Terry Iacuzzo: I used my
abilities as a psychic to write this book. There is memory and then
there is my ability to go back in time. When I’m doing a reading for
a client, I can travel into the future, the past, the present of
their life, as well as alternative realities that are available for
them to choose from. When I was writing my own story, I found myself
doing just that for me. I wouldn't just remember specific events; I
would go back there and actually be in the place in that moment in
time. I wouldn't pull back. I’d let myself go and be fully present
in experiencing the past.
While writing the
book over a period of 5 years, I didn't do any psychic readings for
other people, so I was able to stay inside of my own process for
hours and hours. I didn’t have to think about the client sitting in
front of me, so I was very available to focus on myself.
One of the major events
I write about in my book was being molested by my uncle when I was a
young girl. When I went back to the time when it happened, I relived
each and every detail about it. I could smell his cologne, I could
hear his voice, and I could feel his hands touching me. It was
painful and believe me, I was back there in my childhood home being
molested again on the couch. But when I was back there, I was also
able give myself comfort. It was very freeing. Of course, I have
remembered this experience throughout the years, but somehow in
writing about it I had access to a whole other level of what it
meant to me because I’m psychic.
I changed only a few
peoples’ names in the book, which freed me to say anything I wanted
to about them. I didn’t hold back.
JL: It's like that Oscar
Wilde quote, "you give somebody a mask, then they will spill the
truth". When you were able to go back in time to relive some of
those painful memories and then you brought the pain back to the
present, did something change within you?
TI: I would get up in
the morning and continue writing from the day before and it would be
one long moment. Time and space disappeared. I’d get up at 5:00 in
the morning and look at the clock and it would be 4:00 in the
afternoon. I was in this whole other world, my world.
Sometimes I was young again and back in the house in Buffalo, New
York, where I grew up, or in my early days when I first came to New
York City. Writing the book allowed me the time to savor all the
textures of my experiences. Writing healed me and connected my past
with my present. I know now I am capable of being truly happy. I was
every day that I was writing my book.
When I finished it I
went into a kind of identity crisis. I wasn't a writer anymore and I
wasn't doing readings for strangers. I was somewhere completely new
and fully present. I'm still enjoying finding my way as to who I am
now on a deeper, more present level. It’s so exciting. I'm
completely here today, right now with you as you’re hearing
this. Before the book, I would be in a million places all at once,
and not only in my life but in the lives of thousands of others.
JL: Would you describe
it as being able to let go a lot that you carry from your past,
things that weren’t really helpful?
TI: I call all those
experiences that we carry with us Our Library of Life. I don't have
to let them go. I can refer to them when I need them. I can identify
as them when I have to. You never let go of your mythology
completely. It’s what makes you who you are. Every single experience
I’ve had, every one, brought me here to this day with you. This tape
recorder and this piece of paper, this tea you brought me. Every
detail got me to this moment-- it all had to be as is, or we
wouldn't be here. It all had to go this exact way for me to know who
I am and what the full experience of this moment is about. We can
talk for sixteen hours on this question alone.
There is so much more I
wanted to say in Small Mediums at Large. I started out
thinking I would write a whole different of book-- an academic
analysis of my family and how it was that we came to be psychic. Was
it genetic? Was it a collective experience about power? Was it
neuroses? Was it a dream?
JL: In the beginning of
your book you mention when looking at one of your clients that you
look away, preferring to feel the presence rather than let the
details influence you.
TI: Yes, I have to stay
away from the influence of profiling. We started hearing that word a
lot in the study of criminals and serial killers. There’s a pattern
in serial killers, most of them tortured animals when they were
young, they’re loners, often their parents were divorced or they
were sexually abused. Anyway, where am I going with this? I haven’t
read for any series killers that I’ve known of. Believe me, I’d
remember and be sure to get that one right.
What I mean is, in my
work I don’t want to be influenced by the way someone looks, or in
my case, as I see the first outer layer of their being. People
follow patterns and styles not only in their clothes, but also in
their lifestyle, emotional reactions, in their choices. I can see
the patterns. You can see the patterns when you start to pay
attention to those details.
