Shuffle Synchronicities: Volume 1 - #227

Guest Post by Rachel Lang + "All of the Lights" by Kanye West - 09/01/21

Sep 02, 2021

Today we have a guest post from Astrologer & Psychic extraordinaire, Rachel Lang! I began following Rachel’s Instagram on the recommendation of a friend and I really enjoyed her work as well as her personal charm. During the pandemic, I did my first ever birth chart reading with her and then signed up for one of her 4-week long introduction to Astrology courses (which she added a free 5th week to for free!). Between the course, her IG content, and the books she recommended, I learned more about Astrology than I had from any other source, (besides perhaps Co-Star and Sanctuary memes JK), and I can’t recommend working with her enough. In October, I’m set to do an IRL ‘Past Lives Regression’ reading with her here in the LA area, which I plan to write about. So look out for that!

Here’s a more formal bio!

Rachel Lang is a professional astrologer and psychic medium who works with celebrities, entrepreneurs, authors, executives, activists, students, and more. Rachel writes monthly horoscope columns for the Omega Institute’s monthly newsletter and Conscious Living Magazine. She is the author of Modern Day Magic: 8 Simple Rules to Realize Your Power and Shape Your Life and a teacher of magick. She contributes to a variety of publications, including Women’s Health, Well+Good, and more. She’s certified through the AFA, is the Outreach Director for NCGR, serves as the VP of the Los Angeles NCGR chapter, and is a member of the Relationships and Astrology team. She teaches a number of classes, including Astrology for Creatives. She volunteers for her favorite causes, including the IAEA and the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center. She’s also a member of astrological organizations ISAR and OPA. When she’s not doing astrology or teaching magick, she’s writing screenplays and children’s books.

Love it!

OK, take it away, Rachel!

Hi everyone, I have loved reading the other Shuffle Synchronicities and am a big fan of Dave's writing. So, I'm honored to bring you my musical world.

"I need a better playlist," I thought when I sat down to shuffle songs. When you look at my playlist, you might think I'm a yoga instructor, spa owner, or heavy meditator. Of the 733 songs on my playlist, I'd guess 500 are in the new age genre. Do I need more variety? Should I branch out in new directions?

My playlist would rival the one at We Care spa, though my internal groove is more like EDM. Maybe that's why I need so much relaxation music? When I hit shuffle, I was nervous about what song would play. I wanted it to be something cool. Please, not 30 Minute Solo Shamanic Drumming!

PRESS PLAY ALREADY, RACHEL!

“Naked” By Anoushka Shankar

Do I start this intense? Do I bring people into an altered state of consciousness with this hypnotic sitar? Should I find something more relatable... more popular? I thought about starting over but realized it would defeat the whole purpose of Shuffle Synchronicities.

My playlist showed me who I was.

Our musical tastes are personal representations of identity influenced by culture, age, family, friends, and thoughts of who we want to be.

My parents were ultra-Christian, and growing up, we weren't only allowed to listen to classical, golden oldies, and Christian music. My parents listened to folk records, too, like Joni Mitchell and John Denver. Not Michael Jackson or Madonna.

At a slumber party the summer after kindergarten, my friends and I rode the cultural wave into a new era as MTV aired for the first time. The simultaneous visual and auditory sensations were electrifying, but I didn't know these songs. I realized my friends belonged to a musical world of which I was not a part. The world of pop culture felt like an exclusive club I wasn't allowed to enter.

So, I embraced my eccentricity and made the most of it. I collected the autographs of my favorite oldies station DJs. I played church songs on the guitar with my dad at mass. Then, I became a youth reporter for the local Catholic paper and reviewed Christian albums by artists like Amy Grant, Rez, and Carmen. I became an insider within these misfit spaces. I mean, have you ever been to a Christian heavy metal concert? Right.

In high school, I broadened my musical repertoire. I listened to some pop, but this genre challenged my identity as an intellectual, artist, thespian. I discovered show tunes, jazz, opera, punk, and folk. I collected Cure albums during a brief goth phase.

When you meet someone, one of the first topics of conversation is, "what kind of music do you listen to?" If you say the wrong answer, you could kill the conversation. I never admitted I owned so many Joni Mitchell albums or that I knew all the words to the soundtrack of Godspell.

I suppose music and belonging went together, much like most of my life. I spent a lot of energy in my twenties and early thirties trying to hide who I was because the truth about myself was unacceptable to some of the people I loved most.

I'm a witchy, lesbian astrologer who took the road less traveled. I can celebrate that now, and I do! But at times throughout my life, I grieved for the traditional, heteronormative life I'd never have. I was always going to be more of an Anoushka Shankar song than the latest pop hit.

