What Is a Spirit Portrait

What would your energy look like if someone painted it?

In this episode of Awakening Adventures, I sit down with Heather Eck, a multimedia abstract artist and intuitive painter who has synesthesia, meaning her senses cross in a way that lets her see color, shape, and even choreography when she reads a person's energy.

Heather takes us through how she left almost twenty years in corporate HR behind, the panic attack that made her finally choose art over a promotion, and what it actually means to paint someone's spirit onto a canvas. We also get into how comparison can pull you away from your gifts, why she still has to remind herself to use the very tools she teaches others, and what it looks like to finally stop marketing your way out of who you really are.

What color do you think your energy is right now?

P.S. Heather is gifting listeners a free Color Healing Kit to help you start reading color in your own life.

Grab it here: https://heathereckstudios.myflodesk.com/colorhealingkit

Creators and Guests

Guest

Heather Eck

HEATHER ECK is a multimedia abstract artist and writer. An intuitive artist and painter, Heather interprets people, places, and experiences through color, a condition known as synesthesia. Like an enormous box of crayons, her gift operates by categorizing through intricate but specific shades of color. While this condition enables her to experience color, she responds to these encounters with people, things, emotions, and spaces by understanding the particular shade of experience that a person dwells in. She uses her gift to detect the most healing color for them to remedy their wounds. Guided by the chakra system and inspired by spirituality and the mysteries of the universe, Heather transforms these vibrant energies into captivating paintings that uplift, inspire and, ultimately, heal. Each canvas becomes a symphony of color and emotion, a visual representation of the unseen connections that weave through our lives. Heather's work is more than art; it's a medium of healing, a testament to the profound influence of color on our well-being.

What is Awakening Adventures?

What if awakening is less about a single moment and more about the adventure you choose to follow? Awakening Adventures with Rev. Venus Castleberg invites listeners into real, grounded conversations about spiritual awakening and the unexpected places it can lead. Each episode features Venus—the Home Whisperer—sitting down with guests who have walked their own unique awakening paths.
Through stories, insights, and warm curiosity, Venus explores how each guest’s inner shift has shaped their purpose, creations, and the work they now bring to the world. The show offers an open, welcoming space for anyone wondering what’s possible when they listen to their inner guidance… and trust the adventure that follows.

Venus Castleberg: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Awakening Adventures, where we are hearing real stories from real people about their own spiritual awakening, and what they were guided to do after they

Venus Castleberg: woke up! My name is Venus Castleberg, and I use my gifts to help real estate agents clear the energy from stuck home so that they can sell with greater ease.

Venus Castleberg: My guest today, how exciting is this? Heather Eck is a multimed media abstract artist.

Venus Castleberg: and writer, and intuitive artist and painter, Heather interprets people's places… people, places, and experiences through color, a condition known as synesthesia. Am I saying that right?

Heather Eck: Yeah, you got it.

Venus Castleberg: Okay, okay, cool. And I love this, and I actually would just love, Heather, why don't you tell us a little bit more about what that is?

Heather Eck: Yeah, well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here with you. So I have something called synesthesia, which basically means that the senses in your brain get crossed, and so there are over 80 different forms of it, everything from sound to color, sound to shape. There's something called mirror touch synesthesia. It's essentially where one of your senses, like sound.

Heather Eck: flipped or twisted into something else in your brain. So for me, when I listen to music, or I taste something or smell something, I see it almost like a shape, a color, or even a choreography in my brain, or, like, in my mind's eye, I guess. And what I discovered a few years ago was that when I met people, I would

Heather Eck: see the same thing. It would sort of show me a little bit of who that person was through just their energy. And so I have had this my whole life. I think it's been there with me since I was a little, little kid. I just didn't know what it was, and I just assumed that everybody had it. But, turns out that's not so. There's only, like.

Heather Eck: 4% of the population that have a form event.

Venus Castleberg: Wow, that's cool. I had never heard of it, but, like, I'm like, oh, there's something about it that, like, kind of, like, niggled me a little bit.

Venus Castleberg: What is that, right?

Heather Eck: What is that? Yeah.

