ever gone to a psychic or medium etc? ..and did they tell you things they would have no way of knowing? And if so, how detailed?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2013 07:20PM by Susan I/S.

Please read the following article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading

The only valid test for a psychic would be a double-blind; psychic A would have to tell person B facts about person C that B does not know. That way they can't cold read B to get additional information.

When talking with a "psychic," it's AMAZING how much people give away, and interpret vague statements to be specific.

If it really worked, it would hold up to scientific scrutiny.

winning every friggin' lottery in the world. All the time. Except for Shirley Jackson's. ;-)

I love that this was the FIRST post. Skepticism. So important.

Yes, I have. And yes she did. Stuff there was no way she would possibly know by my clothing or anything else about my behavior. Believe me, doubting me tried to find a logical explanation. I had gone as a joke and because I was curious. But turns out...it was an amazing experience.

That said, I went to another and...nope. ;)

Since then, I've just pretty much relied on my own "inner knowing". I'm pretty wise about my own life, turns out.

P.S. My patriarchal blessing was incredibly unenlightening...but did give me a rather large ego about it for quite some time. ;)

Yes, a few times, and even mediums who didn't know each other said the *exact* same thing about one of my son's past lives. Another one described exactly my wife's and my personality, and even made fun of some of my quirkinesses. One of my own patients, and old lady who is a medium, went into a trance while in my office, and told me things about my deceased mother she couldn't ever have known. These and others were all mediums who worked for free, for the benefit of others.

One of the greatest mediums of all time, Chico Xavier, was a brazilian man who worked all his life without charging ONE penny, writing letters from the deceased, which were promptly recognized as legitimate by most people. Brazilian justice acknowledged three of his letters as proof, and acquitted three defendants accused of murder, in three separate occasions.

You can read about him here:

http://www.spiritwritings.com/chicoxavier.html

There are plenty of charlatans out there, especially those who charge money for their services. But if you look for them, you can find humble and honest people who have never seen you, who want to help you, and who will not ask you for anything in return. They can be found in virtually every town and city nationwide - at least that's my experience here in Brazil.

I went to an astrologer once. The kind that does your star chart and discusses it with you.

I didn't go see her because I believe in astrology. I went because she was giving cheap readings to the locals in a wee village I once lived in and I really wanted to see the inside of her house (a really old cottage in England).

It was fun though! I got my chart and a CD recording of the 1.5 hour chat we had. She wasn't really a flaky astrologer - she admitted completely that it's just an interesting tool to use a springboard towards thinking about yourself and life in a more analytical way. She offered no hocus pocus but I actually did benefit from one of her insights about me that she made - though that really probably came from her being intuitive and not from my star chart.

And her old house was fantastic to see! :D

My view is that the value in mediums and psychics is in their validation (intuition) of what is needed or true about another person. Often they can offer comfort to someone battling regret, or guilt, etc. There is often insight shared that is helpful.

It's a tool, another view point that may be beneficial to other people.

Those that use this ability as a benefit to others and do so with no charge are, in my experience, the most helpful.

Take it or leave it. It's an interesting field. There are Spiritualist Churches also.

I've went to several when I was pagan. Only two, an elderly palm reader at the Ren Fair and a bruja who didn't charge for readings, were accurate.

I think most are scam artists though.

I don't understand getting all excited and awed by someone telling you something about yourself and/or your family that you already know. And people pay them money for this?

If they were to accurately forecast your future and tell you what to do to avoid a calamitous experience (such as: take an extra 30 seconds before starting your car, thereby avoiding a drunk driver racing through the intersection - and you can verify that the event took place as forecasted), then that would be valuable.

But being awestruck by their 'powers' because "they couldn't know that" about information about your family is useless. Give me information I can use.

Agreed. Just because you don't know where they got the information doesn't mean it was "psychic," just like not knowing exactly where JS got all his ideas doesn't mean he's a prophet. For all you know their assistent could be on google and facebook with a hidden mic and earpiece.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2013 03:21PM by Xyandro.

I've had two experiences with psychics:

1) On Maury Povich of some similar show they had a psychic cold read audience members. I'm assuming that since the guy was on TV he is one of the best at what he does.

The tactics he used were so incredibly obvious. He started general and then watched body language to get more and more specific. It was clearly a load of horse manure. Then afterwards they interviewed the audience members who gushed and gushed about how incredible it was that he knew all those things about them.

2) I saw a clip on youtube where the psychic was giving them an amazing number of details out of the blue. Then you see that there is someone in the other room googling their name and reading stuff off into a hidden earpiece.

Just looking at someone and hearing the way they speak - language, mannerisms, dress, etc., etc., one can make likely statements about how they think, their religion, what they have read, what kind of work they likely do.....

Just a matter of being observant. I played this out once on a plane. I told the man next to me a great amount about himself. I am no psychic, merely an observer of human behavior. JS also was an observer and could fool a lot of people.

They seemed a little freaked out because of how much the psychic had gotten right.

What was really freaky is how much applied to ME as well, 100%. Really amazing that the psychic got right for TWO people, well make that more because other people said it could apply to them as well.

