This week, I’m enjoying being part of Debra Silverman’s “Conversations with Destiny” online summit, where she’s been having intimate conversations with twenty-two top experts in their fields. The focus of this summit is on what astrological birth charts reveal about people’s personalities and life’s purpose, and it’s been quite entertaining to watch Debra blow everyone’s minds during these fascinating and thought provoking interviews. Participants include celebrities and thought leaders, such as Aaron Rodgers (a huge fan of astrology and of Debra), Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Julianne Hough, Danica Patrick, Trevor Hall, and Ruth King. Debra is mission driven—she wants to help awaken the world to the deep and healing wisdom we can all gain through an understanding of astrology.

I first met Debra by phone in 2006, when our family was going through a massive crisis. I wanted to consult a therapist, and was referred to her by one of my most intelligent and trustworthy friends. After we scheduled my appointment, Debra told me I needed to send her the date, time, and place of my birth beforehand. Aghast, I snapped, “You’re an astrologer? I need professional guidance, not metaphysical insights! Sorry, but this is not what I’m looking for.”

I remember that moment very clearly. I was sitting wedged in the corner of the couch in my den, holding the phone, feeling frustrated and outraged. Although I had enjoyed poring over horoscopes in magazines when I was a teenager, I’d never taken astrology seriously, and this was certainly not the time for it. But Debra calmly replied, “I think you should give me a try. Why don’t we keep this one appointment and then you can decide?”

Grudgingly, I agreed.

Thank goodness I was barely open-minded enough not to shut the door on Debra, because my first session with her was transformational. It was as if she’d carried a bright light down to where I’d been wandering lost and aimless in a pitch-black cave of desolation, and was able to guide me out of that claustrophobic maze into the fresh air.

Thinking back, I realize that the most effective piece of advice Debra gave me was the simplest (and also 100% aligned with what I am discovering now about the best way to settle my nervous system), which was to hug the people in my family more and find comfort through physical touch and connection.

After that first remarkable session, I booked Debra for my husband, Drew, and daughter, Marea, who also found her uncannily perceptive and immensely helpful during that very challenging time. My son was the lone holdout. At thirteen, he was skeptical and disinterested. But when I gave Debra his birth information and later related her insights to him, he was so amazed, he asked me to book him an appointment ASAP.

Although Debra is a trained therapist, she long ago discovered that the stars give her a magical shortcut to immediately comprehending people’s personalities and the forces that drive them. Her clients’ charts help her intuit the most effective ways for them find solace and grow from their suffering. It’s not uncommon for one session with Debra to feel as productive as twelve months of therapy.

Over the years, Debra and I have become close and have spent time together in California, Hawaii, and Colorado. Debra featured Drew’s and my story of growing Earthbound Farm from a backyard garden into the largest grower of organic produce in the world in her book, The Missing Element: Inspiring Compassion for the Human Condition, which includes intriguing profiles of people’s lives based on their sun signs. Drew and I—him an Aries and me a Sagittarian—were both examples of the pioneering spirit and determination of fire signs.

Not surprisingly, Debra’s reputation spread quickly among a high profile crowd, and she has become an essential resource to many celebrities and thought leaders. Now she has a hugely successful applied astrology school and a massive social media following. One of the main reasons she wanted to include me in her summit was to help me spread the word about Quest for Eternal Sunshine, because she believes one of the most important accomplishments that anyone can achieve in this life is to turn our suffering into wisdom and love, and then share it.

During our interview, I learned that Debra, like me, is descended from a Jewish lineage of extreme trauma. Her parents weren’t Holocaust survivors like both of mine, but all four of her grandparents fled persecution and came to America by boat. Her grandmother was only a young child on the voyage when her father—Debra’s great-grandfather—died in her arms on the ship just before it landed.

Having grown up in a family filled with intergenerational suffering, Debra went on her own “quest for eternal sunshine” in her determination to transform herself so she could avoid passing the cycle of trauma down to her children.

As she read my chart, Debra emphasized how I came into this world wired to be constantly productive, and that my work ethic can drive me crazy sometimes (so true!) She said that I’m a “futurist” who doesn’t limit myself to what has been done before, and that my active mind is geared towards philosophy and invention—a description that made me happy because those are two of the qualities I love most in my dad. My Gemini rising is what makes me an enthusiastic person that likes to write and share my words.

Although it’s hard to comprehend how the position of the stars when we’re born can reveal so much about us, my experiences with Debra over the past fourteen years are undeniable examples of how uncannily accurate “the stars” can be. Debra has long encouraged me to study the basics of astrology, and I have long resisted because my schedule has been relentlessly full, and I was content to get my astrological information through her. But now I’ve decided to enroll in her six-week class that starts in September. If learning the basics of astrology can help me better understand the people in my life and myself, it seems like a very worthwhile endeavor. Stay tuned. You can be sure I will report my findings in a future blog post!

Myra

Wisdom from the Stars