Venus Castleberg: I never… I've never done this, but for some reason it just popped to ask you, would you mind doing just a mini, like, reading of me? You've never done that before, but, like, how does it show… how does it show up? Can you give somebody an example of, like, how that would happen?

Heather Eck: Yeah, so for me, what happens when I read somebody's energy is that I sort of put your energy on like a jacket. I have clairsentience, too, so I feel very strongly, and the sensations in my body sort of tell me a little bit about what might be happening for that person. So right before you asked me, I felt my mouth water, and that usually means that there's an aspect of your spirit that is thirsting

Heather Eck: for more, that there's something that's bubbling up for you that you're like.

Heather Eck: I gotta have this, I cannot wait to have this, whatever it is, it's, like, bubbling up inside of you. And then I felt a little bit in my tummy area, which could just mean that there's some sort of identity adjustment or shift happening for you, where you're starting to see, or, you want people to see you in a different way. So, usually when I do a reading for somebody, I will see…

Heather Eck: particular colors for them, and then those colors become, like, kind of like a prescription of what to work with, so that you can activate and,

Heather Eck: and sort of balance out those energy centers a little bit. So I'll pause and just ask if any of that resonated with you at all.

Venus Castleberg: Cool, yeah, wow. I put myself in the hot seat, guys.

Venus Castleberg: Yeah, I have been. As you know, I'm the home whisperer, and I've been helping real estate agents for a while now, and I created my own system called the Vibrational Flow System. And what I'm working on right now is actually creating a very…

Venus Castleberg: supportive and nurturing course, teaching people the vibrational flow method, but it's very different for me. I've taught… I've had courses, I've had… I even had my own psychic university before, but I've never put this much

Venus Castleberg: thought and energy into who am I serving, and how… how am I helping them, and what am I, you know, how am I helping them transform, right? Yeah. Where do I.

Heather Eck: You know what, Venus too, your camera just turned off. I don't know if you can see.

Heather Eck: So, that's so interesting to me, so I wonder if there's some aspect of you that feels nervous about,

Heather Eck: about seeing yourself this way, or letting other people see you in a different way, because your camera literally turned off, right? And it's doing it now.

Venus Castleberg: My camera has actually been giving me difficulties. I'm like, I don't… yeah.

Heather Eck: Yeah.

Venus Castleberg: Yeah, that's interesting. This is very…

Heather Eck: So interesting!

Venus Castleberg: guys. Like, this is, like…

Heather Eck: I always think everything that happens during a reading hap- is for a particular,

Heather Eck: reason, so that's interesting, yeah. So you could work with blues and yellows, to help support that, to help support your voice, to help support your, your authenticity and your truth, and also to support that shift in identity, just to say, like, okay, this is how I want to show up, and this is how I want people to see me, and how

Heather Eck: And how I want to be seen, how I want to see myself, too.

Venus Castleberg: Wow, beautiful. Wow, that was amazing. So, you guys, she actually is offering, and I know we're a little ahead, we're gonna go back, but she does have a really cool free gift at the end, and we will tell you about that. How to connect with her. I highly… obviously, it works.

Venus Castleberg: cool. Thank you, Heather, for sharing.

Heather Eck: Yeah, thank you, thank you.

Venus Castleberg: So, how did all this start for you?

Heather Eck: I was, I was always, like, a really creative kid. I think art was… it came very naturally to me. Color came very naturally to me. I just didn't know in what form to use it, but I was this, like…

Heather Eck: kid that always wanted to change their bedroom, you know, like, I want a different color now, I want a different comforter. I was constantly asking my parents to change the colors in my room, and I was always noticing colors in movies and TV and things. I'd be like, wow, everybody in that scene's wearing blue, that's interesting, what's that about? You know, stuff that people would probably, like, not really notice, and then…

Heather Eck: when I, I was always on a spiritual path, but I would kind of step off of it for a little bit, and then come back on, throughout college, and even into my professional career. And, we had moved from New Jersey down to North Carolina, and I was starting a new job.

