Long Time No See - Perspective with Viv

What if your hardest times were invitations to remember who you really are? We sit down with Viv, a Nigerian-based creative, tarot reader, and host of “Perspective with Viv,” to explore how intuition, shadow work, and art can turn displacement into belonging. Raised in a devout Muslim family, Viv built a powerful prayer life before a spark around “vibration and frequency” opened a wider field: dream-led tarot, effortless astrology, and creativity as a channel for healing. Her origin story as an artist carries a cinematic twist—an intuitive push to post her composite photography series placing Nigerian street life in Western backdrops sparked viral attention and major media features. The images reveal more than technical skill: they bridge cultures while honoring roots, showing how identity can be both grounded and expansive.
 
 We dig into the tension between organized religion and spirituality, and why going “beyond the box” matters when the work is to face the shadow and choose love over performance. Viv shares candidly about depression during her England years and how it transmuted into poetry, film, and photography. She breaks down the pivotal moment creativity dulled—when art shifted from soul-first to audience-first—and how she reclaimed voice through tarot, podcasting, and daily acts of remembering. Returning to Nigeria brought another test: would she lose her magic to conformity or anchor her home frequency? The answer arrives in synchronicities, aligned relationships, and a layered creative life that feels mundane and magical all at once.
 
 You’ll hear practical guidance to find your frequency: revisit what you loved as a child, engage what lights you up right now, and keep a creative outlet close while you do the necessary shadow work. Viv closes with a collective tarot reading on justice, mindset shifts, and welcoming abundance without self-sabotage. If you’re navigating identity, faith, or creativity, this conversation offers an honest map back to self.
 
 If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others find these stories. Your support helps more people remember who they are.

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Viv is a dynamic podcast host, intuitive guide, and Tarot performer, celebrated for her captivating energy and soothing voice. On her podcast, Perspective with Viv, she delves into self-growth, shadow work, and personal transformation, while shining a celebrating the beauty of art, film, and creativity. Viv also offers insightful tarot and astrology readings and brings her magnetic presence to live events with unforgettable performances. Outside of that I’m a creative who doesn’t fit into a box. I’m also Nigerian and I’m based in Lagos, Nigeria.

 ⁨@perspectivewithviv⁩ on YouTube & Instagram

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 2:45 Viv’s Roots: Islam, Intuition, And 2017 Awakening
• 8:30 Tarot, Astrology, And Leaving The Box
• 13:15 Organized Religion Versus Spiritual Depth
• 18:40 England Years: Depression Into Creativity
• 25:10 Intuition Leads To Photography Breakthrough
• 31:20 Bridging Cultures: The Displacement Series
• 36:20 Shadow Work Speaks Through Art
• 42:10 Past Lives And Old Soul Gifts
• 47:00 Coming Home: Nigeria And Vibration
• 53:20 Pivot To Tarot, Podcasting, And Trust
• 1:00:30 Finding Your Frequency: Start With Childhood Joy

Transcript

Granddaughter Crow: 0:01

Welcome to Belief Being and Beyond with your host, Granddaughter Crow. Hi, everybody, Granddaughter Crow here with yet another episode of Belief Being and Beyond. I found another jewel for you guys. I had to travel halfway around the world in search of somebody who would be able to give us perspective on lived experience, on intuition. Let me tell you a little bit more about what I found for you. Perspective with viv. Okay, so in on this podcast, she delves into self-growth. I'm all about that. Shadow work. You guys know I'm all about that. And personal transformation, shining and celebrating the beauty of art, film, and creativity. So it's really kind of beautiful for me because I see a direct correlation between being a creative and being an intuitive. Also, Viv also offers insight on tarot readings, astrology. We'll probably get into both of those a little bit. And I'm just so excited. Basically, she's a creative that does not fit in a box. She's also Nigerian and is based in Lagos, Nigeria. Without further ado, Viv, welcome to the podcast. I'm trying not to be too excited.

Viv: 1:38

Hi, thank you for having me, Grandda Crew. I'm so excited. Dialing in from Lagos, Nigeria. Hi to you and your listeners.

Granddaughter Crow: 1:49

Absolutely love it. And this is going to be so dynamic because I want I want the listeners to get to know you and what and how your lived experience influence and informs your spirituality and what that looks like. And but before I do, you guys, I got to tell you. So synchronicity, you know how it works, magical synchronicity. Viv and I were drawn together. And like I think my time zone is like eight hours behind hers, and it's just like, wow. So this is gonna be so much fun. Basically, I got on her podcast and we had so much to talk about that she's like, we got to do a part two. And then I and then I'm like, and I have to have you on my show. I have to share you with my people. So anyway, Viv, it's just so good to see you again. It really is dynamic, the way that you and I have the ability to dance around and navigate through such deep conversations and spiritual explorations and perspectives that bring us straight together. I'm like, oh, this is my little sister.

Viv: 3:06

I love that. I I feel like we really connected last episode, and I'm so glad that we have like two more sessions for us to exchange energy. Like it was amazing. Listeners, you're going to get like a feel of it when we start talking.

Granddaughter Crow: 3:21

Absolutely. So we are going to be talking about spirituality, but really I'm curious, and I'm sure my listeners are curious too. How being you were born in Nigeria, correct? Yes. And how did that basically all the questions are your lived experience and how it informed your spiritual practice? So to open it up, um, were you raised, what type of a spirituality were you raised in, or did you just find creativity? Tell us what was your childhood like with regard to spirituality?

