Meet Michelle Cassandra Johnson: Author, Healer, and the Voice Behind "Skill in Action"
I'm so excited to share this conversation with you. Michelle Cassandra Johnson is one of those rare people whose work refuses to fit in a single box she's an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant, and intuitive/shamanic healer, and somehow all of it flows from the same source.
Michelle is the creator of the "Skill in Action" framework, and her sixth book, You Are Protected, just released this September. It's a book about protection — but not the fear-based kind we're used to. It's about the guides, ancestors, deities, elemental energies, and quiet inner resources that are already available to us, if we know how to look for them.
We talked about what it means to pour from a full cup instead of an empty one, what a "natural curio" actually is (and a simple practice you can try today), and how 25+ years of racial equity work shifts when you bring embodiment and ritual into the room. We also got into the everyday stuff — what an ordinary Tuesday looks like for Michelle, tending bees in North Carolina, and what she'd say differently if she gave her 2019 TEDx talk today.
This one felt less like an interview and more like sitting down with a wise friend. I think you're going to love it.
What if the most transformative spiritual practice available to you isn't something you need to find, purchase, or earn — but something woven into the ordinary fabric of your days?
That's the invitation at the heart of my conversation with Tracee Stanley, and honestly, it's one I needed to hear.
Tracee has been a guest on this podcast twice before, and every single time she returns, something shifts — in me, and if the messages I receive afterward are any indication, in you too. This visit was no different. We sat together (virtually, but it felt close) and talked about her upcoming book Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit, releasing August 2026 from St. Martin's Essentials. And what unfolded was less an interview and more a homecoming.
Meet Michelle Johnson
Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant, educator, and intuitive shamanic healer. She approaches her life and work from a place of knowing we are, can, and must heal individually and collectively. Michelle facilitates workshops and immersions, leads retreats and transformative experiences nationwide, and offers an array of healing services for individuals and groups. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. Michelle is a six-time published author, and in May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, and published by Sounds True, was released. Her upcoming book, You Are Protected, published by St. Martin’s Essentials, comes out in September 2026.
Connect with Michelle
Topics on the Show
- What ties it all together — how Michelle holds her many roles (author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant, intuitive/shamanic healer) as one thread, not separate hats
- The evolution of "Skill in Action" — what the framework means to her now versus when she first coined it
- Pouring from a full cup — the moment that made the "empty cup" truth undeniable in Michelle's own life
- Her spiritual support system — how she first became aware of the guides, ancestors, deities, and elemental energies she writes about
- What a "natural curio" is — plus one simple protection practice you can try today
- Who You Are Protected was written for — and the specific person or moment Michelle had in mind while writing it
- Redefining protection — the difference between fear-based protection and what Michelle means by the word
- Revisiting her 2019 TEDx talk — what Michelle would say differently today
- Bees and a daily practice — how tending honeybees in North Carolina informs her sense of protection and community
- What she hopes you get out of the book — which chapter she'd point new readers to first
- Where to find her and get the book
Order You Are Protected
A powerful collection of spiritual practices and tools to support readers in standing strong amidst whatever the world throws at them.
Pre-Order Here
Listen to the Podcast Episode
This Week's Challenge:
Set an invocation of calling back your energy from all time and space you've left it this week.