Heather Eck: And I was working with a spiritual teacher when we got here, and I really, you know, I had a great job. It was phenomenal. Benefits and the pay, and the everything was just so perfect, and…

Heather Eck: But I also felt like I was in prison every day. I felt like I had these golden handcuffs on. And so, as I was working, I was starting to develop some spiritual practices, and people would come into my office to talk to me, and I would start to see their aura around them, and I was like, oh…

Heather Eck: this is weird. What's happening here? And then…

Heather Eck: And then all of a sudden, I started to, like, receive colors for people, like, 2 or 3 colors, and I was like, oh, I wonder why that person has… why I'm hearing green for them, what's going on with them? And then I started to ask some questions. I was an HR direct… you know, manager, so I was like.

Heather Eck: how do I invite this conversation in? But it was almost like I had hung an invisible

Heather Eck: signpost outside my office, because people would come in, they'd be like.

Heather Eck: Hey, I had a dream last night, can I tell you about it? And I was like, yes, let's talk about it.

Heather Eck: And then I just sort of became, like, the spiritual person, and then, I put it all together and started painting people's energies and telling them what I was hearing for them as the painting was happening, and so that sort of, like, became a…

Heather Eck: what my friend Amy calls a spirit portrait. And so that's… that's kind of how it all started, and then I left corporate back in 2019.

Venus Castleberg: Wow. So, how was that for you? Like, leaving corporate and going into, like, okay, I'm gonna do this new thing, like…

Heather Eck: terrifying and triggering and, all the things. I mean, I still.

Venus Castleberg: You had to use color therapy on yourself, I'm sure.

Heather Eck: I have to, all the time. Actually, it's kind of like the cobbler's children have no shoes. Like, I have to remind myself to use the work that I teach people to, but, it was really scary. It still is scary, you know, especially because the economy is so rollercoaster ride, and…

Heather Eck: And, and art is unpredictable, and so I'm… I really am leaning hard on my faith to be led in the right direction, and to stop making decisions and just let God light the path, otherwise I spiral out of control.

Venus Castleberg: Should I be asked? Very good idea.

Venus Castleberg: So, but is this your, like, your full time gig? Like, like, did you just let go of the job altogether?

Heather Eck: Yeah, I initially left, HR altogether, and then I've had some side jobs here and there to help supplement, and so my dream is to be able to do all of this work full-time, but I'm still supplementing right now.

Venus Castleberg: Yeah, okay. Well, which, guys, if you're watching this, and you're like, yeah, you have some gifts, and you're thinking, oh, I really want to, like, leave my corporate job, I'm gonna tell you, don't maybe necessarily let go of it all at once. Yeah.

Venus Castleberg: Following your heart and following your gifts doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be, like, abundantly wealthy right away.

Heather Eck: Immediately.

Venus Castleberg: Yeah, immediately. It's not gonna happen instantly. So, you do need to, like, take care of yourself. You still need to feed yourself, home yourself, and, like, right? So, and I will say for me, personally, like, I went through this a lot, because I'd like work, and then I'd, like, I'm not doing it anymore, and I'm just doing this, and then I'd be like… and then I'd struggle, and I'd push, and I'd force.

Venus Castleberg: Having a comfort job, is what my mentor calls it. Have a comfort job.

Venus Castleberg: That allows you to do what you love, and then you'll make money from it. You know, when you… you will, you will, but it's just allowing yourself to have the time for it to develop and to take off, and, you know, so.

Heather Eck: Yep.

Venus Castleberg: Yeah. So, just a little encouragement, because I know a lot of people are like, I'm just gonna rip the band-aid off, and it's like…

Venus Castleberg: Maybe be a little more gentle with yourself a little bit.

Heather Eck: More gentle, I agree. I agree.

Venus Castleberg: But that's great, you have some side gigs so that you can do what you love, that's great. So tell me a little bit more about the spirit portraits.

Heather Eck: Yeah, so I sort of think that every painting that I have made is kind of like a spirit portrait in some ways.

Heather Eck: I do custom portraits for individuals that are, like, their one-on, kind of like what I did with you, where I would sit with your energy, or take a picture of you and meditate on it, and go, what colors are coming through for you? And then I'll sit down and start to work on your portrait. And then we do a reveal call where we hop on a Zoom, and I show you your painting and tell you what the messages are that came through.

