professionally for fifteen years now, and have been intrigued by energy dynamics from the outset, but I certainly don’t consider myself to be a professional herbalist nor an expert in medical astrology. I’m still very much a student. It’s a fascinating study that takes years to fully master. I’m also currently mid-way through a five-year Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) course covering acupuncture, Tui Na massage, psychology, Qi Gong and pharmacopea – more energy dynamics. The more I learn, the more it fascinates me, and the more tools I have with which to help clients.
Your astrological consultations provide rich insights into one’s personal patterns and life forces. How do you integrate astrology with other intuitive tools like Reiki to help individuals on their path to self-awareness and healing?
Reiki is very simple and intuitive, requiring only that we bring presence and awareness. This simplicity is much of the beauty of the art. As my practice has evolved and I became aware of more subtle layers of energetic information, I found myself wanting to understand things on a deeper level, to be more precise in my work. This is why astrology and TCM have such a great influence on my current work.
In a typical session, wherever possible I will take a quick look at someone’s natal chart before they come in. I’ll take their time, date and place of birth, and this information alone allows me to get a sense of a person’s basic constitution and the typical ways they might respond to life. It also helps me to get a feel for any potential sticking points or challenges they might be facing, and provides the foundation for a deeper conversation. A client may be presenting with tension or inflammation, or feel stuck in some way, and often after only a few minutes looking at the astrology a raft of potential causes and solutions jump off the page. It might prompt me to follow up with questions such as “How are things going with your family right now?”, “Are you happy in your career?” or “How do you hold yourself when you are feeling stressed?”. Previously I would have been much more dependent upon what the client told me and my intuitive senses. Now I don’t have to ‘fish’ as much.
Sometimes little or no change is possible, but it can be helpful and reassuring just to know how long a particular difficult phase will last, whether that be a few days, many months or even years. This is something I personally found very soothing when I had several family members fall seriously ill at the same time a couple of years ago. There was nothing about the situation that I could control, other than my reaction to events. However, I knew that the tough period wouldn’t last forever, that everything evolved and changed sooner or later, and as I watched the cycles play out it gave me a sense of something greater, something magnificent at work.
Astrology has also given me tools with which to understand how a person might approach a situation differently from me. We don’t all have the same needs, so what works for one person may not work for someone else. With this insight, I can tweak my approach. For me, it’s not about fortune-telling or “la voyance” as they say in France; it’s about finding practical solutions to what’s going on, and working constructively with the cycles, not against them. Does this person need to release stress? What are their trigger points? And how can we handle these in a healthier way? What techniques are most likely to help them? That’s what my practice is all about. I like to make sure that clients are actively engaged in the process. I may send them away with a particular Reiki precept to consider and repeat, a simple meditation, or a movement or exercise to help them reduce tension and improve energy flow.
In your documentaries, you explore the hidden geometry of Reiki and love. Could you elaborate on how geometry and energy are interconnected, and how understanding these connections can enhance our consciousness and healing practices?
There was a period during which every time I made the conscious decision to begin a Reiki session over Skype, sounds would immediately begin to emanate from the speakers of my computer, often so loud that the whole room would vibrate. No two sessions were the same. The sounds were as varied as the clients themselves, although there were definite themes. Sometimes they would be rapid and high pitched, other times they might have a lower tone, like the cycle of a washing machine. If someone was particularly stressed, either physically or emotionally, you could often hear a static sound, as if a radio station was stuck between frequencies. During a period in which there were a lot of significant solar flares there was often a ‘roaring’ sound – at times the vibrations were so loud it felt like a bulldozer was going to come through our house. There have been occasions when I have even heard my own thoughts when playing back the recording. The ‘Skype Reiki sounds’ occurred regularly for several years, and I have hundreds of recordings of the sessions, but unfortunately the technology has evolved. I now have a more modern computer, Skype updated their algorithms and improved the way they filter and amplify noises etc. Today I rarely hear the sounds during a session, which is a shame because I learned so much during that time.
