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

What other ways do you think they get info?

"The thing is, OP explicitly didn't want to hear those opinions. That's why it's arrogant. It's like being an atheist who has to bang on about it regardless of the fact no-one else cares."

What would you say to someone who had received a convincing email from a Sudanese prince and was about to transfer £5000 so that he could release funds and send her a million pounds? Would you respectfully back off if she said 'I'd like opinions on this but not criticism I don't want any negativity?'

@ReneBumsWombats

I had been reading them many years ago before the internet and I believed everything I saw. However with the discovery of the internet. It has been proven to be not as it seems.

Please enlighten me regarding Derren Brown?

Plenty of ex psychics online revealing how they do it.

Seem to remember a really interesting study by Liverpool University, or Liverpool John Moored maybe, that introduced a group of sceptics to a talented psychic. After the performance, they were no longer sceptics. Their belief in psychic ability increased by something like 40%. Then he showed them how he did it.

They can gather it from people who know the mark (existing customers who recommended them and have already let stuff slip), they can check public records and do research from those, they can send spies to talk to people beforehand, they've been known to look up local news stories in certain areas and call people in with free tickets for a guaranteed hit.

But most of all, they can know how a good cold reading works and take cues from the mark to make it sound even more specific and personalised, brushing over what they got wrong and playing up what they got right. I'm not saying they aren't talented. The psychology is real. There are also a few known stats to go with. A woman in her 40s or younger is most likely to be looking for the spirit of her father, for example.

Much of it works on people truly not realising how universal and common certain experiences and feelings are. According to some research, 80% of people think they have an "above average sense of humour". Apart from that obviously not being possible, how do you gauge the level of someone's sense of humour?

But OP has said she doesn't mind spending out of curiosity.

I see it as like canvassing opinion on whether it's worth forking out to see a particular show.

It would take far too long to type it out here, but if you read Tricks of the Mind, there's a lot in there. Including a full cold reading that creeped out many people in different countries for its eerie accuracy. (He got it translated into Spanish for a Spanish audience and the translator thought he was playing a joke on her because it read as of it were for her. One person withdrew from the event because she found the reading too personal.) It described me too.

This made me lol because I'm pretty humourless.

so you're talking about pulling in audiences for shows? Never seen one.

I thought there'd always be obvious rules for people visiting psychics

• don't pay in advance
• don't tell them your real name
• don't go via anyone who knows you
• don't go local (if possible).

If you're going to see a psychic, then in all likelihood, whatever you tell yourself, you're hoping for a hit and you'll be primed for it. Everyone says they give nothing away and they were totally poker faced the whole time. But most people who want a good result will take a recommendation, and I hear you often have to wait a while for the good ones...

It's just stage magic. Although weirdly, we always accept there's a rational explanation behind sawing a woman in half.

Rene Maybe my experience was very different. I was commanded to keep quiet while she told me my future and "maybe there'll be time for questions at the end". I think of her fondly though I reckon she's probably dead by now.

PS sorry, I should be clear

I'd take a recommendation, but not get into a "Dave at 2 is going to book an appointment" scenario.

I was at a country fair with my mum at the age of 14. We went and had a reading as a bit of a laugh. As we left her room, my mum stepped outside first. She discreetly held me back a second and whispered “stop seeing the man”. I just froze! She then said, “find a boy your own age”.
I had got in to a weird secret relationship with a 21 yro, that my mum knew nothing about. It freaked me out so much, I completely ghosted the man and never saw him again.

Anyone who goes to see a 'psychic' is already by definition open to believing them. 'Sceptics' don't waste their time and/or money propping up the delusions and/or con tricks of professional scammers.

I cannot tell you exactly what happened at your experience, although I'd like to know what a professional stage magician noticed that you didn't. But if she was legitimate, she would have been the only person ever to have been able to replicate it under lab conditions...and I have to wonder why she wasn't working on a murder investigation squad, etc etc.

I also think that if you saw the late Paul Daniels and he successfully guessed your card without any apparent way of knowing, you'd be impressed...but you wouldn't think it was actually magic.

Rene "although I'd like to know what a professional stage magician noticed that you didn't."

sorry, not sure what you mean by that?

It happened because I was in a part of the US where walk-in psychics just seemed to be everywhere, so I thought I'd go. I did have some leftover dollars...in days of yore, it was the amount you wouldn't spend (and I didn't know I'd go back so often).

I suppose because that was my first experience, that may be why I am so puzzled when I hear about cold readings etc. she was more like "siddown, shaddup, Imma tell you stuff, you gonna listen".

@ReneBumsWombats

Thanks I will definitely read his books.

@EmmaEmerald i am pleased that your experience was positive and didn’t have a negative impact.

Unfortunately my experience influenced a negative impact.

Was this in yours or his local area?

Sorry, I garbled the sentence. I meant, I'd like to know what a professional stage magician would have noticed that you didn't.

That's not a dig at you at all. Stage magic is a real art. I know I've seen tricks I can't explain. But professionals are trained and wise to this sort of thing and they notice things that you and I don't. So I'd be interested to hear what a professional magician/openly dishonest psychic would make of the encounter.

We do not remember conversations as well as we think we do, especially when we are emotional and/or primed for something "magic". I even had a boyfriend once who I used to swear was reading my mind - he knew my wants and desires so well! Of course, 20 years later I can see how bloody obvious it was but I was horny in a different headspace, even though I thought I wasn't.

Rene "So I'd be interested to hear what a professional magician/openly dishonest psychic would make of the encounter.

We do not remember conversations as well as we think we do, especially when we are emotional and/or primed for something "magic"

Well, I talked to Derren Brown in the queue at Leon on the Strand and I would have loved to ask...but there were no halloumi wraps left so we just exchanged comments about that 😂

as for the second, I thought it was a norm, in the old days, to provide a recording? Mine was on cassette, of all things!

I think a conversation is harder to recall than a person just lobbing facts at you, but as I had them on tape, it was easy enough to check.

I absolutely adore stage magic btw, but have never ever considered going to a psychic show. Great if people want to, but I suspect I'd find it a very uncomfortable experience.

OP uf you do go, I'd be interested to know how you find it.

Spiritualist churches are free Op.
Check out a few, using your discernment.
You may get an accurate personal reading in this way or find someone to book a private session.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I read tarot, not a psychic bone in my body. Very few people know I read them. I have read for a few friends but they give me the question and the cards show a way. There is nothing sacred about them.

I hate the fact people take money and give false hope to people in desperate situations. The phone lines need banning.

would you ban everyone selling false hope to desperate people? That's the end of a lot of books, religious institutions....frankly, some doctors!

She also knew my husband’s name and there was absolutely no way she could have found that out

No way other than public marriage records, marriage announcements, electoral rolls or general snooping, no.

would you ban everyone selling false hope to desperate people?

I wouldn't encourage it.