093025: I see you. Because I am you...and you are me.

 

“Wherever we insist on pushing our differences on others we feel the separation. We name this separation resistance, laziness, loneliness, depression, anxiety, or some kind of lack in ourselves. Then we claim these as ‘who we are’—I am resistant, I am lazy, I am lonely, I am anxious, I am stupid, I am unappreciated, I am unworthy, I am alone, and so forth.

Meaning makers understand that everything and everyone is part of ‘the field,’ as Einstein said. We are always part of the ocean. The invitation is to become conscious of what we say ‘I am that’ to—because that is what expands our reality. When we align our ‘I am’s’ with something uplifting and meaningful, we widen the field of what’s possible. Our actions follow suit. We become more receptive, more open, more connected. We discover that we belong everywhere, rather than confining ourselves to one small group. Everyone and everything becomes part of the field to explore.

Thought transformation is the central tool of the meaning maker.

When we recognize that everything is sacred—that tat tvam asi (“thou art that”)—we begin to behave as if we are walking among the holy on sacred ground. We make eye contact with our holiness and recognize it as such.”

(Excerpt from The Zero Point Agreement by Julie Tallard Johnson)

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A few weeks ago, I made eye contact with the knowing that tender emotions would soon be rising up from within us all as the one-year anniversary of Helene arrived. I sensed the importance of meeting this with gentleness and grace, and surrounding myself with others who get it. I chose to walk among the holy, on sacred ground.

For me, this practice began with attending the healing Rising Appalachia gathering in Black Mountain, NC last weekend. With dear friends, I felt the deep connection, collective love, and intentional grounding that reminded us we are not alone in navigating all that last year brought to WNC.

The next step was creating a very intentional gathering of my own—one that would give us all a space to meet these emotions with light, connection, and transformation.

That gathering is the Transforming Your World: Full Harvest Moon Gathering on Sunday, October 5th at Elk Haven Wellness Center in Brevard.

We’ll open with blessings offered to—and received from—the Full Harvest Moon, followed by a resonant sound bath led by Elise Burrows. We’ll then explore soul-nourishing messages revealed through the Colour Mirror bottles with Jaci Dayley, and close with a guided meditation for reflection and renewal. To support your journey beyond the gathering, each ticket also includes a downloadable Gratitude Journal.

This two-hour event is about transforming sorrow and grief into joy, resilience, and hope.

📍 Elk Haven Wellness Center, Brevard, NC
🕑 Sunday, October 5 | 2–4 PM
🎟 Tickets: $35 (includes Gratitude Journal PDF)

👉 Reserve your spot here 

Seating is limited to keep this gathering intimate, and I do expect it to sell out.

Because now, more than ever—
we need togetherness.
I need togetherness.
And I do hope you’ll join us.

 

 

Photo Credit: Image by Joe from Pixabay

 

 

 

 

Transforming Your World: A Harvest Moon Gathering 🌕 (Oct 5th, 2-4p)

 

You are invited to this very special in-person event!

Sunday, October 5th, 2025 | 2:00–4:00 PM
Elk Haven Wellness, Brevard, NC

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The Invitation

The October Harvest Moon is a time of completion, release, and transformation. It illuminates what we’ve grown through, invites us to let go of what no longer serves, and opens space for our deepest wishes to take root.

This gathering, Transforming Your World, is an afternoon of sacred reflection, sound, and intention. Together we will call in the directions, connect with Colour Mirrors, raise vibration with crystal bowls, and claim the golden wisdom available when the masculine and feminine energies come back into balance.

This is your chance to pause, reflect, and boldly step into your next chapter.

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What to Expect

During our two hours together, you’ll be guided through:

✨ Sacred Space & Directions – an intentional opening to ground and arrive fully.

✨ Colour Mirrors Connection – select a coloured bottle or spritzer as your mirror of transformation.

✨ Crystal Bowl Sound Bath – relax into resonance, allowing vibration to clear and uplift.

✨ Guided Meditation – journey inward with visualization to unlock balance, clarity, and courage.

✨ Harvest & Release Ritual – journal and let go of what no longer belongs in your world.

✨ Wishes & Transformation – write, visualize, and embody your wishes for the new season.

✨ Closing Gratitude – anchor your experience in appreciation and carry it forward with your downloadable Gratitude Journal (PDF included with reserved seat).

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Why This Moon Matters

The October full moon shines a bright light on what we truly want. It helps us see hidden dreams, release old patterns, and set goals that align with our heart. It reminds us that we already hold the keys to transform our world—one brave wish, one grounded step, one grateful breath at a time.

