Soul Recovery Season 5- Welcome to a New Year and Letting go of Fixing or Changing Others

Happy New Year to the Soul Recovery community! Get ready to kick off 2024 and the 5th Season. We're diving into the world of tarot readings, exploring how these powerful cards unveil inner strength, the journey toward wholeness, and navigating life's hurdles. Rev Rachel pulled 3 cards asking for guidance for the Soul Recovery community in the coming year, and Rev Rachel shares how the reading was a confirmation of our incredible journey, shedding light on self-discovery, growth, resilience and ultimately healing.  We are  here to unravel those moments of darkness, release the grip of control, and embrace a brand-new path forward. Tune in as we set sail on a transformative journey, packed with wisdom to fuel your soul's growth and empowerment. Don't miss out on this pivotal episode, marking a fresh chapter in your personal Soul Recovery Journey!

For more information about Rev. Rachel Harrison and Recover Your Soul- visit the website www.recoveryoursoul.net  use the code TRYASESSION for 40% off your first Spiritual Coaching session when you book on the website.  Visit the website for all events and groups to get involved in Soul Recovery and the community.

Soul Recovery Support Group on Zoom -The 1st Monday of the Month, 6PM Mountain Time. This is a drop in support group where we can come together to explore, connect and support each other on our Soul Recovery journey.  Visit the website to register and receive the meeting invite.  Free to attend and donations appreciated.

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Ready for a weekend of Soul Recovery, deep healing and Transformation?!?!?! Join Rev Rachel on June 8th and 9th in Lafayette Colorado for 2 full days of teachings, meditation, group work, journaling, connection and sound healing and Soul Recovery with others in the community.  Use  this coupon code at check out for $50 off!  RYSJUNERETREAT$50 

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not allied or representative of any organizations or religions, but is based on the opinions and experience of Rev. Rachel Harrison. The host claims no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein. Take what you need and leave the rest.

Transcript

Rev Rachel Harrison: 0:48

As we step into 2024 and the fifth season of the Recovery Soul podcast. I wanted to do a tarot card reading for the Soul Recovery community and it was really powerful to see the energy that came through the cards around how we can come from a very dark place in our life into a place of healing and growth and new way of being. That is the Soul Recovery journey. So I hope you'll join me in this episode as I work through these three cards and what our intentions are for 2024 for Soul Recovery. Enjoy the episode. Welcome to the Recovery Soul podcast a spiritual path to a happy and healthy life. My name is Reverend Rachel Harrison. I started Recovery Soul after having profound changes in my life from my recovery of alcoholism, co-dependency and control addiction. I was guided to share the tools and principles of spirituality and soul recovery to help others transform their lives, as mine was transformed. For us to overcome external circumstances, we need to turn the attention to ourselves, focusing on our inner change and healing. Positive results in our lives will follow. Welcome to the fifth season of the Recovery Soul podcast. I'm Reverend Rachel Harrison and I'm so glad that you found this podcast today. You may just be here for the first time. Happy New Year. This is a beginning of 2024. And if you are welcome to this amazing community where we are here to grow, to learn, to let go of all that that no longer serves us and learn how to be okay even when the world around us isn't okay, this is what we call Soul Recovery and for those of you who've been on this journey with me, those of you who've gone back and listened to all of the episodes from the very beginning where I was recording on my cell phone, to today, I am so grateful for each and every one of you that have found this amazing community and have been with me on my Soul Recovery journey and that it has helped support you on your Soul Recovery journey, whether we can do the work that will recover your soul, and I am beyond blessed, beyond grateful, beyond honored to be part of your life. I really am so grateful for each and every one of you that is here listening today. If you're ready for Soul Recovery, as a spiritual coach I can support your healing to help make real changes that will bring you a life of peace, happiness, connection and abundance. You can also work in smaller groups by taking a deep dive in a Zoom workshop or with me in person at a retreat or an event. Join others on the Soul Recovery path once a month for the free Zoom support group or daily on the private Facebook page. Visit the website Recoveryyoursoulnet to book coaching sessions with me or find all the information you need about Soul Recovery dates that are coming up and how to register for those groups and workshops. To support the podcast and the community, check the links in the show notes to make a small monthly donation or a one-time donation of your choice. That will make a huge impact to support this community and the Soul Recovery mission. Together we can do the work that will recover your soul as we come into 2024,.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 4:21

