Biography

Home Town: a quaint lovely town in West Virginia

Sun sign: Pisces Sun, Capricorn Moon, Leo Rising

Favorite Food: Tofu, believe it or not.

I am thankful for: almost everything, but the lovely sanctuary of a home that I share with my husband Bill is very near the top of my list.

3 words to describe you: compassionate, magical, light-hearted

Hobbies: I love to walk with friends, swim, do yoga, be in the country, watch the birds, feed my cats Pepper and Ling and dog Ruby Sunshine, and go to movies.

Bio: I have been on a spiritual journey my whole life.  A pivotal time in my life was living in Boston, MA, in the 1980’s where I studied astrology with Isabel Hickey and was introduced to the western mystical traditions. After years of being teased for being “spacey” since my head was often pondering the cosmos, I decided to make it clear once and for all that I was plenty smart. I got my Master’s degree in Counseling from Hunter College in New York City, where I specialized in the use of symbols and guided imagery in counseling and became trained as a Past Life Therapist. I was fortunate enough to study with Joseph CampbelI and was highly influenced by Carl Jung’s work on archetypes. I lived for nearly 10 years in Arizona where I became deeply connected to Native American traditions with many trips to the desert, sweat lodges, shamanic drumming, and Hopi dances. I decided to get a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and was given full funding at University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, where my specialty was the power of ritual, and how walking labyrinths can be a means of prayer and meditation.  I have traveled to fourteen countries to study spiritual traditions, have met the Dalai Lama, and believe the world is a magical place that has meaning. I believe that challenges are part of life and we can learn from our difficulties as well as our bliss. I have been an Astrologer for 20 years, a counselor in treatment centers and hospitals, a teacher of comparative religion in different universities, and now hope to share a bit of what I have learned with the people in Chattanooga who long for harmony of body, mind, spirit, and soul.

If you could describe yourself in ONLY ONE word, what would it be?

Astrologer!

Why do you think the word you chose above best describes you?

I love looking to the heavens to find meaning here on earth. I love the mystery and magnificence of the heavens, the night sky, the cycles of the Moon, and the seasons of the Sun. I believe God created this universe for “signs and for seasons”. As an Astrologer I get to study the meaning, history, and mythology of the heavens, and use the language of the heavens to help people better understand themselves and their place in the world. I also like my historical associations, since Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, and Kepler were all Astrologers.

Astrology means “the wisdom of the stars” but to get to that wisdom I have to first calculate the placement of the stars and planets at the time, date, and place of a person’s birth. Then I decode these celestial symbols and doing that is so much fun, like working a giant puzzle. It makes me feel like Robert Langdon, the Harvard symbologist in Dan Brown’s books, in that I’m always figuring out the symbols and working to decode their meaning.

Do you think others would describe you in the same way?

Yes, I’ve been an Astrologer for over 20 years and my friends know it is a passion of mine. It’s the way I understand the world. And I think most people see me as both very intellectual, but also intuitive. Astrology allows for both these parts of myself to work in unison.

Who or what in your life (now or previously) has helped to shape you into the kind of person as described by your word?

Definitely Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist. I studied with him when I lived in New York City in the 1980’s. I understood from him how important symbols and myths are to living a life that is richly textured and meaningful.  Also the work of Carl Jung, where I learned to identify the many different interior parts of myself that he referred to as Archetypes. And the Dalai Lama, whose peaceful commitment to a life of spirit and compassion encourages me to do the same.

Which people are most affected by your being an example of this word?

I believe that the people closest to me, my friends and family, are touched by my belief that the world is a meaningful, sacred, and magical place. And I hope that I encourage clients and students to expand their notion of the world to include more than just the everyday business of their lives.

When do you feel that you most purely typify or represent this word? When I teach about religion and symbology. I love to teach. And when I sit at my desk, calculating astrological charts using modern day technology like computers to do the same task that 4000 years ago would have been done by manual calculations. Astrology has a very long history and I like being part of that history. It’s much the same feeling that I get when I look to the night sky and recognize planets and constellations. People have been looking to the heavens for meaning for millennia, and I’m just one more.

This is the initial interview given me by Blush Magazine. It was edited for their “Last Word” in the February 2010 issue.