About Me…

I’m Heather Hanson, and Creative Sage Cottage is my tiny little magical kingdom.  I am so happy that you’re here!

 My husband Gary and I are both originally from Illinois but almost 11 years ago we made the decision to simplify our lives and make our dream of permanently living in Michigan a reality.  So, we purchased a fixer upper in the tiny and wonderful town of Union pier Michigan in Southwest Michigan, packed up everything we owned and we never looked back.  Lucky for me, our home sits on land that is zoned for commercial and residential usage, so my little Creative Sage Cottage happily lives right in our backyard.  When you come for a visit, you’ll see that we are just a few blocks from Lake Michigan in a town of about 810 people with one perfect flashing stoplight.   Life here is quiet, it is laid back and it is a pleasure!! 

I attended Illinois State University to obtain degrees in both Journalism and public Relations.

I also attended International Academy of Design for clothing design, and with the certainty that I was going to create and launch my own fashion magazine.

For the last 25 years or so I have extensively studied and taken more classes than I can count in Theology, Religion, Alternative Healing, Jewish Mysticism, Kabbalah, herbalism, psychology, crystal therapy, Tarot as it relates to healing and the Hebrew Alef-bes, Astrology and energy healing.  

One might say that I am a perpetual student of life and spirituality.

From a career standpoint, most of my life until about 10 years ago was all about the shiny world of fashion, cosmetics and creativity.  I worked out of Manhattan NYC and produced Fashion Shows all over the country for Liz Claiborne.  After that job had run its course and the company began to change, I met my soon-to-be-husband Gary and not long after, I created my very own cosmetic line from scratch called About Face that I sold in my brick and mortar shop and online shipping to over 75 countries around the globe.  I had a 3000 square foot manufacturing facility, employees, the whole nine yards.  It was no small company and it was amazing!

I bet you're wondering how Fashion, Cosmetics and Magical Mentoring could possibly have any sort of connection.... Well, I have always loved fashion and makeup, but I didn’t realize until hindsight enabled me to see backwards that my ultimate goal was to get to the hearts of women and connect with them so that I could help cultivate an emotional space for them heal.  

Now lets talk Magic and Healing....

Geography and jobs are the easy part.  Sometimes I feel like my entire life has been a training expedition and a test of resilience just so I could be prepared enough to truthfully say from experience that I can empathize with how you feel.

From a very young age, teachers, family, friends and so on always said that I was really intense for my age, paid far too much attention for my age, that I was a little bit too tuned in, looked into people’s eyes for a little bit too long….that I understood and observed just a little bit too much…  I was in 6^th grade the first time I remember hearing Mrs. O Brien tell my mom that sometimes the way I looked at her felt like I was reading her mind….and it’s just sort of gone on from there.

My truth is that I am finally comfortable telling you that I am the poster child for the phrase; "the wounded healer."

To make a long, LONG story short, I come from a highly chaotic and destructive family. On two separate occasions we wound up homeless and lost everything we owned as a result of my father not being to differentiate the truth from a lie. He was a brilliant man and had he used his creativity and charm for good, I believe he could have changed the world.  Unfortunately this is not the path he chose. 

My parents were deceitful and manipulative at best. In order to keep up appearances they concocted stories and creative a narrative about our family that was far from the truth.  When I was in 3rd grade my mother began to tell me that people did not like me so that I would keep my distance from them and not develop relationships. As a result of this, I spent most of my life afraid to truly let people see me. 

I lived in a constant state of fear believing that I was doomed to wind up like them or that people would get to know me and not like me. I don’t ever remember a time when I didn’t feel like a total outsider trying to find a place for myself in the world.  

I spent a lot of time obsessed with NOT winding up like my parents which lead me to years of therapy so that I could understand who I truly am.  This personal path of self-discovery and understanding how to heal from emotionally abusive family dynamics lead me to the work I do today. I made it a mission of mine to use my life and my experiences in order to be certain that no woman who crossed my path would ever leave feeling anything close to what I had been feeling.  I wanted to give her every resource I could offer in order to assist as she began to\ restore her faith in her SELF.  

