Susan Morgan Taylor, MA
Deepening Connection. Illuminating Love. Embodying Peace.

A Return to Magic
The Soul Inspired Living Retreat 

A custom curated retreat experience for courageous women who want to live an inspired life aligned with the deeper wisdom of their soul.  

2024 Dates TBD

What does your soul long for? What keeps you up at night longing for more?

If you could create any life you wanted what would it look like? What would be included?

Where would you go, what would you experience, who would you be?

And most importantly of all, what keeps you from creating this life for yourself?

When we are children we are not afraid to dream, to imagine, to create entire worlds and universe from the fantasies in our minds. Our creative energy flows freely.

Until, that is, life happens to us.

Many experience abuse or trauma from an early age. Those of us lucky enough to escape early childhood trauma experience it in other ways or later in life, through negative religious programming, social conditioning, or less than stellar relationship experiences that leave us feeling scarred, hopeless, and afraid to explore the world through the approach of innocence and curiosity.

We become hardened, crystalized, closed, and fearful.

We get married, have kids, work unfulfilling jobs, and find ourselves wondering if this is all there is to this thing called life.

Yet we don't know how to break free.

Many are too afraid to leave the soul numbing comfort zones of the safe and the familiar.

We end up blaming our marriage, the burdens of our job, or the stresses of having and raising a family as our excuse to stay stuck.

And so the soul dies a slow and silent death. And eventually the gateway to our creativity and soul nourishing dreams gradually closes, entrapping us in a life full of all the trappings but devoid of passion, love, and ecstatic living.

We are left only to dream of "one day" or to live out our unfulfilled longings through others, through our kids or the characters we see on TV.

Because the programming of "I can’t because......" has gotten too strong.

It's taken so much of a foothold on us that we forget the creative magic making spirit of our soul that we knew as kids. When we didn't know what doubt was and when we simply believed in magic.

Wouldn't you love to live in the magic again?

• Wouldn't you love to learn to listen to and ACT ON the wisdom of your SOUL's LONGING for life, for love, for passionate and ecstatic living?
• Living the call of your soul does NOT mean that you have to leave your marriage, or quit your job, or move to Bali.
• But it DOES mean that you have to be COURAGEOUS enough to fully feel and face ALL of your fears of these things.

Because ecstatic living doesn't come to those who want to feel "safe" all the time. The initiation into living your soul’s longing is fear itself. Those who avoid feeling the fear will never pass through the portal to the other side.

My Story

15 years ago I broke free from a self-created stagnant life which had been encumbered by 11 years of an abusive relationship.

A mother of two young children, dependent on my husband financially, and relatively unskilled for the workforce, I cried many nights alone in bed feeling stuck and hopeless, not knowing how to break free, and honestly too scared to leave.

The result was depression, anxiety, loss of interest in daily life, isolation, and pushing my dreams and desires onto others since I was too afraid to live them myself.

Then one day I snapped out of it.

I started to realize that nobody else could live my life except for me. If anything was to change or be different, I had to be willing to pay the price, feel the pain, move through the chaos, and go for it.

I had to be willing to carve out the hand-crafted life I longed for, and I had to be willing to confront ALL my fears.

So that's what I did.

And I can truly say today that I am living my soul’s longing in every way.

Over the past 15 years I've been broke and I have been flush with cash; I've been passionately in love and I've been heartbroken; I've been in partnership and I've been single; I've been happy and I've been sad; I've been anxious and I've been calm; I've been ecstatic and I've been burnt out; I've been all the ups and all the downs.

But at no time did I ever let circumstance dictate what I could or could not do with my life.

I stopped blaming. I stopped envying others. I took the bull by the horns and started doing whatever it would take to reach my dreams and live my soul's longing.

And it didn't happen overnight like in the movies. It’s taken my whole life to create this hand-crafted life. It hasn't been easy, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Does your soul long for this too?

As I write this now, I sit in my new home in the stunning mountains of Western North Carolina. (Sunrise view from my porch is embedded below)

This has been a soul longing of mine since I was 12 years old. 35 years later, here I finally am.

Was it easy? No. Was it quick? No. Was it worth it? HELL YES!!

Do you long for this too?

An Invitation

A Return to Magic: The Soul Inspired Living Retreat 

I’m calling forth a small group of dedicated and courageous women who are interested in cultivating this kind of soul directed living to join me for a one of a kind private and personalized women’s retreat to be held here at my home in the mountains of North Carolina.

The Soul Inspired Living Retreat is for women who are ready to:

• Slow down and learn how to connect more deeply with themselves so that they can synchronize with their own inner rhythms and truth. 
• Connect more deeply with their own true nature, their intuition and soul's wisdom so that they can begin to live a life in greater alignment with this inner wisdom. 
• Connect with and be nourished by nature and the beauty of stunning mountains, trees, rivers and waterfalls indigenous to the area so that they can get out of their heads and return to the magic. 

About the Retreat

The Soul Inspired Living Retreat will be customized and specially curated for the unique group of women who feel the call to attend.

In general, it is a container of gentle holding so that you can expand more deeply into what's next for you in your own life as you begin to align with your own inner wisdom and love.

It's a retreat for respite, for getting away from the busyness of life, a place for deep nurturance, connection, and sacred ritual.

