The Times of Trenton just contacted me to chat with me about a notorious gypsy reader who has been working in Princeton, New Jersey for some time. Her latest scam was collecting some $71,000 from one poor woman so that she could "bless" this woman's money and remove negativity from her life. I'd say that she removed MONEY from her client's life, not negativity!

There is a fortune teller like this in every town, and they are a completely different species than genuine psychics, intuitives, and spiritual counsellors. Two years ago this same woman bilked a woman out of $180,000, pulling the same sort of nonsense. I wrote a letter to the editor at that time offering some perspective on 1) how people can find a genuine psychic 2) what they should be paying for a psychic's services and 3) what a real reading is, and what it isn't.

Apparently, my letter remained in their files somewhere, because this reporter who is now working at the police desk called me for a quote and was happy to talk to, as he put it, "One of the good guys." (Blush, blush.)

I do hope that the Times of Trenton publishes some of what I shared with him. If even a few more people out there understood what distinguishes spiritually-inclined, real psychics from gypsy scammers, there would be a lot more peace in this world (not to mention bank accounts left intact.)

The main point I hope he mentions is that all gypsies (or people who use the negative, scamming, gypsy style of "set up") promote fear the minute that they connect with a client.

You might hear things like, "Oh, your aura is black. This means someone has put a curse on you."

You might hear, "You are hexed, and until the hex is removed, nothing good will come to you. Pay me......(insert exorbitant amount of money here, comparable to a downpayment on a house).....and I will pray to remove the curse. Then Mr. Right will appear in your life/you'll find that perfect job/and your personal troubles will cease."

It's all the same scam.

None of this has anything to do with genuine card reading, authentic moments of psychic intuition, or spiritual healing. And that's what the GOOD intuitives are all about.

Here are links where you can read more about the damage that these fortune tellers do.

The first is the Intelligencer's coverage of the scammer from Princeton:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-11022004-393811.html

The second is a brief story of a male fortune teller pulling the same gypsy scam, this time in New York, where he was arrested. It goes into a brief description of how he used the typical gypsy "hook" - the client had been "hexed" and he was going to help them to remove the hex for lots of money. It was the same old deal - promoting fear, instilling dependence, avoiding doing anything empowering, helpful, or ethical.

http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_322113639.html

The really sad thing is that these are the people who end up being featured in the media. Authentic psychics, many of whom have devoted their entire lives to honing their abilities, studying all manner of comparative religions, philosophies, history, and mystical traditions, and generously aiding many thousands of people (most of the time for little to no money.....)

....You don't read much about them.

And thus the bad feelings persist, and thus real psychics are pretty much pariahs on this planet, in this current society.

Lucky us.

The Times of Trenton's site is:

http://www.nj.com

Hopefully, the article will appear sometime this week. I'll post an update here somewhere if the piece gets published.

Also, in case you missed it, in Mystic Mail on August 4th I wrote a bit about how to tell the difference between a scamster "psychic" vs. the real article. Click here to read the Mystic Mail piece.

And meanwhile, if you happen to encounter a reader who says that someone has put a curse on you, but she will be happy to charge you your life's savings to rub a small chicken with holy oil on your behalf, you might want to -

JUST SAY NO!

Editor's Note: You can read the final article - including quotes from the Lipstick Mystic - as it appeared on the front page of the January 1, 2005 Trenton Times through the link mentioned above.