Would anyone listen to a psychic? Or is it total rubbish?

[MartyMcFlown]

I'm feeling potty even asking this, but my very old Grandma has been reading the tea leaves for a long time and I was visiting her and as I was walking out she told me that I was going to marry the man in the blue and white striped shirt, and that he was quiet and didn't give much away but that I was going to love him more than I have ever loved anyone; and to be kind to him and gave me a bit more advice.

I was then quite weirded out when the man I am dating walked into a date last night in a blue and white stiped shirt.

I hadn't told Gran I was seeing anyone, but the whole thing had me wondering if I should take the advice she gave me.

Are things like this just total random rubbish or would anyone listen to it?

its a load of rubbish.

Load of rubbish.

Please try and watch Derren Brown in either Messiah or Derren Brown Investigates in which he shows psychics up for the frauds they are.

If you're willing to believe you can easily be swept along by a psychic 'reading'. But the truth is the psychics are very clever at fishing til they make a hit. And the person having the reading tends to remember that one hit and disregard all the other things that were a total miss.

Anyway, Derren explains it much better. And he does it in a kind, sensitive way so as not to humiliate believers too.

It's absolute rubbish, peddled by people who are fairly good at reading body language and therefore preempting the answers you might give to very leading questions.
Some people might find comfort in it but it is utterly nonsense

Statistically how many men wear blue and white striped shirts? It is high I think.
It is all rubbish and based on educated guesses and reasonable assumptions.
The same prediction could be applied to lots of other single women.

I thought it was rubbish!

To be honest, a lot of men wear a blue and white striped shirt at some point or other... someone you go out with would be bound to wear one sooner or later.

its pish
the amount of times ive been dragged to a psychic and nothing has came true is about 10 times
in fact most of them spouted crap

Lots of men have blue striped shirts. My mum went to one (aged 70) and was told she would meet a man with white hair. No shit Sherlock.

Well I think the answer to both your questions is "yes": Psychics, just like any other ~woo~ practitioners, can be helpful to the people they are reading, by giving them something that they feel that person needs: closure, a prompt to action, "permission" to do something they long for, etc...

A lot of time it is pap for the gullible, but I think sometimes, if done by a compassionate and sensitive person, it's an attempt to connect with a person's deeper needs.

But it is not magical or supernatural. It's all about being the psychic being sensitive to clues the person gives off.

"Blue and striped shirt" seems a little specific, but "You will marry a man who definitely exists" could be your gran reassuring you that something you long for is bound to happen. And if it's the push you need to open yourself and commit to a likely candidate, then it will have helped you.

My dh gets his shirts ironed at the dry cleaners. After they are ironed they are hung on a rack thing in the window. They all look the same. Every 'bunch' had a couple if plain blue shirts, a couple of striped shirts and a couple of jazzy ones.

If dh loses his ticket and the guy has to go through the rack it kills dh as they all just look the same.

A Fortune teller told memo would find happiness with the third man in my life. It was a lie! He was the worst of the lot!! He also told me I would have three children! I am missing two!!

It's just entertainment.

But it stops being entertainment when vulnerable people who are lonely, hurt, desperate or grieving buy into it. Then it quickly turns very ugly. I don't know how 'psychics' justify their deceit to themselves.

It's never worked for me but I have known people who have met real psychics. If it happens it happens and that would be interesting, but I wouldn't choose my lifelong partner on that basis.

I live in Mexico and we have a lot of witchcraft. Some of it I believe to work, but I know people who fall out with a friend or family because a witch told them that that person cast a spell on them, all very nasty and dangerous stuff.

I went to a psychic fayre once, just for a bit of fun. I had a reading.

She said some stuff that could have been true, but I was careful not to give any response other than "ok". Whether it could have been true or not.

In the end she said, "I can't do this if you give me nothing."

Says it all!

It is such a precise description. He has a striped shirt and you will love him the most. I don't understand why anyone is doubting this.

Doraydiego, you are joking, aren't you?

I think anyone could pose as a psychic and say to someone that they have a message from a "man with white hair and a dog, and he goes by the name John? Jack? Jim? "
And they'll keep on until the gullible trusting person, who has paid this 'psychic' good money, suddenly says "oh I know Jim, he was my grandad!"
The psychic thinks 'result' and continues to talk about 'Jim' as if he is really coming through.
The fact is though, most people will know of a John, Jack or Jim with white hair who has passed.
Also, if psychic's did have this ability to receive messages from our loved ones, then why do they never seem to be able to give surnames etc?

I once got pissed with some friends at a girls night in, and we started mucking about with Tarot cards. I was reading them and said the girl I was reading for was wrestling with a decision. It would have financial implications, and was scary and challenging but that if she went ahead with it, eventually it would be worthwhile.
Friend was astonished how accurate I was. Completely forgot she told us she was thinking about giving up her job and going back to univeristy in the pub three weeks previously.

It would be interesting to know how frequently synchronistic events occur in the lives of those who adhere to Cartesian rationalism.

I've accurately predicted future events and when they've occured no-one has been more surprised than me. I've also experienced events for which there can be no rational explanation other than hallucination which, in itself, defies rationality.

Your dear gran may or may not be right, Marty, and only time will tell if you find lasting love with last night's date, or marry a man who chooses to wear a blue and white striped shirt on your wedding day . I hope you'll report back in due course.

goddessofsmallthings Trouble with that is this:

If OP is someone who believes in fortune telling / psychics (and I'm not saying she is) and ends up married to this man in a striped shirt she will always remember the grandmother's 'prediction' and it will further support a belief in fortune telling / psychics.

If she doesn't marry him, she will prob forget the prediction or laugh it off or replace it without another prediction.

It's human nature to remember things that 'fit' our pre-existing beliefs and disregard things that don't fit. It's called confirmation bias and it's very difficult to rise above unless you're actively conscious of its influence.

I was in a big period of change and consulted a psychic. I was told that I would find a place to live that I would love and that 'I had been there before'. There was pressure to find a place before schools started and I didn't know where to begin. It was suggested to me to look in a particular area I hadn't considered. Instant knowledge that this was where I could happily live with DC. I'd even forgotten that I'd been there years ago. We lived there for ten years.

Forgot to add, I think psychic stuff can be fun if it's not taken too seriously...