A few years ago walking down Robson St. in Vancouver BC , I was stopped by a Fortune Teller and asked "Do you want a card reading ? ". I replied "How come you don't already know my answer ?".
34
It is easy to write off self proclaimed psychics as charlatans peddling supernatural mumbo-jumbo to the gullible, but are they really any different from priests, rabbis, imams and other religious leaders? Faith and unquestioning belief are the same whether the belief is "mainstream" or "fringe."
What they are not is in any way scientific. That something is not fully understood does not, repeat does not imply the existence of a magical or supernatural force.
29
This is not progress.
Depressing.
15
Our understanding of the sub-atomic components of the universe is still in its infancy, only progressing thanks to advances in quantum physics. My point is: there's still a lot we don't know about our world. As someone college-educated in a scientific discipline, I've found the zealousness of those who purport to 'believe' in 'science' similar to those who believe only in words written in religious texts.
'Science' isn't a religion-- it's an exploratory process seeking further evidence to support or dispose of hypotheses.
There have been con artists selling snake oil since time immemorial. But there are also many, many mysteries still unexamined or dismissed as taboo by the general public. Countless experiments have been conducted and published on any number of psychic phenomena, including remote viewing (researched extensively by our own military).
I am simply saying that it's dismissive, if not arrogant, to completely discard concepts popularly considered paranormal/taboo/'woo-woo'. Science is only useful when we keep pushing the boundaries of our existing knowledge to test the veracity of ideas-- it is ALWAYS evolving. There is actually far more literature on psychic phenomena than you would expect if you've been too busy thumbing your nose at it.
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Arthur Scopenhauer
50
I was a total non believer of any of this woo-woo stuff. Until I started having anxiety attacks in June 2001 (still have the appointment calendar) I had two giant twin oak trees that towered over my street in Atlanta Ga. I told everyone they were going to fall . I had arborist, tree people to come look at them. I Went to a therapist every week to talk about this anxiety that had taken over my life. On Sept. 11th , 2001, at exactly the time of the terrible attack, I had tree cutters in those trees cutting the tops off. I was at home watching the disaster on live TV. I immediately recognized my source of anxiety and ran to tell the tree cutters to stop the work. I never told anyone until recently because I feared being thought of as a crazy person. I have recently found out that I have RH negative blood that makes a person pick up energy due to the fact we a have a missing protein on the surface of our blood. I have predicted many things since .
20
Everything is perception and belief. Even science will say one thing and then when the perception changes, change its mind. Is that reality? No, its a perception. Maybe the whole point is that everything is just an illusion and we are making it all up as we go. And if perception and belief isn't everything, then how do you explain the people who still love Trump and consider him a messiah even after all the scandals and investigations? He is their psychic medium.
8
Your illustration credits Pamela Colman Smith.
In fact, this is a parody of a tarot card devised by the late Ms. Smith in 1910 under the guidance of occultist Arthur Edward Waite. Your illustration may have been based on the art of Ms. Smith, but to say it is her illustration is not accurate.
For the record, Ms. Smith died in 1951.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
9
Number of psychics that predicted the Tsunamis that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the pacific ocean region.
ZERO.
One would think it would be pretty high on the "psychic" plane, but noooooooo.
21
The reference to miss cleo…well, take a look.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news02/cleo_settle.html
There is no such thing as psychics or psychic mediums or any such thing as energy healer etc...imho. Their profession is separating people from their money whilst doing nothing. Have to go with Feynman again here.
“People, I mean the average person, the great majority of people, the enormous majority of people — are woefully, pitifully, absolutely ignorant of the science of the world that they live in.” Richard Feynman
17
I believe it was Christopher Hitchens who said, "If you say the raindrops are tapping out a message to you, you'll be considered crazy. If you say God spoke to you in a dream, you'll be taken seriously."
The line between woo-woo and science is not as sharp as many of us would like to believe. The Times itself reports that many medical procedures are based not on science but on "what everyone believes" or "we've always done that." A very high percentage of antidepressants have no more effect than a placebo, yet doctors legally prescribe them, pharmacies sell them and insurance companies reimburse for them.
Many health laws are based on commercial motives. Eyeglass prescriptions used to be good for up to five years; now it's one year. Is eyesight deteriorating faster or did optometrists lobby successfully for changes in the law?
In Snowball in a Blizzard, Steven Hatch points out that diagnoses can be seriously flawed, especially psychiatric diagnoses. Myers-Briggs personality tests (the work of 2 untrained housewives) are taken seriously by government and corporate organizations. I could go on if space allowed.
For a war on woo-woo, let's also go after religion, science and medicine. Psychics don't seem nearly as dangerous: they're not protected by law or covered by insurance.
20
@PhillyPerson yes but they get people to turn over pots of money to them.
6
@PhillyPerson
"For a war on woo-woo, let's also go after religion, science and medicine. Psychics don't seem nearly as dangerous: they're not protected by law or covered by insurance."
Modern medicine has double life spans in the past 150 years. Science has electrified most of the world, taken people to the moon, built the computer you are using, accurately predicted anthropogenic climate change, provided food to feed the 7.6 billion people, etc.
Psychics have done absolutely nothing but take money from people.
9
the fact that this is in the 'style' section referencing Goop of all things, should be a flag to be skeptical of the misinformed content of this 'piece'.
astonishing of all the snark in the comments. i wonder, how many of you wear a cross around your neck, go to church on sunday, pray to jesus, mary, God? hypocrisy. by the way, jesus was a healer, a prophet--a medium. i'm betting that some of these commentors are astonished and in awe about someone finding jesus in a piece of toast. hypocrisy.
this all being said, there are certainly 'scam' psychic mediums out there. unfortunately, many seek a buck by preying on insecurity and grief. yes, there are cold readers, hot readers, etc. well, we have intuition, use it. someone who asks $500 to remove a 'curse' or tells you your loved on is 'stuck' on the other side, is full crap.
again, all this being said, i personally know mediums, have gotten several readings, and even talk to dead people myself. if this writer, or anyone here, really took the time to read about true mediumship, you would know that those who work with good intentions, tell you specifically to not 'feed the medium', i.e. don't give any info, just say if something resonates or not. they are there to prove that life lives on. good ones do so by describing a person in detail; physical, personality, shared memories with you, events that happened in your life, manner of death. all to prove it's your loved one communicating. then, if you wish, they give messages.
17
Yes, the good ones say, “Don’t feed the medium.”
3
I went to my first psychic determined to prove her for the fraud that she was. Until she told me everything that I had written the night before in an application, verbatim. And she told me exactly what I did for a living, which was the intersection of 3 fields, that she could not have guessed. Someday I'll learn the nature of the world that enables people to see what others can't. And I'd love to learn
27
Google is their guiding spirit.