In our city, New York,
there are many different groups of people coming and going and those
groups have their standards and styles. The tourists, the models,
the people in the art world, the Downtowners, the Upper Eastsiders,
the Wall Streeters—they all seem to follow their trend and way of
being to the letter. I’ve read them all, thousands of them, so I
have to push away what I’ve learned about them-- the profiling. The
human costume. I work very hard to look into each life and find
their uniqueness in a much deeper way. And under that is where the
story is, the predictions, the psychic information.
JL: Do you think most
people have intuition, but they let their needs and their desires
get in the way of seeing the truth?
TI: Yes. When you first
meet somebody you know everything about them in the first few
moments of meeting, but then you choose to look away, because you
think, oh my God, I find that person really hot! I want him! Desire,
judgment, fear… all get in the way of pure intuition. I've asked
people, “What was the first feeling you had when you met him?” And
they might say, oh, I felt he was pretentious or I felt he was a
liar. He’s still married. She’s never going to commit. And they’re
usually right. And that’s the reason why they broke up. They knew
the whole story right from the beginning.
I’ve been finding
something scary in my life lately. I notice that when I look
psychically at random strangers, I find myself receiving very
disturbing messages. There’s a human connection that’s being
destroyed and lost. I feel the deadening of the psyche caused by
medication, depression, I Pods, cell phones, computers, apathy, and
lingering remorse. Whether people are depressed because of the
world, the war, and the failure of the American dream. Or that many
people are accepting they new world idea of terror, something is
rapidly dying inside and around us. We have to come back to our
humanness or we’re going to lose our intuition altogether. We have
to connect with each other, look at each other, talk and touch each
other. We need our intuition if we’re going to survive in the
future. It’s all we’ll have left that’s privately ours. It’s our
compass.
JL: Because of all of
this technology?
TI: Some of it has to do
with that. This is a recent thing that I’m seeing. I’m constantly
studying myself and the ways in which my psychic gift works. I’m
constantly thinking, “How do I know that?” “Where can I go with
this?” “How can I observe more, know more?” The subway is a great
place to “look” at people because underground people are often
afraid, they’re locked inside a steel box together and something
about being underneath it all and just sitting there puts them in a
vulnerable position. It’s effortless for me to read them.
It has always been a
great place to check out people psychically and to sharpen my
skills. I’d watch them sitting there and I’d get so much
information, details. Of course I have no way to validate what I’m
getting. I can't go up to them and say, “Excuse me, did you really
have that fight with your husband last night and you told him you
were leaving?" I could hear and know who was getting fired, who was
getting sick, who was simply daydreaming and what they were
daydreaming about and who was happy too. But now I find a kind of
deadness, visually and emotionally inside of people. They’re harder
to read and sometimes there’s just nothing to read at all.
I ask myself could it be
me? Am I changing and I don't care anymore, not interested
anymore? No. Because I’m looking, looking, looking. And something
scares me that never scared me before. We must do something fast to
change this or we’re not going to make it.
JL: So it's been
stunted, it's been almost like a liquid cosh isn't it, like it's been
whacked out?
TI: It makes one wonder
if commerce and the government want us all to be numbed out,
helpless and frightened, of course they do, and most of us are
falling into the pit.
JL: There's tons of
money in medication, in that industry.
TI: Money, power and
control. It’s hurting us. We need intuition now more than ever. We
need all our psychic senses to be fully opened and turned on if we
are going to survive in the future. It’s all we have left that’s
unique to us. It’s how we navigate through life. It’s how we protect
our self, make art and invent. It’s how we love.
JL: Do you think a lot
of people go to psychics because they have problems with making
decisions by themselves?
TI: Yes I do. And I can
see their choices clearer in ways they can’t. But sometimes they
want everything done for them, everything explained to them. I think
it’s better to take a peak behind the curtain and leave some things
for surprise. A good psychic can show them their choices and guide
them to make their own decisions from there. I never let anyone
depend on me to the point of obsession. You can come for a reading
only once a year maybe twice. I want you to depend on your own
feelings. I would weaken you if you came to often. Most people come
for a reading because of love. The number one question is: "Will
anybody ever love me?"
JL: Are people lazy - or
they're just not that tough and they want to give their power over
to you.