When there is movement, it produces sound, even if it’s beyond our range of hearing. Energy (or an object) moving through space creates a frequency, whether it’s the cycle of a distant planet or blood flowing through the body. I became very interested in the emerging science of cymatics, the study of sound and vibration made visible. If you run an mp3 of a sound or a frequency through a small container of water and shine a light on top of it, you will notice that constantly evolving geometric patterns form on the surface water membrane, which can be filmed for further study. I was very lucky to have partnered with acoustics pioneer John Stuart-Reid, who made it possible to visualise the sounds coming from my Reiki sessions, using his high-tech Cymascope in laboratory conditions. He was able to film the results, and take incredibly detailed photographs and videos of the geometric structures that formed on the water membrane in response to the Reiki. For those who are interested in doing a similar experiment at home it’s possible to view the effects of sound and frequency at home simply by placing a small container of water on top of a speaker and filming it with a smartphone.
I think it’s too simplistic to say that ‘this emotion generates that frequency’. For starters, every single one of us has a different bodily container, a very individual ‘instrument’ if you like. What I discovered is that certain emotions, particularly those which are more peaceful and harmonious, create more coherent, stable, geometric patterns, while others, such as stress, result in chaotic, unstructured forms. Over time, I’ve come to understand that every thought and emotion we generate creates a frequency. We are like wifi routers, constantly emitting and receiving signals, some louder or more protracted than others. These signals interact with the water in our bodies, and in the atmosphere. I think cymatics goes a long way to help us better understand the nature of Qi, the dynamic, organising life-force that helps propel liquid through the body, and which instigates a plethora of transformational processes, and is perhaps even the mechanism by which cells communicate.
I find it interesting how different people respond to an identical stimulus in very different ways. There are cymatics experiments in which a particular frequency is introduced to a glass of water full of bubbles. Only bubbles of a similar dimension react to the frequency and start moving around the glass, whilst the others remain inert and ‘indifferent’. However, when a new frequency is introduced, the active bubbles calm down and bubbles of a different size become invigorated and start moving around the glass. I often wonder whether the discrete background vibration generated by distant transiting planetary bodies might have a similar stimulating effect, activating people who share similar qualities, and who interpret the signals and respond in ways which are largely subconscious.
In another experiment using a tube full of polystyrene balls, it’s clear that introducing different frequencies to the tube stimulate the balls to behave in very different ways. Depending on the specific frequency they might clump together or disperse, elongate, widen, pulse, vibrate etc. For me, every time I watch these experiments it reminds me of the way that blood moves through the veins and blood vessels in our body. Both are aspects of matter, within a container which has been subjected to an energetic stimulus, and respond accordingly. In the Su Wen, the first text of the ancient Chinese Nei Jing it is said:
“I know that the hundred diseases are generated by the Qi. When one is angry then the Qi rises. When one is joyous the Qi relaxes. When one is sad the Qi dissipates. When one is in fear the Qi moves down. In the case of cold the Qi collects. In the case of heat the Qi flows out. When one is frightened the Qi is in disorder. When one is exhaused then the Qi is wasted. When one is pensive the Qi clumps together.”
These basic energy dynamics were deeply understood thousands of years ago, and it’s a shame that we’ve lost sight of them today. We humans are so captivated by objects, by matter, but it’s the processes that are constantly taking place in the empty spaces between that I find endlessly fascinating.
Already we are starting to contemplate the impact of things like circadian rhythms, and how we respond to cycles of light and dark. I believe that in the not-too-distant future, we’ll also begin to pay more attention to what is occurring within the spaces between things – including the spaces within our bodies – and how these processes underpin matter and can transform it. Then, perhaps, we’ll better understand how our thoughts and emotions impact our physiology, and vice versa. Everything is truly interconnected.
If you would like to find out more about Peta Morton, please visit https://www.petamorton.com/
