I’ve been finding myself fascinated with The Shadow lately. Really, I don’t know much about it – I’m simply dipping my toe into this work. If you know me, my thing is about “holding the light.” We need all the light-holders and light-anchors we can get at this point in the world. Yet, what I’ve been leaning into is that we can’t have the light without the shadow, and that the shadow is not something to fear. It’s to be embraced, because it’s part of us.

In my work around The Freedom Transmissions, the Shadow is also referred to as the lamb: “When you deny self or reject a Truth about self, you are leaving a lamb in the cold, dark night. And to retrieve the lamb you must venture into the cold, dark night at times to reclaim it. And face your fears to do so. Only in order to bring this part of you home.” 

This is about wholeness. Becoming whole is what our entire journey and purpose is about – it’s the recognition and remembrance that we are both human and Divine. I love how Meggan Watterson in Mary Magdalene Revealed says that we are 100% human and 100% divine. It’s not 50-50.

To do this, we also need to accept and integrate all parts of ourselves.

We are encouraged to love the lamb within. It’s a sacred part of us. And “in Loving the lamb, accepting, shepherding, and integrating it into the flock of the whole be-ing that you are, you will Love yourself more. The lamb will become a part of you again, and you will be made whole.” (TFT)

If we're unclear about our lives — what we're meant to do, how we want to live — it's usually not because the answers aren't there. It's because there's a part of ourselves we're pushing away. And that part holds more than we think.

Integrating our Shadow, our lost little lamb, back into the flock, we will start to unlock the door that leads us to our most authentic, inspired, creative, courageous, joyful life.

Join me and my co-host Kristan Sargeant this Thursday for an opportunity to do just that: meet our Shadow, change everything.

🎧 Vincent Tolman Interview on Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown – My dear journey sister texted me this podcast episode saying “This is probably the most incredible NDE story I’ve ever heard.” Of course I had to listen right away and I can’t stop thinking about it. I sent it to my husband and kids asking them to listen to it. I had never heard his story. (He has a book called The Light After Death: My Journey to Heaven and Back.) I did not expect the answer he learned after his guide asked him "What do you think the most important thing in this life is?" 

✨ Crystal Bowl Sound Bath Meditation – A Divine Harmonics transmission by spiritual medium Rebecca Rosen. She recently started sharing crystal bowl sound baths and they are so calming and soothing. This one is a channeled sound activation created to calm the nervous system and restore energetic balance. 11 minutes.

📝 Magical Freedom Weekends with Elizabeth Gilbert — Two creativity workshops coming up: September at the Omega Institute in NY and December at the Art of Living Retreat Center in NC. About unlearning the patterns that keep us from creating expansively. No project or credentials required.

🔮 Ask a Psychic Medium — I've worked with Kathy Taylor a few times, and several friends have too. I've used her for a few life-related things and … wow. Her 1-on-1 wait list is long, but you can email her one question ($50) or three ($125) and skip the wait. Reach out to [email protected] — tell her Laurie sent you.

MORE SPIRITUAL INSPO ON MY IG →

This should come as no surprise who I am featuring this week…

I’ve been talking a lot about The Shadow lately and it's because of this light-holder: Kristan Sargeant. She's a coach, a three-time TEDxWomen producer, and a student of Barry Michels and Phil Stutz (the psychotherapists behind The Tools — and yes, that Stutz).

Kristan is so lit up by The Shadow, that unseen part of us that (as I've been learning from her) shapes our choices, our relationships, and our whole capacity to evolve. Hearing her talk about it, I find myself getting lit up by this part of me that historically has seemed really scary and like something I wanted to ignore. 

That’s part of Kristan’s magic. She’s grounded, passionate, open, and… she knows her shadow stuff. She even got me interested in meeting my Evil Shadow, and that’s no small feat.

She is a fierce Shadow ally and Shadow work advocate. I recently laughed with Kristan because I said stepping into Shadow work reminded me of an exchange in a movie I saw with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. During an argument she says to him, "I want you to want to do the dishes." And he says back, "Why would I want to do the dishes?!"

I too have thought this: why would I want to do Shadow work?

Kristan says, "Your past pain carries hidden resources you can leverage to exceed your known limits. Your Shadow holds the keys. Your relationship to Self, Other and Life expands profoundly when you know your Shadow."

As she has said, the Shadow carries the blueprint for our most expansive life. And it's her mission to help others connect with this part of us.

LEARN MORE ABOUT WORKING WITH KRISTAN →

(From the archives)

My daughter took up fencing last year. As a junior in high school, some would say she was starting late. But it was something she wanted to try.

A couple months in from beginning, her coach said, "There's a fencing tournament coming up in a month that you should sign up for."

I said, "She just started. She should be competing already?"

She turned to my daughter and said, "Oh yes. You're going to be destroyed. And you should still do it."

We looked at each other. Well, okay then.

Later, my daughter and I talked about what her coach said. "You know," I said, "there's so much freedom in that statement."

All judgments and worries and what-ifs — off the table. The pressure was off. She could compete free of expectation. Just get in the figurative and literal arena. Be scared, and do it.

Now she had space to pick new things to focus on. Instead of trying to beat everyone (and beating herself up when she wasn't winning), she was going to focus on doing her best with the knowledge and skills she had right now.

She competed that weekend, and yeah — she got destroyed. And, she was amazing.

All I saw was the courage she had to begin. The courage to be vulnerable. The courage to not know everything, and to still try. Nervous, exposed, and in action.

Watching her through this whole process pushed me to be braver, too — to give myself permission to move forward with ideas and projects I'd been procrastinating on.

We can do this at any age. It's never too late. (Until it is.)

What you’ll walk away with:

If you feel a pull toward something bigger — and notice fear or resistance alongside it — this is for you. Not sure? Watch our 30-minute live conversation to get a feel for our vibe.

💙 Thanks for reading.

xo, Laurie Founder, Hold the Light Collective

P.S. — This is last call to join my 90-minute live workshop with Kristan Sargeant called Meet Your Shadow. Change Everything. Come meet that part of yourself with us. $44 · Live on Zoom · Replay included.

Would you forward it to one woman in your life who might need it today? That's how this kind of light spreads.

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