I call bluff. They memorize phrases that anyone can relate to, ask questions, observe body language to convince you they know

I don’t think they’re real but I don’t think they’re fake either....

Not real, not fake, is there an in between?

Maybe if the practitioner thinks what they're doing is real but it isn't, that's the in-between. They'd have to be fooling themselves.

I think the "professionals" are all cynical fakers, meaning they know you want to believe and they take advantage of it. Clever of them to invent a job like that.

Non "professionals" who claim powers are some combination of observant, wise, and in an altered state mentally (drugs, illness, etc).

my dad's grandmother called herself a medium, and I believe my dad, sisters and I all have some minor form of ESP... but it's really a case by case basis, for every real psychic there's bound to be a charlatan or two

I’m more of a ghost because i’m never seen-

when I say "minor form of ESP", I mean stuff like randomly having an idea for, say, the names of the next Pokemon games and then the next Pokemon games have those names (in that particular case, I stipulated the names of Sinnoh remakes being Sun Diamond and Moon Pearl, and guess what? Pokemon Sun and Moon are a thing! no Sinnoh remakes yet though)

Your average Joe Psychic: fake. The ones who actually deal in serious spirits: real.

Years ago, my parents went to a carnival with some friends from church. A "psychic" asked our pastor if he wanted his fortune read. He said, "If you were really a psychic, you'd know the answer to that question."

Playing the devil's advocate :P

That's what I always say. All they do is keep asking questions till you answer it for them.

Ever see John Edwards on tv years ago? Him and his ilk will go down the alphabet looking for a name... David, Diane,... Jack, Jamie, Jazmin,... till someone hops up and say yes, they're the one whose granny died recently! Then he goes down the list of a possible pets, siblings, whatever, and everyone is amazed that he finally guesses it correctly after a mere 78 tries!

I've heard of him

An ex of mine kept trying to get me to watch. Hard to cringe, laugh, get angry at him, and feel sorry for those going through a loss getting duped by his bs at the same time.

I believe there are a few people who are amazing at reading body language, formulating they sentences vague but sounding specific enough, and making people feel good about themselves. And I believe that many people want to believe in the supernatural and that there can be communication with "other dimensions". So, in my opinion, psychics can be really great entertainers if you want to believe in them. It's basically the same as magicians - of course it's not "actual" magic but we enjoy a good show.

They're fakes, scams, etc.

I don't think people that claim they can read minds or see the future on cue whenever they want to are all that they claim. But, I do think some are born with the gift of visions. My wife's grandmother for instance was one, and her mom has it to an extent. They've been known to have dreams or they would get feelings about certain things without prompt, and many times they came true. When we were trying to adopt, her grandmother claimed before she died that we would have a child before then end of the year. If memory serves, that was around Easter, she passed in the fall, and our daughter was born right at Christmas.

I think like I told Ricardo spiritual communication is a very real thing and it can either be with the good side ( God) or with the evil one. I think God might reveal things to us so that we can better prepare ourselves and perhaps turn to Him on behalf of ourselves or another like in the case of your future child.

On several occasions I have had a dream out of the blue about someone, or a person will come to mind so persistently that I'll be impelled to pray for them and whatever it is they're facing. I knew the night before my brother passed suddenly that something was about to happen, when my uncle was on his death bed and we didn't know if he would last another month or a week I knew the moment he passed and confirmed the time even though we were states away. It's usually someone who is close to me facing illness or death and I know I need to pray for them.

Well said and I completely agree:)

I tend not believe in things that can’t be tested using all known methods of truthful measurement and prove themselves repeatedly.
And yes I do have a special loathing for psychics as they lie and give false whiteness usually to the bereaved for their own material gain.

BuRN thE WitCh 🧙🏻‍♀️🔥🔥
He he !!

Peace.

Hey Ricardo, good to see you around these parts again. It's been awhile.

I think there's a difference when it comes to communicating in the spiritual realm. There is prayer and petition directed at God and sometimes He might reveal His will or perform signs/ miracles that cannot be explained.

Then there's communication with the devil and the signs and wonders that he also can bring about. I group fortune tellers, tarot card readers, witches, wizards and the like into the occult group. Which is very real but very dangerous territory as it can lead to demonic possession. I stay as far away from fortune telling horiscopes etc. I would rather trust that God has everything taken care of as far as my future is concerned and there's a reason most of us aren't privy to that information.

A guy who is really into the psychology behind "magic" once explained how he could accurately predict the future of several people. There are things that are very likely to happen to you anyway, and things people love to hear about themselves, and mixing these "always true" things with what people wish to hear you can easily come up with a story that would satisfy anyone. Sometimes they can ask you a few questions that may appear completely irrelevant, but to which the answer can betray a few things about you, and all that is taken up in the prediction story. So fortune tellers in carnivals should mostly not be trusted.

I did once however hear a story about a murder investigation in which the cops were completely stuck. They had a suspect but no evidence and even they knew that the suspect could very likely be innocent as well. Just in a matter of desperation a medium came to the scene of the crime. All she wanted to know was the exact spot where the body was found and to have a personal possession of the victim, from there she said things that made a fitting story in which the suspect they had was immediately in sight as the culprit. Now the story of a medium has no value in court, however her story brought the cops to new insights to find the evidence that would be irrefutable in court, causing the suspect to be tried and condemned to death after being found guilty. (Particularly because death row was the punishment, the leader of the investigation wanted to be careful with what a medium had to say, but the leads she brought in were so solid, he could not ignore it, and when the evidence was found, it was so solid he is sure he got the culprit and the culprit's confession even fit the medium's story, while the culprit never knew a medium was involved in the investigation prior to his confession).

A lot of things happened that make me believe there are things science can never explain and which may seem supernatural or unreal. People really bringing that with a crystal ball and making money out of it or run a TV show about this...

Oh course, I have many many predictions myself which became reality. How could I do that? By logic thinking and knowing a few things about history. Sometimes supernatural powers are not needed to predict the future or to know things without having been on the place where it happened at the time it did.

The only one that I ever met that seemed real to me was a man named Billy Gomez. He was an astrologer, who used his knowledge of astrology to discover that the man he knew as his brother was actually his father - and determined his correct birth date, going so far as to get a copy of his original birth certificate before his adoption. It was quite a story.

Some MIGHT be (probably not tho)

Most aren't

I once went to see a psychic, and she said I would be a biologist. Ummmmm... No.

Most legitimate psychics I know typically do not seek to make a fortune on their gifts, and find being a celebrity a quite distasteful ambition. This is the distinction between the real thing or a charlatan. Similarly, I feel, to the difference between honest skepticism and professional "debunking".

So you've met quite a few legit psychics? I'd like to hear your experience. Did they accurately tell you something that came true?

Kate, if you contact me privately I will talk to you about it.

Entertainment is what it’s supposed to be

Lol.

I broke my crystal ball, so I can't tell you what it says.

I imagine there's some out there just to make a buck and tell people anything even playing with their emotions. I wouldn't trust one because i believe even if they can tell the future it's not God telling them but probably the devil giving them inside info. Just my 2 cents but maybe you don't believe in the devil either.

BTW good to see you again. I was starting to wonder if you left the Think Tank.

So do you believe there is a battle between good and evil or that is all made up?