Creating a Magical, Healthy Life: Healing at the Root with Magic Barclay

What if your symptoms weren’t the problem, but a message from your body pointing to the real cause?

In this episode of Morning Tea with Coach Kennedy, I sit down with Australian functional health coach Magic Barclay to explore the power of root-cause healing and why true wellness goes far beyond simply treating symptoms.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Good morning, everybody. Today is Wednesday, July 15th, 2026. And this is your morning tea with Coach Kennedy. Last week, we learned about a powerful tool to help soothe our vagus nerve, the Zen Bug with John Hacker. This week, we're going to learn a powerful technique on how to get to the real root cause of your symptoms with Magic Barclay. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

And today we're going to be talking about creating a magical and healthful life. Hi, Magic. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Hi, Coach Kennedy.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

I'm great. Thanks for having me here. Thanks for being here. I'm so glad that you can join me for the show today. Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself and how you decided to become a health coach?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, definitely. So I was going through a lot of stressful stuff in my life, and that resulted in becoming very unwell with conditions including cancer. I had a minor heart attack, and I was just really knocking on death's door. And so I found functional medicine. And once I did that, my world started opening up. So being able to treat root cause rather than just chasing the symptoms gave me possibility to enjoy my life again.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Yeah, I could see how that would open up the doors for you to be able to enjoy your life again. Would you like to how long were you sick for? And how were you first diagnosed?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah, I was sick for about five years. I was first diagnosed because I had already been going to the doctor saying something's wrong, something's wrong. And you know, they just dismissed me, told me I was making it up, attention seeking, like the whole hitting caboodle basically. And then when I moved cities with my kids, I actually found a new doctor. And he was straight out of school, you know, not jaded by the world yet, and he listened to me. And so he actually did the appropriate tests and found out that my cancer was quite aggressive and that I needed immediate surgery. So had it gone on much longer, I'd hate to think what would have happened. But then there was the recovery from the surgery, the recovery from all the other conditions that I had at the time. And so it was a long road back of about five years, and then you know, having to study in that time as well, because I wanted to know what was happening in my body. So I actually led most of my treatment. Once I had my thyroid taken out, I learned all about different thyroid medications and what they did. So I was telling the doctor, this is what I need, and this is why, and this is what it does. And so, you know, when we take control of our own lives, whether it's our health, whether it's our finances, just even our happiness, life really does open up because you're the only one that can do things each day. And so you have to make it happen. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Absolutely. Um, how do I treat my immune system? And are there things that I should avoid?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

There's different types of immune systems, and we have all of them. So we live in our innate immune system, it's the one we're born with. When that can't cope with something or when it's not meant to cope with something, it triggers our acquired immune system, and this splits off into multiple directions. So just treating your immune system with XYZ may not work for you because you may be in a different acquired immune system. So it's really, really important that you support your innate system and that you really understand what your body's telling you. So this is where functional health coaches come into the fore because we can see from your symptomology and from your history, we can see which immune system is erupting or is in control or that you may be stuck in. And so it's really important that we don't use a one-size-fits-all treatment system for the immune. Having said that, there are things that everyone can do. And so, little things like eating organic fruit and veg where you can, growing it where you can, making sure that the meat and you know, milk and chicken that you eat and drink comes from somewhere where you know where it is and what it's eating. So I'm really fussy with my family not eating beef that is fed bovia so that the cow doesn't fart. Because guess what? That's what cows do. They eat grass, they fart, they make really stinky poo, and then they're our food. But if we're going to give them a substance that changes what their functioning does, then what's that going to do to us down the line? So, you know, everyone listening, get to know your local farmers. Support the small farmers. Wherever you are in in the world, there are local farmers who care about what they're producing and will produce clean food for us. So support them. Don't let the big guys squash them, and this way you're supporting your immune system. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

So I would ag I would have guessed that that would be how we could live consciously and integratively with nature.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And look, there's other things like understand that weeds in your garden are not just weeds, so don't use poison. They're often flowering, well, what we call weeds, but flowering plants that bring pollinators in that support life. You know, they may help feed dragonflies. Well, guess what? Dragonflies eat mosquitoes. Now, I don't know where everyone else is in the world, but here in Australia, mosquitoes are a big issue, and we're in summer right now, and you can go outside at five o'clock in the evening and come back completely covered in bites. So if you can plant something that is considered a weed but feeds dragonflies that eat mosquitoes, then you know you're living more in connection with nature and more consciously. Don't just grab the poison and you know bait the mice or the rats or whatever, because your hat your owls, your hawks, your lots of other animals will eat those. And so, you know, what they're doing is naturally keeping down rodents. You going and poisoning, okay, you're getting rid of your problems straight away, but you're creating more problems later. And so this is where we can live consciously with nature by really understanding that what we do has a big impact, and it doesn't just impact ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yeah, it truly doesn't. It it affects everything. It's a chain. Everything is a chain, no matter if it's a food chain, spiritual chain, physical chain. What medical or pathological inventions can destroy my immune system?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