Heather Eck: And then with larger pieces behind me, like a bigger abstract, it's sort of like its own spirit portrait in itself, because it…

Heather Eck: reflects a particular energy or message that comes through at a higher level, or even something where you might listen to a song and go, oh, this song is so beautiful, I want to paint what the energy of the song looks like, and and so that's sort of how I spend my time when I'm painting, is

Heather Eck: tuning in to energy, no matter where it comes from, I guess.

Venus Castleberg: Great. So would you say… it sounds like it, but would you say for most of your life, you've been kind of visual? Like, you've seen things visually?

Heather Eck: Yeah. I also think, you know, we talk about your spiritual gifts, like claircognizance or clairsentience. I think, looking back, you know, we have that gift of hindsight to look back in your childhood, and I think so many of us have gifts

Heather Eck: That developed during your childhood, or that you are… you have this natural curiosity about something, or you're just drawn to something, and for me, it was always art, it was always music.

Heather Eck: And I often felt like I just knew things, I didn't have to be told, I just sort of, like, understood what it was, and I think that was claircognizance that was developing in me.

Heather Eck: And then strong clairsentience, which made me a very sensitive child. I had a lot of digestive issues. I had a lot of throat issues. It was like I was picking up on what was happening around me and didn't quite understand how to digest it or how to even communicate it. And so, I look back now and think, oh, I must have just been really…

Heather Eck: like, highly sensitive. I must have been just a really sensitive kid. And then, as you grow up, you sort of…

Heather Eck: you know, pack it up, stuff it way, way down until you have that little… like, the awakening, right? Where you're like, I gotta do something different.

Venus Castleberg: Something different, yep, yeah. So, and what was it, what was that switch for you? What was the thing that was just like, I have to do something different here?

Heather Eck: I really was, doing well in my job. I was just getting promoted, I was, making more money than I had ever made in my life, I had just gotten my coaching certification, it was like…

Heather Eck: The sky was the limit, it felt like, in this job, but I literally hated it. I hated it to a degree that I would drive into work every day listening to Eminem, like, trying to pump myself up to go in, and it was the sort of thing where I would drive up and instantly, in my gut, just be, like, wrenched, you know, just, ugh.

Heather Eck: It wasn't the people or anything, it was just that my soul was so tired. I just… I was like, this isn't it.

Heather Eck: And so I went and did a spa day with my friend, who I'd done my coaching certification with, and then went to the dealer and picked up a new car. It was like the day of all days where you're like, this is amazing!

Heather Eck: And I got home that night and had a full-blown panic attack, thought I was having a heart attack.

Heather Eck: ended up in urgent care, my blood pressure was through the roof, and and it was sort of like I had to decide at that point whether or not I was gonna allow this job to kill me, because I really felt like…

Heather Eck: it was going to kill me if I stayed there, or if I was going to choose a different path. And so I was already…

Heather Eck: I think I was painting at the time, or was thinking about doing something. I'd kind of been presented with both a… an art show and a promotion on the same day, and sort of felt in my body that the promotion felt really restrictive and tight and,

Heather Eck: exhausting, even though it came with a lot more money, versus the art show being given an opportunity to show my work in a public space for the first time at a bar for a First Friday event, and I was like, this is amazing! You know, and I felt like, this is great! And so, that sort of became the…

Heather Eck: beginning of the end of my corporate career, because I think at that point, I decided this is… I have to follow what feels good to me, and…

Heather Eck: That job just did not feel good to me, despite its… Beautiful benefits.

Venus Castleberg: Right? Yeah, that can be tough, because that's kind of the trick, right? It's like, oh, this is… we're going to make this look really good over here. How bad do you want this?

Heather Eck: How bad do you want it? Yeah.

Venus Castleberg: Yeah.

Heather Eck: Yeah, exactly.

Venus Castleberg: Okay, so when you were first starting, or this was all happening, what do you wish, maybe, that you could have gone back and told yourself, or wish that you would tell people that maybe you're going through something similar right now?

Heather Eck: I think that it is… being an entrepreneur, being a business owner can be really challenging, and it could also be really rewarding.

