Hidden Gems: Meet Nura Rachelle of Nura Rachelle Astrology

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nura Rachelle.

Hi Nura, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I’ve always been into reclaiming my wild, but I didn’t know that’s what you would call it until I connected more with astrology, yoga, and the world of healing. I’ve always been questioning everything, being kind of a rebel, on the edge and in between. I’ve often lived in between worlds, trying to understand the nuance and complexity and paradox of life, and of myself.

It took me a while to find myself, but through a lot of exploration and experimentation, I’ve slowly been able to find my voice and my essence. I know this will be a journey I continue for life. All of this experimentation and exploration has been a practice for learning how to stand up in front of a group and share my truth, find my own authentic voice, and facilitate that heart-centered, true, self-claiming transformation for others.

I found yoga and astrology around the same time in high school 20 years ago. I felt so seen and so empowered and so found. I didn’t even know how lost I felt inside myself and in life, and finding these systems and ways of seeing the world helped me to see myself. I needed that language so I could communicate with those lost parts of myself.

Astrology was just for me for those first 7-8 years, and only in my mid-20s did I start sharing with others, mostly at parties, friend gatherings, etc. I had a girlfriend tell me the simple 10-minute reading I gave her was the best she’d ever had and that she felt truly seen, witnessed, and empowered.

That was what I felt when I learned for myself, so I was happy to hear that she was receiving that from me. One thing led to another, and life steered me away from my prior plans to work my way up someone else’s traditional career ladder, and I became self-employed doing astrology readings in my mid-20s until now, being in my mid-30s!

Taking astrology beyond the mind and it being just really cool and validating information has been my focus for the past 5 years, taking it into coaching, and bridging it with other healing modalities and embodiment practices. Truly, I’m here for the real-life application of practical magic that astrology offers. It’s really a gateway to rewilding, remembering, and reconnecting with the magic that life has to offer.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been smooth!  A major part of my self-healing work has involved overcoming imposter syndrome and self-doubt, unshaming and healing my past, moving through the tragedy of compare and despair, ups and downs financially, questioning my sanity, questioning my WHY for living outside the box.

All while also trying to work out my own marriage issues (I got married quite young and found myself quite a bit after that giant life commitment), also being a parent and doing my best not to pass down the limiting conditioning I grew up with, while also deconditioning from society’s view on what a woman “should be,” healing from the core wounding polarity of “too much/not enough,” oh my goodness it has definitely not been easy!

The financial piece of having my own business has definitely been a central theme that I’m sure many can relate with. When I started my business, it was from the beautiful (perhaps naive) place of simply sharing my art and being of service. I had no official business experience or schooling other than what I read from a self-taught perspective. I had to learn it all on the way. I’ve explored the gamut of strategies for selling and marketing and, honestly, have thrown much of it away.

A lot of what I learned just served to cause more wounding and self-doubt, and cost A LOT of money. Not that I have anything against money and marketing gurus, but the “one-size-fits-all” approach is literally the antithesis of my work, and it just never worked for me. I did need to experiment with it though to get to that point of what did work.

So, in a way, I’m grateful for the way I found myself in business, as I had less to unlearn and more to allow to naturally arise. The answer has truly been to trust myself and use my own tools that really get me, and help me see the people I serve and what I truly offer (which can all be found in your astrology chart). That has been the most useful tool, the most soulfully aligned, and the most fun!

I feel pretty wonderful and grateful about where I am right now, but it hasn’t always felt sustainable. I have sincerely considered giving up my work multiple times over the years. I’ve thought about going back to being a teacher in the mainstream school system, which I’m qualified and certified for, and just doing something “normal,” to use my master’s degree in Global Development for something originally intended, like working for the UN (that was my “life plan” in my early 20s).

It is definitely easier to follow those traditional paths in so many ways, but I’m also a Sagittarius Sun + Mercury conjunct Uranus, with an Aquarius moon, and I require FREEDOM. The traditional route didn’t really work out for me, even though I tried to do it that way.

I kept being pushed out of the “norm,” so I had to find my way on the fringes (which is where I’ve found so many amazing friends and creative collaborations). The battle between “security” and “freedom” has been a central one in my life, and it’s been the grounds where I’ve truly been connecting with the Great Mystery of Life and learning that Life is Wild but also Wise.

All of this uncertainty, contradiction, and polarity is part of what makes me human, and that’s been a big part of my why for the work that I do. I resonated so strongly with astrology because I was in pain and felt alone, didn’t know who I was, and I didn’t know why things were the way they were. I had so much to work out around my belief systems of what life is and how supported I really am, and I found my purpose in helping others find theirs through the maps we’ve left ourselves.

In my work I’ve felt seen by the universe, by the Wisdom of Life, the cyclical rhythms that I am indeed One with, and still when I have my doubts, I know I can return to myself through returning to Her (Life). I make a daily practice of honoring myself first, what is most life-giving, prioritizing my spiritual and emotional healing practices, and reconnecting with my inner creator.

