Debra Silverman

Astrology Is My Obsession

Debra Silverman is obsessed with Astrology. As a kid I wrote to the Detroit News which ran an article about Astrology. It came with the wrong birth date and because I was so little, I didn't know how to return it, but that was the beginning of my obsession with Astrology. Fast forward, by the time I finished high school, I knew every kid in the school because I did all of their charts.

What began as a natural interest exploded into an obsession once she had her chart done at age 20. I was like, "Wait. You know me better than my mom knows me," and so began my obsession with Astrology. I went on to graduate school to do research on astrology and psychology and found out that Carl Jung was an astrologer, and he was quoted to say, "Psychology will be a dinosaur science until it includes astrology."

I was like, "Pick me, pick me." And ever since then, I have been teaching it, writing about it, reading about it, studying everyone I meet, and asking the waitress at the restaurant what her chart is because I'm a little obsessed. More than yoga, Astrology is my obsession.

The magician is the first card in the Tarot deck, and he has four elements sitting on his table. Without the elements, we wouldn't create. We wouldn't exist. You can't live without water. You can't live without air, and you can't live without Earth. And you can't live without the fire of the sun.

The four directions are in the American Indian system. The four noble truths are with the Buddhist. Every ancient culture had elders that were speaking to the sanctification of creation.

Four Principles

So how we neglected to honor the creative powers that come to us in the most primitive and ancient ways is a puzzle to me. I've been obsessed with those four elements in my book. The Missing Element, which is subtitled compassion for the human condition, is understanding your personality type based on the elements. And then saying, "You guys, we got to get balanced."

Imagine four wheels on a car. If one element's down, the car can't drive. I've been teaching people for actually 45 years how to reinvent or re-establish their relationships. Like go back to what we forgot to study, which is these four principles in your body, in your life, in your psychology in your day, and I've seen great results.

People come back to the holy, to the sacred, to the ability for us to say, "What is the power of creation? And can I be an assistant? Can I be an agent of healing because if I learn those four elements, I turn into a magician?" It appears to me and what is not really, really clear in the bio, is that you've combined three things.

It Is Applied Astrology

You've combined the wisdom of the elders, the planet, as well as psychology, as well as astrology to paint what I will call a bigger picture than I think any of us have seen before. This has got to be amazing work. And we have a school where people come twice a year. The door's open. It's called Applied Astrology.

Within six weeks, even if you have never believed in astrology or been studying for years, that's a six-week class. In the end, people fall in love with themselves right in front of me. It's like a love story. I love that. I would love to have an example if you have one of those who, as you said, they're very skeptical about astrology, and given your obsession with it and your deep understanding of it.

I'd love to hear those stories of someone who didn't really believe it, and you shared some information and what transformed. I have this great example because she started to work for us. So when she came to the first class, very shy, a little bit self-conscious, and understated. I took one look at her chart, looked at her, and I was like, "Uh-oh, you have so much fire in your chart, and you're pretending to be a little shy over there.

Now I'm not going for it so let's change that story." She got the homework of activating her fire. Within the end of the six weeks, she lost all this weight. Her husband wrote me. He was like, "What did you do?"

Because she'd been playing this game, in Astrology, we see the blueprint and the promise you've made. Somewhere you left something behind, or you didn't know how to activate your own natural rhythm. I give them the code just by looking at the chart as a simple beginning with the elements as you described, and then their whole life force comes back.

The Joy Inside You

Another example might be someone who's playing the game of being a really outward personality type. But I look at the chart, and I'm like, "What? You're a meditator; you're playing a game of pretending. And by the way, you're going to run out of chi, and you're going to get burnout because you're not being authentic."

When he discovered that he was a meditator, he became this rich wisdom source rather than this pretend game of Mr. Cheerleader salesman. He changed careers.

How do you feel joy fits into all of this? Joy is what happens when you are your authentic self. It may not be overt with everyone. I have a lot of fire. But it may be contentment. It may be calm, and it may be practical; or it could be an obsession with Astrology. Whatever your joy is that you left behind becomes very obvious by looking at the chart.

Putting Chart in Place

People are always saying to me, "I don't know why I'm here. This planet doesn't seem to fit me. I'm with the wrong people." I'm like, "Well, you've got to first get a relationship with yourself at the divine level. And then, you remember, and then as soon as the memory comes back, joy is always sitting waiting when you're in your juice when you're in your chi."

I'm headed towards 70, and still, I am obsessed with Astrology. I feel like I've got more energy now than I've ever had because I'm having so much fun doing what I'm doing. Have you come across people who do want to have a reading with you, but they can't give you their birth date, or there are only some specifics? How do you manage that?