TI: They often want me
to tell them what to do. It’s probably the most powerful job in the
world. The psychic can see the future, know the truth about a
situation, and know the outcome. I want to empower people to trust
themselves. I want to show them the places in their life that will
work or won’t work and to help them move on.
JL: That's why you get a
lot of these powerful people coming to you.
TI: Are you referring to
the rich and famous? Powerful people can be both presidents and
housewives. They know I can help them and that I always look at life
with a loving, yet discerning heart.
JL: I could just imagine
whom you’re talking to. I won't even go there. Laughs.
TI: I never reveal my
clients names. They trust me. Where would they go if I talked about
them? Everyone is selling everybody out for cash. You’d be surprised
who’s sat at this table and shuffled those cards. All kinds of
people know about me and I know a lot about them, especially now
with my book out. Please, I used to be terrified of being kidnapped
by some crazy cult or some foreign government who wanted to use
me. I’ve read for all kinds of people, you have no idea. Actors,
students, politicians, priests, mobsters, teachers, royals, lawyers,
dreamers… many people, thousands have come to see me over the 30
some years I’ve been professionally reading. They have serious
issues too-- life and death. People come when they’re dying. They
want to know what they should do with the rest of their life, with
the time they have left.
I have vision. I help
speed time up if they're in a situation that seems like it’s never
going to change. I help them find the way to get on with it. I give
details, maps to move on in life. I give hope. That’s the most
important thing.
JL: To get unstuck,
people that are stuck.
TI: Yes. The world is so
distracting. It’s difficult to untie yourself especially if you
don’t think you’ll have anything better. We believe that the pain we
know is better than having no pain at all and feeling nothing. And
that being alone is unbearable. I try to show them that being in the
bed, so to speak, with the wrong person is lonelier than being alone
in the bed with yourself.
JL: What about people
testing your abilities, do you get any of those?
TI: People come
sometimes because they’re curious and they’ll test me by withholding
and closing down. Though when that happens, and that’s rare, after a
few minutes into the reading I have them in tears about something
that’s going on in their life and I soon find the testing stops.
JL: What draws a person
to a psychic?
TI: They’re searching
for answers, directions. Often they’ve had a psychic experience
themselves and they want it validated. We get lost along the way; a
good psychic can help see the road ahead. I’m like a helicopter
pilot. I can see the roads below and give you the traffic report but
you have to choose your destination and drive the car alone.
I'm always curious about
the people who come to me who are just about to get married. I've
called off a lot of weddings. I’ve read for many young girls just
months, even weeks away from getting married. I'd say: Yes, I can
see the happy party, all the guests and beautiful dresses, but… I
want to ask you a question, why is it when I see you having sex with
your fiancé you're clenching your fists and you hate it? Or, you're
thinking of someone else, you’re obsessed with a guy at work and
you’re getting married in a month? Why are you seeing your old lover
again when you already set the date?
They usually start
crying… my God you can see that? I love him, but he's so cruel. But
I can’t give up my old boyfriend. I say, “Call it off! I'll go with
you to your parents. I’ll help you, but I beg you don’t get married
to this man.” I told this to men too just as many times. “I don't
care if you're embarrassed or what. Send all the gifts back. Don't
do it!”
There have been several
people who have called off weddings because of what I saw. I’ve had
a few calls from the fiancés, both men and women screaming at me,
“Why did you tell my girlfriend…?” I say, I'm sorry I can't talk to
you, it's confidential. That’s a terrible moment for me.
One time there was a man
waiting for me in front of my building…“I’m so and so's
boyfriend.” I was terrified… I thought… oh my God, he's going to
kill me. I talked my way out of it. That’s another story. Laughs.
JL: You probably saved
them both.
TI: Another man came
looking for me. He looked through his girlfriend’s appointment book
and saw the name Terry. He found my apartment and got into the
building. He thought she was having an affair with a man. When he
saw me he realized I was a woman and was embarrassed. He should only
know what I had just said about him.
JL: You mention the
Akashic records.
TI: The Akashic records,
who knows if they were or are real or not? In my young days I was
told that I was an interpreter of the records. They are ethereal
books detailing all time and space of everyone and every event-- the
book of all knowledge. The story of all our lives. Is everything
written somewhere? It does make me wonder how I know what I know and
that I could actually read the story of a person's life as if I
pulled a giant book out of thin air and read it to them.
