Young Man with a Vision ~ Or Two

By Antoinette May

Friday October 15, 1971

San Jose Mercury News  ­  Sacramento Bee ­  San Francisco Chronicle

Suppose you were born "different".  As you grew older the mystery of your origin seemed to bar you from the passing parade of petty concerns that link the rest of the world.

The gifts that you possessed only served to divide you further from those who would be your friends.  Fearful knowledge unknown to others would wrack your sleep; unsought responsibility for the lives of others would weigh heavily upon your young shoulders.

Such a man is Walden Welch.  Now 27, Welch was delivered by nuns on the proverbial cold and stormy night after the exit of a doctor who was angered by his patient's ill advised pregnancy.  To add to the drama, Wally, as he prefers to be called, was born with a "veil".  This filmy membrane has previously shrouded the infant eyes of such mystics as Edgar Cayce and Hans Holzer.  Folklore tells us that it is the sign of one who will have second sight.

The indication of mysticism continued to grow as Walden did.  As a small child he was distraught at his mother's deteriorating physical condition.  "The doctors saw little if any hope of curing her damaged heart," he recalled to me.

"One night I was alone in my room sobbing hopelessly over the doctors reports.  My mother was to undergo her first heart surgery and they felt there was no hope.  I looked up and sitting on the side of my bed was a very old and kind looking man.  I knew he was a spirit but felt I knew him.  He told me my mother would not die, that he was her deceased Grandfather and was watching over her.  All pain and doubt left with his words and I knew beyond doubt she would survive."

Early in his life Walden began to see auras about his young friends.  He described this candlelight glow to his mother who dismissed them as liver spots.  "I knew she was wrong," he admitted, "but what could I say?"

Though I have been clairvoyant all my life, I tried to soft pedal it during high school.  I didn't want to seem different.  I found very soon that if I spoke of anything pertaining to the world of spirit, people would be frightened or else they would ridicule me as a kook."

Denying his gifts ö his visions, his out of body experiences and his vivid dreams of past lives ö eventually grew too much for Wally.  He grew up and began studying mediumship and trance readings.  "I've been blessed in this area," he says.  "My insights have been verified again and again by other bona fide mediums."

But despite his many psychic successes, Walden prefers to limit his endeavors to astrology.  "I'm a bit paranoid about ill advising someone," he says. "There's less likely a possibility of doing so using the tool of astrology applied with clairvoyance."

Few people understand astrology, he believes.  "Most will accept psychiatry without question, yet the insights of the psychiatrist are based entirely upon text books and personal insight.  There is no clearly defined science there.  Astrology is based upon mathematics and, therefore, has more basis.  Then, too, astrology has thousands of years of research behind it.  I can look at a chart and see if a woman has been unable to have children.  I can tell if a man has criminal tendencies.  It is possible to spot a health problem, seek its cure.  I once had a client living in San Diego ö a man I had never met ö wrote back in amazement because I had referred to his shriveled arm, an affliction that had caused him great unhappiness.  That was no psychic gift on my part.  All I had to do was look at his natal chart.  The aspects dealing with this man's past life revealed a karmic debt that had to be paid in that way."

Walden sees an individual's horoscope as a map of previous lifetimes.  "It's God's plan," he says.  "A means of working through problems.  I know that I have been everything from a priest to writer."

Today Walden's office is located in a near century old building in Agua Caliente near Sonoma.  One enters through a thriving antique shop before entering his office.  The business of Antiques, shared by his partner Pat Curry, is a throwback to a 14^th Century lifetime where both he and Pat operated a similar business, he believes. The building was revealed to him in a vision two years before moving there. Another medium later described the house while in a trance. She advised Wally to find the place and go there for a period of spiritual development.

A handsome, good humored and very masculine man, Walden sometimes laments the alienation from his contemporaries. "Most of my close friends are 50 or 60 years old, they seem to understand better. I'm not a bizarre character," he insists. "I'm very normal ö quite normal. I've never taken drugs nor do I have any addictions. I don't feel different, yet I feel that the attitude of some of my acquaintances has changed. They are not as comfortable around me as I am with them. They seem to set me apart and try to make something special of me. It makes me feel alienated and makes me quite lonely."

