We recently connected with Vala Stiorra and have shared our conversation below.
Vala, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
As a natural spiritual practitioner and a hereditary fortune teller, working professionally as a psychic entertainer has not been without experiencing a degree of misjudgement or mischaracterisation.
The first stereotype I come across is navigating clients’ expectations of a psychic. There is a certain way trained psychics present themselves and those who have been through psychic development have a way in which they characterise their messages as talking through spirit. The presentation or stereotype of expecting me to say “I am speaking to someone with the letter ‘M’ Mary, Marian, Maria…” until I hit the right name and give ambiguous information to give the person comfort is not the way I work, along with reading across the table or mingling around a room. I haven’t been taught and have only ever done it my way as I did before I worked as a professional psychic-sitting side by side and giving any and all information I receive, of which some will be right, some will be a prediction. The first thing I learned was to limit information so as to avoid giving any message or answer that had a negative outcome or could impact someone’s free will. This I learned after my one of my first professional readings where the lady was a fortune teller herself and gave me much needed guidance as far as telling me straight that even if someone says “tell me everything I’m ready” they really aren’t. This lady became a good friend and introduced me to the spiritual events agency and it was her guidance that prepared me for the myriad of clients I would come across in the future and helped me set very good boundaries in my readings. Even with these boundaries I still read my way and not in the same structure as trained psychics and I do come across the odd client who expects me to speak a certain way or talk through spirit IE speak to the dead and it is these clients that I have found myself having to manage complaints. Most complaints involve the client stating that while the messages I passed on were accurate, (well in my case “scarily accurate” is the most common feedback) the way I gave the message is deemed unprofessional or “not what they expected”. These complaints do wear hard on my self esteem and do impact my mental health. So, when I hear that my predictions are accurate but they just didn’t like me, that’s hard.
As previously mentioned, I have not been trained, my only form of psychic development is through my family heritage by my grandmother’s form of mentoring over a cup of tea or looking at each other’s palms every now and then and my grandmother demanding “what do you see girl? Just say it” tough love for sure but it taught me to trust my intuition. Despite my friends guidance I would still tell clients the answers to anything they want “even the bad stuff” only for a complaint to be made that I passed on “bad stuff” or was too accurate in revealing something they weren’t ready to acknowledge and it took a while for me to settle into my own set way of delivering readings to prevent further misjudgements or indeed complaints.
I think that is the benefit of training as the journey of setting parameters for clients and boundaries for myself has been a tricky one and I’m still learning.
It is not only my approach that was revealed to be naive, but also my thought that my physical appearance and limited mobility due to a life-long debilitating illness, would be more accepted to those who believe in the spiritual world. As I have a lot tattoos, walk with a stoop and need to use a walking aid or wheelchair, I am regularly stared at and pointed at ignorantly by strangers. However, I didn’t expect my professional life to collide with this type of prejudice. While most clients range from nonchalance to going out of their way to provide support for my limitations, not all are so kind. I remember one event I needed to use my wheelchair at due to the distance from the car park. The venue was a Scottish re-enactment medieval village with a Scottish Celtic theme. I came across a steep hill my wheelchair was just not going up and out of nowhere a number of big burly Celtic wedding guests gathered and picked up my wheelchair WITH ME IN IT, carrying me up the hill to a round of applause. While I felt embarrassed at putting them out these big Celtic lads were proud of themselves in being able to help and the day went wonderfully.
On the flipside I was booked at a festival style wedding held in a field and I informed the client as I had started to do as I keep having to add things after each experience, that I would be using my wheelchair, especially as they had requested, I mingle with the crowd offering palm readings. The client expressed that the wheelchair didn’t suit her vision especially for her wedding photos and could I not just walk around? I answered that unfortunately that wasn’t possible and had to politely but regretfully pull out of the booking.
Though it may seem rude and potentially prejudiced, I did understand that she probably had a stereotypical vision of an ephemeral pixie type floating around or the even more stereotyped “gypsy” “tell your fortune lovie?” In mind and sadly those floating days are over for me but I still consider myself ephemeral and pixie like and I don’t mind dressing in my authentic gypsy fortune teller outfit lol.
As an aside I take a lot of pride in making my own themed outfits, some are custom made for certain events and others are ideas I have like the steam punk outfit I just put together just in case someone asks for it. My outfits are as authentic as possible and all are one of a kind. I don’t like gaudy fancy dress I want clients to have the best look possible from me for their event. I remember one wanted me to look like their favourite Harry Potter character with big frizzy hair and I got a great outfit that looked almost exactly like the character and then had my hair in tiny plaits for 3 days and back combed it like mad for the day because I have impossibly straight hair, but the clients were over the moon with my authenticity and that is why I take such care and effort in my outfits.
These personal misjudgements and mischaracterizations are luckily few and far between but the more generalised misjudgements come with the previously mentioned stereotypes that a lot of psychics and especially fortune tellers like myself hear a lot. Everything from after telling people what I do for a living having a palm thrust in my face by a stranger demanding “go on then read my palm” as if I was a singer they’d demand I sing or show me a mole in an unsightly place if I was a doctor would be a no-no but somehow I should read everyone’s palm for free to prove myself.
