We recently connected with Cortney McMahon and have shared our conversation below.
Cortney , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s go back in time a bit – can you share a story of a time when you learned an important lesson during your education?
The most valuable lesson I learned in school was the first sentence I had a desire to read and figure out what it meant. The Golden Rule!
The first day of third grade, I noticed that the classroom had 30 desks, an upright piano, and many posters on the walls. Yet, what caught my attention the most was the bright yellow letters that seemed to go around the entire room. They hung at the top of each wall near the ceiling and as we took our assigned seats, I traced them with my eyes. I had no idea where the letters started nor ended. Mrs. Cook spoke to us about the rules and expectations of the coming school year and ended her speech with reading the yellow letters. She pointed to where the sentence began and those that could read along, did.
Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
I was excited to see the word “golden.” I held it in my memory. I was a third grader that could not read. My education had been overlooked by a household of domestic violence and addiction. Most kids in the class had already been taught the golden rule and as they discussed its importance, I felt completely clueless and ashamed.
Over time, Mrs. Cook noticed my lack of education and interest. One day, as I was the Weekly Helper (a very special honor in our classroom to help the teacher during recess) she asked if I could read the yellow letters to her. I could only remember the word “golden.” She read them again to me and asked what I thought about the sentence? I told her it didn’t make sense. She asked why and I remarked with, “the world doesn’t work that way.” Looking back as an adult, I’m sure that answer rang loud within her.
Each day that week, as I helped her sort papers and staple homework assignments, we read the sentence and discussed it. The word “treat” was difficult because it had two meanings, and the word “others” was difficult because it started with a vowel. The word “want” was the most complexing because it didn’t fit into the meaning of the sentence for me. Who wants? What does “want” do with anything, especially how people treat you? So on and so on, my mind dug deeper all week.
By the end of the week, I could read the sentence without stopping but I still did not comprehend it. Before my Helper position in class ended, I asked, “if there were other sentences like it out there?” She wondered what I meant by “others like it” and I continued to explain what we read in school is boring. If there are other sentences out there that make people think, I would do my best to try to learn how to read. She answered with, “Yes, there are many sentences to think about. More than you can count, Cortney.”
What sprung from those few hours of quality time with Mrs. Cook lasted a lifetime. I was a child that had already developed the need to sort out adult matters with no educational skills to back it up. I received a long-term educational and psychological plan that helped me relate to and be at the same level as my peers. My mother received the support and resources that led to the separation between her and my father the following year. It took years for me to completely understand and believe the Golden Rule to be true. Yet, it has been the foundation of my life since. I studied extremely hard to become a reader, trusting her words that there were other sentences out there with deeper meanings. I wanted to read them all! I graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a Creative Writing Degree and currently teach Esoteric Knowledge from Ancient Texts on YouTube.
There are more meaningful sentences than we can count and the most important is the Golden Rule.
In Loving Memory of
Marlyn Cook
Waukegan, IL
Cortney , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I grew up in a household where spiritual and metaphorical concepts were spoken about freely and often. I was taught meditation at the age of eight and received my first tarot deck at the age of ten. As I aged and grew in my own study of things, I developed a keen awareness of how the Ascended Masters gained their knowledge and titles.
Stars of the Morning Light (SML) started as a 10-minute mediation podcast and within a couple of years has grown into a complete spiritual resource platform. Each channel, podcast, teaching, and/or service is designed to help people develop their awareness and experience of their Mastery Presence.
Inspiration through the stories, teachings, and beliefs of different Masters throughout history is delivered to people through YouTube videos, podcast, Akashic messages, and Patreon.com or in-person classes. SML empowers people by giving them the tools to embrace the unknown, and trust in their authentic selves.
The YouTube teachings come from ancient texts such as The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, Corpus Hermeticum, The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, etc. and great spiritual leaders from the past like Manly P. Hall, Edgar Cayce, Rudolf Steiner, and many others.
Stars of the Morning Light on Patreon.com is a monthly subscription of $8.00 for two classes and group projects. The teachings and practices on Patreon.com are for those who want to dive deeper into esoteric knowledge and begin to experience what they are learning. Practices of mindfulness, manifesting, healing, telepathy, and more are part of the packages found on Patreon.com.
In-person classes and various Healing Modality Workshops are taught at Blue Sun Fusion Studio in Dalton, GA. The range of classes, workshops, and events is extensive there and SML normally schedules two courses a month for in-person teaching.
As an Akashic Messager, I teach with a mindset and focus of the needs and cares for each student. I can “see” the infinite potential of all beings. Some refer to the Akashic has the zero-point-of-creation, the realm of infinite potentiality, the center of All, the realm of all knowledge, but it is best known as the Akashic Records. The popular, early 20th century psychic, Edgar Cayce, coined the term Akashic; the place where all information that has ever been and will ever be is located. Every service preformed by SML (including Akashic Readings) is done in hope that others can “see” their full potential.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I was raised as a gifted child, as far as psychic abilities, but was strictly taught to never accept payments for my readings. My mother was against using our gifts for profit and often spoke about the lack of heart-centered readings when financial gain was needed.