Walden feels that his gift is no more special than anyone else's. "We all have God-given gifts," he insists. "Some are for motherhood, some for nursing, music, etc. Mine just happens to be in an unusual and offbeat area.  I believe that I have used this psychic and astrological ability in previous lifetimes and that is why I was born with this talent in it.  I think the same is true of artists, actors, writers who excel in their own fields. Talents are developed in previous incarnations to be used and improved upon to enrich the lives of those we share this world with."

Walden has been a practicing astrologer since the age of 18.  Already he has achieved great success in what he believes will be a lifetime career. "I was born to do this. This is my way of helping others, aiding others to understand themselves, to avoid difficulties and to adjust to what can't be avoided," he says. "There's no question of does astrology work? I know it works."

When Walden agreed to give me this interview, he also accepted my request to give me a Reading to see how he worked.  Being a skeptical Virgo reporter my true intention was to test him. This experience surpassed my every expectation.  I was overwhelmed with his amazing accuracy - both to the events and years in which they occurred in my life.  I am known to be an extremely private, if not secretive, person.  However, it would be unfair to Walden for me to hold back certain personal information that he 'hit' precisely, but without his gifted psychic ability he could not possibly have known. "You left England at the age of 18.  I think, to get away from your very dominant mother. Then I see you studied to be a nurse here in the United States".  "Yes," I replied.  "You should have been a psychologist.  You would be much happier in that field.    Have you considered returning to school to get a degree in this field?  Your Chart indicates you will be retuning to school in the fall for classes.  This will be a three-year period of study and then I see you in a new career.  The right one."  I was more than amazed at his statements.  He was not aware of the fact that that I had just applied to school to finish my degree in psychology.  It would take me three years to finish my degree.  "Did you divorce last year?  Your Chart indicates you did.  Neptune afflicts the Ruler of your 7^th House.  Your husband was an alcoholic wasn't he?  But foreign, meaning not from the country of your birth.  Not American, I think maybe Canadian.  Was he a journalist or editor?  I feel you fell into writing through him." Indeed I had!  My husband was a publisher who asked me to write for his publication.  We divorced last year due to his alcoholism.  Walden's next statement hit me to the very core.  Already more than impressed, what he was about to say convinced me beyond any doubt this man was indeed a true clairvoyant."  I hate to ask this, but did you recently loose a sister in an auto accident?"  "Yes," I stammered.  "I see you raising her child.  A daughter.  She will grow up to become a successful writer.  Your destiny is in psychology."  I had just yesterday, signed papers to adopt my deceased sister daughter!

We concluded our interview at 3:00 P.M.  Having had shared such intimacy, I gave Wally a hug and kiss on the cheek.  "You're more than wonderful," I said.  "Is there anything I can do for you in writing this article that you might especially like," I asked.  A serious, almost embarrassed, look crossed his face.  Next he replied, "I can't tell you what to write.  That's up to you.  I hope it's good.  I guess mostly I hope you won't make me seem too strange or spooky.  Like I said, I'm just as normal as anyone else.  I just have a different type of work."

"Indeed he has! I wish I could agree with him that his gift is no more important than anyone else's.  Yet, having just experienced his magic, it would be dishonest for me to agree.  Wally is warm, sincere, charming and very human.  We humans are born with two arms, two legs and two eyes, the same as Walden.  The only difference between him and us is that his eyes see with a keener vision ö or two.

Note:  The above interview was eventually published in 34 newspapers and magazines throughout the world. The story was tremendously successful. Much to Walden's regret the original title was often changed. "The Man Who Can See Through You", and "Ever Wish You Were Psychic? Walden Doesn't!" was two of his least favorite.  He liked the original version written by Antionette May.  We have presented it to you in its original and full text. 

Next:  Chapter One of his autobiography in progress, A Man With a Vision, or Two.