We'll be connecting with each other, with nature, going for waterfall hikes and basking in the natural beauty of these sacred mountains while learning to decipher the deeper calling of our hearts and souls

Where do you struggle the most?

• Do you have a hard time slowing down enough to hear your soul's wisdom? Are you too stuck in the need for proof, evidence, efficiency, results, and outcomes to hear the deeper wisdom of your soul and live in the magic?

• Are you trapped in the debate about whether or not you're actually hearing your intuition or if it's just your mind making it up? Do you waver and doubt and go back and forth incessantly, never making a decision because you don't trust?

• Are you stuck in the daydream and the fantasy, paralyzed by what it would mean or what it would require of you to actually take action? Do you keep saying "one day...." or "now is not the time yet"?

The truth is that we all struggle in one or all of these areas from time to time.

But for those who want to live a soul inspired life and to live according to their souls longing, for the brave and courageous who want to live a life filled with magic, we are called to get more conscious about our relationship to these three principles.

We are called to become passionate and dedicated to this way of living and to become the keepers of the magic, the tenders of the sacred fire.

This retreat is for you, dear woman...

This retreat is for you, dear courageous woman: You who are the dreamer, lover, nurturer, sister, mother, wife, friend;

For the part of you that just wants to play and be free and to remember the magic and wonder you once knew in another times forgotten place. 

For the hidden goddess inside you, for the forgotten child you once were when your eyes looked through your mothers face;

I see you.

Dear woman who sometimes loses herself to the agendas of others. Beautiful woman who feels a deeper nudge towards something greater but who doesn't quite know how to drop into what's next. 

You feel a pulling on your heart. Like a balloon ready to pop. Something greater is calling you and you want to know what it is.  You want to see it, to taste it. You want to return to the magic of a soul directed life. 

And that's exactly why I am hosting this retreat!

About the Retreat Location

Highlands NC is a small tow in the mountains of Western North Carolina about 90 minutes west of Asheville, NC and two hours north of Atlanta, GA. 

Known in the modern day as the "Gem Capital of the World", the area was originally inhabited by Cherokee Indian tribe and is rich in ancient Cherokee history and lore. 

Surrounded on all sides by the Appalachian mountain ranges, Highlands, NC is abundant with natural rubies, sapphires and other semi-precious stones that are found naturally occurring in the hills and rivers, hence the name Gem Capital of the World. Gem mining is a fun activity enjoyed by locals and tourists alike at small family operated gem mines in the area. 

Waterfalls, trees, rivers, numerous lakes and creeks are also abundant in the area with an diverse array wildlife to observe: black bear, deer, bobcats, humming birds and more, the area is teeming with the fertile energy of mother nature. 

A sacred land to the Cherokee, the ancient wisdom and energy of the area is palpable.  Something magical happens as you enter the mountains here. The veils over the mystical and magical are thinner and mother nature nurtures the soul into singing it's own joyful  song.  

I can't wait to share this amazing place with you!

Retreat Schedule

Below is the agenda of what's in store for you at this retreat.  The more intricate details will be informed by the energy of the unique cohort of women who feel called to attend this event but you'll get an idea of the rhythm and flow of this special retreat. Plenty of downtime has also been factored in so that you can have a true retreat experience!

Day of Arrival

• 6pm-Welcome Circle and Opening Ceremony

Day 1

• 9am-11am:  Morning Program
• 11am-2:30: Nature Excursion, Wisdom Seeding Ritual, and Picnic Lunch
•  2:30-6pm: Free Time
• 6pm-8pm: Evening Program

Day 2

• 9am-11am: Morning Program
• 11am-2:30: Waterfall Hike, Manifestation Ritual, and Picnic Lunch
• 2:30-6pm: Free Time
• 6pm-8pm: Evening Program

Day 3

• 9am-11am: Closing Circle and Group Ritual
• 11:30am: Departure

*Optional Retreat Extension Programming (additional fee required)

• 1pm-4pm: Field trip to the gem mine (cost of mining covered by the retreat extension fee)
• 6pm-9pm: Dinner and social gathering TBA

Day 4 (Extension)

• The Spa at Lake Fontana for spa services and lunch (spa services and lunch are included in the retreat extension fee, no out of pocket expenses)
• 2pm: End of Retreat Extension, explore on your own.

Enrollment Details

How to Participate: Enrollment is by application only. If you're interested in participating please Contact Me here.  

Travel and Lodging Information

Getting Here

The closest Airport is Asheville, NC which is about a 90 minute drive from the retreat center in Highlands, NC. The Mountain Retreat Center is located at 3872 Dillard Rd, Highlands, NC 28741.

Alternative airports are Greenville, SC which is about 2.5 hours drive East  and Atlanta, GA which is about 2-2.5 hours South.

The best option for getting here is to rent a car and drive from one of the airports listed above.  Just be sure to allow plenty of time for arriving, getting your bags, and factoring in the drive time. Mountain driving may not look like very far to drive but it takes much longer due to the winding roads. 

Lodging Options

There are a ton of Air BNB's and VRBO rentals in the area.

Got Questions? 

Want to talk to me before you enroll? Contact Me to schedule a phone call. 

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