I thought what should I do for the first episode, being that it is the first of January and it's the beginning of a new year, and I thought you know what I'm going to do a tarot card reading for the community for Soul Recovery. I love tarot cards. I love Oracle cards. I'm not very proficient in it. I'm still learning and growing and figuring out how it all works, but what I do know is that it allows me to work on that connection with my higher power.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 4:51

The truth is, we all have what we need within us, what is innately within us. We don't actually need anything from the outsides about reminding us of who we are, reminding us of our journey, reminding us of our wholeness In Soul Recovery. Our main foundation is that there is nothing wrong with you and that we are here to remember our wholeness. We are here to remember who we are from a spiritual perspective and that we are human beings, but we really are spiritual beings. Having this human experience, this human experience is our life's curriculum to help us, to help our souls to expand and to grow and to have this human condition, which isn't always easy, as part of the journey to help us release it. Funny how we have to have something difficult to learn, how to let it go, but for so many of us it's taken something pretty intense, something really hard, something really dark night of the soul, like for us to be willing to do whatever it takes to get well and part of our journey.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 6:12

For a lot of us who are here, if you came through Al-Anon or through Kota or Kodependence or any of those other ways of finding the Soul Recovery journey what we are really hoping is that somebody else would get well and to be here and to realize that you've walked through that door into your own soul's awakening can sometimes feel strange. It can sometimes feel like this isn't actually what you wanted. You really wanted them to get better, but as you get better, it all gets better, and the truth is, as you get better, you better understand your situation in your life and where you are, and then you attend to your own psychology, your own spirituality, your own inner being, and stand from your higher self, and then you can make decisions in your life that aren't from woundedness or brokenness, they're from your wholeness, they're from the truth of who you are. So I thought I would do tarot card reading, and it's interesting because I do these for myself on a very regular basis. I'm always amazed at what comes up, and so I encourage you, if you like this kind of thing and you're interested in hearing what you know inside of yourself already, to do that.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 7:34

There's so many great tarot card decks and oracle card decks, and you can go to a bookstore or you can order online. It doesn't really matter. But I have quite a few tarot card decks and I chose from this one that I really love recently. It's called the Textured Tarot and it's art by Lisa McLaughlin, and I actually got it off of Timu. It's the only thing I've ever gotten off of Timu that was as fabulous as it was advertised to be. Everything else has been less than ideal, but you know, I'll just go with it. Anyway, what it gave me was this incredible tarot card deck that I love. So as I'm shuffling the cards, I'm asking the guides, I'm asking the universe, I'm asking myself, really, what is it that the soul recovery community needs to know? What is 2024 for the soul recovery community? How are we going to continue doing this work, growing and expanding ourselves? And sometimes I'll fan out the deck and pull three or five cards from the deck.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 8:33

There's all kinds of different spreads that you can do. I often just do a three card pull. This time I was really guided just to pick three off at the top and when I flipped the first one over, it was the Nine of Swords and the picture on it is of this woman and she's crouched down. You can see her back and she's clearly crying and upset. And over the top of the corner is like this black. It almost looks like a wing, but it could be fingers over in blackness on top of her and I thought, oh, that's not what I wanted to pull for the community. And then the next one was the Ten of Swords and it's this man with these folded over on a desk and he's got his head in his hands and he's clearly in despair and there's all these swords going through him and again I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, this is so heavy. This is not exactly what I was thinking I was going to pull. And then the final one is the Eight of Pentacles and it's this beautiful picture of chandeliers behind this woman who is sitting in profile meditating with her hands, palms put together, and she's peaceful and at ease and in strong and strength.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 9:51

And part of me, as it is sometimes in our lives, didn't really want to see what this pull was. It has visions that didn't feel aligned with what I wanted. I wanted, I expected I was putting out there something cheerful, something. Pollyanna, which I think is so fabulous, because this is the entire story of my soul recovery journey, was always trying to put a happy face on everything. And then here it is it's two very heavy cards and then this beautiful card. So then when I went and I started reading about these cards, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so powerful. So let me read from you from what I've done. So what I did in my tarot is I had three different decks and three different books and I hand wrote in a book what each of those different books had written about these cards, so that I was getting information from a variety of people in their interpretations of tarot cards. So it's something that I just love that I can pull from this.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 10:56

