Most people have a troubled time in their life when they don’t want to open up to a family or friend about it. When a person is locked into a pattern of persistent worry or depression, they may take themselves to a psychologist or therapist. I had experience of this when I once went to a psychologist to deal with entrenched negativity over a problem I just couldn’t work my way through. I was in my 20s, long before I became spiritual or even considered self-help.

Therapist or Psychic?

The psychologist took notes furiously, which I never saw, and was more of a sounding board than a counsellor. I got a lot off my chest, but ten sessions and $1,000 out of pocket later, had not much to show for my outlay.

Many years later, I decided to try a psychic reading just for fun – like a parlour game, something to do for a lark with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. It coincided with a time in my life when I was looking for direction with my career.

A lot of people may try a psychic reading for fun and think it’s no more than a fortune telling, or like a star sign astrology reading. But truth is, it’s not like telling an astrologer your birth time and date so they can generate a numerological reading. A psychic reading is very much impacted by what you bring to the table.

My very first visit turned out to be worth a lot more to me than I expected. It was half the price of a psychologist’s couch session and I only needed one visit. Plus I got help which lasted me a decade.

In that first visit to a psychic, I went along sceptical and deliberately told the psychic one thing about myself and nothing more. I told her I was at a career cross-roads and was looking for any and all advice about where I should go. Period.

As the reading progressed, she had so little to go on that I ended up getting more for my money than I bargained for and was told what I needed to hear, not only what I wanted to hear.

After that experience of being lucky to happen to find a genuine psychic, I became very selective about when I should see one. The next two times were spaced apart by years and it was only after I exhausted even my own silent counselling. Sure enough, because I wanted to see the psychic for the right reasons my intuition was guided to the right one and I got help that actually helped.

When a Psychic Reading Turns to a Fortune Telling

Then one day, while I was mentally infected by some dark energy I had attracted to myself after failing to close my aura when starting work on the chakras, I went to a psychic from a very different prompting, more of an urgent impulse.

I had a specific agenda in mind – some intrigue that involved another person that I wanted to get some insight about. So off I went to the psychic with some very pointed and specific questions for which I wanted answers.

Well for my effort, I got a tainted reading. I basically gave the psychic a strict framework from which she had to deal with and I ended up with a fortune telling, not an inspirational reading from the Divine.

Her divinity tool was the Tarot Cards and I shuffled the deck and laid out the spread. Sure enough, she extrapolated from the cards according to my specific motive. What I got was fortune-telling speculation which never materialised. Was it the fault of the psychic? I can’t tell because I tainted the reading from the moment I sat down and told her I was after some very specific advice.

The Difference between Tarot and Rune Cards

Fortunately for me, it was not long after that visit that I realised I had tainted the reading, so I went to a psychic who used Rune Vision Cards (at the Mind Body Spirit festival).

This time, instead of coming at her with a specific expectation, I decided to be more open ended. What I got was advice about an inner condition I had that was perpetuating certain things in my life.

For example, I said that for some time I’d been feeling like I was becalmed in still water out in the ocean with nowhere to go. The psychic then turned over the next Rune card I had selected. It was an image of a small sailing boat.

She said this was a good analogy I used to describe my state of mind as the card indicated I should take advantage of a different perspective on my situation. That I should sit in this boat, offshore, and look back at the shoreline (my current life landscape) and ‘see it for what it is’, she said.

It sounds like very simple advice but it was far reaching. There were three facets of my life involving relationships and work that I needed to see from a different angle.

So I tried over time. This let me ease up on myself and relax into my personal landscape and trust the flow of life more. From this seeing of my life from a different angle made me respond to situations differently. This was enough to break some entrenched patterns and open new possibilities in my life which materialised.

In the process I discovered the value and difference between Runes and Tarot cards.

• The Tarot deck has 78 cards. It tends to deal with the ‘drama of life’ as it stands at the time of the reading and references the past and future. Best readings are obtained from a broader enquiry, like a theme in your life.

• The Runes deck has 25 cards. It tends to take a broader view and digs deeper into the undercurrent in your life. It is usually about a condition that keeps a long standing situation remain unresolved or pervades more than one aspect of your life.

Tips When Choosing Psychic Guidance

1. Use your intuition, or gut feel, when selecting a psychic (eg. if you feel drawn to one more than the other).

2. Go only when you feel a genuine prompting from within, not from a nagging pre-occupation.

3. Don’t act upon the first urge you get but wait a few days to be sure it’s not coming from an emotional urgency.

4. Don’t go if you want something to go a certain way (eg. ‘I want to get back at that person next week’, but rather from the motive, ‘I want to relax more in myself around others’).

5. If you happen to do a ‘psychologist couch’ dump, (and you never meant to) then be aware you may have tainted your reading by giving the psychic too much information.

6. A savvy psychic will do some sort of protection before a reading.

7. A good psychic is not a fortune teller – they tell you what you need to hear not only what you want to hear.

8. Sound record the reading so you can play it back later to pick up points you have missed. Just ask the psychic if they don’t mind: I’ve not come across one who said ‘no’.

After the reading:

1. Make a point of increasing your observation skills, not just with crossing the road but nuances in your relationships.

2. Remain open to inspiration that reminds you of parts of your reading at the right or advantageous time. Explore the suggestions in your mind, especially if they take you by surprise, eg. a ‘eureka’ moment.

It always pays to think through why you want to see a psychic so you can make the most of the link with the Divine and not attract a reading that serves a misdirected energy, like ego urgency. You will also greatly increase your chance of being divinely guided to the right psychic.

Psychic Resource:
From PsychicReading.com, “Our new guide helps people understand the types of psychic readings, how they work, and how to choose the best one for them.”

Image References:
Tarot Cards spread – tarotreadingpsychic.com
High Priestess card – alchemicaltarot.com