Light Bulb Moments

As I pulled up into the driveway, I was feeling a bit anxious. The plan was to stay for most of the next three days with my colleague Raisha Love in Ann Arbor, doing readings for family and friends.

Although I knew Raisha and her (grown-up) kids, you never know exactly what awaits you the first time you stay as a guest at someone’s house.

I arrived at Raisha’s on Friday evening, the day after my Ann Arbor ancestors workshop with Diana Quinn. I had actually driven back to Harrison Township the night before, so my trek to Ann Arbor took me through a vast and representative sample of the metro Detroit highway system.

Driving on I-94 and I-96 through Detroit may be the fastest way to Ann Arbor from Lake St. Clair, but it is definitely not the most scenic. In fact, there are stretches of the trip where it seems all you can see in any direction are swathes of gray concrete punctuated by blocks of low, box-like buildings. To top it off, a major thunderstorm hit and traffic got even snarlier.

Once you cross Detroit’s western beltway, the buildings fall away and the landscape turns green and lush. The rain began to ease up and I was beginning to relax when an accident on US-14 brought all three lanes of traffic to a dead halt. My first astrology reading was scheduled to start in about 45 minutes so I punched up an alternate route on Google Maps.  The detour took me down two-lane country roads lined by the green pastures and white fences of horse farms and dotted by historic old homes and country stores. And then, a couple miles before I reached Raisha’s house, I found myself driving down a long, narrow dirt road enclosed in a canopy of trees. With the low clouds shrouding the trees in an atmosphere of mystery, it felt like I was driving through a portal into some fantastic new world.

Raisha and her husband Brent immediately put me at ease. Rai set me up in a bedroom in the basement and helped me create sacred space in the recreation room where I’d be doing my astrology readings. In between readings I enjoyed a quick supper with the family upstairs, homemade pesto lasagna with gluten-free rice noodles – yum!

The next morning I got up and drove to Ferndale for my second ancestors workshop with Diana and then back to Harrison Township to spend Saturday evening with my family. The St. Clair Shores fireworks had been rescheduled to Saturday night because of the big storms, so we got to enjoy the special treat of watching them from up close on Uncle Bill’s boat out on the lake.

Back at Raisha’s Sunday afternoon, I did more readings and then it was campfire time. I pulled out my guitar and was trying to think of which song to play first. But while I hesitated, four-year-old Tyler (Amber’s partner’s son) took over the music direction. Raisha loaned Tyler her shamanic drum, Tyler told me what to sing, and the party was off to a rip-roaring start:

Bringing Us Closer Together

And then it rained. Spirits undampened, we reconvened on the back deck under the umbrella and Tyler helped me strum while Raisha, Brent and I hacked our way through Learning to Fly by Tom Petty, and some Beatles songs. The highlight of which was Brent rising to occasion and nailing Paul McCartney’s “Judey-Judey-Judey-oowww!” on the outro to Hey Jude.

After everyone else had gone to bed, Raisha and Brent and I sat outside and shared stories about my life as an astrologer and the two years they spent together in Saudi Arabia. Brent isn’t nearly as “woo-woo” as Raisha and her kids, but he’s an open-minded guy who is genuinely interested in people. At one point he remarked how cool it was for the family to have me in the basement doing readings.

“When one of the kids comes upstairs, they want to tell us what you told them,” he said. “It’s like the astrology gives us a way of talking about some of the things going on in their lives that otherwise might be tricky to discuss.”

Raisha is a yoga teacher and longtime devotee of the spiritual path. She’s also one of those heart-centered people who genuinely cares about making the world a better place. This quality became even more obvious to me as we got to just hang out and chat about life over the course of the weekend and as I got to observe her surrounded by family, playing the roles of mom, hostess, and human being with equal grace.

Raisha agreed that one of the highlights of the weekend was “sharing in light bulb moments with family members who had their chart read.”

With young children and two major moves – including a gnarly home renovation project – I haven’t been able to hit the road nearly as much as I would have liked over the last few years. But this summer I got the cosmic green light to get out on the road again. And my stay with Raisha and Brent was a perfect reminder of why I love to travel and of how good it is to commune with members of my soul family in the flesh.

After three more readings on Monday, it was time to hit the road and head back to Detroit. As I pulled out of the woods and headed back to the freeway, I felt sad to be leaving but happy and grateful for the time that we got to spend together.

The cosmic Go light is turned on. If you’d like to invite me into your community, get in touch and let’s unleash some transformational joy energy together!