Viv: 4:04

Okay, very good question. So I grew up Muslim, and a lot of people in my family are very heavy Muslims in a good way. Um I have some Christians in my family as well, but w each sect is deeply religious. So I grew up in that manner. I think spiritually speaking, I was highly intuitive as a child. I remember hearing voices and knowing it was my intuition and acting on it and thinking I was very magical until I became more scared of the outside world. So I no longer trusted my instincts. Um along the way, I continued with Islam like it was just a normal part of me. And there was a year, and I think that year was 2017, I'd built a really strong relationship with God. I prayed, I did the Tajut prayers, which is the three o'clock prayers, early morning prayers where you know we feel like the veil is thin. So if you pray around that time, your your prayers are definitely going to be answered. So I was doing everything while still being like a party girl. So I was also like that person that said, yes, you can be religious, but you can also be somebody that has fun. I drink, you know, all of that. I was like, I and then I wasn't afraid to talk about sex. So I had that good balance of being part of an organized religion and still being a strong individual. 2017, I my relationship with God was super good to the point where I could see how following my instincts were really leading me to places. And along the way, all of a sudden I watched this video, so sessions with um Oprah Winfrey and Michael Beckforth or Michael Beckwith, one of those teachers, and he spoke about vibration and frequency. And for some reason, something just ticked in me, and I was like, There's so much more. And I think that God is showing me that there's so much more to the relationship that we can have. Like, okay, I've done so well with Islam. Like I'd really done well to my level of, you know, I'd finished the Quran twice, like I'd done things, I was very into it. I had like um groups that I would talk to women about. It wasn't that I was leading, but I would also share with women. I was even doing like a newsletter for my mom's Islamic Foundation. So that was really something. But like that yeah, at that time, I trusted it because I'd already built a very strong relationship with God. So when I saw that video on frequency and vibration, I realized that there was so much more. And I began my spiritual journey. I started off a bit rocky. Uh, I think I stopped praying, we still had that relationship to God. Um, I went into dream work. Um March, I would I got a dream, or I had a dream in which I was supposed to pick up tarot reading, and I'd already loved tarot readers for a very long time. So when I had that dream, immediately I went in. When I got the tarot cards, I was like I'd been doing that forever. Like I really, really connected with the cards. I like it was just something activated in me, and I was reading, reading, reading. And one thing about me, I love to be a perfectionist. So I was studying every day for two months to understand the symbology of every card, and I was practicing every single day. Then two months later, I started reading for people, you know, and I was charging, and that went well before I moved back to Nigeria where I was still practicing it here. Obviously, it's a different culture, people are less, you know, open to that. So I was labeled a bit, I was labeled weird or strange, yet I still had clients and I still performed at parties, so that was good. Um, I had clients from different parts of the world and they were consistent, so that was nice. My thing in between, I I went through deep shadow work. I had a dark night of the soul numerous times. It doesn't ever stop, does it? But tarot kept me afloat. Then I found astrology as well. And I don't even know the origin story for astrology, but it turned out to be another past life gift because it was so easy to do, you know. So I started to do those things and practice them. Along the line, one thing I have realized is that even if you're not part of an organized religion, you still have to cultivate that relationship with God. So I practice ancestral veneration or I practice, I no longer like have my altar and all of that, but that doesn't mean. But I a hindrance I've realized through my journey is that I feel like okay, I can will everything to happen, that I no longer have a conversation with God about things. So now I'm trying to change that. That's why even me having my altar and doing ancestral veneration, I was so strong in that. That, you know, so I I get those moments where I'm connected and then I lose it. So I'm trying to get back on that track of conversing and being deep in practice, talking, having that conversation, and then seeing where it takes me.

Granddaughter Crow: 8:57

I love that. You know, it's I'd love to get your perspective on something, uh go a little deeper on what you said, perspective with Viv. Hello, we're doing this now. Um, the beauty between organized religion, irregardless of how the divine reveals itself, does provide uh a basis, a foundation to be able to learn how to commune with the divine and really hear it, Belief Being and Beyond, that's exactly what we do. This is um, this podcast is basically birthed from my book, Belief Being and Beyond. And that really talked about although we are, we can be very different, the beauty is at the core, we are all the same. And I really think that this show is also going to exemplify that. But being born into different religious groups and then helping that build have that as a foundation in order to build a more personalized connection with the divine, then branching out to the tarot, the vibration and things. What is your opinion about organized religion and also spirituality and a direct connection?

Viv: 10:24

Okay, so what's the connection between both of them? And then what's the difference between both of them? Is that what you're saying? Yes. Okay. So, yeah, one of the connections I'll say that organized religion has with spirituality is conversations with the divine. You, it's about intuition, it's about connecting to that deeper spirit inside of you and letting that lead you and guide you to where you're going. So, somebody coming from organized religion, at least if they've really done it right, they hold on to the importance of conversing, of asking for something, or maybe not even asking, because I feel like my limitation with prayer is I don't like to ask for things. So I decide to change it to talking about things and being grateful. Yeah, I don't know why. I don't know. I like sometimes I have a good um trajectory of praying or you know, venerating, and then I stop. And it's like I keep trying to stop that connection. Maybe I don't want to go deeper into myself, you know. So that's the spiritual journey. It's really about seeing yourself on a deeper level. The difference that spirituality has with organized religion is that we're using the God that we're serving as the mirror with which we do shadow work. And that means that the shadow work is limited because you're seeing yourself or you're using the God as the surface with which you reflect. And that's not bad. But I feel like it stops people from going a bit deeper, like much deeper into themselves, like much deeper, I feel. You know, because I think a lot of people think that okay, if they do the practices of religion, oh, they pray, they go to church, they go to the mosque, then they're good people. But spirituality causes you to go deeper. Am I a good person at heart? Am I leading from goodness? Do I love? You know, a lot of people that call themselves heavily religious have bad hearts that I've seen. They still have envy, they still have malice. But you have people that are spiritual, that have done the work. When they recognize jealousy or envy, they transmute it as opposed to letting it fester. And I think that's the difference. I'm not saying that organized religion doesn't talk about jealousy and envy, but for some reason, what I'm seeing is that despite people engaging in practices that show that they are good in that religion, inside, innately, they're still doing things that are just not right, that just don't align with who you would regard as somebody that's highly religious. What I love about spirituality is that it allows you to think way outside the box. Organized religion for me personally, I feel has a box. Because once you start crossing your lines to think about certain things that may go against the book, then you find yourself in cognitive dissonance, like, oh, this is wrong. The Bible says it's wrong, the current says it's wrong. For me as a person, I've always liked to have expansion. I've always liked to feel like there's freedom to really experience limits or experience how far things can go in terms of thought form, you know. So I don't like that limitation. I want to think really broadly with my mind. So I love that spirituality allows you to really see the vastness of life, to go so far in places to go into topics that are taboo, to learn about those taboo things, to go deep within yourself, to be able to feel confident enough to show your shadow because shadow work is just the basis of spirituality, to be able to say, okay, I'm a balance of shadow and light. Do you get what I'm saying? Like, I feel like that's the difference for me.

