A Pisces with Moon in Aries, NightOwl is the Craft name of an astrologer, psychic, I Ching reader and long-time follower of the Goddess. She practiced as a solitary for many years, with an occasional coven or group affiliation. She's studied the esoteric since around age 10, at the library and in the woods; for the last five years, she has happily been a member of a coven of healers and seekers. She continues her lifelong quest to understand everything, experience everything and be of service to the will of the Goddess.
Sylvana: What type/s of divination do you do?
NightOwl: I do readings using astrology, the I Ching and trance work. People are curious about the astrological influences on their lives and want to have a birth-chart reading or learn about current and future celestial influences of their transits.
People consult me when they are stuck on a problem, want to use astrological influences to decide a time for a project (or a marriage) or just want as much information as possible before they make a decision.
I work with a lot of people who are struggling to find their life path or learn to deal with chronic illness. I consider chronic illness to be a call to the path of becoming a healer, artist, warrior or of committing to some sort of deep service. I am also a registered therapist/counselor and a licensed massage practitioner. I sell vitamins, herbs and supplements and recommend sources of information to assist people in creating the reality that they want to live in, one that calls them.
S: Can you describe the reading process?
N: Depending on the request of the person, I use a variety of methods to do readings. Casting the horoscope for the person or event gives me information about the initial conditions, the birth. Transits show the changing celestial forces that have influence and show the timing.
During the reading, I say, or write down, the psychic impressions that come to me while I am setting up the charts and sitting in a light trance with the person or the question. I tape-record readings if requested. I consult the , or invite the client to, and then observe my thoughts and impressions while reading the lines. I may sit quietly for a few minutes, often with my eyes closed, and then describe to the client the words, pictures, thoughts, feelings and so on that flit through my consciousness.
The process is somewhat difficult to describe. Being completely relaxed, clearing my mind and opening my heart are the most important conditions to allow the psychic impressions to come through. I clear myself at the beginning, opening my heart and soul, asking to be given the honor of being of service to another and putting aside all my own desires, fears, hopes and ideas. I have spirit guides and helpers who sometimes join me psychically and help.
S: How long have you been doing psychic work?
N: I began studying astrology 32 years ago. I started learning trance work much earlier, formally about 34 years ago with classes at the Philosophical Society in groups studying the Edgar Cayce material. When I became interested in astrology, there were very few books available, so my first book was one I borrowed from one of the older ladies I was studying with. I copied the whole book by retyping it. There were no copy machines or scanners then, and certainly no bookstores like now.
I was able to find one book to buy, mail order, and it took almost two months to arrive. I began casting the horoscopes of everyone I knew and met, and I studied, studied, studied!
Over the years, I have taken many more classes (and taught quite a few also) in a wide variety of divination skills, self-care and waking up.
S: How did you get into it?
N: Initially, I did charts for everyone I met, then people began requesting them and offered to pay me so I could devote more time to it. Psychic readings, the I Ching and the other things I do have been a response to helping others with information I had to learn to help myself survive and be more at peace in life.
S: Were you formally trained or did you learn on your own?
N: A combination. I continue to take classes when I find an interesting one and can make the time for it. A great deal of my training has been individual meditation and trance work or participating with groups of students and seekers who got together informally or as part of other mastery training.
S: What is it like for you when you look at a question. What goes in your head?
N: A great many different things can happen. Part of the discipline of doing readings is to not censor whatever comes through. Thoughts and scenes like swift little birds in flight dart through my mind. Feelings, pictures, body sensations, emotions or voices speaking might show up.
A being may appear and show me some writing or an object, or take me somewhere (energetically) and show me something. My task is to report as carefully as possible everything I see and feel, write it down or record it, then analyze it. Getting my own thoughts and fears out of the way can be the most difficult part. I find that if I have anything at all of my own going on, it colors the reading and makes it less accurate.
Too many people who are psychic get lost in the confusion of psychic impressions colored by their own fears or desires. Or they get trapped in impressions from past and future disasters. I am not interested in listening to any psychic who goes on and on about the coming disasters, where most of humanity will be destroyed to purify the earth. If most of us are going to suffer and be killed, what's the point of listening to someone go on and on about it? Why would anyone want to live after these supposed coming disasters?
Fear impressions are very intoxicating and can seem more "true" than other psychic information. It is all too easy to be seduced by these energies into believing the worst. I do not believe the future is determined. I have no doubt that there are many, many possible futures, and that what we put our energy and attention to will determine a great deal about the future. I don't want to waste a lot of energy on either fear or anger. They, along with despair, hatred and cynicism, ruin our present-day life and create a path into the future for more of the same. I find the things Marianne Williamson is saying very helpful. Even though she speaks in Christian terminology, it is not one of exclusion. She suggests a combination of opening our hearts, serving life and organizing politically to support leaders who will take a stand for compassion and community. What good ideas!
For myself, anything with strong emotional impact can pull me out of the reading trance and throw me into an emotional trance. (I call it that because it is easy to think of one's feelings as something other than a feeling trance.) It is then my job to notice as quickly as possible that I have changed states and return to the more neutral one if I can. I use a variety of techniques, breathing deeply and relaxing my belly being the first line of defense, to enable me to avoid attaching my consciousness to any of the unbalancing information that comes through.
