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No one can fool me with cold reading, and they have tried. It's so obvious. Yes, a lot of people can be fooled if they are desperate for communication with a spirit.
But I really doubt a medium can get a good reputation based only on cold reading and ordinary intuition. Sometimes mediums give very specific information that could not have been guessed, and wasn't on facebook or available anywhere.
You wouldn’t know it, that’s the point. A person who’s terrible at it, sure. A person who has practiced a bit, possibly not so much.
They lead, throw out the most statistically common letters, names...the most common reasons genders and age groups visit psychics...judge whether the person looks tense and worried...the believer actually supplies the answers based on fishing but perceives the medium as having come up with the details. It’s a phenomenon, something about the human mind seeking patterns.
There are a lot of general questions that sound pointed but could apply to anyone, especially with a lot of reaching on the part of the person who wants to believe. “You shouldn’t necessarily believe what he tells you. He’s not even misleading you on purpose, he just doesn’t understand...it is someone whose advice you’re taking...it could even be someone who’s passed on but his words stick with you?”
There are also some assumptions, like an eager young girl not wearing a ring...”I’m seeing a wedding coming up? Or the desire for one?” “No, I’m actually becoming a nun soon.” “Oh, aha, ‘wedded to Christ,’ the spirits often speak in symbolism we can understand.” “Oh my God, this medium was RIGHT on the money! She KNEW I was going to become a nun!” Yeah, because you just told her.
Not that a nun would be seeing a psychic, LOL, it’s just the first thing that came to mind.
And now with so many people with tattoos they can probably pick up all sorts of clues just from that.
Penn and Teller when they had their show called BS (spelled out) set up a fake astrology business and gave every customer the exact same reading. Afterwards each person was interviewed and all were amazed by how the reading was spot on.
You wouldn’t know it, that’s the point. A person who’s terrible at it, sure. A person who has practiced a bit, possibly not so much.
Hey lead, throw out the most statistically common letters, names...judge whether the person looks tense and worried...the believer actually supplies the answers based on fishing but perceives the medium as having come up with the details. It’s a phenomenon, something about the human mind seeking patterns.
But if you know about cold reading, you can prevent it.
I went to a psychic a few years ago. She grabbed onto any obvious thing she could guess about me. I did not answer any questions. She made some vague statements.
A couple of other similar experiences before that. They can't get anything out of me.
If I ever encounter a genuine medium or psychic, I will know it.
That's right. They have no ethical principles whatsoever; they lie for a living. They do not care for the well-being of their clients, despite the trappings of religious symbolism some of them use.
It's not okay because it's entertaining, or because it comforts people.
People that take advantage of others at a low point in their lives, that may be vulnerable. Well, there's a special place in h**l for those folks.
But if you know about cold reading, you can prevent it.
I went to a psychic a few years ago. She grabbed onto any obvious thing she could guess about me. I did not answer any questions. She made some vague statements.
A couple of other similar experiences before that. They can't get anything out of me.
If I ever encounter a genuine medium or psychic, I will know it.
So there you go. The only psychics you have encountered, were indeed fakes.
The true magic employed by mediums is the magical ability to get people to transfer money to them - often repeatedly.
If it is just fun entertainment it is fine. Like a magician or a clown. However if they are using someone grief or despereation to continually milk them for money, then they are vile people.
I don't discount anything in this world. However, I do carry some skepticism with everything, psychics and mediums included.
I've been to a few mediums for readings, always on a lark. And just about every one was either wrong, or so vague that you could certainly apply what they said to your own life...or to anyone else's.
However, I have had a few experiences as well (mostly personal) where I was rather taken aback. One was a psychic who did a reading for myself, my sister, and my friend back when we were in our early 20s. For each of us, she seemed to not only hit on several personal 'rights', but she also seemed to get some future predictions pretty accurate.
For my sister, for instance: This woman told her to be careful, because within the next couple of months she'd be involved in some sort of car accident...the psychic was a bit puzzled by it, but said, "It seems to be not on land, but over water, if that makes sense". A month later my sister was involved in a serious car accident on a bridge that was spanning a waterway. Everyone walked away from the crash (thankfully) but the car was totalled. She also told my sister that she saw her with someone in her future, a man who would be in and out of her life very quickly, but would have a lasting effect on her. What's funny about this one is that, agreeably, it could mean anyone...but several years after my sister had been deeply affected by a man in her life, she happened to stumble across the tape she still had of her reading. We listened to it together, and both of us heard the woman mumble something...we had to play it back 3-4 times to make out what it was she said. Apparently, under her breath she said, "He's so old!" During the initial reading my sister hadn't heard this, but the man who wound up having a huge affect on her, and who was in and out of her life so quickly, was almost twice her age.
For me, she picked up that I had a child (I had an 8-month-old baby at the time); she also picked up on abuses that I'd endured when I was a child, briefly touching on it until I asked her not to mention it. She went on to tell me that my child would have a lot of minor accidents (he did, he was very accident-prone) along with some surgeries (again, he wound up having three separate surgeries before the age of six). She mentioned that I was going to be receiving some unexpected money within the next 2-3 months (I did, it was completely unexpected, a minor windfall at the time) and she also told me that within the next few years I would have my own house, with a small garden and backyard. Now that last one I completely scoffed at, as I was dirt poor at the time...yet a few years later, circumstances changed, and I found myself buying a small house with a little garden and backyard.
