PSYCHICS
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PARTING FOOLS FROM THEIR MONEY
OPEN CHALLENGE
I state that nobody in the world has any paranormal powers whatsoever and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. If you claim to be a psychic or clairvoyant, then I challenge you to take my very simple test and prove it. Not only that, if you complete the test accurately, I will pay you the sum of $10,000 on the spot and publicly acknowledge that you indeed have paranormal ability.
However, if you do take my test and fail, then you must agree to pay me $10,000 on the spot and I will publicise the fact to the world that you have no paranormal ability.
The test is simple - there are just 5 questions that I will put to you and that only I can possibly know the correct answers to them. The answers will be in a sealed envelope that will be handed by me to an independent observer at the time, who will write down your answers and then open the envelope and compare your answers to the correct answers. You will win if you answer all 5 questions correctly. If you are indeed psychic or clairvoyant, you won't have a problem doing this. But I dare you to take the challenge.
It is quite remarkable how in this day and age, there are so many people who believe implicitly in those purveyors of mystical mumbo-jumbo such as clairvoyants, tarot card readers, palmists, fortune tellers, psychics, spoon-benders and the myriad con-men and con-women who seem to have the talent to find a never-ending source of gullible mugs from whom money can be extracted. What is even more remarkable is that even when these crooks are thoroughly debunked, people still go on believing in their scams and paying them fortunes, regardless of the exposés.
THE CHALLENGE TO SO-CALLED PSYCHICS
The press is rife with advertisements by clairvoyants and psychics touting their so-called paranormal abilities, usually for substantial fees. Most of them claim that their talents are used for the benefit of mankind, however it seems to me that they are mostly intent on lining their own pockets by scamming gullible fools. However, very few of these psychics are willing to be put to the test and those who actually are placed in conditions where they cannot use their techniques for eliciting information surreptitiously from their victims, fail miserably.
Various organisations around the world have put up prize money amounting to millions of dollars to be awarded to any person who can prove paranormal powers. Those who have tried to win this money by submitting to tests have all failed. If these psychics have the powers they all claim to possess and if they have the ability to predict future events and important numbers and dates, why do they not consistently pick winning racehorses, Lotto or Keno numbers, or take the millions of dollars on offer? Why do they plod on, earning relatively small amounts of money from phone psychic services or palm reading sessions, when all they need to do to make themselves very wealthy immediately is to use those paranormal powers or merely prove that they have them?
Even an abject cretin can figure this out - these so-called clairvoyants and psychics are all fraudsters, tricksters and crooks, nothing more. There are plenty of easy marks out there just itching to be parted from their money and willing to believe any mumbo-jumbo dished out to them. The craziest part is that the suckers are always amazed when clairvoyants tell them information that they were not supposed to know, however virtually all psychics use a very simple technique called cold-reading that elicits the information required without the mugs being aware that they have given it.
This has been proven many times, with world-famous psychics being asked to use their so-called powers to give information about people who were put in front of them, but with one difference. The targets were not known to the psychics, they did not speak, they did not indicate anything by facial or body movement or expression and they did not give any hint of their background or history. In other words, they could not be cold-read and therefore no information was available to be squeezed out of them by the psychics. In every solitary instance, the readings given by these psychics were so far off the mark it was just embarrassing, or even worse, in many cases the psychics could not even begin to make a reading at all.
COLD-READING
Below on this page there is a brilliant exposé of cold-reading by the most renowned debunker of clairvoyants, James Randi. He has brought many of the most famous "psychics" totally undone in public and easily showed how they operate to fleece the gullible people who are so stupid as to believe such rubbish.
One only has to listen to the radio to hear on-air clairvoyants, psychics and astrologers using this very technique to inform people of their futures, problems and literally anything else that is asked of them. A simple test is to observe whether the clairvoyant is actually giving unsolicited and accurate information or merely asking questions and making appropriate responses based upon the answers unwittingly given by the person making the enquiry.
What will be observed in every instance is that the clairvoyant will either ask a question outright or disguise the question as a statement to elicit a response with information that the clairvoyant can feed back to the victim as if the clairvoyant had divined this revelation by psychic powers. Once one is aware of the cold-reading technique and how it is applied, it is amusing to see such a transparent scam being used without victims becoming aware that they are in fact providing all the answers that the scammers seek.
Some of these fraudsters have an even better technique. They merely list a pile of predictions and alleged facts about their targets, but don't give them much chance to respond, thus making it seem that their predictions are correct, simply because their targets do not get a chance to refute the statements. And if by some chance the targets do manage to squeeze a word in and deny the accuracy of the predictions, the psychics will merely gloss over them. People who go to so-called psychics are already suckers, as they are gullible and open to suggestion, so in many cases, they will agree to even false predictions by psychics out of embarrassment.
DORIS STOKES
Some years ago a British woman called Doris Stokes showed up in Australia amid great fanfare. She claimed to be able to communicate with the dead, or as she put it, those who had passed over to "The Other Side" wherever that may have been. She was heavily promoted on television and the media and made a very tidy killing with her appearances, where she acted as the "telephone line" between the members of the audience and their departed loved ones.
The well-known debunker of such people, James Randi came to Australia and with great skill and knowledge literally tore Stokes apart, but still the gullible came in droves to talk to those who had departed this mortal coil. However Stokes came unstuck when the parents of a boy who had disappeared implored Stokes to ascertain if he was dead and if so, contact him. Stokes promptly did this and informed the distraught parents that the boy had died, however they could now talk to him through Stokes, which they thought they did for a while. They left the show feeling very sad but content in knowing that their boy was floating around having a great time in this mythical place called heaven.
A few days later, the parents were quite shocked to receive a telephone call from - guess who? Yes, there are no prizes for this one - it was their son. He had run away from home all those years ago and had gone to Tasmania, where he met a nice girl and was very happily married and very contrite at the fact that he had not kept in touch with his parents. This bombshell hit the newspapers and everybody then wondered who, if anybody, Stokes had been talking to when she claimed to be in touch for such a length of time with the "dead" son of these poor people and was answering all those questions that the parents had been putting to her to pass on and get replies from the deceased lad. Of course Doris Stokes had no answer to this and left Australia very rapidly, never to pollute these shores again with her scam.
MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI
One of the greatest scam artists of our day was the notorious Mahesh Maharishi Yogi. Ever since being discovered and promoted in their ignorance by the Beatles, he had made a very lucrative business out of parting the gullible from their money. No matter how many times Maharishi had been exposed as a fraud, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of devotees willing to swallow his tripe. The late Richard Carlton of the Australian "60 Minutes" television show interviewed Maharishi and some of his minions and mercilessly exposed him as an unrepentant charlatan.
