A "psychic medium" was at a local church recently to do a group reading.

[raccoon]

She supposedly has the ability to communicate with our loved ones on the other side. This woman's name is Steffany Barton. I wish I had gone to see her but I didn't find out until after the fact.

I should add that I would be going out of curiosity. I don't believe in this stuff at all. Matter of fact, i was planning to visit this sort of alternative church but this changed my mind.

Any of you see something like this?

[RockRaven]

1. How is what she does meaningfully different than the typical priest, minister, or preacher?

Glass houses and stones.

[jberryhill]

8. The IRS treats them differently

[wryter2000]

2. Not in my church

I'd probably go looking for another church

[jayfish]

4. "My god is stronger. He is the everlasting sky! Your god lives underneath him."

Subotai

[LanternWaste]

80. We often say the same of politics...

We often say the same of politics, economic systems and even philosophies. But I realize we often hold some imaginary construct as more "real" than others. It's human nature.

[Anon-C]

3. Must be quite something when she takes the pulpit.

[Brainstormy]

5. Atheists have been psychically predicting

that Jesus wouldn't come back for 2000 years-a prophecy for which that get no damn credit.

[demigoddess]

6. I used to watch Sylvia Browne. I could tell she was a fake. Also 'seers'

have people waiting in the line that listen in on conversations and then report them to the performer. Makes it look like they have powers. All they have is an ability to memorize and perform.

[jberryhill]

7. For $50, she'll talk to your cockatoo....

https://www.angelsinsight.com/

Preying upon people's grief is disgusting.

$100 for a half-hour phone call - dang, I've seen cheaper sex lines:

https://www.angelsinsight.com/shop

[Funtatlaguy]

9. Would the OP share the denomination of the church?

[raccoon]

10. Unity church nt

[Funtatlaguy]

24. Thanks. I've been to several Unity Churches. Good people.

[phylny]

11. Interesting post.

While I don’t think people speak to the dead on command, I believe some people are psychic. The ones I believe are those who operate quietly, to help people.

[Archae]

12. There are two groups of "psychics"

1. Those deluded into thinking they have "psychic powers" but in reality they have none.

2. Those who know they don't have any "psychic powers" but still pretend to say they do, to gain money and publicity.

Every time, and this is EVERY time "psychics" are tested under conditions where they can't cheat, they fail.
EVERY time.

[jayfish]

15. I Don't Believe In "Psychics" per-se but...

I do believe animals have a perception and ability to effect reality that we do not understand as of yet. My personal hypothesis is that it has to do with residual quantum entanglement across all matter created during the Big-Bang. I have experienced too many "coincidences" in my life to believe nothing is going on.

[Turin_C3PO]

17. I've heard some say

that true psychics exist but the ability is fleeting and random. I don’t necessarily believe or disbelieve. I do believe in paranormal possibilities but I’m a skeptic also.

[Cartoonist]

29. Definitely fleeting and random

I know from personal experience. I can be having a conversation with someone when they suddenly ask me a question. I don't mean a question like "what's the capital of Uruguay" more like "guess how much it cost". Many times the answer just appears in my mind as though I am hearing him think it.

Of course it can never be repeated under clinical observation. I have to be in a rapport with a person with no distractions.

I don't argue with people who don't believe me. Why should they? I just know what happens.

[trackfan]

38. Reminds me of the time a friend was telling me about his brother's wedding.

He said they had a string quartet at the reception. Then he added, "You'll never guess what they played".

I immediately replied, "Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles". He looked stunned, and said, "Yes".

[Bradshaw3]

53. You should have asked for 50 bucks

[fierywoman]

58. a.k.a. the slow movement to Haydn's "Emperor" Quartet.

[TlalocW]

78. I did something ike to a friend

She had gone to live in Poland for a year, and we had dinner when she came back, and she was telling me things, including a trip to Germany, and she asked me the one question I really hate - "And guess what?" When that happens I make up an embarrassing, involved story about the person asking me to guess so I did and said, "You met a cute German guy named Helmut and had sex with him back at his place close to the Black Forest region of Germany."

