Mediums and Clairvoyants
 

Does anyone know any mediums or clairvoyants personally? I'll admit that I am a complete skeptic about the whole thing, especially when it comes to those that are on TV in any sort of reality shows.

I am curious about something in regards to how they "work". If anyone knows someone who claims to be such a person, Id like to ask questions.

Feel free to chime in on this subject....

BG

I don't think it's a good idea to get into fortune telling. However, I knew two women who were practicing clairvoyants. The first was trained at a metaphysical school. She would always ask people to close their eyes and concentrate on themselves (or the person they were asking about) as she "focused in" on the answer. She truly believed in this metaphysical philosophy. She also wrote PRACTICAL love and relationship advice. She helped me a lot in some ways. Now I'm a practicing Catholic and I don't do the whole fortune telling thing anymore. However, I am still surprised at this woman's ability.

The second one would ask for her client's birthday and the other person's birthday, if there was a person involved in the question. She had a lot of practical advice. I would say she wasn't a medium or clairvoyant, but rather a person who was very sensible and could give common sense advice. She was more like a "kick in the pants" type of counselor than a medium or clairvoyant. She had a background in psychology.

I do think there are many frauds. The ones who advertise in the back of gossip magazines, for example. Heard a lot of scathing criticism of Sylvia Browne, John Edwards, and James Van Praugh.

Doreen Virtue claims to be a medium who communicates with angels. She has this whole "Angel Therapy" program with "certified" counselors. I liked her first book "The Lightworkers Way", but her second and third books were terrible! The second book is all about how she communicates with fairies, and one time, she started weeping and flipping out at her hubby b/c he didn't ask the fairies' permission before mowing the lawn! The third book was about her trip to Santorini. The first chapter was good, but then she talked all about going into a deep meditative state where she connected with her past life and was a Greek healer in a temple.

It's interesting that you mention this, because just yesterday I read an article about how psychic/medium/whatever Sylvia Browne told the mother of one of the 3 women kidnapped (and recently found in Cleveland, Ohio after 10 years) that her daughter was dead and she wouldn't see her again until the "afterlife". This young woman's mom died believing her daughter was dead...and she was found just a day or so ago.

Sylvia Browne also told the parents of another missing child (Shawn Hornbeck) that he was dead too. As it turned out, Shawn was found alive four years after being kidnapped, living with his captor.

Both of these "predictions" or whatever were shared on national TV talk shows.

My sister and I saw Sylvia Browne in person about 1.5 years ago. It was interesting to hear what she had to say to me and others in the audience, but nothing earth-shattering. It appears she doesn't have a very good track record. Apparently she is a "consultant" to the FBI, so our tax dollars are being put to good use.

My point? Tread carefully.

I heard that a lot of people go to Cassadaga in Florida or Lily Dale in New York.

Yeah, I'm really up in the air about whether anyone can communicate with those deceased.

The one big question I've always had was could any of these people who claim to communicate with those on the other side, can they communicate to anyone? Or does it just have to be someone closely connected to the person they are reading?

For example, can a medium get in touch say with one of the founders of the Kappa Sigma fraternity? Or let's say any other famous person or unsolved case...
I think if that were possible, it may make for a more interesting conversation.

Just a thought......

Speaking of Sylvia Browne, she also incorrectly predicted the rescue of ALL thirteen miners in the Sago Mine Explosion. Sadly, only one of the thirteen survived. She never admitted she made a mistake.

There's also Long Island Medium. First thing first, she claims to be a practicing Catholic, but she really can't be a practicing Catholic and a practicing medium. Catholics are prohibited from all sorts of fortune telling. Aside from that, from what I've seen on her show, she does a lot of guesswork as she goes through the readings. She asks questions like, "Now, I'm getting something with the lung. Ummm.... was it an emboylism or something? Ummm.... was it a growth?" Let's throw in emphysema, pneumonia, etc until we get it right, lady!

Regarding the two mediums I mentioned in my first response, both women were nonpracticing Catholics. To me, they respected their conflicts of interest by leaving the Catholic church, unlike Long Island Medium.

I've gotten some bogus readings in the past, but there was this one time... Some grad school classmates and I were playing with tarot cards one evening over drinks at someone's house. I drew the worst cards ever. We joked about it. I was supposed to have the worst week of my life.

A few hours later, my dog almost died and had to have spinal surgery. She came home from the animal hospital four days later with 17 staples in her back and a $5K+ vet bill.

Worst week of my life up to that point by far. Thankfully, the dog is happy and healthy now.

I suppose that should make me faithful to the occult, but I saw it as God's way of slapping me in the back of the head and I've avoided psychics, tarot cards and the like ever since. Or it's just coincidence. Either way, I'm ok with not knowing what I'm not supposed to know.

In 2011, she asked an NYC firefighter if anything bad happened to him 10 years ago. Really? She's so forgetful that she forgot when the WTC attack happened?

I think she made some failed predictions about Bill Clinton and George W. Bush too during/about their presidencies.

I've had a number of sessions with different kinds of readers over the years. I see it as strictly entertainment, along with the belief that sometimes it's OK to pay someone to tell you something you think you need to hear.