“Those who ask for money are the charlatans and manipulators in the world,” she would say. I believed this to be true and lived by that rule. In my teens and twenties, I would do readings or ceremonies for people without charge and/or possibly allow them to buy me dinner afterwards if they insisted. In my thirties, I was too busy working as a case manager to assist in helping others with my abilities, even though my spirit was calling to do so.
After relocating to Chattanooga, Tennessee from Northern Illinois in the fall of 2015, I met a woman who wanted to start a podcast together. I had no idea what a podcast was, but I liked the idea of recording conversations about spiritual and metaphysical theories. That podcast was short-lived, but greatly beneficial in my development of understanding social media and letting go of my mother’s negative concepts about receiving payments for services. I got the opportunity to speak with many other healing practitioners, psychic readers, metaphysical teachers, etc. and they all spoke about the exchange of energy in regard to payments. I also found out that not-feeling-comfortable with receiving payments for services was a common trait amongst those in the spiritual community.
Post the cancelation of my first podcast, I took three years to learn more in-depth healing modalities, how to access the Akashic Records, and worked through any personal issues I had about accepting payments. Each professional I spoke with said, “All is energy. When we do readings for others, we are giving of our energy. The balance of energy exchange comes in the form of clients paying for our services. There must always be balance.”
As I was honing my skills and talents, I released the fears handed down to me by my mother and learned how to honor myself by receiving from clients and the universe. I grew in confidence and hope with each client. My soul continued to push me towards working as a spiritual teacher and reader until I could no longer resist the calling.
In the winter of 2020, I began working on my website for Stars of the Morning Light and my social media presence. I never felt more at peace with myself until I saw my calling in full manifestation. I started with a mediation podcast and three different in-person services. From connections I made with people through social media, they encouraged me to start my YouTube channel and now my services are available to anyone in the world.
I was never able to use my gifts as a side-hustle, yet I was doing the work. Once I let go of the restrictions put on me as a child, I was able to follow the only career my soul wants me doing. Sometimes our milestones are not tangible but rather internal.
How’d you meet your business partner?
With the onset of millions of people relocating during the Covid pandemic, two other woman and I wanted to create a holistic event that could bring many new faces together. The process began in the winter of 2022 but by May, due to personal reasons, the other ladies had to drop out from coordinating the event with me. I was determined to forge a new holistic fair for our spiritual community and the public. Stars of the Morning Light founded in September of 2022 “New Earth Energy Market.”
The event had over 20 booths of natural product vendors, readers, and holistic healers. Many business connections were made, especially for those who were new to the area. Public awareness about all things holistic grew as well. I have had the privilege to watch those connections create new wellness centers, other promotional events, and lovely gatherings of like-minded individuals. New Earth Energy Market (NEEM) is where I met my business partner, Jamie Gray.
From the first few text messages with Jamie, I knew our personalities worked well together. When we met during the holistic fair, it was clear that we balance each other in business and personal traits. Jamie is a professional Belly Dance Instructor and owner of the spiritual resource center Blue Sun Fusion Studio in Dalton, GA.
Blue Sun Fusion Studio (BSF) serves the public with multiple workshops, herbal remedies, Reiki-by-donation monthly events, different healing modality treatments, and belly dance performances by an amazing troop of women. Jamie Gray has taught belly dance for over ten years and is one of the leading instructors in the Chattanooga and Northern Georgia area. She is also a Reiki Master Teacher. Her all welcoming, down-to-earth approach to business and life set her apart from others I meet during the first NEEM event.
We began to share ideas, hopes, and strategies on growing our businesses. We both agreed that our partnership is based on communication and good old’ fashioned handshakes. We respect and learn from one another, while maintaining the foundations and focus of our shared beliefs. We belief in reciprocity, healing our community, and keeping it simple. We expect both of us to have spiritual integrity and by living as such, we trust our businesses will flow easily together and has separate entities.
As a result of us joining forces, both our businesses have grown in public response. More people are noticing that the study and practice of belly dance has a spiritual, physical, and emotional artform. I refer to it as “meditation in motion” much like yoga. Stars of the Morning Light as grown with local clients and students because I am able to teach in-person workshops at BSF Studio such as different healing modality certifications and spiritual classes.
Our partnership as branched out to co-founding, New Earth Energy Market Holistic & Cultural Events in the Tennessee Valley and North Georgia area. Our partnership created the first full-day holistic fair with music and dancing performances in April 2023. Local vendors, healers, and readers participated alongside with local Native American musicians, tribal bands, and multiple belly dance troops. The potential of NEEM and our private businesses is limitless due to a partnership that agrees that healing humanity and the earth comes first.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.starsofthemorninglight.com/
- Instagram: @Starsofthemorninglight
- Facebook: @SML
- Twitter: @Starsofthemorn3
- Youtube: @starsofthemorninglight
- Other: Meditation podcast on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/7a1DaZhD7HbuHlIWWcz1Xr
Image Credits
New Earth Energy Market Logo created by Dom Enoch