Psychic Reed: Discover Your True Identity and Gain Self Acceptance

Psychic Reed ext. 5105 became aware of his ability to communicate with those on the other side after an encounter with his Sioux grandfather, who died before Psychic Reed ext. 5105 was born. Since that early childhood experience, he has been developing and sharpening his skills and innate abilities for more than twenty years. Originally a lesbian and now a transgendered man, Reed brings a deep perspective of life to all of his callers. We sat down for an excellent chat:

How does he identify?

“I don’t think I fit into any of those check boxes! I do see myself as a two-spirited person. I’m transgendered. I knew from the time I was about seven that I wasn’t fitting the mold that any of the other kids were fitting. I was being raised as a girl, but I really thought that in time my parents would come around and see that they were wrong! I knew that I was a boy. At this point in my life, though, I’ve spent so much of my life living as a woman, I definitely have the socialization that women have in our society—and yet there are parts of me that are just so naturally masculine that I see myself as both. And that’s been an awesome thing for me to have as a psychic. I truly have experienced all sides of things. I’ve given birth and been a father; I’ve been a wife and a husband. That’s given me a fantastic perspective that’s helped me to understand my clients.”

What’s it like reading for gay and transgendered clients?

“I do have quite a few gay clients. A lot of people look at me and assume ‘straight guy’—which is one way I could be described—but they don’t know what it’s like to be in the LGBT community. I’ve had to come out of the closet twice! I came out as a lesbian and then as transgendered. So I feel like I can relate to gay callers a lot more than they know when they first call me.

“There’s hesitancy when someone calls and they’re involved in any sort of relationship, or even having an attraction, to someone of the same gender; a lot of times that’s very difficult for them to talk about, and I want to do everything I can to put them at ease, to let them know that my job is to help them where they are now, not to judge them. I mean, I’ve been there! It’s amazing to me that someone can call up who’s married and is having a sexual relationship with another married person who’s not their spouse, and they’re never nervous about admitting an affair—but you take two single people of the same gender who are attracted to each other, and it’s a huge deal. While both of these situations are considered taboo in our society, one of them is judged much more harshly.”

What was the physical and spiritual process of transitioning like?

“It’s a hair-raising process, it really us. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Just like when you’re eight years old and you don’t know what you’re going to look like after you’ve gone through puberty, you don’t know what you’re going to look like after you transition. You’re really just rolling the dice. It’s an exercise in responsibility and owning your own body. You make a decision, and if it ends up screwed up, its all yours. I didn’t pay a damage deposit on my body, I don’t get to take it back and trade it in, this is it. I own it, I can do anything to it I want to, but I’ve got to live with it when it’s done—and once I made my peace with that philosophy, I just jumped in. But I got lucky—I won the trans lotto! I look better as a man than I ever did as a woman! It turned out just the way I wanted to! What are the chances? My voice ended up changing to roughly to what I imagined it would be, my hair got thicker, my beard came in the way I wanted it to, my muscles responded the way I wanted it to. I just feel very fortunate that it turned out well!

“I was definitely aligning my body with who I felt I really was inside. There was internal change as well, in terms of really starting to examine the labels we use. My transition has taken years, but there does come that point where you cross the line from being a lesbian female to a straight man. You’re the same person, but what happened? The label just changed. So you start really dissecting these labels and trying to come up with what they mean. And quite honestly, they start to look thin and meaningless. They carry so much power, and yet they’re pretty flimsy at best.”

He also shared a message for gay, lesbian and transgendered people who may be considering calling:

“For all the ones who call us sheepishly, I wonder how many don’t call at all. I want people to feel at ease, and know that there are people there who are going to be sympathetic and understanding. Gay people want the same thing as straight people, to be loved and cherished and pay the bills and to be healthy and happy! We’re all humans. I’m hoping that this will prompt some of those people who were too uncomfortable to take that call to go ahead and pick up the phone.”