MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
Popular TV personality, podcaster, and regular host of The One Show Angela Scanlon talks about her induction into the spirituality club, one we can all join
Growing up in Ireland, you must have been surrounded by the magic, mystery and myth of the place…
I would love to say I was in touch and in tune with the mystics of the land. I grew up close to the Hill of Tara. Now I’d go there for cacao ceremonies. Newgrange is close by, too. But honestly, it was Catholicism we were surrounded by, and I think there was a downplaying of anything that felt a little bit more magical.
My mum, even though she was brought up as a Catholic, would always talk about things being ‘fated’ with a sense of us being part of a much bigger system, which I think is not quite in line with Catholicism. So, I was aware of her ideas of faith on a bigger scale. Maybe when you’re close to them, you take the myths for granted.
It took me years to go and walk barefoot and be like, ‘yes – I’m at one.’
Was there a key event that really triggered your interest in the more spiritual aspects of life?
I think I was always kind of interested, particularly in self-development and self-help. It’s why I gravitate towards that type of book; I’ve consumed them for years.
I think it was after a big break-up. A time of first love, defining years. I was with him for seven years and it was quite intense. We’d break up and get back together. It was like that on repeat. When we eventually broke up for good and I knew, ‘that’s it now’, I had a realisation.
In my head, I’d thought I’d just accompany him down the road. Suddenly everything opened up and with that came the realisation I had a responsibility to sort myself out and actually create a life I was proud of and had some sort of control over. I got into vision boarding and manifesting and found The Secret [the bestselling book by Rhonda Byrne].
Ithink I was doing it before I was consciously doing it, if you know what I mean. I was certainly seeking ways and things that made mefeel a bit safe and ‘OK, there is hope here and we can pave our own way.’
Then, when I moved to London, I really struggled. It was full of excitement but also pressure and I put so much pressure on myself. So, I did start to seek out a lot of different modalities, including sound baths and reiki. I was trying things out and absolutely believing there was something in the effect these things had on me.
That was brought along further when my first daughter came along. There was a real shift then.
You moved from Ireland to London as your presenting career progressed?
Yeah, so I was presenting in Ireland and doing documentaries and a travel show. I was worki