15
Here's an idea - need help with your problems and aren't finding that help through your support system? Go see a professionally trained and licensed therapist. Your insurance covers it with some kind of co-pay on your part, but at least that money out of your pocket is well spent.
18
@Sheila Many people struggle to get insurance, which doesn't always cover psychotherapy. More and more therapists have stopped taking insurance. And research shows that the person's relationship with the therapist seems to predict success, rather than technique or experience. The whole topic of scientific validation of therapy would call for a separate article.
9
Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. ...No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded."
-William James
OTOH, near impossible to be certain; OTOH, there needs to some evidence for belief.
2
Only 41% "believe" in physics? That is an alarming indictment of our education system.
12
@Leonardo
Well, for *physics,* it is 100% completely independent of belief...
Physics always bats last.
1
Edgar Cayce, an effective intuitive healer, went to sleep, diagnosed illness, gave the cure, all forgotten after waking.
Clifford Royce, Cayce's famous student, gave Chicago weekly radio readings, also speaking for the dead each Sunday. Royce had two restaurants, weighed 400 pounds, and could not stop eating until a desperate gastric bypass. Yet he died soon after.
I traveled to Oak Park, IL, his "Chicago Psychic Center" to study with Royce in the fall of 1970.
Yes, intuition can be learned, as I saw and verified under Royce's tutelage.
But can intuition be relied upon, bypassing scientific research, to get to the heart of the problem or illness?
In "The Cosmic Serpent", author Jeremy Narby cites "the Intelligence in Nature", reaching which is the goal of Ayahuasca shamans during age-old psychedelic rituals, now evolved into a religion of the intuitive.
I have also downed a very high doses of Ayahuasca at 12,000' on the Pacific Crest Trail, alone, seeking intuitive answesr to some very puzzling life events and unexpected illness. And yes, between retching physical "healing", unexpected answers came, their value proven over time.
Unfortunately, the power of self-delusion sits so strong in the heart, we may "choose" to suffer under self-delusions' wretched spell rather than see truth, (see Elizabeth "Theranos" Holmes).
Intuition may suggest vision, but science verifies crucial reality. I still take verification over hopes and prayers. I pray these New Intuitives do, too.
12
A thousand bucks a pop! Wow, I think I will buy me a crystal ball and a ouija board and set up shop!
9
@Penseur
How about a Crazy Eight Ball?
6
That’s just funny lol and nostalgic.
1
Circumstances often drive what happens next: The trajectory of the Beatles intersecting with Ed Sullivan and suddenly everything they touch turns to gold; Two oxymorons emerging almost simultaneously, Reality Telivision and Fox News and half the country becomes completely gullible; the utter hopelessness of all things Trump and the previously content are spending boatloads of cash to be soothed by what is transparently hogwash.
7
I'm not sure which observer of a patient's alleged medical status is less biassed -- the doctor who does an annual checkup like a mechanic doing a yearly inspection, or a psychic forming general impressions from someone's appearance and behavior.
They both seem like flimsy models for health maintenance.
6
If the dead can see things from "beyond the veil," couldn't they offer ideas for ending war or ending bigotry, or curing disease than just offering tips on things like redecorating the house?
28
I think they do try but no one listens. Also unlike Trump they’re there for both parties.
9
People who are mentally ill are particularly vulnerable to psychics and religion. Often they believe the mentally ill person is experiencing something amazing, when in actuality they are encouraging delusion from an illness.
One thing we know for sure, mental illness is real. The rest I am not so sure.
13
"Psychic Mediums Are the New Wellness Coaches"
There is no such thing as psychic mediums. There are only people who call themselves psychic mediums.
20
Reincarnation is hardly new-age; it has been part of Hinduism and Buddhism for millenia. That does not make it true, just not new.
27
The fact the industry is growing says much about our current state, mentally. Seems to me, the network of support that normally carries an individual through vulnerable times, has eroded completely. So now, the free market comes up with services and products to compensate for the loneliness, the solitude, the sadness, grief, state of confusion, inner conflict, and the multitude of emotions we all have during vulnerable states.
Loneliness is a real social problem.
Seek out company, build a family with others. Build relationships, build yourself, and you will see how fulfilling it can be to have others in your life, but really to have them in your life. You realize much more, you discover much more.
Try it.
24
What an interesting article on our society!
I believe there is no difference between "psychic spiritualists" it describes and many religious leaders.....
Also the further we go from fact based science the more "goop" our society will accept, the more paranoia and manipulation we will have...
16
Having read the title of this article, I was expecting to read about medical intuitives who make a medical diagnosis even over the phone. I am quite the skeptic these days, so over New Age stuff. But I did enjoy reading the article because this topic never ceases to amaze me.
4
People are so lonely. So many Americans have failed at essential human relationships that they are turning to the emotional equivalent of junk food to fill the void. If you have no intimate friendships, if you have failed to find and to cherish your soul mate, if you don't know how to listen and to be heard, you will be vulnerable to this kind of idiocy. We've got to stop spending all of our energy on career, perceived status, and unfulfilling entertainment. We've got to stop distracting ourselves from each other.
30
Their titles may be changed (to protect the guilty), but the scam continues.
Untrained, uneducated, unlicensed.
The fools continue to throw away their money.
23
I saw a sign in a shopping center, directing psychics to a meeting of their colleagues. Why did they need directions?
38
"...accepted practice in Christianity"? Really? The OT expressly forbids seeking out mediums. Leviticus 19:31 NIV. "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them."
Just sayin'.
14
Yes if you’re GOP Leviticus has all you need!
3
There is so much skepticism being expressed, understandable given that unless one experiences a thing directly, why believe?
Things have happened in my life that have no logical basis. I was in Las Vegas over 20 years ago, for a boxing match. The fight itself was incredible - I had never experienced crowd euphoria on such a level before or since - but what happened after was much more remarkable.
I ended up having dinner with two strangers. We were giddy from the fight. During a lull in the conversation, I got a very strong impression from one of my dinner companions. Normally, I would have said nothing, but I ignored my interior censor, and asked whether he was Catholic and his mother's name was Mary. He looked at me a little quizzically, and then said the answer to both questions was yes, and asked me what else I knew. I told him that one of his friends had died in an accident - I said it wasn't a motorcycle, it wasn't a bicycle - but I was aware that it was an open air vehicle. He said it was a snowmobile, at which point I said "Yes!" and could then vividly see the whole tragic event. We talked a little while longer, I told him a few other things I saw, mostly about the sadness his mother carried, and that was pretty much it. I have no way of explaining what I saw, or how I saw it, but everything I told him I saw was confirmed by him, and neither of us had any reason to lie.
I think about him often, but haven't seen him since that night. Some things can't be explained.
17
@Bea
The fact that "Some things can't be explained."
does not entail
The fact that most things can't be explained.