I was 100% right. However, I don't believe in the supernatural. She's an attractive woman but not normally given to flings so a guess what question would indicate she did something against her normal nature. Helmut is a common German name, and being "close" to the Black Forest region covers a lot of ground and means different things to different people.

TlalocW

[phylny]

18. Interesting.

I'm going on a personal experience. Someone at a party who I did not know and did not know me was reading palms. This was almost 40 years ago. He told me I would have three children and that I had currently had two lovers and I would not marry the one I thought I would.

He was right on all counts. I wasn't swayed by his words, but he was right. Maybe he made it all up, but he was right.

[keithbvadu2]

73. Headlines you don't see::: Psychic wins big lottery - AGAIN and AGAIN!

Headlines you don't see::: Psychic wins big lottery - AGAIN and AGAIN!

[USALiberal]

86. LOL, so true, ghosts, esp, etc 100% bullshit. Nt

[Hekate]

42. My grandmother and her mother had precognitive or prescient dreams. Call it ESP if you will...

Or a touch of the Talent, or whatever. It did not come at call -- though Granny could tell your fortune with a deck of playing cards (not Tarot), if she felt like it.

Granny's sister Ida drowned in the Eden Train Wreck when she was about 20. A whole group of young people had gone out on a pleasure trip, but (I think) an unexpected storm and flash flood drove the train off the bridge and many were drowned that night. Bodies were found far down stream the next day. My great-grandmother was wakened from a sound sleep that night by a sensation of drowning, and sat up gasping for air. She lay back down to sleep only to have it happen again. Ultimately someone came pounding on their door to tell them of the train wreck.

When Granny was a young adult, she and her friends experimented with the Ouija Board and table-knocking for a lark. Apparently she was pretty good at it, but as Roman Catholics they were sternly informed that this was contrary to Catholic teachings, so she stopped.

As a mother, she would have true dreams about her children after they had grown and gone. Nothing the priest could do about that.

[demigoddess]

65. I have felt ghosts since I was eight, I do not see, I just feel. But mainly

they are family members not strangers. My dad came to me the day after a cancer operation. Said something funny and steadied my balance. Came to me again to ask about things my mother said about me in the past. Told him. Never felt him since.

[USALiberal]

85. No they are not. Please link to your best example. Nt

[phylny]

91. Read above in this thread and I gave an example. n/t

[USALiberal]

93. Not scientific. Nt

[phylny]

94. I never said it was.

Good lord. I gave an example of what happened to me.

[brooklynite]

13. "burn the witch!"

[Leith]

14. A Christian church?

The bible prohibits stuff like this. Deuteronomy 18:10-13

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,[a] anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God,

Huh. Go figure.

[raccoon]

20. ITA. Nt

[bobbieinok]

27. In 60s Catholic girl refused to play 'fortune-teller'at camp. Said church taught 'play' opened path-

for demons/Satan to attack.

I had never heard this before.

Some yrs later I learned that in early-ish 20th century there had been a massive church (protestant and Catholic) attack against girls and young women using the ouija (sp?) board as a party game---for the same reason.

Learned that bit of history when I found my aunt's old board in a closet and asked mom and grandma and aunt what it was.

[2naSalit]

32. My uber-xtian grandmother

wouldn't let us play with cards because she said they were evil (as she saw them to be the same as tarot).

That didn't make any difference to me, I was born with "it" and have had many events to convince me that it's really there. I don't ask for money and I don't advertise but once in a while I get "messages" for others. At that point, I don't really know what I'm saying but the recipient sure does. It used to scare my catholic mom, she thought I was some kind of demonchild which affected our relationship for my entire life.

I see it as something to be shared and not make a profit from.

