I was watching a program last night about mediums, and how they gave hope to people. It was really sad, but at the same time, quite ... inspiring. It even showed classes where people go to develope their clairvoyant powers. They did really well on their first go! It's something I;d like to do when I'm older....

I can't understand how people can do it though, and it always amazes me everytime I see something like that. One of the mediums said he got a vibration or something, which gave him visions and insights. One woman was blind, yet she did shows and things.

I've always been interested in Clairvoyance. Personally I believe in it, and have had some strange experiences, but what about you? What do you all think?

comming from an amateur:
I think this ppl just have the ability to talk with ghosts, spirits etc. and then they just tell other what the spirit is saying,
or something like that

I'm asuming this was the programme on BBC2 last night.

Personally, it discusted me that these charlatans were taking money off bereved and emotionally exhausted people.

The blind 'clairvoyant' from Ireland was appalling. She gave a reading to an obviously very distressed man who wanted to know about his son. Afterwards he came out and told the camera that she was amazing and had been completely accurate about everything. Unfortunately and almost without fail he fell into the trap that most people who visit 'clairvoyants' fall into. He had completely wiped from his mind the time she had spent embarassingly fumbling around in an effort to find out what she was supposed to be saying. It wasn't his mum, it wasn't his dad (shouldn't she have known he was still alive!?), it wasn't a woman his wife recognised the name of (and no she wasn't her, mum, her grandmother or *clutching at straws* someone who acted like a grandmother). Eventually she got around to his son. There followed a very crude cold reading. The man was in floods of tears. I don't blame him at all but these 'clairvoyants' are vile human beings.

As for the course in clairvoyancy. All they did was make vague generalisations that would inevitably contain hits for just about anyone.

The programme certainly showed how deplorable they are and that their readings are garbled nonsense until they can pick on a desperate individual to cold read.

I have to say that I agree with Georgie on this one. Granted, there are a few out there that genuinely use their abilities to help others out...but you have to wade through the swarms of fakers to get to them. It's easy money to fraud someone in emotional turmoil with a few well guessed phrases, especially if it's what they wanted to hear.

There are sites, books, and seminars designed to teach people how to become a successfully paid psychic...whether you have any real magical talent or not....based mostly on enhancing one's powers of perception or reading others.

Case in point...the television show where the guy has a full audience and he throws out random phrases till someone freaks out because it sounds like he could be talking about them, Crossing Over, I think? After he's gotten someone to take the bate, the rest is pretty easy. There is a possibility that he does have some skill, but most of that is knowing how to work an audience.

I am a rather firm beleiver you could say. :)

But I do think that a lot of people are more using trickery rather than any psychic ability. Also, sometimes it seems there is this pressure to exagerate among many which I think claims a lot of people with any known ability at all.

I am very suspicious of most people who claim certain active (as in being 100% sure that they can _always_ do something just by asking/performing at will) under _any_ conditions...the more extreme, the more suspicious I get... but I don't deny that this is possible at all. Most of the psychics you see on shows and such, to tell you the truth, even _I_ don't usually believe in them myself for various reasons.

I suppose it should be said before it comes up that one can beleive in something but not believe in _everything_ that is commonly associated with it in every instance...