This goes back to 6th and 5th century BCE Greece and the Presocratics.
5
@Bea
You should've tried a few games of black jack while you were on a roll...
10
@Skeptical Cynic
lol, you're right, I should have!
but i'm not particularly lucky, and I don't gamble much.
believe me, i've tried to see lottery numbers, but i don't think whatever this is works for personal gain.
1
Lisa Held is a master of irony! So too for the maven of facts, Valeriya Safronova! Thank you both for this entertaining gift. My favorite phrase: "booked for a decade." Sure she is.
5
When we are small children, we looked to our parents for answers to our questions. Part of becoming an adult is learning to figure things out on our own. There is no magic in cards, nor crystal balls, nor “psychics”, nor self-help gurus, nor self-proclaimed prophets.
There is just ourselves. And we adults must do the work of making our own decisions.
16
Please they are not psychic — no one is. And they mediate nothing more than the fraught space between the vulnerable and those comfortable taking advantage of that vulnerability. Frauds and scam artists. There is nothing cute about them.
25
Of course I don't believe this stuff. But I've been twice in 50 years to a palm reader. First time was a fun thing. She told me a foreigner would come and take me away on his white horse (OK, it was a white Lincoln Continental.) He did. The other time I wanted to know if an event would happen. She said it would. It did. OK. OK. I don't believe this stuff. But I will never ever go again to a palm reader or card reader or ask for my cards to be read.
2
I could not have been more shocked when my daughter recently told me she was seeing a psychic, referred by a friend. This daughter is highly educated, high successful and I would never have believed she could be hoodwinked by such. She suggested I go, too, so I could "talk" to my late husband. Heck, I talk to him every single day, but I don't expect he is going to answering me back!
I just don't get it at all...
17
@India I went to see a well recommended medium in PUeblo, Colorado. I was not to say "yes or no" or anything to help her out. The woman talked for 2 1/2 hours and was not wrong one time. She named people by name, situations, things said,, the people that came through were known by name to me, but not to anybody in the state. I thought she was wrong with a date once, but after going home, I found out she was right and I was wrong. It was really life changing. I haven't done it since, this was about 25 years ago.
26
@India
I can't offer you advice, but if she were my daughter I'd ask her to sit with me for 11 minutes and watch a video.
Go to Youtube and search "Derren Brown Talking To The Dead". He is a brilliant cold reader who shows exactly how it is done.
Occam's razor, or to put it more poetically, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's probably a duck.
3
There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
I went in to see her as a kind of joke
And she lit a candle for my love luck
And eighteen bucks went up in smoke
Song for Sharon, Joni Mitchell, 1976
18
There's a seeker born every minute.
7
The "wellness industrial complex" says it all.
Some people think a wall on our southern border will protect them, and some think psychics will protect them.
Some think mediums channel energy. Einstein proved they are right. The energy they channel is equal to the square of the mass of the money in your wallet times the speed of light at which they can extract it.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
or
"Caveat Emptor"
Take your pick.
Likely both.
Only your psychic knows for sure. At $100/hour.
Meanwhile, the Times should explain just what it means by using the term "psychic medium" to describe someone. I know what a plumber, accountant, miner, and pilot actually do, not simply what they claim to do. Journalistic responsibility requires the paper to explain its use of the term or, at the very least, put it in quotation marks.
2
I guess we officially reached the post modernist age. What is truth?
4
The "wellness industrial complex" says it all.
Some people think a wall on our southern border will protect them, and some think psychics will protect them.
Many mediums claim they channel energy. Einstein proved they are right. The energy they channel is equal to the square of the mass of the money in your wallet times the speed of light at which they can extract it.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
or
"Caveat Emptor"
Take your pick.
Only your psychic knows for sure. At $100/hour.
Meanwhile, the Times should explain just what it means by using the term "psychic medium" to describe someone. I know what a plumber, accountant, miner, and pilot actually do, not simply what they claim to do. Journalistic responsibility requires the paper to explain its use of the term or, at the very least, put it in quotation marks.
11
Haha! Yes they should do a follow up and explain more about how it works!
1
This is capitalism. Nothing more.
4
My objection is with the tone of this 'report'.
If you are reporting, then report the facts. Leave your snark at home. If you are writing an opinion piece, then have at it!
Not everyone is on social media ... sharing every detail of their lives. And believe it or not, before FB Twitter, Snap and even MySpace, there were mediums.
I have witnessed names and info that no one knew - coming completely out of left field - presented to a person in the small group I was in. It was astonishing. I knew the channel and I knew the recipient. The channel wasn't guessing at some name. The channel had no idea what or who he was talking about. We still talk about that today.
Here's my other problem: So millions of people who have started wars in the name of some guy they have never seen, pray to some man in the sky they will never see, composed music, built cathedrals, oppressed and supressed based on some book of myth and parables that some other men wrote --- those people are ok? Why?
For those commenters who don't believe in anything they can't see - ok. But for anyone of you who has prayed for anything or anyone, open your minds to your own hypocrisy.
It's All or Nothing at all.
34
@MelMill
You might find this pair of videos, just 11 minutes long, very interesting. It's a demonstration by a man who sits down in a room with people he does not know and quickly reveals amazing things about them.
Go to Youtube and search "Derren Brown Talking To The Dead"
6
@MelMill Agreed. There is always a self-congratulatory tone to anyone denouncing that which they don't understand.
4
First of all, the Spiritualist Church is alive and well (it is not a distant movement from the 19th century) and holds as one of its principles that live is continuous--we live on after our physical bodies die.
Second, there are indeed many fraudulent people out there preying on the vulnerable. But there are also fabulous mediums who unquestioningly provide evidence of just that principle. Our loved ones are still there, just no longer in physical form. Our souls, or our spirits, or the energy that makes us who we are rather than just a pile of tissue, lives on. Mediums are able to communicate through sight, hearing, feeling, smell or taste with those spirits of our loved ones. Real mediums give real evidence and it is undeniable.
Lastly, psychics are people who can connect with the energy of living things. A psychic can tell things about you by sensing your energy, much like you or I can sense the tone of a gathering when you walk in the room, even before anyone says a word. An ethical psychic asks permission and uplifts with their information. Nothing is absolute in life, we get to make choices. So predictions should be avoided or taken with a grain of salt. Nothing is certain. Educated consumers can find real benefit from psychics and mediums, but they should never tell us how to live our lives.
16
@Brenda S.
Where do I find this "real" and "undeniable evidence"? How is its reality and undeniability determined? By whom?
2
@J Jencks, by the person receiving the information. I have been to plenty of demonstrations where there was no list to check, no way for the medium to know who anyone was. I have also studied and worked with the Spiritualist church and true ethics is taught. I was told of someone I had lost by a medium who absolutely could not have known about him and absolutely could not have known the pieces of evidence she gave me. I had told no one. True mediums don't fish for information, they offer it.