There's a lot, unfortunately. There really is a lot, and it comes from everything from changing our food that we've just discussed to being I guess let me see. How do I say this? Being told what we should do medically without questioning it. Let's just say that. If you are told to do something, you need to question why, what's in it, what's it gonna do to me, what's it gonna do for me. And I think we've fallen into this pattern of just blindly saying, Yes, okay, doctor, I'll do this because you said I have to. I think certainly, you know, this can be controversial, but when governments come in and tell you what to do with your body, there's something wrong. They're not gonna live in your body if something happens. God forbid something happens, you're stuck with those issues. So really question things. Medically, the inventions and creations that have come out in the past hundred years have not been uh shown to have no side effects. Whereas most herbs that you take have no side effects. Most plants that you use in a tea have no side effects. Obviously, there'll be some more suited to some people than others, but these are things from nature. Now, nature does not create bad side effects. So there's no huge long laundry list of warnings when you make a cup of tea from something. So what I need to say is, you know, medical uh interventions and inventions, some have been great, you know, there's clamps that they can use in surgery that are so minuscule and they're so vitally needed. You know, there's a lot of things that are great, but there's a lot of things that aren't great, and I think we just need to, as humanity, we really need to question for ourselves and satisfy for ourselves that we know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Yeah, exactly, because recently I was having issues with my own body, and I went to the doctor, two different ones, in fact, within the past year, and I said, This is what's going on, and one gave me a cream and said, Oh, this is gonna get rid of your problem, and I said, I didn't stop to really think about it. I just said, Okay, cool, thanks, because I just wanted the issue to go away, and then in it just was kind of like putting a band-aid on it, and then I went to my primary caregiver and I said, Hey, this is what happened. I went to this doctor over here, this is what's going on, here's and he prescribed me a shampoo, and I said, Okay, what is that? And then then I asked him, I said, Well, what does this do? Is this gonna get rid of it? Or is it just another band-aid? And I said, Because I really think that instead of it just being a surface issue, there's something going on inside of my body to make this issue appear on the outside of my skin. And the doctor looked at me kind of like if I was stupid, and just shrugged it off and prescribed the shampoo anyway. Yeah, it it fixed the issue, but it still was coming back, so I was gonna have to keep applying the shampoo to my skin, and I said this is ridiculous, and so then I just did a little bit of research and I found other things that might be an underlying cause of what is happening, and I started taking the supplement oil, oreganal oil, and it seems to be doing the trick just fine, and it's I have to do the healing inside to get rid of the outer issue, and it's just it it amazes me just how many doctors do actually ignore us when we're telling them, hey, this is what's going on, let's fix this.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

But 100% and oil of oregano, or here in Australia we call it oregano, you know, it's a very powerful antimicrobial and antiviral and antibacterial. And so whilst you know it's a purified oil that has come from a plant, there's not a lot else in it. And it's a hot oil, so it has a lot of action. You know, being prescribed something else versus something that comes from a plant, there's a huge difference. And so you can see that you know the oregano is not going to have that many detrimental side effects apart from probably burn the crap out of your mouth if you take it non-capsulated. But you know, it's going to get to the root cause internally, as you said, and help you heal internally, as opposed to the topical stuff that you don't know what's in it, it's going to stop working as soon as you stop using it. And so it's not addressing the issue. So, yeah, very well set out there. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

What are pathogens and how do they all work within the body?