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Event Details

📍 Elk Haven Wellness Center (Community Room)
100 Elks Club Rd, Brevard, NC 28712
🕑 Sunday, Oct 5 | 2–4 pm
🎟️ Tickets: $35 (includes downloadable Gratitude Journal)

Reserve Your Spot Here →

Seating is limited to keep this gathering intimate, so please reserve quickly. 
We expect this event to sell out.

(After reserving your spot, you will receive a confirmation email with details such as what to expect, the venue address, contact info for questions, and the link to your Gratitude Journal PDF.)

Photo Credit: pixabay dot com

Wholeness Is a Birthright: A Candid Conversation with Leslie Nease

 

“My church-going peers knew I was gay before I did.”

That’s just one of the candid truths I share in my brand new conversation with Leslie Nease on the Honoring the Journey Podcast.

We talked about what it was like growing up in a strict religious environment, being dismissed from Northland Baptist Bible College as a Summer Camp Sports Clinician because of my short haircut , and the long, messy process of moving from denial to self-acceptance.

This episode is real, unfiltered, and full of the courage it takes to live audaciously and claim wholeness as a birthright.

If you’ve ever wrestled with identity, faith, or the pressure to fit someone else’s mold, I think you’ll find pieces of your own story in this conversation.

🎧 Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FV6ND9EJdrO9OaIUhOKWj?si=WLFtT5DQTjafEAyItKI6RQ

or watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Iu-XNqmEt0g?si=KoLjrHF7RZ7Ti-Eq 

I’m deeply grateful to Leslie for holding such a beautiful space for this conversation. 💜

 

 

 

 

 

Honoring the Journey: Season 5, Episode 34

 

 

I had the honor and privilege of being interviewed recently on Leslie Nease's podcast called "Honoring the Journey" and I'm excited to announce the full episode (Season 5 episode 34) drops tomorrow!  Monday, September 22nd on Spotify.

Haven't heard of Leslie Nease or the Honoring the Journey podcast? No worries...here's the scoop:
 

 

About Honoring the Journey:

"Life is a journey, and we’re all walking our own unique path. But every now and then, we get the chance to step onto someone else’s path, to see the world from their perspective, and to learn from their experiences. That’s what we do here on Honoring the Journey. We walk alongside others, explore their stories, and then step back onto our own path—hopefully with new insights, deeper understanding, and a broader perspective for the journey ahead. 

Honoring the Journey is hosted by Leslie Nease, a former Christian Radio Host, Speaker & Writer and Contestant on Survivor China known as "Sister Christian". Leslie has since deconstructed her Evangelical beliefs, but is still deeply connected to God and is seeking to understand faith from every perspective. Let's journey together!"

Listen now on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FV6ND9EJdrO9OaIUhOKWj?si=WLFtT5DQTjafEAyItKI6RQ

This interview and podcast episode comes after my standing on the Tedx Stage and sharing my story.

You can view the full Tedx Talk by clicking here.

More to come.
Until then,,,,DARE to be YOU!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pickleball Conundrum and How to Deploy a Jedi Practice

 

For those who may not know: in pickleball, you can only score a point when you’re the server. But here’s the catch—if your serve doesn’t land cross-court inside the correct boundary, it’s a fault. 

Translation: no point, no chance, game moves on. You sabotage your own ability to score before the rally even begins.

So you can imagine the importance of a “good” serve.

I LOVE playing this game! But lately, my conundrum has been just this...getting my serves in. Sounds small, but in doubles, when most of your serves drift out of bounds? Not great.

Enter the Jedi practice of visualization.

This isn’t new, and I can’t take credit for it—I first came across the power of mental imagery in a college sports psychology class. But here’s the magic:

If, right before serving, I pause and see the ball going exactly where I want it to go—in detail, in my mind’s eye—and then I serve? My success rate skyrockets! All of this takes less than five seconds.

The takeaway: when we’re doing something familiar, our brains love to go on autopilot. We think about other things, we drift. And when we’re not fully present, mistakes happen. (Lost keys, flubbed serves—you know the drill.) Visualization snaps me back into the moment. It’s a way of saying: I’m here. I’m focused. Let’s do this!

This is one reason I love pickleball—the way it challenges both body and mind toward a clear intention.

Have any of you struggled with focusing on the task at hand...and come up with ways to bring your mind back into focus? 

I’d love to hear about your “Jedi practice.”

Do tell!

Photo Credit: from pickleballunion dot com

 

 

Relections on the Mirror of the Soul: Full Corn Moon Gathering 🌕

 

This past Sunday (Sept 7th), we gathered for the very first Mirror of the Soul in-person resonance circle. Fourteen of us sat together at Elk Haven Wellness Center in Brevard under the energy of the Full Corn Moon—a moon of harvest, gratitude, and release.

And what unfolded was nothing short of magical.

