Sunday, May 26, 2013

Night With A Psychic

Do you believe in psychics? The rational part of my mind has always been a tad skeptical when it comes to people who claim they can either see the future or commune with the dead. As I have gone through life, however, I have seen, heard about and had experiences that have certainly forced me to keep an open mind on the subject.

The problem is, however, that there are a lot of charlatans out there, all of whom are getting paid to pretend that their gift is real. Several weeks ago, Mom and Lynn had come to the beach for a visit and we saw that our local coffee house was going to have a psychic on Friday evening. Mom really wanted to go, so the three of us trooped over, bought our coffees and waited to see what happened. What transpired was fascinating to watch.

Let me just start by saying that the woman we saw was a fake. She was so obvious that even Mom, who has a much more open mind on the subject than I, was convinced that what we had seen was a show and nothing more. How did we know?

The woman started the evening by throwing out a very general question, “Is anyone in the room about to celebrate a big anniversary? I’m sensing a 50th or 60th.” No response. Over the course of the evening, said big anniversary kept changing, until finally she hit ten years. She never did get a hit.

The general questions kept coming, so general that the odds were overwhelming that someone in the audience would respond. “Is there someone going through a change at work?” “Did someone lose a member of their family at too young an age?” You get the idea.

What was fascinating to watch was not the psychic, but the audience. A woman about my age responded to the question about losing a member of her family too young. The psychic kept giving information, each and every bit of it was wrong. The woman to whom she was speaking, however, didn’t see it. “It was an uncle.” “No, it was an aunt.”

Another woman answered the job question, and again the psychic didn’t really know anything. She would say something, be proven wrong, but the woman to whom she was speaking would just let her carry on.

Then it struck me. What the people who are talking to this woman want is reassurance and comfort. The woman with the job change just wanted to know that she was on the right path. The psychic assured her that she was. Many, many people wanted to know that people they have lost were safe and happy. They were all assured that the afterlife is a good place, that all of our loved ones are happy and they are all looking out for us.

So, finally, who am I to judge? If this woman, who is no more psychic than I am, can provide such reassurance and comfort, perhaps it is a good thing. Life can be tough and, if the words of a stranger bring solace, let them.

11 comments:

  1. I don't tend to believe in this stuff, either. Most psychics are just canny about people, as you said, and they use it to make a living.

    But then there's some of the women on my mother's side of the family. My mother's mother, a very controlling and scary woman who manipulated everyone around her, would read regular old playing cards, not tarot cards. She would tell you specifics, like you're going to get a letter in a few days that will say such and such, or you're going to meet someone who will do such and such, and I swear, it all happened. She died when I was sixteen. One of my mother's cousins completely creeped me out once by pulling information about my relationship with my best friend right out of my head. She did it for half an hour, one thing after another. It was stuff I hadn't told anyone and she had absolutely no way of knowing.

    And I have a great aunt who spent a ton of time in New York City. She was a playwright who had a lot of plays performed off Broadway in the sixties, seventies and eighties. She would take relatives on tours of the city but always refused to take them to the World Trade Center because she felt something was very wrong with it.

    Maybe my grandmother was just able to read people really well, or made good guesses. Maybe my mother's cousin was reading the expressions on my face. Maybe my great aunt just didn't like the way the World Trade Center looked. Who knows?

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    1. Great stuff! I have had similar experiences, which is why I am able to keep an open mind. I love hearing stories like this and, who knows? Just because we can't explain it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!

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  2. Nope. No belief in psychics. Yet who's to say that if I met a really convincing one I wouldn't be taken in? Some people are VERY good at reading others...

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    1. I feel the same way. I have seen some things and heard about some things that give me pause, but overall I am skeptical!

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  3. I've never been myself but I would love to go. Even if s/he is a fake. I think it would be fun even to see a con artist at work, like the one you saw Chris. Did anyone lose a relative at a young age? Really? Broad shot, clearly. :)

    One of my college roommates had a psychic back home who would actually call her with stuff. One day the psychic said her blonde roommate should see a doctor. I laughed it off. Two weeks later I was in the hospital. Coincidence? Entirely possible. It's still fun to imagine there are people who can do that sort of thing.

    Billie - You know *the gift* runs in families, right? Maybe you're a little psychic too! :)

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    1. It's stories like this that help me keep an open mind. Even if it were a coincidence, it's a strong one!

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  4. Maybe *very* little. :) I've had a couple of weird premonitions. Both were specific ones about my son, and both of them happened shortly afterward -- but to someone else.

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    1. I'm convinced that parents become "psychic" when it comes to their kids. My dad was especially so. After I moved to New York, I had a string of really bad things happen. I called my dad early one morning and he answered the phone by saying, "What's wrong?" He somehow knew it was me and that I was upset. My mom, as well, has an uncanny ability to sense both good and bad in her kids. Genetics? Who knows, but it can be amazing to witness.

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  5. Quite extraordinary Chris that I check your blog, and yet, familiar "faces" from another blog LOL

    This is a difficult question to answer. What happens between our ears is so complex. I guess it is a natural thing to do to turn to psychics and all when we go through a rough patch in our lives. I've had more than my share this year and exceptionally, I've checked through predictions books of all sorts. Wouldn't do that usually, except just for fun.

    Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not a physical "empath" : some places and houses leave me with a bad aftertaste and make me feel uneasy while others make me feel good and at ease. Or it is just me ?

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  6. On the other hand, there was that awesome TV show called Leverage. They explained how the frauds do work : always by starting by very general questions. And I remember reading a few years back about a psychic guy and the people surrounding him taking a massive amount of notes. Oh yes, now it comes back to me :

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Cayce

    True ? False ? Who knows. I've read a lot of material on esoteric matters, and today, I am at the same point that I was at the beginning : is it true ? false ? who knows ?

    The best thing that I've "discovered" is to take some, loose some, and live at the fullest the present moment....

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    1. I completely agree. As I said, I have heard stories that have made me wonder, but overall it's just fun.

      Hope your rough patch is smoothing out soon.

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