My reading by a "psychic".

[wasapi]

A couple of evenings ago, I went with 2 friends to visit some really interesting little shops downtown. At one point, while looking around a costume store, we were approached by a woman who told us she was a psychic and would like to "read" us. The first reading was free, with the hope of us wanting more then 12 minutes, it would cost $25 for the next 12 minutes. No thank you. But she did a reading of us individually.

It was difficult to not laugh. Her appearance was out of central casting. She was decked out in loose, India-style garb, a shawl with moons and stars draped her arms. She spoke in woo.

It started out bad and continued to get worse. She told me that my partner killed himself because he couldn't deal with his intense jealousy. John was the least jealous person I know.

Yes, she told me, he visited me every morning, early, because "that was his favorite time of day." He hated early mornings.

OH!!! And, I will be coming into money!!! When I receive it, I promise everyone here that I will buy your drinks!

[Loss Leader]

The less information you give them (even by nodding or raising an eyebrow), the less accurate the readings will be.*

*Provided they weren't expecting you. If they knew you were coming, they'd have had time to do some research and it's amazing what even a half-hearted sleuthing will reveal.

[Scorpion]

Originally Posted by wasapi

She told me that my partner killed himself

Did you tell her this? otherwise how did she know?

[wasapi]

Originally Posted by Scorpion

Did you tell her this? otherwise how did she know?

I gave her that information.

[Loss Leader]

Originally Posted by wasapi

I gave her that information.

That's a lot of information in the hands of a vaguely-intelligent cold reader.

[8enotto]

All positive, happy predictions. A Vegas odds chance at more hits. No smart medium or charlatan will come off saying someone near you was a rotten, mean bastard that did horrible things to you. Happy people are more expressive, give away more clues.

If like in this case she is street trolling for suckers it is important she lay out as much good as possible.

[Belz...]

Originally Posted by wasapi

A couple of evenings ago, I went with 2 friends to visit some really interesting little shops downtown. At one point, while looking around a costume store, we were approached by a woman who told us she was a psychic and would like to "read" us. The first reading was free, with the hope of us wanting more then 12 minutes, it would cost $25 for the next 12 minutes. No thank you. But she did a reading of us individually.

It was difficult to not laugh. Her appearance was out of central casting. She was decked out in loose, India-style garb, a shawl with moons and stars draped her arms. She spoke in woo.

It started out bad and continued to get worse. She told me that my partner killed himself because he couldn't deal with his intense jealousy. John was the least jealous person I know.

Yes, she told me, he visited me every morning, early, because "that was his favorite time of day." He hated early mornings.

OH!!! And, I will be coming into money!!! When I receive it, I promise everyone here that I will buy your drinks!

Did you inform her of her misses in real-time to see her try to adjust?

[wasapi]

Originally Posted by Belz...

Did you inform her of her misses in real-time to see her try to adjust?

Yes. Something she said was so outrageously wrong, that when I laughed and said it was wrong, she scrambled hard to make excuses to try and make it fit.

[Belz...]

Originally Posted by wasapi

Yes. Something she said was so outrageously wrong, that when I laughed and said it was wrong, she scrambled hard to make excuses to try and make it fit.

Seeing them squirm is priceless.

[wasapi]

Originally Posted by Belz...

Seeing them squirm is priceless.

Each time she realized that she had a horrendous miss, she went into a type of trance, said, "ommmmmmommmmommmm", closed her eyes, fluttered her hands, and tried again. It was delightfully fun, I must admit.

I have always been told that I have a good poker face. (And, I'm a good poker player.) So other then what was verbal, I know this confused her.

[steenkh]

Wasapi, how did your friends react to the readings?

[curious cat]

To start with, I am a sceptic. As such, I am looking at "fortunetellers" with a mixture of amusement and contempt, so no wonder I visited one only once - for fun. It was purely impulsive, there no way she could have know me (different town) and I didn't take somebody's referral, booked my visit beforehand, told her my name or did anything else what would possibly serve as a source of information to her - I just walked in from the street.
All went as expected - she told me a few general things that could apply just to about anybody. But then she said: "In a few months you will put on a uniform." Normally it would be just another "guess" a child would make - I was very obviously of a conscript age and army service was compulsory in my country. But, without missing a beat she continued: "But it will be only a working uniform." And she was right. In order to dodge the army service I signed up with the railways by what I became an "essential worker". That gave an exemption from the army conscription. Never worked out how how she could know that... Go figure.

[Dave Rogers]

Originally Posted by curious cat

All went as expected - she told me a few general things that could apply just to about anybody. But then she said: "In a few months you will put on a uniform." Normally it would be just another "guess" a child would make - I was very obviously of a conscript age and army service was compulsory in my country.