Heather Eck: I… I think the thing that spirals me away from my purpose is focusing on what other people are doing, and comparing my journey to somebody else's. And I gotta tell you, like, I have to constantly

Heather Eck: remind myself to, like, rein it in. Like, that's not you, rein it in. And so, I think you have to, not to use a marketing term, but, like, find your unique selling…

Heather Eck: Like, what makes you unique in your business? And just be yourself. I think…

Heather Eck: the best thing that you can do is just be 100% authentically who you are, and don't try to, you know, market your way out of your… of your gifts, because I think that that's what I've done.

Heather Eck: I would say, like, have, like, lost years of business thinking about, well, let me do it the way this person's doing it, instead of tuning in to your gifts, tuning in to your intuition, talking to God about it, and saying, like, okay.

Heather Eck: Well, actually, yeah, why would you give me this gift if you didn't want me to use it? So please show me how to use it in the way that is the…

Heather Eck: Simplest, easiest, and most clear.

Venus Castleberg: And be specific, folks. It is helpful to be specific. So true, so true. You're kind of, like, wishy-washy and, like, broad, super broad. You'll get super broad answers. Yep.

Heather Eck: Yeah, that's the way it felt for me, too, that day that I got the promotion and I got the art show. I felt like the universe was handing me a menu and was saying, choose, and and I was irritated by that, and…

Heather Eck: And my teacher said, you're sending mixed messages out. You're… you're not being clear on what you want. And I was like, well, how do we get more clear? I don't like this. I want to be clear.

Venus Castleberg: Totally, yep.

Venus Castleberg: Thank you for that, that's great. So… so what would you say, maybe, have been your biggest struggles since making that choice, and how did you overcome them?

Heather Eck: Yeah, oh, that's a great question. I think the one… the biggest struggle, I think, has been…

Heather Eck: honestly, the comparison game, especially as an artist, as you look at, you know, social media is so prevalent, and artists, there's so many of us out there. I think for a long time, I've sort of tried to treat my business like it's a product business, or a…

Heather Eck: a coaching business, or, like, really trying to marketize it, like, and squeeze it really small. And I think that what I…

Heather Eck: what I struggle with the most is allowing this gift to just be the fullest expression of what it is. And…

Heather Eck: And I so appreciate you asking me at the beginning to do a reading, because I think one of the things I hide behind sometimes is that very thing that I love the most.

Heather Eck: Because of the fear of what is somebody gonna say, or what are they gonna think, or am I the… am I the weird woo girl now that used to do HR? And so, I think a lot of the struggle has just been getting in my own way, and making decisions instead of being led.

Venus Castleberg: Well, I… I love that you went from HR to… to what you're creating now, because I… there's so… like, my… my business mentor, my main mentor, she was a lawyer turned psychic, and… but, like, having the pragmatic stuff is important too, right? Like, we have.

Heather Eck: Oh, yeah.

Venus Castleberg: grounded, and we have to, like, not be too, like, out there. So, so that's great.

Venus Castleberg: Let's see… And who helped you navigate through those early years?

Heather Eck: Oh, definitely my spiritual community. I think my spiritual teacher, for sure.

Heather Eck: and my family, I think my husband probably was, like.

Heather Eck: I don't know what is happening with you, but he was very supportive at the start, too, because he said, like, I can tell you're burnt out, let's send you on a retreat, like, go away for a week and figure out what it is that you need, and…

Heather Eck: And I think, ultimately, when I came to him and I was like, this is what I want to do, I felt like I was standing in front of him.

Heather Eck: like, two different colored hats, and I was like, pick a hat, because both of them, I'm gonna do one of them, but, like, I want to wear the weird one, and he was like, okay, let's wear the weird one. And so,

Heather Eck: The pragmatic side of me, I think I'm really thankful for the experience I had in corporate for as long as I had, it was almost 20 years, because it has helped me be…

Heather Eck: pragmatic. It has helped me be, realistic to build foundations. I think of starting a business, you need to have the basics. I'm a sucker for a spreadsheet, so I'm always spending time in those.

