Walter Mercado
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Walter Mercado in one of his trademark capes. |
Walter Mercado (
March 9 1932) is a flamboyant
Puerto Rican astrologer who has become a personal astrologer for many celebrities. He is currently a regular contributor to
Univisión's television magazine show
Primer Impacto with a daily
horoscope reading.
Childhood
Mercado was born
March 9 on board a
ship travelling from
Spain to
Puerto Rico. His parents are José María Mercado and Aida Salinas, a native of
Catalonia,
Spain. Both of them motivated and influenced Mercado's interest in the Arts, Science, spirituality, and nature. He did very well in school, and was mostly an
introverted child.
Allegedly, he learned to read the
Tarot cards when he was a child. He is also noted to have performed small traditional
Haitian voodoo ceremonies of which he had never been familiar. He believes he learned them from previous lives.
Studies and artist career
After finishing
high school, Mercado studied at the
University of Puerto Rico where he studied
Pharmacy to please his parents. Then he studied
Psychology,
Theater, and
Dance.
Mercado began his career as an
actor in early Puerto Rican
soap operas. He was one of the first Puerto Rican
teen idols. He received much praise as a dancer and as a theater actor. In
1960 he won an award for his acting and performed in his final
soap opera.
Astrologer career
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Walter Mercado in the middle of a press conference. |
In the 1960s, Mercado moved to
India, where he studied Astrology. On returning to
Puerto Rico, he hosted a weekly Astrology
television show. Although the channel went bankrupt, Mercado's show soon moved to
Tele Once (channel 11).
He has had shows on
American television as well. For a while during the late 1980s, he moved to
Miami, Florida where he became better known to the American public and people of other English-speaking countries.
In addition to his work for celebrities, Mercado also does
mall tours where he gives out his predictions for free.
Recent years
Mercado recently began writing horoscopes for a
Spanish publication sponsored by megastore company
K Mart. He also appears in a Spanish commercial for
Old Navy. He had a minor, yet important role in the film
Chasing Papi.
* Mercado received a
doctorate in
Divinity from the
International Philo-Byzantine Academy & University.
* In
1969 he was inducted as a Universal Teacher in
Poona,
Bombay.
* In
Tibet and
Nepal he holds the title of
Chela and
Buddhist Bikku.
* He has been a minister of the California Christian Brotherhood since
1970.
* He also has another doctorate in Divine Healing from
Tokyo, Japan.
* Mercado's trademarks are his wildly colored capes, designer suits and sharp wit.
* He often involves world situations, politics,
The Bible and numerous other themes in his predictions.
* Mercado's main philosophy deals with
love and his message centers on this.
* Although Mercado is widely rumoured to be
gay, a news story circulated in early 2004 that Mercado would soon be marrying a long-time friend at the age of 74.
*
List of famous Puerto Ricans*
Walter Mercado profile
