Neel

Background

As a baby, I was adopted. I don’t have much in the way of personal genealogy to speak of, but something that adoption did provide me with is an active imagination as I would “run scenarios” in my head as to why my biological parents made their choice. My adopted family was very empirical and traditional, whereas I was very fanciful and esoteric, so we butted heads often over the years. I also intrinsically knew from a very early age that I was a homosexual, before I even knew that clinical term. That also caused issues, as this was the 70s and 80s, before LGBTQ+ liberation and “it gets better…” Being bullied and ridiculed was tough then but it gave me personal resilience and increased my natural empathy.
I studied Religion in college because of a desire to understand the spiritual drive in humans. Just as we have biological drives, there are also drives to experience a deeper connection to reality as well as a drive toward the ecstatic experience. I wanted to plumb their depths in the hope that an understanding of what lay beyond our sensory perception of our world could be developed. My plan at the time was to continue into graduate work, gain my PhD and teach. Unfortunately, during my senior year I was diagnosed with, at that time, a terminal illness. Pursuing more formal education in the light of my imminent demise didn’t sound so appealing anymore. I finished my undergraduate studies, received my Bachelor degree, and decided to live as fully as possible with however much time I had left.
Obviously, I didn’t die… but that is a different story for a different time.
An opportunity arose to move to California, San Francisco specifically, in the late winter of 1993, six months after graduation. I had never been west of the Mississippi River before, so of course I immediately said YES! All in all, I ended up living in the City by the Bay for 25 years, and it became a graduate school unto itself. The magic and esotericism of the South, where I had been all my life, has a particular, regional flavor. The term Root Magic comes to mind. The magic and esotericism of California brings to mind something more ethereal, High Magic so to speak. California is the cliff off which we see The Fool, in so many Tarot iterations, blithely walking. Living in California taught me to trust my intuition and that every day is a leap of faith. Finding and being in Harmony, allows one to face that faith without fear.
I left San Francisco in 2015 and landed in Portland, Oregon where I experienced the peculiar energies of the Pacific Northwest. Life in the PNW revealed a world of deep emotion as would its watery reputation impart, being a rainforest. But moreover, the PNW is a “Chapel Perilous” where one can experience a spiritual testing, a vision questing experience. David Lynch elloquently captured the flavor of the energy in his series Twin Peaks and the film Blue Velvet. Considering the impact that our digital/technological advancement sprang from Seattle, the emerald city meets the emerald tablets, one can also glean the watery energy among the trees and volcanoes.
The South with its deep earth energy, California with its high fire energy, and the PNW with its mysterious water energy all provided me with experience in very distinct energies which I honor and employ in my readings and energy work. I never lived in the northeast which would represent air energy, like Mercury ruling Gemini, but I am a double Libra with my ascendent, Sun and Uranus in stellium in my first house, so feel like I already had that covered (and why I felt so at home in fiery California).
It has been a long, strange trip indeed, but the experiences I have amassed over the years only enhanced my natural inclination toward empathy, understanding, and helping others. Now that I have cleared the astrological hurdle of the Chiron Return, I hope to be of service to those who feel unmoored or adrift in the as we progress from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius.

Experience

There have been two constants in my mental makeup- a desire to understand our drive to connect with the spiritual and a desire to help others who feel unmoored or isolated. Tarot became the tool by which I found some answers and more questions, but more importantly, I was able to offer counsel to others through interpreting the cards and conversing.
I began my counseling journey reading for friends in my hometown and college. When I moved to California, I started reading for strangers at street fairs and Sunday Beer Busts in the gay bars. In the PNW, I found myself reading for financial security. I gave lectures on quantum theory and metaphysics, taught classes on the crafting and uses of talismans and amulets, gave tutorials on interpreting the tarot, among other retail duties required in a metaphysical bookstore. Now that I have come full circle, I would like to read professionally as well as teach others to read for themselves. I have returned to my home state of Kentucky to be close to family and begin life post Chiron Return. The Archetype of the Hermit would best describe my journey as a counselor, tucked away in study where others would have to seek me out, but post Chiron Return and post pandemic, I am ready to emerge with the lamp of Solomon held aloft.
I guess this is a ray of light from that lamp.

Methods

My method is very conversational. With three cards I could divine why you are seeking a reading, but by creating a dialogue, we can bypass that and get to the heart of the matter, opening more time to find solutions or possible paths forward. Divination through Tarot relies heavily on synchronicity and the random, quantum nature of each card that appears. Dialoguing helps us to tap into the collective consciousness and understand the story the cards reveal.
My psychic ability is my openness as a receiver to the various vibratory fields that underpin what we perceive as reality. I’ll forgo nerding-out about quantum field theory, harmonics, etc… Using my intuition, which I have honed over many years, I connect with those quantum fields, of which the collective consciousness is one, and then divine the nature of an issue, an advantageous path forward, or whatever issue needs to be addressed.
The very fact that you are reading these words right now speak to the path that has led you here. I would welcome the opportunity to be a guide for you moving forward.

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