Joan Carra, a longtime intuitive healer in the Tri-State area, got her professional start as a psychic reader with Virginia Bell’s Astrology Café in New York City. Now, more than 20 years later, she will begin a busy month on May 3 by introducing Bell and her new book, Midlife is Not a Crisis: Using Astrology to Thrive in the Second Half of Life, at the Edgar Cayce Center in NYC.

On May 22, Carra will be back at the Cayce Center to teach a class in tea leaf readings from 7 to 9 p.m., as a fundraiser for the center. (Read more about the center and its mission at EdgarCayceNYC.org.) Then on May 23, she will be at the Wainwright House in Rye, leading a workshop called Forgiveness: A Spiritual Practice. “Releasing anger and resentment can change your energy as well as your health,” she explains. Check Wainwright.org for prices.

Carra says she grew up in a metaphysical family, so she always considered psychic phenomena natural, not supernatural. “My father had an occult library, my mother had prophetic dreams and my aunt read from a half deck of playing cards,” she recalls. In 1979, Carra had a spiritual awakening and experienced what she describes as “a light that made me aware of the oneness of all things. It was very healing and forgiving.” After that she began using her intuition to solve problems and help others.

For more information about Joan Carra, visit PsychicJoanCarra.net. To learn more about Virginia Bell and her new book, visit VirginiaBellAstrology.com.