I now do what is most life-giving and energizing FIRST, and that takes care of the rest. I’m in a lifetime practice of releasing the energy of “hurry, scurry and worry” (grand earth trine here). I’m always learning and integrating modalities that support intuitive ways of knowing. And remember that I am wise and powerful beyond measure because Life is Wise and Powerful beyond measure, and I come from Her. There’s nothing I need to prove, and that has been the most healing remembrance.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I offer coaching and consulting using astrology and human design, integrated with embodiment practices, emotional processing, and intuitive skill-building. I love helping change-makers, leaders, and caregivers reclaim their creative confidence and take up more space in the world in the way only they can. My vision is to create networks of support and spiritual re-sourcing for those called to live in alignment with their soul mission.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
So much of my work involves tuning into and reclaiming the golden shadow through working with the Inner Child. My wild sprouting began in a small border town in Southern Ontario, Canada. I would later learn that this was a major nexus place for my ancestral diaspora and generational re-rooting, being born into a multi-racial family.

Identity politics were a thing for me before I knew they were a thing you could study in university or read books about. My father’s line includes mostly African (exact origins unknown), Lakota and Ojibwe (indigenous tribes to the region), Scottish and Irish. My mother’s line comes from what is now the UK, including the Celtic regions.

I’ve always considered myself to be a rainbow child (literally the words I used to describe myself) before I discovered that there was indeed a prophecy about the return of the Rainbow Warriors (from White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman, that is connected to a small part of my actual biological lineage, but a big part of my soul lineage).

I’ve always been a bit quirky! It took me a while to fully embrace that. I was shy, quiet, and incredibly introverted for a long time, but also interested in being on the stage, as I knew I had something to say and wanted to be part of something bigger than myself. I spent a lot of time alone and was a bit socially awkward, but I was also always interested in how to connect more to the collective. (Full of seeming contradictions, as I think most of us humans are.)

I’ve always loved learning about different ways of knowing and seeing the world, and it validates my own empathic and highly intuitive sensibilities that I would later come into and more consciously develop. I read everything I could get my hands on. The library was by far my favorite place to go in the very small town I grew up in.

I loved gardening with my mom, and from a young age, I imagined making medicine out of plants before anyone told me I could do that. I loved playing with my cousins and being lost in the woods or on/in the water (I was blessed to grow up on the Great Lakes in Canada), so we did a lot of 4-wheeling, jet-skiing, hiking, swimming, barn parties, and had many nights of (looking back now, quite dangerous) shenanigans.

I’ve always loved looking at the stars and making big wishes. I’ve always been a dreamer, but interested in making those dreams a reality. I actually remember telling my friends in kindergarten that we could indeed fly if only we could believe it and telling everyone to jump with me off the picnic tables (to no avail). It took me a while to realize I was quite adept at flying, as well as breathing underwater, in my dreams.

I’ve always been a lucid dreamer with a super-active imagination. I loved making up stories. The fantasy worlds within this world have always intrigued me. I was always dreaming (day and night), imagining my relationship with the magical worlds of fairies, unicorns, dragons, and my ancestors, and learning about being a magical being in my own right. When it came time to explore my own true nature, I realized this was all part of my reclamation of my wild, witchy ways.

Being the oldest daughter in a big family I babysat a lot and was given a lot of responsibility quite young. My first job (at 13!) other than babysitting was at McDonalds! From there, I made the rounds at grocery stores, clothing stores, campground reception (Yogi Bear and Jellystone anyone?), hosting dance birthday parties for the young ones in my town, eventually working as a server and bartender when I got older, to being a teacher, a yoga instructor, therapeutic behavior coach, and doing my best to be a “good, responsible, reliable person.”

I’ve been working hard most of my life. I have a Capricorn stellium, including Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and my Midheaven, which are all markers for high responsibility, starting at the bottom and working your way up, and putting a lot of pressure on yourself to be excellent, which really isn’t a bad thing, but then there’s the guilt and shame and fear of failure that can come up alongside that quest for excellence! I’m still working on that balance and reminding myself that to be truly excellent, I need to give myself a lot of space for FUN.

I’ve always been multi-passionate and a bit of an over-achiever, with a big desire for service and accomplishment. In high school, I was on the track + cross-country teams, was a super science nerd and teacher’s pet, and became the MVP on the soccer team (not for goals scored because I had a bad aim in the net but was somehow quite adept at passing the ball to other people to score, so had the most assists and was generally a good runner), played guitar + piano, volunteered with the Special Olympics, was a youth leader at my church choir was a “mathlete,” did fashion shows, was an honors student, and sang and danced at every talent show. I taught dance for the longest time, and then in university became captain of the dance performance team.

Absolutely NO ONE forced me to do all of this, haha; I did it all of my own volition and thought it was quite normal to be so active until I learned it wasn’t the only path to joy, lol! I’m still unlearning a lot of this as a parent, trying not to force my daughter into doing too much, especially from a place of “proving.” I’ve always been one for reaching for the stars and embodying the best version of self, and I know we all have our own way of expressing this. We don’t need to be all things to all people.

Despite all the healing work I’ve needed to do around proving my worth, my enoughness, and being authentically seen, I’ve always been into having fun, being my best, hanging out with awesome people, playing with possibility, and living big. I’ve always been questioning what else is possible, reaching out to the sky and earth for answers and finding them in the most unexpected of places. From my daughter’s favorite graphic novel, Hilda: “Such is the life of an adventurer!”

Contact Info:

• Website: nurarachelle.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nurarachelle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nura.rachelle
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/nurarachelleastrology

Image Credits
Eliza Lynard
Tina Liebermann
Natalie Gildersleeve
Allis Chang
Ora Star
Em Gallagher