Granddaughter Crow: 13:47

I love that. I've never heard it articulated that spirituality actually assists you to look deeper at yourself to include your shadows. That's rich right there. I love it. So, Viv, a little bit more about your lived experience. Um, in our last conversation, you had mentioned going to secondary school in like Europe, or what what what did how did you get there and what what did you go for and where'd you go?

Viv: 14:17

Okay. So um I did my primary and secondary school here in Nigeria. I went to England for A levels. So that's two years where you're 16, 17, 16 to 18 before you go into university. Okay, so A-levels, um, I was in England. Oh my goodness, it was such a contrast to being in Nigeria the whole to being in Nigeria the whole time. Like, for example, I found that naturally, instinctually, I didn't want to learn the accent. I didn't want to change my accent, like I didn't want it to be fully indoctrinated into being British. I love the British accent, yes. But I felt like that was my identity, my accent. And you know, there's always this kind of thing around accents anyway. So at 16, I I I was so proud of myself to just when I was looking back to say, wow, you were that young and no one told you, and you just felt like I didn't need to change my accent for anyone. But I you'd still be able to comprehend me, you know. So one thing that I um and yeah, even coming back for holiday, people would be like, you go to school abroad and you don't have an accent. And I and I found that to be the most there's a word that was on tip of my tongue, ignorant statement to make. Like, come on, you know, it's really about the education after all. So I was in England for two years, and I'm not going to lie to you, that was shadow work in itself because I was depressed. It's like I always knew that I had low self-esteem in school, but now I felt like I couldn't hide it more because I was in a foreign country and I just wasn't confident enough to show up as my strong self, as my real self. I wasn't, in fact, I didn't feel like I had the will to do it. Like I just couldn't. So that was shadow work in itself. That was a deep dark time. Yeah, and I was in it for two years. But what I do love is that that is where my real creativity began to show. Like in through that, in that shadow, in that darkness, I my love for painting was transformed into photography because I didn't have that painting skill. So I started photography and I used photography to express, I used video to express, I wrote, I did acting, I read scripts, I watched movies, I just poured myself into creativity as an outlet to escape my life. You know, I was doing sciences at the time, and British science is different from the science in Nigeria, so it's more applied. So none of the subjects I was studying were things that I enjoyed. All I knew is that at first I came in and wanted to be a doctor, but like I ended up leaving knowing that I wanted to be an engineer. So I ended up being an engineer, a chemical engineer, and an environmental engineer when I did my master's. So I have like a dual engineering degree. I didn't know that. Yeah, now you do. I love education as well. I know you're in education. So I'm I'm I'm an academic girl. I love I love studying, I love being in school. So I'm an engineer, but like um, while I was at A levels, oh my goodness, the pain, the depression, the sadness, everything that just came from me not being my true self. I just poured it all into creativity. I was I was producing music. There was nothing creative that I wasn't doing. I was doing it all. And because I knew that I was abroad, I took advantage of what you wouldn't necessarily experience in school, like trips, like um excursions, adventures. Like I walked Seven Hills at night for cancer. I just did things like so everything that I was feeding in terms of shadow, I put it into activity and into creativity. And I wouldn't know that that would eventually be the basis for my spiritual awakening in 2017. Yeah.

Granddaughter Crow: 17:59

Oh wow. See, you know what's so brilliant about that is I'm I was sitting here thinking, oh, well, you're a creative. Of course, spirituality, intuition makes sense, you know, because the right hemisphere is about abstract, creative dreams, intuition. And then the left hemisphere is all about logic and learning and all of this. And usually you find somebody who is on one side or the other. But engineering, my dear, that is like hardcore. Thank you. Yeah. And so another thing that I love about what you just said was that it was almost like you naturally were able to take the dark night of the soul, the shadow work when you're feeling so insecure. Because I know people, it doesn't matter what age you are. You sometimes go into these like courses. Spirit takes you through, okay, let's do some shadow work. Let's do, you know, let's look at your insecurities. And in that process, I mean, did you organically just move into creativity or did somebody direct you there? Because that is the most beautiful, beautiful expression after doing shadow work to find a creative source within yourself.