One of the most abject idiocies shown was a group of devotees practicing the "art" of Transcendental Levitation. The sight of these fools bounding around for hours on their arses in a room with a mattress for a floor was just hilarious. To think that these clowns paid a lot of money and may have actually believed that they were flying just shows how gullible people can be.
One of the Maharishi's senior acolytes swore that Maharishi was really and truly able to fly. Carlton asked him whether he had actually seen Maharishi flying using transcendental levitation, whereupon the acolyte admitted that no, he had never seen his master fly in such fashion. Indeed he also admitted that he had never seen anybody fly this way, however he seemed quite content to assist Maharishi in conning money out of idiots for flying lessons without the aid of an aircraft.
CYNTHIA MILLER
Cynthia Miller, 36, who ran the Astrology Life store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA admitted that she defrauded over a million dollars from clients, including a mentally ill man who was hearing voices. She was sentenced to nearly three and a half years in prison. She was the last of nine family members sentenced for their roles in a psychic fraud conspiracy that US federal prosecutors said fleeced more than US$20 million from gullible people all over the world.
Miller, who advertised as a psychic and life coach, admitted that she claimed she could communicate with spirits and had the power to remove curses and negativity from her clients' lives. She told customers that money or valuables they gave her would either be burned, sacrificed or donated to charity or churches. She made $1.2 million from the fraud.
One of her victims was a man who heard voices in his head and was grieving the recent death of his father when he sought help at her store. He eventually gave her US$400,000 worth of gold coins in the belief she could fix his problems. When he later asked her to return the coins, Miller told him they were buried in a cemetery and she could not remember where. Prosecutors said that some of those gold coins were later found in a safety deposit box controlled by Miller's husband, Michael Marks.
Miller also admitted that she took a huge amount of money from a Japanese woman who underwent multiple surgeries for brain tumours while seeking guidance on romantic and other life matters from her. The woman gave her life savings, about US$500,000 to Miller and lost her home in Japan to foreclosure.
Miller wept in court as she apologised. "The first thing I want to say is that I’m sorry to my clients," she said. "There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t punish myself in praying that one day they will be able to forgive me. I did and still do, care very deeply for them and pray for them and feel horrible for my actions." Judge Marra sentenced Miller to three years and five months in federal prison. She was expected to pay about $1.2 million in restitution to victims.
But Cynthia Miller and her entire 9-member family ran this fake psychic scam with full premeditation, so her crocodile tears and statement of contrition in court were merely to try and sway the judge in not giving her a harsher sentence. It shows that there is a never-ending stream of gullible fools who will believe anything they are told and are willing to hand over their money to scammers and criminals who take advantage of their stupidity.
ASTROLOGY
To fleece the gullible, astrologers use the ridiculous notion that astronomical bodies that are hundreds of millions of light years from this planet can somehow influence the characters of people and future events. Astrology has been around for as long as there have been fools who were willing to be suckered by this nonsense. In Denmark, one of the largest studies of the possible link between human traits and astrology found no connection between the traditional Sun signs of the zodiac and people's characteristics. The study, performed by Dr Peter Hartmann and his colleagues, added to the growing body of evidence that there is no scientific basis for star signs that are based on the place of the Sun in relation to someone's date of birth.
Geoffrey Dean, a former astrologer based in Australia who researches the possible scientific validity of astrology, tracked over 2000 people who were born within minutes of each other. The study, which spanned several decades, covered over 100 different characteristics, like marital status, IQ, anxiety and temperament was published in 2003 in the Journal of Consciousness Studies. Dean came to a similar conclusion as Hartmann and his team, that date and place of birth does not affect an individual's personality. In other words, Dean found that astrology was a pile of utter rubbish.
It is interesting to note that on the website of one of the foremost "astrologers" in Australia, there is a disclaimer that states that the information and astrological interpretations at that website are for entertainment purposes only. The "astrologer" also demands that people using his services agree to release his business from all liability. It does not say much for the alleged ability of this "astrologer" if he takes money from the public without at least standing behind what he claims to be able to do and that he needs some sort of indemnity to protect himself from legal liability. The only conclusion a reasonable person could draw from this is that people who claim to have paranormal powers and abilities, yet need disclaimers such as this, are nothing more than charlatans.
JONATHAN CAINER
Even a cursory examination of the Daily Telegraph astrology column of the late Jonathan Cainer, the self-professed astrologer and charlatan, clearly demonstrates not only how nonsensical it is, but how Cainer used the gullibility and ignorance of people to make a cosy living from his scam. Incidentally, Cainer's son Oscar has taken over the family scam since Cainer Senior died.
For instance, Jonathan Cainer's alleged predictions for 25 November 2011 are so vague and open-ended that they are completely meaningless, but of course the idea of this is to allow fools to read into them whatever they like and con themselves into believing that this garbage actually applies to them personally. Here are a few examples of Cainer's drivel.
- AQUARIUS - The person you would most like some help from, now seems to need some help from you. That's a common syndrome in relationships. When one feels strong, they can help the one who feels weak. If both feel vulnerable, a sense of disappointment, even despair, can ensue. Not that I am suggesting that the big issue in your life now involves a conventional relationship. This may be a friendship or a business arrangement. Whatever it is, try to forget about what you need this weekend and look at what is needed of you. And there's more... Your 'Personal Profile (New Edition)' is here! It's been extensively rewritten, revised and illustrated. It's the ultimate birth-chart reading and you can order now. Get it here.
- ARIES - You are not wearing blinkers. You do not have a restricted view. Or do you? Might you have been looking out from within a helmet for so long that you have forgotten what it feels like to enjoy full peripheral vision? Recent events have left you feeling as if an aspiration can never be fulfilled or a dream cannot turn into a reality. What have you done to deserve this disappointing development? Nothing! You are merely interpreting a set of signals pessimistically. Seek a broader view this weekend and you will become inspired. Now please, keep reading, if you haven't yet had a full personal chart reading, calculated from your date of birth, you have been missing out. Change your future. Click here!
- TAURUS - We don't always know ourselves as well as we should. We have selective memories. We revel in our accomplishments and we forget our failures. Or vice versa. Whether we are full of pride or dismay, the likelihood is that if we have allowed ourselves to become full of anything, we have displaced something else. Without a sense of perspective, how can we ever hope to make sensible judgements? The question this weekend, is not, 'What's on your mind?' But, 'What is no longer on your mind that might well be worth recalling?' And there's more... Your 'Personal Profile (New Edition)' is here! It's been extensively rewritten, revised and illustrated. It's the ultimate birth-chart reading and you can order now. Get it here.
- SCORPIO - Some days when we wake up we feel that we just can't do anything, that we are not very good, that we don't have what it takes, that we can't be bothered and it is all too much. There are other days when we feel ready for anything. 'OK world, bring on your biggest challenge. I'll rise to it!' My question for you is not, 'Which of these moods are you in now?' But, 'Which will you be in as the weekend goes by?' The partial solar eclipse is helping you notice a flaw in someone's grand plan. Pull yourself together and you can set it right. Now please, keep reading, if you haven't yet had a full personal chart reading, calculated from your date of birth, you have been missing out. Change your future. Click here!