So this nine of swords with this woman who's bent over and in her head, in her hands as well, with this dark, ominous shadow leaning over her, reads trouble and worry weigh you down. Pain, pulling down into a spiral, injury or illness of someone close to you, frustration. There's nothing you can do. And I knew that this was for us. I knew that this was our journey. This is where we are.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 11:26

We're so often coming to soul recovery and listening to the recovery soul podcast because we feel like the world is pulling us down, that we're in this spiral and that somebody close to us is in pain and there's nothing that we can do. We're frustrated and then it says things may get worse before they improve, but wallowing and self pity will not help the situation that brings on inner suffering. Worries are keeping us up at night, we can't settle our mind lack of sleep and even more unmanageability in our lives. Then it says the fear may of our own fear may be helping to be part of the problem and we're concerned with what might happen. Negative emotions are perpetuating the situation. Oh, my gosh, right. So this is us. We're coming into this, this community, and searching for you've searched for a podcast and you're searching for something to help you.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 12:29

That is, this weight of the world, this dark hand, this dark shadow that's leaning over us, is what is in this card, with us just curled up in a ball, just feeling helpless, feeling like the world is unmanageable, that we can't handle it. And that is so true. This is how we end up in this situation, where we want it to be different, we want the people around us to be different. We're staying up at night worrying about their stuff. We're scared, we're in fear, and yet this fear that we're feeling oftentimes is also perpetuating, is contributing to, is part of this cycle, this circle cycle of the dysfunction.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 13:15

And then the last line says look at the problem clearly. If you can look at the problem clearly, you are released, that's so powerful, that is so exactly what we're teaching here, that we're learning how to let go of the illusion, my desire to lay down three cards that were beautiful and perfect and oh, aren't we wonderful. We are wonderful and we're in pain and we're human beings and we're trying to figure all of this out. So to look at what is, to look at it without judgment. So recovery over and over. I'm sharing with you if we can look at the situation, look at the people in our lives, look at the circumstances without judging it and just allowing ourselves to see it as it is, whether it's somebody who is very severe addict, who is really struggling to see their struggle, not it as our struggle To be able to look and see the choices that people make in their life, that this is their curriculum of life, to live, that we are looking at ourselves for the first time and saying, oh, I'm just responsible for mine. I can see it different, it is as I choose to see it. And therefore we are released of the grip of the pain and the spiral and the suffering when we can look at the problem. Clearly Incredible card. So then we go to the next one the tennis swords, with the man bent over the desk with all those swords behind him and this one that's clearly going through him, very intense.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 15:04

And it says tragedy, loss, pain and misfortune may strike. Hopes and dreams may fail indicates an ending could mean a time of misfortune coming to an end could mean a time of misfortune coming to an end. That we are actually aware of the fact that we are ready to not be in this level of suffering. That the ending is us letting go of their stuff, letting go of how we think we want them to be, how we want it to be. And I still go through this. I am still on this journey, friends. This is why I think you trust me is because I haven't got it all figured out. I am probably 80% better than I was not that long ago, four or five years ago definitely more than six years ago when I was still drinking To realize that we can let go of how we think it should be and that the misfortune can come to an end, that it's finally over.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 16:10

It says you have fought and worked hard but you cannot fix or change it. That is the foundation of soul recovery that we can't fix or change anybody else, that they are exactly who they are, that we can show up in the way that works for us, that we can show up in our authentic, our strength, our true self, that we can participate in every situation from our authentic self. It doesn't mean that we shut up, it doesn't mean that we get small. It doesn't mean that we back off, that we withdraw. Oh, no, no, no, no. This is about us learning how to stand in integrity and in strength in every situation and realizing that we cannot fix it, that the fight is finally over. You have fought and worked hard, but you cannot fix it or change it. And then it says deep down you feel relieved, you don't have to fight anymore. This is the foundation of first step in soul recovery.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 17:16