8
In traditional India, when I was much younger and very ill, my parents consulted a saintly old woman, who took no payment for her help. She offered her insights - without ever seeing or meeting me - by mail, as revealed in visions to her. Much later, I attended a ceremony in which she made offerings to the Hindu deities. Ordinary drinking water when offered by her turned to holy water with the fragrance of camphor. Since these were my sense perceptions and those of others present, I just accepted what happened, although I could not explain it. This very old lady, perhaps already at the age of 90 and bent with the weight of her years, took no special pride in what happened and claimed no privileges. I suppose she was, in the language of today, in contact with another dimension (?), but she did not believe that entitled her to any fees or anything other than to help people.
11
If anyone I knew told me they were going to go to a psychic for the first time and spend money on the experience, I would recommend that they watch a pair of videos on Youtube first.
Derren Brown is a brilliant magician (in the non-magical sense) who demonstrates how to do "cold reading". In 2 videos taking just 11 minutes he shows how it's done, with absolutely NO "psychic" abilities whatsoever.
Remember, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's probably a duck.
Go to Youtube and search "Derren Brown Talking To The Dead". I'm not posting the link because that seems to slow down comments with the moderators.
3
My father, a general's aide in WWII, then a hard working, successful business man, could dowse for water. Who, in the 1800's, or before, would believe smart phones could exist, sending moving color pictures through the air, to other phones? I think it was Dean Kamen who said "great technology is magic". I'm guessing there's still a lot we don't know.
10
It never ceases to amaze me how stupid people can be. Examples of ignorance abound. Middle class Americans who voted for Trump. Women who sign up for GOOP. People who play Powerball. PT Barnum was so, so right...
8
@John Ranta
I allow myself to spend $1 once a year on the Oregon lottery. I figure that first $1 gives me an infinite increase in my chance of winning the lottery (which is still abysmal though no longer infinitessimal), but that any further dollars spent give me only tiny, almost imperceptible increased chances of winning.
Isn't math a wonderful thing?
5
@J Jencks So, by your logic, why don’t you buy 10 tickets? Math?
2
gobbledyGoop
6
I've personally had a few experiences that were in the realm of clairvoyant/psychic. They only concerned significant people/emotional events in my life, and there were only four, but it's enough to make me realize at least among some people, psychic ability can be real. However, the difficulty is in knowing who is truly psychic vs. who is just trying to con you. And for that, there probably isn't any good way of discerning between the two other than word of mouth.
14
There is a difference between healthy skepticism which every open minded scientist relies upon and down right hostility which is based on a gut angry reaction to which Ms. Held seems prone. Yes, there are scam artists out there who will take advantage of the pain of others in every field. Trump University and Bernie Madoff are a cases in point. There are things even the best scientists barely understand and make no sense like quantum effects and black holes, but the knowledge we have gained from these subjects is used daily whether we understand them or not. The power of religion and spirituality has benefited many in many ways. It has also been a source of suffering as people in their seeking after meaning and purpose lose sight of their own well being.
So go on and be skeptical, but as Shakespeare said, 'There are more things on Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophies' or present science for that matter.
19
A few years ago my son and I attended a skeptics' conference called The Amazing Meeting from the James Randi Foundation. The Foundation's materials may still be available, but the yearly TAM gatherings no longer are hosted as they had been, drawing people literally from all over the world.
At one of those events we selected to attend a two hour session on how to do cold-reading, as taught by a professional psychologist with an interest in how people ge suckered into this.
After some general discussion of the technique and a little practice, we paired off with folks we did not know, but certainly knew what the whole session was not only about, but had heard the methods one can use to speak not only in general, but to see the various signs a person was presenting (wedding ring? Tan? athletic shoes? style of dress? and so on) to cue our questions.
Not only was I a neophyte with little practice but my 'subject' was visibly startled at some of my conclusions which seemed unlikely when he knew the tricks, too, but said it was so powerful to hear someone speaking as if I had known him or his dear departeds were channeling information to me.
To watch one of the professionals who admit they were there to trick us, to entertain us, was a marvel. Indeed they used their banter and their natural charisma to make even skeptics be drawn in. To have someone mourning a newly dead loved one, hoping for a channel, would make it easy play to get them to pay big bucks to these charlatans.
32
@reid - Great experience! Thanks for sharing it.
Derren Brown, a real pro at this stuff, gives an example of "cold reading" in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PxHe01mNDQ
4
@reid: Many hucksters fake things in all professions. Useless appendectomies attest to that...
I saw Cary Hoffman imitate Frank Sinatra. Not that Mr. Hoffman is a huckster, but does his singing mean there was no Sinatra?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1-PT5ub5PY
Just because someone fakes things does not invalidate a reality. That's too simplistic.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
4
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD
Occam's Razor
A "Spiritualist" appears to perform surgeries using his bare hands, with no pain whatsoever to the patient.
A debunker, James Randi, performs the same apparent feat, using nothing but basic trickery.
Yes, it is conceivably possible that the "Spiritualist" performed a real surgery. But it is far more likely that he used the same tricks as James Randi.
Around which set of "evidence" do you choose to build your attempt to understand reality?
To see the video of James Randi performing his feat, go to Youtube and search "James Randi surgery". It will be at the top of the list.
Skepticism does not need to mean a closed mind. And it is indeed possible to open one's mind so much that the brain falls out.
6
I must admit having consulted with a number of psychics as a younger man, and having received relatively little of value.
That said, I don't doubt that certain human beings have intuitive abilities that allow them to become aware of information about others that they should have no way of knowing.
I have a good friend who developed this ability about a decade ago. But he cannot communicate with the dead, or give you your winning lottery numbers, or anything fanciful like that. He is able to, however, once he arrives at an emotionally neutral state, perceive bits of information about individuals that he comes into contact with that he should not be able to know - like the fact that someone has just been diagnosed with a serious disease - and he has used this ability to "read participants" when leading business seminars (that have nothing whatsoever to do with psychic abilities or anything of that sort).
I should add that he doesn't charge for this, that he can't do it with people that he knows well, and has a strong emotional connection to, and that he consider himself an atheist.
If this intuitive ability exists - and my bias is that it likely does within a select group of people - then it is almost assuredly not consistently available to them, and thus not something that one should charge a significant amount of money for.
7
@Matthew Carnicelli - nicely written.
I'd like to add, even if people have this talent and develop it to the point where they can control it, to make money from it while MAKING CLAIMS of supernatural abilities, is still fraudulent.
If they are extraordinarily intuitive and want to sell those services, they should be able to. But no fraudulent claims please.
@Matthew Carnicelli Please, do not give anyone the chance to convince you that they have any intuitive abilities. They either do cold reading very well without training, or have worked hard to be that good at it.
