Question of the Day - Psychics

[guigsy]

im getting more and more curious every day to go to one and have a chat... im wondering what other people think of this kind of thing, if you've had an experience, positive/negative, whatever the case...

who feels like typing?

[bradm]

I'm a skeptic. I'll believe in psychic powers when I see a properly controlled, repeatable experiment that demonstrates them with statistical significance (the same way I'll believe that a drug, medical treatment, gasoline additive, etc., works when I see a properly controlled, repeatable experiment that demonstrates the alleged effect with statistical significance).

If/before you go, I recommend reading up on cold reading (a technique commonly used by fake psychics), and checking out the James Randi Educational Forum; Randi has a US$1 million prize (with the money in the bank, as guaranteed by Goldman Sachs, IIRC) to anyone who can demonstrate psychic powers [among other supernatural things]). Pay close attention to how alleged psychic Sylvia Browne has dodged, lied, and ducked Randi's challenge.

Aloha,

Brad

Aloha,

Brad

[MarcO]

well, I don't feel like working today so.......

I am suspicious of the psychic trade, in that you can pick up any newspaper, from a national daily to a small-town weekly, and there will be an ad for a local psychic in the back. Now, seeing as though you'd think a heightened psychic awareness would be a rare gift of sorts, can there really be so many psychics out there so as to form a "psychic industry"?

Now, I know many people have had the experience of going to the psychic and they told them something perosnal that cannot be explained. Being a skeptic by nature, I would suggest that while that is compelling, just because the average layperson can't explain it, doesn't make it a psychic experience. Like marketing, I'd imagine there are tricks to the trade, industry "secrets" for getting and retianing business. Somewhere in there lies the key to unlocking those weird mysteries.

Taken as a form of entertianment, it may be seen as harmelss, and probably is, but I suppose my take on it was coloured by an early experience, which I'll try to sum up quickly:

I worked for years for a man who was engaged to his long-time girlfriend. They had attended a psychic fair in Hamilton one year where they met a man named Wayne, a charismatic figure with some far-out new-agey ideas that my employer and his girlfriend found compelling, so they began to socialize with him. Fast forward about 4 weeks after the psychic fair, and his girlfriend DISAPPEARS! For months! And Wayne is gone too. Finally, a phone call comes in, she's ok but won't say where she is, just that she's with Wayne but not in a romantic sense. So, they know she's alive but the point is, my ex-employer hasn't seen her since (as far as I know), and this happened around 1989/1990 or so. Turns out, after much investigation (and the honest discussion of the merits of kidnapping) Wayne was the head of a cult-like group living in the Quebec countryside and recruiting at psychic fairs was part of their gameplan, presumably the people attending them were questioning spirits, open to suggestion and looking for guidance/answers etc.

The line between entertainment and mind control can get blurred in the heady awakening of "psychic" advice and suggestion. Have fun with it but do be careful.

Out.

[Ms.Huxtable]

Well I'd certainly never pay money to a Psychic, but I have experienced some pretty inexplicable things that make me believe psychics do exist.

My Grandmother lives hours away from us and never really uses the phone. One time (more than 20 years ago now) my dad was furious with my sister for something and was laying into her pretty good. At that moment my grandmother called and wanted to talk to my dad RIGHT NOW! Her call saved my sister's ass that day.

My grandmother had also never been to our house, but remarkably she always bought us gifts or made us afghans that matched the colour of our rooms. My parents swear they didn't tell her either.

There are several more instances where my grandma surprised me with her inside knowledge, since our lives don't meet up that often. She's a old-school farm wife, quiet and to herself so putting on heirs just isn't her. I tend to believe she has something special about her. Even if it's just woman's intuition.

[CyberHippie]

Good topic.

I do believe in the paranormal, but I'm definitely a skeptic. Some things happen that are jsut too weird to have been coincidence. Over the years I've had two tarot card readings. The first one was awful, since I was a skeptic I wasn't giving her anything that she could work with. As a result she gave me nothing. The 2nd reading I had, actually wasn't too bad. But still not overly convincing.

Maybe this is sort of a cliche attitude, but I think people who are the real deal, aren't gonna be advertised in the back of the newspaper. I'd go by word of mouth. I'm sure someone will have had some experience that was very convicing, try that out. You never know...

Pretty sure I believe in mediums too. But that's another story...

[MarcO]

"Lupus? Is it lupus?!?!"

[Groove Fetish]

Guigs!-

do I have a person for you to visit- her website is this:

http://www.innerlandscapes.ca

I recently had her do a chart for me and read it. It is not a psycic reading. it is a chart that is made though a computer program that maps your astrological birth chart.

this reading is more a psychological profile of the energies that push and pull through your life. A very interesting tool for personal reflection- which maybe what your looking for as opposed to the someone to predict the future.

