Private esoteric consultancy: what it is and is not
Private esoteric consultancy is a confidential service, rooted in sensitive perception and energy work, for people facing a serious situation in their business, their family's wealth or their private life. People turn to it once their lawyers, advisers and doctors have done their part and something is still left open. It is not legal, financial or medical advice, it is not entertainment, and it is not charged by the minute. It begins with a conversation in which the situation is heard and assessed, and which ends in a reasoned yes or no; if the answer is yes, the scope and price of the work are agreed before anything starts.
In brief
- It is work of an esoteric nature, carried out in private for a small number of people, and always starting from a real situation with something at stake: a company, a family estate, a name or a decision.
- It does not replace a lawyer, tax adviser, notary or doctor: they act first, and the consultancy runs alongside them, never in their place.
- It differs from entertainment and premium-rate phone lines in three ways: it starts from a concrete case, it begins with an assessment that can end in a no, and its price is set and agreed in advance.
- Confidentiality rests on how the work is organised rather than on goodwill: two people, no secretary, no client file and no published testimonials.
- A trustworthy practice can be recognised by what you can check before paying: a price stated in advance, the ability to say no, the absence of haste and a referral to the right professional when the matter belongs with them.
In this article
- A definition in three words
- Does it replace a lawyer, an adviser or a doctor?
- How is it different from entertainment or a premium-rate phone line?
- Who is a private esoteric consultancy for?
- How does a consultation work, step by step?
- Confidentiality in practice
- How do you recognise a trustworthy practice?
- Frequently asked questions
A definition in three words
The phrase brings together three words that are rarely read side by side, and each of them draws a precise line. Taken one at a time, they say almost everything worth knowing before you write to anyone.
Consultancy
To consult is to put a concrete situation before someone so that they can examine it. The word implies a frame: the client explains what they are going through, the person listening assesses whether they can contribute anything, and everything that follows — what will be done, for how long and at what price — is agreed before it begins. Work of this kind has a beginning and an end, and both are known in advance.
It also implies a division of roles that is not open to negotiation. Selling or holding, signing or waiting, speaking or keeping silent: those decisions belong to the client, before, during and after. The work sits alongside those decisions; it does not make them for anyone.
Esoteric
The word comes from Greek, where it meant “inner”, and it has kept that sense of something held back rather than put on display. It describes the nature of the work, which belongs to the field of sensitive perception and of what tradition calls energy work.
At Lex Fati the work is carried out by two people. Tony Alcalá has practised since 1978, trained in Germany and works in English, German and Spanish; Patty García, whose field is sensitive perception, works in Spanish. The method is explained to the client, in private and before they pay anything, because it is for them to understand and accept it.
Private
Private means that the consultation takes place between the person who asks for it and the person who answers, and goes no further. No secretary receives the messages, no team shares a file, and no intermediary summarises the case for someone else. Your situation is known to Tony Alcalá and Patty García, and to nobody else.
It also means that it stays private afterwards, with no time limit. In this field, discretion is part of the definition; how it is kept in practice is set out below.
Does it replace a lawyer, an adviser or a doctor?
No, and the order matters as much as the boundary. When a situation has a legal, tax, financial or medical dimension, the relevant professional acts first: the lawyer for contracts and disputes, the tax adviser and the accountant for the figures, the notary or solicitor for inheritance and property, the doctor for anything medical. Not afterwards, and not alongside from the outset: first.
We mean this literally: a dispute between shareholders that has never been put to a lawyer is a case for a lawyer, and a medical question belongs with a doctor, in every case. A good share of the requests we decline are exactly that, and we say so just as plainly when the person is willing to pay.
For the same reason, there are things a serious esoteric consultancy never does. It does not say whether a contract is valid or how it should be drafted. It does not recommend buying, selling or holding any asset. It gives no view on anything medical, and it does not contradict your lawyer, your adviser or your doctor: if something they tell you seems doubtful, the route is a second opinion from another professional in the same discipline.
Its place is alongside, and almost always afterwards. When the professionals have done their part, and done it well, something is sometimes left that none of them is there to deal with: the weight of carrying alone something you cannot tell anyone, or a decision no one else can take for you. Everyone is right in their own field, and the whole does not work.
That is why we speak of working alongside your advisers, never in their place. No one stops seeing their lawyer, adviser or doctor because they consult us, and what you tell each of them, including whether you tell them about us, is for you alone to decide. Exactly where that boundary lies is set out in our note Where the lawyer ends.
