Originally published in Taos News

Ginger Pizzurro has decades of experience as an entrepreneur. She grew up twenty miles away from New York City and started working at a pastry shop when she was a teenager.

“I got a degree in philosophy in the meantime and then bought the pastry shop, which I ran for fifteen years,” she recalls. “I love to bake and to be in contact with people, and that has always defined who I am.”

Later in life she went into the healing arts and became a massage therapist, while having a catering business all along.

“It was difficult because in the food business you work anything from twelve to eighteen hours a day,” she said. “But it was worthwhile. When I began to study at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy, a whole new world opened up to me. They taught many different subjects, not just massage techniques. On my own, I studied everything from soul retrieval and Reiki to shamanic extractions. I learned a lot about myself as well.”

While she was in school, relatives and colleagues often commented on how psychic she was, Pizzurro said. They encouraged her to start using intuitive cards, which she did, for herself and some friends.

“That was way before I decided to start a business in this field,” she said. “I realized I had this special gift—we all have our own.”

A relationship with the mountain

Pizzurro had wanted to come west since she was very young. She finally moved to Taos in 2011.

“It was simply the time for me to come,” she said. “I saw the mountain and said to myself, ‘That is it.’ Then I found a place to rent in Craigslist and just moved in, and I started having a relationship with the mountains. It all turned out well.”

She began doing psychic readings at Lilac’s in 2012 and has been working as an intuitive guide and mentor ever since.

The challenges

In this business, entrepreneurs need to think very much outside the box.

“You just can’t have a regular business plan,” Pizzurro said. “It doesn’t work like that. It’s all about networking and helping other people help themselves.”

The fact that a psychic’s services are pretty much intangible is a big challenge in itself.

“It is easier when you have a product, like a cake,” she said. “But here, you are the business, which makes it really challenging in terms of promotion and even pricing. For me, integrity is the most important aspect of it. I treat my work as something sacred.”

Services

Pizzurro offers intuitive sessions that include readings, energy work and crystal aura balancing.

“I help people embrace change, refine their purpose, and recognize their unique gifts,” she said. “A session is a road to self discovery since the insights received tend to be profound and life-changing.”

A session with Ginger

Pizzurro prepares for a session by going into a short meditation before she sees her clients. When they meet, she shares with them whatever information she has received during that time.

“I ask people what they’d like to focus on, but in many cases, the information that comes through is what they need to hear,” she said.

Though she assures me that cards aren’t absolutely necessary to do a reading (the information comes through her, not the cards), Pizzurro owns a variety of decks featuring the Ascended Masters, fairies, nature, creative possibilities, and many more.

She puts all the decks out and asks the clients to choose one to work with. Next, she asks them to hold the cards over their hearts.

“It’s an issue of trust,” she said. “We start having a conversation, often using the cards, but the main goal, for me, is that people learn to trust their own guidance. We all have gut feelings but we don’t always honor them. I try to put my clients in touch with that part of themselves that knows what is best for them.”

She does readings over the phone and, when the client wants to, over Skype.

“There is a lot to discover,” she said. “We have stepped into a new paradigm, individually and collectively. A leap of faith is called for, but people’s contribution and participation are vital.”

For her, engaging the clients in the reading is also very important.

“I don’t act like the one who has all the answers,” she said. “I always ask people, ‘Does it make sense to you?’ Because it has to make sense, for a session to work. It’s all about you. I’m simply a catalyst for change.”

To contact Ginger Pizzurro call 914 715-3808 or email gingerpizzurro@gmail.com

Sidebar: The five senses and psychic gifts

Pizzurro explains that there are different types of psychic sensitivity.

“Clairvoyance is perhaps the most common, when people are able to perceive, using the mind’s eye or the physical eyes, some visual information not accessible to others,” she said. “But there is also clairaudience, which means one can hear sounds or words from the spiritual realm in different tones and vibrations.”

Maybe, it occurs to me now, the Taos hum is only perceived by those with this special power.

There is also clairsentience, which allows mediums to “feel” the information with their entire body; clairscence, that consist of smelling fragrances or odors of items that are not physically present, and even clairgustance—being able to taste a substance without putting it in the mouth.