In this enlightening conversation, Mannah Guldager shares the profound ways she weaves together disciplines like QiGong, NARM therapy, and Evolutionary Astrology to support clients on their journeys to healing and self-discovery. Guided by a deep love for integrating ancient wisdom and modern trauma practices, Mannah discusses her unique approach to Therapeutic Astrology, her work with archetypal energies, and the transformative power of embracing one’s inner wholeness. Through her insights, we explore how blending diverse practices creates a holistic path toward self-awareness and empowerment.
With your diverse certifications and studies, including QiGong and NARM therapy, how do you weave these disciplines together to support clients on their healing journeys?
I love this question. I will answer it in two parts. First, I am proudly multidisciplinary. This is often reflected in the birth charts of people with a lot of mutable energy (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces), as they interlink fields so that holistic work can be done. As personalities, they are many-sided, and, as you can imagine, I myself have a lot of mutable energy in my birth chart, which brings this perhaps unusual combination of interests. I don’t think it is strange, though—not at all—as I simply study interrelated phenomena.
But society has traditionally encouraged us to choose one line of work and stick to it, favoring simplicity over complexity. Even nowadays, it is much easier for mainstream media to reduce a story into a catchy headline, once again favoring experts with specialized knowledge rather than those with a diverse skill set. I call what I do Therapeutic Astrology, referring to how the individual’s therapy or healing is connected to the larger planetary metaperspective and energetic map of consciousness, and vice versa. I will return to this vast topic in a later question.
My love of weaving disciplines goes beyond what I do within healing work. A significant part of my contribution to the world is interviewing thought leaders, authors, and healers on a long-format, mostly countercultural podcast. I began podcasting in 2016 (in Danish), but even years before that, I interviewed for local magazines. On the English podcast TAP (Therapeutic Astrology Podcast), I speak with wise people from a variety of backgrounds.
I see this as part of a broader revolution in more ways than one. I intend a movement away from the accelerated culture of mainstream media and make it worth peoples time to actually stick around for an hour or two. It is about creating space for deep conversations, and its about examining different approaches to living a better life (or as my slogan in TAP says “to find a place to call Whole”) AND it is with me—a non-famous person who has dealt with quite a lot of trauma.
For the future, I see this happening: People with cross-cultural abilities, and the lower ranks of society speak up and share their ideas to the benefit of all. I feel that internal pull inside of me saying: I will no longer be ignored and I meet a lot of people who feels the same, including some of who I interview. I hope for the future that we turn attention to content of value, rather than what an algorithm has made us look at certain names, so many times that it feel familiar and safe to our nervous system. I love interviewing the way I do because I get to go deep and I do with a variety of authors, helping spread their message in a way that is personal, real and a co-creation with whatever I said that day – all the flaws and longings included.
And now, to answer your question about NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model): I started studying Qigong in 2019 as a natural progression after having been a yoga teacher for many years. So, when I decided to do trauma therapy training, I did not immediately connect the two. Of course, everything I do is, in one sense, about self-healing and healing trauma—even my interviews are meant to be inspiring and, hopefully, can work as a small piece in bringing greater harmony between the inside and outside. Just like astrology, it is all connected. But I had not expected my NARM teachers to literally say the same words as my Qigong Master. The reason is that both NARM draws on a variety of approaches, including non-Western spiritual healing practices, and my Qigong master was trauma-informed, having worked with trauma specialists.
This just adds fuel to my passion for interdependent philosophies, because, as we have more access to information, teachers are increasingly influenced by other movements. To highlight just two commonalities, I can say that NARM is based on the understanding that we possess an inherent, spontaneous movement toward connection—a natural flow of aliveness, similar to other theories of a spiritual self. However, symptoms in us reflect a child consciousness and can block this natural movement when early attachment dynamics limit authenticity and full expression of life force. In Qigong, we believe in the body’s inherent capacity to heal when the harmonious flow of Qi, or life force energy, is cultivated.
We talk about energy blockages, and, in the same way as NARM, we see symptoms as communications. None of what I write here is revelatory—anymore—and I would need extended space to take you through the overlaps that show up in the interventions of NARM.
But essentially, talking about compromised life flow and the release of blockages or survival structures goes very well together, and you may know this too because it overlaps with the modern trauma paradigm. The newer trauma therapies are influenced by ancient healing knowledge, and those teaching ancient philosophy in Western countries are influenced by modern understandings of trauma.
Can you share how Evolutionary Astrology differs from other branches of astrology and why it resonates with your personal and professional practice?
