Avoiding Hoaxes, Charlatans, Traps, Scams and Other Cons
And how to find a real psychic and get a helpful reading.
A good psychic reading can help you to tend your life as you would a garden, and aid you in growing along with it. Maintaining balance on all levels of existence is an important goal that a personal psychic can help you achieve. A reader can illuminate your possibilities, choices and options as you approach the many intersections of life. The following are a few tips to consider as you select a psychic who will meet your needs:
Selecting a Psychic:
Above all, chose a person with whom you are comfortable. Being nervous is normal, but you should not feel intimidated.
No matter how well known, or how highly recommended, not every psychic will blend with you and be able to give you useful information.
A high-priced psychic is not always better. Some of the best second opinions I've received are from psychics who are new to the business, still used their guidebooks and charged very little, or who work for a 900 line. Psychics don't standardize their fees. However, a general guideline is $15 to $250 for a thirty minute reading. This fee reflects payment for the psychic's time, years of practice and training, transportation, books, and their tools of the trade. This can be compared to your physician's or attorney's fees which also reflect payment for their expertise.
A reading should be open-minded. If you feel the psychic is placing moral judgments on your activities or lifestyle choices, walk away! Only you can determine your ethics, not a psychic.
Choose a method of reading that will best answer your questions. Though every psychic will present a different reading, certain types of readings may answer your questions more specifically. You may have to do some experimentation or research into the different methods. Some of your choices may include Channelors; Card, I Ching or Rune readers; Palm readers; Psychic healers; Numerologists; or Astrologers. (However, some Astrologers and Numerologists regard themselves more as scientists than psychics.) A reader who is Clairvoyant (meaning clear vision) will generally get visual images, so questions pertaining to lost objects or physical descriptions of people entering your life are well suited to this method. However, many psychics who are labeled "clairvoyant", simply use the term to indicate that they have psychic abilities or a sixth sense.
Utilizing your Psychic:
Try a general reading first to see what the reader can pick up. As a reader, this is often like looking at a child's book that is all illustration and no words, so it is the most difficult part of a reading, but a wonderful challenge.
After a general reading, if you are still comfortable, ask specific questions. This adds words to that child's book and will get you considerably more specific answers.
Unlike most services, a psychic reading is a process. The actual consultation with your reader is only the beginning. When you go home, look over your notes or listen to the tape (if provided). Some things that seems irrelevant or inaccurate may take on new meaning. Refer to your notes occasionally to see if anything becomes relevant as time passes, and to verify the accuracy of any predictions made. In the later case, hopefully if they pointed out something negative, the psychic gave you possible solutions so you could eliminate or lessen the problem.
Write down your psychic's name and phone number so you can contact them again!!! I've heard too many sad stories about clients feeling that the psychic was wrong, ripping up their number and putting them out of their minds, only to find that later on, the psychic was completely accurate, except now they can never contact the same one again. (But I hear this story when they do find me! "blush") I usually attach the reader's name and number to the reading notes or tape, and affix it to the calendar so that I can check off things as they occur, and remember the bits of wisdom the reader provided from day to day. When the reading's reach of time has elapsed, I put it with my permanent records such as birth certificates. The reason for this is that I do my own readings most of the time, or have friends who do them, but there are times when I need an opinion from someone who knows nothing of my life and can be totally objective. These "crisis" times, fortunately, are infrequent, and it is easy to misplace a name and number that has been unused for a long time.
Have fun! A reading should be exciting, entertaining, and reflective. As your psychic helps you to pull up from the maze of your life, you can see an overview, and discover what direction you wish to take next, and what mistakes have been made before. Through this perspective, you can find humor in life, and enjoy the adventure of living.
Traps, Scams and Charlatans:
Don't take skepticism too far. These examples are rare, so be cautious and alert, but not overly defensive or guarded. You have to let your internal guards down to be read at all, but if anything like the following, true life situations listed below occur, be alert! Remember that you can always walk away and never return. These are stories I've collected from friends and clients over the years, most of them within the past 8 months. These are the charlatans out there that prevent sincere and honest psychics from receiving the respect and occasionally, the business licenses they deserve! Try not be embarrassed if you are conned, and don't look down on those who have been. These charlatans are very good at what they do!
The "psychic" tells you that you have a curse/ negative energy/ a black aura and offers to remove the problem (for an extra fee of course, sometimes as high as $2500, or several payments of $70 to $500 each!) Reuniting love relationships is also a favorite for these con artists. They often use their practiced and superior knowledge of human nature to prey on your weakest areas. A sincere reader will explain to you how you can go about reversing a problem or negativity (self-empowerment is the whole point of a reading, not (as Starhawk would say) power-over. ....just got another one, the reader demanded $200 and a photo of a lost love to get the couple back together!
