Interview with Katrin Haiba (NYC, Mexico, Estonia)

4^th of February, La Cruz, Mexico

A story about surfing, sailing and Cosmic Wave Astrology.

Questions and stories recorded/written by Crystal Ra Laksmi.

Additional editing by Katrin Haiba.

1. Katrin,

You are an Estonian who has lived 20 years in New York and has spent recent winters in Mexico on your sailboat – surfing and sailing. You offer adventures with your boat and guide people globally on how to surf that cosmic wave with guidance from astrology.

When you look back at your roots and your past, who and what has been most influential for you, made you who you are and helped you get to where you are today?

Probably the books on my granny’s book shelf from the “Adventures from the Sea and Land” series.  I tried to sneak away from garden work to read about distant lands and adventures. I think my adventurous streak comes from my female lineage. My grandmother had a plan to travel to Argentina to babysit before she got married, but her future husband was jealous, and then the wars came and it remained only as a dream.

I travelled to USA as an exchange student in 1993. The father in the family who I lived with was from New York, so I had a chance to visit this global city. I fell in love with the energy of New York at first sight: it fascinated me. How can people live there – in such a futuristic buzzing anthill – I thought.  

I started to look into options to continue my studies in New York.  I went to City University Brooklyn College for my freshman year and transferred to New York University to finish my BFA (film, media, video, camerawork).

Before moving to New York, I met my future husband. He helped me adjust and handle the American paperwork.

Do you have any Estonian characteristics that you are especially proud of?

A certain innate stubborness and strong willpower. Most Estonians have an above average sense of wanderlust, since we are a small country surrounded by the sea. I do not know of any sailors in my lineage, but my grandmother claims we have some Swedish ancestry … so, perhaps my love of the sea comes from these distant Viking forefathers:)

I grew up at the end of the Soviet era and this meant I developed a natural talent to make something out of nothing – I can always manage and if necessary I will invent whatever I need with very few things or tools. This is where my creativity and inspiration is rooted. When you are living on a sailboat, all these skills come in handy. My MacGyver skills were also enhanced by my father, who is a real practical genius and can fix a phone only with a tape and a paper clip.

* Your biggest dream at the moment?

I wish there would be more and more genuinely happy people to collaborate with, as then life would be much more fun. In my personal life I’d like to find more sparkling energy and moments of joy in every day.

I do not have any specific material goal that would make me happy when I would achieve it. I flow with life’s possibilities and try to find joy and happiness in every moment. If you have everything, then the knowing that there will always be more is so beautiful. I would love to meet more people to collaborate and play with, to surf the Cosmic Waves with. To develop more rich friendships. Venus in my birth chart is in Gemini – I love sparks of insight and new interesting people and ideas.

* What is/are your key/s for living the life of your dreams on your own terms as you like it?

Keeping an open and curious mind, knowing that we have more opportunities than we realize. I would not go to the extreme that everything is possible. I think we still have some earthly boundaries with the physical body.

I would love to have the magic skills of materializing from one place to another like Harry Potter, but just the knowing that we have more magical skills and possibilities than we were made to believe at school is very good.

Another key is the courage to look for and try new opportunities. You start from the beginning and go forward. With the sailboat things often don’t turn out the way I thought, but the process of discovery is so rich.

When you take one step and notice how life brings you the next step, and the next, you will develop a certain courage and curiosity.  Everything does not need to be laid out for you and explained.

The world is changing into a more flexible and complicated place, which demands more openness, curiosity and understanding.  The roundabout sidetrack can turn out to be the fastest shortcut.

* What is your message to the world with your life and your lifestyle?

I live my life according to my inner compass; delivering a message or being an example is not my goal in itself. At the same time I think we are all each other’s teachers and examples.

The best compliment I ever heard came from my previous video company employer in NYC. He said: ‘Katrin, you are my favorite artist!’ I asked – what do you mean, I am not painting or anything. He answered: ‘Your life is an art. You live your life like art.’

‘Life-artist’  as a word in Estonian with a rather bad and provocative connotation, describing someone who accomplishes things too easily. But I love being Life’s artist. Why should I choose a heavy road, if I could choose to accomplish things with more ease, play and creativity?

* What was the most difficult moment of your life? How did you move through it?

It was a crisis period in my marriage. I started to hack my inner world in every aspect. At the time I thought we needed to divorce and it was a very difficult moment, it was hard to find the courage and honesty to express that idea.

Everything in me was so messed up that I felt I could not manage it with my own tools. When I started to look for help, I found new important people, mostly older women, who showed me the picture from a wider and wiser perspective. I started to do therapies and meditations in order to gain more honest awareness of my shadow patterns. This gave me courage to dive deeper into exploring my inner world.

I met my first astrology teacher at that time. She pointed out that transiting Pluto was crossing my natal Moon. Pluto carries the energy of deep transformation which demands total honesty.

