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A look into Fortune Tellers of NYC
When did you realize you had astrological, otherworldly, what you would call psychic abilities?
"No, I wouldn't call it psychic. I think of myself more a scientist, than a psychic. I don't think that I actually realized it until after a series of business disasters, when I decided that –– given that I had a healthy life and considered myself a healthy person –– there must be some reason that this was happening, and maybe I wasn't supposed to be doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing. So, I started looking into this stuff: I went to the top astrologers, the top hand-readers, the top tarot-readers, just to see what they had to say about me. I was amazed that they were able to get as much as they got. Then I thought, 'If they can get that much, I can get even more, because I know myself better than anybody.' So I started taking classes and studying, and I found it fascinating –– I got hooked! My teachers would say 'If you want to go deeper, you have to start reading other people!' So, I started reading people basically for free, and found that I was good at it. Of course, my family is full of psychiatrists and psychologists (laughs), so it's not like it was something new. I'd always been interested! I'd always been interested in mythology and character, too, so it came kind of naturally, but I think that ultimately I decided to hang out a shingle because I didn't need to change the world anymore. I didn't need to be a super-wealthy entrepreneur."
What would you be doing, if not this?
"I was an industrial designer originally, but I actually wanted to be a musician and an artist. Like you, I decided that I didn't want to be a starving artist or starving musician, so I got practical and became an industrial designer, which combined objectivity and creativity. I could still be an artist, but I also became an expert in materials and manufacturing processes. Ultimately, though, that resulted in a lot of pollution of natural resources."
Time-wise, space-wise, I imagine you think a lot bigger than normal people do — how do you reconcile that with daily life? As an astrologer, how do you deal with the broadened perspective that comes with the profession.
"Daily life includes that. There's a whole community of people like me out there; it's a big world. I communicate with people all over the world that are like-minded. On a daily basis, a lot of life is mundane and I go about it like everyone else. On a personal level, I'm pretty constantly and frequently communicating with all kinds of people. You sort of have this perspective and think 'This is sort of an insane asylum,' because no one's practicing what they're preaching. We're almost the opposite of what you'd think is healthy and natural. So, if religion takes the place of spirituality; money takes place of values; everything is all twisted up!"
When you read for people that are all twisted up, do you try to set them on the straight and narrow? Tell them like they are?
"No. It's not necessarily what you say, but how you say it, that matters in the end. My mantra is: be constructive, be helpful, leave people feeling hopeful, or don't say anything at all."
Really? So, will you omit if you see something gloomy?
"It's not so much being gloomy, or what people call the 'good' or the 'bad,' I don't see things that way. We're all growing in our own ways, and each of us have our challenges. I like to present a person with what their issue is or what it is they need to work on, but in a way that actually –– I'm not a clock-watcher; sometimes I won't let someone leave if they're the same person they were when they walked in –– has some value. I like to present a person with a plan on what to do next."
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