Mystic

Psychic predicts a “very strong spiritual leader” in the Philippines could die anytime between now and February next year; and two more Marcoses will come back to live in Malacanang

April 2001

George Regner is a mystic. Endowed with psychic abilities, Regner has defined his life by bringing mysticism into mainstream society through the practice of feng shui.

He first caught the attention of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda, when he predicted that an airplane in which their son, Bong Bong, was a passenger, would crash. Trusting Regner’s vision, Imelda got Bong Bong off that flight. Eerily, the airplane took off and did crash, killing many on board. From that point on, Regner was “adopted by the Marcoses, and became known as the “Wonder Boy.” He became the Marcoses’ close personal adviser.

As a feng shui master, Regner has developed a loyal clientele over the years. But when clients became so numerous and scattered all over the United States that he had to juggle his schedule just to be able to meet appointments or conduct telephone consultations, he began to shy away, shunning people who called on him only “out of curiosity.” Now forty-something years old and still sought after as a psychic adviser to new-age business folk, Regner would now rather grant audiences to people “who have actual need for feng shui readings.” Yet he gives no criteria for determining who needs a reading or not, saying only that he can tell by simply looking at a person.

“I am more tuned in now, as to how I can help people. I can see if they have problems with their house, their family or business. I have no time for those who are merely curious,” Regner says. He adds that he would rather spend more time meditating, and although he still maintains his old clientele, he has lately refused to accept new ones.

He winces at being called a fortune-teller, but makes no effort to deny that once upon a time, the most powerful man and woman in the Philippines staked their fortune (and the country’s) on his psychic predictions.

In 1980, at the height of his fame and popularity as a psychic in Manila, the young Regner was a sought-after guest on numerous television talk shows. Known for his accurate predictions of events that were highly-publicized because of their impact on the entire country, Regner became known as “the adopted son of Marcos (former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos)” after Imelda Marcos unofficially proclaimed him as her psychic adviser. He also became known for his public demonstrations of his telekinetic powers.

It was this aspect of his psychic ability that my editor then at the Philippine-based Mr. and Ms. Magazine had told me to write about, after giving me an assignment to interview Regner. It was a coveted assignment, one that print and TV reporters scrambled over. He was using a different name at the time, and being a resident of Malaca–ang Palace, was hard to pin down for an appointment. When the interview finally took place, it was at a house in San Juan, where I walked in with the magazine’s photographer to find a young man sitting at the piano and playing a concerto, seemingly without a care in the world.

In the course of the interview, I asked him (as many others had done) to demonstrate his telekinetic powers. Doris Trinidad, who was then editor of Woman’s Home Companion, had written about it earlier. She described how Regner told her to think of a word without saying it aloud, and as she heard clicking sounds that seemed to emanate from Regner’s brain, the word in her mind mysteriously appeared on two pieces of paper she was holding. There was no way, she said, that he could have tampered with the paper because she had checked to see if they were blank before the demonstration began, and she held the pieces of paper in her hands all throughout.

Curious and skeptical at the same time, I braced myself for the worst scenario: nothing would appear on the pieces of paper I had in my hands, but I’d write the story anyway because my editor would kill me if I didn’t.

Regner asked me if I had blank pages in my notebook. I said I had brought along blank pieces of bond paper specifically for the purpose. He said fine, think of a word, any word and keep it to yourself. I did. He got up from his chair, walked to the other room and closed the door behind him. I remember an uneasy feeling , one of total discomfort as I waited with the photographer, wondering if the guy had decided to run out the back door, leaving us with an unfinished interview. But after about five minutes, he came back and shyly asked us to look at the sheaf of paper in my hands. The first one was blank, so was the second. The third, too, was blank. The photographer chuckled, ever so slightly, and the fourth was still blank.

But as I lifted the next, I saw the markings of a blue ballpen on what I was sure had been a blank sheet of paper. It was some sort of scribble, and the exact same scribble was on the next two sheets of paper in my hand. The word I had in mind didn’t exactly appear miraculously on the blank sheets, but the sheets of paper were blank, I had brought them along and checked and double-checked them myself. The scribblings were not there before he went into the other room. Suffice it to say that I went home convinced that if the guy weren’t psychic, then my ballpen unbelievably was.

Recalling this first encounter, Regner laughs in modesty. One would probably have to move heaven and earth to make him do this kind of demonstration again. But the man has moved on to other things, feng shui among them, which he says he has actually been practicing for the last 27 years.

Developed over 5,000 years ago in China, feng shui (pronounced phong shway), is based on the Taoist philosophies of nature and deals with natural causes and effects that enable human beings to understand why certain things occur the way they do. It also offers man the means to create a healthy and comfortable, if not a luxurious life and work environment. Regner calls it “the highest law in the universe,” a way of life that is in complete and logical harmony with nature.

“Feng Shui can bring positive energy into your surroundings which will improve your life, Regner explains. “Everyone has something in their life they would like to improve.”

