Interview with Pagan Writers Press Author Ashley Rae

By the age of twelve, Ashley Rae had survived incest, child abuse, and the deaths of both her biological parents. Born to Baptists but raised by Buddhists, Rae found peace and healing on a Pagan spiritual path while obtaining her college degree and starting the career of her dreams.

Rae thought the hardships in her life were over...until she lost her job, started a new relationship, and found out she was pregnant with another man's child all in the same week. Terrified of cesarean surgery, Rae vowed to give birth to her child at home – but first, she had to find one.

Alternately haunting, humorous, and heart-warming, Not My Mother: A Memoir follows Rae over a nine-month quest to break her family's generational pattern of abuse and victimhood in order to become for her unborn child the mother she had always wanted for herself.

 About the Author

 Ashley Rae puts on fantastically awesome weekend retreats at All World Acres in Plant City, writes meditations, blogs, articles, and books, teaches reading comprehension, creative writing, divination, and self-healing techniques, and freaking loves her life.


 Interview with Ashley Rae

Did you find it difficult sharing so much of your personal life with the world?

No, I have no shame.  My nickname in college was “Queen TMI.”

Any other books in the works?

Yes, I'm working on the sequel to my first memoir, in which I explore how I hit Rock Bottom and turned my life around, curing the Major Depressive Disorder that plagued my life in the process.

I'm also working on fun and practical workbooks for Chakra Healing, Intuitive Tarot, and Writing to Heal.

Do you think you’ll ever try your hand at fiction?

Yes, I think fiction will be a fun challenge.

If your memoir was made into a movie, who would you choose to play you?

      Drew Barrymore.  Angelica Houston for my mom.  It'd be like Ever After, but totally      different.

Tell us one of your guilty pleasures.

Wait, I'm supposed to feel guilty about my pleasure?  ;)  Paranormal Romance, especially ones that feature vampires, shapeshifters, and/or faeries.

Do you have any quirky writing habits?

I write in my head while I'm driving and dictate it into the voice memo feature on my phone.  Is that quirky, or perfectly normal?

I know you also work as a life coach. Tell us a little about the work you do.

I developed my Love Your Life Coaching practice last year after I realized that my greatest joy in life came from helping people figure out what they wanted and how to get it.  I have served as a professional psychic for nearly a decade now, and I realized that my favorite readings were the ones where my clients new they wanted to change something about their lives and came to me to figure out what and how.

The difference between a psychic reading and a life coaching session is that in a psychic reading, the psychic is giving all the answers, while in a life coaching session, the life coach is guiding her client to the answers that are already inside her client.

In both services I connect intimately with the energy of my client and use my intuition to guide everything I say.  But in life coaching, I'm asking questions, listening with my whole being, inspiring epiphanies, and assigning homework.  We start each session with an objective, the goal we intend to achieve in the alloted time.  The first session is often making a list of all the aspects of the client's life that he or she would like to change and picking one to focus on for that session.  Then we explore the problem, the feelings associated with the problem, and what the client is ready to do to solve it presently.  The client leaves the session with a plan of action, which may include homework assigned by me, and we have a follow up email or call after the session.  It's the most fun and rewarding work I've ever taken up (outside of parenting.)

You faced a lot of adversity in your life, but you overcame it. What advice do you have for young girls who may be facing similar struggles?

Ask for help.  You deserve to be happy and healthy.  There are good people out there who want to help you.  You don't have to do it all yourself.  You are not alone.

That goes for everyone who struggles, regardless of age, gender, or type of struggle.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Dianne Sylvan, Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, JK Rowling, PC Cast, and many more.

What song to you think would make a great theme song for your book? 

Because of You by Kelly Clarkson is the one I was fantasizing being in the book trailer video.  I think it needs something more uplifting, though.  Maybe I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.  That would make people laugh at the end credits if it were a movie.  Unwritten by Natasha Beddinfield is a song I often sang while writing my first memoir.  Hero by Mariah Carey?  Okay, now I've chosen half a soundtrack.

Where to Buy

Not My Mother: A Memoir by Ashley Rae is available on Amazon in both print and e-book formats. 

Connect With Ashley

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