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Confessions Of A Psychic 

by Keith Atkinson
from Creating the Psychic You 

reprinted with permission 

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a psychic as "a person susceptible to psychic influence," and a clairvoyant as having a "faculty of perceiving, as if by seeing what's happening or exists out of sight; exceptional insight." These terms define the new type of clairvoyant emerging in almost every city, town or area around the world. No longer does the word "psychic" bring forth an image of an old woman in a long dress or robe, ribbons streaming from her hair, shaking a tambourine and saying, "Cross my palm with silver and I'll tell your fortune," or the guru sitting with legs crossed on a snow-capped mountain contemplating the meaning of life. 
Old images die hard. When I see clients, some are surprised I'm not living in a house filled with occult paraphernalia or dressed in long robes. In fact, by their standards, I'm almost normal. Psychics in this era may have offices and work in suits. They've become a friend and confidante to the people they see, and most object strongly to the phrase "fortune teller." As one person so simply put it, "Some people don't have any fortune to tell." 

The majority of people now accept that there are those with the ability to perceive what is beyond the regular five senses. Everyone has these abilities to some degree. Clairvoyants have developed it through training or other methods and have learned to trust it. We listen to our feelings and say what we pick up from the individual we are seeing at the time. We have also learned to turn the ability on and off so as not to be bombarded with signals when not working, or to embarrass others when we are with friends, family or in a crowd. If we could not tune out unwanted signals, we would be in serious trouble. 

Some clairvoyants consider themselves to be receivers, with the client as the transmitter. However, these messages are in code. This is where the clairvoyant aspects come in. We must interpret these messages from the client's point of view - not ours. Errors come into play when we are unable to disengage ourselves from our own prejudices and viewpoints. This requires a relaxed state of mind and strong confidence in our abilities. If this confidence is shaken or clouded, it begins to affect the session and could prevent the reader from using his or her abilities to their fullest extent. 

We must also have the ability to detach ourselves from clients. Different people have different problems, and before a person leaves, we have to attempt to make them see the solution to these problems by giving them their options as to the outcome. Most of all, we have to make them take their problems with them, for we are human with our own problems and hang-ups. 

When doing readings, some of us use Tarot cards, crystal balls, candles or other items, which over the centuries have become connected with different aspects of the occult field. These are the fine tune buttons for our receivers. This gives us something to focus our conscious minds on. It helps us to get ourselves out of the picture and improves our concentration. If the client is relaxed, there is no need for these things unless the Psychic believes he or she needs them. Often the client finds the reader staring off into space instead of looking at what they're supposed to be using. This is a sign of the reader's clairvoyance coming through. 

This brings us to one of the most important aspects of the psychic field. Belief. All people who do readings believe they can do them. While this may sound like a stupid remark, it is the essence of all human existence - and everything in it. It is impossible to do something if you don't believe you can. It doesn't matter where this belief comes from, as long as you have it. 

This belief follows into a session. If the client believes in your abilities as you do, it's usually a good reading. However, if they fight you every step of the way, even if the psychic feels good about the session, the person will not be satisfied. This is the type of individual who is usually never satisfied with anything and the reader will "know this" before starting, and most times, can adjust for it. In a situation like this, the Psychic must go by their "gut feelings." More than once I've told someone, "Whether you want to believe it or not," and was right. 

The "reader" is the person doing the psychic interpretation. It's a term we often use to describe ourselves, as we really don't fit any labels. When asked what we're called, I usually reply "human." Even reader doesn't say it all. Betty Burden, an Ottawa, Canada-based psychic said, "I started doing readings as a young girl, but it's only in the past few years I considered myself to be psychic." 