Examine every one of the above horoscopes and it becomes very evident that none of them actually say or predict anything. All of them are piles of unmitigated crap. What they do is lead suckers to click on the link after every horoscope. For the purpose of this article, those links have not been made clickable here because I refuse to be party to this utter rubbish.
It is blatantly obvious that Cainer just published this garbage every day in the hope that fools clicked on those links and ordered his horoscopes and guides to the future. With his column occupying the best part of a full page in the Daily Telegraph and heaven knows how many other publications every day, Cainer really pulled in the suckers and made a very lucrative living from this scam.
Cainer and all other astrologers cannot actually predict anything about anybody in particular from stars and planets, but to give an idea of the sort of baloney Cainer fed gullible fools, this is what was on his order form:
- Ordering Your Online Personal Horoscope: Step 1
A chart reading based on your date, time and place of birth will give you incredible insights about yourself and your future.
Choose from:
Your 'Guide to the Future' if you want to know what's really going on in your life right now. Put your chart under the microscope and take a good look at what has been happening over the past few weeks and then, armed with this information, read a set of forecasts covering the next three, six or 12 months of your life in complete astrological detail.
Your 'Personal Profile (New Edition)' which has now been extensively rewritten, revised and illustrated to give you the ultimate guide to who you are. If you've ever wondered if you were destined for something great, or ever wished you knew more about how you could fulfil your potential, you'll find the answers are here, in your full personal horoscope.
* Purchased an 'Old Edition' Personal Profile in the past? Click here.
Your 'Partnership Profile' if you want to know what makes a relationship tick, or what may lie in store with a potential partner.
See - and understand - the cosmic blueprint of your life that was written in code across the sky at the moment you were born.
Your chart reading will be calculated and delivered online in a few minutes. Once completed, it will be available via your browser and also as a high-quality downloadable file, for you to keep forever.
* (The 'Personal Profile (New Edition)' comes in two versions: Standard and Plus. The Plus version includes a look into the future at the major astrological events and opportunities due to impact your life over the next few years.)
This is how much Cainer charged for this crap in 2012.
- Personal Profile - Standard (New Edition) - $38.95
- Personal Profile - Plus! (New Edition) - $54.45
- Your Guide to the Future - Three Month Guide - $24.95
- Your Guide to the Future - Six Month Guide - $34.45
- Your Guide to the Future - Year Ahead - $ 46.95
- Partnership Profile - $41.95
The form went on to ask for personal details of the sucker, such as name, email, date and place of birth and the obvious checkbox asking if Cainer can send the sucker offers and news - more marketing. After the sucker filled in enough information for Cainer to get a handle on what to tell him, the form went on to ask for payment.
It is truly amazing to think that there are people out there who read Cainer's so-called horoscopes that are just a pile of meaningless drivel and actually went on and feathered his nest by dishing out money to purchase more drivel. But people are gullible and that is why scam artists thrive.
I was happy to throw down the gauntlet to Cainer and I challenged him to prove that he actually had some sort of paranormal power and could predict the future or tell people things about themselves that he would have no hope of knowing under normal circumstances. Like all the other phoney astrologers, Cainer did not take up the challenge, but that was to be expected.
I have devised a very fair and impartial test for alleged psychics, clairvoyants, astrologers and other merchants of baloney. So far, the couple of people who were game enough to take the challenge failed dismally. I would have expected Cainer to achieve the same result, but of course he did not take it up, because the resultant publicity about his failure would have killed his scam. One of the conditions of the test is that the applicant has to publicly advertise the results, so in Cainer's case, he would have been required to display this in his astrology column. Nevertheless, I live in hope that other merchants of baloney will submit to my test.
My deliberately defamatory statements about Cainer never resulted in any lawsuit because of what I published here, because Cainer knew that I would have taken him apart in court and exposed him as a crook and conman. The same goes for any other person claiming to have paranormal abilities, because in my entire long life, not one of them has managed to show any such powers. In court, that would be the first thing that I would demand from any psychic, astrologer, tarot card reader and other woo-woo scammers - a demonstration that would be doomed to failure. I know that I would bring them all to grief.
ADRIAN DUNCAN
In December 2015, I answered an email that came from the domain www.astrologyanswers.com and decided to put the operator of this scam to the test. So using the pseudonym "Bill" and giving the birth date of a lifelong friend whose life and characteristics are very well-known to me, I asked for a "free" horoscope. I even asked that it be accurate and predict events of the following week or two. You would think that any person with real paranormal powers would have the ability to do this with ease, but of course what ensued was predictable.
After a couple of emails that exhorted me to sign up to his astrological service for a fee, Adrian Duncan responded with my "mini" reading. I won't print the whole thing because it is long and laborius, but here are the main parts.
- Bill,
As you know, a time of immense importance - your Transit Period - could soon be entering into your life.
It is a time, if navigated properly, of great opportunity and is a time when you will have the ability to FINALLY ATTRACT ABUNDANCE where you feel you are struggling most.
It is in this time that is fast approaching for you, that you will be able to shake the cloud that may have been covering you and BLOCKING YOU FROM GAINING LUCK AND HAPPINESS, specifically in the areas of LOVE and ABUNDANCE.
Bill, you may be feeling this Transit Period right now!
You made an excellent decision asking me for help and at the right time it seems, too.
You see, Transit Periods are an extraordinary combination of things coming together , not least the position and surrounding influences of the most influential heavenly body: Jupiter
The numerology character resulting from the date you first contacted me is: 8
- MY COMMENT: So far, it's the usual astrological bullshit that could apply to anybody. People see this nonsense and mentally try to fit it in with their own lives and thus consider that it is accurate. The bogus astrologer will pick one planet out of nine and one number out of 9 and tell their suckers that these numbers are significant to them. Well, the planet is irrelevant, but the number can apply to anything in any person's life. "Hey looky here, he told me that my lucky number is 8 and my kid is 8 years old and my house number is 8 and I lost two fingers in an accident so I have 8 of them left. WOW, this astrologer really knows his stuff." That's how it works. So moving right along with this astrological reading..."
You are gifted with natural leadership and the capacity to accumulate great wealth! Your path will lead you to work out the difference between money and the true value of life. You have great talent for management and you understand the material world. You intuitively know what makes virtually any enterprise work and you always look at the greater vision. You are born to be in charge and be a visionary! Power and authority come naturally to you -- although you will also learn that it is lonely at the top. You will be successful in any field where you can be the executive decision-maker, especially in business and financial matters.