I believe we are in one sort of trance or another most of the time. We call ordinary consciousness being awake, but I think it is really another kind of asleep, one that has general agreement in society. To do a good reading, I need to be rather impersonal, as if I were reporting on a TV program I was watching. My initial job is to attempt to report everything I see, hear, feel, think and imagine without any analysis or attitude, other than some curiosity and the willingness to see and report. Then I analyze it and discuss it with the client, continuing to get psychic impressions and reporting them as they occur.
S: Do you read strictly from the past and present, or do you do future predictions?
N: I often get impressions of the future that show multiple paths. I report and describe those possible futures and work. Even President Clinton could have prevented the current mess he is in by taking steps to prevent it, like having Hillary handcuffed to him day and night for instance. (This is an attempt at humor, so please laugh now.)
S: How do you receive information? Do you see visions? Hear? Feel? Just know?
N: All of those. The most common is for a few words to zip by, or a picture, and then it grows from there. I have kept records for years to learn how to evaluate how the more accurate information appears, so I can become more skilled. Keeping a journal and other records is vital to learning accuracy in my opinion.
Almost everyone can learn see with what is sometimes called the mind's eye. For example, I invite the reader to take a moment to close their eyes while answering this question, "How many panes of glass make up the windows in your bedroom?"
In order to answer that question, you will have to imagine your bedroom windows, and count the panes. The screen you see them on is the eye of your mind. With practice, you can ask for and receive all sorts of interesting information on that little screen. Sometimes the screen is as dim as an old black and white TV seen from across the room on a bright day. Other times it is full "LucasVision," filled with sound, color and action.
I also use my body a lot, particularly the main chakra areas and my hands, to feel and collect sensory impressions. I have created an energy bubble around me and use it to collect and sort the energy other people are sending out. As a person who is very sensitive, I also use it to protect myself from other people's irresponsible and aggressive use of their energy.
Most of the people who use their energy fields like a weapon are not really aware of what they are doing. But if they do it to me very often, I will assist them is becoming aware of it by describing to them what they are doing, and asking them to stop. If they refuse, I send it back with a little extra pus, or I cease to be in their presence.
Many people are angry right now as a reaction to the uncertainty and fear of change in society. I assist people in learning how to protect themselves from aggressive energy in my work too, and in how to manage their own so it serves their true soul purposes. Once people learn what their own path is, most become much less interested in pushing other people around.
I personally believe that we are born to be of service to each other, and to all of life. Discovering our life path is one of the most important tasks we each have, in my opinion.
I have several different translations of the I Ching, eight I think. My current favorites are The I Ching Workbook by R.L. Wing, I Ching, A New Interpretation for Modern Times by Sam Reifler and The I Ching, An Illustrated Guide to the Chinese Art of Divination, by Koh Kok Kiang and Tan Xiaochun. By looking up the hexagrams in several translations, I get a much deeper reading.
S: What do you charge for your services? How available are you?
N: My availability depends on how busy I am. It is usually possible to get an appointment within a few days, and sometimes even the same day if it is an emergency. I charge $50 for an hour reading, but I am not a strict clock-watcher.
I expect to be compensated for the combination of my skills and my time. I occasionally see people for reduced rates. I trade for yard work and housework, and am open to other possibilities.
I work a lot with people who are tired of being stuck in their same old rut, sick and tired of feeling powerless to change themselves or their circumstances. I think we usually change only when staying the way we are becomes more painful than facing our fear of change and doing the work it will take to make a change. I coach people on how to stop seeing themselves as a helpless victim in life and discover their purpose and path. I click better with people whose response to the circumstances of their life has been to fight back, and perhaps have too habitual an anger response, than with people who have usually not fought back. Warriors who want to develop their softer side along with those who want to find their warrior self often find working with me helpful.
I teach people how to take action and determine appropriate action, and I am not as sympathetic as I would like to be with people who want to spend more time dwelling on either mistakes or abuses from the past. I encourage people to listen to the words they use to describe themselves and change any negative patterns they habitually think in to help them find their own solutions.
Unfortunately, I can come across as harsh or impatient to people who are not yet ready to change anything about themselves or their circumstances, or who wish to believe that some other person or circumstance must change first. I never think that a person should stay in an abusive situation job, or relationship past what they have to learn there, which is something they will have to determine.
I have little sympathy for anyone who is bullying someone else, either, even if they believe they have a right to try to. I never encourage people to believe that changing someone else will change their own life or solve their problems. I encourage people to stretch and become their most expressive, expansive self, and I discourage them from playing small and weak. In my opinion, there is no real power in either victimhood or controlling others and a person is foolish to focus their energy on developing either path.
As I said, this can come across as harsh to a person who wants or needs something else at this time in their life. It can be just the right thing for those who see they have exhausted what they already know for sure and are open to learning how to learn from their higher self, guides, teachers and so on. I never tell a person what to do. I suggest how people can become open to the universal love and teachings and give them emotional support while they are pushing themselves to grow and develop. I am less the sympathetic mom and more the coach who says "You can do! Stand up and try again, and remember to open your heart and take care of yourself and others while you do it."
S: How may people get in touch with you if they were to want a reading?
N: Call me at (206) 368-9062 or e-mail nightowl@scn.org. My office is in Shoreline, just north of Seattle, and I do consultations afternoons and evenings. I can accept Visa and Mastercard, and I can do consultations by phone or mail, but I cannot yet send a horoscope via e-mail; I send it snail mail.
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