We are powerless over people, places and circumstances, and that our desire to control them brings us pain and suffering. And when we do this step thoroughly, when we truly realize that we are powerless and we cannot control anything outside of our self, there is a freedom that comes, a release that comes, and that we are relieved that we don't have to carry this burden of everybody else's stuff anymore. We can't make anything be anything other than what it is. And again, it doesn't mean that you don't share your ideas, that you don't have an opinion or advice. It means we are not attached to the other side of it, that we truly know that, even if our idea is fabulous, even if we know our idea is fabulous.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 18:13

I just spent a week with my dad, and, if anybody's listening to the podcast or follows on social media, my dad was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in October, and so he's been going through treatment. It was a whole journey being there for seven days, and I'll do more, probably, about that, but this kind of thing that I'm talking about is they told him he needed to drink more water, and I'm there encouraging him to drink more water, and he is not drinking more water. At what point can you truly recognize and realize we're powerless over whether he chooses to drink water or not? It is not easy to watch somebody that you care about make a decision for themself. That's so simple to just drink more water. And yet the relief of not having to fight his fight, to love him, to allow him to be exactly who he is and to encourage him with loving kindness and know that he will make the decision that is right for him, and that decision may mean that it's harder for him and that that's okay, that we can allow that and we can let it go. It says, oh, this is interesting.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 19:25

Right after I just said what I did mortality is inescapable. Cut through illusion to see the matter as it really is and move on to a new life cycle, this part of us that's been so consumed with trying to make it be different for ourselves and for the people around us to accept it for what it is. And again I've said over and over acceptance doesn't mean you have to like it. It doesn't mean that has to be, that you say I agree with it, but you're allowing it to be exactly what it is. And the choice for my dad whether he's going to drink the round of water he's going to have or not really allows it to let go of the illusion that I can make it be something else or that I want him to be in his recovery from cancer the way that I think he should do it. This is his, this is clearly his.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 20:24

And the new life cycle is for us to show up in our lives and in our hearts in a healed and healthy way. That's why I love that a spiritual path to a happy and healthy life came to me. It's not that there isn't going to be issue, it isn't that there isn't going to be difficulty, but when we are happy from our heart, from the inside, there can be a lot of pain happening around us, but it's not consuming us. And when we're healthy on the inside, then we've let go of these, these thought patterns that have been destructive and have been keeping us from our true nature for so long. It isn't a Pollyanna happy, healthy. It's a deep, true, happy and healthy life, living from our highest self, from our authentic self. It also says that you may be disappointed, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 21:31

So what a powerful two cards. That felt really heavy when I turned them and I looked at them, but I see the empowerment in them. Cut through the illusion and see the matter as it really is and move on to a new cycle. Let go of the fight. You can't fix or change it. An ending is coming and you are opening up to a new way of being.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 21:57

So then the final card is the Eight of Pentacles, with this beautiful woman meditating with her palms together. There's actually this kind of aura of light surrounding her as well, and she just has such a peaceful look with this beautiful chandelier all around her which to me, is like opulence and radiance, and I think they're pearls, so even more precious. And it says it's the apprentice card and I thought this was really powerful, because here we are on this soul recovery journey and you're on your apprenticeship to a healthy life, a way of being that is completely new and different than anything you've ever experienced before. You are stepping into a spiritual journey, you are opening up to a new way of being and it says you're learning new skills and they're going to be applied with success, working hard as an apprentice for a better future, giving you a new outlook on life. This is giving you a new outlook on life to step into this apprenticeship of soul recovery, to choose that you are taking control of your emotional well-being, that your life is what you think and feel and believe it is, and you are making huge shifts around how you interact with that, how you see your life, what you think and feel and believe, so that it will, in turn, come back to you in bringing you health, bringing you new relationships, bringing you the strength to be in your relationships in a new way, letting go of codependence, letting go of the attachment of other people, being in their life as they choose.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 23:44