Viv: 19:26

Did somebody tell you to do that? Or yeah, no, it was all me. And I'll tell you the truth. So the only creative thing I did when from seven to seventeen was writing songs. That's all I did. I wasn't, I didn't even regard myself as a creative. I wrote songs because I wanted to be a musician. I was deeply science-oriented, like sciences were my thing in school. Like I loved like arts and humanities. That was another thing that I could have done. But like I chose sciences because I loved it so much. Okay. So what helped me, or one of the things that helped me, was I took a communication and culture class. Um when in my first year of um A-level. So A levels, you first do four subjects in your first year, your AS, they call it AS, then A2, you drop one of the subjects and you only practice three. These three subjects are the subjects that you're going to use to apply to university for a course. So I was doing math, biology, and chemistry. And, you know, I was going to go in for medicine, but I could go in for chemical engineering. So that's what happened. All right. So how did we find the creative aspect? Because I wanted to get better at songwriting, I didn't know that I was channeling from a very early age. So when I wanted to write songs, they wouldn't rhyme and it would be like four or five verses. Oh my goodness. I was like, how do I make this stop? So I said, okay, I'm going to go into poetry. No, I remember this moment. I was standing outside because I was a prefect. I was standing outside school. It was an event, but my post was outside school to welcome people in. And I think I was the only one there at that time. So as I was standing there, something in my mind, my intuition, just said, you should start writing poetry. That's exactly how I was. And I was like, huh, okay. I always just knew, like, I mean, life path 11. So sometimes when intuition speaks to me, most times now, when intuition speaks to me, I just know it's intuition. I'm ready to do what it has to say. You know, that was one of those moments. So I moved into poetry. I started a very basic, then I started to work on it, work on it. Then all of a sudden I was like, no, short stories. Then I started to write stories. Oh my goodness. I should have sent you one of my pieces. So you see how I infused spiritual teachings into it. I started to write short stories that were moving, touching. And let me tell you something. I never did literature, I was only a reader. I never saw myself as a writer, but here I was writing stories that were deeply felt, you know. Anyway, so that's how I started to write. And then from that writing, it's like something opened up, and I went into the speech and drama um room, and I just told her that I love film and I love to act. Can I do classes here? So I started to do um classes as well as speech classes. So I was acting, I was doing classes, and the drama teacher was leading me to to old films, old Hollywood films to watch. I think that's where my love for old Hollywood films started. I nah, that's where it just evolved. I'd already had that love for it. Yes, because I used to love watching 80s movies. I didn't know that I could go as far as watching movies in the 20s, in the 40s, in the 50s, Hollywood movies. So I was like, oh wow, I have this range. That's nice. I could even go as much I could even go as far as watching silent movies. So there was a deep love for it there. That was crazy to me. So there I was just immersed in all of these things. So yeah, it was intuition that led me down this road because from there everything just opened up. I realized I could produce music out of nowhere. I could produce music. Then so I was writing, I was doing photography, I had a great eye because genuinely I wanted to be a painter, but I didn't have the skills. So what I couldn't do, I put it into pictures and it looked so good. Like my eye was amazing. I didn't know that. So I was discovering things about myself, and each time I would be in the shadow of life, what would bring me joy would be the creative works I'm producing. It would be the way I'm expressing. So creativity for me has always been something that I've used to survive, to come out of the dark, to have joy where there's darkness, you know, and shadow work, yes, we can get caught up in it. But is I always say in shadow work, you must always have something that is bringing you light because you're in the dark a lot. So you must go into creativity, you must express, you must do anything that lights you up. And that's what creativity did for me. Gosh, I went on a roll, it was like I was hungry to create.

Granddaughter Crow: 23:53

Wow. I've got a bunch of questions. I am going to just comment on something that you had just briefly mentioned earlier. And you said past lives. And when I'm looking at you, I'm like, really, you had an affinity towards old films? Really, you had an affinity towards this? Oh, really? You just knew you had a good eye, you just love poetry. And I'm like, it do you how much of that, what do you think about past lives? And how much of that do you think informs who you are?

Viv: 24:32

Great question. I love past lives. I love talking about past lives. I believe that we've had past lives, we and you could call them parallel lives because time is in linear, everything is occurring as it is right now, you know. But past lives are lives for listeners, are lives that we've lived in other times, and we are an embodiment of all those lives in our soul. So when we reincarnate as a present self like me, Viv, all the lives I've lived before, where I was a medicine woman, where I was a prostitute, where I was a priestess, all of those things, the wisdom, the tools, the lessons, maybe the mistakes, the trauma, the wounds, it's all in our soul as this current person that we are now. So I must tell you, it's like I knew, even talking now, but I didn't know then the fact that I do all this creative stuff and it's like a hunger for me that I need to like satisfy. And the fact that out of nowhere, after living a very strong creative life, I just stopped creating in the way that I was creating before and moved into tarot reading and astrology. So the spiritual element started to come in. You know what I'm saying? All of these things that I've embarked on that most feel like I've done them before. I truly believed that because in a past life I was doing that. In a past life, I was a painter. That's why I have this hunger to paint, that's by not having the current skills in this body, you know. In another life, I was a priestess, that's why I have a podcast, and that's why when I write my stories, I put spiritual teachings in it. It just comes naturally. All of these things show me, show me that I'm an old soul. Everybody has always said I'm an old soul, like I speak with just wisdom, you know, that you know that kind of thing. And it's really just from the soul. It's really because you know that you've been here before numerous times, and like you're possibly an elder, but you're just having fun reincarnating as a young, beautiful Nigerian lady, you know, called Viv. I absolutely love that because I agree. There's so much more to our individual souls than just this lifetime. And like you said, whether you want to call them past lives or parallel lives, all of that kind of stuff with all of the now happening, it's really kind of beautiful that you were able to uncover a lot of that light that you talked about that you were searching for in the shadow, that the the past lives started emerging. I'm just I just love it. Okay, so more to your story. So, where did you go to university? So, I was in the stream, Birmingham in England. Yeah. Okay, and then I went for my master's um in London.

Granddaughter Crow: 27:33

Okay, okay. And did you have like how did spirit continue to evolve you into perspectives with viv and intuition and dreams and all of that? What part of the story was that that you experienced in your spirituality?

Viv: 27:52

Very good question. Okay, so the first part, but I didn't know that I was spiritual, was when I was in on the timeline of bliss. 2016. I graduated with honors and we we'd gone on vacation. I was having life experiences I enjoyed. I was truly, truly happy, right? I didn't know that that was me being in bliss, you know. I I didn't know that was me being in true alignment with my timeline, the timeline I was meant to be on. 2017, was it was it 2017? 2017, I was in I went to London for masters. I did my master's twice because I dropped out the first time. Not many people know this actually. So I dropped out. Um because when I went to London, I was just hit with this heavy depression. I was like, I'm not sure. Am I doing the right thing? Maybe I should have waited before doing my master's. I'm doing more creative stuff now. I'm not as interested in this engineering thing as I as I was before. Then I said to myself, it's not that I'm not interested in this engineering thing. I wish I was doing environmental engineering as opposed to advanced chemical engineering. Like, I love the environment. So, all of those things. And I was just doing web with photography. Like, I lit intuition came in one time. Like I said, 2017 was when I'd cultivated a relationship with God. So one February, one day in February, or night in February, because I was in London alone, I was living alone, and I've always been alone now. So I wouldn't say that it was me being alone that made me depressed, I was just depressed for some reason. So a random time, a random day, I just did, I just heard a voice say, You need to post your pictures on Twitter now. You need to do that right now. Right now, post it right now, don't wait, post it right now. So I posted it. These pictures that I posted are pictures from my series called The Displacement Series. Now, the displacement series is made up of pictures taken in Nigeria, photoshopped into scenes taken abroad. So you could find two hawkers that were in Lagos in a um park in Wittenhouse Square Park in Philly. You could find um Kekena peps, which are kind of like Like little taxis or tricycles, thank you. Tricycles, but they are yellow. Okay. I put them in New York with the yellow taxis. Yes. So just yes.