Regner describes himself as an “intuitive” feng shui practitioner, adding that mysticism is part and parcel of the craft itself. “If the feng shui practitioner is intuitive, he will know if the person or client will succeed or not,” he says.

Being intuitive also gives him the added advantage of seeing the “eyes” of the dragon.

“In every house, there is a dragon. The practitioner must find the eyes and follow the shape up to the tail. Everything is mapped out according to the dragon shape, where things should be placed,” he explains.

One example of bad feng shui, Regner says, is Malacanang Palace, the official residence of the Philippine president. It has too many windows, he explains, and an uneven dome that attracts bad “chi” or energy. Regner knows whereof he speaks. Having lived in the palace for several years, he knows every nook and cranny, and every architectural detail that he says makes the place disturbingly open to bad “chi.”

Because of his former association with the Marcoses, Regner has had to change his name several times. “Masyadong maraming politika (Too much politics involved),” Malacanang’s former feng shui adviser explains. Many people however, especially media oldtimers in the Philippines, would readily recognize him simply by the accurate predictions he made during the 70s and 80s. Among these include his prediction:

• that the plane which Bongbong Marcos (son of the former president) was supposed to take from Ilocos to Manila would crash, prompting the former President and First Lady Imelda Marcos to give instructions to their security people that Bongbong should take another plane (the plane did crash and Bongbong survived because he heeded Regner’s advice);
• that Corazon Aquino would win over Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 Philippine presidential election (Marcos reportedly refused to listen to Regner’s prediction that he would lose to Aquino, and the rest is history);
• that a Philippine Airlines jet would crash, and
• that the passenger ship MV Don Juan would sink off the coast of Romblon, bringing down with it 2,000 people who perished in the sea and making it one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

Using the principles of feng shui, Regner makes some rather bold predictions about the current occupant of Malacanang Palace, reminiscent of those he made in December of 1997, six months before Joseph Estrada became president (published in the April, 1998 issue of Philippinr Post). Back then, Regner had predicted that Estrada would be elected president of the Philippines. But, he had emphasized, Estrada would not finish his term . “Whoever is on top will be the next top,” he had said mysteriously back then. Estrada did win, and so did Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as vice-president. Less than three years into his term as president, Estrada was ousted by people power, which also installed vice-president Arroyo as the new president.

Despite the dire economic conditions the country is reeling from, and despite the political instability that hounds the Arroyo administration, Regner says Filipinos should not despair. Based on the “laws of nature” and the prevailing “cycle” of feng shui, Regner predicts the Philippines will soon have a good president and “peace” will be attained.

“Arroyo could be that president, if only people like Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin will leave her alone. The cycle is such that many women will achieve great things comparable to the achievements of their male counterparts. There will be equality between men and women in that regard. Arroyo could become the best president the Philippines has ever had after the Marcoses, if only the people can learn to trust her and give her a chance,” Regner says.

The first one and a half years will be especially crucial for Arroyo, Regner says, because of certain obstacles like coup d ‘etats and other political upheavals. “The economy will suffer, the government will not be stable, but if she is given a free hand, Arroyo will turn it around in two years,” he adds.

There is a curse, he says, on the nation as a whole, brought on by the fact that after all these years, former president Ferdinand Marcos’ body still lies in state in a mausoleum in his hometown.

“They have to bury him. It doesn’t matter where, as long as he is buried in the ground and finally laid to rest. Otherwise, the whole country will continue to reap the bad karma,” he explains.

As for Arroyo’s predecessor, Regner predicted months ago that former president Joseph Estrada “will go to jail in less than two years but will not be sentenced to death. There will be no widespread violence because of his arrest or imprisonment,” he adds.

His other predictions are:

• If President Arroyo runs for reelection in three years, she will win, but the Palace needs to be rearranged in favor of Arroyo’s feng shui orientation. The next Philippine president will be a woman and she will be the last woman president the country will have.
• A very, very strong spiritual leader in the Philippines is dying and his death could occur anytime within April this year to February of next year. Regner sees the man attached to a hose and a machine.
• Two members of the Marcos family will come back to Malacanang Palace within the next two elections.
• Former First Lady Loi Estrada should not run in the coming elections.
• The Philippines’ Muslim problem will never be solved unless Cardinal Sin himself will go to Mindanao to conduct the peace talks.

Regner says the City of Manila has very “bad feng shui,” and to “re-feng shui” the entire place would entail solving the garbage problem first and maintaining cleanliness throughout the entire city. “If you solve the problem of cleanliness, you’ve solved 80 percent of the problem. The other problem is transportation. One of the basic tenets of feng shui is that your life is always influenced by your surroundings. The saying ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ could not be truer in feng shui,” Regner says.

In this year of the snake, Regner cautions against disasters and catastrophes.

“The position of the snake is not favorable. It is the kind of snake that is ready to bite and it’s kind of scary. It’s the aggressive type. You can’t tame it, and all you can do is avoid it,” he explains.

