Michael Sclafani had always known he was into the mystical arts. While growing up in New York and attending Catholic school from pre-school through seventh grade, this passion always made him feel like an outsider. “I liked going to church and singing in the hallways, and I was also the kid with the Ouija board out at recess,” he says. “I always felt a sense of Magic.” His first real entrance into the world of the mystical was when one of his mom’s friends left her tarot deck at their house when he was 10 years old.
Time went on, and Michael still hadn’t felt like he had found his calling or his tribe. He longed for a community of people like him that he could talk to about mystical energies and conscious living. Eventually he moved to Los Angles to pursue acting and work in the entertainment industry. He coordinated audiences for sitcoms and award shows. Reflecting on that time, Michael says, “It was great, yet I could feel this weird tension inside of me. I was becoming more sensitive, and I wanted to be more spiritual. The environment I was in was very shallow and superficial, and it felt like it was opposing what I wanted. I got to a point where I couldn’t jive with it anymore. I was too sensitive, and it was too harsh and judgmental of an energy.” That’s when he decided to come back to Arizona to heal.
Upon returning to Arizona, Michael decided to return to school. He had heard about SWIHA six years before he finally took the steps to check it out. “I used to have very psychic dreams,” he shares. “I remember telling someone about the dreams, and she said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to check out SWIHA! You’ll love it!’” Still, there was resistance: “Looking back, I notice how my ego would constantly try to talk me out of things that were good for me. SWIHA came to my attention again years later when I saw that it was teaching all of the things I was interested in and wanted to learn.” Finally, he made an appointment to visit the campus.
Michael had always been interested in Psychology and fascinated by the way the mind works. However, he felt like there was so many parts of psychology that didn’t interest him in more traditional schools, so studying psychology in depth never appealed to him. “SWIHA offers a psychology program tailored to what I’m interested in; the decision felt like it was a no brainer.” Upon finally finding something that aligned with his passions, Michael signed up for SWIHA’S Mind Body Transformational Psychology Program.
Michael remembers the first night of class at SWIHA and how he looked around and felt something different within the group of people there. He recalls thinking, “This isn’t the same. This isn’t like the other schools I’ve been to. I think it was in that moment that I realized, ‘Wow, I found my tribe here.”
Of course, resistance still would show up from time to time! Michael had pursued degrees three times before coming to SWIHA and never followed through with any of them. Each time, he would come close to completing a degree, and then he would drop it. “SWIHA was the first time I actually completed a degree. I have a history of coming close, and when I see the light at the end of the tunnel, something in me shuts down,” he says. “It became challenging at the end, and I have to give it up to Michelle Spann, my student advisor, and Janelle Erikson, my admissions coach and personal cheerleader, for getting me through that last bit. I was having difficulty choosing my electives, and they helped me through the process, which was immensely helpful. The last classes that they helped me choose were so divine and amazing!” Finishing the Transformational Psychology program was a turning point for Michael. “When I opened the letter in the mail that was my degree, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a very defining moment. It made me realize that with a little support from other people, you really can make your dreams come true.”
Michael feels that SWIHA helped him to see that he is capable of helping others: “That was the major thing. SWIHA helped me to realize that I do have what it takes to be a professional in something I am truly passionate about, whereas before SWIHA, it really felt like that was unattainable.” He encourages those who feel truly passionate about something to follow their passion and their bliss and to consider making a profession of it, saying, “It’s easy to get stuck in the false belief of ‘imposter syndrome’ where you don’t feel good enough or aren’t enough of this or that. Don’t second guess your passion. That’s something that can’t be faked. You can follow your passion, follow something that excites you, and make that your living.”
The day after his last class at SWIHA, Michael started working at Quicken Loans, which initially didn’t seem to fit with his goals. “The only reason I took the job was because something in an astrology video I was watching said, ‘Hey, if you are offered a job through a close friend on this specific date, take it, it is part of your life’s purpose,’” he reflects. When the day mentioned in the video arrived, he was offered a job as a mortgage banker through his brother. So, believing in listening to the signs when they are so blatantly put in front of him, he trusted the universe and took it.
Michael was at this job for about a year until he realized that money was NOT the top priority in his life. On the day that he was planning to quit, he remembers joking with the person in HR, saying, “Isn’t there a job where I can just read people’s cards and wave feathers over computers all day?” Michael had been talking about his passions and astrology with the HR person, telling them the reason he had accepted the job and that he had realized that mortgage banking was just really not something he wanted to do. Not wanting to let him go, she moved him into the client relations part of the company. “Now that I look back,” he says, “I realize that I literally read people’s cards and waved feathers over computers! It just goes to show: be careful what you say, even in jest, because those things can happen.” He knew what he wanted, put it out there in the universe, and the universe responded in a way that may not have been what he was thinking, and yet lined him up for what he really wanted. Michael feels that all of this was leading to the creation of his business: “Everything I have done professionally has prepared me to be an entrepreneur and launch my own special brand of business. It led me to finding my voice as a business owner and leading in my profession.”
SWIHA taught Michael to trust that all of the answers are inside of you already. “SWIHA helped me come to the point where I can search my own self for the answers. Access that inner wisdom. I always try to consult with my higher self for answers before seeking them out in other places. When you reframe your thoughts into realizing that we have access to this infinite wisdom, that shifts everything you do in every way and changes how you see other people as well.” One of Michael’s guiding mottos is to focus on blessing, not impressing. “I’ve noticed that the clients that I’ve had the best feedback from are the clients that I would have least expected to hear it from. When you put yourself in a place of being a blessing instead of trying to be impressive to people, then those blessed clients are the ones that you can have the most impact on.”
Of late, Michael has been working as an Admissions Coordinator at SWIHA, working at Quicken Loans part time, and sharing his gifts through his business CrystalQueer. He offers intuitive readings, custom crystal grids, uses the mineral kingdom to help people manifest their goals and desires, and is an energy healer. “Chakra balancing is one of my favorite things to do in the world. It is so simple, yet so profound and creates amazing shifts and changes,” he says. He also does online videos where he connects with people, talks about crystals, does readings, and embraces what it means to be queer. Explaining what his business name means to him, Michael says:
“I always felt different. No matter what group I was in, there was something always a bit ‘queer’ about me. I don’t look at the word as a definition of sexuality. I think it is something that is just really unique, like an oddity… a beautiful oddity. I want to be able to move forward both embracing my own queerness and helping other people embrace their inner queer, whether they are mortgage bankers, football players, or ‘fairyologists.’ Whoever you are with, even if you are with your tribe, it’s still OK to be different, to be queer.”
Embracing his own uniqueness is exactly what Michael is doing in moving forward with the future. Recently, in one of the weekly SWIHA admissions meetings, the challenge was given to the staff to embrace the “DO” of the job while helping others to discover their “WOO.” As much as Michael adored doing what he was hired to do at SWIHA, he received a crystal-clear message in this meeting that it was time to give up position there and really dedicate his passion and energy to building his business. Michael has now officially stepped out on his own and is accepting new clients for Toe Reading, Tarot Reading, Angel Reading, and any other type of soul readings anyone is ready to experience. We are honored to have
To conclude, Michael would like to give the following wise advice to future SWIHA students: “Show up with an open heart, and expect the unexpected. Be ready to learn how to transform the lives of others, and be ready to be transformed yourself. Be ready to be vulnerable, and realize that your own healing will be highlighted. Your journey for healing and understanding is going to come up. Be ready to know yourself on a deeper level. Trust the process.”