Granddaughter Crow: 30:14

Oh, so you have been weaving intercultural expressions. At the beginning of time. Throughout space and time. I got chills.

Viv: 30:26

Thank you. Yeah, because I'd always been rooted in my Nigerian roots. Like I love being Nigerian. You know, I love my country. You know, despite its struggles, I love the culture. But I'd always found myself abroad. And abroad, I didn't connect to the culture as much as I connected to the culture at home. Like it was the taste was richer at home. So what could I do? I couldn't take the pictures I wanted to take in Nigeria. I could only take the pictures I was taken abroad. So I brought Nigeria abroad with me and I made that series. Oh, it was the best. Yes. Now I posted that those pictures, right? I posted like the popular ones because I did post those pictures on Instagram. I made, I created those pictures when I was on a study abroad in Philadelphia in my third year of university. So I went to Philadelphia. I took a Photoshop class, a digital photography class, which we're taught Photoshop and Lightroom. Our final project, we're supposed to do a Photoshop project, and Intuition once again came in and said, Why don't you put these two pictures together? And that's how the series was created. At first, I thought I was crazy. I was like, what the heck? Put these two pictures together. What do you mean? Yeah. And I and I started to do it. But then I now got like afraid. So I was like, this is crazy. No. The teacher, bless her. She was like, don't stop this project. Do it. This is actually something so creative, something so new. So I continued. And I created six photographs. And we had like an exhibition at the end. Oh my goodness, this is one of my favorite memories I've forgotten. So I'm so glad to like be talking about it today. So we so we displayed all our work. People were so astounded. Somebody even said, Are you sure you didn't take these pictures from the internet? Like these look so real. Like people were impressed. I got high grades. I think I got an A plus actually. That was our my final project. Ah gosh, I love that. Like, and then I started to post those pictures on on the internet. It went, it did well on my Instagram. People were like, this is crazy. This is whoa. So that was 20, I think that was 2016. No, 2015. Thank you. Wow. That was 2015, yes. Then what happened was that I 2017, I get this call to just post these pictures on Twitter. And in my mind, I'm like, oh, post these pictures. Okay, let's do that. So I posted them. I went to bed. When I woke up, 5,000 retweets, a thousand comments. Okay, maybe not a thousand, a hundred. People just kept retweeting. People just kept retweeting. I got I got like a DM or um a message from someone on CNN Africa. She was like, Can we feature your work? I got more um in invitations for, you know, what's the right word? Interviews, features over and over and over and over. And I was like, what the heck? That's when my photography career launched. That's when I became a name. Yes, people knew my name, the photographer's corner. You know, people knew me, people knew my work, and people were flawed.

Granddaughter Crow: 33:39

Yeah.

Viv: 33:40

And then I just I started dropping new work, more work, Photoshop works. Me, like um self-portrait photoshop stuff, just creative stuff. And people were just like, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, this is crazy. That same year, despite failing, because I was failing my master's program, despite failing, my my university had like um a photography exhibition. Okay. So I traveled back to Lagos for Christmas, took some pictures of now. I'm so versatile with photography. I can do Photoshop, I can also do portraits, I can do self-portraits, but my spike my eye shows itself the most with street photography. I am so good at capturing things going on. So I did this series called Postcards from Abekuta. Abekuta is in Ogun States in Nigeria. So I went there for something, an event or something, right? And I went there, but uh and I then afterwards I went for a road trip with my grandmother for a wedding and I took pictures there. So I gave the pictures a vintage feel because I'm a nostalgic kind of girl. And I used I think I it was one of those pictures I chose to feature in that competition in the university. Now at that university, they have money. So you can imagine I came in second place, right? Yes. Then I then I also got the award for people's choice or people's favorites. Yes. Then they gave me like an Amazon card, 50 pounds. I was like, what the heck? Yes. I love you know, uh so that happened, right? Oh, oh my goodness. I forgot I forgot your question because I've just enjoyed telling the story.

Granddaughter Crow: 35:32

This is exactly what I wanted to know because it actually does. I mean, from my perspective, I'm kind of blown away and a little speechless because it's almost like you were just intuitively putting things together, but yet there is a part about what you did in that whole, you know, gallery of bridging culture that is mind-blowing that other people may or may not be able to describe. You were doing this, we are similar, yet we are very expressively different, but we still are similar. We still take you know cars or bicycles to get around. Now let's just kind of soup them up in different cultures. I mean, I'm I'm blown away. I'm gonna blow Viv on Instagram. Is it just at perspective with Viv? Perspective is Viv, yes. Perspective is Viv. Okay. Yeah. Give her a follow, give her a like, comment, the beauty of that because I'm kind of speechless and I'd love to hear what the listening audience has to say about it. So this is kind of beautiful because I really wanted to focus on your lived experience and how that has informed your intuition and your dream work. And the beauty around it is that you always had this intuition and dream work, and that it actually informed your lived experience. So I think I said it backwards, you know, that it was your intuition, your soul, your past lives, all of your essence that maybe informed your lived experience. And I also, and I want to hear what you have to say about that. Um, I'll restate the question in a second, but I really enjoy that this creative aspect of being able for you to not be afraid of going into the shadow in order to seek the light from within.