We’ve all had the dream
where we go to a great library in the sky and pull books off shelves
and read, wonder and learn. Has it all been written before, is it
all planned?
When I went to Palenque,
Mexico, this spectacular place in a mountain jungle, I saw a temple
ruin where I was told such a library actually existed. I was very
moved and I had very clear memories of being there once in another
life.
JL: Is that south of
Cancun about 45 minutes? I was there.
TI: Yes. It’s a
beautiful place with the scent of gardenias. It’s wild and lush and overgrown. Monkeys and magnificent birds are everywhere in the
trees. I went into one of the buildings where the books of
prophesies where supposedly kept and read. I strongly felt that if
the Akashic records existed, that they where there at one time. I
believe they actually materialized in our human's lifetime. I could
feel them in the room in Palenque. I could read them inside of me as
I stood there. It was incredible.
But is there a real
library now or is this a symbolic name for the knowing of psychic
information? I don't know. It really doesn’t matter. Nobody really
knows the answers to questions like this. The term Akashic records,
I believe comes from The Theosophical Society, Madame H. P.
Blavatsky wrote about them in The Secret Doctrine. Manly P. Hall of
the Philosophical Society writes about them, both are fascinating
people to study.
JL: And Edgar Cayce
mentions them as well.
TI: I don't know what
the word Akashic means exactly. Many psychics and mediums told me
that I am a reader of the records. My sister told me only recently
that she had many readings too where she was also told she can read
them. Those old schools of spiritualism and metaphysics are so
interesting; they paved the way for all of us. But I feel I'm a more
modernized twenty-first century psychic. I like to strip away from
all that formal ancient study and connect with the world today,
humanity and nature through what I feel in the moment. The one tool
that I do use is the Tarot cards. And always, I rely on my heart for
the truth.
JL: That's a good
question - the Tarot cards - would you say you use them as a
vehicle? It's really like a tool for you - like a visual aide?
TI: The cards are like
little television or movie screens that tell the story of life in
pictures. They’re cue cards to open up the psyche. I respect the
cards as one of the important books of our time. It’s a book without
a binder. It’s also something for the client to focus on as they sit
there in front of me. It distracts them and takes their mind away
from their problems in the moment, as well as the intimacy of the
experience of being with me in the reading.
JL: It takes their mind
off it.
TI: They shuffle the
cards, and while they're doing that I'm scanning them and getting
information. I changed the style of my deck I use. I now in my
second life, after my long career of doing readings, switched
decks. I now use the Rider-Waite deck. I used to use the Swiss
deck. The difference is the Waite deck it has pictorials on every
card and I sometimes point them out to the clients so they can
really see the representation of what they’re going through. It’s
very helpful and they feel more included in the process.
JL: How many cards are
there?
TI: There are 78 cards
in a deck, the major and minor arcana. They have suits just like the
regular 52 playing card decks. Wands in the Tarot are clubs,
pentacles are diamonds, cups are hearts and swords are spades. One
to ten, just like the regular deck. But the Tarot also has 56 major
cards with representational pictures on each card that tell us about
the more important changes and events in our life, such as death,
disaster, love and the meaning of love, wisdom, hope, life after
death. I love the cards. My brother taught me to read them when I
was 12 and they’ve been a part of my daily life ever since. I see
the living Tarot everywhere I go. The cards are alive to me.
JL: Can you explain a
little about the symbolism?
TI: The nine of swords
for example in the minor arcana is a good one. Nine swords
generally, simply means grief and tears. It shows a woman in a bed
holding her head with nine swords above her. When I show this card
to the client they know exactly what it means to them. “Oh that's
what it’s like. I can't sleep and I'm so upset.”
I like using the Waite
deck now. I'm a pop culture girl. I was born before the television
was invented. But it was a big thing when it came into our lives, a
huge influence on us as kids. The TV set showed me how my psychic
mind works. A little screen showing me the future inside myself. It
was a revelation!