And for my friend, she told her (amongst other things) that she'd suffered a miscarriage a couple of years prior. My friend denied it completely, saying she was wrong and that she'd never been able to have a child (years later she did go on to have a daughter). But a few months after the readings were done, to my friend's utter shock she discovered that when she was rushed into the emergency room at one point and had to undergo surgery, her (then) husband had told her it was for an infected kidney (or something along those lines). She only found out after visiting her family doctor, and finding out the report, that she had actually been pregnant and was going through a miscarriage...her husband had signed off papers and had lied to her about what the emergency had been.
I must say though, I do believe that most genuine psychics and mediums are very rare, and even then, they are quite susceptible to error. I suspect that most psychics are 'cold' readers, picking up on the most subtle of cues to guess upon information. One of the more famous psychics who constantly raised my hackles was Sylvia Browne...one of the most fake and damaging of them out there, imo.
*And a curious one that happened to me many years ago, back when I was in my 20s: I went to a clinic being held by an 'angel reader'...again, I went on a lark, not really believing most of it; just thought it might be fun to get out of the house. The clinic was designed to bring out one's inner talents, and at one point we were all paired off into twos, and each of us was supposed to do a reading for the other...just saying whatever came to mind. A woman I'd never met before was paired with me, and I did a reading for her, which I think was way off the mark. But then she did one for me. And she went through the usual generic process....but at the very end of her reading she stopped in mid-sentence, looked at me and said, "Did you know that your mother watches over you all of the time? I see her here, such a gentle presence, so loving, and she is always by your side. I'm so sorry that you lost her so young."
Now that startled me a bit. My mother had died when I was 10 years old, and given that I was in my 20s when I went to this clinic, how many would assume that my mother was gone? Must admit I was taken aback. The woman went on to tell me that she often did readings for family members and friends, but did not do it professionally, and never wanted to. She said that she simply picked up on 'visions' of certain people, and when she did she shared them...she saw my mother standing next to me and felt she just had to mention it.
Anyway, all anecdotal, and all that could probably be explained away if someone wanted to. There have been a great many such instances in my life (not all psychic readings, but some very strange events) and so because of this, I choose to be wary, but also open.
Last edited by bassetluv; 08-21-2018 at 12:41 PM..
That's right. They have no ethical principles whatsoever; they lie for a living. They do not care for the well-being of their clients, despite the trappings of religious symbolism some of them use.
It's not okay because it's entertaining, or because it comforts people.
I see your point, but it's not one size fits all. Mental benefits are real, be they from placebos, the church, or charlatans.
Just to be clear, I agree mediums don't communicate with the dead! I do think they're entertaining sometimes, and do good research in others. And in other cases, as you seem concerned about, they lie to people and may harm them. All that I accept. But what is "good" or "bad" for another person is not necessarily my bailiwick. And mediums MIGHT do good, in SOME cases, by influencing a person's state of mind.
As a comparison here, I will use organized religion. I believe in a God of my understanding, or at least a power greater than myself. I have a hard time buying the story of organized religion though. The story varies among religions, for starters! They can't all be right. If the story of organized religions is not true, how is it different from a medium's story? If the church takes money, and they take a lot from some people, how is that less harmful than what a medium does? And most importantly, if Grandma says, "I want to go to church, light a candle, and talk to God about Grandpa, see if he's all right up there," who am I to say that's a "bad" thing?
If Grandma feels better from church, that counts! It's a tangible benefit. In fact, feeling positive is such an important benefit, that all medical studies have to account for the placebo effect. If you think you are better, you are. Maybe Grandma chooses to go to a medium instead of church. Maybe she thinks she talks to Grandpa through a medium. If her belief is real, that may well help her. Mediums may be like the famous sugar pill placebos in some cases. They work because their clients believe.
Not trying to flame you at all. I get it. Personally. I won't give a dime to charlatans. But as a society, we already accept a lot of myth-peddling and money-gathering by large institutions. We even venerate it. The gypsy in a trailer on the wrong side of the tracks is the only person who gets run out of town on a rail for it. And arguably, she can help some people too.
It's not fair, either, to find the worst example of psychic/medium scamming and use that to paint all of them with the same brush, any more than it is fair to paint all politicians, preachers, etc. with the worst abuses of their kind we can dig up. Some mediums (many? most?) are awful, heartless scammers. But others think they help, believe in their "calling," and if the client believes that too, maybe it works. The mind is like that.
But if you know about cold reading, you can prevent it.
I went to a psychic a few years ago. She grabbed onto any obvious thing she could guess about me. I did not answer any questions. She made some vague statements.
A couple of other similar experiences before that. They can't get anything out of me.
If I ever encounter a genuine medium or psychic, I will know it.
The "real" ones don't need to get anything out of you. They might start even before you've sat down and have said anything other than "hello". They don't throw out letters and names, like the ones on TV. They might describe a person they can see, describe their demeanor, and maybe tell you the nickname the person is repeating. They might struggle to discern words in a foreign language or foreign accent, without knowing you have any kind of immigrant background. Or they might convey a message about an event at some time in the past. All before they know anything about you. And yes--I'm like you; I always maintain a poker face, so they can't try to read my reactions.
I actually have never sought out a medium. The one I stumbled onto had been recommended as a massage therapist and hands-on healer. But she suddenly started "seeing" someone else in the room, whom she described, and started conveying messages to me. Otherwise, I have tried out a few psychics, just as a study project. I only ran into one outright fake. The others had varying levels of giftedness, but overall, nothing to write home about. One did try to read my face, but she didn't need to. She was actually doing a pretty good job on her own, while bustling around her room, packing for a trip, lol.
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