Viv: 37:49

You know, it's beautiful to know that intuition has always been there and to have these like checkpoints in which it spoke and I listened. I've always said that intuition is easier for me to listen to to art as opposed to to life. So you'd you could you can see that all of these things were to help build my creative life, not necessarily my current life. It's like I have more or I had more faith in my intuition when it came to my creativity because that was where I was limitless. But in life, I didn't fully trust my intuition because life has its constraints, society has its ways of thinking. There's ways that people assume or people expect you to approach certain things. So I never really took that risk in real life as I did with my art, which is why I thrived while failing other aspects of my life with intuition. Now, over time, right, when I moved back to Nigeria, ah, it was like, I'm not going to lie to you. Nigeria has always called me back, which is so weird because I didn't even want to come back. I just found myself back. And as I'm back now, it's like there's I'm in my home frequency. It's like I've aligned with the city. You know, it's called me. I came when it called me, that's when I dropped out and I went back to Nigeria. And Nigeria was like shadow work on steroids. Can you use your voice? Can you stand up for yourself? How are you handling living with your parents again after so many years apart? You know, what's the culture like? Okay, toxic family dynamics, all of these things all at once. And one of the things that I lacked was using my voice or standing up for myself. So I was always I was feeling shadow work big time, big time. And the depression came back because yeah, I used to be depressed. And it's nice to actually realize that I've not had like a depressive episode in a long time. I'm so happy. But I used to have long bouts of feeling sad and down and you know, oh gosh. So, but art is what brought me out of it. My intuition is what brought me out of it. My intuition was always still speaking while I was living life, but I wasn't trusting it. So my intuition could only find me listening when it came to art. And while I was in Nigeria, funny enough, my creativity went down a bit. Why? Because I stopped focusing on creating for me, I stopped focusing on me as the source, and I started focusing on people as the audience. What did they like? What did they want? What did they want to see? I don't even know when that happened because that has never been me, but because I'd become a name, it was like I was thinking about the people watching me now, you know? And despite all of that, I still created work that was deeply from the soul. I have to go back to photography because this all this talk is just my work was so deep. It was so and it was all about revealing yourself, your true self. It was all about shedding skin that is not yours, shedding old skin, and just being you. So it's like intuition couldn't speak to me in real life. So it spoke to me through the art now. It wasn't just guiding me to create, it was speaking to me through the art. It was saying things like, speak up, you no longer be silent. It was saying things like you are fire, allow you, tend to your flames. Oh, that was one of my favorites, but I can't remember the whole the words, but it was just empowering stuff like to myself, and it was a self-portray series, and it was just like messages to myself, like a cry for help, but I wasn't really understanding it until later. I was like, if I'm really being honest, I'm channeling all these words and they're coming from somewhere, but my conscious mind is not seeing this work as a viewer, I see it as a creator, so it's like I'm creating this message for other people, not for me. It wasn't until later that I was like, if you really look at your work, girl, your work is just screaming out to yourself. And after the last, yeah, after the last series, which was Red, oh, Red, Red was a series, gosh, you're taking me down memory lane. Wow. It's funny because like I went for an art exhibition like maybe a week ago. It was like two weeks ago, and I was like, I need to go back to photography. And I was like, the hell, I was like, where is that coming from? Because I left photography in a way that I was like, after being such a force for yourself, you really just stepped away like that. But that's the spiritual path. I'm getting there. So yeah, that's the spiritual path. Because red, I did red. Red was about I was in the thick of it with red, I was in the thick of my depression with red. Once again, another um avenue to s to express to to just say things that have been keeping in, and red was about removing skin dizing, yours. You've been wearing a skin crafted by society, boy stuffy. This skin doesn't seem like yours. And then removing it. Remember, I told you, yes, I told you this where I said that, oh, where I hugged myself and I was like, Oh, to Jometer, I was like long time no see to my real skin, my real self. Yes.

Granddaughter Crow: 43:17

Oh my goodness, that might have to be the name of this podcast, Long Time No See. I love this because you know, I mean, the divine reveals itself, and the energy and the frequency reveals itself in each of our stories, right? And it's and it comes with the hard times and it comes with the inspiration, but at the end of the day, uh, there is a philosopher that talks about absolute spirit comes in creativity, it comes through the ability to be able to create. And myself, I'm not, well, maybe not in this lifetime. I almost have to stop myself. I'm like, maybe I am an artist and I don't know it yet, you know, at this point. I'm like, but this creativity that flows through is I think something that is so beautiful and authentic. And yet after you show your authenticity for such a long time, this is my lived experience as well. All of a sudden you start doing it for other people. And what do they want? And what do they want? And you start losing yourself, and you have to come back home. And when you come back home, it's like, oh, I feel myself again. My whole thing is about empowering, inspiring, and encouraging people to be authentic. And there are so many reasons why, and that the more authentic you can become, the more that you actually are who the creator made you to be. What was it that caused you to continue to return to self? Like, what would you explain that to be at this point in your life?

Viv: 45:15

If I'm really being honest, what caused me to return to self was the fact that I knew that being myself was the best thing ever. Like there was no better person to be but me. Like I my my spirit kept telling me that you are missing out, not being yourself and being somebody else. You are so much more interesting, so much more dynamic, so much more vibrant. Gosh, can you get here already? Which is why my work was about the self. I don't think that's a coincidence. Like it was like puzzle pieces. You get me? Everything I was creating was to lead me back to self because I need to be myself in order to create the real work that I came here to create in order to activate people the way I'm meant to. Because all of a sudden in my creative journey, I've ended up having a podcast, and we're on five seasons, you know, and it's like a space in which I am myself. And guess what? A random day in 2022, I believe, or 2021, yeah. Start a podcast.

Granddaughter Crow: 46:14

Yeah.

Viv: 46:14

That's what intuition said. Start a podcast.

Granddaughter Crow: 46:17

Just yeah, just start a podcast.