Banachek is a master, and you can see him at work with an old Nightline episode. He is astounding, but rest assured, it IS a trick.
Your comment that someone shouldn't be able to know some things about people is what opens the door to let them suck you in, and when you look at the training materials for doing cold reading, it is a clever set of comments and questions that allows you to seem to know hidden 'facts' about someone.
Do not be suckered.
3
@reid & @Matthew Carnicelli
Another master of cold reading is Derren Brown.
Go to Youtube and search "Derren Brown Talking To The Dead"
It's a brilliant demonstration. He sits down with a small group of people he has never seen before, and starts telling them things about themselves that "he couldn't possibly have known".
Anyone who relies on the authority of 'celebrities' to make any kind of important life decision, particularly regarding products and services shilled on a website like the aptly named 'Goop', deserves whatever he [she, it, they - pick your pronoun] may get. Still, it does point to the continuing lamentable failure of our schools to teach critical thinking and logic, as well as basic science and philosophy.
19
As Alan Watts said in the 1960s, in modern America the priest has been replaced by the psychoanalyst.
I have known many people who regularly visited the once-common New York storefront Gypsy tarot readers because $15 was a good price to just talk about things for a half hour.
I have two firm rules when people ask me how to go about selecting a spiritual advisor:
1) The cost should never ever be exorbitant.
2) If you feel worse after seeing that person than you did before you went, NEVER return to that person. Anyone who upsets you that way is looking to throw you off-balance and scam you.
To those who fear "wolves in sheep's clothing" among spiritual advisors, I remind you that all trades have unscrupulous practitioners.
On a personal note: I ask, as a member of the esteemed Board of Directors of the American Tarot Association, that people please take a look at the ATA Code of Ethics.
http://www.ata-tarot.com/images/members/ethicaltarot4.pdf
This is how a reputable reader will act. We take the Code very seriously, indeed.
Bottom Line: In this regard, use the same common sense you employ when dealing with anyone in any field from plumbing to auto repair.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
19
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD
My mother, who never claimed any psychic ability but who spent years study the symbolic meanings of the Tarot cards, used to read them for friends from time to time, never for money.
She would do a conventional reading using the Celtic Cross spread. The reading would open up a dialogue between her and the partner that would help that person to raise and ponder issues in their lives.
Essentially it provided a framework in which they could explore areas of concern that they had neglected or had been leaving unresolved. It was good for them.
My mother would never have made any kind of psychic claims. Claims would have been a lie.
8
@J Jencks: Nice memory! There is nothing "psychic" about tarot card reading. It is, in fact, more psychological than spiritual and deals with images that are archetypes.
Dr. Jung was fascinated by the tarot as well as the I Ching. Those who lump "psychics" with tarot readers are not informed - as you clearly are.
Thanks for the reply!
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
9
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD
Yes, by the way, my mother spent several years undergoing Jungian analysis with a M.D. psychiatrist and read many of Jung's books.
The issue is ethics. One does not make fraudulent claims of "psychic" abilities, even if the card reading is helpful.
2
This is no more outrageous than believing in a god or a Jesus.
41
@Mark S
Hi Mark - look, you can attend a Catholic Church every day of the week, get all the sacraments on demand and never, ever have to pay a dime.
Try that with these con artists!
3
It is equally outrageous to believe in these charlatans. PT Barnum was right—there is a sucker born every minute.
4
@Mark S False equivalence. Religion relies on faith; woo requires physical proof. And because there can be no proof of what does not exist, spiritualism inevitably becomes fakery. People can believe in God without expecting to meet Jesus in a parking lot but unless a medium gives you some tangible results, she is no medium. I am an atheist but I can see how religious people treat God as a sort of metaphor for their spiritual connection to the universe, and I respect it. I have nothing but contempt for psychics and their dupes.
3
Perhaps this paper will explain just what it means by using the term "psychic medium" to describe someone. I know what a plumber, accountant, miner, and pilot actually do, not simply what they claim to do.
Journalistic responsibility requires the paper to explain its use of the term or, at the very least, put it in quotation marks.
11
The boomers are coming! The boomers are coming! One needn't be psychic or even an experienced prospector to know for a fact there's plenty of gold in 'them thar (massive and rapidly aging) hills'.
4
@Leigh
They all looked like millennials in the photos.
3
@Leigh: Considering the fact that the youngest boomers are now 55 years old, isn't it more appropriate to say the boomers are... going?
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
6
I guess none of these so-called wellness 'experts' saw John Oliver's recent segment on the predatory nature of psychics. Further shows that Gwyneth Paltrow and GOOP are little more than hustlers, preying on an affluent and gullible consumer base. It's high time the FDA steps in to regulate these wellness snake-oil salesmen, from chakras and gems to psychics and skin scream scammers.
20
For twenty years, I was (and still am, occasionally) a professional psychic advisor. It's how I supported myself as an artist and writer. I never read for anyone asking about health problems, saying "I am not a medical professional, so that is not ethical for me." I am also hesitant about feedback from the dead. For one thing, I truly believe that most of them don't want to talk to the living. They are too busy gardening, playing golf, painting full time, or just hanging around; whatever a person's most fun thing to do is, no money worries. That's Heaven. I also believe that Hell is right here on Earth. Who needs Hell when there are British tabloids, Wikipedia, and online trolls? Let's not forget that people have been having their fortunes told for centuries, and it has been said that the profession is "the second oldest." I like to give people honest hope without stiffing them, and I never inveigle them to keep coming back. I help the police solve crimes (thirty-nine and counting) and I like to read for teens. ("Don't listen to them. You're gorgeous. You could easily be a successful model, movie star, writer or artist.") In fact, I've been told I'm so good, one reading will do for a lifetime. And that's my goal as a psychic advisor. Now, cross my palm with silver, or move on. You might like Tammy, on 42d Street, or Madame Blatutsky (across the hall, next to the bathroom) better. All fabulous.
16
@Marti Klever. I love your take on the dead,too busy to talk with the living. I’m hoping for an eternity of painting pictures, reading good books, and being fit enough to take good ballet classes. My only verifiable contact with a ghost was a poor man who had committed suicide next door. I described him to my Scottish neighbor, who it turned out had known him and told me the whole story. I told my husband, who said, “I want to keep him; I’ve never had a ghost before.” I became furious, screaming, “You can’t keep a ghost like a pet” That did it. We never heard from him again.
7
People are so very, very stupid to believe such outrageous concepts without a single shred of evidence or proof of any kind.
No wonder we have Trump for president.
26
How lucky readers of the New York Times are that this is all just fun and games and they don't know anyone who has ever been fleeced of the grocery money or been told that hubby is having an affair or maybe he's just planning to leave, to run off with his secretary...
