The lure of the unknown, the mystical, and the magical, is present during our lives at one time or another. For children this magical hope and experience of the limitless and the infinite is always a grand wonder. This wonder stays with us and transforms as we age. Perhaps we do not wish to know whether lands of fairy tales exist later on in life, and instead just want to know what the future holds for us, what our significant other is hiding, or perhaps just the winning numbers for the next million dollar cash prize.

I sometimes wonder how often the process of introspection grants insights into our deepest desires, most spectacular hopes, and most burning questions. However when someone claims the power of psychic foresight then it is not just a neutral look at our awareness – but the dawning foreknowledge of something true about us that is being proclaimed. Psychics claim to tell us something about ourselves that must be true and although this foreknowledge might have certain advantages in this post I would like to explore some of the problems with it.

This post is not about validating whether a particular psychic is real or fake. Instead I will look at three points exploring how the experience of going to a psychic could turn out to be superficial and fake.

1. The Hollywood effect

Many people (whether consciously or subconsciously) go to psychics for fun. This can be likened to reading gossip-based horoscopes in a magazine. The Hollywood effect I speak of is where both the psychic and the client know on some level that the session will not produce a real result and is just an evasive and generalised dialogue. I titled this the Hollywood effect because of the likeness it has to actors acting in a movie - we all know it is not real but the entertainment value of pretending is sufficient enough.

Sometimes it is helpful to ask ourselves what we are expecting to get out of the session. If you are reading my blog, then chances are your interests in seeing a psychic are to attain real answers or information. However when we know of someone who is seeing a psychic that seems fake sometimes it is best not to bring this to their attention. If the person is aware that the session is just for entertainment then there is a higher likelihood that no-one is getting hurt in the process.

2. Trust Problems

On the other hand when a person has certain expectations it could result in a negative experience during a psychic session. Take for example a woman named Jane who schedules an appointment with a psychic to find out if her husband is cheating on her. I believe however the psychic answers the question the response will end up damaging Jane. I believe our questions are there for a reason. If the psychic answers No then Jane might not end up discussing her insecurities with her partner – causing future problems. If the answer is Yes then a similar problem of not dealing with the question in a correct manner arises.

This is just as true for negative experiences as it is for positive ones. No matter how it turns out – if we are expecting a True or False answer from a person who we anticipate to have absolute knowledge about us then we are opening the doors for abuse of trust due to inflated or underestimated expectations. Remember that no-one knows You better than You do.

3. Belief Bubble Hopes

Psychics know that a good of people that schedule to see them believe in some level of spiritualism or new age ideas. This causes some abuse to the role of being a professional psychic since the power of suggestion can become tremendous. The use of new age jargon can cause psychic and related sessions to become unproductive and drawn out over several weeks without much real result. It is essential to avoid belief bubbles to be able to avoid wasting time and personal efforts.

Take for example Jim who arrives to see a psychic about health concerns and is instead told to purchase several crystals, rebalance his aura, and ground his chakras. This would be fine if Jim knew the reason he was doing all of this. However it is more productive to find a psychic who is sensitive and in-tune with others than it is to find one who has memorised Sanskrit and pretends to be an expert with the use of jargon.