Heather Eck: But also, just knowing, like, yeah, it's hard. It's hard, and you have to be grounded in it, and you have to have people in your corner who are…

Heather Eck: Cheering you on and supporting you, and support, goes…

Heather Eck: so… I mean, you don't need people to be, buying your stuff all the time. Support, to me, is…

Heather Eck: You liked my post, or you commented on it, or you shared it, or you showed up for me. That's support. And it's funny, I look up some people in my circle who are the closest to me who are not the most supportive.

Heather Eck: And then some people outside of that circle who are, like, in… like, put me in the cart, and they push the cart forward, and they're like, keep going. And, and so it's been really interesting to see, too.

Venus Castleberg: That's awesome. Well, yeah, I love what you said about, you know, being authentically you and choosing that. I actually wrote on Substack, I wrote an article earlier this week about coming home to yourself, and it was really that, like, that same conversation about, like, I… and I'm… I was guilty of it, like, I copied everybody. I was like, I'm gonna do what they're doing, I'm gonna do what they're doing, I'm gonna do what they're doing, and then I was just like.

Venus Castleberg: I need to do what I'm doing, so…

Heather Eck: Yeah.

Venus Castleberg: And I can't tell you how many people, like, I talk to me who, like, they're… and they find out what I do, and they're like, wow, I've never heard of anybody doing that. I'm like.

Heather Eck: Yeah, exactly.

Venus Castleberg: There are people out there doing it, but, you know, there aren't very many, you know.

Heather Eck: Yeah.

Venus Castleberg: And nobody I've met, you know, so I'm like, okay, so…

Venus Castleberg: following my own, you know, my own path and my own… but I'm a bit of a closet artist. I've caught painting and sculptures, and I definitely do a lot of writing. People know about… know me.

Heather Eck: I love that.

Venus Castleberg: But… but I love art. So… so what would you say to somebody who's, like.

Venus Castleberg: who… actually, that's a great question. So, who is maybe a closet artist, who loves to create stuff, but is on a different path? What would you say.

Heather Eck: Yeah.

Heather Eck: oh, keep… keep painting, or keep creating, or… I think… I'm happy to hear that you are an artist as well, and I would say maybe not even the closet part, like, just… just do it for you. I think that's one of the things that…

Heather Eck: People need creativity in whatever form it comes to them, whether it's

Heather Eck: Painting, or sculpting, or cooking, or writing, or crochet, or playing an instrument.

Heather Eck: And I always say when we're doing therapeutic art, that you don't need to show it, share it, or sell it. You just need to make it for you, because it is so healing to the body. I think about, I've been in Bible study for a couple of years now, and one of the things that I love the most is that

Heather Eck: The person in the Bible that received the Spirit first was an artist.

Heather Eck: And that is so beautiful. When you think about it, like, we are here to create. Everything around us is art, and we are nothing without that inspiration and that creativity, so it's… it calms the nervous system, it restores balance, it reduces stress. It is literally, like, if a doctor could write a prescription for

Heather Eck: art making, I mean, I think we'd all be different people.

Venus Castleberg: Mmm, I love that great advice. Thank you for that. Well, thank you so much, Honey. This has been such a delightful conversation. I absolutely love your gift and what you're doing with it, and I hope more people take you up on it. I hear you have a gift that you're offering our audience. Will you tell us a little bit about that?

Heather Eck: Yeah, absolutely. I have got a color healing guide or a color healing kit for you to check out. It guides you through just some simple things about some of your favorite colors, what they might mean for you, what it means when you're attracted to a color or repelled by it, just a little thing to get you started on understanding how to read color in your own life.

Venus Castleberg: I love that. Yeah, literally out of the corner of my eyes, one of my first paintings is, like, it has the rainbow of colors.

Heather Eck: Yeah, I can't wait to see it.

Venus Castleberg: So, thank you again. This has been absolutely wonderful. I'm super excited, and we will, of course, put her free… a link to her free gift, and how to get a hold of her. Definitely reach out if you'd like to have your color analysis done. That was pretty cool for me, so I highly recommend it.

Venus Castleberg: And thank you everyone for listening. If you receive something from this, please like, subscribe, and share. We just want more people to know they're not alone as we all awaken to a new reality. And if you know anybody that has any weird stuff going on in their home or their business, you can send them to thefreehomeclearingquiz.com. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.