Was she looking at your face when she said it? If you were prepared, not much later, to make career choices specifically to avoid compulsory army service, you probably already had some fairly strong feelings about it. My guess would be that, as you said, she could make a good guess that you'd be called up fairly soon, and that taking up "essential worker" occupations, many of which would involve wearing a uniform, wasn't exactly uncommon at the time. So she had a fairly likely prediction ready to pull out, and a fallback position if your reaction to it looked skeptical or dismissive. When you reacted unfavourably to the suggestion that you'd join the army, she was ready, and...

Originally Posted by curious cat

[...] without missing a beat she continued: "But it will be only a working uniform." And she was right. In order to dodge the army service I signed up with the railways by what I became an "essential worker". That gave an exemption from the army conscription. Never worked out how how she could know that... Go figure.

She played the odds, had a bit of luck with a carefully prepared double play, and you remember the one hit and forget all the misses.

Dave

[bluesjnr]

Originally Posted by Dave Rogers

Was she looking at your face when she said it? If you were prepared, not much later, to make career choices specifically to avoid compulsory army service, you probably already had some fairly strong feelings about it. My guess would be that, as you said, she could make a good guess that you'd be called up fairly soon, and that taking up "essential worker" occupations, many of which would involve wearing a uniform, wasn't exactly uncommon at the time. So she had a fairly likely prediction ready to pull out, and a fallback position if your reaction to it looked skeptical or dismissive. When you reacted unfavourably to the suggestion that you'd join the army, she was ready, and...



She played the odds, had a bit of luck with a carefully prepared double play, and you remember the one hit and forget all the misses.

Dave

This and the fact that it most probably did not play out exactly as curious cat recalls from memory.

Also, No2 uniform could be described as a working uniform, there is enough ambiguity to make a connection.

Also, no offence (I mean that) but you might just not look like army material and she picked up on that.

[curious cat]

Originally Posted by bluesjnr

This and the fact that it most probably did not play out exactly as curious cat recalls from memory.

Also, No2 uniform could be described as a working uniform, there is enough ambiguity to make a connection.

Also, no offence (I mean that) but you might just not look like army material and she picked up on that.

The explanation you offered came to my mind as the the only logical explanation. But, it has holes. The only thing she could read from my reaction (if there was any) was, she was wrong with me going in the army. But, there could be more reasons for it like being politically unreliable, being medically unfit, entering another level of studying, having some influential uncle - the only case involving uniform was actually the least likely - and she hit the nail on the head. Could be a chance, of course, but still makes me wondering...

[Dave Rogers]

Originally Posted by curious cat

The explanation you offered came to my mind as the the only logical explanation. But, it has holes. The only thing she could read from my reaction (if there was any) was, she was wrong with me going in the army. But, there could be more reasons for it like being politically unreliable, being medically unfit, entering another level of studying, having some influential uncle - the only case involving uniform was actually the least likely - and she hit the nail on the head. Could be a chance, of course, but still makes me wondering...

Look at it as her playing a percentages game. Some fairly high percentage of people your age would have been drafted within the very vague timescale of "a few months," so that's a reasonable guess to throw out. If it hits, she's impressed you. If it misses and she catches on that it's an obvious miss, then some percentage of the remaining people will at some time get a job that involves some kind of uniform, so she picks up a few more hits, and makes it look more specific, so she's impressed you a bit more. It's not like jobs with uniforms are all that rare; you could have been serving in McDonald's or making up pills in a pharmacy or driving a delivery truck any time up to about two years later and that would have looked like a hit. She's left you with the impression that she predicted you'd get a job on the railways to avoid military service, when in fact she predicted not one single part of that.

And she doesn't have to get a hit with everyone with that particular shot, because the misses will be forgotten (how many of the incorrect things she said to you do you actually remember?) and people will recall something else that happened to be a lucky guess.

Dave

[curious cat]

Originally Posted by Dave Rogers

Look at it as her playing a percentages game. Some fairly high percentage of people your age would have been drafted within the very vague timescale of "a few months," so that's a reasonable guess to throw out. If it hits, she's impressed you. If it misses and she catches on that it's an obvious miss, then some percentage of the remaining people will at some time get a job that involves some kind of uniform, so she picks up a few more hits, and makes it look more specific, so she's impressed you a bit more. It's not like jobs with uniforms are all that rare; you could have been serving in McDonald's or making up pills in a pharmacy or driving a delivery truck any time up to about two years later and that would have looked like a hit. She's left you with the impression that she predicted you'd get a job on the railways to avoid military service, when in fact she predicted not one single part of that.

And she doesn't have to get a hit with everyone with that particular shot, because the misses will be forgotten (how many of the incorrect things she said to you do you actually remember?) and people will recall something else that happened to be a lucky guess.

Dave

I am sure it is the case. But by all means it shows the skills some of these charlatans have. No wonder so many people get fooled ;-).

[wasapi]

[quote=steenkh;12864572]Wasapi, how did your friends react to the readings?[/QUOTE

It was interesting. ~The one friend who is quite woo-ish, says she is "not open to talk about the reading yet" because she needs "to process it". (Figure out how to make it fit?) But it had to do with her "teleporting to an island". OK.

