Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Boutros.
Hi Daniel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I moved here in 2006 on a journalist visa, writing about video games, though what got me out here was selling an option for a video game idea to a Hollywood studio. Those who live here know selling an option isn’t a big deal, but I got excited and convinced myself I needed to move to Los Angeles to turn this into something bigger.
It was really an excuse to trade the gloom of London for the beach and healthier lifestyle that persists here. And the better food, nicer people and better pay. I’d had it with London at that point.
So I switched to a beach-side lifestyle, and slowly worked my way up the video game industry, navigating visa changes, dating in L.A, and the cultural advantage of having an accent in L.A. However, I would find myself at the business end of a heart attack one day running down Santa Monica beach path, not knowing at the time that the root cause was a mental health condition that prevented me experiencing the full spectrum of emotional signals. I was shaken, but slept 16 hours the next day and slowly came back to normality, eventually forgetting it ever happened.
In 2009 I met my now ex-wife. We fell fast, moved into together after 6 months, and after a year and a half together, I discovered she was a witch. I was skeptical, but she was able to demonstrate some pretty reason-defying things that had profoundly powerful affects on me. Eventually through her, I’d meet a Shaman (Shaman Durek) who would go even further in demonstrating reality breaking psychic ability to me – somehow knowing how I think, my thought patterns and the mechanisms behind my temperament at the time before I’d even uttered a word. By this time I was deep into my emotional healing, working with a psychiatrist, taking anti-anxiety medications and experiencing emotional signals I hadn’t before. Durek’s shamanic wisdom was showing me concepts that shortcut my healing by years rather than weeks.
The efficacy of shamanism and witchcraft for specific challenges got my attention and while having a day job as a video game designer and producer at Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint, as the founding video-game employee there on Walking Dead games, I was learning about psychic abilities, mediumship, witchcraft and other forms of energy work. I was also navigating challenges at home with my then-partner and the continued challenges of repairing my mental health.
A few years after all of this, my wife of that time and I hit unresolvable issues and we parted and it wasn’t pretty. I was producing and designing Spider-Man VR games at the time and a consciousness shifting VR experience to help people induce psychedelic states. We were successful in early tests but I hit a wall hard, emotionally, mentally and physically. The pain of the divorce and the deaths of three of my animals utterly shattered me. Essentially, the death of my dream of my own family completely broke me, so I took my savings and went traveling aiming to reset.
My goal was to heal my heart so I wouldn’t bring my damage to the next relationship. I sought out healers and healer wisdom from all the cultures I passed through, as they were the most efficient in helping my mental health repair initially. I traveled to Peru and learned about plant medicine teachers like Huachuma (San Pedro), Mapacho, Coca and Ayahuasca. I learned from healers in Mount Shasta, Sedona, Egypt, Lebanon and many more. I also learned my mother had been taught by her great granduncle who was a celebrated healer monk in the Christian Maronite faith; a faith where they practice mediumship, healing and otherwise demonized techniques. That opened a whole door of discovery around including her knowledge of exorcism which he taught her! Truly a surprise after 40 years of being her son!
I absorbed as much info as I could and I continued to learn. Eventually I would begin to practice energy healing on people and start to connect my intuitive abilities. I’d start to feel what the people I was working on were feeling and I’d get an impression of their emotional roots. It was weird; like my intuition started teaching me what to do. Truly an amazing process and phase of learning.
I made it to Thailand and after exploring, I settled in Chiang Mai and Pai. I began serving guided meditations which were secretly shamanic energy work journies. I was also performing healing work and building a reputation. A lot happened but I had to return to Los Angeles to not risk losing my green card and I was back. After a few years, I returned to L.A with a new identity and sense of self and I continued traveling, learning and teaching. I spent a few years in Mexico, learning from a wealth of practitioners including a Mayan elder (Abuelo Antonio Oxte) and finally met my most recent partner.
After continuing travel for a few more years, with more teaching than learning, I (we) returned to Los Angeles to raise our new kid and I now teach psychic development to individuals, teams and companies under the softer language of ‘intuition on-demand for teams, individuals and products’. I also offer transformational work to people, including survivors of ritual abuse. And I hold rituals and ceremonies for large groups in Los Angeles event spaces.
I still have a foot in tech, but as an advisor and specifically to projects (games, apps and immersive work) that aim to bring us closer with our connected human nature and abilities. I also have an Oracle deck I created and share with people online made up exclusively of mystical cats.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ha! Hell no.
I learned about healing childhood issues through fractures in relationship, and there’s nothing more jarring than being in a relational dynamic up close that is constantly unstable, while also doubting yourself and your own emotional signals because a chunk of them simply don’t exist in your awareness yet.
I had the double whammy due to the alexythimia and so my sense of self was a real struggle in the healing phase of rebuilding my emotional senses. I didn’t know how to recognize signals for anxiety and my system scrambled them with love… so for a while I thought I was in love with women who gave me anxiety. I was confused why my body was telling me I was in love with women I didn’t like hanging out with. It was very confusing.
Eventually I found my sense of self, but it was while my ex-wife and I were initiating the divorce during a drama-rich set of events I’ll spare you, which is a bit like finding your way to standing on your surf board the first time while waters are crazy turbulent. My teacher brain tells me that long term, finding it in that circumstance was probably for the best.
Other meaningful challenges would fall under learning the intricacies of my psyche’s inner workings while experiencing intense plant medicines, and experiencing what felt like actual visceral death (apparently an ego death), where I had to re-enter my body feeling my tongue and hands as weird new objects again. There were plenty physical challenges but they were nothing in comparison to the emotional and mental, and I appreciate all of them.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I reflect people’s inner workings back to them and give them tools so they can better know themselves and navigate their personal desires.
This means I teach and demonstrate psychic intuitive readings for personal growth, 1 on 1, to teams and groups or in workshops and courses.
I also show people how to work with energy so they can expedite life changes in any sector of their lives.
This is from my work teaching ritual magick. Think if you could apply reiki to upgrade or speed up any part of your life (ethically – we do no harm to others or self).
Finally I perform other metaphysical work like helping people be rid of curses, hexes and so on, or clearing heavy energies in their home of office.
I also advice teams in impact tech and video games, so if you need any of this, my services can be found at themagickmechanic.com/services, or find me on linkedin for the tech stuff.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
A willingness to stand on the edge of uncertainty and open myself up to guidance and trust. When I think “I’m good and I can rely on what I know” I am immediately humbled. Im this work I’m an eternal student.
Pricing:
- 250 = 1 hour session (psychic reading)`
- 350 = Guided transformational work 90 mins
- 80 = My latest ‘Everyday Psychic’ course for those who wish to use their intuition on-demand in all areas of life
- 44 = My channeled magick cat oracle deck (a great xmas gift! and comes with video tutorials)
- Free = My guided meditations on Insight Timer
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.themagickmechanic.com
- Instagram: themagickmechanic
- Facebook: themagickmechanic
- LinkedIn: danielboutros
- Youtube: @themagickmechanic
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.magick.mechanic
Image Credits
Cynthia Alexandra
Ryan B Miller