- MY COMMENT: Again, this is just a load of generalities that could apply to anybody. This bogus astrologer has told me NOTHING personal about myself. On top of that, the above "reading" is designed to make a person feel good. Yes folks, I am gifted with natural leadership and the capacity to accumulate great wealth. So a rich and powerful person receiving this nonsense will say that it is an accurate portrayal, but a deadbeat with the arse out of his pants will think, "Gee if it wasn't for all the bad luck in my life, I would have been a great leader and would have become very rich. So hell, this astrology reading is right on the button and I better pay this astrologer for more information." That's how these "readings" are carefully crafted. It's a feel-good thing and whether it describes a person or not is immaterial. People will make it fit to their own circumstances and think that the astrologer has nailed it, whereas the astrologer knows nothing. Moving right along again...
I will divulge all in a minute, but I must tell you that it is a very special occurrence to realize one may be on the cusp of such an extraordinary period of change.
You see, by requesting your reading it tells me that you are ready to make a difference in your life and open the path to love and abundance.
There is an incredible potential inside you - a Life Force - waiting to break free. It KNOWS that its time has come to be released.
I must tell you though, there could be some not so good news in your future... I will explain that to you shortly as well.
Again, as promised, your brief yet lovely Mini-Reading has been prepared for you.
This Free Mini-Reading will paint a clear picture of how your life SHOULD appear by this time in your life's journey, but will not cover the important dates and decisions you will have to make during your coming Transit Period ( Your TRANSIT PERIOD GUIDE TO LUCK AND HAPPINESS will serve as a guiding beacon of light for you during this most auspicious time).
- MY COMMENT: Here are the promises of love and abundance - if you subscribe to the astrological service (for lots of money). If you don't subscribe, you will remain a deadbeat.. LOL But nothing of substance has been stated and all of the above could apply to anybody. As usual, people will make this crap fit to their lives and fall for the scam.
Although I have spent literally thousands of hours providing personalized guidance to those in need from around the globe (I'll explain more in a bit), what only matters is that your reading helps you, right now!
Keep in mind that these insights best apply when you are in touch with your TRUE SELF. The one that is apparent in your birth patterns and the one that is always to be found inside you. If you feel that these revelations may be a bit on the optimistic side, it is because there is something that has been blocking you from reaching this TRUE POTENTIAL - the potential your coming Transit Period will be able to carry you to.
In other words, Bill, it's possible there has been some "fog" pursuing you practically since childhood and that you've had one problem after another, especially as far as money is concerned. You know what I'm talking about - the anxiety and suffering you may have had to put up with, as well as your present problems too.
Some opposing influence might create an abnormal block to the way your TRUE SELF should be living, as you will see in your Free Mini-Reading.
But what's most important is that things can change and more importantly YOU DESERVE to see them change.
I'll explain in more detail shortly, but for now, let's jump right in to the Free Mini-Reading:
Free Mini-Reading for Bill
You need to find the answers to certain questions that concern you personally, questions you've probably been asking yourself for quite some time. You are involved with the people around you, you're interested in your future and you look for ways to make your daily life easier.
Let's start with the main traits that make up your psychological profile, the particularities of your character that are completely exceptional when looked at as a whole (taken separately these traits might seem ordinary, but in your case their combined effect explains much of the meaning of your life): Sense of beauty, love of life, simplicity, intelligence, grounded, ambitious, tenacious, loyal, energetic, warm hearted... and I should also mention Lucky, since luck smiles down on you naturally and could become totally amazing if you knew how to take advantage of it!
Love - Emotions
Love plays an important role in your life and you engage yourself with fervor, wisdom and gratitude. You do a lot to deserve your happiness and you hope that your significant other is willing to pay you back in kind. You want to see desire and passion in the face of your loved one and you want to be the only person to benefit. But be careful not to let your sense of possession gain the upper hand, or your passion might turn into destructive jealousy. Jealousy will destroy what your lucky star wants you to build.
Here is some important advice that might help you: persevere in your intimacy, don't let just anyone into your private life, never discuss your problems with anyone you don't completely trust and make sure the people around you leave you in peace as far as your affairs of the heart are concerned, since they concern only you.
Social Life
You have enough personality and magnetism to do without any superior authority. Have faith in yourself, in your ideas and your initiatives. Hold your head high and persevere and you will move forward without problems, even in the most delicate or hazardous of times.
Luck
Your golden number is 10, your lucky number par excellence. Use the number 10 as often as you can: for example, when you set up an important meeting, insist on the 10th day of the month, or 10 o'clock in the afternoon; when you take a train, get in the 10th car. Use it whenever you play games etc.
If you have premonitory dreams - and you should! - 7 is your most auspicious number. It's also lucky for travel and in financial matters.
And 11, your number for happiness, can also be used to combat misfortune.
Use a combination of these three numbers as often as you can. Luck will do many things for you and your intuition will do the rest.
Some Final Advice
We are in the midst of a period of Great Change and the opportunities are too good for us to let them go by, without lifting a finger. Your future can truly be fabulous in all areas of your life: happiness, emotions and various other activities. And you have the great privilege today of being at the forefront of those who are going to benefit from this new harvest. With or without my help.
- MY COMMENT: Look at that arrant nonsense. Again, it could apply to literally anybody on this planet. There is nothing whatsoever specific to my friend "Bill", but a gullible fool will see this crap and massage it to make it apply to his own life. In fact it can be massaged to fit into anybody's life. It is no different than all those astrological columns in the media. It is obvious that Adrian Duncan is using a template where information is inserted randomly or from a prepared database and the advice, "for example, when you set up an important meeting, insist on the 10th day of the month, or 10 o'clock in the afternoon." 10 o'clock in the afternoon? Bill gave the game away with that one.
Here is how I show people who believe in astrology that it's nonsense. I find out what their star sign is, then I pick an astrological reading from a completely different star sign and read it to them and invariably they will say that it applies to them. In fact every star sign reading will apply to them if their stupid pea-brains massage the generalities into specifics to suit them. Anyway, the next part of this "mini" reading is the come-on - the lure for money from the potential sucker.
THE DECISION IS YOURS!
You have the potential for incredible things, which you received at birth (a potential for making the most out of your luck) which is in strong contrast to the difficult life you are leading and the bad luck that could be unjustly affecting you at the moment.
You can easily learn secrets for dealing with the difficulties and financial stresses that follow you.
Here's why:
Venus, along with the other planets that affect your Destiny, may endow you with tremendous Lucky Power.
This should have turned out to be very positive for you in terms of love and the realization of what you really hold dear in life. But perhaps that has not been the case.
Of course you've had a few happy moments at certain times in your life. But you may feel that you have generally been lacking in luck in many important areas of your life. Isn't that so?
You have had some periods of luck and happiness on your journey. But SOMETHING MAY WELL BE PREVENTING YOU FROM TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THAT LUCK and you feel it has passed you by each time.
