Throughout my twelve years of Catholic school, I’d been taught to avoid fortunetellers like the plague, for some were thought to do the work of the devil. But, like the length of my uniform skirts and the friends with whom I hung out, I didn’t give much credence to what the nuns had preached. From the time that I could read fluently, I had researched — through books and whenever possible, personal experiences — palmistry, tarot card readings, phrenology, ghosts/spirits, seances, Egyptology, the Loch Ness monster, UFO’s, lycanthropy, vampirism, astral travel, meditation, tea leaf readings, and Eastern theosophy.
Imagine my astonishment when, a few years ago, my research uncovered the fact that the gift of prophesy is not only mentioned in 38 of the 66 books of the standard Bible, it is deemed to be a gift from the Holy Spirit!  While the Bible differentiates between the practice of consulting charlatans versus those who demonstrate true psychic ability, and issues warnings against the former, it is sometimes difficult, in this life, to discern the between the two.
As a child, I remember reading that virtually every human being is born with a sixth sense, the capacity to predict future events with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The general consensus was that psychic ability was a type of survival mechanism, and that it could be cultivated if one removed from one’s self, as much as possible, from negative events and persons.
Later, I learned that the discipline of meditation enhanced one’s clairvoyance. By meditation, I refer to focused and frequently practiced spiritual meditation, not the type designed simply to reduce one’s stress level.
I had my first, unplanned reading as a young woman in her early twenties. I’d been seeing two young men at the same time, and was very much interested in the one we’ll call Dave; in fact, Dave and I wound up getting formally engaged. Romping through New York City’s East Village one Saturday night with friends, including Sam, the other guy I’d been seeing, we stumbled upon a storefront card reader, replete with the headscarf, gold hoop earrings, and crystal ball. Everyone thought would be fun to consult her.
Approaching this as a lark, I was shocked to discover that the woman who was not much older than myself saw me with the two men: one blonde (Sam) and one dark (Dave). She finished the reading almost in shock, saying that although I’d come far in my career for one so young and otherwise had a good head on my shoulders, I’d insisted upon falling in love with Dave, who would “bring me to ruin.”  Well, I was far from ruined, but Dave and I did split up and the schism, at the time, was deeply painful.
For years, this experience haunted me. How had she known? She had to have been very gifted, I’d supposed.
But further investigation enabled me to understand that “all of the information is already out there” and it’s just a matter of tapping into it. Also, a psychic can read a subject more accurately if that subject approaches him or her with an open mind or at least, a generally positive mindset. Not all clients do, despite their strong desire to be read. Against my better judgment, and because I’d been pestered to do so, I had once referred a very difficult person to an excellent psychic. Thoroughly exasperated, the clairvoyant later told me, “He’s enough to make you want to throw away your cards!”
The second reader into whom I ran — quite literally — was sitting, oddly enough, at a little card table on a quiet corner just off New York’s Little Italy. She, too, had the scarf and the gold hoops, but no crystal ball: just a pack of regular playing cards and a very quiet, slightly amused air, as if she’d known I was about to barrel right into her.
I’d gone to the Feast of San Gennaro with the man I would eventually marry, and remembering well the incident with the first psychic, refused her offer to read my cards!  However, my future husband was very much interested. His was a short reading, and all I remember was that she’d told him that he had an honest woman in his life, a very honest woman, and that she wasn’t sure if he could handle her. Considering that the woman was me and that my husband is still wondering, after all these years, what to do with me, I’d say that reader was also dead on!
The next reader and I crossed paths like ships in the night, and this, she foretold, was through destiny (and thereby hang tales too long for this article). She nailed every physical ailment in my body in the first few seconds — though I had not thought to consult her about those — and then she picked up the brochure of my realtor that I’d brought for her to see. I was in the process of moving to Jersey and the reader, whose name was Christie, intoned, “There is a job for you across the other side of a covered bridge.” Neither one of us understood what this meant (yes, spirits do move through genuine psychics), but months later, the light dawned. My realtor’s office was located at the foot of a sort of covered bridge … one that enabled foot traffic over a busy highway … directly across from the writing job I’d landed!  This was just one of the many things that Christie had predicted, that later came to pass.
Bonnie, whom I met next and befriended, added to my education. She was the first one I’d known to use a tarot deck other than the original Waite deck familiar to most of us. The deck she used was called The Rose Deck; it was dark and beautiful, with intricate artwork. The Rose Deck was but one of many different designs that I would later access through other readers. Bonnie explained that she used the tarot only as an icebreaker, as some clients were not comfortable with her just pulling their most intimate secrets out of the ether.
This lady explained that when her beloved grandmother had passed on, she was a young child of four. On the night of the day that her grandmother was laid to rest, Bonnie’d dreamed that her gran had appeared to her, advising her that, at the age of twelve, the young girl would come into the gift of prophecy. As foretold, that is exactly what happened to Bonnie. Fascinated with the planets and their influences, she studied astrology and was gifted in this form of reading as well.
Eventually, the accuracy of her work came to the attention of law enforcement agencies in both New York and New Jersey … and I’m talking about both State and local levels. Often grudgingly by Bonnie, who abhorred violence, her talents were utilized in cracking major cases. To protect her privacy, I’ll just tell you that these cases all made the headlines in their day: murder, kidnapping, and theft of a large fortune.
Bonnie also had the uncanny ability to simply touch an object and “read” its owner. One night over dinner in a restaurant, she’d admired an emerald bracelet my husband had given me and reached across the table to stroke it. Immediately, she got that glazed look in her eye that I’d come to know and began telling me very personal things about a certain in-law that I had never shared with her! An in-law that had only touched that bracelet once!
Kit, a.k.a. Katherine, was another lovely reader, an older, deeply spiritual woman lauded by the Catholic Church for her continuous contributions to the community. Kit, in my experience, was an anomaly in that she was a devout Catholic who also practiced as a psychic. Among the many things that this wife and mother foretold in two readings, she saw me following a certain musician, approximately two years before I’d ever heard his name. She also spoke of the wonderful friendships, travels, and experiences that my following him would bring me.
A few years later, Trish saw me journeying to the city of that musician’s birth, and the adventures — and great music — that awaited me there, and the good friend with whom I’d traveled.
Most recently, a very nice lady named Robin, who shares my love of music, foresaw me being asked by Sneak Attack, The Counting Crows’ media representatives, to cover one of their recent concerts. She did not name the band by name but intimated that it was a large, well-respected, well-known act.
If your curiosity is peaked and you wish to consult a psychic, I have but two bits of advice to give you, which I myself have followed.  Seek a psychic, please, through the recommendation of someone that you trust. And then feel that psychic out. As I’d learned long ago, we are all indeed born with at least a modicum of clairvoyance, so use yours. You want a reader who is spiritual; one who believes in a Higher Power, and a positive power. Anyone who gives you another sort of vibe, avoid at all costs.
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