Hello and Welcome!
My name is Victoria Bogoevski, the founder and creator of Essentially an Empath—where I empower Empaths in navigating the emotions and energies of themselves and others through the use of dōTERRA essential oils and other motivational tools.
I want to take some time to introduce myself. [For a quick introduction, jump to my "About" section.]
Before I dive in to how I discovered my gifts, let me define what I know an Empath to be:
an Empath is an individual who feels the emotions and energies of other individuals, whether in the physical or spiritual realm, as if they were truly their own feelings.
How did I discover I was an Empath?
I always knew that I was "gifted", as most individuals call it. From a young age I was labeled as "too sensitive"; someone who would cry at movies during sad times or happy moments. This is true; I am a highly sensitive individual. However, I remember vividly telling my mom one day that I couldn't eat the chicken she had made for dinner because I could feel how sad and lonely the chicken was before its death.
I really honed in to my Empath and Psychic gifts during my Study Abroad trip in 2012 to Querétaro, México.
During my six months studying abroad, I found that I had a significant amount of time to myself. I went from having a jam packed schedule—five university classes (multiple times a day), working 25-30 hours on my college campus (Fire Up, Chips!), being an active sorority member (Alpha Sigma Alpha), and maintaining a social life—down to four college courses in a foreign country spread out to one class a day, maintaining a small social life, no job, and no extracurricular activities.
When you find alone time, you start to discover who you truly are. We are all constantly consumed with the distractions of life by filling our precious time with copious activities. We don't fully allow ourselves time to just be; maybe we're scared of what we will find. However in my time abroad, I discovered myself and my gifts.
I had always been intrigued by the occult, witchcraft, spirits, ghosts, along with my belief in magic; and what better place than a vibrant city with hundreds of years of intense history.
"Did you know? In the early 19th century, revolutionaries in Querétaro began planning a rebellion against Spain, making the state the birthplace of Mexican independence. The Spanish city considered the city of Querétaro to be a critical seat of power and dubbed it "third city of the kingdom," after Mexico City and Puebla, due to its strategic importance."
During my stay I became good friends with an Irishman, Rob; someone whom I will be eternally grateful for letting me practice my capabilities with.
He was crushing on a girl we were all friends with. I had known from the moment I saw him with her that he was interested in her romantically. [Now, I'm sure skeptics will say that body language is a dead giveaway. Yes, this can help provide cues to you as a reader; but, I don't believe it is always accurate especially if someone is a confident individual it can come across as flirting.] I would tease Rob after the girl would leave our group that he was crushing on her. He continually denied my teasing, until one night on a rooftop bar overlooking el Centro [downtown] I explained to Rob, "Listen, you can deny it to yourself all you want that you don't have feelings for her, however, your deep emotions of want and desire for her are radiating off of you so fiercely I can't help but feel that you're attracted to her and find her to be the most beautiful woman you've ever met here".
Now, it may have been the drinks we had, but he finally confessed that what I had told him was fact. And what happened next is why I am so thankful. He asked how I knew exactly what he was feeling and thinking about her. I had no word for what I was doing at the time so I explained, "I feel emotions from other people as if they were my own, even when I know that isn't truly how I feel". And just like how I prodded him about his feelings for our friend, he pestered me to "read his emotions" every so often— "Hey Vicki, how do I feel today...Hey Vicki, Who gifted me this watch?"—which then turned in to even more curiosity on his part, "Hey Vicki, If I show you a picture of a friend of mine can you tell me how he feels or what he was feeling in this picture”, to which I responded, "I'm not quite sure, but let's give it a whirl".
Every couple of days we would get together where he would challenge me to reading himself or images of his friends and provide me confirmation if what I was stating was true or not.
This is when I realized I was an Empath.
How did I discover I was a Psychic?
I still had not discovered a name for my talents, once I returned home I didn't have anyone I could connect with to continue practicing, so I purchased my first Tarot Deck [Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, but I prefer the Santa Muerte Deck by Fabio Listrani] to improve my intuition. There is a story line to the Tarot Deck, however, I have not learned it as I use the cards based purely on intuition with confirmation of what I feel by using the Key Words for the image that was provided in the booklet.
I immersed myself in a plethora of reading material, both online and paperback books, on topics of tarot, chakras, auras, spirit guides, and crystals. I learned as much as I could as fast as I could to develop my abilities. Once I graduated from college I found a job at a bank in an entry level position which allowed me the ability to continue reading and improving my gifts. I decided I wanted a challenge and after being accepted was transferred to another department within the bank.
Then a year in to my new position at the bank, I was tasked with training new members coming in to the department. I had the absolute pleasure of training Ann. Now what Ann mentored me in is far more than what I trained her in at the bank. She noticed my crystals and essential oils I kept at my desk and slyly mentioned "Oh, if only you knew what I did outside of here". Well, my intuition was guiding me and I mentioned, "Oh, let me guess, you're a medium". She confirmed she indeed is but wasn't doing Medium Readings and wanted to close her 3rd Eye Chakra.
Oh man, was I envious! I grew up watching Ghost Adventures & Paranormal State hoping I could see entities and spirits. [Now I know we all have our talents and gifts for a reason, even though I cannot see spirits or entities, I can feel them]. I told her, "Don't turn it off, you have such a beautiful ability I only dream of having". You see, I was chasing being a Medium when all along I have been a Psychic because I didn't think it was a "cool" enough gift. I call it "Reading peoples energies"; where I intuitively know a situation or problem an individual is going through and providing guidance through messages from my Guides.*
What is a Psychic?
/ˈsīkik/
Adjective
relating to or denoting faculties or phenomena that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, especially involving telepathy or clairvoyance.
Next Week: Characteristics & Traits of Empaths
Readings are not qualified as counseling, medical advice, nor does the Reading hold any qualifications in law or finance and make no claims to this regard. Outcomes of readings may not always be accurate as we have God's Free Will to choose our destiny. Personal Readings may include personal opinions from time to time, but this does not constitute as a consultation, may it be legal, financial or of counseling.