[bobbieinok]

36. SoBapt churches were v anti cards. Yet at our church girls group sleepovers always a game of 'hearts

[FiveGoodMen]

55. The card that game my Baptist relatives COULD play was called Rook

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(card_game)

[Hekate]

39. Deut. is not in the New Testament

[Leith]

52. Why should that matter?

Every condemnation about homosexuality is in the OT and many of them certainly take that seriously. The Ten Commandments can be found in the OT. Are there any denominations that say that they no longer need to be followed?

The one thing that is not in the bible anywhere is prohibited anywhere in the bible, OT or NT, is abortion, but they sure get their knickers in a twist about it.

[Hekate]

71. Most Christians are simply not that literal-minded.I know the Evengelicals are noisy & selfrighteous

...but they do not speak for what used to be called Mainline Protestant denominations.

[Drahthaardogs]

62. St. Paul confronts a psychic

And is annoyed them exorcises a demon.

[Mariana]

49. Very few, if any, Christian churches

expect their members to actually follow all of the rules and instructions found in the Bible.

[MineralMan]

16. Fortune tellers and "Psychics" know all sorts of tricks

to make themselves appear to be accurate. It's a skill that can be developed, and is based on knowledge of psychology and common human experience. Someone who is skilled can read a person very quickly and know some things that are almost certainly true. From their appearance, clothing, age, and other clues, much information can be derived that can play into the conversation.

Decades ago, I taught myself to read Tarot cards. It didn't take long to learn the cards and the various interpretations each card could support. It took somewhat longer to learn to read the clues presented by each individual that allowed an accurate estimation about their life experiences and likely concerns. With both things in mind, applying any layout of the cards could result in a surprisingly accurate reading that appeared to involve impressive knowledge of things about the person that weren't "known" to the person doing the reading.

Occasionally, someone who knew me would encourage someone else to ask me for a Tarot reading at some party or gathering. At the end of the so-called reading, during which I discovered "private secrets" about that person and offered "amazing" and pertinent "advice," I would explain to the person that it was all bogus and talk about how I came to those conclusions. Often the response would be, "But how did you know about the things you told me about myself?" I'd explain that, too.

My goal was to debunk such nonsense by demonstrating that I could do it just as well as some "adept" who had extraordinary "vision."

Fortune tellers, Tarot readers, and others who do such thing are just highly skilled observers who deal with doubts, worries, and life experiences that are common in many people's lives. The more they can derived from subtle clues about their subject, the more accurate they can appear to be, which creates confidence in the subject.

It's not psychic - it's just psychology and knowledge of human experiences. Bogus stuff, except that it's often hard to tell it from what a psychologist, analyst, or counselor with an MA in psychology might tell you.

[Disaffected]

37. Commonly referred to as

Cold Reading. The sucker thinks the psychic is giving him/her information when in fact it is the other way around. And, as mentioned, they have a bunch of other tricks to gain a priori information about the mark before the "reading" occurs. Seance frauds as well often employ such methods.

In my experience, the true believers of such stuff are usually refractory to logical explanation of how these fraud artists work and why psychic abilities do not exist.

There used to be a psychology prof at UBC who gave cold reading demonstrations as part of one of his courses.

[MineralMan]

45. Yes. Plus there are some things that almost everyone has in common,

but that they think are unique to them. Those vary with things like age, sex, appearance and many others. Tell someone accurately something they are concerned about, and they think you know things you shouldn't know. Body language, too, tells its own story. Cultural references and many other things can lead to surprising insights that the subject doesn't know are exposed to someone who can see them or intuit them.

There are also leading techniques that can elicit information without being noticed. One of the flaws we all have is thinking we are unique. In most things, though, we're not at all unique.

The cards or whatever you're using are distractions and can be used as diversions during observation of reactions to things you say. And those reactions are the clues you need to develop a solid story about that person, which seem like revealed truth when you feed them back to the subject.

We're all vulnerable to being fooled. Often, we want to be fooled. We also all reveal things about ourselves without knowing we're doing it. The successful "reader" knows how to read a person, even when starting with very little information.

