Your Heart Knows How to Heal You: The Sacred Medicine of the Four Chambers of the Heart

by Cissi Williams, HeatherAsh Amara (Foreword by)

Overview

Awaken the wisdom of your heart for healing, rebirth, and transformation

• Discover the medicine found in your heart’s four chambers through a shamanic initiation with your heart as your teacher

• Explore the ancient wisdom of spirit animal guides and Goddess archetypes, such as the Black Madonna, Persephone, and the Valkyries

• Experience nine powerful shamanic journeys, as well as transformative exercises, chakra work, and visualizations

PREDOMINANTLY MIND-FOCUSSED, Western thinking often disregards more intuitive insights. This leads to a disconnect between head and heart that, over time, leaves us dissatisfied with life. When Cissi Williams had a heart attack, she recognized this as an invitation to awaken and, enlisting her heart’s wisdom, learned to heal not just her body but also her life.

Sharing the teachings of her healing transformation, Cissi invites you on an intuitive journey through the four chambers of the heart, connecting deeply with the ancient wisdom of spirit animal guides and Goddess archetypes such as Persephone, Inanna, Mary Magdalene, the Valkyries, and Cerridwen:

• In the first heart chamber, the Chamber of Healing, you focus on letting go and shedding what’s no longer needed.

• Stepping into the second chamber, the Chamber of Transformation, you are asked to process your shadow parts in the holy fire of the Dark Mother, along with the shamanic spirit animal guides Wolf and Raven.

• The third chamber, the Chamber of Magic, helps you ignite your inner magic, so you can manifest your dreams with the support of Mama Bear.

• Carried by Eagle and Phoenix medicine in the fourth chamber, the Chamber of Rebirth, you rise from the ashes, stronger than before.

Presenting nine powerful shamanic journeys alongside transformative exercises, chakra work, and visualizations, Cissi guides you through a feminine heart-centered initiation, allowing you to transform your wounds into wisdom, reclaim your authentic power, and awaken your inner Wise Woman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798888502044
Publisher:	Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Publication date:	04/08/2025
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	151,243
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Cissi Williams is an osteopath, naturopath, NLP trainer, and master practitioner in hypnosis. A teacher of shamanic energy medicine and Seidr Magic, she is also initiated as a Priestess of Freyja. Cissi founded the Nordic Light Academy of Energy Medicine and the Awaken Your Inner Wisdom Podcast. She lives in the Cotswolds, England.

HeatherAsh Amara is the author of Warrior Goddess Training.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