Along the same line is those demanding you tell them something true BEFORE they pay you for a reading, to demanding the lottery numbers. If I could do that, I wouldn’t be here doing readings for £10 a pop trying to scrape a living!! Though there was one event at a racetrack where I saw a gent would be coming into some money and I lie not, at that moment his horse came in and I spent the rest of the event being asked to pick horses and kiss tickets!!
I would say the worst are the sceptics that have gone as far as telling me I’m a fraud and to “f” off to my face just because I’m there and not even due to a “bad reading”. But the worst are those who think all psychics are the same as they see on tv where we know when they’ll get married, when they’ll die and worst of all as mentioned before-we can all talk to the dead and if we can’t we’re a fake because a relative, friend or magazine article told them so. This couldn’t be further from the truth, fortune tellers in general see the future, outcomes, the right choice to make and as lost loved ones aren’t in the person’s future they won’t come through. Mediums speak to lost loved ones, Clairvoyants, clairaudients, spirit readers too but not seers or fortune tellers. Now some psychics can see such things, each of us in my experience have a certain skill, mine is a bit dark as I can see when people and pets are going to die which is personally an awfully big weight to carry and doesn’t help anyone. However, it’s not so much the assumptions that take their toll on people like me but the response when we refuse or say we can’t do that thing they want us to do. Being called a fraud is one thing but being compared to previous psychic and being told I’m a liar is quite another especially when you’ve done dozens of readings over several hours only for one person to be unhappy that you can’t or won’t answer their question as the answer is not good and in your experience giving a negative answer could harm that person’s mental health or influence their free will. If that one person is the person who booked you then I just know it will result in a complaint and demand for a refund despite all my efforts.
Despite my myriad of experiences it is precisely these efforts and knowing that I give ethically minded readings with love and care whether it be a quick 1 card reading or an in depth reading, that gives me pride in what I do and though like anyone these complaints do cause me doubt, the doubt is there to look at myself and see where I can improve or give me comfort upon reflection that the majority were grateful for my gift.
My ultimate aim in life is to give empowerment to others by sharing messages of guidance, comfort or reassurance in their lives and no judgement or stereotype can change that.
Also who doesn’t love dressing up for a living AND doing something they love?
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Having an ability is not necessarily something you are passionate about. We all have different interests and during our life, especially our early life, we find we are adept or not adept at different things. I have always been passionate about animals and the arts. Theatre, artwork, books and making clothes are all things I love. While acting has never interested me the outfits and backdrops that bring a story to life do. However, in my professional life I followed my passion for animals and the environment and found myself involved in wildlife rescue. In my non work life I found myself exploring spirituality and it is in this that what I thought was normal, the ability to see animal spirits and see intuitively the right paths to take in life, was not normal to everyone and was therefore an extra ability. Everyone has a certain degree of intuition, but some people like me find that intuition to be more sensitive. I am also a hereditary Romani gypsy through my grandma who throughout our childhood would share with us her knowledge of tea leaf reading palmistry, and other tools of divining answers. She also shared a lot of traditional crafts like sewing, knitting, weaving and she was a passionate painter. As my husband and I found ourselves running a not for profit animal sanctuary we needed funds and I turned these hobbies that stemmed from the knowledge my grandma passed on, to create things to sell in order to raise funds. A good friend in the pagan community I was involved in suggested I also use my psychic ability to offer readings and increase fundraising. I subsequently found the spiritual events agency and began my journey of providing psychic entertainment to the masses.
Sadly we found ourselves in a position where we could no longer fund our animal rescue. I love the work I do including creating art and other things and made it my full-time occupation. I am most passionate about offering reasonably priced items for others’ spiritual and psychic journeys through sourcing psychic tools such as tarot cards and making sets of runes, spiritual and pagan inspired artwork and I’ve even written my first book on teaching others through my journey how to get started with the runes. I offer workshops and free mentorship to others also as I want to eliminate blockages for others that I had to navigate in my own journey.
I would say that the sharing of knowledge and giving guidance for others’ journeys as well as my readings that give reassurance and empowerment to others, is what I’m passionate about the most.
While I’m based in the north east of England, I offer a nationwide coverage for the psychic entertainment I offer and attend spiritual fairs throughout the midlands, Yorkshire and the north of England where I my husband and I run a retail stand and I offer one on one readings. I also offer private sessions both from my home and via email or live video. I also take commissions for paintings, hand sewn clothing and other craft items.
In the 100s of readings I have done there is a recurring theme where I pick up on people’s mental health struggles. As I, myself and other family members also struggle with mental wellness I recently felt drawn to offer more to my clients by gaining qualifications in mental health counselling which I combine with my psychic ability to help people who are struggling find their way. I intend to go further with pursuing training as a mental health advocate.
Following my intuition has not only helped me to feel more whole in myself as I follow my passion through creating art, writing and crafting but my ability helps me to accomplish my ultimate mission in life that is to help others avoid the toxic behaviour of many in the spiritual and pagan communities by building their courage to follow their own journey and intuition, access spiritual and psychic tools at a reasonable price and share my knowledge for free, so others can find their destiny and feel empowered in their lives.