Is this one step up from the Catholic Church protecting child-rapists?
How about a shaman sprinkling blood from a dead cow on you?
How about that you have to go freeze in a menstruation hut because evil spirits are drawn to women on their period?
This is all just one short breath away from dressing your daughter in pink because incubi like warm colors - and putting your son in blue because that's the "holy" color.... and remember, all that led to burning women at the stake.
This is the second time in as many months that the New York Times has pushed the occult.
New Rule: Every article published on religion or the Woo-Woo, has to be followed by another article of equal length on atheism, which actually is the fastest growing segment in the US.
15
Fraud in the age of frauds. And The Times just gave them a platform. What does the science editor have to say about this?
11
The quacks, mountebanks, and charlatans have prospered whenever times have been fraught.
The stupidity of many people is simply stupendous!
7
@Bob I think it was Mark Twain, (or perhaps H.L.Mencken) who said: "No one ever went broke betting on the stupidity of the masses!"
3
That’s a good little history of mediumship. Thanks. I learned a lot!
Yes, the more ethical mediums purposely avoid doing hot or cold readings or making Barnum statements(statements that apply to everybody). Especially now, other mediums can tell if one is fishing or cold-reading and it does not accrue to their reputation or at all to the rep of the field in general.
I can always tell when I’ve been googled and that’s disappointing. I don’t love public readings for myself either. Too intrusive. But helpful? Maybe.
John Oliver’s show had some good red flags to watch out for and you also want to avoid the type of psychic that uses threats or curses to generate overhead. Liked his show on robocalls, too!
Most of all a session should uplift(while being honest, yes but like with anything, tactful) and not depress or make people feel worse. +One shouldn’t impersonate doctors, FA’s or you name it.
It’s easy to get away with generalities. What you want to see are specifics.
The future isn’t set in stone. These are probabilities
that people can help us with. Free-will is still in the picture.
10
Why is Wicca lumped in with 'ancient' practices that 'focus heavily on communing with spirits"? Wicca is a modern invention, and like all forms of modern paganism includes a huge range of beliefs. Communing with spirits is not a key practice of Wicca, which is more properly considered an earth religion.
8
What a goopy boondoggle. I’ve read that psychics have become increasingly accurate in their predictions since their customers are on Facebook.
I’m not sure where the reporter got the information that Christians include communicating with the dead(outside of praying for the dead) and the dead following them around as some kind of protective force. This belief may be some type of folk belief but it is not part of Roman Catholic or Protestant theology
6
As someone who genuinely believes in ESP, I fully believe that ALL psychics who charge money are about as psychically sensitive as my shoes- not at all.
Similarly, most actual practitioners of real spiritual traditions (Vodou, Hoodoo, Santeria) place no confidence in for-pay psychics.
3
Putting "coaching" in this title is a gross misrepresentation of the profession. Respected coaching institutions teach ethical guidelines and a curriculum based on empowering the client to identify their own solutions through open questions and self-reflective exercises. Coaching is *not* pushing an agenda, let alone shilling remedies to fleece the guileless, as this implies.
Some coaches do also offer services perceived as New-Agey—I myself offer meditation, ritual, and tarot (as introspection rather than divination) in addition to coaching. But I make it clear which hat I'm wearing when working with folks. (And I absolutely do not make claims/give guidance about a person's health!) Furthermore, there are plenty of coaches out there who offer traditional coaching totally devoid of anything New Age.
NYT, please consider editing this title. It does a disservice to coaches who are genuinely trying to serve their communities. These are largely small businesses that already have to battle misconceptions about the profession. (And besides, coaching is not even mentioned again in the article itself!)
3
Metaphysical mumbo jumbo. Looking back is a waste of your best use of time and effort. Looking forward with a psychic is guesswork. If you think about your future to make decisions on your own, you will be at least 50% accurate.
2
I wouldn't call that reporting "even handed" or even objective. The sneering condescension was loud and and clear but I guess that the price to be paid for being associated in any way with Ms Paltrow.
8
As one who lost the love of his life to spiritualism the pain of such deceit is unbearable.
26
Perhaps the Times would explain just what it means by using the term "psychic medium" to describe someone. I know what a plumber, accountant, miner, and pilot actually do, not simply what they claim to do. A little journalistic responsibility would clarify the paper's use of the term or, at the very least, put it in quotation marks.
2
It all goes back to Bernays and the rise of the public relations, persuasion engineer, and sales industries.
Add to that the vertical, authoritarian, don't-ask-questions structure of irrational sky daddy religions and childhood myths such as Santa Claus that hack people's rational, cognitive, logical, evidence-based reasoning. It turns their minds into mush, which make them ripe for the con, whether it's a capitalist sales pitch, a tarot card reader, a prosperity gospel huckster who loves Trump, or a so-called psychic.
As long as people are mind-hacked, desperate, and unwilling to confront reality, there'll be all kinds of marketers offering magical "solutions" and bogus "insights."
2
A serious discussion of this topic could be timely and informative. A smear campaign, such as this current article, is insulting and inaccurate.
10
Good grief.
4
"How would she possibly know that? I’m a believer now,” Ms. Lamb"
It took me 10 secs to find a Twitter and Facebook account that said Ms. Lamb was renovating.
Sheesh.
33
Oh, some of it is fun---and funny!---and relatively harmless, this "mind and body" stuff... but there is a dark side that abuts "social medicine" not medicine. Imagine walking into a doctor's office and being told that you are giving off a "toxic vibe" or that your cancer [or named malady] occurred because you were too tense, had you a troubled childhood? Were your parents nurturing? Did you have a good education? How's your social history--ever drink too much beer in college (sorry to hint at the duplicity of the Superior Ct nominee)? Did you eat the right brands of food? These aspects in some regards just a notch above (or below) eugenics---or the ability to relegate blame--or liability in DIY medicine, as in the patient is always wrong. Freaky stuff sometimes, this Whole/Holy Medicine for a perfect people.
2
Preying on sad people and intuitively relieving them of their money. Better off putting your money in a shredder.
5
I’ve seen enough to know that not everything fits in the rational/logic based models they teach in school. Readers should keep an open mind.
9
@Craig
A couple of years ago, I visited Lily Dale, a spiritual community in SW New York state--a serious family issue weighing me down. I never mentioned it. The medium never fished for information, instead she told me about myself: "You are very wealthy (I live modestly on social security and drive a 19 yr. old car). She comfortingly told me other aspects of my life in general. I didn't hear what I came for, but came away feeling a burden had been lifted. I would have paid her twice the fee.
4
@Pinesiskin My Lily Dale experience: a friend who attended their assembly with me was asked to stand for a message from Spirit. The message- "Clean out your storage space". That was even before Marie Kondo!
