22 Sept 2026
Ep. 48: Rachel Sager
One of the greatest lessons of spiritual practice is this: You Are Here.
There is only this moment, right now, where you are. There is only this place, right here, where you are.
You can only be Here, Now.
When we learn to surrender to the fullness of the present moment, right where we are, we can follow the tiny whispers about the next right step.
Often, those steps have surprised me. This episode with Rachel Sager is the perfect example of following those tiny whispers, being right where I was, and stepping forward.
I never could have imagined that starting family research would lead me to researching the deadliest mining disaster in the history of Pennsylvania.
And Rachel Sager never could have imagined she would be creating a living museum to coal and the history of the land in Pennsylvania in her own Ruins Project.
Yet: here we are. We Are Here.
Rachel Sager is a mosaicist, a daughter of coal, a writer, and a convener of community. She is the creator (and new author) of The Ruins Project (https://www.sagermosaics.com/the-ruins-project), a living and ongoing mosaic project installed in an abandoned coal mine in southwest Pennsylvania.
She probably wouldn’t call The Ruins a church, but I would. The intersection of ancestors, relationship with the land, creative practice, and intimate relationship with the Divine is behind every piece of tesserae that is place in The Ruins.
You don’t need to be an artist or a writer or know anything about coal history to connect to this project, and to enjoy our conversation. Rachel’s lesson of “andamento” is a perfect encapsulation of following the thread we are given: not controlling or orchestrating our path, but allowing a divine path to unfold before us.
We discover our path as we live it. We are invited into a life of awe, curiosity, creativity and magic.
I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
CHAPTERS
0:00 – Introduction & The Darr Mine Discovery
9:00 – Growing Up on a Farm: Land, Church & Inheritance
20:30 – The Click: Coming Home to Ancestral Ground
35:45 – Andamento: The Spiritual Practice of Mosaic
49:30 – The Darr Memorial: Making 239 Visible
54:00 – Grace, Forgiveness & Asking for Help
Connect with Rachel:
* The Ruins Project: https://www.sagermosaics.com/the-ruins-project (https://www.sagermosaics.com/the-ruins-project)
* Follow Rachel on Substack:
* Listen to The Ruins Podcast:
* By the book! The Ruins Project now available at at sagermosaics.com (http://sagermosaics.com).
Work with me:
* Learn more about my work: veralester.com (http://veralester.com)
* Coaching discovery call: veralester.as.me/coaching-discovery (http://veralester.as.me/coaching-discovery)
* Linktree (upcoming events): https://linktr.ee/veralester (https://linktr.ee/veralester)
#CuriousHearts #Mosaic #SpiritualPractice #ArtAndFaith #Appalachia #LaborHistory #CoalMining #TheRuinsProject #Andamento #CreativeSprituality #PlaceBasedArt #RustBelt #SacredArt #Storytelling #CommunityArt
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