How is it different from entertainment or a premium-rate phone line?
A great many different things are offered under the word esoteric, and some of them belong to entertainment: people consult out of curiosity, for amusement or for company, and when it is over there is nothing to decide. That is a legitimate use, but it is a different one.
A private consultancy always starts from a real situation with something genuinely at stake: a company, a family estate, a public name, a decision of real weight. That is why it begins with an assessment, and why it can end in a no. Someone who writes out of curiosity, with no concrete case, receives that answer with the same courtesy as anyone else.
Premium-rate lines follow another logic, and it is worth looking at it coolly. What is charged is time: the longer the call, the larger the bill, and the person who most needs to talk is the one who pays most. Nothing in that model encourages anyone to say no, to send someone to their doctor or lawyer, or to suggest a few days' reflection before calling again.
A private consultancy works the other way round. There is no per-minute meter, no charge per call and no surcharge for urgency. Each amount is set once, after the case is known and before any intervention, and it does not change with the length of the conversations or with the state of mind of the client. Our page How is the work invoiced? explains when you are told the amount and what it covers.
Who is a private esoteric consultancy for?
For people who have a great deal at stake and little room to talk about it: business owners and founders, families who own a company or significant wealth, people whose name is known. Almost always they have already seen their lawyers and advisers, and have reached a point where what remains open is no longer technical.
The situations vary from one person to the next, but they bear a family resemblance. A founder approaching seventy, at whose table no one mentions who will take over; a family fortune passing to a generation that never knew the person who built it. A sale, a partnership or a retirement that works on paper and has gone undecided for months. A run of setbacks that is more troubling as a whole than any one of them; a high-profile person who cannot speak about what they are going through without it getting around.
What they share is less visible than the matter itself. The professionals have already acted; the decision, or its weight, is still there; and the circle of people you can talk to has gradually narrowed, because everyone in the company depends on the person who decides, and talking about it at home means worrying someone who can do nothing about it. It is the situation we describe in No one to talk to.
There are also moments when this is not the right route. If a legal deadline is about to expire or there is a medical emergency, the relevant professional comes first. If urgency is driving everything and an answer is needed this very week, the decision has usually not yet been taken, and good work is not possible in that state; that is why we decline urgent cases, as we explain in Haste is a signal. And anyone looking for a performance receives a no as well.
How does a consultation work, step by step?
The path is short and always the same. Each step has a purpose, and none commits you to the next.
First contact
Everything begins with a WhatsApp message or a phone call to the person of your choice: in English or German, Tony Alcalá answers; in Spanish, Patty García. There is no long form: a few short questions or a direct message are enough. Presenting your situation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
What is worth having in mind before you write fits in three lines: roughly when it all began, what your advisers have already told you and, if there is one, the decision in front of you. If any of those three is unclear, that too is information.
Listening
You tell us what you wish to tell us, in whatever order you prefer. Our first question is almost never about the problem itself; it is usually “when did it start?”, because the date on which something began often says more than the whole description. There is no need to bring proof or documents: a situation described as it is, doubts and all, is enough to begin with.
The assessment
On the basis of what we have heard, we assess whether we can contribute anything to your situation, and we tell you clearly. If the answer is no, you hear it in the same conversation, with the reason: because your matter still belongs with a lawyer or a doctor, because the decision has not yet been taken, or because it is not something we could attend to personally. There is no waiting list and no reduced version of the service.
If the answer is yes
A private first consultation is arranged, in the language and at the time that suit you. There is a fee for that consultation; it depends on the nature of the case, and Tony or Patty will tell you what it is once they know the case, never before. If work follows, four points are agreed before it begins:
- exactly what will be done, and over what period;
- the fee, set in advance, with nothing added later;
- whether travel is needed, and on what terms;
- how you will be kept informed, and how often.
Nothing is set in motion until those four points are clear to both sides. During the work the same person looks after you from start to finish; we travel to any country if the situation calls for it, or receive you if you prefer, and part of the work can be done remotely. Our page What happens before you accept a case? describes each step in more detail.
Confidentiality in practice
In work of this kind, discretion is the condition for anyone deciding to write at all. That is why it rests not on goodwill but on the way the work is organised.
There are two of us, with no secretary and no assistants, and no one else reads your messages. Beyond what invoicing rules require us to keep, there is no client file, no list and no full names stored on the phone, because what is never archived cannot leak: not through an error, not through a cyberattack, not through an heir who opens a folder years later. Nor does the website store requests: the form opens a private conversation directly.