[in2herbs]

70. Your discussion does not take into consideration distance readings, a reading where the

two parties are not in the same room -- sometimes not even in the same state. Nor does your discussion take into consideration the fact that readings can take place without the people ever speaking or meeting, a photo of the person and a tape recorder is all that is needed by the "psychic" who then returns the tape to the person via US Mail. How can one "observe" the person whose requested the reading without the two people being in the same room? Is your negative position based on the fact that the "psychic" receives $$ for their advice?

There are posters to this thread that indicate their "psychic" ability but in actuality all they have done to achieve this "psychic" ability is to adjust their energy level to that of the other person (or animal, living or dead) which enables them to "read" the other person. They should practice more and stay on the path.

I talk to animals. I talk to dead people. I talk to live people. I just don't talk to Republicans. I also don't charge a dime for my time.

[MineralMan]

79. My discussion takes into consideration my experience and the fact

that there is zero factual evidence for any such abilities being genuine.

[in2herbs]

83. Do you have to see it to believe it, or do you have to believe it to see it?

There is evidence of human’s ability to read another’s energy frequency; science-based experiments have been conducted by reputable scholars. For example, here’s some links about Gary Schwartz, PhD, his education and the work he’s conducted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Schwartz, https://psychology.arizona.edu/users/gary-schwartz. Dr. Schwartz is one of many scholars conducting science-based experiments on this topic. I especially recommend two of his books: “The G.O.D. Experiments: How Science Is Discovering God In Everything, Including Us” and “The Energy Healing Experiments: Science Reveals Our Natural Power to Heal.”

"The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand." – Frank Herbert.

Have a nice day.

Namaste,

[MineralMan]

84. I don't believe it. I see no reason to.

You're welcome to your beliefs, of course, but I'm not wasting my time on this.

Schwartz's methodology has been criticized by several other scholars.

[USALiberal]

87. Pure BS, send me a link to your best proof. Nt

[MicaelS]

19. Absolutely not.

The question I always have is "If a person is psychic, why aren't they a billionaire?"

Pure unadulterated nonsense.

[tblue37]

21. Wouldn't that be against Christians' beliefs? Psychic reading should fall under the

label of witchcraft according to Christianity, shouldn't it?

(I am not religious, nor do I believe in witchcraft, but this does seem to violate Christian rules, doesn't it?)

[raccoon]

23. You'd think so. I knew this church was weird but

I didn’t realize how weird until I heard about this.

[Hekate]

35. American Christianity has drifted over the centuries. Also, Unity does not pretend to be orthodox.

[Mariana]

51. With 1000's of denominations, countless "nondenominational" churches, and so on

Someone can believe or disbelieve just about anything, and still be one flavor of Christian or another.

[PRETZEL]

22. Don't know about group readings,

but I'm not totally skeptical any longer,

Shortly after my step son passed my wife got a call from a young girl attending school in the upper part of the state. My wife had no idea who this young lady was but she had said that she was in a lecture and the guest speaker out of the blue picked her out of the class and asked her if she knew him. She said they were friends from school. As she relayed this to my wife and still having no idea who she was, she said she had to call to tell us he was ok and for us not to worry about him.

That story changed my view.

[SidDithers]

25. She should be charged with fraud...nt

Sid

[Sophia_Of_PlanetX]

26. Psychics use a variety of tricks. They're another form of magician.

If you see a psychic, you’ll notice that they always start with vague statements that can be true for everyone. An example is, “I see a man in a tan uniform, like a soldier!”

Psychics get a lot wrong, but they trick the audience into forgetting their misses. Also, people do most of a psychic’s work for them by trying to fit a psychics vague statements into a quality their dead loved one had. E.g A tan military uniform becomes just a uniform, which becomes a police uniform. My father was a cop!

Never has a psychic walked up to someone and started with specifics. It’s all a mental game, and the fact that most of your audience wants it to be real makes the con easier.

[USALiberal]

31. James Randi does great cold readings. Nt

[Sneederbunk]

28. I hear she actually is not a medium but an extra-large.

A George Carlin observation.

