Life advice for the spiritually-curious
Today we have a guest post from Hannah Carey, the founder of Rewild The Empress, a place and community in which there is infinite space for self-acceptance.
In Hannah’s practice, she supports the spiritually curious as they navigate, discover and recommit to living in an authentic and aligned way: “to be the me you were always meant to be”. Rewilders often come from a place of feeling destined for more and, at the same time, fear they may not be enough or that they are unfulfilled and failing. Something that Hannah has experienced first-hand as she writes here:
Spirituality for me has become about confronting the conscious unrest within us.
But it wasn’t always that way: I was brought up in an informally Christian household, was baptised and attended traditional schools in which formal religion, regular chapel attendance and hymns were woven throughout the school week. My weekends ended on Sundays at 6 pm with a Sunday Service or Hymn Practice, the school’s version of informality.
Internally I was already rejecting the patriarchal God our Father, the Almighty and the governor of us all. It wasn’t me and didn’t align with my values of Freedom, Authenticity and Personal Growth.
And yet my heart rejoiced when an entire congregation of people sang in unison and in troubled times I found the voice in my head speaking to a higher power – I assumed God.
And so commenced the constant narrative of right or wrong, god or no god, and the general black-and-white thinking that goes with this, which might also be familiar to you.
As a teenager (pre-google, damn and pre-mainstream internet access) I bought tarot cards and explored. I read about paganism, and astrology. I aligned with nature and the cycle of the year. But wasn’t this “Witchcraft”? I couldn’t call myself a witch and be taken seriously – at 15 I knew enough to know that it was safer to keep it quiet.
Years passed by and in the many times of existential crisis in my 20s I muddled through beating myself up with the shame stick (it’s one of my personal favourites – what’s yours?). I figured I was agnostic, got married in a church because I rationalised that there was ‘something there’ and it may as well be God and continued to aspire to success and fitting-in-ness so unaligned with my personal values I wound up deeply misshapen and lost. I viewed it as ‘just the way it is’ and carried on.
But that internal compass just wouldn’t let it go. The conscious unrest ebbed and flowed like a tide and every so often I allowed my inner self a small win… I closed a ‘successful business’ searching for more. I took a slight detour down ‘what the fuck were you thinking avenue’ and finally landed at a rest stop in which I dusted off my tarot cards, took a deep breath and shuffled.
Death, The Emperor, The Hanged Man and 10 coins stared back at me. Plain as day my ‘god’ was telling me – Change it girl. You are meant for more.
Hannah is one of our ‘People We Love’ - handpicked practitioners who can help us feel better in our lives. To work with Hannah reach out to her here (we may get affiliate fees which help support our work but in no way influences who we choose to feature).
Hannah offers coaching in all areas of life whilst exploring your personal version of spirituality.
By recognising where systems, structures and history may have led you astray, unpicking family dynamics, the messaging you took on from the big people around you as you grew up, and your beliefs and the “shoulds” that keep you small and unfulfilled, you’ll get to re-decide and choose to do life differently.
Whether it’s through modalities like Astrology, Human Design, or the lunar cycles, you will get to connect with yourself and deepen your self-awareness. Hopefully, from working with Hannah you’ll discover that there is a glorious permission and freedom that comes from knowing you are whole and OK just as you are.