I want women of all ages to know that regardless of what they have been told or lead to believe, they are holy, sacred, empowered, inspired, beauty-full and miraculous human beings unconditionally illuminated by the spark of the divine.  I have always wanted to help women to remember that no matter what their history looks like, they can choose to find their way back to the positive voice of soul/Source that has been with them all along.  

At last we fast forward to Creative Sage Cottage and this most incredible time in my life, a time of living from a place of authenticity and truth.  As I write this in April of 2019, I am a mere six months away from turning 50.   Two years ago, throughout the entire year of 2017 into 2018 I got the emotional crap kicked out of me.  

The foundation that I thought my marriage was built on had collapsed, my younger brother died after a horrific battle with cancer at the age of 45, I was hit by a drunk driver in a terrible car accident and my mother was diagnosed with Leukemia.  She passed away several months later.  

Amid a lot of time in my emotional fetal position and all that loss, I woke up one morning and realized that I had no immediate family left.  I was feeling very alone and I was terrified.  It quickly became very clear that my choices were as scary as they were simple…pull myself together and move forward or shrivel up, give up and die. 

I’m still here.  During all that darkness I found my way deeper into Tarot, the Hebrew Alef-Bes, Jewish mysticism and several other tools that I had always relied on to help me feel closer to God.  As I was allowing myself to heal, I fell very intentionally down a deep and magical rabbit hole where I wound up meeting my most authentic self way down there at rock bottom…

And that is how my ascent began…I ripped off every band-aid, took off every mask, fought like hell to silence every nay-sayer and negative voice in my head and for the first time in my life, I invited my truest self to rise up out of the ashes. I leaned in whole-heartedly and decided it was time to honor my SELF and share my SELF in order to heal others rather than hiding her.  

I am a work in progress.

 My journey of personal growth continues each and every moment of the day, but the important thing is the decision to keep heading in the direction of up… Sometimes it is only tiny baby steps, and sometimes I take a step or ten backwards, but I am finally moving towards a place where I am happy and healthy and awake in my life. 

So now that I have done the work and lived the experiences, I want to help you to do the same thing.  There is no greater honor for me than watching the light slowly and steadily lighting up a clients face as she remembers who she is...her divine origin and her holy perfection.  

In my work now, I am committed to sharing what I have learned, offering tools and helping as many women as I can to rise above their history and far beyond the story that has become their mantra.  We are so much more than what happened to us yesterday.  We are so much more than the perceptions even our dearest loved ones have lead us to believe is our truth.  We are these incredible holy and sacred beings deserving of every happiness, every blessing that this life has to offer….and more.

I feel that my souls greatest calling is to remind you of your divine origin, to introduce you to your soul again.   I created Creative Sage Cottage and the Magical Mentoring Sessions that I offer in order to provide a quiet, inspiring and yes, some say a magical place for that to happen. 

I do love to use to Tarot as one of my tools to connect with and help a client cultivate her most magical and authentic self.  But I also LOVE to use good-ole conversation, healing crystals, humor, the Hebrew Alef-Bes, candles, herbs, incense and so much more in order to help my client get back into alignment with his or her soul. 

I don’t work with large groups or do parties because I really love the intimacy, the transparency and honesty that happens when my clients get to my magical little cottage and realize that I am holding sacred space for them here.  I do host events here from time to time so make sure you’re on the mailing list or at least following me on Social Media.

Most of what I do is designed to help you cultivate your own magic.  Whether it is creating a candle for you, helping you to focus on intention or holding your hand and listening as you release the emotional baggage of yesterday, I consider it a sacred privilege and a deep honor to be able to work with you and I look forward to meeting you soon!

Until then, I wish you love, magic and abundant blessings!

Heather Hanson, The Creative Sage