Hearing the voice of spirit
A year or so into my travels, I met an astrologer in Varanasi, India, who told me I was very depressed and disconnected from life. I could not relate at all to what he was talking about, as I felt quite happy. A bit empty perhaps, as if I lived in a void, but at least I didn’t walk around on eggshells anymore.
Now in hindsight I can see how frozen I was, as if I just lived from my head, planning on where to go next, just drifting from place to place, avoiding setting down roots anywhere. As I had felt so trapped at home, I now craved freedom.
Then, a few more years into my travelling, when I was living in Tokyo in my early 20s, I met someone. I remember being in the kitchen, with a cup of tea in my hand, when this man from London, a decade my senior, came up to me. I had this inner voice telling me, "Stay away from him," which I thought was a bit odd. I ignored the warning, and we ended up together.
Our relationship opened the gates to all my inner wounds and within a short space of time I abandoned my former self. I was victim-oriented, controlling, needy, and had a deep-seated fear of being rejected. I also developed an eating disorder to try to numb my inner turmoil. I would binge eat and then purge, and it would exhaust me so much, I would fall asleep afterwards.
Hardly surprisingly, this relationship ended and, as it did, I fell into a deep depression, into a darkness that seemed to drain me of my life force. This was in the autumn of 1992. I was 24 years old and living alone in London. I remember having this thought that I looked like a shiny apple on the outside, but inside I was completely rotten.
Then one night, in my tiny little room on Pond Street in Hampstead, I had a dream where I saw myself hanging dead from the ceiling. As I woke up, covered in sweat, I knew I had to change. I could no longer keep blaming my dad, or my ex-boyfriend, for how I was feeling. I knew I had to change my thoughts, but I had no idea how to. The nightmare of seeing myself hanging from the ceiling had really shaken me, as if it was giving me a glimpse into my future, so I sat up in bed, pulled the duvet tighter around me, and I prayed. I had never prayed before, but I was desperate. I didn’t know who else to turn to, so I turned to the Universe, hoping to get an answer.
Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then I got this inner feeling that I should go back to Stockholm. I immediately booked a flight back home.
The very next day I found myself in a spiritual bookshop in my hometown, where three books seemed to just land in my lap—The Power Is Within You by Louise Hay, Love Is the Answer by Gerald Jampolsky, and Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain.
As I started reading these books, I could feel myself getting lighter. It was as if a door to another universe had opened, a light-filled universe, that led me out from this dark world I previously felt trapped in.
I realized that my prayer had been answered as these books gave me the tools I needed to help me change my thinking and connect with the light from Spirit—a light I recognized was also in me. This was such a huge revelation for me; that this light existed within me!
As I kept focusing on this inner light, as I kept choosing love instead of fear, the darkness began to recede. Within six weeks my depression was gone, and within four months my bulimic behaviours had stopped. Just from me choosing to focus on the light, choosing to focus on love, choosing to heal my thinking.
Through healing my thoughts, my mind became more peaceful, which allowed me to hear Spirit’s Voice more clearly. The inner critical voice—the ego’s voice—is so loud and noisy, while Spirit’s Voice is soft, gentle, and loving, so we can only hear it when our mind is peaceful. This loving inner voice guided me to study osteopathy and naturopathy. So one year after having reached rock-bottom, I found myself enrolled in a four-year university degree in Osteopathic Medicine in London.
This loving inner voice also guided me to meet my husband! As I was in my fourth year of osteopathy training, a new clinic tutor walked in, Mr. Williams, and the moment I saw him I heard this inner voice say: "That’s your husband!" We were married on the full moon at the summer solstice the following year, and we are still going strong, nearly three decades later.
I started to trust this inner, loving voice, and it guided me to later study hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, and various shamanic healing modalities (including those from the Incas, Norse, and Celts).
I was passionate about sharing with others what I knew—that we have this amazing power within us to heal. Over the next two decades, I helped thousands of clients, patients, and students tune into their inner wisdom. I also set up two spiritual wellbeing magazines—one in Sweden and one in the UK—and founded the podcast Awaken Your Inner Wisdom.
I had no idea that I was about to receive an invitation from my heart to step through another door of initiation that would lead me into the magical realm of the ancient wisdom found in the feminine.
A message from my heart
On a full moon in November, just a few weeks shy of my 52nd birthday—what is it with me and full moons?—I was sitting on my sofa with my laptop, working on an episode for my podcast, when I suddenly experienced extreme chest pain. It was so bad I fell to my knees. The pain was radiating up to my right jaw, and it was hard for me to breathe. The pain lasted for perhaps five to ten minutes. Then it eased, and I felt better.
I sent a text message to my husband, who was teaching osteopathy in London, where I wrote: "Don’t worry, but I’ve just had extreme chest pain, radiating up to my right jaw, but I’m fine now."
Then I sat back down on the sofa and continued editing my podcast episode, as if nothing had happened.
My husband, on the other hand, freaked out and drove straight back home. He pleaded with me to see the GP, but I insisted I was fine now, and I absolutely had to finish this podcast episode, so seeing the GP had to wait.
Then the pain came back, although not as bad. I still felt it was no big deal, but to ease my husband‘s worry, I phoned the GP surgery and was told to come in immediately. I took an ECG test, which revealed signs of a heart attack. I was still ignoring the seriousness of what had happened, but the GP told me that if I felt worse, I needed to go to the hospital.
Over the next few days, I still had chest pain on and off. My husband was getting quite frustrated with me as I did not seem too concerned. In the end, he persuaded me to come with him to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, so off we went. As we were sitting there in the waiting room, I took out my laptop from my bag and started typing away.
My husband looked at me and said, "There’s something really wrong with this picture, with you sitting here at the ER with your laptop." I just smiled at him reassuringly and, as I felt fine, I kept on working. I was sure the wait would be a little while, and I just had a tiny bit left to finish off and then the podcast episode would be ready to be uploaded.
At that moment my name was called, and I went to have various blood tests and another ECG done. This too showed signs of a heart attack and my blood pressure was really high. They kept a cannula in my vein in my left arm to make it easier to give me any medication or take more blood. This proved to be very effective in stopping me from working on my laptop, as I could not bend my elbow.
I was taken to another waiting room, and by this stage we had been at the hospital for a few hours, so my husband went to get some sandwiches. This was the first time I was completely alone. And that is when it hit me, as I was sitting there, looking out through the windows at the grey November sky. I had had a heart attack! Just as my mum had when she was only 48.
My mind finally stopped being in denial and I registered the enormity of the situation. I felt overwhelmed by sadness and grief and fear, as I had seen what the heart attack did to Mum. She became a prisoner of her own body.