Since the first day of January, Regner says he has been writing down his predictions, and one of the things he sees is that “one of the biggest continents in the world, most likely India, will experience many disasters.

Enigmatically, he says: “There are nine stars that come out every year. A yellow star which could be weak or strong, is over the Philippines, and foretells a military junta. In India, the star is black, foretelling catastrophes. The star in the U.S. is blue, and while the star moved, it did not change. This means that recession won’t be so bad. But I see a big earthquake hitting the U.S. I’m just not sure if it will be in Las Vegas or New York. I see a road being divided.”

Regner adds that he sees “many things that I don’t understand.” One of them is an accident that “has something to do with the word nuclear” and he’s not sure if it’s in India. One thing he’s sure of: the center of destruction in the year of the snake is India.

In the United States, Regner says the cycle is “negative” for the current president. And, he says, if Hillary Clinton runs for president, “she’ll win and she’ll probably be the best president the United States ever had.”

Aside from using feng shui to make his predictions, Regner explains that he sees visions, and that he is guided by his “spirit guide.”

“I write down all my predictions after consulting my spirit guide. I write down what will happen even 10 years from now, “ he confides.

His batting average on those predictions, he says, are higher than average.

“The predictions are about 90 percent accurate, but I make the mistakes, not the spirit guide. My spirit guide talks in different languages and sometimes it’s hard for me to understand,” he reveals.

Regner relates that on one occasion several years ago, he asked his spirit guide about the pope. His spirit guide answered with “Do you have a pope?” Regner says the Pope John Paul I passed away soon after. He says he’s puzzled because when the new U.S. president was installed, he got the same answer. He refuses to elaborate, explaining that “he doesn’t want to make mistakes with his spirit guide.”

Still, Regner says he sees some 30 years of good “chi” for America. There may be some unfortunate events, but these will be relatively “minor,” he adds.

The Philippine-born Regner says America has been good to him, although life as an immigrant was mostly touch-and-go at the beginning. Like most Filipino immigrants who came to the United States as tourists and decided to stay for good, Regner says numerous attorneys and immigration consultants initially failed to solve his problems. In the course of trying to solve his immigration woes, Regner became friends with a Nevada-based lawyer, who truthfully told him he could not handle Regner’s case because it was simply “too difficult.” Seeing how tough his case was, the lawyer-friend instead referred Regner to California-based lawyer Michael Gurfinkel. On June 27, 1995, Regner and his Nevada lawyer flew to Los Angeles to meet with Gurfinkel, whom the Nevada lawyer had described as the “Number One immigration attorney in California.”

“When Atty. Gurfinkel read my file, including two damaging letters sent to the INS by two vicious Filipinos, my fear was that, just like the other lawyers, Gurfinkel would not accept my case as it was too difficult to handle,” Regner said.

"Instead, Gurfinkel sat down with me and talked with me at length on the matters raised in the two letters, and how Gurfinkel could explain to the INS and repair the damage. Gurfinkel didn’t judge me, nor give up on me. He trusted me that the accusations were untrue, and strategized how to prove that the accusations were false,” Regner relates.

Still, Regner was way in over his head with other immigration problems. His first marriage in the U.S. to an American citizen had been annulled due to allegations of “fraud.” His application for political asylum had been denied and there was already an order for his deportation. He had entered the United States under an assumed name, had declared a different date of birth, and his birth certificate did not list his first name. Regner had also obtained a legal change of name in the U.S., creating suspicion that he was trying to hide something. All these, plus the two anonymous letters sent to the INS by “vicious crabs,” which further exacerbated the problem.

But on October 1,1996, the gods finally smiled on the troubled mystic. After a hearing at the INS office in downtown Los Angeles, in front of an immigration judge, Regner was granted his green card on the spot, based on a petition by his U.S. citizen wife, Cynthia Lou. Gurfinkel’s office offered evidence and proof to the judge’s satisfaction, overcoming all the obstacles and accusations about Regner.

That, Regner now says, was the turning point of his life in America, ending years of frustration, anxiety and fear. But more than the greencard, Regner says he is grateful that his relationship with Michael Gurfinkel and his wife, Millie, actually blossomed into friendship.

“I finally found a family in America who truly cares,” Regner says with a smile.

These days, he shuttles intermittently between Nevada and California, sometimes on business, but sometimes to spend time too, with the Gurfinkels in their Beverly Hills home where he relaxes by playing the piano.

Regner, who has played with the Manila and San Diego symphony orchestras in the past, says he has quit his professional career as a pianist. “Well, it was just time to move on. I was happy to be able to play at that level, but if it’s not your main purpose in life, it’s hard to continue playing at that level. It requires a lot of time and practice and there were just other demands on my time.”

Closing chapters in life without regrets has never been a problem for Regner. A quick rearview is all he needs before moving on from one phase of life to the next, confident that his real role in this world as a mystic will ultimately unfold and reveal itself. To Regner, that is the essence of life’s enigma. -- M.G.Abelgas