The other friend, more rational, thought the psychic was 'full of it'. She focused her reading on how my friend wanted change in her life. My friend stated, "Doesn't everyone want a change?"

[Thor 2]

Originally Posted by Scorpion

Did you tell her this? otherwise how did she know?

Originally Posted by wasapi

I gave her that information.

What a pity, I think Scorpion thought a hit was scored here.

[Thor 2]

[quote=wasapi;12865188]

Originally Posted by steenkh

Wasapi, how did your friends react to the readings?[/QUOTE

It was interesting. ~The one friend who is quite woo-ish, says she is "not open to talk about the reading yet" because she needs "to process it". (Figure out how to make it fit?) But it had to do with her "teleporting to an island". OK.

The other friend, more rational, thought the psychic was 'full of it'. She focused her reading on how my friend wanted change in her life. My friend stated, "Doesn't everyone want a change?"

Did this psychic appear to be popular? Was there a waiting room full of clients?

[wasapi]

[quote=Thor 2;12867147]

Originally Posted by wasapi

Did this psychic appear to be popular? Was there a waiting room full of clients?

No. From what I gathered, she came to this shop once a month, and the shop owner did a low-key, local advertising, though mostly it was word of mouth. We saw her as soon as we entered, and as we were leaving, 2 or 3 other people were waiting to have readings done.

For one evening a month, giving readings at a starting price of $25, she could easily bring in $300. I don't know, but assume, she does her 'gig' at other places in town. She could be bringing home a couple of thousand or more, a month.

[Cris]

is there hot reading?

[abaddon]

Originally Posted by Cris

is there hot reading?

Yes. Why do you ask?

[Cris]

I want to know.

[abaddon]

Originally Posted by Cris

I want to know.

OK Hot reading is a very well known technique among so called psychics. It is used to collect information before a reading in order to give the appearance of psychic ability on the part of the psychic. It is trivially easy. Yet people still fall for it. And have been caught doing it. Hell, I have done it, albeit in an entertainment context and not to make money. It has become a tradition that I perform some mind bending act of magic post christmas dinner every year. I never reveal how I really did the apparently impossible feat. It always amazes, and it often requires hot reading. It's a hobby. And it annoys my kids when I do it, because I wont even tell them how it is done.

They all know up front that it is entirely mundane and I make no money from it. It is entirely for fun. A christmas party piece, if you will.

[Cris]

an example of hot reading and cold reading?

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by Cris

an example of hot reading and cold reading?

Hot reading is when I look you up on Facebook before your reading, find out that your father's name is Mike and that he's deceased, and then during the reading telling you that I'm receiving messages from your deceased father Mike.

Cold reading is when during the reading I tell you that I'm getting a message from someone in the beyond with an M name, or perhaps N, perhaps Nick, or Mark, or Mike and then you tell me that's your deceased father's name.

[wasapi]

I really believe it was cold reading. A friend who she also 'read', was told an architect, an attractive man would be in her life. The friend very much wants a boyfriend, and that was picked up on with a little intuition.

Nope. He hasn't shown up yet.

[Cris]

have other examples?

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by Cris

is there warm reading?

You might describe a performance that uses elements of both hot and cold reading as a warm reading, but generally no. Hot reading and cold reading are specific techniques that the performer uses to create the illusion of being psychic.

[abaddon]

Originally Posted by Cris

an example of hot reading and cold reading?

I can read Tarot cards to a stranger accurately, apparently. I can cast astrological birth charts for a person I have never even seen, also apparently accurately. I can dowse by pendulum or traditional twig. Sight unseen, I am rated spot on. And there is a method behind that. That is cold reading. One knows nothing aforehand. It might seem odd to you, but it has a methodology that always works.

Warm reading is different in that one has a working awareness of at least some detail of the intended mark. And one simply "blends" that in to a straight cold reading because one is equipped with foreknowledge that the recipient and audience thinks you cannot possibly know.

Hot reading entails finding hard facts about the recipient beforehand, and then revealing those facts as a matter of awe and astonishment. It is actively invasive and I don't much care for it. Particularly when practitioners pretend that it is real. I make a point of that. It is merely a puzzle to attempt to work out how I carried off the seemingly impossible, it is not an invitation to imagine that all of the various superstitions have any reality.

[Pixel42]

Originally Posted by Cris

an example of hot reading and cold reading?

Some mediums plant people in the audience who strike up conversations with people in the next seat or the queue for the loos - "hi, I'm hoping to get a message from my dead husband, is there anyone you'd like to hear from?" - and then pass everything they learn back to the medium for use during the performance. There was also one who kept every letter sent to her by desperate bereaved people organised by location, and then sent free tickets to the ones who'd given her useful information about their dead loved ones the next time she gave a performance in that town. Those are both examples of hot reading.

Cold reading is basically making intelligent guesses and reading body language.

[Hellbound]

The movie "Leap of Faith' from a few years back gave good examples of some techniques. Dramatized, of course, but not too far outside what's done for some of the big shows and similar.