To see a psychic

[TwentysixV]

I’ve never believed in anything supernatural, am a scientist. I recently read a book where the main character went to see a psychic and it got me thinking. I read some reviews of a local one online and most of them were positive saying she was extremely accurate, mentioning specific names etc. she charges £40 which I can easily afford. I want to go partly out of curiosity and partly because I’ve been single all my life and want some reassurance that everything will be ok/I’ll meet someone in the future.
interested to know if anyone has any experience with going to see a psychic and if they were accurate or a total waste of time. And also what “reading” am I after-is it tarot cards or is there another name for where they basically tell you about your situation and what they think the future has in store for you.
I’m not that interested in replies saying it’s all a load of rubbish from people who have never been to a psychic though!
any insight would be interesting

Some are better [at cold reading] than others.

Fixed that for you.

Most All of them don't have a gift

Fixed that for you.

At the final hearing the lawyer for the other side informed the judge she was pregnant.

Was the lawyer psychic too?

I’m not that interested in replies saying it’s all a load of rubbish from people who have never been to a psychic though!

any insight would be interesting

Those two statements are mutually exclusive.

I've been in a lot of tall glass buildings for work. Would probably have seen someone pregnant if I'd been looking out for it. When I was pregnant, there were suddenly pregnant women everywhere.

As a scientist, what is the mechanism by which someone would be able to see into the future? Given everything we know about quantum physics, how would it work?

Lots of very firm sceptics here. Are most of them atheists as well? The sort of people who come into any thread and loudly bang in about ‘sky fairies’ ?

Is it fear, I wonder. So much easier to dismiss the unknown than to examine it. I’m not a spiritualist, because I am a Christian, and I don’t care much about people who may have a tolerance for the darker arts. So I would advise caution, but not for the same reasons as the oh so smug mockers.

They're also not a scientist because there is no scientist in the world who would describe themselves as 'a scientist' (rather than a molecular biologist, an epidemiologist, an astrophysicist, a marine zoologist etc.)

Presumably OP is a Scientist in the same way Gillian McKeith is a 'Doctor' and Owen Jones is a 'Journalist'.

Sadly, there are plenty of people with Scientific qualifications who fall for nonsense and plenty of people doing nonsense 'research' in Social Science who think they are Scientists but don't have a clue what it would really involve.

The first element of being a Scientist of any kind is following the Scientific Method. No matter what your job/qualifications if you think psychics are real you aren't capable of being a Scientist.

People seem to be very determined one way or t'other on these threads.

I agree that given the proliferation of such buildings and the chances of a pregnant woman around, that one isn't terribly convincing.

OP I know you said you're not fussed about paying, but if you do find someone who doesn't take money - or need to know your real name - that's more likely to be something useful.

I did finally get round to watching cold reading videos linked to in previous threads and just thought, no one will fall for that.

I think it's pretty arrogant to assume that all that we currently know is all that there is.

You are not a scientist.

but also - these people aren’t just having harmless fun reading cards and snake movements.

these people are charlatans and are minting money by fooling vulnerable people.

and you’ll just go and support them.

that will make you not just not a scientist but also pretty shabby citizen.

Lots of very firm sceptics here. Are most of them atheists as well? The sort of people who come into any thread and loudly bang in about ‘sky fairies’ ?

Is it fear, I wonder. So much easier to dismiss the unknown than to examine it. I’m not a spiritualist, because I am a Christian, and I don’t care much about people who may have a tolerance for the darker arts.

The mainstream Christian churches support the Scientific Method and accept Science as the mechanism through which we understand creation. Believing anything else is not merely heterodox, it's unchristian.

Suggesting fear is why people don't believe in easily disprovable nonsense and that visiting psychics is tolerating the dark arts (as opposed to getting conned) makes me think you are 'christian' in the same way OP is a 'scientist'.

dad's oncologist used to read her star sign

is she not a scientist?

No one in the history of humanity has ever demonstrated psychic ability under testable conditions.

Conversely, a large number of people have written extensively about and actively demonstrated how otherwise quite intelligent people can be manipulated into thinking they have been “read” by a genuine psychic.

A very large number of people have been cynically exploited and lost a lot of money by paying people in that second group.

this is why people feel quite strongly about it.

OP - I’m sorry you feel you need to pay a stranger to hear reassuring words from them.

Another "maybe shocking on MN" moment - one of the regulars at church used to belong to a spiritualist church. He only changed because he has athritis and it's easier to walk to this one - well, the other is a bus or Tube journey.

It's not fear.

It's disgust that these people exploit vulnerable people with complete lies in order to make money with no regards to, y'know, morals at all.

It's well documented how psychics convince people they have some sort of gift. It's not hard to do and anyone can learn to do it with a book off amazon.

They are fraudsters preying on people at low ebbs and it absolutely boils my piss.

I think it's quite the reverse - humans tend to use superstition, or 'special psychic insight' as a protective mechanism against fear of the unknown. We've done that for millennia, it's a species-wide trait.

Whereas gazing into the void & deciding "on the balance of evidence, it's nothing more than a void, humans have no special significance in the universe, & there are no supernatural entities looking out for us" takes more boldness.

psychic be able spot a mile off that you've been single all your life and will tell you all the things you want to here. Will fleece you good and proper.

"Just because science doesn't know everything, doesn't mean science knows nothing!" - Dara O'Briain.

We may not know how everything does work, but we do know a lot of things that not only don't, but can't possibly work. Things like tarot cards and being able to see the future fall firmly into that category.

I think it's pretty arrogant to assume that all that we currently know is all that there is.

There is a difference between not knowing everything and knowing nothing. We know the earth is round, we know why the sky is blue and we know psychics aren't real.

The argument 'well it might be' is the argument that you should send £1000 to that Nigerian prince who wants to give you billions because he might be telling the truth. Anything might be true but lots of things aren't.

dad's oncologist used to read her star sign is she not a scientist?

I bet she didn't use it to diagnose cancer.

The whole point of faith is not needing proof. Some people find it comforting. It's their money to spend how they choose.

People spend money on various things I have no interest in or that could be considered exploitative (cosmetic surgery or gambling) but it's their life, not mine. I don't feel any urge to put them off.

Please don’t believe everything you are told by them.

I visited several psychics, tarot readers and other charlatans.

I was at a vulnerable time in my life and was looking for guidance. At the time they made me feel more positive.

They predicted that I would finally receive something that I really desired.

I took the actions they advised. Again believing and trusting what I was told.

Unfortunately the predictions didn’t come true. This had serious consequences and I have needed to come to terms with an outcome which I followed through someone else’s so called fun.

I am in tears writing about this. As it has inflicted serious consequences to my future.

2 examples
Mum was visited by a lady selling 'lucky heather' my 8 month old brother was in mums arms. The lady told mum that he would grow up and wear a uniform.
He went into the army.

Before FB etc I was with friends in a town over 150 miles from home.
We saw a psychic and he told me that I was going to have a big connection
with Canada.
A few days later visiting mum and was telling her about this reading we were laughing as there isn't any reason to have a connection. My older brother came to mums house as well to let us know he was going to Canada for 6 months.

Read it out of Heat magazine or...?