Community Chat

[debic]

No. They're just con men who get paid for it. Look at the phone scams going around now.   Young adults calling 'Grandma'.   They say just enough that you will feed them information.  I've known 4 people that have gotten these calls now.  Only one fell for it and emptied her bank account.

[gardenman]

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@terrier3 wrote:

NO.

Some ARE very good at reading body language...but that's about it.

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It's not just body language any more either. With all of the information available online a fake can quickly develop a profile of someone that would include things they thought no one could know. Within seconds a fairly complete genealogy can be completed that will show the names of departed loved ones, and when they died. Once you have their names a few more searches can turn up personal details of the dead that "no one could know." People lose track of stuff they've said online too, and repeating back stuff they've said online and forgotten they said could make a psychic sound genuine.

The author Michael Crichton visited a psychic fair years ago where he went to each psychic and it was only on the last day that he found one who was "real" and knew things about him that no one else could know. I'm betting she saw him there each day, recognized him, researched the heck out of him and had a dossier prepared for when he stopped by her booth. He'd probably given a thousand interviews by the time he saw that psychic so a quick search could turn up a fact he'd revealed in one or more of those interviews that would make the psychic seem real when in fact they were nothing but a good researcher. 

[shoptilyadropagain]

Absolutely Not!

[Stray]

I believe some people are more intuitive than others but that's about it

[morganjen]

I remember going to one a few times when I was in High School. She was pretty spot on, actually.

[cotton4me]

Like anything, there are going to be fakes and those that take advantage of others.  However, I also believe everyone has a certain amount of intuition.  It's stronger in some people than in others. I also believe it can be honed and developed.  

[Vamp]

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@Greenhouse wrote:
I believe some people are more intuitive than others but that's about it

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I feel the same way, Greenhouse. I have had several readings done over the years, all in the name of recreation and fun. Some were better than others, but I don't put a lot of credence in what they tell me. 

[gardenman]

By the way, I suspect a smallish group of organized psychics could really clean up by sharing information. When someone makes a cold call on one of the psychics in the group that original psychic might not be able to tell them much, but by getting some information from that caller they could research into the client and forward that information to their alied psychics who could then give a much better reading to the client when/if they showed up there. Done right, a relatively small group of psychics, using readily available research materials could have many, many true believers who would hang on their every word and pay them lots of money. It would all be a con, but a clever con. 

Let's say you're the original psychic. A woman driving a blue Ford Focus named Crayola comes to you seeking advice. You give her your best chatter, but it's clear you're missing the mark. You excuse your inaccuracy and explain that the clouds just aren't parting for you today and suggest the woman try again later. Maybe you don't even charge her for the visit as a sign of your good will. She leaves, you take whatever notes you've made (car make, model, year, license plate, name of client, and whatever else you were able to get) and hand it to your researcher. Within minutes he/she can have a fairly complete profile of the client. Distribute that among your group and if that car pulls into an associate's lot the psychic can emerge from behind the curtain as the woman enters and ask, "Are you Crayola?" "Why yes, How did you know that?" "Your mother, Rainbow Brite reached out to me and told me you were coming. Come in!" Crayola is going to think this is the best psychic in the world when in fact she's simply part of a group of con artists sharing information.

The amount of information available online is so vast these days that pretty much anyone could pull off such a con with little trouble. There would obviously be legal issues if caught, but done right, in the right state/community, a smallish group of con artists pretending to be psychics with the right spiel and information sharing could clean up.

[surfk]

I don't really believe in psychics or clairvoyants at all.

Although I do definitely believe in mediums...

...as well as x-smalls and larges, too.

More seriously (more seriously than that!?!!!?) /\

I think there is a whole realm of consciousness which we're a part of but typically have little awareness of (since the hard, cold reality of daily living using distracts us).

But prayer is rather a form of connecting or communicating on a more cosmic level beyond our common awareness or sense of tanglible reality.

What is spirituality, after all, without some inner knowledge that we exist on another plane as well as the one we consciously operate on daily.

And I also believe in creative visualization. I have found that to be such a powerful tool that there is something to "seeing" something prior to its coming to fruition. And I don't even mean the wish for something and then working hard...and viola, you achieve it or make it happen.

But something else sometimes comes to one's mind eye and it actually happens (often within short duration).

Also, as human beings we can sense things about others. Maybe its a skill in body language, etc..But sometimes we actually do just get a "vibe" off of someone.

And what is karma but some intangible energy we emit and receive all the time? You know when things are right or wrong intellectually. But other times, you just "feel" it in your gut.

That isn't just indigestion. lol

What I don't believe in is the "career" psychics or readers who - for cash, VISA or the deed to your house - will tell you that your late-mother forgives you and that she's happy in the great beyond. That is exploitation of the mourning or the guilt-ridden even if the "reader" thinks s/her is doing good by the customer.

[apple1964]

NO! I am to smart and savvy to believe in that nonsense.