3
It's a shame that people who have proven abilities, are (actually) gifted and CAN help others through their "psychic insight" have to endure all the "mover and shaker" (fakes) who make fantastic claims.
18
@Fred Schwartz Fred: How do you know they are gifted? What criteria do you use for proof of their abilities?
When ethical magicians have been allowed to do the same things and admit they are intentionally tricking you, there is no reason to believe anyone has special abilities to accomplish (or expect to be paid for) the very same things a professed non-psychic can easily do.
2
As Jay Leno once asked, "How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic wins lottery'?"
47
Good grief. Goop. Completely discredits everything it mentions. Absolute farce of very lame things. It's not sad that people believe in psychics. It's sad that people believe what they read on Goop.
4
So are these mediums (shouldn't the plural be media?) sort of like for-profit schools? They give you, or tell you, something that you could get elsewhere and charge big bucks for it. Nice racket!
2
The savior the world really needs now is James Randi.
10
Derren Brown lays bare pretty much every kind of metaphysicist as cheap charlatans using the very flimsiest of tricks in his Messiah DVD.
2
I’m sorry, but if you’re human and I’m human, you do not possess the ability to see or communicate with the dead. I know this because I cannot see or communicate with the dead. Get it? There has not once in history been scientific proof of different types of humans with special powers to see into or hear different dimensions, which may or may not exist. Special powers are for comic books and the gullible. Coincidence and trickery do however exist.
5
I'm very intuitive about my own health. To the point where I've known things that took doctors a decade to finally label. I miss stuff too... yet I'm still way more accurate than medicine. That being said, I find it very difficult to develop that kind of intuitive knowing about other people's bodies. There's a synthesis that occurs between what I feel in my body and what I absorb from medical literature and I can marry them together to figure out where my problems are. I can't feel other people's bodies so my error rate is significantly higher. Even so I've helped several people figure out rare disorders and would love to do more of that, but I'm too sick now
6
There’s a sucker born every minute. Skip the psychic and make better choices, and when your choices don’t pan out learn from your mistakes.
26
@K P Amen. But judging from the very expensive hair extensions the lady mediums pictured here have, suckers are good business for the hairstylist industry. :-)
6
The "wellness industrial complex" says it all.
Some people think a wall on our southern border will protect them and some think psychics will protect them.
"There's a sucker born every minute"
or
"Caveat Emptor"
Take your pick. Likely both.
6
I fear that there may be some wolves in sheep's clothing. Let the dead stay dead. the answers are inside you. Learn to meditate.
15
This is the second time in less than a month that the Times has published a critical feature using a doctored image of a Tarot card without providing any context for the images nor the Tarot.
10
@Le sigh
Dear me, I hadn't realized there was a Celery" tarot card to be "doctored." But then if you had read the article you would have realized the joke, understated as it was.
5
@Le sigh
"context for the images"....
I guess you'll have to see a "professional" for that. Ha.
2
@Le sigh OK, here's some context. Tarot cards are pieces of cardboard with pictures on them. They have no inherent power in themselves. Some fortunetellers, mediums, and similar practitioners of woo lay them out in various patterns and interpret them, claiming to read personalities and to foretell the future. Sometimes they're outright charlatans; sometimes they actually believe they can call spirits from the vasty deep. Some do have some skill in 'cold reading', which can be practiced without having the cards, a crystal ball, or another prop. They can be fun at parties. The NYT artist used the most common Tarot deck as a model for the illo because pretty much everyone recognises its style.
You're welcome.
2
The "wellness industrial complex" says it all.
Some people think a wall on our southern border will protect them, and some think psychics will protect them.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
or
"Caveat Emptor"
Take your pick.
Likely both.
34
@Steve Fankuchen
Yes, but will the wall protect us from the psychics?
5
@Brian33
Brian, perhaps if it is suggested to Trumplestilskin, he could have a psychic wall erected by a Mexican medium, thus fulfilling his promise of a wall paid for by Mexico. He could then claim victory, and we could all live happily ever after.
Of course he would have to differentiate between the builders and the fake media.
6
I know all about you and not because I'm a psychic. I read your Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages and I googled your name. It's magical.
54
@arcadia65 - Very true. And even before the internet existed the skills were practiced.
Derren Brown demonstrates "cold reading" in the video below, where he goes into a room full of people about whom he knows nothing and proceeds to tell 2 of them all kinds of intimate details about themselves that he couldn't possibly have known. It's a brilliant demonstration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PxHe01mNDQ
4
Never underestimate the stupidity of our fellow citizens.
31
"Intuition is magical,.." Lol. Ever notice how many psychic offices use doorbells? That's all you need to know.
62
@Hugh MacDonald
Hilarious
5
@Jmaillot Thanks!
2
Why do people find belief in any of this strange when most Americans believe a faith healer from two thousand years the North African desert, who we have virtually no contemporary accounts of, is the son of something called God; an unseen force which listens to people's personal spoken requests and act a benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient force who is going to bring about utter destruction of the world at "End Time". Calling the psychics quacks is the cultural norm while it is considered indecent to tell a Christian that what they believe is, prima fascia, utter, superstitious nonsense.
124
@Chris Ohrstrom
Fascia is the fibrous material that separates muscles from one another, and has other functions as well.
It's prima FACIE
41
@Bob
If only the (largely laid off) Times editors were as careful as you are.
Glad to see someone else who thinks words have meaning.
9
The spelling might well have been altered, “corrected,” by spell check.
7
There is a lot of science, published in scientific journals, to back up the reality of this phenomena. It’s unfortunate the NYT chose to take a one-sided approach and ignore science. Isn’t that what the Right usually does?
Check out “An End to Upside Down Thinking” for a summary of the published science.
10
@Scientist
Nice--you cite a quack to prove quackery. Mark Gober, the author, “studied for almost a year” before forming his (utterly unproven) hypothesis. I’m convinced.
6
@Scientist
So: "Consciousness creates all material reality. Biological processes do not create consciousness." (from review of your book)
Get back to us when you have an example of a conscious mind that is not attached to a physical body. Or explain why sticking an ice pick in your temple and wiggling it around will cause your consciousness not to work so well. In the meanwhile, are you willing to stand in front of an on-coming train and use your consciousness to create a wall between you and it? If you can do that last one, you should get in touch with Donald Trump. He can use your help on the southern border.
3
Pseudo sciences abound in our depraved culture, a clear indictment of our educational system.
The suckers who go in for nonsense like this deserve their fleecing.
The fleecers deserve jail.
17
My neighbor across the street is eyeballs deep in this witchery. I don't think she's evil nor deserves jail, she genuinely believes in it and genuinely believes she's helping people; and I have no doubt her customers genuinely believe they are being helped.
It's very much like... chiropractic.
5
This kind of credulity is basically “Exhibit A” in the case of how America got duped by someone like Donald Trump.
