Scott Michael Harney

Black Irish Reader

Scott Michael Harney was born with a caul on his face. His father was the seventh son of the seventh son.  And from a very young age, he realized that he had the Irish gift of “dreaming true,” dreaming events before they happened.

His mother’s side came from Galway Bay, from the “Black Irish,” Irish people who have dark complexions and dark eyes.  Some say their roots go back to North Africa, others say Turkey and some believe they are gypsies.

As a child growing up, Harney had an uncanny ability to pick winning lottery numbers and winning at games of chance.

In traditional cultures, he may have been seen as “gifted,” or perhaps a “shaman” ; however, in the working-class neighborhood where he grew up, he was considered a bit odd, and gravitated to the mystical and unusual.

Harney has traveled the world in search of knowledge.  He lived in Cairo, Egypt for many years, where he immersed himself in the ancient primordial energies of the old city of Fustat and the City of the Dead.  He trained with Sufi mystics in Pakistan, taking a rare initiation as a Qalandar from the late Lal Hussayn, who lived in the mountains outside of Islamabad – the only non-Pakistani to do so.

Fluent in Arabic, Harney’s specialty is divination through Geomancy, an ancient form of divination that dates back to North Africa.  The Arabs called it “ilm il-raml,” the art of sand since it was originally practiced by randomly drawing lines in the sand in order to come up with the geomantic figures that make up a chart.

Harney is also an astrologer and studied with the late Goswami Kriyananda, who also initiated Harney into Kriya Yoga.  Harney studied with Kriyananda for a number of years and was eventually granted the title of Swami and given the name “Swami Varunanda.”

Harney’s spiritual path is very eclectic but centers on radical transformation and transcendence from the cycle of karma.

“Someone who gets a reading from me will come to know their life purpose,” he says. “They may initially come for mundane issues, like relationships,  but will eventually get to know themselves better.”