Table of Contents

Foreword by HeatherAsh Amara

A Note from the Author

Introduction

Who Is This Wise Woman?

PART 1: From the Head to the Heart

1. Your Heart Is a Teacher

How the Four Chambers of the Heart Mirror the Four Seasons

What Is Shamanism?

Guidelines for Using the Shamanic Journeys in This Book

Shamanic Journey into Your Heart

2. Mapping the Path

Tuning Into Your Tree of Life

Wisdom Teachings: Mary Magdalene, the Tree of Life,
and the Seven Gates

The Chakra System

Shamanic Journey to Cleanse Your Chakras and Tune Into
the Tree of Life

PART 2: Journey into the Sacred Medicine
of the Four Chambers of Your Heart

3. The Chamber of Healing

Letting Go and Healing Your Roots

Heal Your Roots and Ancestral Lineage

Serpent Mother Medicine: Shedding the Old

Shamanic Journey with Persephone to Release the Past
and Heal Your Ancestral Lineage

4. The Chamber of Transformation

Wisdom Teachings: The Descent of Inanna through the Seven Gates
into the Underworld

How the Dark Mother Helps Us Heal
Our Unconscious Wounds

Meet the Dark Mothers: Hel, the Black Madonna,
Cerridwen, and Hecate

Discovering Your Shadows

Wolf and Raven Medicine: Protectors in the Dark

Shamanic Journey Through the Seven Gates into the Underworld,
Meeting the Dark Mothers, Transforming the Darkness into Light

5. Returning to Source

Wisdom Teachings: Birthing the Light from the Darkest Night

Weaving Your Dreams into Being with the Spirit Weavers

Owl Medicine: Seeing the Light in the Darkness

Shamanic Journey to Meet the Spirit Weavers and Source for
New Visions and Dreams

6. The Chamber of Magic

Wisdom Teachings: Persephone and Inanna Emerging
from the Underworld

Receiving the Light to Ignite Your Inner Magic

Meet the Light Mothers Freya, Idun, and Brigid

Mama Bear Medicine: Receiving Nourishment from the Feminine

Shamanic Journey to Meet the Light Mothers and
Ignite Your Inner Magic

7. The Chamber of Rebirth

The Witch Who Was Burned and Reborn Three Times

Releasing What Stops You from Receiving the Light So That
You Can Move Through Your Own Rebirth

Rising from the Ashes Reborn

Eagle and Phoenix Medicine

Shamanic Journey of Initiation: The Wise Woman
Rising from the Ashes

PART 3: Weaving Your Heart’s Wisdom
into Your World

8. Re-Writing Your Story

The Ancient Wisdom of Mary Magdalene Is Rising Again

Mary Magdalene Is the Mystical Heart Embodying Both
Heaven and Earth

The Heart Chakra of the World

Shamanic Journey with Mary Magdalene to the
Heart Chakra of the World—the Isle of Avalon