I studied my playlist and had a moment of self-appreciation. Loving your playlist is loving your life — who you've been and who you're becoming.

How appropriate for this song to be entitled Naked, because reflecting on this song allowed me to drop pretenses. It fits within a goal I set this year to live with integrity- not to lie. I'm talking even those little white lies we tell ourselves. Martha Beck's work inspired me to make this commitment, and it's been life-changing. It's been more challenging than I thought!

The truth is, I love the song Naked by Anoushka Shankar, like I love the songs by MC Yogi, East Forest, Alice Coltrane, and the others on my playlist. I love listening to music that touches my soul and moves my mind into a higher state of consciousness. That's the realm of possibilities where magic lives. It's my creative playground, and this Shuffle Synchronicity allows me to invite you into that space to experience magic, yourself.

So, please, listen to Naked with eyes closed and heart open. As you do, let the sounds of her sitar call you home deep within yourself, where you can feel the wellspring of love that is the connecting point for all life.

WOW!

Rachel!!

That was one of my favorite guest posts yet!!!

I have listened to “Naked” a number of times today now and I have to say that personally I wish I had more of ‘your’ music in my ‘identity’.

I find Anoushka’s song to be so peaceful and healing.

I just went and added the top 10 songs of hers as well as MC Yogi, East Forest, and Alice Coltrane to the Liked Songs playlist.

Maybe we’ll get lucky/blessed and get one of them in the days to come!

It’s funny that you mention how you felt like an outsider to mainstream pop culture.

Because I personally didn’t know anything outside of it.

And now I both ‘wish’ to have had other influences and ‘accept’ that part of me.

I only knew Amy Grant for:

"Baby, Baby” by Amy Grant

Which I love(d)!

But it wasn’t until earlier this year that a friend who also grew up in a more Christian atmosphere pointed out to me that Amy Grant went through a major Christian period.

(I believe) she joked that she was disappointed to attend one of her concerts as a teenager when she found out Amy was pretty much only playing her Christian music!

This brings me to the song that I shuffled to for today.

“All of the Lights” by Kanye West

It’s more than a little strange to me that after months of the Shuffle where Kanye didn’t appear, even though he has been one of the most influential pop musicians on me, that he’s come up three times now in three days.

Sure Monday was a pivot of sorts to Sunday’s release. But yesterday “Bad News” came on second after the initial shuffle. And today “All of the Lights” came on first.

This song is from his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. At which point a relatively secular Kanye had only done enough ‘wrong’ in the public’s mind where this album ‘redeemed’ him to everyone in the media pretty much unequivocally.

Genius.com reports that Kanye worked on this song for years looking for the right mix of collaborators which included: Kid Cudi, Rihanna, The World Famous Tony Williams, Alvin Fields, Ryan Leslie, John Legend, Charlie Wilson, Drake, Fergie, Elly Jackson, The-Dream, Elton John, Alicia Keys & Ken Lewis.

One of my favorite things about Kanye is this kind of extreme collaboration. He seeks out any and everyone to bring fresh perspectives and to elevate the art.

And he's quite ‘shameless’ about it. Just look at Michael Bolton from Jesus is King. Or the crowdsourced The Weeknd feature from Donda.

It’s part of what I’m trying to do with the guest posts on the Shuffle by reaching out to brilliant people with unusual outlooks like Rachel Lang.

I’ve been working more and more on putting myself out there socially to connect with such people.

To meet the next Elton Johns and Drakes and Rihannas and Fergies of the world ;) LOL.

But like I’ve mentioned before, you don’t have to be a ‘writer’ or an ‘influencer’ to participate, if you’re interested, please email me at dave.m.cowen@gmail.com, there’s even payment!

I am happy to report that today I met IRL one of my favorite influencers Gabi Abrão aka @SighSwoon here in LA!

It’s perhaps challenging to briefly explain Gabi’s ‘work,’ but she calls herself an ‘artist developing a language with the invisible,’ and I can’t think of many more follows to recommend more than her.

Here’s a sample (click for link to full IG post/caption):

She and her friend/collaborator James Francis, who also has a Substack, announced they were posted up outdoors at a coffee shop in the Westside for an hour and a half this morning meeting people and selling James’ new book and some of Gabi’s art.

So I got out of my comfort zone and flexed that ‘social instinct’ as Russ Hudson and The Enneagram teaches and got there right at the tail end.

It was a joy to experience their ~non-screen~ ‘real’ energy!

Gabi happened to also have posted content about Kanye this week and is/was planning on doing a podcast with James partly about him later today.

So we talked a bit about that and I told her a bit about this Substack.

She said she also shuffles songs to find out things about her life.

And she gifted me a piece of art from an old acquaintance of hers to go with the print of hers and the book of James’—pictured below!