Assemble Your Allies: How to Be Your Own Support System (Using Every Version of You)

Hi, I’m Sara, founder of The Sisters Enchanted. We’ve been teaching women to assemble their allies here since 2018 or 2019, and it is one of the practices I come back to the most, because it is the one that still works when everything else feels too hard to reach for.

Here’s the thing about being your own best friend. We say it like it’s a bumper sticker. But most of us have no idea how to actually do it, because we’re only ever relating to one tiny sliver of ourselves at a time. Today I want to introduce you to the rest of you: the past you, the present you, and all the future yous who are already in the room, whether you invited them or not. When you bring them together on purpose, you stop white-knuckling your way through life and you start carrying a support system that never leaves.

This is part three of our pre-Expedition to Soul series. In part one we talked about living your whole life as a magical practice, that your life itself is the practice, the energy grid you’re working within. It doesn’t have to be all the tarot and all the crystals (I love the tarot and the crystals, but still). In part two we talked about you as the altar, the thing you devote your energy to. And today, when all of that feels hard and easy to forget, we call in your support system. Let’s get into it.

What does it mean to assemble your allies?

Assembling your allies means becoming your own support system by calling in every version of yourself to work together as a team. It is looking at all the versions of you to date and asking how they can support each other, instead of leaving them scattered and disconnected.

We’ve been doing this at The Sisters Enchanted since 2018 or 2019, and inside Expedition to Soul we run a whole session on it. Here’s the brief overview so you can take action on it right away.

We can gather spiritual support from unseen resources: from ancestors, from source, from mythology, from fairies, and so on. That support is real and I use it. But we can also assemble our allies by looking at our own selves. Right here, right now, as you read this, there are several versions of you in play, listening with different ears. When you gather them on purpose, you become your own best friend instead of your own worst critic.

Who are the three versions of yourself?

There are three versions of you present at any moment: the past you, the present you, and the future you. Each one is receiving your experience differently, and each one is actively helping create your reality.

Here’s the framework, laid out simply.

Past you. This is you yesterday, you ten years ago, you all the way back to childhood. There are close to infinite past versions of you. The version of you who already had an experience receives what I say one way. The version of you from before that moment receives it another. All of them are contributing.

Present you. This is the you who’s here right now. Maybe you’re focused with your earbuds in. Maybe you’re cooking breakfast or on a walk half-listening. Maybe you’re scattered, doing three things at once, still carrying residual energy from a conversation you just had. There’s a presence to you that is experiencing life as we know it, and it is all moving through you at the same time.

Future you. The future version of you is always sourcing from past and present you. And there isn’t just one. There’s the future you who keeps not taking action. The future you who stays fragmented. The future you who makes ten different changes. The future you who is simply content. All of them are pulling on you right now, and all of them are shaping how you receive this exact moment.

If there are so many versions of me, what is my authentic self?

Your authentic self isn’t one fixed thing. It can shift many times in a single day, and that is not a failure. You might be your authentic self at work in one way and your authentic self at home in another, and both are real.

This is where it gets interesting. We tell women to “be your authentic self.” But so many women hide their spiritual practice, hide their witchy interests, downplay the knowing inner wise woman, the weird, wild, wise woman within. They hide her because of what a partner might say, an adult child, a friend. And when I hold that up against the idea that there are several versions of you in the mix at all times, the question gets bigger. What even is authentic? Who are you? Your identity can switch twenty times in one day.

Here’s what’s worth stating plainly: that hiding is a pattern. It’s one of the seven self-sabotage patterns of the witch wound, the one we call Hiding Your Magic (Literally), concealing the evidence of your spiritual practice. Underneath it is an ancestral fear of being too powerful, too visible, too much. The witch wound isn’t history, it’s happening right now, in the split second you slide the tarot deck into a drawer before someone comes over. And once you can state the pattern, you can start to interrupt it. Assembling your allies is one of the ways you do that, because a fragmented self is so much easier to talk out of her own magic than a whole one.

So the real question isn’t “which one is the authentic me.” It’s whether these versions are working together, or whether they’ve fragmented.

What happens when you fragment your core self?

When you fragment your core self, nothing feels authentic and you lose access to your own why. You can’t stop feeling negative about something, you can’t find motivation, and you can’t remember to do the practices you said you were going to do.

That’s the real cost. It is not that the different versions of you exist. It is that they have splintered so far apart that you cannot recall what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, what the intention behind your presence is, or where you’re going. When you’re fragmented at a deep soul level, everything feels out of reach.

