I got a phone call from a lady complaining about a reader at the shop and one of her complaints was that the reader asked a bunch of questions. In talking about it later, I really dont think that some people realize how subtle that can be sometimes.

From the moment you meet someone for the very first time, you are both collecting information about each other. Its what we do as humans. We take in things with our senses and we process it. So when you walk into the shop and the psychic asks how you are doing and you respond, there is already a little bit of information exchanged. Now, of course, unless you are extraordinarily talkative, probably not A LOT of information was given away BUT even those tiny things tell the people around you SOMETHING.

A psychic should never ask you anything above and beyond “How are you, today?”. If the are reading you, they should not ask questions such as “Do you have a dog?” or “Who is dark haired with a bad attitude?” These questions can seem innocuous to someone not looking for them and can seem to be a part of the reading but they shouldn’t be. What the psychic is doing is getting information from you, which then changes the ‘reading’. It goes like this :

Wanna be Psychic : Do you have a dog?
You : No
Wanna be psychic : Oh, you dont have a dog? I dont know what that was then. Hm. Maybe I’ll come back to that later.

Had you answered differently, it could have gone like this :

Wanna be Psychic : Do you have a dog?
You : No (you are fervently scanning your memory for anyone around you who has a dog that could apply) But my mom has a dog that comes over all the time.
Wanna be psychic : Oh ok thats the dog connection then.

There is a range of intent in this scam. At one end, there is the psychic who doesnt realize they are a fraud. This psychic often thinks that they just arent very confident or are growing their skills or are just seeing something very fuzzy and have probably had poor, if any, training. They dont realize that they are not psychic and that the random thoughts that float through everyones head does not a psychic make. This non-psychic doesnt MEAN to be a scammer, really and for that reason, they probably wont set off your beware alarms when you meet them.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is the fraudulent psychic that knows they are a fraud. This person knows that they are not psychic and are more likely to set off your beware alarm. But these types suck people in all the time. I know of a few right here in this community who KNOW they arent psychic and dont think twice about giving readings for money.

The ONE exception to the never asking questions rule is this : you want a specific question answered and you only have a short amount of time in which to get the information from the psychic. Without coming out and telling the psychic what you need to know, you risk the psychic picking up on things entirely unrelated to what you want to know and never getting to your question. You can ask a question without giving too much away though. Do so.

Get referrals to psychics from people you trust. But just in case your friends are suckers, use common sense and obey your gut instinct about someone.