The "psychic" tells you that an object you own (usually something expensive) is cursed or has negative energy that is preventing you from being happy, finding love, getting pregnant (hey, unnatural birth control!) having riches, etc. etc. They may offer to cleanse/ burn/ bury the object with an elaborate ritual. Of course they will have to do that later and without you, and will have to take it away (to the local pawn shop of cleansing!).
The "psychic" implies that you should not talk about the reading with your friends, as it will be "bad luck" or it will "jinx" you. This is usually for one of two reasons: either you will find out that you received the same reading as your friends, or the "psychic" fears that your friends will tell you that the reading was a scam. There are a few exceptions to this, such as when the reading was about your friends.
This one is tricky, as it can reveal either a very rare psychic talent, or a very practiced crook. The "psychic" practices "name dropping" by saying that they see someone with the letter T, M, J, etc. and as you say "Mike" so does the psychic. This makes it seem that they realized it just as you said it. However, these are among the most commonly used initials in the United States, and pulling a name out of thin air is a very rare psychic talent, so be alert if it happens, and check your feelings to see if you have been truly comfortable with the reader. Do you want to pay for the talents of your reader as a psychic, or as a predator?
You leave the reading feeling as if the "psychic" has some power or control over you, or may even "curse" you if you don't do as they have instructed or if you don't return within the time the reader specified. Did they do anything to make you feel this way? Reassess your feelings about the reader again.
Here's some more true life stories:
In a letter from a reader of this site dated 7/25/97:
Hi! I've been reading through your website and I wanted to share with you a scam that I got caught up in.
A friend and I went to a psychic in New York City and she told me that I had a curse on me and that she could remove it. She told that someone had placed a voodoo curse on my natural mother (I'm adopted) to keep her and my natural father apart and the curse was transferred to me because I was in her womb at the time. She said this was why I was having trouble forming relationships. At the time, I was very vulnerable and insecure so I believed every word. I ended up giving her $500 initially but ended up spending almost $700 because she kept telling me that it wasn't working and she had to try something else. I stopped calling her after she told me I had to buy 7 ounces each of gold, silver and copper. It took me a good year to stop believing that I was cursed. That year was really hard and I think by her telling me I was cursed I had "cursed" myself.
This woman is still in operation - she's still on 25th Street near 3rd Avenue so all New Yorkers should beware of her. I'm still embarassed about the incident but it has taught me to be very careful.
Reported from a client of mine 9/7/96:
"Psychic" who was in Missouri moved to Detroit said that this girl's boyfriend had a different soul reincarnated into him recently that was now keeping him from her. He is with another girl. The "psychic" did all readings for free, (don't know about fees for doing magickal workings though) She then allegedly kept others from this girl magically, without the girls permission because, "they were meant to be together". But the "psychic" also told her that she didn't get out enough, and because of the spirit inside him to forget it and move on.
My assessment of the situation was that she was lonely, needed to find strength within herself and be able to stand alone and be ok with that, and to find out if she could be with the boy without expecting him to change, and not expect him to commit right now (Knight of Cups) but just enjoy their time together. The other girlfriend said that she is fine with him continuing their relationship. I told her it was unethical for this psychic to be doing any workings without her permission, and because the girl felt controlled by the psychic, I told her that if she wasn't paying $ and there was no exchange of energy or favors, that perhaps what the psychic was getting out of it was being able to control another person (perhaps because of a lack of control in her own life?)
This girl also got a STD (sexually transmitted disease) from the boy, who thought it was from her. The other woman ended up being the original infection transmitter and kept quiet through all this, then said she didn't tell the girl about the STD because "she would already know by now so what's the point?" showing that perhaps she isn't that ok with the man being with another as much as she said it was ‘cool'
Because of the STD I wondered if the girl was having trouble accepting, no, embracing her sexuality, and certainly needed to talk about the STD to help her feel more self-accepting again.
Reported from a client of mine 12/19/96:
A woman had a restraining order placed on her from the man she was seeing who is married. She paid a lady $800 so far to do psychic/magick work to reunite them. As of July 2, 1997 there has been no reuniting, and no word from the "psychic" who has apparently moved.
The list of tips for getting readings could go on forever, but experience is the best teacher. For further reading about getting the most from your consultations, check out the book "The Psychic Source book -How to choose and use a psychic" by Frederick G. Levine published by Warner Books, Inc.
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