We have someone on our team who is skilled in what's called rectification. If any of you are interested in readings, I don't personally do readings, but I've trained about 25 women on my site. And I look at your chart. I do matchmaking. I look at your chart. I look at her chart, and I connect the two.

And if you don't have your birth time, that's a very easy fix on our team. Because one woman is a genius at being able to look at life experiences and then work backward and put the chart in place. That is wonderful news for anyone tuning into this who has always thought, "I don't have my birth date, so therefore I can't get my astrology chart."

The school has two times in the year. I mentioned September and January. There is a wait list that you get on, and then when it comes time for the class, there are only ten people in the room. It's on a Zoom call. There are ten women and or men who have charts in front of them.

Powerful Tool of Astrology

The mentor and I looked at your chart before the class started, and I said, "Aha, She has lots of fire so do not get discouraged by her playing shy.” We are prepared before you get there to facilitate the re-emergence of your remembering. There's the school, and there are classes all through the year.

I give away a lot of free material. There's a program called, Come Study You, where we have all kinds of archives. Everything from the astrology library that I sell to a class on the progressed Moon, where a beginner can learn what the cycles are.

My very favorite is called, Tell Me A Story, tmas.co, I teach people in a writing class to tell their story through the elements. I turn on your observer. This is the most powerful tool of all in Astrology.

You step back and watch yourself from the observer's point of view, which is your soul. And suddenly, you fall in love like, "Oh, no wonder I had that story." And your stories begin to feed the karma, and we get to understand what did you come to learn.

I love the love of self part of all of this. It all fits into so much of what we teach. Here's a question that I think that you're going to like to answer as well. Monika and I are very attached to the indigenous of all over the planet, and we've been to so many and sat at their feet and listened to their wisdom.

There is something that they have told us now for some time and that a Shift is coming. And now we are in that Shift according to their tables. According to what we say. How do you feel about that?

The Fault of Evolution

Well, as an astrologer, I knew this was coming. The very first chapter of my book is called Crisis. It describes that crisis is what wakes us up. Nothing's wrong. The astrologer has seen a long view, and we've seen feast and famine when you do a long view.

So rather than getting caught in, yes, we are in a very particular era. As an astrologer, it would be dishonest for me not to tell you that my entire podcast which started two days ago is scientists, all kinds of climate scientists that I've interviewed, to say, "Tell me the hard truth. Let me be face to face with the facts."

Then, there's a whole bunch of people who are wisdom keepers to say, "What do you do with the hard truth?" So as an astrologer, yes, we are headed straight into a brick wall. Let's be honest. And the good news is, there's a way to enter into awareness.

Get off that car. Sit still. Become the wisdom keeper that is the one that facilitates the midwife of how we're going to make this transition. We're either going to crash or we're going to be prepared, as all midwives and all wisdom keepers know. Yes, all the indigenous knew.

They've gone through it themselves; it's just called evolution. It's nothing wrong, but we've projected, "Oh, it's all the men's fault. Oh, it's all the women's fault. Oh, it's all the car's fault." It's the fault of evolution, and by the way, it serves us. So please don't be confused when something's wrong.

Something For Everyone

How can we then navigate, as you said, to become a wisdom keeper or a midwife to help us make that transition with grace and ease instead of the hard angst that it creates for some people? For you two, clearly, you're doing air. You've got a podcast or video or series of films where you're showing us on YouTube, and you're sharing information. That's air.

For some of us, for air people, it's talking, it's communicating, it's researching, it's collecting data. The water people, they're meditators, and they don't want to be around people. They just want to figure out how to find calm and reach a place of enlightenment called stillness. And through yoga, and through chanting, and through knowing how to be a family, a householder.

For some people, they're Earth people. They're activists. And they're like, "We've got to figure out how to do legislation. What are we going to do to facilitate the end of carbon, of changing the weather. There are some practical steps." And the Earth people, you know it's you. If it's calling you to take some steps to plant some trees, do it.

And the fire people are the yoga maniacs, the enthusiasts, the energetic, crazy people that are here to figure out how to master energy in the name of healing. And if you are one of those, you're inspirational. You stand in front of people. You take us out for walks. You take us on bike rides.

Our Particular Behavior

We all have different functions. The good news is everyone's got a function. The bad news is, what's yours? If you don't know how to serve and facilitate this era, you might want to ask an astrologer for some insight.

It's so interesting. We actually teach that, and we have had in different ways that there are different kinds, and they fit right into those categories. I never really heard that about an air person. I'm an air person. What are you? Do you know?

I always thought I was a fire person, but yes, fire and air are perfect together. You're inspiring us through his words and through your inspiration. Fire and air people get all excited and share and they go on screens, and they put lights on, and they're like, "I'm here to help you." And the Earth person's at home watching this going, "Oh, I feel so much better."

