The Octopus Appears

How a mystical encounter and an unexpected framework helped me find language for my awakening

Lost in a swirl of my own undoing

I pleaded to the divine that I had once remembered praying to daily. She came in the form of a human, but I suspected she was an octopus.

Here I was, flesh and blood, a person, yet the porosity of experience invaded me daily, as if boundaries had dissolved.

I longed for a creative way to manage the current of emotion inside of me and for someone, anyone, to explain to me the amazing experience of the loss of self I felt. Transcendence was happening on its own, carrying me beyond the veil again and again. I needed language. I needed a safe place to share, to understand.

I was walking through the tunnel of profound inner change when she appeared: Debra Silverman, the magical astrology teacher with the acutely perceptive mind of a beautiful octopus.

When structure meets spirit

When she appeared, I didn’t yet know that what she offered wasn’t just comfort – it was structure. The language of astrology and the four elements became the net that could hold my flood of experience.

Frameworks have always fascinated me. They speak to my analytical mind and love of facilitating change. The Drama Triangle, with its three roles of victim, persecutor, and rescuer; Internal Family Systems, with its many inner parts; and Zen Mindfulness and Polyvagal frameworks, which bring awareness to the nervous system – all of these offer me ways to understand what it means to be human.

I once led a workshop on the DISC framework to a team of men struggling to work together. They sought a bonding experience, and the framework provided it. That day, I saw the quiet power of structure – how giving form to chaos can open a door to healing.

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“What she taught me was to feel that you’re part of this place, not a visitor. That’s a huge difference.”
— Craig Foster, My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)

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The two frameworks that changed everything

Enter the Octopus – and the two frameworks that changed everything: astrology and the Four Element process. Together they offered a language of symbols and a science of the soul – a way to combine mystery with structure.

Debra Silverman is a master of the craft. Through her school, over 7,000 people – mostly women – have learned to translate life through the lens of the elements, planets, and stars. Her applied astrology framework became my medicine, the very structure that helped me direct my expanding soul into a healthy current.

When I entered her school, I felt lost – unable to give shape to the creative surge and divine connection coursing through me. Today, more than a year after graduation, I find myself experiencing something even more beautiful: a deep communion with divinity, grace, and profound self-love.

The waters of my soul

The Octopus nourished the waters of my soul, offering just the right guidance to awaken the writer within me.

We occasionally meet people who arrive as guides. Maybe we are naturally gifted in music and live in a small town in Kansas, and a music teacher gives us wings to fly away to college. Or, perhaps our home life is painfully lonely, and we stumble upon a book that sings to us in poetic ways and gives us permission to dream again. Or the middle school coach who senses that we escape onto the soccer field to survive, and encourages us to play with more pride and skill than we knew we had.

This was Debra for me. I now find myself awake to magic and my creative potential. She came to awaken the capacity within me and helped me to name the spaciousness and lifting of the veil I felt – as if some deep current had finally risen into air. You can say the Octopus gave me wings.

I now embark on a writing life to remember who I am. In stillness, the four elements come to rest — earth, air, fire, and water — and stillness itself becomes the space that holds them all. I suspect that I am a spiritual guide and healer who uses astrology and writing to help others return to that same stillness — to shine without striving, and to simply be.

I remain deeply grateful for the teacher who appeared — and for the divine current that carried me here. It is said that when the student is ready, the teacher appears.

With gratitude, I bow to the divine within me for accepting the invitation.

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Author’s Note

If this reflection resonated, you might enjoy the documentary My Octopus Teacher, which beautifully captures the mystery, intelligence, and tenderness of the octopus. Craig Foster’s words echo through my own journey with Debra Silverman and the frameworks that helped me come home to myself.

I’d love to hear your thoughts: have you ever met someone — or something — that felt like a teacher from another world? Share in the comments below. 🌊