I’m a visual person. I
look at everything as a movie and screens, so the cards are a
perfect tool for me. Everything I see is a vision, a tableau inside
me and in the outside world. I’ve done readings where I took that
all away. I wanted to see if I could still be psychic if I couldn't
see. Years ago I did my own blind studies where I had a friend
blindfold me and bring someone to me that I never knew, met or heard
of before. I made them promise not to trick me. I didn’t want to be
tricked because that would confuse me too much. If I had prior
knowledge I would pick up that I knew the person, but I’d be all
muddled trying to figure it out. I told them not to speak and to
leave me alone in the room with the person. It was amazing the
things I saw and knew about them!
I imagine people who are
blind go through this and must use their intuition to feel their way
through, but being psychic I also got information on a much deeper
level about the person. I have to say it was frightening to me at
the time. I’d had to work through a lot of fear about having such
knowledge about other people in that helpless state. I was in a
black hole of infinity experiencing the person’s complete
soul. Something I had only experience with myself on LSD years
ago. But then it was me in my own exploration, and I was not as
fearful.
JL: It would be
interesting to experiment with that.
TI: Yes, maybe one
day. It interests me again.
JL: In order to do that
you have to let go of fear completely?
TI: Yes, you have to let
go of all fear to go to levels you haven't even dreamt of
yet. Believe me you can go there.
JL: Do you also pick up
on people's auras that you see?
TI: I can see the aura
energy field around a person. It’s not really something that I work
with that much at all. Colors mean different things to different
people, as well as time and our own personal time clock. Both are
changing constantly. There are so many different fields of interest
in the paranormal. I’m interested in all of it and have met many
people over the years that are so fascinating in the things they can
do.
JL: What about Feng Shui?
TI: Of course, I think
all these things are quite amazing. And they're so interesting--
your horoscope - my God - I am so my chart, definitely; Sun and Moon
in Scorpio, born on Halloween, Sagittarius rising, Venus in Virgo;
that’s totally me. But these things must not distract us. The real
work is liberating oneself from the identity. And focus on opening
the heart.
JL: Were you born on the
31st?
TI: Yes, on
Halloween. Someone gave me a gift recently of a reading of my
astrology chart. I said I didn’t want a natal chart done again; I've
had it done several times over the years, but I wanted to check a
specific date instead, the date I signed an important contract.
The astrologer read for
me and told me that my life was about to become a nightmare. It was
so horrible and negative and he went on and on, and on like
that. And I said, "I'm glad you're telling me this because I can
handle it, and I have a lot of experience with psychic and
paranormal information, but if I hadn’t I’d be devastated. He gave
me no hope and no possibility to reverse. And don’t forget—there is
always the interpretation of the information one is translating. It
can mean several different things depending on who’s reading the
chart.
Now, I remember that day
I signed the contract, and it was a horrible day, just like he
said. It was one of the most difficult days of my life. He got that
right completely. But I don't put a lot of power on one moment that
you put your signature on a piece of paper. I think that cripples
you, holds you back. That the ink and the paper can hold you back
from change as well as the power you place on it. I refuse to
surrender that much to such a philosophy. You can change everything,
you can. I met a woman recently who said, “Never make a vow because
it leaves you no room to grow.” But sometimes we just have to sign
contract or make a promise, that’s the way of the world. The words
can emblazon your soul for life.
Well, it remains to be
seen if the astrologer was right. Wait a minute. I’m the psychic!
JL: That's interesting
because that is one of the questions I was going to ask you. You
said something in your book about - you've got to be very careful whom
you let read for you.
TI: Yes, you do. Believe
me, in some readings I’ve told people some very terrible things that
upset them. But along with that information must come hope and a
vision with a new direction. Be very careful with whom you consult
with because when you turn over yourself to someone you believe has
power their words will stay with you your whole life. Think before
you go for a reading if you want that kind of influence in your
life. Trust your own intuition. I’ve had people cancel their
appointment just before they were scheduled to come. I appreciate
when they tell me they changed their mind at the last moment. They
didn’t want to know.
JL: What a psychic says
to you - it stays with you?
TI: People are innocent
and vulnerable when they come for a reading. They trust me with
their life. I take my work very seriously. I have to be fully in the
experience, knowing precisely what I feel, before I’ll tell them
what I see. I never just blurt anything out.
JL: That leads to the
next question about - how much emphasis would you put on the power
of suggestion?
