I’m not proud of this, but I’m sharing it nonetheless. Even psychics can be scammed by other “psychics”, especially when emotions are involved. I’ve had (too) many clients tell me about how they were scammed by people, calling themselves “psychics” or “spiritual healers”. I’ve watched all the shows and videos investigating scam psychics, and I, in the throes of a full-moon, recent death-in-the-family, hating-my-day-job lunacy sought out a psychic near me… but one who didn’t know me, because I wanted a clean “no emotions involved” reading.
Red flags when seeking a psychic counselor:
- You reach out on one number, and get a call back from a different number.
- I actually called and text the number I found on Google reviews, and I received a call and text back from a different number where she said, “My secretary said you were looking for a reading.” If you’re a psychic who has name other than Theresa Caputo, you don’t have a secretary. Maybe you do, but if you have a secretary, then you also have the money for a professional phone number/voicemail and likely a website. My scammer had neither. (And yet I went through with it.)
- If they tell you they have recently moved to a different location, that could be a tell.
- My scammer was in a shitty run-down 1-bedroom apartment, when the Google pics had shown a large home a few miles away. She said she “still does readings out of that location, but also here now”. Um, why? (And yet I went through with it.)
- If their sacred reading space reeks of cigarettes, RUN!
- Ritual tobacco, incense, even the light smell of weed is one thing. But deeply-embedded cigarette smells tell you there is a lack of respect for the space. No legitimate psychic today is going to allow her reading space to smell like a pile of cigarette butts. (And yet I went through with it.)
- It’s likely a fake name they’re giving you if they don’t respond to the name you know them by.
- The Google reviews called her Barb or Barbara. When she answered her door, I did the rookie mistake of saying, “Barbara?” instead of allowing her to introduce herself. So when I said, “Barbara?” she seemed surprised and stammered out a “yes”. At the end of the reading, she gave me her card, “Readings by Ashley”, and before I could question her, she said “Oh, I also go by my middle name Barbara”. (And yet I had already gone through with it.)
- I knew, after stepping inside, and smelling the cigarettes, that I was likely being scammed, but I went along with it anyway. It was confirmed when she laid out the cards, looked at me and said, “You have a darkness someone has put on you. It’s all around you and will prevent you from being successful. Would you like to work on that?” To wit I said, “Is it included with my ‘life reading’ that you quoted me for?” Her reply, “No. That will be extra.” I politely declined and said I’d like to get through the reading first. (And yet I followed through with it.)
- Oh, and speaking of laying out her cards. When a Tarot Reader lays out the cards for your reading, they should actually look at them, point to them, and fully explain them and the position they inhabit (past, present, future, known, unknown, outcome, etc…). A “tarot reader” who lays the entire deck out, doesn’t glance at them once, and never references them again isn’t a Tarot Reader. (And yet I followed through with it.)
- When what you’re paying for doesn’t match with what you’ve received, you’ve probably been scammed. I asked for her price list before I arrived. She gave me Palm Reading: $45; Psychic Reading: $65; Tarot card: $75; Aura Energy Reading: $95 or a full “Life Reading” which includes all of the above for $150. For the great deal of $150 (plus tax!), I received an 18-minute half-assed, fully-generic and sufficiently-vague reading.
- You’re being scammed when they tell you more than once that you’re cursed and in need of spiritual cleansing assistance… for more money of course.
- At the end of my 18 minutes, after facing exactly that evil of which I have always warned my own clients, I politely said, “No thanks. I’m good.”
- Any psychic who says she regularly sees up to 20 clients in a day without breaks in between is absolutely full of shit.
- Any psychic worth their spiritual salt is going to break the energy between clients through quick meditation and prayer, and they most certainly won’t do more than 8 or so FULL (as in 30-minutes or more) readings in a day. I’ve read for 20 to 30 people in a few hours, but those were short, 5-to-8-minute readings. I definitely took breaks throughout and still slept incredibly hard that night. I won’t ever take more than 3, maybe four, full readings 1-hour in a day. More than that is too much time outside my body. The person who claims they do 20 back-to-back full readings in a day is either not using actual psychic abilities (i.e. scammers), or they are in the best energetic shape of anyone on this planet (i.e. superhuman). This woman was most assuredly NOT in good shape.
So how did this happen?
How did a “legitimate psychic” get scammed by such an obvious phony? John Oliver would have a field day with this story (and rightly so; although, I still think he needs to revisit the subject and get his staff, or friends of staff, to work with actual psychics).
Emotions. Sadness. Full moon madness. Stress. Emptiness. Spiritual blinders. I wanted someone who didn’t know me, so I went with the one with the best Google reviews near me (besides myself and my friend Terri, where we were the top 2 positions when Googling “best psychics near me”). I wasn’t in touch with my own gut feeling, so I was seeking out someone who could tell me which decisions to make, and where to look for fulfillment. In fact, the reading was exactly what I needed to jumpstart by spiritual center again. Walking out of that absurd shit-show of a “psychic reading”, I thought, “I really need to let others know about this, and I really need to get my shit together so I can share the valid, and validating, energy of a genuine psychic with the world again.”
So how do you find a good psychic? Someone who isn’t a curse-removing phony? Referrals. I used to say, “Check out reviews”, but that is no longer true. Get referrals from people you trust. I know plenty of psychics who know plenty of psychics, so I’m actually seeing someone next week who I’ve taken a class with in the past. I don’t interact with her regularly, and she has a good reputation; she also works at a highly-rated local metaphysical shop every other weekend. Her prices are half what I paid to my scammer and more in line with what I think is fair for a good psychic reading.
Do I think there are people out there who can remove negative energy? Sure. Absolutely! I mean, I can remove negative energy for myself and my space, but I don’t really do it for others. But the hustle is real. You have to stay in tune with your gut (and actually act on it – unlike me). Even the “legitimate psychics” have to keep on the alert.