Being a psychic becomes a way of life. It's different from a reader or fortuneteller. A fortuneteller is usually doing it for the money. A Psychic/clairvoyant puts people first, although there can be times it doesn't seem like it. We start with a strong desire to save the world, and after a year or two, can become disillusioned with trying. We then begin to concentrate on one person at a time. This way we can tell them what possible events may happen to them. Being forewarned, they can if they choose change direction to avoid certain events. Very little in life is unavoidable. The choices we make determine what events happen. These events can be foreseen and therefore changed. The greatest gift we have is free will and choice in our lives. Never give it up. 

For example, let's say during a session a woman was told that in six weeks she would go to New York, meet a man, within days marry him, and only then find out he has ten children. If she doesn't want this to happen, her choice is simple. Don't go to New York during that time frame. If it's meant to be, it will come about no matter where she is. 

Free choice is also one reason some readings are more accurate than others. Some people can accept what may happen, good, bad or indifferent, learn from it and move on. Others cannot see it even as it's happening. They fight against it every step of the way. The choice is theirs. We point out their options and hopefully help them better their portion of the World. This is how we can improve the World, not all at once, but a little at a time. 

Yes, we're paid for our services, but for different reasons than someone in it just for the money. People listen better when they pay. The old belief you get what you pay for makes a good reading, even the best reading, worthless if it was for free. If the client learns, we've helped them and done our job. It's a comment on our times that we must occasionally force someone to think. 

This doesn't mean the more you pay, the better or more accurate the information you're getting. Like any other business, each of us sets our rates for what we believe our time to be worth. Some readers are worth more than others so the demand for our time also drives up the price. If in doubt, let your feelings be your guide. You must also remember we have expenses too. 

Like other professions, we have our share of frauds, cheats and con people. Even in this enlightened age they can still find easy prey. The old "blood in an egg" trick is still used successfully by some. Others claim they can solve all your problems - for a fee of course. They claim they can even make a loved one return. One of the latest is, "Things are very hazy right now. Maybe if you come back tomorrow it will be clearer." If you run into people who claim such things and they attempt to convince you to pay out large sums of money for their services, it's suggested you report them to the proper authorities. Nobody can solve your problems but yourself. 

Blood in an egg is not a "curse," it's a bad egg. If someone doesn't want to come back into your life, they won't. In the event the psychic cannot read you at the time, he or she should say so with no charge. What an honest clairvoyant will do is help you look at situations from a different point of view and perhaps perceive different "possible" outcomes. It's up to you to be open to them or carry them out. Think about it. Perhaps you're better off without the person you want back into your life. A result of them being gone could be vast improvement in your quality of life once you stop fretting so much about it. 

One of the best compliments I've ever received was from a client who told me twenty minutes into a session that I had already told her what it had taken her psychiatrist seven years to get to, but I had made her see it differently. By her own free will she had rejected his solutions. By seeing them through my eyes, she could accept them better. Having been given possible events, when to expect them, and how to deal with them when they arose, she left feeling better about herself than she had in years. She even called back several months later to thank me again for the continued changes and improvement in her life. I told her it wasn't me who had made those changes happen, but her. I had just pointed out possibilities and got her thinking. She made them happen. She was now more content with her life than she had been in a very long time. No con artist can have this effect, but a good clairvoyant can make it last a lifetime. That does take "exceptional insight." 

I'm not suggesting everyone who sees a Psychic will get the same results. Those who need help should get it, both physical and mental. A reputable and reliable Psychic wouldn't hesitate to suggest medical attention if they saw you needed it, or if a test would put your mind to rest about some ailment or other. This is not meant to get you involved in this business without thinking. Jumping into the psychic field unprepared can be just as dangerous as trying to climb Mount Everest without gear or practice. 

If interested, go slow. Talk to professionals. The only things they should tell you to eliminate are restrictive ideas and habits. If they tell you to get rid of objects in your house, don't listen. If they say theirs is the only path, find someone else. They may tell you to change your lifestyle, or give away all your worldly goods - perhaps to them. If they tell you any of these things, tell them goodbye. 

