A Most Remarkable Woman.

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photo courtesy of clarita

Shastri sent me a link to some wonderful photos he took recently of Navagrahas statues, the planetary gods. Their names triggered a memory I'd forgotten - how the hands of Fate led me to meeting a most remarkable woman.

In 2001 I was working as an astrologer (birth charts for advice and career guidance) and had a small column in a local newspaper. One day I answered the phone to a most unexpected caller.

A woman, with a beautifully elegant Indian accent, told me that she had been informed that I was "the one" and would I please come visit her to pick up my books.

My books?

In the course of conversation she explained that she had a large collection of astrology books that she had decided to donate to a worthy astrologer. Unsure who to choose to inherit them she had torn out the photos of all the local astrologers, from papers and magazines, and dowsed them with a pendulum. The pendulum had chosen me.

And that is how I first met Siromani. I thought, at that stage, that the story could hardly get more strange and wonderful, but how wrong I was!

A few days later I made my way up stairs to the flat where Siromani lived. I rang the doorbell... and a tiny woman came to the door. Small in stature, clearly quite elderly, and very much NOT Indian. Her faded hair still showed traces of the pale blond it had once been and her remarkably bright eyes were a clear sparkling blue. I thought there must be some mistake, but the moment she started to talk I recognised that lovely voice from the phone call.

How does a blond blue-eyed elderly lady in Africa come to have an Indian accent? By living a very adventurous life. Over a cup of tea Siromani told me how she had been born in India, of Scandinavian parents. She had spent her childhood and early adulthood in India and that was where she had studied astrology and dowsing. After marriage she had moved to Africa, where she had worked as a building constructor, an engineer and a water dowser.

Now, a month before her 90th birthday, she felt it was time she started studying something new and more challenging. So she was getting rid of all her old books and focusing on books on herbal medicine and alternative healing.

How many people decide to start a new study/career at the age of 90?

I spent a magical afternoon listening to her stories of India and Africa, discussing astrology and books in general. She was one of the most vibrant and alive people I have ever met. I went away with a box load of antique astrology books and ephemera, but the gifts she gave me that day went far further than that.

As I was leaving I noticed a book tucked into her chair next to her. It was the same book I was reading and I commented on that fact. A book on archeology. I was actually finding it a bit boring, but she said it was well worth the effort and that I should go back home and finish reading it.

I did finish the book and it was worth the effort, but not in ways you might expect. The book led me to pottering on Google looking for more information on some of the ancient civilisation. That in turn led me to joining an archeology forum...

... and that was where I met the Highlander who became my husband.

Coincidence, luck, or Divine intervention through the stars? Who can say? All I know is that gaining a husband was a truly unexpected gift from a most remarkable woman. :-)

photo courtesy of Kevin Rosseel

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