There have undoubtedly also been OPPORTUNITIES FOR GAINS THAT WERE WITHIN YOUR GRASP on many occasions, but perhaps it seems like an invisible hand seems to have prevented you from enjoying your potential success.
As things stand now you take each day as it comes, without really knowing what will happen to you tomorrow.
Sometimes, because of a lack of self-confidence, you may make decisions that eventually have serious consequences.
You may be thinking that this is all your fault. Well, that is not exactly the case!
You have everything you need to succeed and it's possible a few unfortunate circumstances affected you, forcing you to make the wrong decisions, those that attract bad luck instead of good luck (especially when it comes to your abundance in life).
Don't say to yourself: "I've never been lucky... I just have too much bad luck... I'll never get out of my present situation!"
Believe me, based on my experience I can confidently say that is not the case at all. On the contrary!
You have a right to happiness. And you should know that there are no unlucky stars in your astral chart. All you have to do is follow THE PATH TO LUCK AND HAPPINESS as indicated by your master planets, which will soon become active and influence your destiny... if you know how to call on them.
It's too bad you didn't request a reading sooner, Bill. You could be living with all the fortunate events that have passed you by.
But I'm here to tell you Bill, that it isn't too late!
You see, the TRANSIT PERIOD THAT IS FAST APPROACHING is a very unique when the influential bodies that make up your Astral Chart align with one another in such a way that it puts your life on "steroids".
Have you ever noticed how people never seem to have a consistent amount of "luck"?
They either talk about how "things haven't been going my way lately"... or ... "I feel like I'm on a lucky streak!"
Well Bill, that is because each person's influential bodies are in CONSTANT MOTION, moving in and out of sync with each other. There are so many factors come into play that you can compare it to being put into a maze every couple months.
Everyone goes through their "astral maze" without knowing which direction to take at each turn. Sometimes they "get lucky" and get quite far in their maze and other times they work themselves into a corner right away and they go through a period of bad luck until a "new maze" (a new phase of astral alignments) begins.
Then, once in a very rare while, one will enter into a MAZE UNLIKE ANY OTHER. As I said, some people are never really discovered this opportunity, but most people will enter into one at significant times in their life.
The secret key to this maze is found in the meaning of each Transit Period. In fact, this is a time when most people find their true love, get that big promotion, find that dream job or SUDDENLY FIND A SOURCE OF ABUNDANCE that puts them back on their feet - no matter how "far" they get or where they end up in the maze.
Making it to the end of the maze is very rare and difficult to do, but just by sheer odds there are those few handful of people who do reach the end and suddenly find themselves LIVING THE LIFE THEY'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF... they've realized their Ultimate Destiny.
Remember Susan Boyle? She was briefly deprived of oxygen at birth, leaving her with learning disabilities. She was bullied in school - the kids called her "Susie Simple'.
When her mother passed in 1997, neighbors said that she stayed in the house, not answering the phone or knocks for 3 to 4 days. Up until her sudden fame in 2009, Susan described her life in West Lothian, Scotland as "mundane" and "routine".
But then, Bill, things changed for her. She didn't just find true love or get a raise.... she, by sheer stroke of luck, made it to the end. She solved the maze by chance... and received INTERNATIONAL STARDOM, having the top-selling debut album for a female artist of all time. She found her Ultimate Destiny and has been living it ever since.
Bill... if you ask you can have your very own Transit Period Guide to Luck and Happiness prepared just for you. In other words, because your Transit Period is nearly upon us, I can grant you access to a personalized "Transit Period Guide" to show you the path the path you must take when it comes time to enter YOUR Transit Period - your Maze of Destiny.
- MY COMMENT: Firstly, this idiot didn't even divine that I was not this "Bill" person, so he obviously didn't have the ability to figure this out. All that stuff above is nothing but the equivalent of a form letter. In fact the whole "mini" reading will be sitting on this bogus astrologer's computer and he will doubtless send it out to anybody who responds to his bait. Maybe he will change the numbers but it would be a certainty that he would have this stuff prepared and sent to suck in gullible people. But nothing so far in this entire "mini" reading has any relevance to any particular person. But here comes the testimonial and who knows whether it's given by a fool who fell for the scam and thought that rubbish like this had any effect, or it was just invented.
Recent Success Story
Now, it's easy to share success stories of famous people, but what about people that aren't so famous? What about people that perhaps don't have all the luxuries that life can offer... how will this reading help them?
I want to introduce you to Niki Jensen... Niki
Niki came to me full of fear and doubt. She was tired, stressed out and so unsure of what she needed to do to get her life back on track... As she said to me, “I need help separating what I want and need as opposed to what others expect of me.”
And I knew exactly what she meant.
We often become so caught up in trying to please others that we forget our own needs and desires... we lose sight of our own path and when we finally “wake up,” we realize that we're no longer moving in a direction that matches our True Purpose.
Fortunately, Niki requested her Transit Period Guide and was able to stop this destructive behavior in its tracks. She wrote me not long after she received her Guide to express her amazement at its accuracy.
“I was blown away by this reading,” she wrote. “It very accurately diagnosed the issues of my life that I was concerned about. I'm going to use my Transit Period Guide as a means of giving me courage, that what I've been doing and how I've been believing has not often resulted in the life I want for myself.”
And that's exactly what the Guide is meant to do!
As Niki discovered, we're all called to a specific purpose in life... we're all here for a reason, but so often, we lose sight of that purpose because we're so entrenched by all the dramas that we encounter every day.
Money becomes an obstacle... desires get put on the backburner so that we can focus on responsibilities and obligations... and before we know it, we're no longer living the life we want... we're simply going through the motions, doing what society has told us we're supposed to do.
But what about happiness and fulfillment?!
When do those come into play?
Niki fortunately realized that this detour wasn't what she truly wanted and was able to find her way back to the path she was truly meant to travel.
“As I was reading about myself, I began to feel the wheels start turning and telling me to lose my fears and just take the plunge... I know have a new way of feeling, seeing and doing things... A fresh start, a new way of living in harmony with my TRUE self!”
And isn't that exactly what we all want?!
You can see now why it’s so important to request your own Transit Period Guide... like Niki Jensen, I know that you've also experienced those moments where you feel you're headed in the wrong direction...
Where you realize that what you want and what you're getting are two very different things and you know that if you had the chance, you'd be capable of so much more... so many wonderful and amazing things...
Now is your time, Bill!
But you MUST act fast, Bill. Please don't "mull it over" and put it off, like so many opportunities you have done so in the past and regretted.
I will offer this reading at a MUCH REDUCED cost from what I ask from my in-person clients because I know how much you have to gain... but only if you DO NOT SHARE this discounted arrangement with anyone else.
I extend these full services in this manner to you Bill, to give you the best advantage possible as you sit on the cusp of your Transit Period.