I’m all for protecting the right to practice whatever religion people choose, as long as they’re not harming anyone, but this racket is clearly predatory, and exploitative of individuals’ faith. To say nothing of the potential for emotional and psychological abuse.
‘Life coaches’ are bad enough when they aren’t pretending to have access to supernatural powers. These people are the carrion fowl of humanity.
16
What each of us believes regarding life after death is a personal thing and something that cannot be proven until we die, but what CAN be quantified is a person with a chronic illness who seeks doctor after doctor and tries doctor-prescribed remedy after remedy with no change in their health condition. So what if they try drinking celery juice? What does that hurt? And if their health condition improves or heals completely? That is a quantifiable finding. Just because a drug company didn't manufacture it, people label it as woo-woo or ineffective? That's crazy.
10
@Erin There are things such as natural remedies that have an actual scientific basis for why they work (for example, the active ingredient in aspirin, which occurs naturally in willow tree bark), and there are other "natural remedies" that are nothing more than overpriced placebos meant to take financial advantage of ill people.
My mother has struggled with chronic pain for years, and I know how unsuccessful conventional medicine can be for treating chronic conditions. I have also seen my mother be taken advantage of by hucksters who know that people suffering from chronic pain will pay a lot of money to feel better. At the end of the day, both drug companies and these mediums are after one thing: your money. At least the drug companies have reams of data and sound research, while the mediums just tell you to drink celery juice and think happy thoughts.
16
@Erin
There can be serious harm when people shun actual medical care to “try something” else. Early diagnosis can often make a huge difference in outcome (though not always).
12
@Erin
Its labeled woo-woo because there is absolutely no evidence it does anything. Drug companies can't and won't manufacture something unless there is data backing it up.
And it matters because the same reasoning (or lack of reasoning) behind drinking celery juice leads to harmful practices such as anti-vaccination.
8
Wait, what?? A bit of skepticism in the Style section?! Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster!!
13
PT Barnum would be proud.
10
If only the damage, emotional pain and expense of psychics were as immediately apparent as is the case with anti-vaccine delusions. “Alternative Health Care” is as real as “Alternative Facts.” They are both lies.
The people who throw all this money away are the victims, not the clients of these frauds.
Here’s an interesting coincidence: around the time the news was announced that a second person had been ‘cured’ of AIDS, HIV denialist and alternative health profiteer “Dr.” Gary Null was in the news for his continued attacks on the Science-Based Medicine website.
Back in the early 1990s, “Dr.” Gary Null–whose degree is from a school without a campus, just a PO Box–appeared on PBS-13’s annual fundraiser. Donate to the station, get one of “Dr.” Null’s fatuous books.
On air Null claimed, and was not questioned about the statements, that he had cured AIDS patients with mega doses of vitamins. He also claimed he had a baldness cure for sale on his website.
28 years later AIDS has gone from a death sentence to a serious but manageable disease.
Not through the efforts of psychics, alternative health practictioners like “Dr.” Null, or GOOP-promoted pseudoscience, but because of the hard work of real doctors and scientists.
As a late, great comedian once quipped, “Reality–what a concept!”
40
I took a 2 day class in medical intuition several years ago. We were paired up with other students. With one student I saw in my mind's eye the outline of few circles in red on her body. We had not been instructed to look for such circles. It turned out that she had psoriasis in those areas, which were covered by her clothing. I also got more general information about a couple of the other students. So I know that this is possible. I did not pursue this any further because it would take too much effort to get good enough at it to be accurate and consistent, and maybe I would never achieve that level of reliability. But this experience (and other experiences I've had) have proven to me that this kind of thing is not woo-woo, it is real and should be studied seriously.
49
@Horace
Or she could have just gone to the doctor, got an actual diagnosis and a treatment plan.
Your “experiences” are just that--not evidence.
10
Wait a minute,couldn’t a doctor or a nurse or mom just observed the skin irritation and diagnosed it ? Why does it take Vulcan mind meld?
12
@Horace - Indeed, it would take a lot of effort to get good enough to be consistent and accurate. It's called going to medical school.
16
Channeling a voice from the dead, a guy I knew fairly well, James Hillman, regarding these sort of psychic experiences, two phrases come back from the beyond:
1. "Don't deny anyone's psychic reality" (his Prime Directive)
2. "As if"
The second one is from Hans Vaihinger whose philosophy revolved around adding "as if" to those concepts and practices debunked in the frenzy of the post-Nietzschean death of spirituality.
A lot of these psychic practitioners are difficult to parse as literally true in our rational times. But add the phrase "as if" and voila! The wildest prescriptions become viable as fantasies of the Imagination.
Really we too easily degrade the Imagination's potential to heal, inspire, intuit and guide. "As if" re-categorizes it all as theater, as literature. And if those practices help, who cares if you think it's a placebo effect. Placebos are mighty powerful!
Fantasies do not demand that we weight them with "Truth." "As if" allows us to re introduce spiritual and other fantastic practices with impunity.
So "Drink celery juice every morning as if it will cure what ails you." How can that offend any rationalist? Also "as if" allows us to entertain everyone's "psychic reality" with similar impunity, and thereby we do not violate Hillman's Prime Directive.
6
@smokepainter Lol. Just like adding "in bed" to every fortune cookie prediction. Works almost every time.
3
@smokepainter
"Drink celery juice every morning as if it will cure what ails you.”
How can that offend any rationalist?
You really have to ask? Well, what if “what ails you” is undignosed diabetes, cancer, orheart defect?
6
"This is, of course, one of the planet's oldest professions."
This conjures up, of course, the world's oldest profession. But at least the oldest profession offers something real in exchange for the money.
69
@Jackrobat - either way, you're getting screwed.
21
There really isn't anything new under the sun, as the good book says. Insecure people will always be willing to shell out money for dubious guidance, regardless of what the industry calls itself.
10
When we lived closer to the forest, animals and nature we all had powerful intuition. It's part of true animal nature, we are so far from that way of life these days that many people are perhaps desperate to reconnect with their own intuition. It's a gift to be nurtured, like a good sense of smell can be ruined by smoking and living with carpets over grass, we all could do with getting back to what we were born with, to have the instincts of the wolf or the bear.
43
@Durga GDS
I agree! But the problem isn't that people are seeking to return to (or identify with) a past that prioritized intuition - biologically, it exists and serves a purpose, and culturally, millions of people across the world practice intuition / meditation / magic / etc. I don't care if my friends pull a tarot card or read their chart everyday. I care if absurd people capitalize (literally) on this desire and charge thousands of dollars for something people should be able to do on their own. Nobody should profit from such a lovely thing.
8
@Durga GDS
NO. We didn’t have better “intuition”. We had a more finely honed ability to interact with our environment and sharpen our senses-- and fewer distractions of a technological sort.
21