[Initech]

30. Fuck mediums. Seriously.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

33. Scammers!

[Hekate]

34. I rather enjoyed my encounter with the local Unity Church 40 years ago but didn't join...

I was just-divorced with 2 toddlers and was hired to assist their full time secretary. Their wages were fair for a half-time job -- everyplace else treated half-time work as something worth about a third of full time, but they were very fair. Margaret was a sweetheart, a completely nonjudgmental lady in her 60s. I was asked if I wanted to participate in the early morning meditation (readings from Word of the Day) and figured it couldn't hurt, since I was a wreck. I got a good look at their Sunday sermons because part of my job was to retype a lot of the ones in the files.

They had a very popular nondenominational wedding chapel. Their bookshop specialized in "metaphysical" literature. Part of their credo was to address the Divinity as Mother-Father God. They invited a series of lecturers and practitioners such as you described -- one did Kirlian photography, purported to read your aura. Can't remember the rest, just that psychics and spiritualism in general were popular. They were very open to a variety of alternative searches.

I worked there until my ex flamed out and could no longer send child support (less than a year), at which point I had to get a fulltime job someplace with family benefits.

When it came to choosing someplace to spend Sunday morning with the kids, though, I ultimately ended up in the Unitarian Universalists, which is a whole different flavor.

Enjoy your searches. But remember this from Unity: "The Light of God enfolds me. The Love of God surrounds me. Wherever I am, God is."

[HockeyMom]

40. Spiritualist Church

Went there a few times with my daughter. At the end they had a group reading. Male psychic medium said he was getting a Sally coming through. Close relative of someone here. Wait a minute. Sally is a MAN, not a woman.

Stunned me. The family always called my Uncle Sally, not SAL. Nobody in the family ever called him Sal, including Grandma and Mom. You tell me how this psychic could come up with something as unusual as this.

[HipChick]

46. I grew up in Spiritualist Church..

Attended from I was a little girl...we definitely do not walk alone in this life..

I have a friend that assists with police cases...I could not do it, some of the cases are heart breaking..

Believe it or not, I felt out with her, because she told me from the start Trump was going to win, not that she supports him, but something about the way he able to do like a reverse Law of Attraction..

[Karadeniz]

41. "This stuff" has been carefully researched at the U. Arizona. The psychics' agility to discover

Facts which would have been known to noone but the deceased was well over coincidence. In the early church, psychics would probably have been called prophets, which Paul recognized.

[HipChick]

47. CIA has many studies on it also..

[fierywoman]

59. So have the Soviets.

[Act_of_Reparation]

82. Nope.

Failure to double-blind one's experiments demonstrates a marked lack of care.

[USALiberal]

88. Please send link to your best example! Nt

[SidDithers]

95. Wait. You're serious?...

Sid

[sdfernando]

43. You'ld have as much luck seeing Oda Mae Brown....and it would be

vastly more entertaining.

[blugbox]

92. Hahahaha

Damn baby! What did you do to your hair?

Sorry one more

WHO'S SAM WHEAT?!

[Whiskeytide]

44. Why would anyone believe or trust ...

... a psychic that has not won at least 3 jackpot lotteries?

[leftyladyfrommo]

48. I'm psychic. Can't control it at all.

Last edited Tue Aug 27, 2019, 06:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I just know things. I will just be sitting there and wham there it is.

I could never be a medium. Mine doesn't work like that. I pick up all kinds of stuff.

[tman]

54. Do you do readings?

[leftyladyfrommo]

60. Good God No. nt

I have no control.

[HipChick]

57. I was born this way...

and an empath...I pickup stuff all the time, but could never be a medium....just second nature to me..

[leftyladyfrommo]

61. It can kind of disturbing sometimes.i can pick up on

sorrow. I also pick up when other people are thinking of contacting me.

I had a weird one not too long ago. I was picking up on an old boyfriend from 20 years ago. Googled his name and his obit came up. He was just letting me know. He died the day before.