9. Living a Heart-Centred Life

Flying with the Valkyries

Listening to the Whispers from Your Heart

Finding the Structure for Birthing Your Dreams

Shamanic Journey to Weave Your Heart’s Loving Wisdom
into Your World

Closing Words

Closing Prayer to the Divine Mothers of Darkness and Light

Resources

Shamanic Journeys and Exercises

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Author, teacher, and wise woman Cissi Williams has travelled the roads of darkness and light and has returned to us with deep and profound wisdom. This book lovingly invites you on a healing journey into the depths of your heart and soul, awakening your ancient feminine wisdom and magic. I loved it.

founder of The Oracle School Experience and author COLETTE BARON-REID

The renowned shamanic teacher Michael Harner used to say: if you don’t want to change, don’t learn how to journey. The same could be said about this amazing and powerful book, Your Heart Knows How to Heal You: if you have no wish to grow or heal, to find greater self-knowing and personal sovereignty, then don’t read this book. However, if your wish is to take a transformative, spellbinding, and illusion-shattering journey through both the shadowlands and the Elysian fields of your own inner landscape, then this meticulous and expansive, simply beautiful work by Cissi Williams is your ticket. You will not be the same person when you arrive at the final page!

author of Up A Tree and The Hungry Sea JANE BURNS

This book is a brilliant offering of Medicine Woman wisdom. Through a powerful combination of storytelling, shamanic journeying, and deep spirit connection, Cissi Williams has provided us with a powerful portal for healing ourselves, the past, and the generations to come. Your Heart Knows How to Heal You welcomes you into sacred relationship with goddess medicine, the divine feminine, and ancient wisdom. It’s a must-read for all who feel the call to return to the heart of who we are.

Indigenous Medicine Woman and author of You Are th ASHA FROST

This healing book holds powerful heart medicine, sharing a magical map to receive the nourishment of light and the rooted fertility of darkness. Following the thread of her own story of healing, Cissi weaves a spell of transformation that is shamanic, spiritual, psychic, and somatic. It’s a book that is more than just something you ‘read’; it’s a living frequency that you will journey with. It is a companion, a guide, and a well of inspiration. Cissi brings to life ancient teachings in a way that speaks directly to our modern physical and soulful ailments and calls us back onto the sacred path of balance.

author of Spirit Weaver and coauthor of Womb Awake SEREN BERTRAND

Cissi Williams is a giant-hearted, glorious gift to the world. In Your Heart Knows How to Heal You, Cissi takes us on powerful healing journeys—sharing from her own life and her vast experience as a healer and teacher. Cissi is the wise, compassionate elder we all need. With profound insight and gentle wisdom, she guides us through transformative cycles of healing and rebirth and introduces us to the fierce and nurturing goddesses that are within us. Beautiful audio recordings of the guided journeys accompany the book. Cissi’s guidance is a healing presence that invites you on inner journeys through the seasons and the chambers of your heart, enabling you to discover your own unique gifts and weave your unique light and soul essence in the world.

spiritual guide and founder of Wild Wisdom MICHELLE MACEWAN

Cissi carries the sacred medicine of a woman who has faced and overcome challenges in life with courage and grace. I love this woman. I love her message, and I love her book. She takes you on a journey of the heart and soul in her remarkable book. I highly recommend it. It can transform your life.

author of Secrets and Mysteries and Kindling the N DENISE LINN

Cissi Williams’ book is deeply nourishing soul nectar. It lovingly guides you to be cradled, restored, and healed in a way deeper than before.

REBECCA CAMPBELL

“Your Heart Knows How to Heal You is a profound and transformative journey into the depths of our emotional and spiritual core. Through its wisdom, readers are guided to unlock the innate healing power that resides within, offering a path toward wholeness, self-compassion, and renewal. This book is a gift—a sacred medicine that knows exactly how to heal, inviting us to return to the truth of our heart and the wisdom it holds.

author of A Fierce Heart SPRING WASHAM