Have you ever had to pivot?
As previously mentioned, my primary passion from childhood is animals and the environment. I alai suffer from a very aggressive form of arthritis that was diagnosed in my late teens. This really turned my life and future dreams upside down but losing my ability to continue in my job at the time have me the ability to return to education and I gained a degree in conservation ecology. I also had my daughter while studying at university so that impacted my plan B and I focused on raising my daughter rather than pursuing my career. Once my daughter was old enough, I was able to start a business working with animals that evolved into working on wildlife rescue and ultimately fulfilling one of my ambitions in running an animal sanctuary with my husband. As previously mentioned, my other passion of creating art and crafts combined with isn’t my ability to fundraise.
Due to the pandemic we were unable to attend events in order to fundraise and we had to consider the welfare of the animals in our care and ultimately had we had no choice but to close our doors. A year prior I was feeling a lot of pressure on handling the emotional impact of rescuing injured and neglected animals and decided to close for new rescues . I believe this was my ability knowing the future would make it difficult to raise funds. This meant we only had 2 animals left to rehabilitate making the total closure easier. Though admitting my failure was very difficult for me mentally and I didn’t blame the pandemic, I understood that this wasn’t meant to be as we had been doing the same thing for 3 years and the sanctuary wasn’t self-funding so I had failed in this endeavour and needed to move on.
We chose to not only close the doors but to move away from the location too, to start anew, a rebirth in life and business.
As I started the spiritual retail and psychic entertainment to fundraise it was a bit of a journey evolving psychologically to continue the momentum and reputation, we had built in the spiritual community to continue the business practises for profit rather than for our not for profit. Transitioning the business for tax and legal purposes was easy but there is a weird opinion that psychics should work for free and monetising my ability to fundraise felt okay but monetising for myself as a business felt compromised. However, any ability should be valued and I learnt a strong lesson as I went into my first event as a for profit business by offering rune readings at a pagan event for donations and no set price. I ended the event with no donations at all. That taught me that if I don’t value my services, no-one else will either.
I continue to find balance through doing charity events for expenses only and I’ve exchanged readings for gifts – once I did a reading for a lady who lived baking and in return, she baked me my favourite lemon drizzle cake!!
There are 3 distinct times in my life where I’ve had to change my ambition, however, closing the sanctuary was the most painful. Breaking through this blockage of pain and recovering from the devastating necessity in closing the sanctuary I learned a life lesson to listen to your intuition and that failure is a great teacher. Finding your contentment or destiny is a journey and if I can make that journey less painful for others through my ability then that, I feel, is more than destiny, it’s my duty.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think it’s quite simple that to support a creative, artist or small business is to simply pay what they are worth. It’s perfectly okay to choose a cheaper option, machine made in China perhaps. I stock a lot of cheap items from China as it gives people the thing they want or feel they need at a cheap price. However if you want something original or handmade, that costs more and quibbling over it is offensive and is quite frankly a character flaw in those who know the item is worth the cost but don’t want to pay for it. What is worse is fellow creatives or stallholders who intentionally undercut or copy a fellow artist or creative. Inspiration comes from many sources and a few market does mean you are free to charge what you want however there is a difference in intentional copying and undercutting.
By the same token it is common for event organisers to price fix for psychics only by dictating the minimum price and often time for readings. This may be against the law but it doesn’t stop the organisers from black listing anyone who refuses to be dictated to. I at least set my prices at a level I think is reasonable for my style of reading and that should be respected. Customers should have a choice even if they choose the cheapest reader that is their choice.
As a qualified ecologist I can compare the ecological system of a hedgerow for example, to the spiritual marketplace. There is a system with a bottom, the retailers selling machine made goods perhaps, then the handmade goods, therapists offering tasters up to the apex prices of psychics offering full readings. To create a healthy system where sellers get what they’re worth and their services and goods are accessible to all, rich and poor, there should be psychics towards the bottom charging a lower price for shorter readings or the system can collapse into a place where practising spirituality and accessing guidance becomes elitist and poor people are priced out.
However, that doesn’t mean creators should compromise their worth. I have saved up to buy a one-off piece or two myself and I value them highly.
Life is about balance and this aspect is no different so I personally don’t mind haggling or offering a discretionary discount, but I won’t compromise my quality or set my price according to others.
The greatest lesson in life is to know your worth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://spiritualevents.co.uk/trusted-psychics/hedvig-starhawk-psychic?v=7885444af42e
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vala.stiorra.fortuneteller?igsh=MXdhaTBrNmYwcDA0Mw==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1YFw5MdqXL/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vala-stiorra-killen-860894273?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app
- Twitter: https://x.com/ValaGypsyWitch?s=09
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@valastiorra5837?si=bS0r1OeBoSbMnkVL
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@valastiorrafortuneteller?_t=ZN-8yhmqQ3ABYE&_r=1
Image Credits
Vala Stiorra