I have had a few readings that were eerily spot on and others that were hilariously not.

I tend to believe that there is more in and of this world that can be explained rationally.

That is what a psychologist/psychiatrist is for. :)

Sylvia Brown also said Bin Laden was dead...several years before he was actually discovered and killed.

Anyone ever seen John Edwards on TV? He usually addresses the audience with something like, "Anyone here have a relative who has passed and had a name starting with the letter J?" Ha, Saturday Night Live did a spoof once where he went through the entire alphabet before someone finally said, "Yeah, that must be my Uncle Zeb coming through."

I honestly don't buy into it and think it's treading into dangerous territory. However, my religious/spiritual beliefs are Biblically-based and every medium or clairvoyant I've ever heard comes out with things that do not line up scripturally. For me personally, that shuts the door on it. I know many disagree, though, and trust what these people do...many people who approach them seem to be deeply grief-stricken and desperate for peace and assurance that a deceased loved one is okay and still connected to them.

Small but critical semantic difference. A therapist tells you what you actually need to hear, a psychic tells you what you think you need to hear.

And I've spent time both on the couch and in front of a stack of tarot cards. They both have benefits...

I must be the worst Catholic ever. I know a medium. She hates it. She doesn't exploit it. She ignores it, unless someone on the other side comes to her and it's in regards to someone living whom she's close with. I believe every word she ever (though seldom) says about it.

I've had some really entertaining readings in the past, but I've never used it for guidance. The one who told me about my husband a couple months before I met him, well, whatever at the time and it was quite awhile afterward that I realized how bizarrely spot on she was. But most psychics I've ever seen tend to say things like you're really giving and people don't appreciate you. THANKS for the insight. I AM awesome and nobody seems to see it!

I do believe that some people really do have a talent or gift, but most are crap at best and sheisters at worst. But if they're any good it's $20 or so for great entertainment.

Catholics are forbidden from a lot of things.....

You have to take it as entertainment. I've had a couple that were ridiculously spot on about things. The one I pay decent money to told me some things that were exact that she never could've made up. Stuff about my grandparents, my grandpa speaking Italian (she had no clue I was and there was no way she would've known).

I'm a horrible Catholic, and I believe in psychics.

I know some people who have sought them out for guidance and for the classic "have your future told" experience. It basically came down to them being ill advised, given false hope or, at best, motivated by the power of suggestion.

A lot of them seem to be good at subtly drawing info out of people and reading their reactions. Without even realizing it, some clients give the psychic material to work with and build on.

I know metaphysics isn't quite the same as clairvoyance but even so....are you saying there's a place where psychics go to school?
I am a therapist and I approve of this message.

I don't believe in fortune telling in the traditional sense (I won't see a psychic, get my palm or cards read, etc), but I do believe in prophetic visions and being able to sense beyond the physical world. I've never personally known someone who was a psychic by trade.

IrishLake,
Some Catholics think the souls in Purgatory have something to say to the living. When I went to Confession about all my involvement with mediums, the priest asked me if any of the predictions came true. When I said yes, he simply said, "Okay. That's fine. It happens."

BUT, I think when people like Long Island Medium try to pick up the dead relatives of every Joe Schmo, they're playing with fire. Who knows what she's tapping in to.... what intent her client has? If he's involved with something demonic, she could get screwed.

I believe in prophetic dreams/visions, mainly because I've had them myself and not little things - big life events. When I have them (rarely, maybe 2-3 a year) I write them down. So far, most of them have come to be reality.

I also believe that there are individuals who are psychic, clairvoyent, etc. I have seen a 2 psychics and the things that they were able to say or predict did occur. For example: one psychic told me that I needed to tell my father that "Daniel was Ok". I didn't know who "Daniel" was, but I told my father and he nearly fainted. Daniel was his best friend growing up who had served in Vietnam. When my father and Daniel returned from Vietnam, Daniel was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died shortly after the diagnosis. I had never heard of Daniel. My father neve spoke about Daniel after he had passed. Yes, "Daniel" is a relatively common name and some people could say that it was a good guess or coincidence, and it's ok if you do. I just don't.

Ditto. And that's where it ends.

I normally wouldn't believe in psychics/clairvoyants, at least as they are portrayed on TV. However, back when my boyfriend was a minor his mother took him to see a psychic up in New England. I can't remember her name, but apparently she's very prominent in the world of addiction treatment. My boyfriend told me that when he was thinking about something in specific (like lacrosse or a certain TV show) she would bring it up right when he was thinking it. He also said she told him he would meet someone named cr2817 and when he asked her the significance of that she just told him that 'he would know'. 2 weeks later we met and have been dating 2 1/2 years and he's a completely different person than he once was. On the other hand he might have just told me she said that to be sweet :D

All that aside, I looked into this women and a single session with her is thousands of dollars :eek: So are she and other types of psychics real? Possibly, but I'm not about to spend my college tuition to find out :p

Like birth control, believing in the right to gay marraige, and a slew of other things that still make me a bad Catholic.

I know the topic has been brought up, but don't think this link about Sylvia Brown and Amanda Berry's mom has been posted.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...errys-mom-was/

Thanks for posting the link, Greekdee