Hi, I'm Nichols

Astro-Therapist

Astrology, Human Design & Therapeutic Companion

I am devoted to creating and tending safe, sacred spaces - inner sanctuaries including physical spaces as well as the emotional interiors of others. Like an interior designer for your inner world (and your home, too).

My hope is that you feel at home here and at home inside yourself. Think of this space like a cozy living room, where you can slow down from the fast pace of the world, talk to a trusted friend, tend your inner hearth and beautify your “living area.”

I am here to walk alongside you as a compassionate witness and companion.

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“We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.”

— WHOOPI GOLDBERG

My Journey

The Inner Journey

For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated with understanding the human experience - relationships, the psyche, the soul, and the big questions about life and what comes after death. Raised in the South, I often felt that the local (and dominant) culture surrounding me didn’t match my desire for depth, authenticity nor recognizing the unique journey each soul has. It was the perfect contrast.

The Inner Critic & The Perfectionist

A big part of my “healing” journey has been knowing what it’s like to be against myself - to be my own worst critic (hello sun in Virgo with Moon in Capricorn. If you know, you know) - and learning to champion myself in ways I didn’t receive growing up.

It’s taken me a while to figure out (and continually remind myself) that healing isn’t about changing who I am, fixing something broken, or striving to become a “perfectly” healed version of myself. I must continually remember to be gentle, to really feel my feelings, and particularly let myself be witnessed in my emotions by others (this has been a valuable contradiction for the Virgo & Capricorn parts of me who just want to keep things tidy, self-contained, and hold it together for everyone else). 

Through slowly and continually softening my resistance to the parts that feel not enough and restoring the exiled parts of me, I’ve found more peace. I’m learning to accept there will probably always be parts of me that feel unlovable. Because I will always be perfectly human.

The Outer Journey: The Initiation into Self-Acceptance

One of the biggest turning points in my life was in 2015 when I began a master’s degree in mental health counseling with a desire to understand and serve others. Not knowing what I was really getting myself into, this experience ended up initiating the deepest exploration and excavation of my inner world. I started therapy and discovered Internal Family Systems, began learning about the different parts of me, acknowledging my early pain points and trauma, and started the slow process of making friends with a deep unworthiness that’s always seemed to accompany me (something I believe we all live with to some degree). This same time also initiated my spiritual remembering -I discovered an ancient practice called shamanic journeying that reconnected me to my inner world and the unseen forces that are always guiding and supporting us. My connection with the “Spirit World” (what I also consider as an element of God) has helped me cultivate trust, empowerment, and a truer sense of worthiness and belonging.

After graduating, my path took a different route than expected. Instead of becoming a licensed therapist, I began caring for elders near end-of-life in Denver, CO. After experiencing a series of professional and personal deaths, I decided to pursue training as a “death doula.” Also around this time is when astrology and Human Design really entered the picture, helping me notice and honor the inner feelings telling me it was time to leave my job, move back to the Carolinas and answer a different calling.

And my journey continues here in Asheville, NC where I’ve been rooting down and understanding what it really means to be in community, how to really love myself, how to embrace my fears of singing, and live in close relationship with nature down to the foods I consume and my relationship with death. There have been romantic relationships that have tenderized the deepest parts me and women friends who constitute the fabric of my heart.

Something I value deeply, especially with the divisive times we’re living in, is being able to love people in their diversity of opinions, beliefs and backgrounds. I see it like learning to accept - to be in connection with - all the different parts of us we may not like. It’s not always easy, but I believe in choosing connection over separation as much as possible.

Professional Bio

    • Mental Health Counseling - Master of Arts in Counseling (Wake Forest University)

    • Human Design - Certified Reader (Dayluna)

    • End-of-Life - Certified “Sacred Passage”/Death Doula (Conscious Dying Institute)

    • Kundalini Yoga - Level 1 Certified Instructor (Kundalini Research Institute)

    • Astrology - Level 1 & 2 of Debra Silverman Astrology

Love notes to my younger self

  • You’re capable of handling them. They really just want your compassion & love and will stop running the show when you bring them back into your heart. Every part matters, especially the most “unlovable” ones. Each is an essential part of the whole. And wholeness includes ALL of it - dark & light.

  • Getting rid of parts of yourself or needing to be completely confident or free of insecurity, or even cutting cut out foods or people entirely can be just another form of resistance. On the other hand, even the tiniest ounce of acceptance grants far more peace & expansion.

  • There’s a saying that what we resist, persists. Such is the case with unfelt feelings. Lean into the somatic release tools available that help with constructively discharging the energy around your emotions. Usually, the sooner you set aside time and slow down enough to feel, you’ll find the feelings transform more quickly.

  • All of our hurts are relational, and there are times when healing requires a loving witness. Don’t be afraid to be messy and let others see and hold you. It creates more intimacy.

  • There will be some days or moments that are more challenging and others that are easier. You don’t have to be perfect.

  • There is no-thing you can’t heal from.

“It is through our wounds that love comes to Earth.”

— RICHARD RUDD

My archetypal constellation…

  • As a Virgo ☀️, a big part of me is a grounded, dirt-devoted Earth enthusiast with an incredible ability to overthink things and be pragmatic. The anxious worrier with a way with words who loves to find patterns, bring order to chaos, study herbs, work with her hands, endlessly edit what she writes, be of service to others, is devoted to her cat, and who is frequently solving problems in her dreams.

    With Cancer rising, a part of me is warm, gentle, and deeply sensitive and emotional. My heart is wired for connection, protection, emotional safety, caregiving, and being a homebody.

    My Capricorn🌙 is the part of me that is diligent, responsible and takes life seriously. The part that would rather show up for others and not feel or share my feelings with others. It’s also the part that wants to commit to building something lasting and meaningful and has the fortitude to do so.

    Put these all together and there’s a big homebody, a “hardworking caregiver,” and a cozy friend woven together.

    Fun facts: I constantly rearrange and refine my home - tidying, moving, beautifying. My home is filled with houseplants. I find a lot of meaning in showing up for others. And with 7 planets in Earth signs, I’m like an oak tree who really doesn’t stand a chance of being anything other than grounded. If I had an anthem, it would be “practical love.”

  • “Like magicians in the dark, Vein of Gold people have the ability to go deep and find light in the places where others only find darkness."

    They have this ability to understand the challenge and complexity of being human in a way that makes the journey something we can continue on -- something that we can see the value and beauty in. Not afraid to go deep, Vein of Gold people know how to speak to and work with the soul.​

    People with this archetype have the ability to communicate with the hidden aspects of reality, including denizens of the Otherworld and the deepest part of our psyches. They are here to bring the gift of understanding to the Earth, to be guides on the human journey, and to help others connect to the realm of the soul."

    -Asia Suler, Earth Healing Archetypes

  • 3/5 Emotional Projector

    Here to go deep with others and be a guide for a different, slower way of BEING human. Here to really take time to feel into things, to be on an emotional journey and learn what works and what doesn't through getting my hands dirty, a process of trial and error.

“We’re all just walking each other home.”

— RAM DASS

The healing of our world begins within.

I believe astrology is one of many tools that can help us piece ourselves back together where we’ve been conditioned, taught to fragment and be at war with ourselves. That’s why I see it as a doorway and a compass - for re-membering inner coherence.

It’s a peace treaty for the inner self.

In re-membering ourselves, the impact ripples out - creating coherence and peace in our outer worlds, our relationships and lives.

In my free time, I’m usually in the garden, making herbal medicine, spending time with friends, singing, eating, dancing, chanting with my harmonium, practicing kundalini yoga, geeking out on the cosmos, resting on the couch, and loving on my amazing cat.