Viv: 46:21

And I said, okay, you know what? That sounds good. I'll sit down on it. Satan on it, learn to why needed to start it. Started it like a month later or two later, or a month or two, and it's been on ever since.

Granddaughter Crow: 46:32

Oh, so perspectives with viv people, listen to it, follow her on Instagram. It's so dynamic and rich. The beauty around it is not so much what you know talk about with intuition. It's about you showing us what it looks like in action. It's about you showing us how, you know, even if it's difficult, that those two are opportunities to dig a little bit deeper inside yourself and that your intuition will be there. And that just following your soul and that vibration is what brings you home. The creator, however, it reveals itself to you, whatever you call it, put inside of you, created you to be you, right? And if you try to be anybody else, you are not honoring what the creator created, and the creator doesn't screw up, and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm just like, okay, give us one more thing that you believe that the listening audience would benefit from your story. What would you like to say to them?

Viv: 47:58

I think I'd like to talk about me presently, so they know. Like it's we've spoken about the entire journey. Where am I now? Yes. Honestly, I'm going to link it back to home frequency. So I feel like I'd been called numerous times to return home, right? Yes. And I was always fighting being back here because I felt like okay, there's a system, there's a there's a there's a there's a rule, there's a way the game is played here to thrive. And I don't know if I'm able to play it, you know, because I'm neurodivergent. It seemed like people already knew how the system works, you know, they knew the paths to take to get to where they were going. But I've always been different. So I was like, how am I going to come back there? Every time I thought about going back, even though I loved going back for holiday, I just always thought that I don't want to go back because anytime I'm back home in Nigeria, I conform, I lose who I truly am, my magic disappears, I'm not able to manifest anymore. I start feeling like a normal person in the matrix, and I lose everything that makes me me.

Granddaughter Crow: 49:01

Right.

Viv: 49:02

So being back here, I don't even know what's happened. It's been a persistent journey of remembering, remembering, remembering who I am, not allowing myself to feel like I'm losing my essence again just so that I can exist in society. Now I'm existing in society as my frequency, as my vibration. It's difficult, but it's been rewarding. It's been very rewarding. I'm meeting people that match my frequency, I'm making friends that show me love. I'm experiencing things I've been wanting to experience as a young girl. My inner child is healing. Because I stayed steadfast in maintaining my vibration. Yes, things happened to try and throw me off. I come back, I remember every day who I am, and because I'm remembering who I am, all of a sudden I'm finding myself playing the game, being in the system, and it's coming so naturally from all those years of watching people live, you know, and me not doing it where it's like, oh, society sees me as somebody that has gained their approval, but more for me in my own way, yeah, and it's so beautiful. At one point, I remember saying, like, I feel my vibration is so different. Like the kind of person I am, and I truly know this when I'm good, when I'm happy, I'm very radiant. You know, I'm an Aries, I'm so radiant. So a lot of times when people see me, they're like, it seems like you're having a lot of fun in Nigeria. I'm like, why? They see your face, it's like you're in a permanent vacation, and I'm like, wow, you know, that's how I am because I'm vibrating at my true frequency. I've never vibrated at this level before. I feel happy with myself, content with myself, and I was saying to myself last week that oh my god, it's like I'm vibrating in on the same frequency as the city now. Like me and the city have come together as one. We're vibrating as one now, like things are aligned, magical things are happening almost every day. Like, even in the mundane, life is still magical. You know what I'm saying? Even in the mundane, life is magical, life is beautiful. I'm experiencing things I've never experienced before. I'm doing things I've never done before. I am shining, and as I shine, there's so much energy for the creative work, there's so much energy because every time I'm full, I need a space to you know express. So, photography, I stopped it after I've read my series because I felt complete. Oh, along the way, I had the dream about the tarot cards, picked up the tarot cards, never went back to photography, only took pictures personally, but never posed myself as a photographer. I completely changed my content from photography to tarot reading. And imagine having a fan base, a Nigerian fan base, all of a sudden the photographer that they follow is doing tarot readings and they don't understand it. I lost a lot of followers, aside from scratch, in terms of following, in terms of people that supported my work, because people couldn't understand it. And I know it was a drastic change. You get me? Photography is a very lucrative business in um Lagos. It it's like you know, in Nigeria, it's one of the hobbies that makes you stand out among amongst others, like videography and all of that, but and now podcasting. But really, it was crazy how I stopped something that would have put more of a spotlight on me for tarot reading that is niche and doesn't really wouldn't really thrive in Nigeria. Despite that, I still did events in Nigeria, I still found myself having events in Nigeria with exclusive high-end events. So that told me that my vibration is high-end, it's it's exclusive, and this is my baseline. I shouldn't go below this. Then I went to London and then I started to thrive. I started my business and I did up to 60 events in London for big brands. I I even did it for a Hollywood actress. That is how much like being in my frequency and honoring my intuition was sometimes you don't know where you're going, but if you listen and if you just trust, you find yourself where you need to be. Did 60 events, built my confidence, knew who I was, came back to Nigeria. I already have the podcast because along the way I started the podcast, and I realized that podcasting will do better here than the events. So I decided to do the podcasting more.

Granddaughter Crow: 53:22

Okay.

Viv: 53:23

Long and short of it is that now in this space that I'm at, I'm vibrating at my true frequency, and I'm happy, I'm at peace. I'm so happy in content. Nothing outside of me needs to make me happy. It's self-generated. So everything that's happening outside is like a bonus. I'm having experiences I haven't experienced before, and I'm so full and filled because I choose to remember every day who I am and I choose to hold who I truly am close. As a result, I I operate and embody and exist in my vibration, and the world has to meet me on that frequency.

Granddaughter Crow: 53:59

Why have to say we love it? So, for the listeners, is there how do people who are now inspired by your story and your lived experience, how do people find their vibration? How do they what would you say that people could like start doing? I know that's a very broad question. I have that answer. Yes, hit us. Tell me, Bib, what is this?