Outwardly, there is silence. No case is published, not even with the details changed, and no professional relationship is confirmed or denied to anyone, unless the law requires it. When we travel there is no letterhead, no card and no stated reason; for someone in the public eye, the place and time of a meeting are part of the case and receive the same care as everything else.
That choice has a cost, and we accept it: we cannot introduce you to anyone who has been in a situation like yours. What you can verify is that a person answers you rather than a switchboard, and that it is the same person in the second conversation. The full reasoning is in our note Why we keep no names.
Part of the discretion lies with you. Write from a phone and an account that only you use, keep no notes on the matter in the company's shared folders, and decide beforehand whether anyone around you should know that you have come to us, and who.
How do you recognise a trustworthy practice?
This is a field where abuse is common, and people usually enquire at a bad moment. It is therefore worth looking at what can be checked before you pay, rather than at what anyone says about themselves.
The first sign is the price: it is stated in advance, clearly, and it does not rise when you seem worried, nor does “additional work” appear halfway through. The second is the ability to say no, because someone who accepts every case is selling, not assessing. The third is the relationship with time: serious work allows you to take a few days, and anyone pushing you to decide this very week is taking exactly that away from you. The fourth is respect for other people's territory: a trustworthy practice sends you to the doctor, the lawyer or the adviser first when the matter belongs with them.
The fifth sign is usually presented the wrong way round. Testimonials and case stories you can read do not speak in favour of whoever shows them: if someone tells you another person's situation today, you already know what they will do with yours tomorrow.
One warning sign holds without exception, whoever it comes from: the announcement of a result, whether before or after the case is known. It is usually the first step in an escalating bill: it later justifies a paid “top-up”, and then another.
There is also a simple test that anyone can apply. Before paying anyone in this field, you can ask these five questions and listen to how they are answered:
- Who, apart from you, will read or know what I tell you?
- What will it cost in total, what does that cover, and over what period?
- What happens if you cannot accept my case?
- What should I do in the meantime about my doctor, my lawyer or my adviser?
- What will you keep about me once we have finished?
Answers that deserve trust are short and concrete, and none of them asks you to decide quickly. We look at these signs more closely in our note How to recognise serious work in this field.
Frequently asked questions
What does an esoteric consultant actually do?
They listen to someone describe a specific situation, assess whether they can contribute anything and say so clearly, with a reasoned yes or no. If they accept, they carry out work of an esoteric nature whose scope, duration and price are agreed before it begins, alongside the client's lawyers, advisers and doctors. A serious consultant explains their method in private before you pay anything, replaces no professional and leaves every decision with you.
Does an esoteric consultation replace a lawyer or a doctor?
No. Anything with a legal, tax, financial or medical dimension belongs to the professional in that field, who acts first. A serious esoteric consultancy does not say whether a contract is valid, does not recommend buying or selling and gives no view on anything medical. It works alongside those professionals, once they have done their part and something remains open, and it will never ask you to stop seeing them.
How much does a private esoteric consultation cost?
It depends on the case, which is why there is no published price list, but the amount never comes as a surprise. Presenting your situation costs nothing. If the case is accepted, there is a fee for the first consultation, and you are told the amount once the case is known, never before. Any work that follows has a set fee, agreed before it begins, with no per-minute meter, no urgency surcharge and nothing added halfway through.
Is an esoteric consultation confidential?
In a trustworthy practice, yes, and confidentiality rests on organisation rather than goodwill. At Lex Fati two people know your situation, Tony Alcalá and Patty García; there is no secretary, no client file and no published testimonials, and we confirm to no one that you have consulted us. With anyone in this field, ask who else will read what you tell them and what is kept once the work is over.
How does esoteric consultancy differ from coaching or management consultancy?
It differs in the nature of the work: esoteric consultancy belongs to the field of sensitive perception and energy work, whereas management consultancy and coaching rest on analysis and agreed goals. A management consultant examines figures and processes and makes recommendations; a coach works with you towards goals you set yourself. Esoteric consultancy recommends no business decision and sets no goals. People turn to it when what remains open is no longer technical, and every decision stays with you.
Can an esoteric consultation take place remotely?
Partly, yes. First contact is by WhatsApp or telephone, and part of the work can be done remotely. When being present adds something, we travel in person to any country, or receive you if you prefer; the dates, place and terms of each journey are agreed in private before we set off. What we do not propose is a journey that is not needed.
If your situation requires it, present it.
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