- MY COMMENT: So now that the big discount offer has been made to suck in poor old "Bill", the scam continues with a few testimonials. Who the hell knows whether they have come from gullible fools or they were just invented. Even if they came from gullible fools - and we know how many of those are out there, just going on the billions of dollars raked in every year by African advance fee scammers - they are meaningless.
"All that has happened thus far has been spot on with the guide"
Janet McDorman - I have only had the guide for less than 36 hours, so to be honest, I have not had the opportunity to greatly benefit from it; however, what I have read thus far appears to be precise and enticing. All that has happened thus far has been spot on with the guide. It comes at a time when I am desperate for answers so I look forward to witnessing the continued accuracy. Thank you Adrian and team.
Janet McDorman
- Sagittarius
"The Guide was very accurate about my dual nature"
Kathleen Porter - Awakens in me a deeper sense of responsibility for paying attention to not only the decisions I make but how I make those decisions. The Guide was very accurate about my dual nature and I must now be honest about how I have allowed some of my natural tendencies to dictate my behaviour. Now my job is to assess my response, listen more deeply to my intuition and then take appropriate action. Listen first, leap later! A change from my I'm in charge and can handle anything without any help thank you very much...and then wondering how I ended up in such a mess...
Kathleen Porter
- Gemini
"I LOVE Adrian! He has hit me on the spot everyday"
Terry Craw - LOVE Adrian! He has hit me on the spot everyday!!! I some times feel his existence right here right now. It is amazing how he knows how I feel and in a situation of money, he explains in detail what I should do for that day. I have always been told to live one day at a time and I am doing that now. There is one thing I don't understand though, I have a lot longer day now. I am so excited to learn all that this new life BIG PICTURE has to offer I am up any where from 2am to 11pm. It is GREAT!
Terry Craw
- Aquarius
- MY COMMENT: So there are a few gushing testimonials that may or may not be real. Obviously if they are real, the idiots writing them have been sucked right in and handed over their money. If the testimonials are bogus, well that is something that could be expected. But they all talk about how accurate these astrological Guides are, when they can be nothing more than wild guesses that suckers will mould into their own lives and believe that they are relevant to them. But here comes the urgent request for "Bill" to sign up to a paid astrological program that will deliver the same bullshit as he has already received with his "mini" reading.
BUT TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE, Bill
The fact that you came to me just before the beginning of a crucial Transit Period might have been coincidence... but it's likely powers of a HIGHER ASTRAL PLANE have come into play...
I am sure you have a strong intuition, you're sensitive and you are very generous, BUT sometimes other people ask too much of you, without knowing that things aren't going so well.
HERE'S WHAT YOUR READING CAN DO FOR YOU:
Firstly, it's important for you to know that to help you it is not absolutely necessary for us to meet personally.
I have already helped hundreds of people who, like you, had serious problems with luck or love or money, without my having to meet them face to face.
Your reading will show you WHAT TO DO TO AVOID PROBLEMS that could arise for you (and how to turn them in your favor).
You must not ignore this period which could transform . All you have to do to benefit 100% from the opportunities that arise at the start of this lucky period is act in harmony with the times I indicate.
If you follow the advice given, your situation can improve very rapidly after that.
But you have to be careful. There are always obstacles you have to avoid. You have to be very discerning about this.
Bad habit may attract some unlucky trends, which prevent you from following my guidance. If that turns out to be the case, I will tell you exactly what to do to STAY THE COURSE and focused on your progress.
I'll also tell you what decisions you have to make (during the times of optimal luck) to ensure that your destiny advances firmly towards the realization of your imminent happiness.
I am this confident about your immediate future because I have seen countless times how the planetary movements that govern our fortune work in predictable and powerful ways.
Believe me, it's absolutely essential for you to know what important events will happen for you in the coming months and I'll be happy to tell you about them.
Here's what I am offering to do for you:
The moment I receive your urgent request I will be notified and within just two days send you your TRANSIT PERIOD GUIDE TO LUCK AND HAPPINESS so that the next 12 weeks become the most important in your life.
What you discover in this detailed reading has nothing in common with anything you may have been told up to now about you and your future.
You will receive a document that is more complete and more detailed than anything any other spiritual advisor may have done for you before.
All I can say is that even though you may have unsolved personal problems right at this moment, your immediate future holds several favorable opportunities to overcome them with clarity.
IN THIS COMPLETE, IN-DEPTH AND EYE-OPENING READING you will discover (among other things):
Exactly how to approach your lucky periods during the next 12 weeks (these are the "turns" you must take in order to find ABUNDANCE, LOVE AND LUCK).
Which OBSTACLES YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO AVOID (the junctions where, if you take a false step, will take you off course where there is no turning back).
Which periods are most favorable for you in the areas that interest you most, including your LUCKY DATES, LOVE, AND IMPORTANT ENCOUNTERS. And that's not all...
Your reading will also give you specific advice for each precise situation you encounter in your family and in your relations with other people. I will help you overcome any feelings of solititude and I will also tell you how you can outsmart the mischievous influence that has been preventing you from accessing the happiness you have every right to enjoy.
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL, Bill...
I will immediately send you the additional materials FREE OF CHARGE. They are, my personal favorite guides for beginner students. They are yours as a free gesture of my faith in you, when you show me that you are ready today...
Note: To eliminate shipping costs, I will give these to you in digital form so that you can download and have them instantly!
SNIP - I have deleted the great pile of "free" enticements. This is the way these scams work. The scammer hands out "free" gifts or objects and the sucker then feels obliged to sign up to the program. Ever been to one of those phoney stock trading "seminars" where some fast-talking guy tells you how rich he has become by day-trading options? The first question anybody should ask such a person is - "Pal, if you are so super-rich and successful, why are you trying to get $4,000 out of me by selling me a course on options trading? Why are you not lying on a beach in Bermuda with a hot blonde babe on each arm instead of coming here and trying to flog me a trading course? Isn't it true that your actual source of income is NOT day-trading, but selling useless courses to suckers?"
I actually went to one of these "seminars" and a fast-talking American told the audience how he had accumulated millions of dollars in money, property and other assets. He was sharply dressed and he passed around a (probably fake) gold Rolex watch to show us that he was loaded. But when I returned home and looked up this American's record (bless the Internet), it turned out exactly as I expected - he was a spruiker whose income was derived from conning people into subscribing to his "seminars" and buying his useless day-trading course for an exorbitant amount of money.
So one has to ask - if this Adrian Duncan really had these paranormal powers, why did he not even use those powers to figure out that my name was not Bill? And if he was really able to divine the future, why is he doing this astrological bullshit? Why isn't he winning the lottery every second week? That's what you never see - a headline stating "PSYCHIC WINS POWERBALL". Why doesn't Adrian take up the challenge that famous scam debunker James Randi has set up and collect the $1 million by proving that he has these astrological powers?