Viv: 54:33

You go back to what you loved as a child, start from there, revisit the things that you loved as a child because then that triggers childhood wounds. It also helps you with inner child healing. You start to remember when you go back to things that you loved as a child. It's about a path of remembering. And we spoke about remembering on on my our interview. You see how everything is linked? We're so connected.

Granddaughter Crow: 54:56

I think that's remembering.

Viv: 54:58

Yes, you go back, you go back, right? So you do that things you loved as a child. Then look at yourself currently, right? What do you what lights you up now? I don't know what it is, but when you consistently engage in things that light you up, you start to have epiphanies and clarity, and you start to be able to remember things about yourself. The shadows start to come as well because where there is light, shadow will show itself. So all those things stimulate something inside of you. That's where the true process begins. And while you start doing that shadow work and that process of remembering, because things will come up. Hold those things that light you up close so that you can continue to do the shadow work and still feel rejuvenated. You're going to have childhood traumas come up, past wounds, my memories come up. All those things are meant to be transmitted. That is how you heal, but that's how you remember. So that's what I'll say to the listeners.

Granddaughter Crow: 55:45

My eyes started tearing up. If you guys are listening on Spotify or whatever, come over to the show on YouTube and you'll see Granddaughter Crow. Get a little teary-eyed because that, my dear, not only wrapped up the same way that we did on your podcast, Remember Perspectives with Viv, check out her podcast, follow her on Instagram, but that it came full circle. And I'm just like, is it did we meet to help people remember? You know? Ooh. And the more that you remember who and what you are, the more your intuition kicks in. And just like Viv said, yeah, you're gonna have some shadow down there, you're gonna have some trauma, but it's worth it. Long time no see. Long time no see.

Viv: 56:35

Yes. So it's it's it's autogomata in Yoruba. Yes, it's like Lucy, if you're translating it like um accurately, it's like it's been so many years, I believe.

Granddaughter Crow: 56:50

Viv, thank you so much. Is there anything else that you that your spirit wants to say?

Viv: 56:56

Definitely. My spirit wants to give a short tarot reading to you and your listeners. Yes. Okay, so I'm back. Let me shuffle the cards. I was really, really called to pull some cards for you and your listeners before we left. And I'm not going to miss the opportunity. So let's see what comes up. What messages do we need to know today that are for our highest good? Ooh, three cards just flew out. All right, let's begin. We have the five of pentacles, we have the justice, we have oh, it's actually four cards, seven of swords in reverse, and the world in reverse with the two of pentacles as the overall energy. Okay, let's see. First glance. Five of Pentacles talks about loss of material resources, somebody feeling out left out in the cold, somebody feeling as though they don't have a sense of belonging, they don't have anything physical to themselves. So this card showing up is a card that talks about a change in finances, a change in your living situation, a change in your material possessions, and this is coming this coming up because there's some form of justice for you. So justice showing up talks about balance, harmony, conflict resolution, karmic justice. Some people's locks, some people's luck will be changing. Um, you can see a king here, and you can see like a pauper on this side. Fates are changing, and this is all as a result of what people have done in the past. So if people see changes in their finances, in their material positions, just so there's an element of karma, is life balancing itself out because Libra is about balance, it's about the skills. What have we done in the past and how is it showing up now? The next card we have is the three Seven of Swords in reverse. Seven of Swords in reverse talks about how there's no deception here in whatever situation that it is that you're going through, you can trust it, you know. Um, so for some people, it's like when good things come their way, they're very doubtful because they're not used to it. It's not their usual luck. So when you see opportunities that seem too good to be true, trust it. There's no deception here. You can do it. This is something that you can invest in. This is something that will change your material, your material status, okay? Your finances. You have the world in reverse here. And I as soon as I saw it, I thought to myself, some people don't know that they may have been holding themselves back, that there's some form of stagnancy that they've been nurturing in their lives. So they've been unable to level up. That's why they've had a particular kind of um financial life, you know, relationship with money. They've always felt like maybe they didn't have stability. It's been some, it's been a mindset. There's been a mindset, and there's been you. Be called to have a change of mindset in order to engage and receive this luck. That's why the world is in reverse because it's on its way to turning upright. You will end up having a spiritual upgrade. Um, you'll end up having a shift, there'll be a transition in which your luck changes. When anytime you're praying, pray to be able to maintain your blessings, your prayers. Pray that when your prayers are answered, you're able to maintain them. That is the energy that I'm getting now. Okay, so yes, some people may have been having bad luck in terms of finances, and then they pray for an opportunity, and the opportunity comes. Don't let self-sabotage stop you from accepting it and benefiting from it. Don't contribute to your stagnancy. Look at ways in which your mindsets, your limitations are holding you back from attaining an upgrade in life. All right, because it's coming. Now you have this overall energy being the two of pentacles, which is nice because what it's saying is that right now there's an imbalance in finances for some people, but there's that's going to change. The opportunities are going to come, and eventually they're going to start balancing multiple income streams, they're going to start having opportunities to connect with people abroad, international connections and international network. All of this comes from a change of mindset. Skills are balancing out for people. You see how this card had a king on one side or has a king on one side and the a popper on the side, other side. Are you going to change your mindset to shift from that of you know lack to that of abundance? It is that shift in mindset that will change your material life, your material world. It is that embrace of good luck, opportunities, fortune shining on you that will allow you to spiritually upgrade in life and therefore upgrade in your material world. So that's my message for your listeners.

Granddaughter Crow: 1:01:54

Oh, thank you so much, Viv. Viv does tarot follow viv. All of the information to follow will be down below. And Viv, thank you so much. You are yeah, you're you're absolutely amazing. Thank you for being on the show and sharing your lived experience. You know, people, I absolutely love bringing great people to great people. And here is another prime example of a lived experience that doesn't run away from their shadow, that actually works with their intuition, that that mines the jewels within to become that authenticity. I hope that you listeners got inspired. Please feel free to share this with whoever you know that this would inspire. And I love you guys, and we'll see you on the flippity flip.