TI: That can’t be
helped. People want to hear what they want to hear. They want to
make happen the things I say. I try to explain to them to almost try
to forget the reading and let the life unfold and watch for the
signs. I know I have to have an open loving heart when I read for
anyone. I want to guide them in ways that helps their life grow and
liberate their suffering.
JL: What about some of
the psychics out there that are not so pure of heart. Are there some
"tell tale" signs that people should look out for?
TI: Always get a
recommendation, talk to friends, and ask them what was the
experience like for them. I also encourage people to have different
kinds of metaphysical experiences and trust in your own intuitive
feelings when you’re seeking a reader. Those discoveries when you’re
on your own can open up your thinking and questioning that leads you
to finding what’s right and truthful for you.
There are all sorts of
readers. It’s hard today to find the authentic. Some readers mean
well, they’re wise, kind, some are making things up, some are very
dramatic and entertaining. It’s a journey to find someone who’s
suitable for you. I would suggest strongly staying away from the
storefront reader/advisors. Sometimes they will hit on a piece of
information that’s going on in your life at the time, but then comes
the “You got a curse on your head and where’s the money and I’ll
take it off?” The curse, I mean. There never really is a curse. The
curse is meeting them. Stay away.
It's like finding a
doctor, a therapist, a lawyer, or meeting some one new-- you want to
interview, ask questions of yourself from your intuition. Find out
first as much as you can about them, but in something like this,
what works for one person may not work for someone else so you've
got to take the chance and follow the wheel of destiny sometimes. I
don't believe in bad experiences or even negative ones, they are all
transformative.
JL: For learning?
TI: Yes. Sometimes
you’ll find yourself in a place where it's exactly where you’re
supposed to be. It may not have been your intention, but there you
are. I had a reading when I was in my early twenties. It was a
glowing reading about how I was going to have this amazing life as a
psychic (and she knew nothing about me, neither did I at 20). She
told me that I would be world famous because of my talent and I
would help thousands of people. I was so excited by her visions, but
then at the very end of the reading she looked right at me and said,
“There’s one more thing: “When you go to Europe, you’ll be raped.” I
kid you not, that’s what she said. I was too inexperienced and in
shock to ask her where, when, why? That off handed comment scared me
for many, many years. And please, know that I’ve been to Europe
several times and it didn’t happen and it won’t.
But let me tell you, I
consider her one of my greatest teachers. From that experience that
woman taught me that if ever I say anything like that to a client I
better be having the vision, feeling the anguish, looking closely to
know where am I, what country, what year am I in? I must get all the
details and the feelings before I ever reveal something like that to
a client. I have to be certain, unquestionably.
When I wrote my book I
went back to being in the room with her having that reading again. I
was able to teleport, so to speak, back to myself at that age. And I
was also able to slip into being her! I discovered then that she was
jealous of me. I was young, on the edge of this magical life… She
gave me a glowing reading and then took it away by that horrible,
frightening prediction she gave me. She had that much power over me.
JL: Yes because words
are very powerful.
TI: Absolutely. That’s
really what a curse is-- words with power aimed directly at
someone.
JL: There’s a part in
the book when you talk to a psychotherapist and he says "making this
up gives you a sense of power when actually you feel powerless and
fragile in this world so you have created a fantasy in a world you
do not feel safe in"
TI: Yes, he said
that. People, and especially some therapists I’ve seen, try to
figure out the reasons behind our family all having psychic
visions. They can’t just accept that this is our family’s natural
talent. I used to myself, try to analyze it, find out why this
was. I don’t do that anymore. Writing the book made me let go of all
that.
JL: It's a power trip
some of these people have.
TI: Yes, they are also
trying to put their power over on us, rationalize our life or come
up with some explanation that it’s all fantasy. I wanted to write the book
about this, not to prove all those people wrong, and yet there is a
part of that that is true about wanting power. But this is true in
many families.
I’m constantly being
asked to explain my family and myself. I have to endure such
questioning but it makes me think too about our unique individual
gifts and how this came to be. Most people really only know of
psychics from movies and television. And most of what you see is
fantasy. I have noticed people are both fascinated and terrified by
it. And some want to disprove it.
JL: It's interesting
when Carl Jung and Freud had that falling out over this stuff. The
story with Jung shattering the glass. Do you think this is a new era?