So I decided to throw a challenge at Adrian Duncan and his sidekick Sam. At the time, all this information was on a website that did not have my real or stage name and there was no way that Adrian Duncan or Sam could have figured out who I was.
I emailed Sam and put ten very simple questions to him, as follows:
- Where was I born?
- Where do I live? Be specific.
- Have I ever been married? If so, how many times?
- Do I have any children? If so, how many, what gender are they and what are their names?
- Have I ever owned pets? If so, what were they?
- Am I suffering from any illnesses? If so, what are they?
- Do I have any special talents? If so, state them.
- Am I rich, average or poor? Be specific as to my nett worth.
- Do I have any formal qualifications? Be specific.
- Am I left or right handed? You have around 50% chance of guessing this one.
Then I asked Sam the following:
- Here's a bonus question. What's my real name? Here's something easy for anybody who claims to be able to predict the future. What is going to happen to me in the next 48 hours? I happen to know exactly, but do you?
A few days went past with no reply, so I wrote back and told Sam and Adrian that they were a pack of fraudsters, scammers and conmen. However, I did not expect to receive a response because they knew that I exposed them as charlatans who preyed upon the gullibility of people with a very carefuly contrived website routine that sucked them in with the offer of a "free" reading and then enticed them into paying for further bogus readings.
Along with all the clairvoyants, psychics, tarot card and tea leaf readers, water diviners and spiritual healers, Adrian Duncan, his co-conspirator Sam and all the other people involved in his www.astrologyanswers.com scam is an out-and-out fraud, scamming money from suckers who believe his arrant nonsense. Mind you, Adrian's operation is rather slick, but anybody with a modicum of reason can see right through it. So if you get an email from Adrian Duncan or indeed anybody else offering the astrology scam, just trash it immediately. It's all nonsense and even worse, it's outright fraud.
I have already been threatened by a couple of so-called astrologers and psychics, who dropped their threats of legal action like hot potatoes when they were informed that I would put them to the test in open court with the media present for them to demonstrate and prove beyond doubt that they actually had the paranormal powers that they claimed to have. In other words, they ran for the hills and I have not heard anything further from them. The reason is that not one of them can prove that they have paranormal powers of any sort.
A FUNNY STORY
Some time ago, I was asked by a friend to help a female entertainer who was looking for work in the Sydney club scene. I was the owner of a booking agency, so I decided to check her out. I examined her website and also checked her Facebook page. It turned out that she claimed to be a psychic and had all these wonderful clairvoyant powers, as well as being a Reiki healer (another pile of crap) and allegedly had all sorts of other abilities. So being a mischievous bastard, I decided to have some sport with her, because she did not know me and had never spoken to me, so she had no hope of recognising my voice.
I rang her and she answered the phone and asked who I was. I told her that according to her website, she claimed to be a psychic and therefore she should have known who I was and also should have anticipated the phone call. She kept asking me for my name but I refused to tell her, stating that she should already have divined this information. Then she asked me why I was ringing, so I did the same thing - told her that as a psychic, she should have known precisely the reason for the call.
This went on for about 15 minutes and after I had really nailed home to her the fact that she had no psychic or any other powers whatsoever, I finally told her who I was and I actually gave her a couple of gigs. We eventually met up a few times, but she never ever dared to try her alleged but totally bogus paranormal powers on me again. I have done the same stunt with a few prominent "psychics" and not one of them managed to pass the challenge, which just proves that they are all fraudsters.
TAROT CARDS
Tarot card reading falls into the same mumbo-jumbo baloney as astrology. Tarot card readers claim that they can divine the future from dealing a deck of cards and interpreting them. In actual fact, they would have the same rate of success or failure by dealing a poker hand with a regular deck. The truth is that Tarot has no basis in fact and the cards are merely used as props so that Tarot card readers can tell their victims what they want to hear and thus skim their money from them.
OTHER MUMBO-JUMBO
Water divining, phrenology and many other contrivances have been used by conmen to part fools from their money, but there seems to be no shortage of suckers out there. Pick up any newspaper with classified advertisements and there will literally be pages of psychics, astrologers, Tarot card readers and other crooks, all preying on the gullible. If these people had one shred of psychic ability, they would be either divining the winning Lotto numbers consistently or relieving James Randi of his million dollars by proving that they can do what they claim. So far, apart from random chance, nobody has seen a headline proclaiming that a psychic has won the lottery every week or picked the winners of every horse race.
PSYCHICS CANNOT SHOW THEY HAVE ANY POWERS
It is amazing but predictable to see the response of so-called psychics and clairvoyants when they are questioned about why they cannot divine simple things like winning lottery numbers, when they claim to accurately predict the futures of people, even over the telephone. They invariably claim that they do not use their "powers" for gain, but they shamelessly run their psychic services via premium telephone lines costing $5 or more per minute and charge exorbitant amounts for psychic readings and telling the future.
These charlatans also invariably duck and weave when asked why they do not prove to skeptics such as James Randi that they have these paranormal powers and claim the US$1 million that Randi has put up for such proof, yet they scrabble around every day for suckers to pay them for psychic readings. It does not make sense, unless you understand that these psychics are either deluding themselves, or are just outright scam artists.
ALLEGED PARANORMAL POWERS WERE NO HELP TO THIS "PSYCHIC"
A graphic demonstration of the complete lack of paranormal power was reported, when self-proclaimed psychic Rosemary Altea was cleaned out of around $250,000 by her own accountant, Denise Hall, over a period of seven years. One would have thought that at least Altea would have felt a vibe or two about her fortune being depleted under her nose, but of course she was an utter fraud with no paranormal powers whatsoever. So while Altea was scamming her victims, her accountant was scamming her.
The sad thing is that Rosemary managed to scam this huge amount of money from her readings to actually allow for $250,000 to be stolen. It is hard to feel any animosity for Denise Hall. After all, consider how Rosemary got the money in the first place.
Apparently in a fairly typical manoeuvre for such psychics, scam artists and most religious cult leaders, who are out there to feather their own nests at the expense of gullible idiots, or even worse, vulnerable sick or dying people, Rosemary got her hooks into a dying cancer patient, Llewella Day. After just one meeting, Ms Day donated her $750,000 farm to Altea under the condition that it remain a farm with structures intact. This last-minute change of will surprised and angered Ms Day's family, who took Altea to court and sadly lost.
DEBUNKING THE CROOKS
James Randi made yet another trip to Australia in 2001 to check out two claims of people with paranormal powers. Of course the inevitable occurred, where one of them, a water diviner, failed to divine any water and the other fellow, who claimed to know which one of a number of boxes contained an article, failed miserably to find it after many guesses. It is apparent that the US$1 million that Randi is offering for substantiated proof of paranormal powers is destined to remain in his bank account.