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah, so pathogens, viruses, bacteria, and fungus, generally. They're the big three. And so they all have different roles and they all keep in each other in check. So viruses eat bacteria and fungus, bacteria eat viruses and fungus, and fungus eat viruses and bacteria. And so they really have this synergistic life inside us, and they're not all bad. So we have good bacteria in our gut that every morning when the early morning sun hits our skin, they start waking up and doing their thing, and they create neurotransmitters to make us feel good. And when we don't get sunlight, when we're shut off in a room the whole time, when we're, you know, not able to make these bacteria activate, guess what? We get depressed, we get anxious because we are not making these neurotransmitters. So not all pathogens are bad. Having said that, the bulk of them can be. But what we need to do is really be cautious, taking things like antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, because they're going to kill off the problematic pathogen, but they're also going to kill off all the good stuff as well. And they're going to create an imbalance, and then you're treating one imbalance by creating another imbalance, and so of course you're going to have issues. Prime example of this is usually after antibiotics, it's very common to get thrush. Now, thrush is candida, which is a fungal infection. So you've killed off your bacterial infection, but now you've created a fungal infection because that imbalance is there. So we need to really comprehend that not all pathogens are bad. They are meant to do a job. It's just when they get a little bit out of hand that it's an issue. And this is where we can, particularly with viral infections, you know, there are some big viral infections that can affect our lives pretty much for the rest of our lives. It's like Epstein-Barr virus, or no, also known as kissing disease or mono or glandular fever. It's got a lot of names. Once you get something like that, it's a hard road to treat. It's a pathogen that lives and hides in your very rich organs, being the thyroid, the liver, and the gallbladder. And so you need to support those organs so things like EBV can't take hold.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Why is the lymphatic system so important?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

The lymphatic system's your waist retrieval, sorry, waist retrieval and removal system. And it sits mainly just under the skin. So it kind of works in conjunction with the circulatory system, which has a pump called the heart, keeps it moving. The lymphatic system doesn't have a pump, so you need to keep it moving. Things like, you know, brushing your skin, doing manual lymphatic drainage, bouncing on a rebounder, going for a walk every day, jogging on the spot, jumping rope, things that we can do that don't take a huge amount of effort will move our lymph system. And so what it does is it continually retrieves waste from the cells and finds exit pathways. And it's a very forgotten about system. Certainly in the medical world, there's not a lot of doctors that take it seriously. And uh, we really need to support the lymphatic system because when we don't, you get conditions like lymphedema, lipodema, lipolymphedema. And so then you've got massive swelling that is very hard to get rid of once it's there.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Yeah, I I have had some swelling, but not necessarily to that extent, but sometimes when my lymph nodes get all swollen, it is kind of painful and it's hard to get rid of. What how does mold affect the body and why is it so dangerous?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Mold is part of the fungal family, and so it's a decomposer. That's what it does. So if you've got a fruit basket and you've got a moldy apple, if you leave it there for too long, it's going to infect the other apples, and they'll all become moldy. Leave it there for too long, you're going to have like this sludgy smelling mess that used to be apples. And so mold tries to do the same thing with us because that's its job, decompose. And so once we are exposed to mold, it gets within us, in our nasal cavities, you know, it gets into our systems and it can start decomposing us. So we need to look at how to treat it. Now, commonly, people will find mold in their home, paint over it, bleach it, cut it out, replace something. The mold's still there. You're just changing the cosmetic appearance of it. So it's really, really important that when you are exposed to mold, that you treat it properly in your home, treat it properly in yourself, you wash all your furnishings, wash all your clothes, support your animals' health, because just leaving a moldy house or a moldy office doesn't help. You're taking it with you. And so, as I said, when it decomposes us, it starts doing things like damaging our nervous system, damaging nasal cavity, so that we now can't protect ourselves from something else. Our immune system has to respond to it. So now our immune system can't fight anything else because it's switched into a type that's just responding to mold. And so it's really important that we take it very, very seriously and really consult an expert that helps clean the problem, not just the symptom.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

What would be a good way if if you can't get a hold of a professional or you can't afford one? Perhaps what would be a good way to get rid of it yourself?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Yeah, so I love using essential oils. A, there's no side effects, B, they're reasonably priced, and C, they really, really work. So my team make an essential oil mix that fights mold. I use it in my own home. I diffuse it in my home every single day. I live in a very old kit home that wasn't built brilliantly, and so you know, it can get moldy. We live in a very damp area. So we diffuse this oil every single day. I use it topically in a carrier oil as well. When I know I'm going to a place that is moldy, so I've got a friend who lives in a really moldy house. I'm never gonna not visit him. But what I do is I use some of this oil and I put it in a carrier oil and I just put it up inside my nose. So my nasal cavity is protected, and then I make sure I wash absolutely everything that comes in contact with his home. So, you know, it's really important that we use something that works, not just you know, from a price perspective, but that works, and so essential oils can do this. I often advise my clients which plants to plant near their houses because there's certain plants that are natural mold fighters, and so if you've got these plants next to your houses, you're less likely to have a mold issue. So it doesn't have to be a really expensive treatment protocol, it just has to be something that works. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