And when you’re in that state, you drop into low energy and just react. You stay in constant response to circumstance. You stay in constant response to the evidence that says you’re forgetful and not good enough. You react to whatever’s happening around you instead of creating your own energy in relation to it. That is the opposite of being your own best friend.

We do it with the past too. Sometimes we don’t think about it at all. Sometimes we romanticize it, put a nostalgia on it, or use it as a crutch to validate why today can’t be different and why our future possibilities are slim. Either way, that past energy is running the show from the shadows.

How do you assemble your allies?

You assemble your allies by consciously calling in your past selves, being wholly present in your present self, and inviting your future selves into the room, then treating all of them like friends. You bring the whole crew back into wholeness on purpose.

Picture it. Here’s you, right now, and you’re swooshing in past you and future you. When all of that is accounted for, you’re back in wholeness, back in oneness, and you can finally ask the useful questions:

• What is past me saying that’s impacting present me and dictating what future me will receive?
• What is future me afraid of that’s dictating what present me is doing?
• Where am I reaching back into my past to validate the things I’m afraid of?

This is also the moment to zoom out and ask the bigger vision questions. How do I want to move through the world? What’s my vision for the next year? What does it look like to be the priestess of my own life? What energy is mine to hold, and what is somebody else’s stuff that got mucked up and garbled in my auric field, that I want to clear out so I can reclaim my energy?

If you could see them sitting in front of you, past, present, and future, there would be a lot of pasts, a lot of futures, and one present here right now. How are they all dancing together? Love on that past self. Love on that future self. And in turn, love on your present self. When you push these versions away and refuse to acknowledge them, you stay fragmented. When you call them home, you’re whole.

Do witches believe everything happens for a reason?

Not the way it’s usually meant. At The Sisters Enchanted, the core idea is that witches create energy, we don’t just respond to it. But that is different from believing you signed up for every hardship at a soul-contract level, and I want to be honest about where I land on that.

Your spirit energy is something you are creating. If you could take your soul out of you and let it walk around the physical plane, there is a creation happening in that field. Here’s where I get specific, though, because I’m not a “law of attraction, everything happens for a reason” person. I’m not going to tell you that you called in your hardest experiences, or that you signed up for the heartbreak at a soul-contract level. Why on earth would I sign up for something that heartbreaking? I’m not sure that’s how it works, and I’m not all-knowing (my husband likes to remind me of this).

There’s a whole conversation about how the soul might be a neutral device that doesn’t understand emotion the way we do as humans, and that it’s our ego, human-brain self that attaches emotion to these neutral experiences. Maybe. There’s a lot there. What I do believe is that there’s an intersection between whatever the unseen is and this human ego stuff we work with while we’re here, and that combining the two is how we create the way we experience reality. We’re creating our energetic life force. And when we hand that power away and just react to circumstance, we stop being our own ally.

Why is becoming your own best friend the ultimate reclamation of energy?

Because assembling your allies gathers every scattered piece of you back home, and that is the ultimate reclamation of your energy. Instead of leaking your energy out to fear, regret, and other people’s stuff, you call all of it back.

Think of all these little versions of you scattered everywhere, across the earthly plane and the ethereal plane. In Expedition to Soul we do a whole Reclaim Your Energy meditation, and assembling your allies is the ultimate version of it. You can take your hands and go whoosh, and push out everything in your energy body that is not yours to carry. It is just earthly-plane shenanigans that landed on you. And when you clear it, all the versions of you get called home again. You can be present. You can consider what tomorrow looks like, what today needs, and what this looks like for all of us going forward.

That is how you live your life as a magical practice. You’re on a walk, it’s part of the practice. You’re eating food, it’s part of the practice. You’re laughing, you’re crying, it’s all part of the practice. And you are the altar. So you assemble your allies to activate that altar.

Want support doing this work?

If this resonates, come do it with us. We’re in the middle of Expedition to Soul right now, our free live event running September 21 to 27, where we do a whole session on assembling your allies and the Reclaim Your Energy meditation. And if you love Expedition to Soul, you’re going to love Holistic Witchery, which starts a new round on October 5.

There are a few other good ways to stay close. Come read my weekly letters on Stay Magic on Substack, find everything we’re up to on our links page, or gather with us every month inside the Enchanted Journey membership. Until next time, stay magic, Enchanted Sister.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it normal for your identity to change throughout the day?