Sound, Color, and Soul

The afternoon began with anticipation—a gentle nervousness as each person entered the space, curious about what might unfold. Very quickly, that energy softened as the vibration of Elise Burrows’ playing the crystal bowls carried us into resonance. Those who were present will remember the solfeggio tones weaving through the air—those “wah-wah-wah” waves that seemed to vibrate through bone and breath alike.

Alongside the sound, each participant chose a Colour Mirror bottle—a companion of light, shape, and vibration. These bottles are more than decoration. Each is a mirror, reflecting your strengths, your growth, and the next step your soul is asking for.

To watch the faces light up as the written meanings were read, as messages aligned so precisely with what each heart needed—it was extraordinary. The bottles spoke, and you listened.

Guided Messages

During our guided meditation, each person found themselves seated on a symbolic bench, visited by just the right presence: a guide, an ancestor, a future self, or another messenger entirely. Some wondered if they should have met themselves—yet the truth of meditation is that whoever arrives in that sacred inner space is exactly who you need at that time.

If you return to that inner bench again, you may find someone new waiting for you. The messages change as we do. Meditation is like a galactic telephone booth—you step in, tune your ear, and the wisdom you most need comes through.

Liminal Moon Magic

We gathered in a powerful threshold—the moment when the moon shifted from waxing to full to waning. These liminal phases are where transformation ripens:

🌒 Waxing: growth, expansion, abundance
🌕 Full: gratitude, clarity, harvest
🌘 Waning: release, surrender, rest

The Corn Moon has long been associated with harvest, not only of crops but of our inner lives. It invites us to:

• Celebrate what we’ve achieved and learned

• Give thanks, even for difficult experiences

• Let go of what no longer serves

That invitation was alive in the room, woven into sound, color, and community.

Continuing the Journey

If the energy of Sunday is still moving in you, here are ways to carry it forward:

🌈 Colour Mirrors bottles
To go deeper with the message of your bottle, connect with Jaci Daley on Facebook

🎧 Guided Meditations
I’m releasing new guided meditations each week. You can purchase and download them here:
👉 racheldickson.com/meditations.htm

🔔 Crystal Bowl Recordings
I’ve published several recordings from Elise Burrows’ public gatherings on my YouTube channel (rdicksonoutdoors). Listen anytime for meditation or rest:

• Recording 1

• Recording 2

• Recording 3

Gratitude

To everyone who joined us: thank you! You made this gathering divine.
This first event has confirmed for me that Mirror of the Soul is only just beginning.
Much more to come! Stay tuned.

With love and resonance,
Rachel Dickson

Photo Credit: Image by Florian Kurz from Pixabay

Raise Your Mug, Raise Your Energy: Let It Go

 

September 1st is here—a natural pause, a chance for clarity, bold choices, and stepping fully into your power. It’s a day to release what no longer serves you, and to welcome what you truly want to cultivate.

So I decided to put it on a mug. ☕✨

“Let that sh*t go.”

Because some mornings require more than caffeine. Some mornings require courage, intention, and a little bit of magic. Holding this mug is a small ritual: a moment to pause, breathe, and declare to yourself—and to the world—that you are stepping into your energy fully.

Raise it high. Let it remind you to release, reset, and step boldly into today.

These mugs are for anyone ready to drink deeply from the cup of clarity and audacity. A simple tool, a small practice, a bold reminder.

Grab your fresh start: click here

only $7.92 

Believing in Beautiful Things

“You will miss out on beautiful things if you continue to stay rooted in the ways you were wronged… Instead, open yourself to the world, and allow it to fill you with the kinds of people, moments, and experiences that make you love your life more each day.”
— Bianca Sparacino, A Gentle Reminder

This quote stops me in my tracks every time I read it. Because isn’t that what life is asking of us, over and over again? To loosen our grip on old hurts, to stop letting the past pull us away from what the present is offering, and to open ourselves—fully—to what is right here, waiting for us.

This is the heartbeat of Mirror of the Soul: A Corn Moon Experience.

On Sunday, September 7th, from 2–4 PM, we’ll gather together at the very moment the Full Corn Moon peaks (2:09 PM EST).

In that sacred window, we will:
✨ Release what no longer serves
✨ Attune to the resonant tones of live crystal bowls (played by Elise Burrows)
✨ Explore the language of color through Colour Mirrors (guided by Jaci Daley)
✨ Journey inward through a guided meditation (led by me, Rachel Dickson)

This will be a space of resonance—where sound, color, and spirit align to awaken gratitude, clarity, and renewal under the Corn Moon. Together, we’ll pause long enough to hear our own wisdom rise.

If this gathering calls to you, I would be honored for you to join us.

 

 

Photo Credit: Image by u_vra2ox6otu from Pixabay