You're talking about immune systems a little bit when we were talking about the mold. What is an autoimmune disorder?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yeah, so in the medical world, autoimmune is labeled as a disease where your immune system's attacking itself. Not entirely correct. What an autoimmune really is, is that you are stuck in one of these acquired immune pathways and you're stuck there for a reason. Your body may see the fight that needs to be mounted, and then it just keeps doing the same thing and it gets stuck there. And so we we need to look at what Why is this happening? What can we do about it? And you know, why is it stuck? Is it because this is a continued threat from childhood? And so now we really, really need to look at the root cause because your immune system's gonna keep getting stuck there thinking that the problem from childhood's still there, whether it be chicken pox, whether it be trauma, you know, whether it be oh gosh, I don't know, a bacterial infection, you know, you can get stuck there just by your body having a memory.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

How would one go about knowing if their autoimmune disorder is from a past childhood trauma or not? Is there a way to tell?

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Yeah, it comes from the history, and so my team, when we do our free calls around the world with people, first we send you like the 30 so 37-page questionnaire, and we get everything. And we say, once you start this, make a cup of tea, leave it for a day, come back to it. So you're gonna remember like 10 other things that need to go on to it. And there's no unimportant history there because it tells us, you know, from your childhood symptoms, from everything that's been going on, tells us what fight your immune system was mounting at the time, how it got stuck, how it's remembering that fight. And in this day and age, when we're doctor shopping, I don't know about overseas, but certainly here in Australia, it's very rare that you see the same doctor now. You'll see one and then you'll see another one, and there's super clinics, and there's maybe 50 doctors that work out of there. So there's no solid history, and you're not making that personal connection anymore to your doctor. So this is where people like functional health coaches come in because we can get that history and we can sift through it and find the information that we need. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Is there anything else that you want the audience to know about how to take care of themselves in a more organic fashion?

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Yeah, definitely. Look, your self-talk comes in as well. And you know, we can only just touch on this now, but what you're saying to yourself really does matter. First of all, don't ever worry about other people's opinions because they don't matter to you. What people think of you is none of your business. What you think of you is what's important. And, you know, I'm not saying walk around all egotistical and egocentric and you know, the world's about me. No, but your body is about you, your mind is about you, your little world there is about you. Things that happen around you are not about you. So responding to what other people think of you is a futile task, and responding to what you think of you is super, super important.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

Yes, I would agree wholeheartedly. And when you learn that concept and you're able to let go of what other people think about you, it is so freeing. It's like a whole weight has been lifted off of your shoulder, and it's I wish that a lot of people could learn that, but sometimes it's more difficult, it's easier said than done for others.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

It is, and I think certainly, you know, from Australian experience, we're not taught that. We're not taught to put ourselves first and you know, care for ourselves. We have a thing here called tall tall poppy syndrome. So we're always taught that if you start climbing high and doing well, someone's gonna be there to bring you down. So what we internally do is we start doing it to ourselves. You know, we start knocking ourselves down at the knees when things start going well. And so I think, you know, as a species, humans really have to realize that we're important as well, because no other species of animal takes themselves down mentally and internally and vocally. You know, they they build themselves up so that they can be part of the herd or the pod or the troop or the whatever flock, you know, because if you're a an unwell herd member, you're gonna be cast out. If you're not there going to try and help yourself, you are going to be cast out. So, you know, the first thing they do is look after themselves first and then seek help.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Yeah. If if people wanted to work with you one on one or learn more about what you do, is there a way that the audience could get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah, definitely. So our website has everything. It's www.holisticnaturalhealth.com.au. We are based in Australia, so don't forget the.au. And it's holistic with a W because we treat with holism every system of the body works together. And so on there you'll find a contact us form. There's also a booking form. You're booking what's called an RCA or a root cause analysis. That is the free call around the world. That is the one that gets you that 37-page questionnaire, and that is one that helps us create findings after the call that we send to you with no obligation, and then you know what's happening inside your body.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Perfect. Well, Magic, I thank you so much for your time today, and I hope that you continue to have a wonderful rest of your day. Don't work too hard on your farm.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Definitely. Yeah, there's a lot more slashing and mowing to do, but you know, that's life in summer here in Australia.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Okay, thank you. Take care and happy holidays. Thank you too. Bye. Bye. And there you have it, folks. If you want to work with magic one-on-one or learn more about her practice and how you can live more organically and take care of your body, learn what it's saying to you, then check her out at holistic natural health.com.au. That is holistic with a W. Naturalhealth.com.au. And for more coaching tips and tricks or to work with me one on one, feel free to check me out on Instagram or Facebook at Guiding Pathways. Until next week, everybody, take care. Bye bye.