There are as many ways to develop your psychic abilities as there are psychics. The only thing that works is learning to relax and listening to your intuition. How you do this is up to you. True psychic ability comes from within, with practice and patience in learning to listen to it. It will not tell you to harm yourself or anyone else. If it begins to suggest this, get professional help from a qualified person. If it gets scary, or you become afraid - STOP IMMEDIATELY. Not everyone is cut out to be a professional Psychic. As long as you are comfortable, keep going. 

There are benefits to be gained by becoming more intuitive. Some incidents can be frightening, but these are few and far between. If you have any doubts at all, don't do it. 

This article is called Confessions Of A Psychic, and as yet I haven't made any. The reason is I don't have any to make. Well, perhaps one - at no time over the years have I known something about someone and passed it off as coming through my abilities. Smiling impishly, I may keep them waiting for a few moments before telling them I overheard, saw or otherwise knew. If I had "cheated," I would have damaged my faith in myself. 

I've been accused of doing such things, but I haven't. I don't have to, I don't want to, and my conscience would not allow me to get away with it. In fact, I go to great lengths to avoid getting information that could lower the integrity of the reading. 

I, like thousands of others, make use of an ability I've learned to trust. It will never tell me to harm or hurt anybody or anything, because that's what being a Psychic is all about. It's a way of life. We know what we put out is what we get back, so we wish nothing on anyone but peace, love, happiness and success. We are people who cannot deny others those things we want for our families and ourselves. We are people who truly care and want to help others. We are people, with all the frailties of the human race embedded deep within us. We are not the right hand of God, or the left hand of Satan. We are human and do occasionally make mistakes, but when it comes to working with people, we give them our complete attention. Just please don't ask us to make your decisions for you. 

The debates will continue long after we're dead and gone about where this ability comes from. Some believe it's radiated to them by intelligent life forms aboard UFO's. Some say it comes from God and others believe the Devil sends it. Some claim it comes from the subconscious and some say it doesn't exist at all. However, Psychic/Clairvoyants are being more accepted as scientific evidence continues to show that something is there, proving what we've been seeing all along does exist. 

Until the end of time there will always be three groups: those who believe, those who don't, and those who say, "Well, maybe." There are crooks, con people, frauds and bad readers. There are those who concentrate on the negative aspects of psychic abilities and use them for selfish purposes. These people don't last long. They get in, take as much money as they can, and get out. They will suffer the consequences of their own negativity as it returns to them. This is the first thing a psychic learns: what you put out, positive or negative, comes back threefold. In other words; 

"DO ONTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO ONTO YOU." 

This is not a rule, but a universal truth. Someday the world will be more open-minded and we will become an accredited group. Someday we will eliminate fear and suspicion. Someday everyone will use their abilities to their fullest extent, solving their own and the world's problems. How I long for that day. But for now, there is no governing body and only our own conscience to guide us. Someday we will all be free to make our choices and live our lives as we see fit. The day is coming when everyone will be happy and content. Use the abilities you have to make it happen for you and the people around you. 

MAY YOU ALWAYS BE SUCCESSFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU UNDERTAKE. MAY THE ENERGIES AROUND YOU ALWAYS BE POSITIVE. THE MEANEST THING I EVER SAID TO ANYONE IS, "MAY YOU GET WHAT YOU WISH ON EVERYONE ELSE." 


Keith Atkinson was born with the natural ability to sense things others could not. He began doing professional psychic interpretations in 1980, and over the past 20 years has built an international clientele. He has worked on police cases, has been a guest on many television and radio programs, and has given numerous television interviews. He authored Creating The Psychic You (1995), and Expanding The Psychic You (1998). He is the creator of the AURA-CLE Board, The Sands of Time, and the designer of The Spirit's Echo, An Intuitive Deck, a deck of cards similar to Tarot. He can be reached by email at keithatkinson@sympatico.ca. We would like to thank Mr. Atkinson for the use of his articles.  Their usage does not imply his endorsement or availability for readings on this site.