Yes. EA (Evolutionary Astrology) is both a philosophy centering on the trauma of the Soul and a system to outline the evolutionary progression of the Soul from life to life. I recently did an interview with someone who had lost his brother, but as he identified with the scientific layer of Aquarius, I spared him the lecture on how the Soul is an immutable consciousness that remains intact across lifetimes. Of course, in the next life, his brother’s Soul would manifest as another character so it is not really helpful when you miss someone you lost—yet this other character would still be based on the same Soul’s evolutionary necessity. It’s interesting to look at death charts in that regard.
In EA, we interpret the chart as representing the past, present, and future. In other words, we identify past life themes in the chart to better attune to the pulse of the universe by relating it to collective cycles. Through symbolic patterns, we see where we are on the evolutionary journey which is related to the reality of the present character.
We are not all here at the same level of consciousness, but we are all here to evolve our consciousness. In EA, we see that everything that happens in an individual’s life fits within an evolutionary context.
EA resonates with me because it allows us to orient toward the next evolutionary steps, as astrology provides a map for this. I often consult my own chart and meditate on my current transits and progressions to find guidance for choices that present themselves in my everyday life.
The meditative part is important and, for me, is a huge part of what I mean by “therapeutic.” By going inward and feeling into these ideas, that is when the secrets are revealed.
When working with clients, I therefore prepare ahead of our meeting by asking them to provide their most important questions on email before we meet. This allows me to answer from a deeper place rather than simply memorizing keywords.
Sometimes, when answering astrological questions, I begin with memorized symbolism and then enter a kind of trance—depending on the patience of my client—where the meaning begins to open, and then opens again.
In your work with archetypal subpersonalities revealed through astrology, how do you help clients acknowledge and integrate these energies for profound healing?
Well, the archetypes are already “integrated” as they emerge from the quantum field and take form in humans. But its not easy -maybe not even possible- to understand logically, but we can imagine how archetypes are at the root of our psychology, also the collective psyche. I help people recognize that they are “living” an archetype (Or what Jung called an unconscious activation of an archetypal image) – they are already part of us as we are part of the Universe and Source energy.
What I can find limiting is again how to communicate something so complex as planetary associations using the simple language of the twelve astrological archetypes – when in fact each sign and planet has many levels to it, many divided processes – Scorpio for instance has layers and layers to it, and yet, I say the same word. And remember no one is just living 1 archetype. We all have all the colors in us, and each moment in time have multiple possibilities of expression.
I also study IFS or Parts work, because that therapeutic method is much aligned with ideas within astrology, where we can look at the birthchart as a gathering of personalities from past incarnations. Now working with it through parts work it means getting to know them on the inside. This helps us individually nuance the archetypes – and get to know it more in detail.
Even if we were to different names of each layer of an archetype, astrological keywords from a book will not sufficient. It is a great starting point with astrological descriptions but I connect astrology to my own or my clients inner emotional experience, so we can grow into what we are and not split off something from consciousness. Or rather, reconnect to what has been split off. In IFS we talk about exciles – such a powerful term to signal the parts of us that has been rejected and disowned.
My central idea with THERAPEUTIC astrology is that we bring the big picture into the individuals healing and from the larger perspective we learn what is in fact going on with you. Its just that to know is not enough. Change comes, as you may know, through the emotional body. That’s why I offer therapy, based on what we learned in the reading of the client’s birth chart.
I also see it as an important part of going into the future – we got the access now to ancient tools to help integration.
As someone who embraces a life of inquiry and magic, how do you guide clients to connect with their inner wholeness and trust their unique paths?
I encourage that people spend a few astrology sessions with me and then move on to therapy. If people don’t come to astrology reading first, I must know about their astrology for my own background only, because therapy is where a facilitate space for the client to connect to themselves – whereas in readings I bring the information about their past, present and future. How ever it is all a co-creation! It really is.
My ideal way of working is to have about 5 sessions of astrological readings first and then transitioning to therapy – yet its very different for each client’s needs. My point is that to find your unique path cognitively is not really all that useful.
We need to connect emotionally through therapy. However there are many nuances to understand astrologically first, so that’s why I prefer several conversations about the metaperspective first.
In short: I guide clients by facilitating awareness to what they already know about themselves deep down – reflected in their personal chart. By validating their subjective reality a door is opened and what then happens is both a great mystery and yet we have great tools to contain, integrate and make sense of all inner material as well as the felt sense.
