Interview with Rachel Singleton

Meet Rachel Singleton, Editor of Sentire Essence Magazine

Questions by Dina Saalisi

What are you passionate about?

I would say ‘evolving and becoming’. I love how life constantly gives us opportunities to grow, to get lighter, to shed more of who we are not. When I look back on life (especially at how much I used to struggle and suffer over everything when younger!), I can see that I just took everything so seriously. I love that this changes as you evolve. I love that we can transform our life just by being more open, more loving, more spiritually aligned. Centered within, centered in love, we can change the feel and direction of our whole outer life in moments. I feel passionate about reminding people of this. Helping them to reconnect to this power.

Who has most influenced your personal growth? How?

Not a ‘who’ so much as what. My biggest teacher has been Nature. I spend as much time as possible outside, in wild places, with plants and trees, mountains and sea. Flowers, especially, are my sweetest and most loving teacher. They have taught me so much about the grace of simply being who we are, living from our essential self, sharing our light. Working with flower essences for over 20 years, I feel as if I have become both wilder and more serene, lighter and yet deeper, quieter within and yet bolder. It is extraordinary to think of the impact they have had on my life.

So, if Mother Nature can be the ‘who’ I would choose her! If it needs to be an actual person, then second on my list would be Eckhart Tolle. I find his teachings so accessible and feel they touch me at a very deep level. I love going on the internet during my lunch hour, picking one of his earlier talks and watching that as I eat my lunch. He is always chuckling in those early talks, laughing at how we get so caught up in our life. This is so that we forget our spiritual reality. And that makes me smile. It helps me laugh at the absurd things that can surface in daily life. I come back to him over and over, and I always feel enriched and more aligned for that.

What is your superpower?

Listening to flowers! I first realized I could hear the healing messages inherent in flowers and essences in 2000, after I suffered a bereavement. As I walked near my local river a few days after the funeral of my grandmother, even though it was a beautiful day and I could feel her spirit around me, I felt very sad and lost. I saw a flower that was the absolute opposite of how I felt (this is now the essence, Angel Star, in the LightBringer Essence range). It was clear, defined, pure and beautiful, and it exuded this quiet certainty. I instinctively grabbed some of it and held it to my heart.

Two things then happened: I felt instant peace which deepened into complete serenity over the next few hours; and I had this incredible download of information come through me.

Fully formed, complex sentences describing the healing attributes of this plant came into my mind. I went home, made the essences and wrote down the information. All the rest of that day, I felt this burning down my spine coming through the top of my head: it was like energy was flowing through me. For the next few weeks, every flower I saw (and it was summer, so I saw a lot) triggered another rush of information. I began to write it all down and that information became the basis for the flower essences range I now make. These days, this whole process is much lighter and less intense, but it nevertheless remains. I consider it a gift from the heavens which came to me in one of my darkest hours.

What are you currently reading?

Oh, a truly fabulous book, recommended by a good friend. It is ‘The Surrender Experiment’ by Michael Singer and it describes his commitment to living a surrendered life, letting Spirit direct him completely, and the amazing journey this has led him on in the forty years since. It is an incredible book and an incredible story.

I never just read one book at any one time though, so I am also reading ‘How Not to Die’ by Dr Michael Greger which looks at the chronic diseases people are dying from in the developed world in these times, and shows how a wholefood plant-based diet can halt, and in some cases, reverse these. It collates a lifetime of work and research that he has put together and is completely backed up by current science. It is amazingly empowering. I am also reading ‘This Girl Ran’ by Helen Croydon which is inspiring me to keep up the running habit I started earlier this year.

Who is a fictional character that inspires you? Why?

I love the Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggan and her heroine, Maerad. It is all beautifully written and inspiring, and Maerad develops into a strong central character. I always love books where there is a magical element and where a character learns to grow into their powers. Aren’t we all doing that at some level?

What is your favorite way to spend a Sunday?

I love spending Sunday with my husband. We are so busy the rest of the week, and we spend so much time on computers and hooked up to technology, that I love to have this day be just about us. We unplug from the internet, go for a long walk or run, come back home and read, eat, and snooze by the fire with the cat and dog in the evening. If he is not around, then I still unplug from all technology, but I might get up early to go a long run, do some art work in the afternoon – I love felting and painting – and then curl up on the sofa with a book in the evening. I love Sunday to be a quiet day so that I can recharge my batteries for the week ahead.

What is the most unusual thing you own?

A large wooden sculpture of a hare. I adore hares. In the UK, they are seen as being mystical creatures, deeply connected to our Celtic heritage. My husband has a friend who makes sculptures from freshly cut wood, using his chainsaw, so he asked him to create a hare sculpture for me to go in the garden. It is completely unique. I often see a little robin sitting on its ears in a morning.

Where do you dream of traveling to? Why?

Japan and Bhutan. They are both countries which really intrigue me. I love the attention to spirit and body in both cultures: they have a real awareness of the need to honor the balance of both. I am drawn to the beauty of both countries: their culture, their people, their way of life and even their way of eating!

When do you feel the most at peace?

When I am making essences. I find the whole experience utterly transcendental. There is such peace and serenity to be found when we connect deeply with a beautiful flower. It touches us on every level and yet that touch is so gentle and so intimate. It is as if our very soul has responded. I find this deeply peaceful.

Words to live by?

Let not your fears come between you and the Infinite.

This is something the flowers have taught me over and over again.

Rachel is the founder of LightBringer Essences, Editor of Sentire Essence Magazine and an Advanced Essence Practitioner and Teacher. Her days are spent listening to the soul of nature and the soul of those around her. It is her delight to work with the deep gift of essences to enhance the inner self who seeks to blossom and flourish.

About Rachel
Sentire Essence Magazine