Yes, and it is more normal than most people realize. Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted teaches that your authentic self is not one fixed identity and can shift many times in a single day. You might be your authentic self at work in one way and your authentic self at home in another, and both are genuine. This matters because so many women quietly worry that they are being fake or inconsistent, when really they are just moving between contexts. The pressure to pin down one single “real” self eases once you understand that many versions of you are always in play. The problem is never that you have many versions. The problem begins only when those versions fragment so far apart that nothing feels authentic anymore. The work is to bring them back into relationship so you move through the world as your whole self rather than as scattered pieces.

What does it mean to reclaim your energy?

Reclaiming your energy means calling back the parts of your attention, care, and life force that have leaked out to fear, regret, other people, and circumstances that were never yours to carry. Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted describes it as gathering the scattered versions of yourself back home, across both the earthly plane and the ethereal plane. Practically, it looks like noticing where your energy is going, clearing out what does not belong to you, and choosing to create your own energy rather than constantly reacting to what is around you. The Sisters Enchanted teaches a Reclaim Your Energy meditation inside its Expedition to Soul event, and frames assembling your allies as the ultimate version of that reclamation. The heart of it is simple: you stop responding to everything happening to you and start deciding, on purpose, what energy you want to hold.

How do you connect with your future self?

You connect with your future self by treating that version of you as someone worth knowing, rather than a stranger you never think about. Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted points out that many of us treat our future selves like a cousin we have not spoken to in forty years, with no idea who they are or what they need. To reconnect, you bring the future you into the present on purpose and ask real questions: what is future me afraid of, what is future me excited about, and how is that shaping what present me is doing right now. The Sisters Enchanted teaches that your future self is always sourcing from your past and present, so tending the relationship in the present is what shapes who you are becoming. It is less about predicting the future and more about befriending it.

What is the difference between creating energy and reacting to circumstance?

Creating energy means deciding, on purpose, how you want to show up, rather than letting whatever is happening around you determine how you feel. Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted often says that witches create energy, they do not simply respond to it. When you react to circumstance, you stay in constant response to stimulation and to the evidence that says you are forgetful or not good enough, which is disempowering and keeps you small. When you create energy, you treat your spirit energy and life force as something you are actively generating. Sara is clear that this does not mean believing you signed up for every hardship or that everything happens for a reason. It means owning the intersection between the unseen and your human, everyday self, and choosing your energy from there instead of handing that power away to your circumstances.

What is Expedition to Soul and how does assembling your allies fit into it?

Expedition to Soul is a live event from The Sisters Enchanted where women pause and ask the big questions: who am I, what am I here to do, and how do I feel a real life force running through me again. Assembling your allies is taught as a full session inside it, and it is also part three of the pre-Expedition to Soul series that Sara Walka runs on the Stay Magic Podcast. Part one is about living your whole life as a magical practice, part two is about treating yourself as the altar, and part three, assembling your allies, is how you activate that altar by calling your scattered selves home. Inside the event, the practice is paired with a Reclaim Your Energy meditation. Sara notes that a free round of Expedition to Soul runs in September, and that Holistic Witchery, the next-step program, begins a new round on October 5.

How can you tell if you are spiritually fragmented?

You can usually tell you are fragmented when nothing feels authentic and you have lost touch with your own reasons. Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted describes the signs plainly: you cannot stop feeling negative about something, you cannot find motivation, and you cannot remember to do the practices you swore you would keep. Underneath all of that is a loss of your own why, so you can no longer recall what you are doing, why you are doing it, or where you are going. Fragmentation is not the same as having many versions of yourself, which is normal and human. It is when those versions splinter so far apart that they stop working together, and you drop into low energy and constant reactivity. The way back, Sara teaches, is to consciously gather your past, present, and future selves into wholeness and become your own support system again.

Is hiding your spiritual practice a sign of the witch wound?

Yes. Concealing the evidence of your spiritual practice is one of the seven self-sabotage patterns of the witch wound, and The Sisters Enchanted calls it Hiding Your Magic (Literally). Sara Walka describes how many witchy women downplay their intuition and their practice, or tuck the wise woman within out of sight, because of what a partner, adult child, or friend might think. Underneath that impulse is an ancestral fear of being too powerful, too visible, too much. Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted teaches that this is old conditioning rather than a personal flaw, and that once you can state the pattern, you can begin to interrupt it. Assembling your allies supports that work, because a fragmented self is far easier to talk out of her own magic than a whole one. The full breakdown of all seven patterns lives in the witch wound pillar.