Moon brings up subconscious emotional patterns. This created a thorough inner cleansing – my emotional and behavioral patterns got analyzed and changed. It was really hard, but right now looking back, it was the best time. I learned so much and started to live my life more authentically.

I found very useful guidance and insights in the American Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön’s  books : “Comfortable with Uncertainty” and “When Things Fall Apart”.

In my personal life everything fell apart, which created an expansion of my horizons and a shift of priorities towards the spiritual life. I understood that looking for safety from material things, such as a house or a person, would not work for me anymore. It is all temporary. When you manage to let go of your attachments, you can start to courageously co-create with life.

* What has been the most inspiring moment of your life? What happened?

On my first long ocean crossing with a sailboat across the Atlantic Ocean, dolphins paid us a visit one night. There was no wind, the sea was flat like a mirror. When I looked into the dark water I could see the dolphins sparkling like 3D constellations, bursting by the boat like cosmic rockets, trailing tails of stardust.

The sparkles were caused by luminous plankton made of millions of small creatures, which got activated as the dolphins swam through them. I felt like I was in some kind of a mystical dimension… In my heart I felt very grateful for life and the beauty of the nature.

* What are your keys to live your dream?

Take the first step. When the process is started, the next steps will show up. The courage to start and to do something physically is a very important key.

It is very popular to read self development books that suggest you just meditate and visualize, promising that this will bring you everything you desire.

I’ve got nothing against visualization, but one also has to take a step in the physical world so that energy could materialize in the physical dimension – like contact some key people about a new job, or buy tickets for a trip abroad. This first step will show the Universe that you “mean business”:) You’re not just saying something, but actually taking steps to do it.

* What kind of a relationship do you have with money?

I have a good relationship with money. When I need it, I have it and little by little my money flows grow. I am born in the Earth sign (Taurus) and in my 20s I had the idea that I had to earn a huge amount of money first (like a million dollars), and only then I could start to live. When I started to hack my unconscious patterns, I discovered that behind this desire was actually fear – not trusting life. I started to dismantle this and see how others live.

I saw that many sailors lived on rather small or unstable incomes, but managed to live a very interesting life. I also understood that you can’t safeguard your life till the end.

Lasting security does not come from the outside – and when that knowing came, my relationship to money shifted profoundly.

Money is a living creative energy – one of the ways to exchange and contribute. There are other ways to contribute too, of course. Money can come from different channels. If you are only looking in one direction, you may not notice when a new exciting possibility is tapping you on the back.

I am a freelancer since 2001, a Jack of all trades: I work with videos, editing, writing, spiritual adventure tours and astrology consultations, shamanic journeys, real estate, ecological building, helping my husband in the solar installation company etc.

In our current world we need flexibility and diversity. Universality is important – then the insecurity that I may not have work in my professional field disappears. Skills can be transferred and it may actually be very exciting to learn something new. I learn quickly, I’m open and flexible. I like new things and I feel I can do something valuable and useful that will feed me wherever I am. 

A classic Taurus trait, I was attracted to working with real estate at a young age to create my base. My husband and I have a house in Brooklyn, NY, which we maintain, upgrade and rent out. This gives some sense of security, a feeling of having a nest, a home, where no one can throw us out.  It grounds us, even though I have learned to not have an attachment to it like to a castle, as anything material can change any time.

One of the reasons why people have trouble with money is that they look for security in the wrong things. When one finds it on the inside, many fears will fall away.

* Could you define what is financial independence for you?

Financial independence – it has a hook in it. Even when someone has accomplished what is conventionally thought of as total financial independence and even if that person would live on a secluded island, he would still be somewhat dependent on the rest of the world. Everything and everyone is connected, we are not secluded islands.

This kind of independence creates rigidness and blocks the capacity to receive. If you understand that we are all connected and dependent on each other’s wellbeing, life shifts into more of a natural flow. My dream is that the world would get closer to this way of functioning. I would love to live in a more cooperation based economy.

All the land and animals, people and plants are all a big living system which has its own consciousness.

As long as the universe needs me in this current form to contribute, I know that  everything I need for that purpose will be available to me in material form, so I do not need to be afraid of starving or having no place to stay. As long as I’m not lazy and look for opportunities at all times, all my needs will be met.

* If it is not too personal, how do you maintain yourself to live your dream life right now?

I do astrological consultations internationally. I love working via Skype, as it’s a location-free job, I can do it from anywhere. This job brings me a lot of joy, as I can inspire people to change their lives.

Writing is the second main expression. Before it was mostly translating and editing; now I have written horoscopes for my own webpage every month, which has helped me fine-tune my writing skills. From there the word has spread, bringing paid writing gigs for magazines and online publications. My latest published article in Estonia is about how astrology can be used to help design a unique bedroom that fits your energy patterns and personal taste.