It says hard work has given you a new outlook on life and this new craft, this new way of being, that you will be working hard but don't be discouraged, because it's hard work. And it says there's a new position in your life coming to you, and it could be employment. It could be different ways of seeing it, but I see it as this new position of being in yourself, so that whatever is happening in your life because it's going to continue to be strange and people are going to continue to do their own dysfunction if they're not ready for the journey but you are becoming the apprentice. And it says entrance to a new learning and that your existing talents are going to be used. And I love this because this is what I was saying in the very beginning everything that you have is within you. There's not a single thing that I have told you in any of these episodes that wasn't within you already when I said those words. If they have impacted you in any way, it's because you were ready to hear them and to believe them, because they were already there.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 24:58

I believe so much that your higher power is present in us at every moment and it is us that has our eyes closed or we are awake and in soul recovery we're awakening. We're awakening to our connection to our higher power, but mostly we're awakening to our connection to our internal whole self. And it says it's a good time to look more closely at what has always been yours and it's time to follow a different path if that feels right to you, to advance you, to move forward to it. So, looking at these three cards of how we get consumed in the darkness, we get overwhelmed by other people, and then we're looking at this place that says I'm ready to break free, I'm ready to realize that the fight is over, and then stepping in and saying I'm ready to apprentice and to be in a new way of living. I am choosing this new way of being feels incredibly appropriate for the beginning of the fifth season of Soul Recovery 2024. You are apprenticing, you are opening into a completely new way of seeing your world and I know for me, when I made this shift in my own life, to let go of control, to begin to see my best intentions were often part of the dysfunction and to do this work on myself and to step into my wholeness.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 26:42

It has only improved every single relationship in my life and there has been so much change in my marriage, so much change in my relationship with my adult children, so much change in my relationship with my parents and my friends. And some people have had to move out of my life, not out of some anger or cutting them off or going no contact, but out of a place where there's not alignment any longer. For whatever that situation was, whatever those relationships were, and at every moment asking the question what can I learn here? What can I learn about myself here? How can I take care of myself here? How can I show up as my fullest, most healed self here? How can I express my wholeness here? So much of this is learning how to let go of our desire to help and fix and change the world and the people around us. And this journey isn't easy, but it is worth it because you're worth it. Every time that you make a small, tiny shift and change, you are literally changing your mind. You are changing your neuron path. Science proves this. You are changing how your structure of your brain works and it is opening you up to releasing the past, releasing all that has ever happened in your life before, to be present right here right now, choosing to apprentice for a new way of being and choosing a happy and healthy life.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 28:30

I want you to know how important it is to me to support you on your Soul Recovery journey and I am trying to find as many ways as I can so that it will work with everybody in whatever your capacity is in terms of the time or finances or energy or whatever it is. If you're joining us every day on the Facebook group, or once a month for the Soul Recovery Support Group, and even in person here in Colorado for the Sacred Circle once a month. And then we have the Zoom Deeper Dive workshops. I have in-person retreats. I'm going to be creating these. They're called courses, but I'll think of them as courses, but I'm creating these what I think of as like one-on-one sessions, but on video, where we can do the nine steps together on your time and you can feel really connected to the path with me.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 29:20

I thank you for being here for all of that. It's really my way of being of service, to support and provide for this incredible community, and I thank you for sharing it with friends and leaving reviews and the five stars. That all helps in so many different ways, but I want you to know how much I appreciate and care about you and that when I sit here and I'm talking, I'm speaking to you and I thank you for trusting me. Until next time, namaste, thank you for listening to the Recovery Soul podcast and if you loved what you heard here, every Friday we have a bonus episode and you can access this by becoming a subscriber through Apple Podcasts for only $3.99 a month or become a Patreon member, and on this platform you can choose $5.15 or $25 a month to show what you want to support the show with, and both of these subscriber platforms is an entire catalog of back episodes intended to inspire and support you on your Soul Recovery journey. I really want to invite everybody to attend the free once a month, every first Monday of the month support group.

Rev Rachel Harrison: 30:33

This is on Zoom. Everyone is welcome to attend and by giving a like or a review and sharing this with your friends and family really helps us to share the Soul Recovery message with even more people. We are on social media. We are on all the platforms. I am on TikTok. You can listen to guided meditations by Rev Rachel Harrison on Insight Timer. Thank you for supporting the show. Thank you for being part of the community. To find out more about Soul Recovery and everything that's being offered, visit the website wwwrecoveryoursoulnet. Together we can do the work that will recover your soul.