I once had an amusing encounter at one of my gigs, where a woman in the audience stood up and very importantly announced to the audience in a loud voice that she was a medium. She then asked me from which country I originated. I replied that if she was a medium with paranormal powers as she claimed, she should have divined this information without having to ask me at all. This elicited huge guffaws from the audience who were listening to this exchange. Of course the woman had no answer to this and slunk out of the club, which only goes to show that the best way of dealing with charlatans is to simply show that that the powers they claim to possess are either merely delusions or contrived to part fools from their money.
These few examples graphically demonstrate that the world is mostly full of idiots willing to be led by the nose without question and be conned out of their money without being shown any evidence that what they are being sold is actually real. Psychics, clairvoyants, tarot card readers, palmists, fortune tellers and religious cult leaders all claim to have powers far beyond those of mortal men and advertise their services for fees or contributions, but to this day not one solitary provable example of psychic or paranormal ability has been seen. It all boils down to the insecurity and ignorance of most people on this planet and there seems to be no way of protecting these fools from themselves.
THE ART OF COLD-READING
By James Randi
The currently popular "psychics" like Sylvia Browne, James Van Praagh and John Edward, who are getting so much TV space on Montel Williams, Larry King and other shows, employ a technique known as "cold-reading." They tell the subjects nothing, but make guesses, put out suggestions and ask questions. This is a very deceptive art and the unwary observer may come away believing that unknown data was developed by some wondrous means.
Not so. Examples: "I get an older man here" is a question, a suggestion and a guess by the "reader," who expects some reaction from the subject and usually gets it. That reaction may just be a nod, the actual name of a person, or an identification (brother, husband, grandfather), but it is supplied BY THE SUBJECT, not by the reader. "They're saying, 'Bob,' or 'Robert.' Do you recognize this person?" is another question, suggestion and guess. If there's a Bob or Robert, the subject will amplify the identification. But if there's no Bob or Robert immediately recognized, the reader passes right on, after commenting that Bob is there alright, but not recognized right now. If any Bob is remembered later, that is incorporated into the spiel.
You should observe and listen to a video of a reading. In one such by Van Praagh, prepared by the "48 Hours" TV program, a reading that lasted 60 minutes, we found only TWO actual statements made and 260 questions asked. Both actual statements - guesses - were wrong. Van Praagh was looking for the name of the woman's deceased husband and he came up with it by asking, "Do you know anyone named, Jack?" The woman answered, "Yes! Jack, my husband!" But Van Praagh didn't identify "Jack" at all. He asked her if SHE would identify him. By that time, Van Praagh had already tried on her 26 other men's names - all wrong. But, the woman - the subject - forgot about those failures, because they were not important to her. "Jack" was important.
The readers have a way of leading the subject to believe that they knew something they didn't. Example:
Reader: "Did your husband linger on in the hospital, or did he pass quickly?"
Subject: "Oh, he died almost immediately!"
Reader: "Yes, because he's saying to me, `I didn't suffer. I was spared any pain.'"
It's strange that the reader (Van Praagh, in this example) had to ask that question. And remember, these readers often go out and interview the audience members when they're on line waiting to get into the studio or auditorium. That technique was employed by the very successful reader Doris Stokes. She would feed back any data she got as if she were refreshing her memory of what had been told her. "Are you the lady who has a passed-on sister, dearie?" would of course receive assent from the victim and ahhhs from the audience.
Also, a person who approaches the reader before the TV show or auditorium meeting and says she has a question about her deceased grandmother, can then later be selected out of the audience when they're on-camera or during the live encounter and can then be asked, "Is your question about your grandmother?" and that appears - to everyone else - like a bang-on "hit." Or and this is very subtle indeed, people in the studio or auditorium audience - usually seated up front for best visibility - are sometimes those who have already been to the "psychic" for a private reading and have then been asked to show up later to occupy reserved seats at the public in-person gathering "to develop more information" using the "collective power of the assembled audience." The reader then repeats previously-gleaned data and that appears miraculous both to the audience in the studio and at home, watching, or elsewhere in the auditorium audience.
We tested Sylvia Browne in 1989, on live TV and she failed miserably. On that occasion, she was not allowed to speak to anyone in advance, or to be asked or told anything in advance. The audience was told to only answer "yes" or "no," when asked a DIRECT question and Sylvia bombed out big-time. She blamed it all on bad vibrations. Van Praagh and Edward have not responded to our offer to test them - for the million-dollar prize, even.
So, you see, it's your perception of what's actually being done, rather that the reality of the procedure and your ignorance of other subtle clues and methods, that misleads you in your observations of these "psychics." I'll give you one example of something I did when I was performing as a mentalist in Toronto, my home town, at the age of 18. (I hasten to add here that I would ALWAYS thoroughly disclaim any genuine powers, before and after my show.)
They had a huge auditorium filled with reserved seats, just about every one of them occupied by eager subjects. It was some sort of a charity affair and seats were expensive. After I got rolling with the various moving objects and blindfolded duplication-of-handwriting stunts (spoonbending was not yet a popular miracle!) I stopped abruptly and pointed to a lady in the third-row aisle seat. "I'm led to say to you that I get a middle name of 'Rose' for you, madame!" I cried. Her gasp verified that I was right." And that name is more than significant to you." She leaned forward. "I see a clock, a very old clock and on the dial three pink roses?" She started to speak and I silenced her by raising my hand. "But this is a strange clock. It can't tell the time!" By now, the poor woman was about to pass out in excitement. "Why is it useless? I see two arrows, or darts...They're metal and they're broken...Ah! I see! These are the hands of that clock and they've come off the clock face and are lying together behind the glass cover of the clock dial! Is that right?" The woman was standing, mouth open, nodding vigorously. She was awe-struck and the applause was vigorous indeed.
How was it done? A lucky guess? No. Planning. TK Lawson, my buddy, had been working with that charity. He was the one got me the gig (a contracted appearance). And he also went through several neighbourhoods selling tickets to likely donors. He had sold tickets CC-20 and CC-22 to this lady and she'd invited him into her living room while she made out a check to pay for the tickets. He observed that the "rose" theme was everywhere and an embroidered "sampler" was framed by the door, with the woman's full name on it. That clock was by the fireplace. TK noted these facts and reported them to me. I must tell you that together we intercepted that dear lady as she left after the show and explained to her how I'd been "psychic." She was highly entertained with the explanation and grateful for our caring to tell her.
I somehow don't think that Browne, Edward and Van Praagh would trouble to do such a thing. But, after all, they say they're REALLY "speaking with the dead." I'm amazed at how much death affects people who undergo the process. It makes them really stupid and forgetful. Whenever I've asked any psychics or spiritualists to contact my paternal grandmother, it seems she doesn't remember such basics as the name of her husband, or the name of her church - both important elements in her life while she was "here." Now that she's "there," her rather prodigious intellect has left her quite completely.