TI: This is a new
era. We are more sophisticated in our understanding of our self and
the world we live in. Look at all the self-help and New Age books
available to us now. And how many psychics there are! We’re in the
21st century we have to stop doubting. Psychic communication,
telekinesis, teleportation and materialization are something ancient
people did naturally. It was part of being human. We are now going
in two directions: those who are cutting off with medication and
technology and those that are discovering their psychic humanness
and tender heart. Coming too are the future inventions. Wait until
the telephone arrives that has a direct line to the afterlife. And
the dream machine where you can get up in the morning and replay
your dream on a television set. And flying cars and interplanetary
travel as the norm.
JL: How do you usually
translate the visual pictures in your head into language? Do you
have a method for doing this?
TI: It's many different
ways. I often just know things inside myself as if I’ve always known
the person I’m reading for—like an old friend I haven’t seen in
years. Sometimes I see movies in my head. There either about the
person I’m reading for or I’m the “star” of their movie and I
represent them in the role. It’s like an awaking dream with symbols
and clues I have to interpret.
pay attention to the
sensations in my body. Rarely do I hear things in my ears. I
sometimes see a manifestation in the room. The process happens very
fast and I have to translate the visuals I “see” and “know” into
words. It’s very exciting for me. I can’t exactly stop when I’m
doing it and explain the process to the client but when I do, and I
slow down the experience, I find many more details in the vision
that the client can explain the meaning of it. Sometimes my speech
can be broken up. A woman asked me once if English was my first
language. I started to laugh. She should only know what I was
translating in my head. This goes on all the time with me not only
in a reading but when I’m going about my everyday life. I am
constantly receiving messages in all sorts of ways. I don’t sleep
very much.
JL: Do you ever get
information from a name?
TI: Yes. The names in my
appointment book for example. I don’t make my own appointments; my
assistant does it so I don’t know anything about a person before
they come to see me. When I read a name in the book I start getting
a story right away. On rare occasions if I had an unsettling feeling
or a doubt about reading for them or just letting them into my
apartment, I’d call the person before hand. If I felt something was
unsafe for me or that they were too disturbed for me to work with,
I’d have to call them. If I was right, and I can tell right away
from hearing their voice, I would make some excuse and cancel the
appointment. Now, that rarely happened. Also, what I might have been
getting was the problem they were facing, or about someone in their
life. But I wanted to check it out for my safety and wellbeing.
I also start getting
information right away as the client approaches my street and as
they start climbing up the sixth flight walkup to my apartment.
JL: You see in color?
TI: Yes it can be in
color. Sometimes seeing is not visual. It’s like a slow movement
inside me walking through the dark of becoming the person I’m
reading for. I think of it as a human transfusion. Fluids of being,
passing through me very rapidly, but in slow motion. You have to
stretch your thinking to understand this. It’s like trying to
explain love.
JL: I love your photo of
the train tracks above your reading table.
TL: Yes it's faded a
lot. It's my crystal ball. It's falling from the mat inside the
frame but I don’t want to touch it. It has the vibrations and
stories inside of it from all the readings I’ve done here and the
life changes I’ve been through. I’ve had it since 1968. I always
said to myself that I’d stop doing readings when it fades away
completely. I told that to a photographer who came to see me and he
said I’d be sitting here a long time. Once in awhile a client will
look at me looking at the railroad tracks and wonder why I’m staring
at it so long. I don’t look at it that much anymore, but it does
work for me as a focal point. My favorite place in the world is on a
moving train.
JL: How do you feel
about karma?
TI: Karma… the first
thing is, I grew up in Buffalo, N. Y., a Sicilian-American Catholic
girl. Karma is an Indian belief system. I came of age in the hippie
movement when the Beatles first went to India, so I certainly now
what Karma is and what it means. What you do in life will come back
to haunt you either way, until you just let go. Let go of the
fixation on meaning. Let go of your need to have answers. Be fully
present in the loving heart. The moment is rapidly changing. Feel,
experience, be present… breathe.
live in a mystery,
that’s what inspires me. Not knowing all the answers, the reasons
why. I’ve let go of the desperate need to find out. With or without
knowing, we all go on and we will all disappear.
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