The Earth person's like, "We need some function here. I'll take care of that. I'll produce that new idea." It also explains why Lee has never really wanted to just sit and meditate for hours and hours. For him, it's like, "I can't do that."

Air people don't meditate. Air people get bugged by being told to sit still, but they can walk and meditate, and they can listen to a guided meditation, but you can't ask an air person to sit still. I meditate best on airplanes. You are up in the air.

Painful Love

You have a book. I love the title because we have taught this too, The Missing Element: Inspiring Compassion for the Human Condition. Tell us about that one. It's all about the four elements, and it's all about the crisis we're in.

It starts off with the first chapter saying, "We cannot continue as we're going. Society is going to go into a radical change." I loved when Lynne Twist, in Choosing Earth, the documentary, looked right into the camera and said, "We are now meant to be midwives because we're in hospice." We're at the end of an era.

It's hard to talk about. It hurts unless you're prepared. And my book is simply there to establish, get a missing element, figure it out, short little test, and open up the chapter of your missing element. Do the homework, balance the game, and suddenly your chi is back.

One of the things you talked about is the elders. And I love that you've mentioned the indigenous and just how connected they have been with the cycles that we're in. That respect for elders, I think there's going to be this new wave of where we come to respect them more. How do you see that unfolding?

I think you two are elders. From what I can see here, it looks like you two are elders. We never get named elders. It comes with the territory of growing up. My question every day from the minute I wake up till I go to bed is," Who can I serve today?

How can I create this planet's evolution?" I did not come here because I like this place. I love it, but it hurts me here. I'm not the person that goes, "I love being alive." For me, this place is very painful, yet I've turned the joy button way up in answer to what I could do to serve?

That Elder Wisdom

I am an elder, and I'm headed towards that. I've certainly passed the marker, and I just got social security. What's it called? No, Medicare or something in America. It's such a weird thing, but the truth is I was an elder at a very young age and all that is, is it being whose two values, the sacred.

Who knows, this planet is a place to pray over your food. Go to bed with a prayer. Remember your dreams. Keep your heart open at all costs, and never stop asking who can I serve? I don't care how old you are, if you've got that premise at the front of your consciousness, then your whole life is an example of a radiant vibrational delight, and that's what we're missing, and that's what will help us through this transition.

We do that as well, saying that there are a lot of young people we meet that are Old Souls. And we see that elder wisdom deep in them, deep wisdom within. Deep in them. And it's recognizable.

I have a question for you because one of the things when we do live meetings. We do less than what we did before COVID, but we still go and meet beautiful families when they come for the gatherings. And for some, there is a little frustration because they come together with this group. And then when they leave, they feel isolated because their awakening has kind of removed them from people around them.

Be With Someone

Do you have any messages or help that you can help for those who feel isolated? It's such a beautiful question. You just need one best friend. All you need is one person to help you regenerate or give you back your life force. It could be on the phone.

And then you fill up your cup, and you just keep giving. We don't need to be having others echo or say we love you because you're this spiritual, spiritual person. We just need to be the givers. I ask everyone when they ask that question, who are you giving to?

What are you creating? Are you planting any flowers? Are you planting any trees? All of that is your job to be the one in your community that lights it up and then has one person you can call to go, "My light's getting dim." And they go, "No. I love you, Deb."

"Oh, that's right. Thank you." So just make sure you've got someone. It could be your dog. It could be the neighbor, and it could be your best friend across the country that you know is going to energize and vitalize your enjoyment because you're in love.

I have a question also. I'm interested in how people think, and that's the psychologist in me. Whatever brought you to the aha moment when you said these things go together? I have to say because as an astrologer, people come to see me for years and years saying, what am I here to do?

Learn To Listen

I never had to ask that question. From a very young age, I knew I'd be a therapist. I knew that I was on fire about seeing people. I was nosy, to tell the truth. And astrology was like candy to me, like wait a minute, that makes total sense.

So very quickly, they got married, and it became obvious that my destiny was pushing me around from behind. I can't point to one event. Still, I can tell you that I woke up very young in the dentist's chair with nitrous oxide, where I came out of my body. And I was given a directive that said, this is an illusion, decide right now what you want to believe, and I came down and told my mom and told the dentist, and they were like, huh?

I was like, everything's not what you think it is. And from that moment on, I've been able to maintain a lightness that has given me the gift of openness and receptivity, and that's how I found my destiny was listening. We could do a whole section on that, right? Just learn to listen.