Mostly it's pretty harmless stuff. But if I start meditating a lot it gets much stronger. Then I really start picking up on stuff.

[leftyladyfrommo]

64. I think people are just born that way.

It's kind if like having another sense. All sentient beings give off all kinds if vibrations. They create disturbances in the air. Some people are able to pick up on those vibrations. I don't think it's really mysterious.

But what Is mysterious are vibrations that are coming from spirit. I try to really pay attention to those. Most of the time those are warnings. And the way they come across is completely different.

[ecstatic]

76. Your election prediction?

[RobinA]

50. I Have A Friend

who talks to the dead. She’s from the “deluded that she can do it” category. If she were in the fraud group we wouldn’t be friends anymore. She knows I’m not cool with it so we don’t talk about it much. The problem I have is the New Agey everything-is-positive-you-just have-to- wait-and-what-you-will-come mindset that goes along with it. I work in a forensic psychiatric hospital. New Age stuff is so inadequate as a life solution I just want to scream at her sometimes.

[leftyladyfrommo]

63. I talk to the dead pretty often. They rarely answer .

I keep trying.

There are a couple of people I talk to. It's just comforting to me. I like to think that they hear.

[HipChick]

67. I can't afford a therapist..

So I talk to whoever....

[leftyladyfrommo]

69. Therapists don't know what to do with that stuff anyway.

It doesn't fit anywhere.

It's not really delusions. Hard to put it in a box.

[RobinA]

72. OK, I Worded

that badly. She and the dead have a two way conversation for which she charges money.

I talked to the dead just this weekend. Had a cigarette with him, in fact. He did not talk back.

[GulfCoast66]

56. Seems harmless enough. Actually way less harmful than what is preached at evangelical places

I try to be a rationalist and freethinker.

I don’t believe in any superstition. But don’t automatically hold those who do in disdain.

I all depends where their beliefs lead. Leads to loving others is ok in my book.

[lindysalsagal]

66. Magic.

The different practitioners are always in competition.

[Glimmer of Hope]

68. I met with an Indian guru in Varanasi who knew stuff about me. I think some people have

special talents.

[Act_of_Reparation]

81. Yeah. A talent for cold reading.

[USALiberal]

89. No they don't! Nt

[Archae]

74. You know why they are called "Mediums?"

Because they aren't rare, and they never have their tricks well done.

[Maru Kitteh]

75. Hmm. Here's my own personal opinion - institution of unscientific griftorship hosts unscientific

grifter.

And what?

Sorry. I missed the relevant question. Do repeat?

[TlalocW]

77. Not in church, but I went to a psychic fair once

I'm a magician of the James Randi mold. I hate people who use magic tricks to prey on people's belief and pain. They had a special symposium of a woman who communicates with an angel she calls, "Tidbit," who answers people's questions. The questions are written on pieces of paper provided to the audience. She stands at a lectern and to "prove" it's Tidbit answering the questions, she first puts a strip of tape across her eyes (rather high up) and then a tightly folded handkerchief over that. She then puts the letters on the lectern and moves them around randomly and rubs some on her head to get the mental impression to send to Tidbit. Of course, what she's doing is misdirecting you with the head rubbing as she peers down the sides of her nose at whatever letter she's actually reading. She'll read that out loud and then make up some feel-good bullshit answer. I honestly couldn't believe that's what she was doing - I was silently shaking from laughing, annoying the people around me. If I had had LASIK at that point in my life, I would have duplicated her act after she was done. At one point, she messed up because she couldn't read the name of the person on the sheet on the lectern (while holding another sheet to her head), and when no one was answering for the names she thought it could be, she got upset and flustered and handed the sheet FROM THE LECTERN to an assistant to read. No one caught her goof that I could tell.

Later, in the main room, I sat down with a palm reader named T-Bone who refunded my money because he couldn't effectively read my palm because I wasn't giving him the necessary feedback.

TlalocW

[USALiberal]

90. +1000 nt