[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”false”]Mountain Top woman finds following as a medium
[/x_custom_headline][cs_text]C H A R L O T T E L . J A C O B S O N , S T A F F W R I T E R
P U B L I S H E D : O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6- Arts & Living – Citizens’ Voice
As a child, Nikki Velasquez said she was frightened by her ability to see and hear things others couldn’t. But as an adult, she said she fuels her power as a way to help people gain closure with their lost loved ones.
Velasquez, known to some as the Mountain Top Medium, has spent the last year fully devoted to the healing qualities of being a spiritual intuitive and medium.
Coming from a 20-year background as a clinical social worker and grief counselor, Velasquez offers a unique spin to the traditional ways of a medium. Where some mediums may simply act as a messenger between spirits and their still-living loved ones, the 43-year-old is able to give some guidance to people as they grieve.
“I am able to bring the grief counseling experience to this in a way that is really meaningful and helpful and applicable,” Velasquez said. “There’s an element of it that definitely comes in handy I saw someone whose loved one was murdered, I have seen those who have murdered someone else, have died by suicide, addiction, overdose. It’s not always grandpa dying at 95 with his family around him. It can be pretty intense.”
“I like to know who is real and who is not,” she said. “I think they’re very respectful because they want me to pass along a message. So now I see them as lights, like Christmas tree lights or like an old-school camera flash. I hear them in my head, I hear names, I see impressions of things like scenes, pictures. I can hear them talking and they will give me whatever information they want me to pass along.”
At times, Velasquez said the presence of the spirits is so overwhelming that she finds herself doing readings in public locations, like the nail salon, spa or even the grocery store.
On Halloween last year, which also happens to be Velasquez’s birthday, she decided to fully “come out of the closet” as a medium — something she had only done with those close to her. And in the last 365 days, she has gone from doing one or two readings a week, to 20 readings a week.
“When people come in and they’re so heavy with grief,” Velasquez said. “Feeling people’s grief come off of them, seeing them feel lighter, having them go through whatever emotion whether it be anger, tears — it runs the gamut. Then seeing them get up and saying they feel so much different, so much better. That’s the best part, without a doubt. That’s why I do it, truly.”
In additon to individual appointments at both Mountain Yoga in Mountain Top and Theory Salon in Kingston, Velasquez holds public group events. These events are open to 15 people at most, in which she conducts gallery readings for the spirits she feels present and then quick 10-minute sessions with each attendee.
The next two events scheduled in October and December, are sold out, but Velasquez’s goal is to host these events monthly.
“You never need a medium for your loved ones to hear you. You can talk to them,” she said. “They can hear you. And you can hear them, if you are able to quiet and tune in and just be open… We are all spiritual beings first. We are in this human form, but we are spiritual. When we leave this earth, we are just spirit. We are nothing different than them, they are just out of their bodies. They never stop communicating with us. I feel like we need to be open to it, and if we’re not we’re going to miss it.”
For information on booking an appointment, visit Velasquez’s Facebook page, “Nikki Velasquez, The Mountain Top Medium.” cjacobson@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2061, @CVcljacobson
Rather than see the spirits in their full form like she said she did as a kid, Velasquez said she asked them a while ago to stop manifesting before her because it was “a little freaky.”
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