That's so key, what are your tips for how we can get better at learning to listen? You guys are so good, and you're asking such good questions. I have tattooed on my arm the word listens and silent. They have the same letters.

In order to listen, you have to be silent. There needs to be time in nature. My doctor just told me I had the highest vitamin D count he'd ever seen because I'm outside every day in prayer. I would say the deepest way to listen is to keep the body clean. I eat really well, and I drink a lot of water.

Do The Prayer

I keep my system as a vehicle, as a vessel open. And that's hard to do because our planet is so painful. We eat, and we drink, and we indulge, and we do sugar, and we do coffee, and we do everything we can to distract the discomfort. The first lesson in listening is sitting still enough to be uncomfortable and not move away and keep praying, help me to hear.

And if you do that practice, every day since I was 20 years old, I've said, let this day be the day that I offer a blessing. What can I do to serve you? And I've practiced that. If you can't because of the dramas of your life, or your mental body is so distracted, or your body is in physical pain, then you just do your prayer to say, please, please, I want to be of service.

The angels are watching. They'll find you. I love that prayer that you said. And there's another part where some people who are new to this, where they do the prayer, they do the meditation, they feel so good, and then they walk through the door, and their teenager is at them, or their boss is at them, and all of that has dispelled.

And what we teach is about taking that with you and pasting it upon yourself. What do you suggest for people to carry that feeling no matter what is happening? Well, there's a muscle called the observer. This is what my book is about, and this is what Tell Me A Story is about; this is what my school is about.

When your observer is on, and you notice, wow, I just lost it. The guy cut me off on the road, and I gave him like, oh, that wasn't very spiritual. And then my observer comes in and goes, "Deb, Deb." And it has no judgments. It's not mad at me.

Human Condition

It's just going, oh, you looked a little hot right there. And then you get to reclaim it without judging. Now, if you can make that muscle of your observer, which is all I teach in every class I do, strong. This is what Tell Me A Story is about.

Then all of a sudden, right when the crisis happens, or the drama happens, right after because you can't bypass the human condition. You're going to get angry, you're going to get pissed off, and so you should, you're going to cry, you're going to be hurt. It's welcome to planet Earth. And then here comes the observer.

And I've gotten really good at it. Now, so good that sometimes I have to say, "Can you leave me alone?" But when the observer becomes a muscle, you can count on it in the middle of that teenager screaming, after you’ve gotten all upset, and so you should have, you finish, and you say, "I'm so sorry. I totally lost it." And there's a smile.

And the way you know your observer is on, it becomes kind of cute. I've had instances where I've caught myself, I'm mad, and I've caught myself being mad, and it's like. But I don't want to just give up this mad just yet. I hold onto it until I'm ready to release it.

Comforting Self

It's very important not to bypass because then you've abandoned your human in the name of some concept. You must walk through the humanness. Being heartbroken, depressed, and anxious are real human components that I celebrate. That's what the therapy is about.

And then once you are welcoming it without resistance, I mean, it happens to me every day. I don't care how spiritual you think you are. The shortest verse in the Bible is "Jesus wept." I mean, he cried too. It's a human nature impulse, and we must get angry and sad and frustrated.

And then the question is, how quickly does my observer come on, and do I comfort myself in return to the center? That's really the question we should be asking. How beautiful. And share with us how you comfort yourself.

It's embarrassing because I do require to cry. And I do use beautiful smells and flowers, and I do use the visual world. And I'm outside every day on an electric bike for one to three hours a day where I take deep breaths, and I say to myself, "Debra, you're having the best day." I've had to nail into that little psyche of mine that this was a free will choice.

Nobody pushed you on the bus. You came here as a volunteer. Now, you remember that, and then I get it, and then, all of a sudden, I'm like, oh right, and I do my practice. I let my emotional body have a ride, I let my bicycle have a ride, and I find my lover, I find my dog. I'm like, who wants to love me today?

Everything is Healable

What a beautiful way to start the day. So let's put it out there. Everyone listening right now ask, who wants to love me today? And why wouldn't they?

We've covered so many pearls of wisdom, but we're running out of time. What would you like to share with our viewers in conclusion?

There is nothing wrong. This was a perfectly designed organization, said the obsessed astrologer, with a divine mastery beyond your mind's understanding. The mind is not to be relied on. Your heart is. And if your heart's closed, or it feels crispy, or you're feeling dull, there's a way to polish it and heal it. Everything is healable with your observer, with your prayers, and with videos like this.

I want to mention Debra's website, it's debrasilvermanastrology.com. She has lots of videos on YouTube as well. And for those who want to do those amazing, applied astrology waitlist classes, there's Applied astrology.me.

I am so delighted that we got to have this opportunity to play together. I love your humor. I love your joy.