I also organize adventure tours – this August I’m hosting an adventure retreat to the New Mexico desert in collaboration with Jessica, my spiritual mother. We will stay 3 nights in the Wild Rivers canyon, a power-place I encountered on a road trip 3 years ago.  The ancient silence of the desert touched the depth of my soul. I felt I would love to bring people there – this place has something special to contribute to us.

* What is Cosmic Wave Astrology and how has it helped you and your clients change your lives?

Cosmic Wave Astrology is a marriage of two of my loves and interests – surfing and astrology. Planetary cycles work in waves. If you get the ‘cosmic wave forecast’, it is easier to find the right time to jump on a good wave.  The motto of my page is “your guide to surfing the universe” – it is like a surf forecast, how to surf better in your life.

I use a very open, humorous and uplifting tone. Many people are scared off by astrology because of messages like “this is a horrible time for certain things”. Some astrologers use these kinds of negative tricks to attract clients. For me it feels very unethical and spiritually poisonous. 

With my work I try to rehabilitate the reputation of astrology, make it more understandable, acceptable and practical for contemporary people who have many choices as our life gets more exciting. Astrology helps us make more conscious choices in the midst of life’s changes.

My clients like this open, positive and contemporary approach. I give my clients a chance to be the king of their lives – they are in the lead and I merely give guidance and show the forecast (in the old days astrology was the privilege of kings and priests). It’s entirely up to the client which wave to choose. I encourage them to explore their own intuition.

Astrology usually confirms our intuitive actions – like when Jupiter moves into the fourth house of your chart and you have a plan to buy a new house. If you use astrology like that, you learn to trust your intuition even more and you will get the feeling of surfing in harmony with the big waves of the universe.

* Do you have a special message for the readers of this article for this year?

On February 8^th we entered the New Year of the Fire Monkey according to the Eastern astrology. To successfully surf this wave I would suggest more flexibility and fun – allow yourself to be goofy once in a while, gather insights from your mishaps and be open to people who are radically different from you.

Monkeys are a noisy, playfully inventive bunch. We can all expect more active and creative communication this year. This will be a year full of chaos and changes.

Likewise, in Western astrology most of the planets are in the mutable signs (Saturn in Sagittarius, Jupiter in Virgo and Neptune in Pisces). These more distant planets create the “soundtrack” for the year. Saturn in Sagittarius works on our beliefs, urging us to reconfigure our spiritual structures. I recommend taking a deeper look at your life philosophy – do you live according to your authentic beliefs; which course are you steering your ship to?

If you were a country, what would your constitution be? This is a year of restructuring and reevaluating your personal principles.

* What are your wishes for the readers of your blog internationally as well as the new people who are interested in your services?

Come, read and look around. All kinds of feedback is very welcome, as I am interested in creating an open forum for ideas.

* What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment in life?

Right now it is the fact that I have managed to write monthly horoscopes for my site for the past 2 years. When I started this, I took it one month at the time, one day at the time. As I am very active, I have discovered a creative challenge through this commitment and I have taken the time to write it every month.

I do not get paid for it, though some kind readers have donated via the internet. This work is my gift to the world, I am very proud of managing to do this for so long. It has been a great course in self discipline, persistence and commitment.

* How do you know Crystal and for how long? What fascinates you about her?

We met Crystal in 2012 through a common spiritual friend. My friend described Crystal as a wild woman who is also a water person offering Hawaii adventure tours. It sounded exciting.

Crystal invited me to Hawaii, but instead I invited her to Mexico. We started with a ceremony for the Sea Goddess by the ocean. We have had such an expansive adventurous journey together.

What really fascinates me about her is her courageous approach to life – how she always finds new possibilities and how thanks to this, things open up for her. Her openness and curiosity is very exciting.

It has been beautiful to see how Wantra water therapy was born here. It’s a super fun and powerful water modality which has a crystallized all of her talents and experiences as I see it. 

Wantra is a powerful practice which helps to activate both spiritual and physical development and flow. I have had many chances to play with her in the pool and experience both private and group sessions. It is so cool to see how people open up so quickly and human dolphins come out. I hope that Wantra finds a way to the wider world.

Crystal also has an anthropology background and she is like a natural born anthropologist, so sincerely interested in other people, nationalities and cultures. It is very nice;)

* How do people get in contact with you in case they would like to hear more about you and also book your services?

Home page: http://cosmicwaveastrology.com/

Email: katrinhaiba@gmail.com

Facebook Katrin Haiba: https://www.facebook.com/katrin.haiba

Dreamboat Adventures: https://www.facebook.com/DreamboatAdventures/

Thank you dear Katrin. I wish you the best surfing both in life’s waves and in the astrological waves and wish you exciting international collaboration projects for the future with me and others.

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