The thing was, the psychic talked about a family person or someone you know with a name [insert common name here] or something like that... Well, yeah, almost everyone is going to know a "Dave".

The whole reading was vague stuff that sounded specific. It had a good chance of being 80% right for a lot of people.

I did once, put down $50 I think. Very entertaining. They tell you stuff and you get to ask a question or two. I swear I can't remember any of what she told me except she said my aura was screwed up and I needed to buy some of her special candles. I didn't.

Yes, I have have readings done by those who practice Santeria and they were very accurate.

Once I wanted to know if a boyfriend (who was married, I was single) was cheating on me and she gave me the date that he had...it was a night that I had cancelled with him and I remember how he did not complain like he usually did. Once I thought back on it, his behavior had changed from that night, which is what made me ask the question four weeks later. She provided me with other information that I don't doubt was true.

I accused him of cheating on me and told him I wanted my key back. His total response was a sarcastic and arrogant "Oh well". Then the other woman dumped him and he tried to get back together with me, explaining that his comment didn't mean that he WAS cheating on me, just that he knew he could not change my mind (which is what he then trying to do). I told him I was getting tested for STDs and he seemed unconcerned. I found out that the woman he was with (we all worked at the same company) had an affair with her boss, and the boss was known to sleep around. The tests came back negative. Later the woman who did the reading told me that she made him wear a condom which explained why he was not concerned with picking up anything from her.

I once had a medium tell me that my chakras were clogged, and that he could intervene to "release" them. I started giggling uncontrollably when he said "release" for some reason.

Overall, though, James Randi's skeptical perspective on paranormal phenomena has always made the most sense to me.


http://www.ted.com/talks/james_randi.html

She seemed sincere and accurate, gave good advice, took whatever donations were offered and made people feel hopeful and validated. I saw her once on TV years later.

Haven't felt a need to go to anyone like that again. I was very young and at loose ends back in those days. Had barely left the mormon church and didn't know how to deal with life beyond taking it a day at a time. Fortunately, I started doing better quite quickly as leaving mormonism behind made room for new friends and a better life.

I went to a school in New York that was run by a psychic. The outside world rejected me because I was different; they berated and beat me and called me terrible names. This man took me in and showed me that I wasn't alone, that there were many people with special talents like me, that my differences were not only natural but but a blessing as well. He taught me to be okay with myself as I am, and showed me how to defend myself from the onslaughts of the world.

That man was my Mentor, my Savior and my Friend. I will forever be indebted to Charles Xavier.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2013 06:59PM by homo sapiens maximus.

+1000 Awesome

My dad died suddenly, and I was desperate to have a final contact with him. It took a lot to get my dad to speak actually. In the mean time, all these other relatives were popping in. The medium wanted to know who was the guy in cover-alls with part of his leg missing. She said we kept talking about big picnics. She was talking about my father in law. He was a mechanic who had half his leg amputated because of diabetes, shortly before he died. In their day, he and his wife had thrown large family picnics that he tended to mention still, every time we saw him, as elderly people tend to do.
My husband doesn't believe, but that creeped even him out. Descriptions of other relatives were spot on as well.

I have one who was not invited. She shared things with me no could know but me.

Nu huh! Psychics are real, this guy reveals his trick below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pYHN9iC9I

After you visit a "psychic" you always feel better because your wallet is a lot lighter.

Yes, DW and I went Lion Sun on Johnson St in Victoria BC. HIGHLY recommend him.

Predicted the demise of the cult in our life and gave us some insight for DW's career.

We see him about every two years.
He uses Tarot cards.

I went to a psychic and palm reader with my teenage daughters and a friend. Everything the psychic said while reading the palms was pretty much what one would assume given the dress and manner of the teens, plus all the info the teens volunteered with little prompting.

She would not read my palm because 'you create your palm as you live' and so it is not accurate for adults. So I had my tarot cards read. It was all rather ambiguous and there was no special knowledge there.

All in all it was a fun outing, similar to seeing an interesting but only OK movie at twice the price. I have not been back but would try again if I had plenty of disposable income just for the entertainment value. I would like to show up at the same psychic several times with very different appearance and see how the readings change.

I wish I could do a return and report. I do believe there are people with gifts in this area, but there are plenty of frauds. In any case, if it makes a person feel better, in more control, in better spirits, it's money well spent. You can spend money on any number of things in "feel good" way. Of course, I would hope a person isn't spending a lot of money outside their budget and a person has taken the time to watch and research and know the track record and accuracy.

I have seen a psychic who was pretty much on target with life situations that he would have no way of knowing and with enough detail that I'm not skeptical of his abilities. Whether or not certain predictions come true remains to be seen.

I've seen mediums give clues to a spirit and someone usually claims them. Details like a an older person who sewed - everybody's granny sewed - but details like she had an orange cat and had many decorations in her home that had strawberries, she loved strawberries, I keep seeing strawberries. She had four daughters. It's uncanny.

I don't trust any psychic unless he has both a hat and a peep stone that have been certified by the World Association of Conjurers, or WAC for short.