[CyberHippie]

You can get some free astro charts from here:

http://www.astro.com/horoscopes/ahor.asp

You just plug in all your birth data and it gives you a very detailed natal chart and personal portrait. Also daily personalized horoscopes. Astrology may seem like mumbo jumbo, but I've been shocked how accurate my daily horoscope has been at times. And my personal portrait is spot on!

[Sunshine]

I've been to a psychic and she was dead on about things in my life and she had never met me before. You just have to remember they go off the vibe you give that day.

My grandmother use to have a weird sense for things. I too have had some very strong psychic feelings - and I'm glad in most cases I've had friends witness them.

I say go for the experience, just don't live off every word they tell you!

[Paan]

I once went up to a psychic and punched him.... then said "didn't see that coming now did ya?"

[boogieknight]

I am skeptical with the whole pay and get your fortune thing but i think we all have the ability to connect and communcate in higher levels. Some people are just a litte more tuned in. Thoughts are energy and we are all surrounded by an energy field,as well as, all connected to a much larger feild of energy. i think some poeple are able to lift their conscience thought up to these higher levels, which transend time and space, and have access to information and ideals that are not always avaiable to the waking mind. It's like the place you go to when you dream. the more aware you are of that place, then the more access you have to the things in which you'd like to know about. Anyone seen Waking Life??? That whole movie is basically about this concept. Some poeple can acheive these states without having to go to sleep, which what i think meditation is all about. i once read this book about Edgar Cayce which was pretty interesting, definatly opened my eyes to psychics and healing ( about edgar cayce

So to make a long story short, i do believe in psychic abilities and think we all have the ability, just some have it more then others. here's a fun game. everytime the phone rings, try to guess who is calling. I'm finding that i'm getting better the more i play.

oh, one other thing i've always thought about psychics is that i remember in high school when reading shakespeare or oedipus rex in which a certain future was predicted and then the characters would try to avoid this fate only to cause it to happen by trying to avoid it. So I've always wondered, what if you got a reading and it wasn't something you liked or wanted, would you accept it or try to change it, only to have it happen b/c of what you did to try to change it?

[Velvet]

When I was about 14 my mom went to a psychic. She was told that she had two sons, and one would follow in his fathers footsteps and the other would become a musician who, though he would never get famous, would have a good time nonetheless.

My brother works for my folks in the family business and I started playing music about five years later. And I am indeed having a good time.

Don't really know what I believe on the subject though.

[Velvet]

By the way, I'm still intending to prove her wrong on the whole me-not-getting-famous bit.

[Booche]

I used to believe in that shite when I smoked way too much pot. Not that I am one to discount something I am not very well-versed in, but...............

[ollie]

I think psychics need to be strongly regulated or outlawed. I think the majority of them are schysters playing on people's fears and insecurities to make a buck, sometimes causing psychological harm to the customer in the process. A mentally ill family member of mine is still blaming everything bad in her life on a visit she made to a psychic decades ago.

What really pisses me off is that mainstream outlets give them credibility by providing them a platform to espouse their views. I'm thinking particularly of CNN who allows Larry King to showcase people like James Van Praagh who are so obviously using cold reading techniques and are complete phonies. I know most of us would already be critical of a show like King's but he's "news" to a lot of people.

Question: Why would you want to know the future? If it's bad would you want to change it? If it's good does it give you something to look forward to? And why do so many people seek out strangers to tell them about themselves? Don't we ultimately know ourselves best?

[Sunshine]

Question: Why would you want to know the future? If it's bad would you want to change it? If it's good does it give you something to look forward to? And why do so many people seek out strangers to tell them about themselves? Don't we ultimately know ourselves best?

Well said!

[Im going home Donny]

funny you should mention psychics. Just the other night a friend said he was going to speak with a pyschic in Nelson. Then I mentioned my mum has seen a pychic a few times, then the girls were all wanting all the info. So guess I'm gonna ask mum about it for them and I have to admit I'm curious.

[bokonon]

i met a girl who worked for a psychic phone line. every call started with "what is your first and last name and your birthdate?". the so called psychic would type this in to her computer and all sorts of information would come up about the caller, such as credit history, occupation, number of children, address etc.

however, peaches (an infrequent user of this board) predicted the scores for all of our soccer games the season she was in grade eight and i was in grade seven.

and, i ran home for no reason once and it turned out my sister was having an emergency. i had never run home before and never after either. just never felt the need to other than that time.